We had a little miracle the week of spring break.  Most of you would not consider it a miracle.  No one’s life was miraculously saved (though I do have a new blog post to write about recent Levi accidents).  But it was a miracle nonetheless.

We had Family Home Evening that week all together.  Again, to you, that would seem like nothing out of the ordinary, but this is a risk we don’t often take anymore, preferring to split up the kids and do two separate FHE’s because when all our kids are together, they fight.  It is inevitable.  We have tried everything to fix that, but we finally decided to accept reality.  Since no one can learn or bond in that kind of setting, we split them up and it has helped a lot.  But last week we decided to do something special together for spring break and play Ticket to Ride, a very long, somewhat complicated board game.  And… “wonder of wonders, miracle miracle” there was no fighting.  The entire night.  We played for over two hours and everyone was happy, considerate and showed good sportsmanship.  We ate popcorn.  No one complained about getting less than someone else.  We stopped the game at one point to watch a big thunderstorm.  We pulled up all the blinds and sat in the dark together counting the seconds from lightning to thunder.  No one pushed or shoved to get a better look out the window. The older ones calmed the fears of the younger.  And then we went back to playing our game.  No one cried, there were no accusations of cheating.  It was perfect.  This is what it could be like??!

Every once in a while we get a moment like this in our family.  It doesn’t happen a whole lot because of the different personalities and issues we have, but it did two weeks ago and I had to write this one down.  I consider it a blessing from Heavenly Father.  A tender mercy for which I am very very grateful.  It almost makes up for the days like yesterday when we spend all weekend listening to our church leaders telling us to be nice to each other and then our kids spend the two hours following conference fighting over who should have to clean up the gigantic mess they made while listening to our church leaders tell us to be nice to each other.
Thank you, Elder Holland, for preparing me for the inevitable.

Reagan has a talent for writing.  I have been telling him this for years, but a teacher at school finally convinced him.  She thought his poetry was good enough to enter into a writing contest.  So he entered the following poem into the Idaho Scholastic Arts and Writing competition a few months ago.

Over the river,
Ripples to bring;
While dancing in lilies,
It seems to sing.

Whistles down canyons,
Howls in caves;
Then falls to the sea,
And makes the waves.

Floats ‘cross the mountains,
Shoots through the plains;
The violin plays,
No note it gains.

How ’tis like a song
Whipping through trees;
They go where they
The notes of the breeze.

He won an Honorable Mention!  Once we got to the awards ceremony, we realized it was more like 3rd place.  We’re super proud of him!

Cade participated in the National History Day competition last month.  He made a documentary about Apollo 13 for his project and won a 4th place ribbon for it at the two district competition!  It took months of work and he did it almost completely on his own.  Rock and I were happily surprised at how good it was for a first time documentarian.  You can watch his 10 minute documentary here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbKKoGjp688

Levi was in his first Pinewood Derby this month.  Like his brothers before him he made his first car into his favorite animal, the fox.  Meet “Fast Fox”.  
         

He won exactly one race, which is all a mother can hope for.  That way there are no tears when he doesn’t win fastest overall.  
           

And not to be out done by her brothers, Liberty lost her first tooth a few weeks ago, beating all her brothers for youngest tooth loser.

She ended up “losing” her lost tooth and was so distraught the tooth fairy might not be able to come that she took desperate measures.

Rock and I have finally decided where we are going to use our Christmas gift from his parents!  We are going to France and England!!!  He finally convinced me to go to Paris when he showed me the chateaux we can tour near there.

 

This year for Christmas Rock and I gave the kids experiences instead of toys.  I gave Liberty tickets to the Nutcracker ballet and the boys got tickets to the Piano Guys concert.  Liberty’s gift happened before Christmas, but the Piano Guys concert just happened this month.  So now I can blog about them all!

 
Part of the fun was getting all dressed up.

On February 6th, I took the boys to their concert.  Dream come true!  It was so fun to see their faces light up as they laughed at the crazy antics of their favorite musicians.  For those who have never seen a Piano Guys video, here are a few of our favorites:

http://thepianoguys.com/portfolio/cello-wars-star-wars-parody-lightsaber-duel/
http://thepianoguys.com/portfolio/rockelbels-canon-pachelbels-canon-in-d/
http://thepianoguys.com/portfolio/kung-fu-piano-cello-ascends/
http://thepianoguys.com/portfolio/mission-impossible-pianocelloviolin-ft-lindsey-stirling/

Poor Levi was the last kid to turn 8 years old in his primary class.  He had to wait until January 3rd 2016 to get baptized.  But his waiting is finally over.  Here’s a couple pictures from the special day.

Eighteen years ago this week I came home from a semester in Jerusalem.  Kerri, you are right-it is almost 20 years-and that makes us officially old.  This time of year is always tender to be me because of the time I spent in Jerusalem.  I can hardly get through Christmas carols or talking about my experiences there without getting too emotional.  It did truly change my life.  My faith today is in large measure due to my time there.  And this morning I was reminded of a night I shared with my friends while staying on the shores of Galilee.  I wrote the experience in my journal and I felt like I needed to share it here.  Not sure why.  Maybe this is for you, Kerri, and for all the other girls that night! 

Nov. 20, 1997

“After dinner a group sat around in a our room and talked.  We talked about life and love and Jerusalem.  We talked about our favorite things about Jerusalem-the funny moments, the sad ones.  The moments we’ll never forget.  What sparked the conversation was a letter Jen Browning got from her cousin who was here 10 years ago.  She read it to us as we sat together and it was such a special moment.  Her cousin said that she’d just gone to her 10 year reunion for Jerusalem and it was just like they’d never left.  They were still one big family she said.  She then told of her feelings for Jerusalem-how it had changed her life-how it was home to her-how she thinks of it every day.  It was wonderful to hear her thoughts-to hear her express her love for Jerusalem.  She is now a mother and closed her letter as she was “going Christmas shopping.” As we all sat in our room we knew that would us us in 10 years.  We’ll look back with fond, vivid memories of this wonderful place and experience.  We were all a bit teary eyed as Jen finished reading that letter.  It was like we’d taken a time machine forward while her cousin had taken one back.  It’s so sad to think that it’s almost over, we don’t want it to ever end! We’re kind of in a time warp here.  Our regular lives almost stand still.  To think that we have to go back to the real world soon is scary and sad.  But at the same time it’s exciting. 

We spent the next two hours straight talking about our favorite times or scariest times, our sad moments and our happy ones.  Our most spiritual moments, our favorite field trips, our favorite teachers and their quirky personalities-we laughed and cried- it was the best!!  To sit around with all my friends here-there was at least 10 of us-and bond like that… those are the most precious moments in life I think.  At least most precious to me.  They’re conversations and laughter and tears that I want to just bottle up so I can listen to them later and re-live them.  I was reading in Jesus the Christ later and I found a quote that fit my feelings exactly.  “Mere pleasure is at best fleeting; happiness is abiding, for in the recollection thereof is joy renewed.” That makes me so happy to know that I will be able to look back on my experiences here and by reliving them I will experience the joy I’ve felt all over!  Our happiest moments we can relive and feel joy again!

Then later we went for a walk along the water and happened along Cam Pederson playing his guitar.  We sat down and listened to him sing and play as we looked at Galilee before us and the stars above us.  He sang his Jerusalem, City of Peace song.  It describes our experience here perfectly and all were in tears again.  What a wonderful moment in time-again.  One I would just love to capture.  These moments are so vivid in my mind now and I don’t ever want them to fade.”

Across the ocean are my deepest emotions and memories that will never cease.