Our Levi John is named after Rock’s Grandpa, John Roper and my grandpa, John Wesel.   He’s been lucky enough to spend time with and get to know Grandpa Roper over the last seven years, for which we are very grateful.  Grandpa passed away on the 25th of last month and so there will be no more four wheeler rides or pictures on the porch swing.  We will miss him, but he lived a good full life.  He was a strong, quiet man who loved the outdoors and was hiking right up until the end.  He even went on a big bike ride for his 90th birthday.  I’m so grateful I’ve been blessed to have him in my life the last 14 years.   My grandpa’s both passed away long before I was married and Grandpa Roper has treated me like one of his own since the very beginning.   When Rock and I were newly married, we were in the St. George temple standing around with many of Rock’s family members.  I was still new and feeling a bit out of place.  Grandpa came over to me and gave me a big hug and told me he was glad I was part of his family.  He’s had a special place in my heart ever since then, because even as a new member of the family I knew that Grandpa didn’t say much.  So what he did say was important.  We will all miss him and look forward to the day when we can go four wheeling with him again.  Because of course there will be four wheelers in the next life, right?

As a silver lining to Grandpa’s passing, much of Rock’s extended family was able to be in Colorado together for the funeral.  It was great to see everyone; bittersweet reunion.  Reagan did not get to come with us because he was on his 50 miler with the scouts.  But we decided that was what Grandpa would have wanted him to be doing anyway.  Here’s the low down on our trip.

We left on a Thursday and drove down through Utah.  Just as we crossed the border into Utah, we passed a huge billboard that said Welcome to Utah.  It was pretty hard to miss.  Right at that moment Cade piped up from the back seat, “Hey!  We’re in Utah aren’t we?!”  Thinking he had obviously seen the sign, we chuckled and said, “Uh, yeah, Cade.”  To which he responded, “Yep, I knew it because of the mountains!” 

On our way through Utah we stopped to see some good friends.  As we left their home, we stopped at a gas station to fill up and hit the bathrooms before we headed out of town.   Yes, it would have been smarter to use the bathrooms at our friends home, but we are not that smart, so the gas station it was.   I am still not really used to having to take a little girl into the bathrooms on these trips.  Rock usually takes the boys into the bathroom because he has to go in anyway. I have a bladder the size of Texas, so I don’t often go in.  This time  I was busy with something in the car, and so I forgot to take Liberty in.  Two minutes after we drove away from the gas station Liberty says, “I need to go potty!”  Oops.  Picture me slapping my head, “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”  So we pulled over to another gas station to have her go.  We get back in the car and drive away only to have her say ten minutes later, “I have to go poo!”  So it took us three gas station stops to get out of South Jordan.

We made it to Grand Junction and the next day we took a drive over the Colorado Monument.  It is always spectacular.  I wonder if you can ever get tired of looking at those amazing rocks, formations and colors.  

Silver lining; family time!

Three Bald Brothers.  They could start a band.

This is all the great grandkids practicing their song for the funeral.  I don’t think you can find a more tear inducing song than “Somewhere Out There”, but that’s what they sang.  It was beautiful.

Uncle Sam is a photographer and got some great pictures while everyone was together.

I think this might be my favorite picture of the weekend.  Sam is such a goof and Grandma is just beautiful!

Saturday was the funeral.  I hate funerals.  I hate goodbyes and do everything I can to avoid them because I cry like a baby.  I actually left for college once without saying goodbye to my baby sister because I did not want to cry.  So funerals are hard.   And this one was made harder by the fact that I had a very wiggly five year old on my lap.  I almost named this post Five Year Olds and Funerals.  They don’t mix well.  That being said, it was a beautiful funeral.  I loved hearing all the wonderful tributes to Grandpa.  And Monica was totally right.  He would have been embarrassed at all the fuss we were making over him. 

Here is the gravesite, beautiful and peaceful there under those trees. (more Sam pictures)

Grandma Dot was amazing that day.  Faithful and fearless. 
Seventy years of marriage is so long I can’t even comprehend it.  I hope she won’t be too lonely.  

Rock’s mom was also amazing.  I can’t imagine dealing with that kind of grief AND putting together a funeral.  I know that’s how it always works, but it was really brought home to me this time.  For some reason it always seems like funerals just happen without any work. 

To end on a funny note, here are a few things you would have heard had you been a fly on the wall of our van as we drove home.  Levi, when asked to hand up his electronic device:  “Mom, I need to die first!” And Liberty, (said menacingly) during a scuffle with her brother just as we were about to drive away, “I could throw this backpack at you!”  And on that happy note we left Grand Junction and headed home.  We sure will miss you Grandpa John. 

Till we meet again…

Most of the time it is the man who forgets his anniversary, but in our family it is me.  What woman forgets her wedding day?  In my defense, July 26th is just not a good day to get married.  So if you are considering marriage dates, don’t pick the end of July!  There will always be a family reunion, or Scout campout or family vacation at that time. And if you are really dumb and have a child two days before your anniversary you will often have a child’s birthday you are celebrating on or around the day.  June.  June weddings are much better.

The first time I forgot our anniversary we were having both a family reunion at our home AND we were celebrating Cade’s birthday on the 26th.  A woman can handle only so much on her plate in one day, people.  I totally spaced what day it really was until Rock mysteriously disappeared that evening.  I went to the garage to see if he had taken a car.  Staring at the empty spot it suddenly hit me.  He left to buy me flowers because TODAY WAS OUR ANNIVERSARY!!!  In he walked a few minutes later with a  bouquet of flowers for his forgetful wife.  I felt so horrible.  Mortified.  I swore it would never happen again.  

Fast forward a few years to the Roper family reunion at Bear Lake.  Please note that this was not the first time the Ropers had planned a family reunion on our anniversary.  There was one on our first anniversary that we decided not to go to because we wanted to spend it alone together.  But after several years of being married we were fine spending it at a reunion.  I was dealing with cranky kids in a vacation rental far away from home or any kind of calendar and it was not until halfway through the day when I walked into the kitchen to see a big beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting there that I realized with a gasp that they were for me (no card was even needed). I had forgotten my anniversary, not once, but twice now!!!  More mortification.  More promises that it would never happen again. 

Fast forward to this year.  The week before our anniversary I was in WA helping my parents.  I got home late on the 24th, Cade’s birthday, and then had to throw a birthday party the next day, the 25th.  That morning Rock’s Grandpa passed away. Our hearts were sad and our minds were wrapped up in how and when we would get to the funeral.  As if that weren’t enough we had to get Reagan ready for a 50 mile, week long campout with the scouts.  Pack check in was that night.  Oh and my sisters were staying with us that night as well. So the night we should have been celebrating our anniversary (because the actual day, the 26th, was on a Sunday) we were rounding up bug repellant and smashing a piñata.  The 26th came and almost went.  While sitting at dinner I happened to look at the calendar.  When I realized what day it was, my face turned bright red with embarrassment and then when I realized that Rock had ALSO forgotten what day it was I just started to laugh.  I couldn’t decide whether I was offended he had forgotten or glad that I was no longer the only one in the dog house!  Needless to say we went out the very next night to celebrate fourteen years (and one day) together.   I love my husband for many reasons, but on our anniversary I love him most for his numerical memory and his forgiving nature.                                                                          

My sisters and I just spent a week in Washington helping my parents get their home ready to sell.  It was hard work emotionally and physically, but I have to say we did an amazing job.  The house looks great!  And, I think we might just have set the world record for number of trips to Lowes/Home Depot in one week.  I know my family wanted to kill me when I wouldn’t stop working but I tend to go a little crazy when there is a project to be done and a deadline to be met.  And the fact that we had more than one menstruating female in the house at one time also made things a little dicey.  Miraculously we survived and I still  love being with my family.  We always laugh so hard we cry. 

On our way to WA we drove through Mt. Rainier National Park.  I’ve been going there since I was a little girl and it was good to see it again.  It’s one of my favorite places on earth.

Love this one!

We lucked out and got to see the Lakefair fireworks show while we were there.  Possibly for the last time. 

This is my favorite fireworks show, hands down.  The fireworks shooting out over the capital building and echoing throughout the dome makes it one of a kind.  

The Breakfast of Champions
One other highlight of the trip, pathetic though it may be, was eating ice cream for breakfast.  My children were not around so I did not have to be a good example.  We had to find some way to make it through the week, right?

No trip home from WA would be complete without a stop at Multnomah Falls.  Love this place.  I love the whole drive down the Columbia Gorge and will miss it.

All in all it was a very productive trip.  Mom and Dad’s house looks so fabulous there will be a bidding war for sure, Sarin got her first kiss, and Allison learned how to get other people to do her heavy lifting thanks to Craigslist.  Oh! and the crazy man who drove all the way from Vancouver up to Lacey to get my parents free armoire made his wife very happy.  His parting words to us as he drove away with the huge armoire hanging out of his little tiny truck were, “Happy Wife, Happy Life!”  And Mom and Dad, you’ll be glad to know we did not see the armoire laying by the side of the road in pieces. 

Liberty turned five years old this week!  We love our spunky, talkative, dance wherever she goes, everything STILL has to be pink, knows how to hold her own on a cul de sac of boys, little girl.  She has been counting down to this birthday, that’s for sure. 

While eating her birthday cereal she said, “I can’t wait to go look in the mirror and see how much taller I am!”

She’s got em all wrapped around her little finger.  Even the neighbor boys gave her presents.  These included a re-gifted minion and pink paper airplanes.

Presents!

Pigs from Levi

Fairy Flutterby

This is a flying fairy that she has wanted for a long time.  But now she is terrified of it.  Picture those little toy flying helicopters with no controls.  It just smacks into the ceiling with a loud crash.  Oh well.

 
A light up ring from Cade

Light up Shoes from Grandma, who hasn’t actually seen them yet.

The Cake!

Liberty helped make and decorate it.

Here is the cake with the Sleeping Beauty Lego Set Cake Topper

Many moms welcome summer vacation because it means they get to have their kids home with them for a while.  They get to spend the time with them they don’t during the school year.  They take their kids to the zoo, to the water parks, and to the library, contentiously keeping  them up to date on their “summer reading program” .  I am not one of those moms this summer.   I am with my children all day every day of the year and so in June I took a complete break from anything that looks remotely like what I do the rest of the year.  With the exception of swimming lessons, dinner and laundry my children would not even be able to say they have a mother around this summer.  “A mother?” my children would say, “You mean the lady who has spent the whole month reupholstering those two chairs in the family room?  You mean that lady who doesn’t even make us come in for lunch or up for air from the lego closet?  You mean that lady who shows up to spray us with sunscreen, drive us to swim lessons and then disappears once we’re home to read a book or watch a show on netflix?  You mean SHE’S our mother?”  It’s true.  I’m not particularly proud of it, but it sure has felt nice!   And I think I deserved it.  So that is why there have been no blog posts for a while.  Mom was on summer vacation.  Now that June is over we will pick math back up again and probably history and we’ll hit the library, the parks and the river. 

To end the dry spell, I’ll start with….

The Fourth of July!

Yesterday we lived the all American 4th of July.  Our day started off with the neighborhood pancake breakfast and bike parade.

This picture was taken BEFORE the parade.  Liberty actually got left behind at some point in the parade until a nice couple rode up to help her make it back to the park. She was so worried she told them our phone number and they actually called our home to tell us they had her.  LOL.  She was only a few minutes behind everyone else, but by the time she got back she was not a happy camper.  She was hot, tired and sad she’d missed the big finish.   

**I will take a moment here to interrupt this 4th of July blog post to tell a funny story about Liberty knowing her phone number.  About a month ago she decided she wanted to learn it, so she found an old calculator she could use as a phone and  asked me for the number.  I told her the number, she typed it in a couple times and that was that.  I didn’t think anything of it and didn’t think she had actually learned it until later that night when I took her shoe shopping.  As we were checking out, the very young smarty pants behind the counter asked me for my phone number.  Before I could tell her, she turned to Liberty and asked her if she knew her phone number.  Then turning back to me in a very officious tone said,  “I am studying Elementary Education and it is VERY important for small children to learn their phone number.”  So very many responses went through my mind at that moment.   But I chose to graciously keep my mother of four/ex-elementary school teacher/homeschooler mouth shut and just smiled sweetly back at her.  Liberty then proceeded to rattle off our phone number perfectly to the nice little smarty pants behind the counter.  That’s my girl!**

Now back to the 4th of July.  In the evening we got together with most of our neighbors on the cul-de-sac for a BBQ and then lined the street to set off all our fireworks.  It was really really cool!   Lemonade, red, white and blue, face painting, water fights, old people, young people, and kids running all over the place with smoke bombs and snappers.  All to celebrate the birth of our country.  I am reading John Adams for book club right now and couldn’t help but think of his quote about the 4th of July:

“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty; it ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

Here are some pictures!

 
Is it just me or does this NOT look like Levi?

My neighbor’s father in law

Growing snakes

The monster truck ear mufflers got her through most of the fireworks.

God Bless America!

Liberty had the first of what I’m sure will be many dance recitals on Friday.  She has continued to be a natural and it was so much fun to watch her. 
“I wanna wear a dress and do my hair!” (said in a whiny voice).  This is what my roommates and I would say in college when one of us got to go to a dance but the rest didn’t.  Getting ready for a dance or even getting someone else ready is one of those rites of passage for us girls.  Last week I finally got to curl Liberty’s hair and get her all dolled up!  This was a dream come true.  I know, using a curling iron is not usually what you would consider big time dreams, but it was for me!  And getting to wear lipstick and blush was a big dream come true for my little dancer too!



She still makes the funniest faces.

And here is the dance!  Keep in mind these are 4-6 year olds who have never danced before.  It’s pretty funny.

And there you have it.  Libby’s first recital.  Can’t wait to do it again!

It’s Mother’s Day!!!!  So what better time to blog about…..Easter. 

The Easter Egg Hunt at Byams:  This was so fun, I think we should make it a tradition!

Sorry, she’s a bit of a ham now days.

The Whole Crew

Right around Easter, Penny took us to a friend’s home to see their baby rabbits.  So fun!

Allison’s plans for Spring Break fell through so we got to be her Second Choice option!!!!  We felt so honored!

Baking goodies with Aunt Alli and Princess Buttercup!  Ooh, I just came up with that one… that should be Libby’s new nick name!!!

While Alli was here, we did something our family never does; we decided spur of the moment to head to Twin Falls to see Shoshone Falls!  They were not as full of water as we’d hoped, but it turned out to be a pretty quick and painless trip, which for our family is saying something! 

And that was Easter week!  Thanks for coming to visit Alli! 

In other Spring news, we put up a tire swing!!

This year my only goal was to get through this event without any boy tears.  And we did it!  Success!  Cade’s car did great!  He was basically 4th place overall.  And he was thrilled with that.  Hallelujah!

This is Cade’s third year, so Rock let him do the whole thing almost completely by himself. 

Lots of excited boys.

Ready…Set….

Go!

And here is the coolest thing about the night.  A scout’s big brother put a video camera on his old Pinewood derby car and happened to race Cade’s car, so we got it on video!

You might think this an interesting name for a blog post.  Or maybe just a boring one.  If only I could name it something different, something more exciting.  If only I could name this blog post, “The wonderfully Wonderful Things That Adorable Little Boys Do.”  But I can’t name it that.  Sorry.

About four months ago Levi came inside telling me that the garage door opener was smoking.  I ran out to the garage to see if something was on fire only to find that Levi and his little neighbor friend had been playing with the garage door opener button.  Up, down, Up down, Up, down.  Over and over again.  “Weeeeee!”  they said. “Gee, Mom, we didn’t think it would hurt anything!”  they said.  Sigh.  Luckily, nothing was broken….yet.  Two days later the big spring across the top of the garage door broke.   Amazingly enough, the door still worked and so we went on with our lives and replaced the spring the following month.  Needless to say Levi was chastised to the full extent of the family law.

Last month Levi came inside to tell me (surprise!) the garage door opener was smoking….again.  I ran out to the garage to find the same two little boys with that same ‘I’m guilty as heck’ look on their faces. Deja vu anyone?  Accept that this time, the garage door opener stopped working the next day.  Levi was chastised to the fuller-fullest extent of the family law and will be working off the new $430.00 spring and garage door opener till he’s fifty.  Though, Rumplestiltsken did have the right idea and I may be willing to accept his first born instead.

If that were the end of the story, it would be a happy thing.  But it is not the end of the story.  Half an hour after the new garage door opener was installed I realized the opener had a motion sensor light on it.  Five minutes after I made special trip into Rock’s office to tell him the good news, Cade decided to stick a pencil INTO the motion sensor in an attempt to open the garage door.  “Gee, I wonder which button opens the garage door.  Maybe it’s this funny looking one that is not actually a button at all but a plastic covering for the motion sensor.  Hmm, I can’t get it to do anything so maybe if I stick a pencil into it, it will magically work!” 

I wish I could say that I handled that discovery well, but let’s just say that Cade will be telling his children and grandchildren about the explosion for years to come. 

Thomas Edison was a fascinating man.  We’ve been reading a biography about him and have learned a ton!  He was a bit of a rebel, he was a prankster, and he was incredibly persistent.  He tried 3000 different theories while trying to create the electric light.  My kids can no longer claim they have tried something twice and then give up.  From now on I will say, “Come back to me when you’ve tried it 3000 different ways and THEN we’ll talk.”

We made a telegraph as part of our study of his life.  The boys each wrote a message in Morse code and then typed it out on our telegraph. 

Here is Cade’s message translated:

Here is Reagan’s:

And Levi’s:

As you may have deduced from Levi’s message, we have been learning about the Civil War this month.  What has been really cool is to also be reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin for my book club this month as well.   I was able to tell the boys the amazing story of Uncle Tom and what he went through just as they were learning about slavery and its horrors.  Then right as we finished up the Civil War, Ben Carson announced he was starting an exploratory committee to run for president.  So we watched “Gifted Hands”, the story about his amazing life.  I figured I would only show the boys the first part of the movie when he was young.  I love that his mother required him to read 2 books a week and write a report about it.  But the boys were so enthralled,  we watched it all.  It was the perfect thing to finish up our unit. One hundred and fifty years after the Civil War a black man can do anything in America; from pediatric surgeon to President of the United States!

Reagan has become fascinated with magnets lately and bought these Neodymium magnets to play around with.  This video he made is pretty cool.

This week we learned about the composer, Franz Schubert.  While listening to his 8th Symphony, the boys decided to organize their Pokémon. 

A few weeks ago Levi wanted to make a squirrel feeder for the back yard.  We have a ton of squirrels.  So many in fact that if you have seen the movie UP, you will appreciate the fact that when my children are sitting at the table and I am trying to read to them, rather than sit enraptured as I think they should, their attention is often called away by far more interesting sights.  “Squirrel!!!” someone yells,  and they all dash to the window to watch the one millionth squirrel run the fence.  Sigh.  I should never have allowed the squirrel feeder.  But here it is.

In our homeschool co-op group Cade was in a Greek mythology class.  He made this diorama of the scene in the Odyssey where Odysseus almost gets sucked into the whirlpool, Charybdis.  I thought his use of electronics was pretty ingenious.

(Warning: Brag Alert-read ahead if you are a grandparent, but otherwise, proceed at your own risk.)

In other homeschool news, Liberty is begging me to teach her to read and is still dancing everywhere she goes.  She has her first dance recital next month.  Levi is begging me to let him read Percy Jackson.  I’m not ready to let him read about all those monsters at age 7, but I will have to give in at some point.  He would rather mom just step aside so he can plow ahead at his own pace with his school work, but I’m not quite willing to do that just yet. Cade is speeding along a grade ahead in math and has finally caught fire with reading.  He taught himself to read at the age of three, but he is only now choosing to read books just for fun.  Reagan is a straight A student at the middle school half day.  He loves playing in the orchestra and has had a really good experience there this year.  His ADHD medicine has been a HUGE help in all ways but especially in his school work.  It’s wonderful to see his bright mind outshining  his attention deficit. 
(End Brag Alert)

After three and a half years of homeschooling  I can say that it is still constantly evolving.  We still have really good days and really bad days.  But I still get up every day excited to start another school day.  Next year we will probably be making some big changes, but for now things are going great and I am really pleased with the progress the kids have made this year.