Swim Lessons

I loved those moments when Liesel happened to look over at me and give me a laugh and a frantic wave.

Along with regular dental check-ups and matching school photo outfits, my mother made sure all of us kids had swimming lessons growing up. We all became strong swimmers and I'm grateful for that part (among many others) of my upbringing. Of course I was determined to pass it on so I signed Liesel up for 4 sessions of swim lessons this summer.

Working on her kneeling dive. Not to brag, (but to brag... what kind of parent would I be otherwise?) but she's the only child in the group who can do it!

This actually isn't Liesel's first crack at swim lessons-- she took a parent/tot class the summer Whitney nannied for us. I braced myself for her to be less than thrilled to sharpen her water skills. I couldn't have been more wrong. She loves swimming, particularly swimming underwater. One morning I found her floating face down in the bathtub and just about went into labor. She popped her head up and cheerfully told me she was working on her "bobbing."

Liesel with her favorite teacher Miss Molly. Not once did Liesel complain about going to her lessons. Every morning she  jumped into the water with pure enthusiasm.

I don't mean to sound like an idiot, but Liesel actually learned to swim! On her front, on her back, underwater, with a noodle, with a kick board, and without. Liesel can swim about 1/3 of the pool length completely on her own before she needs a little help. She's done an amazing job and impressed every teacher she had. At one point or another, each of them asked me how old she was because she's ready to move up to the next level. Unfortunately, she won't be able to do that until next year. That's okay though, with the summer coming to a close it's time to hang up the swimsuits and pull out the leotards. As much fun as she's had, I think Liesel is missing gymnastics and will be happy for the change of pace.

Ireland sat on the side with me and perfected her tongue roll. I'm actually pretty proud of that because the ability to do it is genetic and Brent can't do it. That means SOME of my genes snuck their way in there! Next year will be your turn for swim lessons little girl! I PROMISE!!!

Sunday Evening Sparklers

I've decided left over sparklers on a relatively cool evening after the 4th of July is even better than day of. We kind of skipped all the festivities this year due to the ridiculous heat. Luckily the girls are young enough they don't seem to mind. In fact, they seem perfectly content!

How to Take a Good Picture of Children

Start with the youngest who likely has the shortest attention span. Make her laugh because surely this will lead her to look at you so you can snap the perfect shot.

Clear the area of all sticks as they provide fascinating entertainment... contrary to what you might think.

Have the older child set a good example of a good photo.

Bring the younger child back and try again. When you fail (again), resort to having the older child physically manipulate the younger child to look at you for just two seconds.

Give up. As you walk away keep a wary eye out for the children to do something impossibly cute like embrace each other and smile with sisterly joy. Snap the shot and call it a day.

Called to Serve

We've received the exciting news that my parents have been called to serve in the Johannesburg, South Africa mission! They enter the Mission Training Center on November 26, 2012 and will serve for a period of 2 years. South Africa is certainly a far cry from the mission they served previously in New Jersey and I can't wait to see what new adventures this will bring for them. Time to dust off your black name tags Mom and Dad!

It Is Thursday Afternoon

The girls have ostensibly eaten lunch. There's rice and green beans all over the kitchen table, chairs, and floor. A mess that will simply have to wait until later... probably about 5 minutes before Brent gets home. The last time Ireland went potty she didn't bother to put her skirt or panties back on so she's running around the apartment bare-bum and perfectly happy. Liesel is clicking on video after video on YouTube. I glance over now and again to catch her watching a panda commercial, some anime, some Micky Mouse. During this pregnancy she has become proficient in entertaining herself with the computer. A bit of guilt seeps into my heart and I shake it off, reminding myself that I won't be pregnant forever. After the baby is born I'll be a good mom again. I'll clean up right after lunch, put panties back on and read books with my kids rather than let their brains go to mush with animated garbage.

The air conditioner is running, running, running. Probably just as tired as I am, trying to keep our apartment cool. I wonder if I can get Ireland to take a nap since she has gymnastics tonight. Back in their room, I hear her dumping out the lunchbox we use to keep the blocks in. Another mess... Still, it's relatively quiet which is heaven as I try and sit still while I mentally battle the nausea and headache that will NOT go away! I should grab the peppermint oil in my purse and dab a little behind my ears but that's in the kitchen and I'm in the living room. If I go into the kitchen I'll just be confronted with the lunch mess. So I'll sit in the living room with the other mess and just deal.

Ireland has gotten bored with coloring... laying down on the carpet with her full moon unabashedly showing. Have I mentioned Ireland has the cutest naked bum? She disappears for a moment and I hear her grunting as she brings the Poppin' Popper out. She gives me a mischievous smile as she turns it on and presses the button. Colorful plastic balls fly all over the living room and her smile widens. There's something about chaos this little girl loves. Along with the coloring books and crayons, it's another mess I won't be cleaning anytime soon. I'm too big, too tired, too zapped of energy in the hot stickiness of late summer. And yet for a neat-nick like me I somehow don't care! My girls are fed, (mostly) clothed and happy. That's enough for now.

Brent's Mission Scrapbook

Journals, letters to president, letters to and from the field, Spanish scriptures,
Spanish hymnal, photos, scrapbook, charlas and missionary plaque.

It. Is. FINISHED!!! Of all the organization projects I've undertaken with regards to Brent's memorabilia, his missionary records were by far, the most complicated. I cannot begin to describe my euphoria at having it all done. Here's what we did:

Letters- Brent kept every letter he received and even marked them in the ORDER he received them. We bought a date stamp and transferred the information he'd penciled on the envelopes, put the letters in page protectors and then compiled them into two binders. Letters to his mission president were also put into page protectors and housed in their own binder.

The negatives. I know you can send these to places that will scan
them and create digital images but for the time being it was just
too cost prohibitive. Someday!

Photos- Oi. This was as heady a project as putting together the actual scrapbook. All the negatives were thrown into one box and all the photos in a different box. Brent went through the photos and divided them by area and companion. Then we went through the negatives. I invested in 3-ring binder sleeves with a label across the top. Then Brent and I just about went blind staring at the negatives and getting them in order. We put the negatives corresponding with each area in the binder with the letters to President. Once those were organized, we could put the photos back into chronological order which made the scrapbooking much, much easier. We purchased a photo box from (where else?) The Container Store which had nifty dividers. Because Brent kept such meticulous records, we were able to label the dividers by area and the date range he served there. 

The photos. Technically this is a "media storage box"
that can also hold CD's. Because we used photos,
there's space at the top for some of the knick knacks
Brent picked up in Guatemala.

Misc.- Brent's family made sure to record his setting apart, father's blessing as well as all the talks given at his farewell. Luckily his setting apart and father's blessing were typed up and laminated! I quickly re-typed them so we'd have a digital copy. However, I spent one very looong afternoon transcribing the talks.

I found a website called pininthemap.com. For every area, I printed out a color map with a nice little red pin showing exactly where his area was in relation to the whole country of Guatemala. While I was at it, I saved those maps in the growing folder of digital documents.

Scrapbook- Oh wow. Apparently hardly anyone is making traditional scrapbooks anymore! Once upon a time there were tons of places around Provo where mission-themed paper and stickers could be found. Not anymore. Not at the University Mall, not on BYU campus, not anywhere really. I was able to pick up just a few things at a craft store in Utah which has since closed down. I scoured the handful of scrapbooking places around here and luckily there was one that was kind of a travel-themed store and they had some great stuff. My parents also happened upon a shop with little Guatemalan flags, stickers and even a tie tack. They graciously purchased those which helped tremendously. Even the Creative Memories website no longer lists this type of scrapbook among their products! I came dangerously close to not having enough pages to finish it all but luckily had a consultant who was willing to dig until she found some.

My favorite page! A number of volcanoes erupted while Brent was serving as a missionary. I found a picture of the actual volcano and used it to create the outline I mounted on the page. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the cardstock the pictures are mounted on looks like charcoal. Brent collected some of the ash and I found a tiny plastic holder for it. I had fun burning the corner of the picture closest to the volcano flames. What looks like flames at the bottom of the picture of his companion were just random, a result of the photo development, but they work so well with the rest of the page!

Working through the scrapbook with Brent was great on so many levels. I'd heard so many of his mission stories, but now I was putting a face to a name. After staring at negatives, getting reprints and then cropping, I got to know those pictures VERY well! It was also very gratifying to see Brent get excited as it all came together.

More than anything, I'm glad we both now have something we can pull out and show our girls when we talk about how important our missions were for us. Rather than telling stories and vaguely mentioning we have a record "in a box somewhere" it's all organized, compiled and documented! On the flip side, I'm SO happy this project is over and done with; this will be my last paper scrapbook. As I move into the digital world of scrapbooking, I have many other projects waiting in the wings (IE blurbing this blog, baby books, our wedding album, etc.) but for now I'm going to just relax and NOT have a major project for a while. I think I've earned it...