Waiting is Hard to Do

When you have to wait and there seems like nothing to do, what do your thoughts naturally turn to? 

Selfies, of course.

At least, they do when you are Brandt.

While waiting to go into the wax museum, 

Brandt availed himself of the camera and clicked away.

 

Freya and Thea Arrive!

After what felt like months of waiting (wink wink), Mikayla and Guy's new daughters, twins Freya Gene and Thea Pandine, made their arrival today.  All went smoothly and we are so, so happy they are here.  I spent the day with Brick, Cora, and Kal, and we went up this afternoon to meet the new girls.

They are so little!!  Freya, born at 11:00, weighed 5 lbs, 5 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.  Thea, born at 11:11, weighed 4 lbs, 15 oz and was 18 1/4 inches long.  They are tiny with skinny legs and arms, but all their parts are there, they are healthy, and we are thrilled everything went well.

Brick was very concerned about the girls, and Cora was very concerned about her mom.  She kept saying, "My mom okay?" as we drove to the hospital.  We were all rather smitten, and Brick and Cora wanted to hold the girls, after they'd made a trip to the snack area.  It will be fun to have them as part of the family.

Freya

Thea

 Balloonhead

 Thea

 Freya

Thea and Freya

Freya and Thea

 This morning, from a family of five to a family of seven.

 Freya

Thea

Dinner Guests

We had fun dinner guests tonight.

Grandma Sue joined us, as did Ty and Janie Rasmussen and their cute boys Noah and Fischer.

It was a delightful evening and everyone, young and old, was very well behaved.

My only complaint?

No one stayed long enough.

Blythe Selfie

So many selfies.

Practically every day.

Do I post them practically every day,

or do I post a whole month's worth in one post?

I think, starting next month, that's what I'll do.

One post of all the month's selfies.

It really is totally out of control.

Rare Bookstore Tour

This evening, the young men and young women went on a tour of Moon's Rare Bookstore, a shop in Riverwoods that specializes in all sort of interesting things.  Brandt came home, full of news about all the books and artifacts they saw.

Here are some of the things he was most struck by, in his own words.

1. The ring that ruled them all.  They had the actual ring from The Lord of the Rings movies.  We could touch it, but not take pictures. (This picture is off their Instagram.)

2. Draco Malfoys and Luna Lovegood's cloaks from Harry Potter. 

Another one was the smallest Bible ever.  It could fit in a locket.  Plus, there were other tiny Bibles that had 100 lines per inch.  You'd have to read them with a magnifying glass.  (Just as a side note, when I went to get pictures of these things, I learned that the books are not Bibles, but the Lord's prayer in seven different languages.)

This might have been where Brandt got confused.

The tiny, tiny book on the left, 

but the New Testament on the right.

Not the whole Bible, but still.

Lots of text scrunched between those covers.

They had a prototype of Indiana Jones' hat and whip.  Harrison Ford did wear them, but not in the movies.

They had a ticket to the Titanic.  And a plate, too. 

They had a Three Musketeers outfit.


I went to a baby shower this evening.  Brandt was so excited about the things he saw, he couldn't wait for me to get home, but called to tell me all about it.  I love that enthusiasm.  We may have to take a wander through the shop, just to ogle the goods. 

Here is Brandt holding NOT the smallest Bible ever.

Just the opposite.

It's one of the biggest Bibles in the world.

Showshoeing

I went snowshoeing up Rock Canyon this morning with my friend Kim Daw.

It was a gloriously beautiful morning; peaceful, chilly, calm.

It was ethereal and fed my soul.

Brandt Selfie

This whole selfie thing is getting out of control.

This was taken in the bathroom.  

From the angle, I know right where Brandt is sitting.

AND HE'S GOT MY PHONE!!!!

Impromptu Fun

This afternoon, Kal needed to go have his stiches removed (split open forehead; four stitches), Mikayla didn't want to try and wrangle all three children, and so Brick and Cora came to hang out at our house for a bit. 

Almost the first thing out of Cora's mouth was, "Grantie Kake, I play Legos."  She wanted to go to Blythe's room and play with all her little bits.  Blythe, however, had other ideas and didn't want her up there.  So I took Cora and Brick downstairs, and we put together a bin of Legos that the kids could play with when they come over, and which will stay in the game closet.  The extra Legos were behind the freezer, so pulling them out was a project, but I love my little people, and so the effort was worth it.  I brought them upstairs and . . . Cora wanted nothing to do with them.  Apparently, it took too long to get them out, and she lost interest.  Instead, she and Blythe did a puzzle.  Brandt and Brick played with Legos.  Everyone was happy.

Mikayla sent me a Marco Polo video of Kal crying as they pulled away, but he was overjoyed when they returned, and made it clear that he wasn't leaving immediately.  So fun to have an impromptu play date!

Uncle Wendell's Funeral

Can you imagine living 96 years, being married 77, and living to know your great-great grandchildren?  Today we attended Uncle Wendell, Merlynn's oldest brother's funeral.  Those were a couple of his stats.  It was a beautiful funeral, a wonderful tribute to a man who did good quietly, lived long and well, and left behind a wonderful legacy of faithful children and grandchildren.  It was a delight for us to be there and to visit with family.  We don't see the Tooele/Erda folks very often; in fact, we almost only ever see them at funerals.  

Kent and I drove out alone, the children being at school, and Lee and Cammie, who were going to drive with us, deciding Cammie wasn't in tip-top health so they drove separately.  Kent and I talked about all sorts of things, and as it takes nearly an hour and a half to get there, we had uninterrupted time to discuss many things.  We certainly love Brandt and Blythe, but I was grateful for time to just be with Kent, even if we were traveling to and from a funeral.

The funeral was in a church just across the street from the cemetery, so after the sitting in the car, then at the funeral, we decided to walk across the street for the grave dedication.  We had a very nice lunch back at the church, and were able to visit with Bertha (Merlynn's lone surviving sibling), Dwight, and two of their children, Jennifer, and Dwight Paul and is wife Annette.  We laughed about parenting and marriage and getting through life.  We told stories about time on the farm in Erda, and remembered many family members who have gone before.  I thought we needed a cousin picture because lots of Kent's Droubay cousins were together all in one place.  It was really a very nice way to spend the day, and a wonderful time to be with family.

The floral arrangement the Barri sent.

Cousins

Left to right: Richard, Lee, Wendell, Kent, Anita, Sterling, Leanne

Scott, Karen, Marie, Paula, Rob, Jennifer, Dwight Paul

A Beauty

Blythe went walking this evening with Lilly and Emma Bradford.  

She wore my alpaca hat.  

She came in with red rosy cheeks and a sparkle in her eye.

She's a beauty.

The Man Who Planted Trees

As part of BYU's Off the Map festival, we saw a wonderful play today, The Man Who Planted Trees.  It's the story of a man who quietly plants thousands of trees over many years, turning a wasteland into a forest.  It was a two man show with puppets, and it was funny and sweet and a little tiny bit sad.  The men had a wonderful rapport, the play was a bit interactive, there was some improvisation, and wonderful, simple sets.  One of the characters was a dog, a puppet, and his part was delightful.  We laughed and laughed and were so pleased we went.  Grandma Sue was supposed to come with us, but she decided this morning she didn't want to come.  We brought Ellen along instead.  Everything we have seen through the Off the Map festival has been really good; fun and interesting and worth our time.

After seeing The Man Who Planted Trees, Kent took the children away and I stayed to see The Other Mozart, the true story of Wolfgang's sister, Nannerl, who was every bit as talented as her brother, but because she was a woman, was not able to perform or have her compositions taken seriously.  It was all based on family letters Nannerl saved and was both fascinating and incredibly sad.  Her music has all been lost, a sad gaping hole in our musical history.

Fifth Grade Field Trip

Today Blythe got to go on a field trip.  The fifth graders went over to BYU to watch the women's gymnastics team compete against UVU.  She has been looking forward to it for several days, and was excited that the day finally arrived.  When I asked how it was, she said it was great.  Her favorite part was the uneven bars.  As other spectators left Blythe and Lilly were able to work their way to the front row where they were able to high five Cosmo, who gave them candy kisses.  I didn't caution her about taking candy from strange people dressed up in furry animal costumes, though I certainly could have.  My friend Melanie Hall took a picture while there, and Blythe is sort of visible.  Not really, but sort of.  And as it is the only pictorial evidence I have, this is what we'll get.

Brandt January Selfies

The children love to take selfies.  SO. MANY. SELFIES.  They fill up the phone and make me crazy.  But I must keep them as a record of their silliness.  Here are Brandt's taken throughout the month.

Parents and Pastries

This evening was the PTA sponsored Parents and Pastries, a fun evening spent in the library reading followed by the reward of a tasty treat.  We love it!  It combines two of our favorite things--reading and eating things that aren't super good for you. BIG WIN!!! A+++

Brandt came along, even though he's technically aged out of Parents and Pastries.  But again, two of our favorite things.  Blythe selected a book to read to us, and we hunkered down on the floor to listen to her share the story.  Who doesn't love a library? Who doesn't love a good story? Who doesn't love a donut?

Story Time

It has been some years since I went to story time at the library, but I had Cora and Kal this morning, and thought they might like it.  My kids always did.  Cora is old enough to go into the big kids story time; she went through the secret passageway door and I didn't see her for 30 minutes.  Kal and I sat down in the story circle, received a letter P, and began to participate.  Sort of.  Kal was interested as long as there was singing going on, but in between songs, he was antsy.  He didn't want to sit with me, he wasn't engaged with the story tellers, and he wanted to investigate the large screen they had set up in the front.  We made it through maybe ten minutes before he squirmed away from me, walked away from the story circle, and looked to me to see if I would follow him.

I did.

He trotted around shelves, went over into the adult section, sat on a chair, went upstairs to the "quiet study area," and was taken quickly back downstairs as he doesn't do "quiet" very well yet.  He was much more content to wander than to sit and watch a story or puppet show. 

Cora had a marvelous time.  When I asked her how it was, she said, "I had pun!"  She got a coloring sheet with P words on it, and colored the whole paper when we got home.  I will probably take them to story time again.  Maybe Kal will sit for twelve minutes.

Shades Day

This week is White Ribbon Week at Centennial Middle School.  White Ribbon Week focuses on internet safety and use.  Today's theme was Shades Day.  The bullet points were: Wear your shades and block out cyberbullying, block out giving personal information online, and block out people you don't know on social media. 

Brandt forgot about this, but had a cool pair of shades he found while we were sledding the other day, and had tucked them in his pocket, "just in case it was sunny." Turns out, he was inspired.  And too cool for school!

Temple Trip

We had a most wonderful temple experience today.  Kent, Brandt, and I went to do baptisms with Christopher, Tysen, Ava, Griffin, Crew, Grandma Sue, and Mikayla.  It was the first time for Ava, Griffin, and Crew.  We were able to do family names.  It was incredibly sweet to be together in the temple.  I felt the Spirit and an overpowering feeling of love and joy.  It was just great to look down the bench at loved ones all together in the temple.  I have been so glad to be able to go to the temple with Brandt, and I'm excited to have Blythe be able to join us in just a year from now.  We need to plan another trip when Eugene, Sharae, and their kids can join us, too.  I love the temple, and I love my family, and I love that the temple makes being with my family forever a possibility.

Missing Mikayla who had to leave early and go collect her children.