April 2, 2023
We had a full final week of March here in Lehi. Greyson got his cast off Thursday morning and his arm has been pretty stiff. The doctors are actually worried that it is not totally healed yet so he isn't allowed to do Ninja class or jump on the tramp with other people at the same time. He will check back in with them in 2 weeks to see how things are going. We had the Saturday sessions of the conference yesterday and I was reminded that the kids really are getting older. Hinckley and Addie sat through pretty much all sessions and either took notes or just watched. It really surprised me. Even Greyson stayed on the couch (or in his fort) for most of the time and only got extra squirrely a handful of times. Greyson loved his Reese’s (treats were provided) so much that he taped the wrapper over his nose so he could enjoy the smell for the long term. Then he mashed up some leftover fruit and poured lemon juice into a jug of water (an old vinegar container) to make his “soda”. “Only me and my friends can drink my soda without asking, but everyone else has to ask to drink my soda.”
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| Greyson's Reese's smeller invention |
Earlier this week I did the final challenge of the 12 week Strenuous Life challenge. I walked around Eagle Mountain and climbed two small mountains with my pack on and then found a protected gulch where I could bed down with my tarp, pad, and sleeping bag. It was the only night this week that wasn’t below freezing and I was able to stay warm through the night. My hips did not agree with the arrangement but I did it! I got home in time to be with Kassie and the kids in the morning.
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| Setting off on my microadventure |
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| From the top of a small mountain at night |
Also this week Kassie and I both went to separate book groups. Some women in the ward are starting one that she attended, and I had my 2nd one with our former bishop which was enjoyable. It's taken some time but it feels like we are starting to get to know people in this neighborhood at a better level at last.
Addie had her last ice skating class for level 1 and was excited about all the things she was able to pass off. She thinks she’d like to do level 2. She is nearly done with the "Little House" books and really enjoys those every night. She often will gather a set of words she didn't recognize and ask us about them before getting into bed. At school she was selected with just a couple other kids from all second graders to tell a story at the arts fair. She practiced telling her story many times here at home and was really excited to be selected. She's been a story teller since the days she could talk!
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| Greyson and his friend Ajax at the park |
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| Hinckley's game/art project |
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| Addie's game/art project |
March 26, 2023
The rain and snow continue as Utah has more snow this season than ever in recorded history! It's pretty amazing. We had a fun day on Saturday down at BYU campus with the Kays and Nana/Grandpa. The kids had way more fun than I anticipated playing with the various objects available in the Eyring Science Center and we spent a lot of time there. We went into the JFSB to see Mitch Warner's paintings in the "Education in Zion" exhibit .... and apparently set off some kind of security alarm. That was memorable! haha. After a lunch at the Cougar eat the kids and I discovered a really neat "church and games" exhibit in the special collections of the library. They had all sorts of board games, video games, action figures etc. that church members have created over the years. The kids minds were also blown by the moving periodical book shelves I showed them down there haha. Needless to say, by the time we were leaving all of the kids were set on going to BYU someday.
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| Eyring Science Center at BYU |
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| Snow pile by the HFAC ruins |
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| At the BYU Store |
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| HBLL Special Collections Games exhibit |
We watched
Singin' in the Rain and Greyson got really excited about the "Break dancing". He was quite inspired by it and couldn't help but jump up and dance a few times during the movie, it was a joy to behold! Afterwards we went to the park and he jumped up on the tables in the pavilion and did some more dancing while singing a loud song about hot pizza. It was a memorable day for all of us.
Some other highlights this week included
- Kassie having some friends over for chips and salsa
- Addie spontaneously deciding to deep clean the arts and crafts table
- My finishing a book about how to throw cocktail parties and setting the date and plan to do so
- Greyson discovering that his cast is a great tool for smashing graham crackers for our Sunday night desert
- Hinckley creating new prototypes each day for a mechanical ball with a cute face (named "Ball-O"), including the discovery that to turn electrical energy into rotational energy one needs a motor
We are all ready for spring to arrive and maybe it will come sometime after Spring Break in a couple of weeks. For now we are trying to stay warm and active!
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| Cast crunching graham cracker crust |
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| Hinckley's latest iteration for Ball-O |
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| Experimenting with electric stuff |
March 19, 2023
We had an extended weekend due to a teacher work day, so the kids had school off. I took Monday off to take Hinckley on our annual ski trip up to Alta. It was his first time on the official lift and we went up many times. He really improved a bunch, and took some really big falls. There was so much snow and it really was a beautiful time to be out and about.
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| Hitting the slopes |
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| Lunch break |
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| The site of the Big Fall |
We had a fun St Patrick’s day. All the traditions went off well. We made green eggs, green apple smoothie, and green oats. The Leprechaun brought some chocolate gold coins as well as a box set of all the
Far Side cartoons and a set of
Anne of Green Gables. Addie seems excited to start the Anne of Green Gables collection as soon as she finishes “Little House”.
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| St Patrick's day breakfast |
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| Kassie's shamrock earrings she made |
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| Anonymous leprechaun attack |
Hinckley has been extra curious lately and used his own money to buy some photon resisters and little LED lights so he could do some creations. He has all sorts of questions he is constantly thinking about such as how many permutations are there of a set of 4? And “why do bubbles rise?” and “how does a set of two pendulums go forever without losing energy?” While it is frustrating I have no answers, it is also exciting to see him asking and yearning and I just hope he can get enough answers to keep him going. We went over to a neighbor's house on Saturday who used to be an electrician so Hinckley could ask him all his questions. That was pretty great.
Greyson continues to “Craft” every spare moment. Pulling things from our recycling box to tape together, dump glue on, and cut. It is both infuriating and very cute. The other day he taped a chip bag to his nose as a part of his craft, and wore it like that throughout his TV time even. He and Kassie went to Fat Cats to do the arcade games for a date and he scored a jackpot which enabled him to get a Minecraft sword and other trinkets.
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| Hair dryer blowing off cast after bath |
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| Using half a roll of TP for a runny nose |
Addie had a lot of play time with her friend Brook and with slightly warmer weather this week they have been out on the trampoline much more which is exciting. I pruned some more of our trees on Saturday while the kids ran around outside and it was nice to feel some sunshine again. I also had a TSL (The Strenuous Life) activity Saturday morning where we learned about welding which was fun. Addie and Hinckley went with me to the big "Elijah Quest" challenge kickoff which is a multi-ward family history, temple, and missionary work challenge that I get to be a part of as the ward mission leader. We ate sweets and got pumped up about doing that work. They were good sports.
March 12, 2023
This week Hinckley had his first Ninja competition and was pretty nervous about it. He did really well! And I think he felt great about the experience despite all his worries beforehand. He had lots of people cheering for him including Nana and Grandpa as he finished up the last rope climb. It was really neat seeing him push through the difficulty to finish strong.Overall it was a positive experience. He and Greyson and I enjoyed going to McDonald's with Nana and Grandpa afterward. Greyson had a hard time sitting still while we watched and even with his broken arm in a cast he managed to find some pads and a small spring he could go do front flips off. He has figured out how to use his cast as a club, on humans and on our house. We are all finding ways to cope with his high energy. He also continues to enjoy doing "experiments" which involve things like filling up old snack/chip bags with glue and then taping closed the top. He moves nearly nonstop until he zonks out at bedtime.
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| Hinckley and the Ninjas |
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| Micky Ds with Nana and Grandpa |
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| Ready to compete |
Addie had a fun date with Kassie going to Pizza Pie Cafe where she was overwhelmed with joy at all the pizza choices. Afterwards they chose out a baptism dress that she was thrilled about. She agreed to come on a walk with me after work one day and we had fun throwing/skipping rocks in a pond near Utah Lake.She wrote some very sweet notes and has lots of kind things to say which makes the painful meltdowns more bearable. She and Greyson have been having a lot of fun out in the mud in our backyard as Greyson is determined to dig a "Swimming Pool" in the same place that Hinckley dug his pit last year. Greyson's hypothesis is that it will snow and melt and the water will fill up the hole. Addie just likes walking around in the bud and then pushing the mud off the bottom of her boot. "It just feels so nice!" she says.
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| Pizza Pie Cafe with Mom |
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| Watching Nana at the organ |
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| The great hunt for Hallie's lost earbud |
March 5, 2023
The week began with Greyson getting a new cast (red) and being very excited about the attention it derived for him. The break doesn't seem to be very bad, actually still not noticeable in the x-rays. But given he couldn't move his arm a certain way and the swelling they determined to give him the cast for a month. Hinckley and Addie were excited to write their names on the cast and Hinckley even many days later is now hoping to break his arm. Fortunately he hasn't been making any serious attempts that we can tell. The kids are really into the YouTube channel
Dude Perfect these days. It was funny for all of us for the first week or two, and now we are looking forward to a new media obsession if possible. Hinckley has ben really interested in the YouTube videos by Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer who makes some pretty incredible engineering contraptions. Hinckley saw an ad for an engineering online course from Mark Rober that he is really interested in and today (Sunday) he's been busy going through the steps of the design process in making a pen that won't get lost. Beyond chemistry and engineering Hinckley is really taken with the science of the body and he really enjoyed looking in a body book he got from the book fair. I'm glad he has all these interests despite my being utterly unable to help other than pointing him to YouTube or Kassie.
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| The new red cast |
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| Signing Greyson's cast |
Addie had a fun ice skating lesson in Provo and afterwards we met with Nana and Grandpa at the Creamery for lunch. Addie was in heaven and basked in time with grandparents. She began to develop symptoms similar to what I had at the beginning of the week and by Sunday morning had a big fever. While the rest of the family was at church, she and I stayed home and watched some conference talks. She spent lots of time mothering her squishmellow (large stuffed animal) including reading her some scripture stories. Then she drew pictures for over an hour! She can really get going when she doesn't have loud and active others around.
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| Creamery with Nana and Grandpa |
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Addie leads out on "Red light, Green light"
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Greyson hasn't slowed down much with his broken arm. He continues to explore boundaries by throwing incredible fits and expanding his vocabulary to words that can get the biggest reaction from the rest of us. Let's just say our house would likely be PG-13 pushing R if the MPAA just had a soundtrack to the things he says. It is a time of growth for everyone. He can also be incredibly sweet. He wanted to spend some time "Breakdancing" outside in the yard, citing lessons he has had in preschool. He is still willing to sit on Kassie's lap for storytime, though he won't sit on me since he "hates me" and I'm "too hard, and not soft like Mama". He and I went for a bike ride with him in the bike trailer on Saturday. We went out and discovered the Saratoga Springs natural hot springs which is actually pretty near our home! We decided it would be fun to come back sometime and get in them.
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| Biking with Dad and Greyson |
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| Saratoga Springs hot springs |
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| Hinckley's growing mullet pony tale |
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| Office companion |
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