Category: Copyright 2016

Give Thanks

Jacob:
I am thankful to feel peace/calm in our house because it has enough and the right spaces to contain all the complexities in our life, almost.

Marcia the Elder:
I am thankful to feel peace/calm using The Container Store, and similar organizational helpers.  Organization brings peace instead of chaos.  I feel better with things in order.  “A place for everything, and everything in place!”

Marcia the Younger:
I am thankful to feel peace/calm when cuddling with doggy (favorite stuffed animal) and staring at the ceiling, because it just makes me feel calm and peaceful because there are pictures and I like imagining what they are doing.
I am thankful to feel peace/calm in the backyard in the middle of summer because it is nice and calm and you can just play back there without worrying about rain* just falling down on us.

Hinckley:
I am thankful to feel peace/calm with my family and friends, and at Gramma’s house**, because I get to play with LEGOs, and there are some toys that I love.  They make me feel love, and peace and calm because when I finish building them I can just start playing.

Corban:
I am thankful to feel peace/calm in a place.  The Earth, and playing games.  I enjoy playing games, it is fun.  It makes me feel like Dad [doesn’t***] wants me out of his office.

* We have plenty of summer rain in the Midwest…hum.
**Even though, they live in the same town, kids probably haven’t been to their house, but one or two times in 2020 due to schedule conflicts at the start of the year, and then the whole pandemic rules and stuff.
*** I am pretty sure he meant to have that word in there, because he definitely does not like the feeling of being sent out of his dad’s office.  So, chances are he is thankful for the times he is allowed to be in the office.

Give Thanks

Jacob:
I am thankful I was able to go on a mission, I was able to serve a mission in Russia.  It was hard because it was a lot of sacrifice.  I grew in faith and testimony, I met amazing people, and had life experiences you just can’t get in the United States.
I am thankful I was able to make the decision to leave a job that I loved.  I loved the work and the people, but there was something missing.  An opportunity came along that was difficult to take; but has proven to be the right decision for me personally, and for our family.

Marcia the Elder:
I am thankful I was able to push my babies out of my body, and it was hard because each one had a bigger head than the previous.  If they had never come out, I would be really uncomfortable!  I love them, and I learned that I can do really hard things, even while enduring a great amount of pain.
I am thankful I have been able to figure out how to work around our family’s particular set of allergies.  It has forced me to be creative and to research different ways to prepare food.  It is complicated and at times very hard to figure out, and I am glad that I have been able to be a resource to others who have come to need to make similar adjustments to their menus.

Marcia the Younger:
I am thankful I was able to make my first omelette, and it was hard because it didn’t make sense to me to wait for the toppings to “melt into” the egg, but I’m glad i learned because now whenever I eat an omelette I can have the satisfaction of knowing some came from me.
I am thankful I was able to not go back to the real school at the building, but I’m glad we are where we are because we are one step closer to getting rid of COVID.  We are first hand witnesses to 2020.

Hinckley:
I am thankful I was able to help Corban do his chores, well, it’s good because I like to do service and when I do what I want, I feel good.
I am thankful I was able to memorize the first paragraph (stanza) of the poem “The Road Not Taken” because it let me earn two blue tickets because it gets me more options, or closer to more options to buying things in the Thurman Store.  The first paragraph goes like this:
     Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
     And sorry I could not travel both
     And be one traveler, long I stood
     And looked down one as far as I could
     To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Corban:
I am thankful I was able to build LEGO houses, because…I’m glad I did it because I like to play with them, and the reason I like to play with them is because I like to make the LEGO people slide down into the seats.
I am thankful that when I can’t find my water cup, I can find my water cup.  If I can’t find it, it is in my bed.  I can find it under my pillow or blankets, because it makes me glad to find it, and I can’t stop it (feeling glad), and I eat my own food, all the food.

Give Thanks

Jacob:
I am thankful for our water heater because hot water is important to all of the ways we stay comfortable in our house, like radiant heat, I can take a warm shower, and wash dishes in hot water.
I am thankful for my bicycle because it helps me be healthier while having fun at the same time.
 
Marcia the Elder:
I am thankful for filtered water in the fridge door so that I can have clean cold drinking water anytime I need it, which helps me try to drink enough water each day.
I am thankful for stocking caps/hats because I am cold most of the time, and some of my migraines are triggered by my forehead being cooled down, so I wear them much of the time from fall through spring.
 
Marcia the Younger:
I am thankful for technology like computers and my camera because it helps us communicate with everybody.
I am thankful for a lot of blankets for my bed because they help me be warm and comfortable when I need to sleep, and when I sleep, and when I want to sleep.
 
Hinckley:
I am thankful for life itself because if we didn’t have life how would we have a good life?
I am thankful for family because if you did not have family you wouldn’t have anybody to live with in your childhood.
*
I am thankful for pop because it tastes great and fizzes on my tongue.
I am thankful for ice to make the pop be less fizzy.
 
Corban:
I am thankful for a real machine that gives life to everybody and that gives seat belts to every body…the machine that makes seat belts because seatbelst keep us safe and alive.
I’m also thankful for a machine that makes people, no I mean robots, robot chickens.


* Hinckley said the first two first, and then when we explained that we wanted actual things to “touch” he gave the second two.
 
 

Give Thanks

Jacob:
I am thankful for the temple, where families are sealed together forever, and where I married my best friend.
I am thankful for my home office because that’s where I work to provide for my family, it’s where I study and learn a lot, it’s where I do some of my favorite leisure activities like playing chess and writing music.
Marcia the Elder:
I am thankful for the Grand Canyon because nobody fell in!  And because I enjoyed spending a week down in the there hiking among the beauty, while I was in college, and then a couple years ago we got to go as a family* with the Fairlie women!
I am thankful for the hospital where I birthed my children, because there are caring doctors and nurses, and I am so glad that I did not have to clean up the “Lake of Machu Picchu”** in my house.
Marcia the Younger:
I am thankful for libraries because they have lots and lots of books, and I love books!
I am thankful for Compton Park because the bridge is very good for riding your bike over and it has a beautiful “river” there.
Hinckley:
I am thankful for our house.  I love our house because if we didn’t have our house we wouldn’t live anywhere, but we do have our house so that we have some shelter and a place to live.
I am thankful for the school because I need to learn, and the school is exactly the right place*** to learn.
Corban:
I want to do what Hinckley said, but a little bit, a little part:
I am thankful for our house, well, because it has dishes.
I am thankful for Earth because it has a lot of houses, and a lot of people, and a lot of houses for that people.

* This was the only time Jacob had been to the Grand Canyon, even though he lived in Mesa, AZ for 14 years.

** The lake was so named by the midwife, because the older two children named the unborn Corban, “King of Machu Picchu” and he made a great lake during labor.
*** “Place” may be more of a concept than an actual location, because this year our kids are attending school online only. Here is the setup they have.

The “lockers”
   

Give Thanks

I am thankful for my parents for bringing me into this world, and for doing their best to keep me in it, too.
I am thankful for my husband Jacob, I might drive him crazy at times, but I love him.
I am thankful for Marcia Holland, Hinckley, and Corban for making me a mom, and for making me feel joy in more ways than I ever could have imagined.
I am thankful for my sister Ronda for being a great sister and example to me.
I am thankful for dedicated teachers who make a difference in the lives of children.
I am thankful for good friends who know and love me for me, and don’t try to make me be someone I’m not, you know who you are!
I am thankful for Elder Williams for using the priesthood, without whom I’d be unable to be here typing this.
I am thankful for my mission companions who taught me many things about myself, and how to love others better.
I am thankful for the many people that I have had the pleasure to serve with in the various church callings I’ve had over the years.
I am thankful for all the people who have been able to make me smile and think of good throughout these crazy times.

Thank you all of you world helpers!

No Accounting For Taste

Corban is in an interesting phase.  He is trying out new combinations of food.  Tonight we had pancakes for supper.  He had his with margarine, bacon bits, and fruit spread.  All at the same time.  The other day he asked for a sandwich for lunch on toast, with margarine, mustard, and pepperoni.  And he ate all of those.  There are other combinations that I simply refuse to give him, like when he asks for sun butter and jelly with pepperoni, margarine, and mayonnaise.

Isn’t It Nice

…when you can successfully Rickroll your own children?

On school day mornings, in an attempt to expose the children to many different songs, we (honestly, Jacob is better at getting up first these days) wake them with a song.  Most of the time they haven’t heard of it before.  Sometimes they recognize it from a movie.  These last two mornings we have played Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

And they have been humming and singing it! It is a good thing they stay on mute unless they are supposed to talk for class.  Otherwise we might be inadvertently Rickrolling two online classes.

Highlights of the Day

Since March Marcia and Hinckley have been attending Jiu Jitsu classes over Zoom. Today they had their third (from home) belt testing online. They’ve earned their blue belts! It is a lot of work and they are learning great things.

While they were doing that Corban watched a video in the dining room on an iPad and played with his Mr. Potato Head.  When I checked in on him, I found that he had stuffed his remaining candy from Halloween in the trunk.