I was just working on a video/photo montage for our 10th wedding anniversary (that I will post on Monday), when a friend asked to see the "construction zone" picture up close. Well, here it is. (Click on photo to see the full-size version.) The quality isn't that terrific, because it's an old photo and our scanner doesn't work too well. What I remember about that day was that it was hot, and we had to walk around all the construction to get to the area where we took some of the photos - Temple Square was a total mess, and we were both sweating bullets!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
You're in luck!
I was just working on a video/photo montage for our 10th wedding anniversary (that I will post on Monday), when a friend asked to see the "construction zone" picture up close. Well, here it is. (Click on photo to see the full-size version.) The quality isn't that terrific, because it's an old photo and our scanner doesn't work too well. What I remember about that day was that it was hot, and we had to walk around all the construction to get to the area where we took some of the photos - Temple Square was a total mess, and we were both sweating bullets!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Family Reunion
We got home yesterday, after a (long) week on the road, camping and attending the Bake Family Reunion. I'll write more on the reunion and all our escapades later, but I wanted to send out a great big "THANK YOU!!" to all the brothers that shared their horses, 4-wheelers, time and patience with all the little kids to make the reunion so much fun for them. Speaking for our little ones, at least, riding the horses and 4-wheelers was the hit of the weekend, next to getting to play with all their cousins.
As always, those of you that are interested in seeing all the pictures from the past week, feel free to check out this link to the web album:
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| Bake Family Reunion July 2009 and Stanley, ID |
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Help me!!
Maybe our family blog isn't quite the right forum for this kind of a post, but I'm having issues with Sophie and thought I'd write about it and see if anyone out there has any valuable advice or feedback.
My six year old little girl is obsessed with death and dying, and I do mean obsessed. She talks about it all the time, things like she wonders how many different ways people can die, and her ideas range from falling asleep on the floor and never getting up, to having your heart break and you die, to getting shot, to natural disasters, and on and on. If it rains or thunderstorms, she thinks her dad and I are going to die, and she says, "if a child dies, they are a littlest angel, and if a grown-up dies, they are a big angel". It's gotten to the point where, for about the past two to three weeks, she refuses to sleep because, as she said (with tears and sadness in her voice): "When I'm asleep it feels like I'm dead!!" She thinks if she sees a bug in her room, it's going to crawl on her while she sleeps and she'll die. She says she thinks raccoons are going to come in through the attic and kill her while she's in bed. Any sound she hears, the wind, the neighbors, a bump or scuffle outside, and she's out her bedroom door screaming for help. She now has to have a nightlight, the door open and someone sleeping in her room with her for her to be able to fall asleep. She sometimes talks about it with a paralyzing fear that she, or someone in our family is going to die, and other times she just brings it up like casual conversation, as though she just has a morbid curiosity about the subject. The other day she was asking me all kinds of questions like whether or not your spirit feels hungry or thirsty after you're dead, or if she'll have to sleep when she's dead. We have to be really careful about what we say around her because she picks up on everything and even the smallest things add to her unrealistic fears, and that includes talking about when anyone in our family is sick (because in her mind, they might die), or something we saw on the news or read in the paper, or if something happens to someone we know, she will talk about it for weeks, as though she's afraid the same thing is going to happen to her. One day recently her brothers were watching a show on Animal Planet about dangerous sea creatures. She came to me crying that they just "have to change the channel because it's scaring me!" Apparently there's some kind of flat fish out there that "if you don't watch your step in the water and you land your foot on one, it may be your last!" (At least that's what she kept repeating to me for days afterward.)
I'm starting to get a little worried, and just plain frustrated, because though I'm trying to be patient and explain things to her the best I can, understanding her sensitivity to the subject, I'm frankly tired of her crying every night about going to bed because she's scared and waking me up 2 or 3 times a night to tell me she's scared. I feel at my wit's end. I've tried giving her a special necklace to wear only at night, which she calls her "Jesus necklace", because I told her that when she puts it on she will remember that Jesus is always protecting her. I've also tried letting her listen to some of her favorite music when she goes to bed, hoping it will help her relax, and we've started not letting her watch any t.v. right before bed, to see if that helps. So far, none of those things have been the solution.
Chris keeps saying it's just a phase, but I want to make sure she gets through this "phase" unscathed. What do you other moms think? Anyone else's kids talk about "death" all the time??
My six year old little girl is obsessed with death and dying, and I do mean obsessed. She talks about it all the time, things like she wonders how many different ways people can die, and her ideas range from falling asleep on the floor and never getting up, to having your heart break and you die, to getting shot, to natural disasters, and on and on. If it rains or thunderstorms, she thinks her dad and I are going to die, and she says, "if a child dies, they are a littlest angel, and if a grown-up dies, they are a big angel". It's gotten to the point where, for about the past two to three weeks, she refuses to sleep because, as she said (with tears and sadness in her voice): "When I'm asleep it feels like I'm dead!!" She thinks if she sees a bug in her room, it's going to crawl on her while she sleeps and she'll die. She says she thinks raccoons are going to come in through the attic and kill her while she's in bed. Any sound she hears, the wind, the neighbors, a bump or scuffle outside, and she's out her bedroom door screaming for help. She now has to have a nightlight, the door open and someone sleeping in her room with her for her to be able to fall asleep. She sometimes talks about it with a paralyzing fear that she, or someone in our family is going to die, and other times she just brings it up like casual conversation, as though she just has a morbid curiosity about the subject. The other day she was asking me all kinds of questions like whether or not your spirit feels hungry or thirsty after you're dead, or if she'll have to sleep when she's dead. We have to be really careful about what we say around her because she picks up on everything and even the smallest things add to her unrealistic fears, and that includes talking about when anyone in our family is sick (because in her mind, they might die), or something we saw on the news or read in the paper, or if something happens to someone we know, she will talk about it for weeks, as though she's afraid the same thing is going to happen to her. One day recently her brothers were watching a show on Animal Planet about dangerous sea creatures. She came to me crying that they just "have to change the channel because it's scaring me!" Apparently there's some kind of flat fish out there that "if you don't watch your step in the water and you land your foot on one, it may be your last!" (At least that's what she kept repeating to me for days afterward.)
I'm starting to get a little worried, and just plain frustrated, because though I'm trying to be patient and explain things to her the best I can, understanding her sensitivity to the subject, I'm frankly tired of her crying every night about going to bed because she's scared and waking me up 2 or 3 times a night to tell me she's scared. I feel at my wit's end. I've tried giving her a special necklace to wear only at night, which she calls her "Jesus necklace", because I told her that when she puts it on she will remember that Jesus is always protecting her. I've also tried letting her listen to some of her favorite music when she goes to bed, hoping it will help her relax, and we've started not letting her watch any t.v. right before bed, to see if that helps. So far, none of those things have been the solution.
Chris keeps saying it's just a phase, but I want to make sure she gets through this "phase" unscathed. What do you other moms think? Anyone else's kids talk about "death" all the time??
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
More family fun.
I know I post a lot of camping pictures, particularly in the summer, but also at other times of the year. I guess it's just something we do a lot of, and I have so much fun capturing moments of the kids enjoying just being kids. I overheard them talking to each other this morning saying: "Being a kid is way better than being a grown-up, I bet. All we have to do is play." I actually really do hope that my kids feel that is their reality. So on that note, here are some pictures from our most recent campout to a place called Big Springs, just on the other side of the mountains south of us. When we arrived at the campground, the camp host came to let us know that there had been two recent black bear sitings right in the campground. We were on the lookout the whole time. In fact, the second night we were all sitting by the fire when Chris was startled by a sound he heard, and it was "all he wrote", as they say. The kids jumped up and ran into the trailer, and it took us about an hour, maybe more, to get Sophie to settle into sleep.
Another highlight, sort of as an addendum to my previous post, we had another tooth loss incident. Noah was outside at the picnic table eating his scrambled eggs in the morning, Chris and I were in the camper, when he came up to the screen door and announced, with his mouth still full of food: "My tooth is in my eggs, my tooth is in my eggs!!" As he said this, a tooth plopped out of his mouth onto his paper plate; so gross!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Toothlessness
It seems that with three kids between the ages of 6 and 9, the Toothfairy is a frequent visitor to our home. Tonight she shall be making an appearance for the benefit of two, both Sam and Sophie have teeth stealthily placed under their pillows. Now if they would just go to sleep...
Happy Birthday, Zipper!
Today is (approximately) Zipper's first birthday. We're not sure of the exact date, we just know it's in July, so the kids decided a while ago that July 10th would be the day to celebrate from now on. He was not too happy with me for making him wear this hat, but he kept it on long enough for me to get a picture at least! Happy B-day, Zipper-doo!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
I love summer!
The past few days have been a little busy. Yesterday my Activity Days co-leader and I had our little 8-11 year old girls do some work in town to help out with the cleanup after our recent flooding problems. It was a hot, laborious effort, and it didn't seem like we accomplished a whole lot in the time we spent, considering what a muddy, smelly mess the flooding left behind.In the meantime I had a realtor call saying he had some folks who wanted to see our house, so I had to hurry and get things cleaned and straightened. I guess it worked out perfectly, timing wise, because we had decided on an impromptu trip down to SLC, so I was able to get the house ready, then get the kids out of the way for the showing.
So when I got back from Activity Days, Chris and I packed up the car and the kids and headed to Utah to see a friend of mine from Michigan that I haven't seen in ages. I found out she was going to be there for a wedding and it was so great that it just worked out that we were able to make the short trip at the last minute. One of the things I just love about summertime is the flexibility in our schedule. I had the BEST time visiting with her and laughing just like old times. We went to the park at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo, which also brought back some memories of when Chris and I were first engaged and spent time there as young "lovebirds"! ;)
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