On the road again!

 A couple old pictures before leaving Austin. You must love the bus adventure.

 Wes wanted a prego picture. Me with pink eye and 16 weeks along (now 19).

 Sometimes we try for family pictures...

 Touching Levi Newell Kendall's name

 With Grandparents Keller!

 Cousins! This is Lincoln's "cheese" face.

Men at the wedding. Royal entertained the boys by touching his nose with his tongue. Boys.

Hello from Colorado! I’ve missed a couple of weeks, so I’ll give a quick chronology (okay, we know it won’t be quick): on Monday, May 14 we left Austin and drove to Salina, Kansas. The next day we finished our journey to Golden—just in time to secure our apartment (complete with a key to a 24 hour gym!), and find a mattress for Levi and and pack-n-play for Lincoln, clean a bit, then go to bed. I can only explain our trip as miraculous. Our boys travel well; living far from everything has perfected their skills, but thirty hours driving in two days takes a toll on anyone. Usually we can see when people pray for us in hindsight, but this was one of those beautiful moments when we recognized how present those prayers, angels, and help are all the time. Crazy as it sounds we thoroughly enjoyed our little jaunt. Praise to the truckers who honked and waved and simply existed for Lincoln! Praise to the multiple backhoes and excavators for Levi! And praise to the green fields, rocks, horses, cows, dogs, and God’s creations so that we could all ooh and ahh over them. The boys sang, talked, and played with trucks the entire way. Amazing.

We set up house on Wednesday and Thursday. Primarily, this meant scrambling through the suitcases to figure out what we brought, buying dishes, towels, sheets, and groceries. We’re still looking for a bed-thing for us and a table and chairs, but that will happen. 800 square feet is positively roomy when empty. Living on the fourth floor increases my gratitude that our stuff is stored in Texas—not only is it easier to clean and dance around in, but we didn’t have to haul too much up the narrow stairs! We live just steps away from trailheads into the mountains and a zillion stores, churches, libraries, etc. are within less than three miles. We’re excited to settle and explore.  The apartment smells a bit like musty dog urine, but I’m oversensitive to silly things like that. After scrubbing every cranny multiple times and baking cookies, hope increases.

On Friday, we piled back into the car, drove through Wyoming (lots of wind, yet no sagebrush. Can you sing “Colors of the Wind”? Then you’ll find the redemption in Wyoming) to Utah where we stayed with my sister’s family. The boys loved getting out of the car. They loved running, playing, and spending time with Bodie. So cute.

Saturday we shared a tender experience as Diana received her endowment. We were asked to be the witness couple. Seeing all those people rejoicing in the temple and making covenants for themselves and those they love just thrilled me. Wesley and I haven’t been to a session together for a while. The Spirit and joy there, especially as we watched Diana and met Kelly, isn’t something I can fully articulate. The Lord is merciful to us and helps us open our eyes and hearts even when they want rest. We’re glad to be awake!

Before the session, we stopped at Temple Square with some of the Cole clan. Levi counted temples and churches with glee. We saw the Christus. Lincoln shouted, “JESUS!” and Levi pondered, then said, “Jesus has holes in hands and feet. Holes!” We’ve been talking about it in more detail since then. I love trying to explain our Father’s plan for us, our Savior’s humility and love, and the individual care He takes for us represented by those “holes.” We also took the boys to touch Levi Newell Kendall’s name on the pioneer statue. We told them about our pioneer ancestor (one of Levi’s namesakes) and how he scouted and guided other pioneers across the country while we drove from Texas. I don’t know how much they understood. Levi loved finding his name, though.

We spent the week between Preston and Logan with my family. Levi ran out of the room every morning looking for Bodie, Pop Corrie, or Gram Stacy. Lincoln soon eased back into his usual routine of holding small objects and wandering, slowly opening cupboards, and then sneaking in to tease Levi. We spent some time with my grandparents (and their cows), rested, and I ate more than my fair share of cheese enchiladas with red sauce for Joule. Lincoln’s expanding vocabulary now includes “eyes,” “teeth,” “ears,” and “nose!” He couldn’t eat during one dinner because he discovered Pop Corrie’s eyes and needed everyone else to notice them also. Grandma Buttars gave him a set of little colorful bowls which he contentedly stacks, shuffles, fills, dumps, stacks…a very happy boy even sleep deprived and teething! Bodie and Levi surprised us all by how well they shared. All the boys showed off their professional basketball skills; yet the walls at the Frischknecht house remain standing! Through all of this transition, Levi impresses us with his potty skills. Our travels encouraged him to be more independent and efficient, a blessing we didn’t anticipate for a while. The boys even slept well. We look forward to a consistent schedule now, but they’re teaching us a lot about settling and adjusting to wherever you happen to be. Go Levi and Lincoln!

We loved being with our family for Diana and Kelly’s wedding on Friday. What a wonderful group she married into. Kelly is obviously a good man. Watching their affection and conversation made me excited for their future. And it gave me more opportunity to celebrate my Wesley. I adore him. Marriage, particularly eternal marriage, just fills me with giddiness. Welcome to the family Kelly!

Another cool experience. We stayed with great-Aunt Jeannine (Christine’s aunt) on the weekend. Her shelves overflow with family history. She and Christine have been working on four years of Grandma Mary Musser Wright’s journals. Jeannine wants to make them more readable and publish them. She’s edited them and then felt that she could do no more. She felt that help would come. Then she saw me: a “professional writer.” Now, that’s an overstatement, but I’ve been praying to know how to gain a stronger relationship with our ancestors and communicate their stories to our little family. One of my recent students took my class strictly for my benefit rather than hers; she writes and researches her family history and has been doing so for years. Working with her made me see that I need to do so also. When Jeannine showed me the journals I thought, Wow! We were both prepared for this! I don’t know that I’ll contribute to the project much, but we’re excited.

We partied with the Longmores. Levi and Lincoln attached permanently to Tressia, Hiram, David, and Royal. Royal and David are now associated with the temple and exploration—a good combination if you ask me! Gram Cole played with trucks and cars and Grandpa Cole showed them the wonder of outside and dogs even while they were here and there and everywhere with wedding stuff. We love our family!

We drove back through Wyoming yesterday. With stops and all of that, we arrived home around 11 p.m. tired, fulfilled, and ready to discover our present life.

 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.

Baby Joule

 

Yesterday Levi touched my belly while I crunched on the yoga ball. He rubbed back and forth, “Hi, Baby Joule! I touch Baby Joule!” He’s quite the proud big brother. Lincoln does his part by chanting “BABY!” and searching them out. Baby Joule, as you heard, is fifteen weeks along and due on October 22. We (I) assume he’s a boy until proven otherwise; we’ll find out in the beginning of June and keep you posted. When we had the ultrasound (at eight weeks) he just danced away. Dr. Loar raised her eyebrows at me, “This isn’t common!” I wanted to invite her over to see Levi and Lincoln. Joule will fit in well. This fetus name is for the science side of our life. And it makes sense to call our baby after a measurement of energy. So, welcome Baby Joule! 

Happy birthday to my dad this week! Every now and then I see an expression cross the boys’ faces that I recognize from my dad and it just tickles me. Is there a genetics of mannerisms even when you live far apart? I’ve always been grateful for Dad’s determination, diligence, and drive, but I don’t think I really appreciated anything until I started parenting. Thanks for being my dad!

Much of this week blurs together. We caught the flu—except Lincoln, amazingly. Wes still went to school but we all know that was silly. I came to pick him up and hurled all over the parking lot (poor guy who drove up right next to us as it happened! And many thanks to the ticketer who skipped our unpermitted park and didn’t even flinch at my sound effects!). The combination of not eating/pregnancy and the flu just doubled everything up. By Tuesday morning I wondered how the boys and I would make it. Thankfully, Wes is ever prepared and worthy to give blessings. He and our friend gave me a blessing and since then we’ve all steadily improved. A few days later I opened my Primary manual: the lesson this week is on Christ’s power to heal and the reality of the Priesthood. I don’t think any of this was a coincidence. My 14 class members all gaped at me as I told the story today.

Wes recovered, but it took a while to catch up on sleep. Shocking. He came home early with flowers and food and patience. We’re all very spoiled.

Lincoln bounds around and babbles. He climbs chairs and tables. As a result, all the kitchen chairs line blank walls. He says nose, slow, blanket, dog, book, no!, cup, milk, among other things. I asked for a kiss one morning, he grinned, shook his head and said, “Nooo…” all soft and silly.

Feeling better yesterday, we spent our wholesome recreational activity wandering downtown Austin. We rode a blue bus (their favorite part), walked by a saxophone/electric guitar/drums band grooving next to a giant chess set, stopped at Jamba Juice (Lincoln ate most of the apple strudel thing and carrot-orange smoothie), enjoyed the Faulk library with real computers for little kids, and then walked back to the bus. Levi trooped the whole way and loved it. He pointed at all the beards, buses, motorcycles, and joys of being out and about. This morning he continued praying in gratitude for the buses.

We’ve decided to take the Lehi in the wilderness route for our Colorado excursion. We’re putting everything in storage here and taking only the essentials: boys, clothes, a frying pan, etc. The rest we’ll patch together from Craigslist when we get there. This way we’ll save on the truck and gas, we can all ride together, and we don’t have to unpack and haul stuff quite as much. I’ve been laughing about leaving all my “precious things” as I look at my boxes and boxes of books—and I’ve only packed a shelf and a half! We feel a little crazy, but confident, about this choice. It adds a little tang to our adventure.

Here’s a thought Christine said to add: somewhere during conference someone (one of the Seventy?) said something about Sariah and Lehi succeeded as parents. Obviously. But then I thought about how well they succeeded because generations hundreds of years after them continued to seek to be an eternal family. Their hearts were turned to each other. They yearned to share the covenants. The people living the gospel in the Book of Mormon never forgot or forsake their brothers and they always thought of them as “brothers” and “sisters.” That kind of commitment to each other and to the Lord is major, major success. I’m sure Lehi and Sariah had days that they wondered how to respond to the choices of their children, but they pressed on with the Spirit.

I started the Book of Mormon again this week and thought about the Labans in my life. Sometimes we have Labans in our lives. Those things that annoy us, block progression, anger us, etc., but are difficult or awkward to completely destroy. They hinder us spiritually, but often we (I) don’t’ know exactly how to proceed, or the potential consequences seem too much, or the action we’re prompted to do goes against what we initially expected and believed. So I hesitate and question. Bless Nephi for going forward anyway. He used the good to eliminate the bad, he took the power (the right to the records, the family history, Laban’s sword), and learned from the trial to grow individually but also to improve his relationships (with brothers, with Zoram, etc.), and bless generations. My question now is what do I do with the Labans in my life and how do I recognize and utilize what I should take from the experience to bless others? I’m still thinking on this. Weird that it has taken me 25 years to recognize how symbolic Laban is. Good grief.

Much love to you!

Expanding Cole Crew

A "motorcycle"

Red Velvet Cake! (Okay, no caption needed here)

My life is totally awesome. He said, "MOOORE!" after this.

One of the few pictures where he's not stuffing rocks or unsuspecting bugs in his mouth...

Happy Anniversary Chad and Christine! I’m so glad that you’re married. I’m particularly grateful for your second child (although I really, really love them all). I found a picture of you standing at the Logan temple somewhere near the time you were married and Levi exclaimed, “Gram! Pop!” The good things just get better.

On our way home from church (which was a longer event today due to choir before and a scout thing after) we heard, “Eeehhh…” slosh. And Wes: “I think that was barf.” Poor distressed Levi gushed and panicked about his white shirt and blue tie. He recovered enough to say, “I need Coke! With a red straw!” I thought about Rosey and what a hero she’s been with three boys doing this for over a month, little-to-no sleep, plus everything else in life—throw in a few emergencies to boot. Levi’s bug strangely filled us with gratitude for the examples of patience and perseverance in our family, for the perfect timing (on our way home and not very far from it!), for the sweet personality he has, and for the compassion these brothers share as Lincoln tries to stroke Levi and says, “Uh-oh! Uh-oh!”

Earlier this week, I walk out of my room to see a bare body proudly displayed on the upstairs window. Levi stripped all of his clothes off, climbed on the extra bed into the window, and peered happily out. What happened to the days when he refused to pull his shirt up due to modesty? I said something about protecting our bodies and keeping them safe, etc. etc. And he grins at me, “No want privacy! SHOW body!” Well world, enjoy the show.

Lincoln keeps me dashing around. He clambers up onto chairs, tables, and I know one day I’ll find him on the fridge. Levi taught him how to properly climb off the chair. Hallelujah for that! The first few times he plopped right on his face and cried not out of pain (although it must have hurt) but because it ticked him off. He tipped a chair over while in it and bashed against a window. I promise I watch my kids (perhaps too hovery even); he’s just so fast! Thankfully he discovered the joys of hide and seek and that can distract him from almost anything. He has locked me in closets and rooms all week, laughed, then started yelling, “MOM! MOM!” as if he has no idea where I am.

They give high fives, mostly to each other. They find the bread pans, use them as shoes, and ski across the floor. Lincoln helped me tuck in sheets and put pillows on the bed: Levi melted down because that’s his job. We’re learning to share the best things in life. They began playing with the pirate ship and castle people in earnest this week and it’s adorable. Who knew that pirates walking up stairs could be so awesome? We went to a park with bouncy motorcycles. It is now the “Motorcycle Park” with one toy for “Linc and one for Levi!” We also listened to Henry and Ribsy driving around. They’re into fish and fishing now.  And dogs, but that’s not new.

The big news of the week: We’re officially moving to Colorado! We found out on Thursday. We’ll leave here the 15^th, hopefully have a place lined up to dump into, load back up and spend a week-ish in Utah/Idaho before Diana and Kelly hitch up. There’s the plan. It’ll probably change.

Wesley is excited to learn more about programming, work with new people, and escape Texas heat. I’m excited to not chase scorpions around, to dig through all of our stuff and cleanout as we pack, and to begin a new journey. It’s a comfort to know when you’re doing the right thing.

In the meantime, Wesley is completely swamped. He worked for about eleven hours yesterday grading tests, preparing for presentations, and basically figuring things out so he won’t drown in the upcoming week (not that he ever seems stressed or even unpleasant. Bless him!). He’s tired; he totally rocks my socks. Especially since he walks in the door beat and then plays rounds of entertaining and creative basketball with the boys. His preliminary research proposal defense is on May 3 (it’s the defense of his dissertation idea), so he’s also been doing that. Go Wes!

Yesterday I hosted a baby shower for my friend. My little sister’s response, “Do you even know what a party is? Are you sure you can do that?” Thankfully, someone else took over decorations. Since parties are obviously not my strong point, the whole event was pretty low-key, but we did have some awesome red velvet cake, almond chocolate chip brownies, a fruit tray, and a vegetable tray. I think she enjoyed it. That was the main goal. Success!

I’ve been thinking all week, in many contexts, how humility requires courage. I’ve been thinking about the Savior’s courage and humility in saying, “Not my will, but Thine,” and meaning it with his entire being. I want to let go of my silly things and be able to do this too. A scripture that has always inspired me, but is more poignant in this context is Helaman 3:35: “Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.”

We started keeping little notebooks to record our promptings in—as suggested multiple times by many apostles, particularly Elder Scott. We’re trying to talk about them during our scripture study. We’ve tried this before. We’re determined to do better this time. Any ideas?