Let's Play Music Recital!

Eliot participated in a music program called Let's Play Music this year. A good friend of mine discovered the program when she was living back east, and loved it so much that she became a teacher when there weren't any classes offered in her area when she moved to Arizona. It's a program started by a BYU Music graduate who wanted to tap into that amazing age when kids have such a natural ability to learn languages and music. From her own experience, kids in that preschool window of 4-6 are still too small to reach the pedals and stretch those little fingers wide enough to play the piano, so she wanted to start a program that would teach kids the foundations of music theory in a fun, interactive way when their minds are such great little sponges. The result was the Let's Play Music program, and though my friend had told me great things about it, I was blown away by what Eliot learned over the year! One of the neatest things about the program is that parents get to attend every other week with their child, which provides built-in one-on-one time to interact with your child. Together we learned the Solfeggio signs (something only my A.P. Music/Music Major friends learned by I never did in my 11 years of piano lessons and 4 years of violin lessons), we were introduced to four different classical pieces through amazing, fun puppet shows, and, though he doesn't realize it, learned how to read notes on the staff! He can even find the pitch for "Do" (middle C) without hearing it first, and knows several different rhythms. Cool, huh!?  The program will last three years, and then he'll be more than prepared to start private piano lessons. All I can say is "Wow!"

The recital was a little crazy (which happens when you have 30+ kids ages 3-8 all together in front of a large crowd!) and didn't fully reflect the kids' abilities. I think they got their first dose of stage fright (another skill I'm glad to see Eliot learn -- how to remain composed in front of a large group and perform under pressure), along with a fair amount of silliness and distraction, but even still, it was so cute to see them show off their impressive musical skills! This is Eliot clapping and singing "You Can't Bug Me" which taught the kids several different kinds of notes/rhythms like quarter, eighth, sixteenth, half notes, etc. It was one of the kids' favorite songs all year! 

 

With Miss Alicia, his teacher. We sure loved her enthusiasm for music and patience with her group of almost all boys. We had lots of wiggly days, but a ton of fun, too!

Eliot performing on the bells with two other classmates.

 

With Cousin Mikey, one of many family members who came to support Mr. Eliot!

 

The grand finale number, "Do, Re, Mi" (from Sound of Music ... but that's not where "do, re, mi" originated -- those are the basis of the Solfeggio names and hand signs that help develop perfect pitch). Took Eliot a while to want to join in on making the hand signs!

Happy ... Spring?

It wouldn't be Utah if we didn't get at least one freak snow storm well past the start of Spring ... but on the first day of May is a little ridiculous! It was beautiful, even if it did freeze a lot of my peach blossoms. :(

And because it's Utah, we usually rebound pretty quickly and get plenty of beautiful warm days with gorgeous blossoms ...

Loving this new yard of ours and that there's always something in bloom!

It's in Their Genes ...

Little Zach's middle name is Bryce, after my dad. We're learning more and more what a fitting name choice that was -- everything from the hair that flips in the back to his strong will, from his stance when he stands, to a new stance we discovered last week -- his golf stance! I grumblingly (yes, it's a word) obliged to a mini golf outing with cousins, not super excited or hopeful for how it would go based on past experiences. To my complete surprise, Zach was mesmerized by the experience!  He had a very "me do it" attitude the whole time, but let me show him how to hold the club, and he even made two holes in one! Seriously! Looks like he's truly his grandpa's namesake!

Eliot takes after his "Peppy" (Grandpa McEuen) in different ways. He shares Peppy's avid love of reading and devours books almost as quickly as my dad does. He also loves to ride horses, which probably comes from those McEuen cattle rancher genes, too! At Farm Country last week, Eliot unabashedly chose the biggest horse and grinned the whole time he rode. Looks like Lehi's getting into his blood!

And as for this inherited trait, I won't mention that my dad's spent a night (or more?) in jail ... I was of course referring to my Dad's and Grant's connection to helping keep people out of jail! Right?

 

No matter what ways my boys take after my dad, I' m proud to have them inherit some of his traits! We've been learning some really need things about family history in our ward lately, including this quote shared by our home teacher, "Hearts before charts," meaning that we have to turn children's hearts to their fathers before they will truly gain the desire to fill out pedigree charts and do the "work" of family history. Brother Brown has shared with us some very touching videos exemplifying how stories about our family and ancestors is what turns our hearts to them and plants within us the desire to perform their temple work.  I want my boys to know about their grandparents and relatives so that they can better understand themselves, even if it's the simple interests and skills they inherited -- their passion for golf, their love of horses, their interest in the law ... these are all things that have been passed down to them and make them who they are.

"For the Joy of Human Love"

It was on my mission when I first heard the hauntingly beautiful melody of the Irish folk song, "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms." My companion had been sent a video copy of President Gordon B. Hinckley's 90th Birthday Celebration, and Jennie Oaks Baker performed the song on her violin in remembrance of President Hinckley's mission to the British Isles and his love for the people and culture there. As a former violinist, I was enthralled by the beauty of the song, and remembered that performance for years after. I have since collected many of Jennie Oaks Baker's albums, including her greatest hits, which includes "Believe Me ...".  It wasn't until recently that I learned the lyrics and the touching story behind the song. Gerald N. Lund includes the lyrics, along with the widely accepted story behind the folk song, in one of his The Work and the Glory novels. The message of the lyrics rang so true and sweet to me, and knowing the words that match the beautiful melody adds depth to the song.

"Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms" 

by Thomas Moore

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,

Which I gaze on so fondly today,

Were to change by tomorrow and fleet in my arms,

Like fairy gifts fading away,

Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,

Let thy loveliness fade as it will;

And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart

Would entwine itself verdantly still.

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,

And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,

That the fervor and faith of a soul can be known,

To which time will but make thee more dear.

No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,

But as truly loves on to the close:

As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets

The same look which she turned when he rose.

Wikipedia summarized the story behind the song almost exactly how Elder Lund told it, so I'm going to trust it on this one: "It is said that after [Irish poet] Thomas Moore's wife contracted smallpox, she refused to let herself be seen by anyone, even her husband, due to the disfiguring effects of the disease to the skin on her body, and because she believed he could not love her after her face had been so badly scarred. Despairing at her confinement, Moore composed the lyrics of this song to reassure her that he would always love her regardless of her appearance. He wrote later that after hearing him sing to her from outside her bedroom door, she finally allowed him inside and fell into his arms, her confidence restored."

I think in each of us lies the longing for this kind of love -- love that is lasting and independent of beauty and all other external factors. I believe that kind of love is God-given, and that pure, eternal love is at the heart of God's power. It is the purpose behind our life on this earth and the motivating force to form and preserve families. A few years ago, I read a beautiful book by Bruce C. Hafen called "Covenant Hearts." Grant and I read it together in preparation for a family book club. We each had our own copies, and we would read and discuss as we read. My copy is marked with brackets and stars and notes in the margins. My favorite part of the book is the last chapter, which recounts journal entries of Elder Hafen's great-grandparents, John and Therissa Clark (a modified version of this chapter was printed as an article in the Liahona magazine during the time I was working there. I remember tearing up as I read over a mock-up layout that I was to deliver to Elder Hafen's office for approval. It is a beautiful, touching account if you have a moment to read it). In his journal, John writes of a day in which the two, by then in their final years of life, had been visited by friends and family and then left to themselves at the end of the day. He writes of his deep love for his wife and says writes as though speaking to her, "Where you are is home." His Therissa adds to his entry a few years later, just after his death, expressing her deep sorrow over his loss, and says, "I am only content at home were I feel that he is watching over me, his presence always with me."

I admit I have much to learn about marriage and the kind of love so eloquently described by the poet Thomas Moore. I know I have many more years of effort and sacrifice ahead of me before my love for Grant will be as deep and tested as the love shared between John and Therissa Clark. But there have been moments when I have had glimpses of a love that is so deep and profound there's barely room to hold it in my heart. Certainly as I knelt across an alter in the Salt Lake City temple on a crystal-clear November morning. Definitely as I held each of my newborn sons in my arms and marveled at the sacred privilege of being a parent, side by side with my loving, good husband. And maybe just as much so or even more so in the unseen moments of struggle and strife, in those private hours of receiving a priesthood blessing of comfort for heartaches known only to me, Grant, God, and the Savior. In the hours when Grant has held me close to try to bring peace to my troubled soul, or in the moments when he doubted his ability to get through the rigors of law school or keep up with the pressures of his job.  I think it is those moments that inspire lines like "It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,/ And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,/ That the fervor and faith of a soul can be known,/ To which time will but make thee more dear." It is those moments that prove true Elder Hafen's teaching that "the most sanctifying experiences of our spiritual lives should also be the most demanding experiences. ... Marriage and family life are among God's chief institutions for perfecting us, often through painful, incredibly demanding experience. No wonder we cannot be exalted without being married, because marriage is such a potent laboratory for helping us develop Christian character."

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above, 
For all gentle thoughts and mild,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.
("For the Beauty of the Earth" Hymns, no. 92)

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!

Easter

I love Easter. I love the tender spirit that comes with reflecting on the Savior, His life, death, and Resurrection. I love the music of Easter. I love welcoming in springtime and new life. I love celebrating with family with delicious meals, and yes, I love the treats! This year we offered to host Easter for the Dickinson family because 1) we have the perfect yard for hiding eggs with all the landscaping, and 2) we just put in a play set that we wanted the cousins to help us initiate! We celebrated on Saturday, and it was a lot of fun, and a beautiful day. The Easter Bunny himself even made a surprise appearance! We had our usual kids' and adults' egg hunts, and for the second year in a row, I struck gold! (Well, actually, this year I got the silver egg ...) Yay!

Grant's sister Gaylyn made a very playful Easter Bunny!

 

Eliot wanted in on the dressing up action!

 

Me and my sister-in-law Brenda with our boys, along with the Easter Bunny holding sweet baby Brooklyn. Notice Z keeping his distance. He hates costume characters! Cried his eyes out when he met Mickey and Santa, and wanted nothing to do with the Easter Bunny. 

 

I quickly snatched up offering to make desserts so I would have the excuse to make my favorite carrot cake and try out some new Our Best Bites cupcake ideas ... which, if I do say so myself, turned out darling!

 

LOVED this idea from Our Best Bites, and it made the perfect visiting teaching treat! Little egg cartons (a dozen size cut in half) with their adorable printout, filled with mini cupcakes ... so cute! And I was so glad I found the gummy carrots at Target so I didn't have to make my own like they do at OBB. I did not have time to be rolling out Starbursts and cutting up Twizzlers!!

On Easter morning, it didn't take Zach long to figure out that the eggs were filled with candy. He could care less about looking for hidden eggs, so long as we kept opening the ones he found (or that Eliot found) and giving him jelly beans ... I have only myself to blame for his sweet tooth!

 

 Eliot was perfectly content to take advantage of his brother's distraction with the candy and rake in all the loot ... 

 

Mr. Reader Eliot kept getting distracted by the new books he and Zach got in their baskets. I try to keep Easter pretty simple, but the boys always get a new book, along with a needed item (this year Eliot got a replacement watch, since the one he got at Christmas went through the wash and broke, and Zach got a new pair of sunglasses). In my basket this year, I got a new CD of primary songs I wanted, a bottle of bright nailpolish, and a new scarf. I had a hard time thinking of things for Grant's basket, so I gave him cash in an egg ... which I think he was more than happy with!

 We had contemplated skipping dyeing eggs this year since we had so much going with hosting the family party, but Eliot would not have it! This and watching the movie "Hop" are two of his favorite traditions!

 I always loved getting a new dress at Easter when I was a little girl, and I adore dressing up my boys on Easter! These little blazer jacket and tie outfits I found were too irresistible! There were only a few left by the time I got to them, but they had my boys' sizes! Little pinstripe shirts, gold buttons, and bright green ties ... be still my heart!

 

 We were a wee bit late to church because of this photo shoot, but I knew I only had one chance at getting them with their entire ensembles in tact and hair freshly combed!

I really liked holding most of the festivities on Saturday, because it gave us the chance to make Sunday more relaxed and focused on Christ. Boiled eggs made for a quick breakfast, everyone's crashed out for naps as I type, and we will warm up some yummy leftovers for dinner. After dinner, we will do my favorite Easter activity, going on our "Easter Walk," based on this sweet book we received from my mother-in-law a few years back.

It's an active, interesting way to teach little ones about the true meaning of Easter, and the touching story makes me cry every time. I feel the power of the promise of the Resurrection every time we read it, and I love the opportunity it gives us as parents to testify of Christ and all that He has done and all that He means to us. Happy Easter, everyone! Hope yours was filled with joy!

You Tell on Yourself

My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Cornell, is one of the people who most influenced my love of literature, especially poetry. She had a deep passion for poetry, and had us commit to memory several poems, and not just of the Shel Silverstein sort. Some of the ones I remember most are Joyce Kilmer's "Trees" (which runs through my mind every time I drive through Oregon and see the lush green skyline), Joaquin Miller's "Columbus" (her other great passion was American History, particularly the story of Columbus), along with several passages from the scriptures, including 2 Nephi 9:41, which we repeated together on our last day of class with her (I attended a private LDS elementary school, of which Mrs. Cornell was the director).  I attended her funeral a few summers ago, and it was a joy and a privilege to celebrate the life of such an amazing, bright, passionate woman, a woman who influenced so many lives through her great gift of teaching. It is a testament to her abilities and to the power of words, especially when joined with music or poetic verse, that over 20 years later, lines of the poems she taught me in her 5th grade classroom, still pop into my mind. This morning, I found myself thinking through the stanzas of this wonderful poem:

Tell On Yourself... 

You tell on yourself by the friends you seek, 

By the very manner in which you speak, 

By the way you employ your leisure time, 

By the use you make of dollar and dime. 



You tell what you are by the things you wear, 

By the spirit in which you your burdens bear; 

By the kind of things at which you laugh, 

By the records you play on the phonograph. 



You tell what you are by the way you walk; 

By the things of which you delight to talk, 

By the manner in which you bear defeat, 

By so simple a thing as how you eat. 



By the books you choose from the well-filled shelf, 

In these ways and more, you tell on yourself; 

So there's really no particle of sense 

In an effort to keep up false pretense. 

Jamie Sidwell

Coloring

We go through a lot of coloring pages at our house. Eliot didn't show interest in coloring for a long time, but over the past year or so, it has become one of his favorite indoor activities. And since Zach needs to be one of the big kids and do everything brother does, he recently wanted in on the action, too. I thought he'd do a couple scribbles and get bored, but no. He sat for almost a full half hour, switching out crayons and coloring happily away. He seemed to instinctively know that he's supposed to color where the images are and not just all over the page. Smarty pants.

 Why are little hands with chunky crayons so cute?!

I love this one of him lying on his tummy!

And then there's detail-oriented Eliot. I got him a giant box of crayons for Christmas, and he has become meticulous about color selection ... maybe to a fault. He got so upset about the notion of finishing a coloring project from preschool without the exact same crayons that Ms. Jen has, Ms. Jen gave him his own pack of "her" crayons to keep at home. And don't worry that his 96-count pack is organized by color (that's my boy!). 

 Disney Junior characters, especially Jake and the Neverland Pirates are some of our favorites!

 

I also love seeing Eliot's original drawings. This is one he brought home from church recently:

It's the story of the First Vision. See if you can follow the story from top left corner to bottom right corner: Joseph in the woods, the light appearing, Heavenly Father and Jesus appearing to him (top right corner, kind of hard to see, but Jesus has a red robe), then the darkness when they disappear, and then Joseph going to tell his dad what happened.

Some of my favorite times are when Eliot asks me to sit down and color with him (I do love to color!), and we sit side-by-side and work on our waxy masterpieces together. Every now and then I'll draw a word or two of praise from Eliot, and he'll ask me what I think of his work. So cute.

Provo Tabernacle Temple ... Unbelievable

Take a look at the most recent progress on the Provo City Center Temple ... this is unreal!

Thank goodness for a tall hubby! Since almost the entire site is fenced off with construction fencing, only Grant's height made this vantage point possible!

 

They have literally dug out underneath the old Tabernacle, and have the entire framework (now fortified from the inside by a cement layer -- you can see it through the windows) is supported on scaffolding. It is unbelievable, especially when you see it in person! I have been bugging Grant for months to make sure to tell me if anything new is happening at the construction site (the court in Provo is just a block away from the old Tabernacle, and I'm never down there ... so I'm counting on him for updates!), and he kept shrugging and saying there wasn't much going on. Then I saw this aerial shot
 the other day on Facebook of the supported structure, and Grant was in the dog house! (Not really. :) I am so grateful we were able to catch this in person before it gets filled in. It was a landmark point in the temple's progress, for sure!

 Nope, not tepees! In the northeast corner of the temple lot sit the spires (is that the right word?) to the original Tabernacle, which I'm guessing they're hoping to preserve. Again, amazing since you can see obvious  fire damage on most of them. Could this process be any more miraculous?!

Tracking the boys' growth as we watch the temple's progress! We were so glad the builders left a few gaps in the mostly covered-up construction fencing around the lot. It's kind of funny/scary to watch the heavy traffic on University Avenue slow in those couple spots so the passengers/drivers can catch a glimpse!

 Mom and Dad, too! Photo courtesy of Eliot.

We can't wait! But watching the process is pretty amazing!

I just marvel at this temple construction. The construction of any temple is a miracle, but this labor of love seems a little extra monumental! The effort the Church is going to in order to preserve this historical building is inspiring. I cannot imagine being the engineers and construction crew entrusted with this very delicate project. Every time I am on the site, I can't help but get teary-eyed. This place means so much to us, and this process is just incredible to be a part of! Here's an article detailing more specifics of the temple's construction.

The Boy's Got Moves

I have tried, but have been unable, to explain Zach's dance moves. You have to see it for yourself. I should also explain that Eliot's ape-like crawling around is him acting like Tarzan (since the music is from Tarzan). We love ourselves a little dance party from time to time ...