This morning, as I was just about to sit down and finally blog about our Utah trip, Levi decided to fall against the kitchen counter and split his chin open just one cm from the scar he got a month ago when he tripped and fell against a cement step and cracked his chin open.  He should have gotten stitches then, but it was not gaping, so we didn’t take him in.  It healed fine, but he got a scar on his chin to add to his collection.  Today, thanks to his impeccable balance and agility, Levi took his second trip to the ER in less than two years to get six more stitches… and ANOTHER scar on his face.  That is a grand total of 22 stitches and  FOUR scars on his beautiful little face in less than two years. Two of which happened only one month apart.   I’m telling you, this kid is cursed.  And just in case that’s not it, I’ll be taking him to the doctor so they can check his depth perception!!!!!! 

And now you’ll have to wait till tomorrow for the Utah blog posts. 

We spent a week and a half with my parents in Washington and had a great time.   Here’s what we did;

 
Airplane ride to WA. 

Sarin and I flew with all 4 kids to Chicago and then on to Seattle.  In Newark we managed to get everyone through security, onto the plane and buckled when the captain came on and said, “Just kidding!  We won’t be leaving for an hour because of thunderstorms in Chicago.”   So there we sat.  And sat.  And sat.   The heat was almost unbearable for about 20 minutes and I was just about to to haul them all off the plane again when someone above took pity on me and convinced the flight attendants to turn on the ac even though they were not cleared to.  And once again, the wonders of modern technology saved me while we waited for the plane to take off.  

Chicago was a mess once we finally landed.  All the gates were switched around and the departure times delayed so we sat all four kids down on the floor in front of McDonald’s to feed them a quick lunch.   One of them (they still won’t admit who) stuck gum on the glass of the moving walkway, while the others rubbed their greasy fingers all over the glass and the hand rest of the walkway before I could stop them.  My apologies go out to all the Chicago airport travelers that day for our little germ fest and to the employee who got to clean up after us.  Turns out we very nearly missed our plane due to all the confusion, but it was my lucky day and we managed to get on our plane just in time.  It is written in the great book of Mothering that all mothers must have  an airport/airplane horror story.  So far, I’ve managed to escape such a fate, but I can’t see that lasting forever with my little brood.  When it does happen, though, I’m sure it will make for a great blog post.

While in WA we celebrated Cade’s 7th birthday.



Cade’s two loves, LEGO’s and drawing

We also went to Duvall to visit all of our wonderful friends we miss so much.  Reagan and his little friend, Sydney have known each other since they were 6 months old.  They saw each other at least 3 times a week their whole lives until we moved away.  They were the best of friends.  But this year Reagan decided girls were yucky.  On his door he would put up signs that said no girls allowed (except for Mom and Sydney).  But I knew it might be a little weird for him at first when he saw Syd again.  Sure enough, he hid from her or ran from her for the first 30 minutes we were at the park with them.  But they finally warmed up to each other and were inseparable the rest of the day.  We ended our day in Duvall at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Ixtapa.  Oh how we missed Ixtapa!!!!  You can’t get good Mexican food in NJ!
 


We love Ixtapa!

Even Liberty had a good time!

We helped out in the yard while at Grandma and Grandpa’s.

Liberty dressed up in her prettiest dress to impress the Aunts!

We also took the boys to see Mt. Rainier!  It was a perfect day and the kids did well even though it was a long day.

My very favorite view of Mt. Rainier 

Liberty did fantastic and even got in a nap (with a little help).  Her head kept flopping down so Rock finally took pity on her and held it up.

Our last stop at Mt. Rainier was the Grove of the Patriarchs.  A beautiful old growth forest.

Cool Roots!

Favorite picture of the day (sorry it’s blurry)

Hug a tree 

Thus ended our Mt. Rainier trip.  It was a great day with no major mishaps.  And I think we made Grandpa’s year by going up to the mountain.

One funny ‘Reaganism’ from this trip before I end this post.  At dinner one night, Reagan was, as always, asking questions and Grandpa said, “Reagan, I think they’re just going to put a ? on your tombstone.” Puzzled, Reagan, asked, “Why?” 
When everyone burst into laughter he asked, “What’s so funny?” 
Sigh.  At least his  personality is consistent!

We had a great time in WA and the boys were very sad to leave it again.  We sure do miss our friends and family there! 

Libby had lots of fun with her Aunts and they in turn had a lot of fun taking her picture.


At least when they were watching her…ahem….

We love you Alli and Sarin! Thank you for coming to play with us for a month! We will miss you!

I have been planning for the day when I could take my Liberty to the Statue of Liberty since the day we decided on her name a year and a half ago, and though it was a little anti-climatic (Liberty wasn’t overly excited to meet her namesake.  Go fig) it was still a day to remember.

“The Statue of Libby!” as Levi likes to say

Little Meets Big

Not a very good picture… but it was the best we could do.  Alli had to practically lay on the ground to get this one.

We had a fun ferry ride


Even though it was very hot!



We waved to Dad at work,

took lots of pictures,

resisted the urge to buy Liberty her first Barbie Doll for $50.00, (and a million other gift store paraphernalia that said “Liberty” on it)

And ended our very hot day with the best souvenir money could buy,

Ice cream!

 
G’night sweet girl!

Liberty Turns 1
We celebrated Libby’s birthday at Aunt Susie and Uncle Mark’s house in Syracuse, New York. 
Pink is Perfect!
What’s more appropriate than a PINK cake for our girl?  My sisters tried to dissuade me, but I was determined. 
(BTW, I think I have 3 other ridiculous pictures of myself blowing out a candle for a 1 year old)

Disdain
Unfortunately she is now the 2nd of our children who was not impressed with cake.  Sigh. 

At one, Liberty is a sweet tempered happy baby girl.  She loves her brothers, especially Levi and loves her parents, especially Dad.  She is stubborn in her own way and refuses to lay down while you change her diaper and refuses to let anyone feed her. She has to do it herself.  She is endlessly patient it seems, for which I’m very grateful.  She’s not talking or walking yet, for which I’m also grateful!  But she has mastered the small set of stairs in our house and is pulling herself up on the furniture now.  I love her little red curls and her blue blue eyes.   
We love you sweet baby girl.  You are such a joy in our lives. 

Grandma Wesel
We also got to spend some time with my Grandma Wesel while we were in Palmyra.  She was very interested in who looked the most like her.  We decided that Sarin wins.


Hymas Girls

Wesel Girls

Kindred Spirits 

Free Ride

Picture if you will for a moment,  a small nursing home room with two very old people in it.  Walkers, wheelchairs and stacks of books line the walls.  Not much room to move around, right?  Then picture 6 more people trying to cram themselves into the room, three of which are little boys who have just spent several hours in the car.  Yes, I know it was a recipe for disaster, but we did it anyway.  This picture of Cade was taken just before he launched himself onto the bed, bumping Grandpa George’s recently replaced knees.  George was reading at the time and hollered out so loud it gave us all a heart attack and I thought for sure he’d had a real one.  On closer inspection we found that he had been mostly startled and only slightly hurt.  At times like that I would like to know what is running through a child’s head just before they do something like that.   They were told in no uncertain terms to behave themselves,  to be very quiet, still, etc.  But just like you never think to tell them “Don’t eat the Dandelions, I never thought to say, “And remember, don’t try to fly and launch yourself into the air over a very old man.”   I think I have Calvin and Hobbes to thank for such moments.  But I suppose that’s backwards.  We have Calvin and Hobbes BECAUSE all little boys think like that.  
At any rate, I was mortified, and Cade was banished from the room. Rock was in the car trying to sleep in preparation for our long drive home that night and the girls and I needed to visit with Grandma so no one could take the kids out of the tiny room even though they were past ready to leave.  I figured the nurses didn’t get paid for childcare, so  that’s when I decided to pull out the iphone games.  Angry Birds is very handy in moments of desperation.
My dad later asked George how the visit went and George told him that our kids were very “rugged”.  When leaving the nursing home that day, “rugged” was not on the list of adjectives I would have used to the describe them.

Tired yet?  I sure was.  We didn’t stop to catch our breath once while the girls were here!  Next we took Alli and Sarin up to Syracuse and Palmyra to visit family and see the church sights. 

The Sacred Grove


Every time I look at this picture I think, “Wow, that’s a lot of legs.” 
 

There is a wonderful story in the Friend magazine about two little girls who couldn’t be reverent in primary.  So their primary leader took them to a butterfly farm to teach them the concept of being still and quiet so the butterflies could land on them.  She taught them that to feel the spirit we must be reverent in the same way.  My kids and I just heard this story in primary a few weeks ago.  So imagine our surprise when Alli and Sarin came out of the grove and told us about their special visitors….

Rock and I wanted to spend some quiet time with each of the older boys in the grove to let them feel the spirit of the place without their brothers distracting them. (smile)  So we told them about the girl’s butterfly visitors and then we each took a boy through the grove to share our testimonies with them.  Thanks to the butterflies, they were very reverent and still.  Cade kept his little arms folded the whole time I was with him.  We then met in the middle and switched boys.  It was a very special experience that I hope they remember. 

The Hill Cumorah Pageant
I LOVE the Hill Cumorah Pageant and have been counting the days till I could take my kids to see it. 

The Stage with the Hill Cumorah in the background

We got pictures of the boys with their favorite Book of Mormon Heroes

Reagan and Nephi

Cade Moroni and Moroni

Levi with Nephite Warrriors

Jesus comes to the Nephites

The boys know their Book of Mormon stories so well that they noticed the Ammon story wasn’t in pageant and were bummed about that.  I think they were really looking forward to seeing him cut off some arms.  And during the Waters of Mormon scene when Alma baptizes his first convert, Cade leaned over to me and said, “That’s Helam!”  I was duly impressed!  
It was wonderful to see Pageant again!  I’m going to start prepping the boys now to be on the Work Crew someday!!!

Every summer Central Park does free, high quality Shakespeare plays with big name actors in it that Rock has been dying to go to.  So Alli and Sarin helped me surprise him with one.  It was tough to work the logistics and even tougher to keep it a secret, but we did it!

Throughout the day he received the following Shakespeare quotes: (with a few cheesy lines of my own)

She’s beautiful, and therefore to be wooed; She is woman, and therefore to be won.

They are in the very wrath of love, and they will go together. Clubs cannot part them

For where thou art, there is the world itself, And where thou art not, desolation

Come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy , That one short minute gives me in her sight

I would not wish any companion in the world but you…

If thou wilt but show thy love, meet your lady at the top of the Belvedere Castle this night when the clock striketh 6:45.

Did my heart love till now? Forswear, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.

Lovers ever run before the clock.

Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast. 
         Noteth thou that my lady in waiting twill be present.

Then Sarin stayed home with the kids and Alli, who was dying to see Shakespeare too, went with me into the city to meet Rock. 

My lady in waiting and I on the train to NYC.

While Alli stood in line for our tickets…..

(So happy she got a ticket.)

I went up to the Belvedere castle to meet Romeo.
Juliet finds her Romeo

We enjoyed a very well done version of All’s Well That Ends Well.  There were several recognizable actors, but the one I recognized the most was from one of my favorite movies, Runaway Bride. 
Fun night!

Levi reached that momentous milestone of 3 1/2 this month and so we took him to…. the Hibachi Steakhouse!!!

Catching food in your mouth! 
Rock’s face is my personal favorite of this picture.  You don’t see that look very often on my husband’s face.

Dad’s turn.

Just little bit nervous.

Levi opted for the cat.

He also chose to skewer his food with the chopsticks and stick it in his mouth that way.

Happy Half Birthday, Levi!

Time for some more catch up.

We started our Fourth of July by having a patriotic breakfast and dressing up in our most patriotic duds.

Pop Tarts with stars! Yummy!

Daughters of Liberty.
I could not pass this shirt up when I saw it in Philadelphia. On the back it says Philadelphia 1776. It’s perfect not only because my daughter’s name is Liberty but because I think Liberty is so important I named my daughter Liberty!
Her shirt says Red, White and Cute! And it’s not just talking about her hair!

Then we went to a flag raising ceremony and listened to a reading of the Declaration of Independence.

This is the Continental flag because this was one of the places it was first flown-by Washington’s troops.

The kids were a little more interested in other things…..

but we took them for the patriotic exposure and we plan on doing it again every year!

Next we drove to Washington’s Crossing where…you guessed it, George Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night 1776. There we heard the Declaration AGAIN! This time it was a little more fun to listen to our reader…


After the reading, this Patriot did a musket demonstration for us. The boys were in awe.

No, Rock is not becoming a polygamist. This is just the really cute picture Alli took at the end of the day that Rock messed up by looking back at the wrong moment and by swinging his hand just right so that it looks like he’s holding Sarin’s hand too. lol.

You would think we finished off our all American Fourth of July with a barbecue and a good fireworks show. But no. We were all plum out of patriotic steam by the end of the day so we opted for a quick and easy dinner at IHOP, put the kids to bed early and watched a great British film instead.


Nothin like Swedish Pancakes and some P & P on the Fourth! God Bless the USA!

Sunday we attended the tiny branch here on the island for church.  It was one of the neatest experiences of my life.  People who’ve been on a mission in other countries, especially developing countries know what it’s like to attend a meeting like this, but for me it was a first and I loved every second.
First, a picture of what the building looked like. 

We walked in and were greeted by a wonderful local man who barely spoke English, but had a welcoming gentle smile as he shook our hands.  Then we sat down in the little chapel that was no bigger than a typical stake center multi-purpose room.  The prelude music came from a keyboard playing hymns on auto play.  The hymn numbers were listed on a standard issue board, but they had two hymn numbers per song.  One for the English hymnal and one for the French.  Sunlight streamed in through arched windows with bars on them and ceiling fans spun above our heads to keep out the oppressive heat.  The opening hymn was sung in many languages, haltingly played by a woman doing her very best and a congregation trying to do theirs.  It was the slowest I’ve ever heard or sung the hymns, but it was Wonderful.  It was wonderful to see these people on a little island in the ocean faithfully doing their best to sing hymns to our Heavenly Father.  It was priceless.  I looked around the room at such different people than I’m used to seeing in a church meeting.  Such varying colors of skin and tongue.  And I was overwhelmed by the truthfulness of the gospel.  I’m so grateful to be a member of this church.  To be able to go anywhere in the world and gather with fellow saints and to hear their testimonies of the savior and his power to change and heal and to know it is the same as mine.  And I’m so grateful for faithful missionaries who willingly come to the ends of the earth to find these people and teach them the truth.  Another great experience I’ll never forget!

When we came home, we found this little guy above our door!

He scurried down the wall, between my feet and out the door, but not before we caught a picture of him. He was no bigger than 2 inches!

Sunday night we went to Anacaona, another romantic restaurant on the beach.  This time we got to watch the sunset and it was beautiful!  I’ve never seen the sun set into the ocean before.  It was a bright orange fiery ball all the way down!


Studly Rock

There was live saxophone music and the food was the best we’ve had yet. It was a perfect ending to our perfect trip!

One last picture before we left the island.

And when we got home tonight, these four cute kids were waiting for us! 

They are holding the gifts we brought them.  Hanging Howler monkeys that… howl. 

After we got home, Levi, Rock and I were sitting at the table and I gave Levi a hug and kiss again and told him how much I missed him.  I asked if he missed me.  He said, “Yes.” and then waved his hand nonchalantly over towards Rock and said, “I missed him too.”