Guarding Childhood

I think by now I have watched this video two dozen times. I am captivated by it. Each time I watch, I fix my attention on a different child, reaction, or comment I hadn't noticed before. I see smiles, wonder, curiosity. I hear giggles, sighs of wonder, squeals of excitement. I feel hope, happiness, and comfort. I delight in the power of a simple activity to catch the attention of children of an age span of over 12 years (longer, if you count the adults who were pretty interested, too).

Perhaps not by coincidence, I watched an interesting movie this weekend, the theme of which centered around guarding childhood. Though a somewhat simple and often silly show, I was struck by the profound message that there are those appointed to guard children's dreams, hopes, fun, and memories. Surely that is one of my greatest roles as a mother, particularly in this stage where my children are still so young. I don't know that I always do the best job of creating the gentlest haven for their innocence, and I know I could do so much more to cultivate their wonder and imaginations. But sometimes, like on the perfectly sunny day captured in this video, I get it right. And it is magical. It is amazing. It is a privilege.

I am coming to understand now why God glories in His role as a parent. He, the great Creator and source of hope, peace, and happiness, delights most in His children. And He shares that deep satisfaction with us as he allows us to become like Him; to become the parents who guard His children.

"For behold, this is my work and my glory -- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
Moses 1:39

Our Home History ...

My sister texted me today and told me that a grocery store near our first apartment was torn down, which led me on a trip down memory lane. Grant and I have moved a number of times in our 10 years of marriage, mostly because several of those years we spent as students and did a bit of back and forth for internships, jobs, and schooling. I remembered that I have taken photos of each of our places but have never gathered them together. Maybe this won't be terribly interesting to anyone but me, but I've always wanted to gather these pictures together and see the progression (sometimes digression) of our home history.

First place: 907 S. 600 W. #4, Provo, UT (top right of the fourplex)

Albeit in a pretty sketchy neighborhood of South Provo (if you're familar with the area, we lived right where the railroad tracks, freeway overpass, and Backman Foundry all intersect, not too far from the Boulders apartments, which frequent the news quite a bit, and not for good reasons!). Not the nicest area, for sure, but it was our home for almost three years, from when we got married in November 2002 to when we moved across ward boundaries to the "nice part of town" in August 2005. We loved our neighbors, our ward, and have lots of crazy/funny/scary memories of this place!

Second place: 1020 S. 236 W., Provo UT (left side of the duplex)

We loved our first ward so much, but wanted something a little nicer with a little more room, so once we graduated and started working full time, we rented this condo in the Peach Tree complex just north of the Provo Towne Center mall. We had the best neighbors and best experience here! This was the home we brought Eliot home to. We have many fond memories of this light and bright condo. Our landlords, the McKells, were salt of the earth people; we loved them so much we still send them Christmas cards! 

 

Third place: Grand Oak Apartments #62, Liberty Road S., Salem, OR (top right)

This was our first apartment while we were in law school. Eliot was just six weeks old when we moved here. Our original plans for housing fell through, so we luckily got into this place as a last-minute plan B, thanks to the help of our friends Spencer and Mary Kelly, whom we met by total coincidence. They ended up being our back-door neighbors, and it was such a blessing to live close to them! Spencer was in his third and final year of law school, and Mary also had a new baby boy, so we became fast friends and loved our year living close to them. We instantly fell in love with our our ward in Salem, the Salem 5th Ward, and for the time we were in Oregon, it truly felt like home. This apartment was where Eliot learned to crawl and say his first words.

Fourth Place: 695 Palisades Dr., Salem, OR

We got to house sit this home in a beautiful neighborhood for a couple who had been our home teachers our first year of law school. They went on a mission to Hawaii, so we lived in their place while they were away. It was definitely a lot more space than most law students ever get to enjoy (as the one who cleaned it most of the time, maybe it was too much space!). We were spoiled by the enormous gourmet kitchen, spare rooms for guests to come visit (we had lots that year!), plenty of entertaining space for holding showers, church meetings, law school group bar-be-cues ... what a great opportunity! This was where Eliot took his first steps and learned to climb. The views through the panoramic windows on the back of the house were spectacular; the area was heavily wooded, and we frequently had deer and hundreds of birds (a blue heron even spent one morning perched on the neighbors' roof!). And no, we didn't have to take care of the yard -- they had a groundskeeper to do that! Some of my favorite memories here included teaching piano lessons to Bentley and Lexus Cook and my sweet friend Glenda Wardell, and also re-learning how to sew and making baby towels.

Fifth Place:  Fox Hollow Apartments, #135, Liberty Road S., Salem, OR (bottom right)

It was back to reality for our third year of law school. And what a reality check we got! This apartment was a comedy of errors with all the problems we had ... mold galore, flooding when the girls above us overloaded their washing machine, all night yipping from their 10 (yes, 10!!!) dogs/puppies (they originally had three, then the chihuahuas had 7 puppies). We were not sad to say goodbye to this place, as much as we hated to leave Oregon and the wonderful places and people we had grown to love. Some of my favorite memories of this place include holding play school with some of Eliot's best friends, Hudson Godfrey, Savannah Church, and LoraLee (Lolly) and Shannon Kunzler. We would rotate houses each week, and I loved having the kids come play and learn at our house! Like I did at our other Oregon homes, too, I also mastered canning, jam-making and bread/roll baking in this apartment. We also bought our first piano, a small digital version, while living in this home.

 Sixth Place: 884 W. 920 N., Orem, UT

We really struggled to find a place to live in Orem after we moved back from law school. We felt "done" with apartment living at that point (especially after the shenanigans we went through our last year!), and wanted a place that felt a little more grown up. One day I was driving in a part of Orem I usually never went, and saw a row of town homes and thought I should look into them and see if there were any for rent. Sure enough, there was, and it was a lovely, spacious home with tons of storage, and for the first time in our married life, a garage! The setup wasn't ideal, with the master upstairs and the other bedrooms downstairs, but I loved, loved, loved the roomy kitchen and plentiful storage. We spent two years in this town home, and welcomed sweet baby Zach into our family while living there. Just two weeks after moving in, I was made the Primary President of our brand new ward and was told by the bishopric that they had been praying for someone to come to fill that calling ... so I guess stumbling upon the place was inspired?! We made wonderful friends living in this ward, including families with whom we still hold play dates, and my dear friend, Teri, who lived just a few houses down from me and became my second mom. Some of the roughest times of my life I experienced in this home, and yet I feel great peace when I think back on my experience there. It was a quiet place to live in a great location, and with HOA-provided yard card and snow removal, it was the perfect transition to a "real" home while Grant was busy launching his legal career. We didn't have much of a backyard for Eliot to play in, but we did back onto the church parking lot, which was great for riding big wheels and scooters.

 Lucky #7: 375 S. 780 W., Lehi, UT

Our first official home of our own! Never in a million years did we plan to live in Lehi! We scoured the listings in Orem and Provo but just weren't happy with what we were finding. Because Orem and Provo are so established and conveniently located to businesses, schools, and amenities, the real estate is pretty pricey for what you get. The only things we could find in our price range were old and dated and needed a ton of work. We just didn't have time, money, or the desire to take on lots of DIY projects, so we expanded our search and found this nearly perfect place in Lehi. It's a bit of a commute and not as close to some of our favorite amenities as we wish it was, but we get the chance to discover a new community (sometimes if feels like an entirely new world -- things are a little different in Lehi, especially the west side!). We like the small-town feel of Main Street and love having rural fields and livestock right around us, and we're learning that there really are just about all the stores and restaurants we're used to pretty close by, we just need to get used to it. Grant and I both grew up in Orem, so we're used to knowing it backwards and forwards and knowing all the best back roads to take to avoid traffic -- I'm sure we'll have that all figured out by the time we're ready to leave Lehi (or will we leave Lehi ... who knows?!). For now, we're loving the fenced-in yard, beautiful landscaping, just-right size of house to keep up. There are lots of trees, a great sandbox (and now a play set!) out back, plenty of kids in the neighborhood to play with, and the perfect area for the boys to learn to ride their bikes ... it's the perfect "starter" home for this family that's lived in lots of homes before finally buying their own! Big milestones in this house include Zach's first steps and Eliot's first bike ride. We look forward to making many wonderful memories in this home, and hopefully it will be many years before we even have to think about finding home number eight!!

Play set!

You know you're a parent when your eagerly awaited tax return goes toward ... nope, not updating kitchen appliances or replacing your beat-up, ugly kitchen tiles with beautiful new hardwood, but instead, a play set for the kids. And although my huge list of projects in the house will have to wait just a bit longer, I am giddy over this little outdoor oasis for the boys. And as much as I might claim this project wasn't "for me," I'd be lying, because having a fenced-in mini park in my own backyard is going to be heavenly! I can send the kids out to play and run off all their little boy energy without having to worry, because I can see them from my kitchen and family room windows. Hurray!! After years of rental living and never having an outdoor play space of our own, this is a long-awaited luxury! We are really excited with how it turned out, and even more excited that we were able to get the products we chose after doing quite a bit of research, all within budget. The set we chose was a Lifetime set that Costco.com was offering. We went to their store in Orem, and they offered us the same deal without having to worry about shipping. Perfect.

Here's the set, in the northeast corner of the year (where the garden was, for those who've been to our house). I'm not a huge green thumb, so a planter box or two will work great for me! The mulch we chose was rubber mulch, and that's probably my favorite part (seriously!). It was pricey, but I think well worth it. My dad's a Risk Manager by profession, and he really pushed for that product if we could afford it. It's by far the best as far as injury prevention (and we do have two rascally boys ...). Besides that, we won't have to worry about bugs, decay, or splinters. The only down side we've found so far is that it can stain clothes (no white or fancy clothes allowed!).

Mr. Z's favorite element is his swing. One of the special Costco offers was that it came with this bonus bucket seat. He would swing and giggle all day if I let him!

 

Eliot showing off his daredevil slide tricks. The slide is a bumpy one, and it's fast! I went down it and got a bit of a rush, and the kids really get good speed! Good thing we sprung for the rubber mulch!

 

The little playhouse at the top is darling and full of fun activities. There's a chalkboard with painted tic-tac-toe, hangman, etc., a captain's steering wheel, working binoculars, and imprinted stars on the inside roof. I envision lots of picnic lunches and special "boys only" meetings up there in the coming years!

I honestly think the set was worth every penny we spent and every hour of hard work. Our awesome neighbor helped dig out the yard with some of his heavy machinery, Grant and I laid the weed guard and plastic edging, Grant's dad helped us build the set (in literally freezing weather, no less!), and my parents helped us lay the mulch. Each step took longer and was way more work than we anticipated, but listening to the boys squeal and seeing them play with their friends and cousins has been priceless! Next time you're in the neighborhood, come play with us!