Blurry packing pictures due to joy and movement

Lincoln showing off at Dr. Edgar's ranch

 

Happy Mother’s Day! We love our moms. We love to celebrate our moms. Thank you for being so resilient, patient, and brave. Thank you for being so consistent. Thank you for still loving us when we’re crazy and faulty and learning. Thank you for continuing to teach us how to be good people and helping us as we parent. Thank you for trusting us to live good lives and believing in us. Christine, thank you for your common sense and perspective. Mom, thank you for letting me vent and reminding me to come back to reality—and still liking me! Being a mom has taught me that mother’s day happens in small moments each day in slobbery kisses and new words and the victories of sharing. It makes me appreciate all the things I never even thought about growing up (like holding my forehead when I yarked. Levi does that for me now!). We love you!

We’re a little tired today in our empty house. But hey—the floors are vacuumed and scrubbed, the toilets and cupboards sparkle, and there are only a few tractors scattered. We’re almost through finishing off the fridge stuff and we excitedly anticipate our trip tomorrow. We start as soon as possible (hopefully by 7:30) and head north. Our hotel in Salina awaits!

Funny moment from Primary. My class wondered, individually and as a group, if they get a “prize” or “award” since I’m moving. Sure, I thought I’m learning—but was it that bad? We made them cookies and froze them. They acted out all sorts of things today. I think they know prayers are answered. I love Primary.

A quick recap of last week (since I missed): On Thursday, Wesley presented his proposal for Ph.D. research to his committee. Stellar performance. Cool, confident, knowledgeable, prepared. Plus his idea (and image) for the smart energy matrix rocks. I sat on the front row and beamed. I don’t think the room needed any other light; I just projected it all over the place. The committee made some very helpful comments and now Wes is tweaking his thought process to improve the project. The preliminary presentation allows students and professors to touch base, exchange ideas, and assure that the research is worthwhile and taking the candidate where he or she wants to go. Wesley’s fits all of that, but it can be refined as he seeks an academic position in the future. The professors on the committee have already offered invaluable advice. Following the tradition of prelims and personal presentations, the presenter provides refreshments. So we made six types of cookies throughout the week because everything I touched seemed to fail—but they finally worked out. Obviously, these people need to eat more homemade food because they voted to award me an honorary Ph.D. in cookies. I’ll take it. Life goal: check!

We spent a lot of time on prelim and packing prep last week. I hosted book group (more failed cookies, banana bread, and homemade pudding…) on Tuesday which was only subpar because people don’t really give poetry a chance; meaning, they decide before they read it not to like it and then even if the really don’t like it, they don’t want to think about it outside of the content. I’ll now stop ranting.

We (being me and Joule) visited Dr. Loar who I love, love, love. She says that if we’re going to move during pregnancy, this is the best time to do it. Joule looks “perfect” and once we find a Colorado doctor we’ll find out if Levi and I are right in assuming more boys or if Wes is justified in thinking pink.

Some funnies from the boys last week: Levi wants to ballroom dance with Lincoln. Lincoln prefers hip-hop on his own. Lincoln loves dancing without being pushed around. Levi has started singing, a lot. Lincoln especially enjoys dancing to Levi’s version of “Give, Said the Little Stream.” Levi sings, then says, “AGAIN! More AGAIN!” and Lincoln points at us and grunts until we sing again. We drove to Dr. Edgar’s ranch for a research group party and instead of going to sleep on the two hour drive home, the boys stayed awake and we all sang as a family. Lincoln filled in the “oohhs” “ahhhs” and “lalalalas.” Both continue to build their linguistic prowess. Levi: “I’m going to smash this bug. Right now!” Lincoln walked into our work room with open boxes and said, “Box! Hats!” So fun.

Okay. Now for this week. Somehow, for the first time in my life, I contracted pink eye. I prayed and prayed all night on Saturday and Sunday that my eyes would heal and I’d be able to help drive to Colorado. (It was bad enough that I couldn’t see.) As my primary lesson reminded me, God answers our prayers in the best way. We found an urgent care place that quickly gave me an antibiotic and my eyes are significantly better today. Wes caught it mildly but is doing okay. Miraculously, the boys are unscathed. I think I really needed to learn to appreciate my eyes and all that they enable me to do. I’ve been appreciating the sweet curve of the boys’ jaws, the brown and gold flecks in Wesley’s eyes, the beauty of bloody noses even! What a gorgeous color of red! I would miss shadows and the differences in light. I would miss shapes and the way things fit together. So. I’m grateful for pink eye. And I hope we have a while before it happens again!

On Monday, we did the traditional, post-prelim thank you luncheon for Wesley’s research group. Usually the person who did his prelim just takes everyone out to lunch—but that’s expensive and kind of greasy. We planned on a few over 20 people. Pasta salads, fruits, chocolate sheet cake, hoagies, etc. And only about 12 people showed up! It gave us the chance to share with others, though. They seemed to like homemade food. One of them had been living on a jar of peanut butter for two weeks. And she was the girl!

Mostly we packed. All week. A box at a time. As suggested earlier, we loaded the truck yesterday. Bless all those who loaded our stuff at our house and then unloaded us at the clean storage unit. I’m glad we don’t have to unpack the boxes for a few months. I’m looking forward to simpler living; although I will miss my “precious things”=my books!

As usual, the boys are hilarious. Levi learned to say “hoagie bun” and said it until it became “hold you bum.” Or perhaps it was “Hold you, bum!” Or a “Hold, you bum!” Or who knows. It sounds soft and marketable, though. Levi’s stained his white shirt (finally) beyond repair last week. He had to wear a plaid one today. This caused melt-down mode, until Wes pointed out that they still match because of their pockets. Levi has been a trooper for the entire moving process. He helped Lincoln choose toys (and even packed the box!), he “dusted,” and he told me how all of the stuff would take care of each other while we live in Colorado. When we sorted through Wesley’s missionary tub I told Levi about it. “

            Levi serve mish!” he told me. “Mom serve mish?”

            “I’ll serve a mission when I’m older with dad.”

            Pause. “I serve mish when old old old and big. With Linc! I serve mish!”

Lincoln felt differently. He did not like things in boxes—aside from dancing on those boxes. He wanted our stuff out. I’d pack three things, he’d take out four. But he’ll be okay and we made it. They found a bunch of the moving/wrapping paper I saved, dumped it out and swam in it. Awesome! Both of the boys loved the moving truck. Lincoln talked about the “cuck” all day long. In the midst of all this, they play “basketball” by throwing balls all over and chasing them. Life is good.

 Prelim cookies

  It's good to be brothers.