Life As It Is

I suppose I’m failing in the blogging department . . . we have been crazy busy! Here are a few of the things that have kept us busy:

Trips, Trips and more trips. By the end of the summer, we will have driven 3000 miles and flown about 4000–we are suddenly pro-travelers! I am working on a super-organized checklist to help make things more smooth . . . sometimes your brain is so dead the night before it’s really hard to think about what you need and where you need it (with you in the car, in the trunk, etc.), especially when you’re packing for kids. We made two more whirlwind trips back to Utah for Dustin’s brother Mike’s endowment and then his wedding 4 weeks later, and went to Florida for a week in between that. JJ is adept at opening presents in the car . . . we began wrapping cheerios, goldfish, old junk that my sister Carrie was getting rid of. It was all about having something to open. Dustin even got a few presents on this last trip (some new music and talks to listen to on the drive). We were thrilled that things worked out that we were able to be there with Mike and Miriam for these happy steps.

Our trip to Florida was lots of fun too. Most of the time when I tell people my grand-parents live in Florida, I think they assume that my grand-parents are snowbirds that have gone there to retire. That is anything but the case. We have long-time roots in Florida and the South, and my grand-parents have lived on a farm for the past 30 years. Now they just farm trees (plant and then harvest 30 years later), but they have a huge garden with the tallest tomato plants I’ve ever seen, blueberries, grapes, and three energetic grandsons living next door that keep them busy. It was my fourth trip to Florida, and I always appreciate getting a taste of the southern culture–we had boiled peanuts, Sonny’s Barbecue (Sonny was my grandpa’s cousin!), and a driveby tour of the University of Florida, home of the Gators where my Grandpa taught for many years. We made it to the beach twice and tubed down the Ichetucknee River. And of course we had a great time seeing almost all of our family–there are 8 children, 30 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren.

Today we made it out to the reservoir and got to swim in the open water swimming area–fabulous practice for open water swims in triathlons (which we just registered for one in September!). It was great, and when we got out of the water we realized that I had misread the sign–we swam a mile, but only meant to swim a half mile. Good to know we can do it! Then thanks to my mom and Carrie watching the boys some more, we were able to get in a good long bike ride.

We’re pooped!

Right in the middle of all of this craziness, Grandpa got sick and ended up in the hospital. He’s surprised a lot of doctors and nurses with his ability to recover from some serious things and is doing remarkably well for being 94. We love Grandpa–he is very determined to get well and get back to life!

(JJ sneaked a ride on Great-Grandpa’s walker while he was gone, don’t tell Grandpa!)

JJ trying out his wedding clothes at the piano.

And I decided that it was high time Cameron lost his mullet and got his first haircut BEFORE the weddings–it doesn’t look bad until you put a collar on him.

Last month I was asked to speak about making the most of our life’s circumstances at a Relief Society Meeting with this theme. I was grateful for the opportunity because it’s something I’d pondered a lot–as it seems like everywhere you turn there are people with seemingly huge trials to overcome. I have a strong testimony that God loves us and He wants us to be happy, and that there is purpose in trials and suffering. My testimony was strengthened as I read, and I ended up with a lot more great quotes than I could have ever used, so I thought I would publish a few here.

“It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. … If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers” (Jordan Utah South regional conference, priesthood session, 1 Mar. 1997). Gordon B. Hinckley, “Latter-day Counsel: Excerpts from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, Oct 2000, 73

Orson F. Whitney said:

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we came here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.” (As quoted by Spencer W. Kimball, in Faith Precedes the Miracle, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972, p. 98.)

President Ezra Taft Benson:

“Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], p. 361).

We’ve always loved this story, now it’s a movie!

Enjoy:

It’s hard to believe that we’ve already been here 5 whole weeks! The time just flies. We are having a good time, and have tried to see some things while we’re here. I am certainly guilty of the same thing that so many of us are–not seeing lots of the things to see that are right here where I grew up. Here’s what we’ve done so far:

We started our sight-seeing at the Butterfly Pavilion–a museum dedicated to invertebrates. Here I got to touch a cockroach and hold Rosie the Tarantula. The men in our family weren’t interested in taking the challenge, but now I can add it to my list of accomplishments!

JJ liked the sea life:

They have an area that is a tropical rainforest, where they release butterflies that have never flown before. One butterfly (not sure if he was a newbie or not) landed on JJ’s right shoulder and stayed there for quite some time.

Next was Memorial Day weekend, when we flew back Salt Lake just four weeks after we left. Normally we wouldn’t want to spend the money to fly back and be there for slightly more than 24 hours, but Dustin’s brother Jeremy and his wife Therese had their adoption of these three darling sisters approved and were sealed to them in the Salt Lake Temple. It was such a special time for Jeremy and Therese and their families, we were so glad we could be there. The opportunity to be sealed together for eternity, and not just until “death do you part” is a blessing I treasure and felt immense joy at the blessing it will be for this family.

Cameron wooed all the strangers with his giggles, big smile and great big eyes:

At the airport:

We flew back on Sunday to relieve my parents of JJ duty, avoid crowds and more expensive tickets! So we still had Monday to do some sight-seeing, even though we were rather worn out. We decided to do a little walking tour of downtown Denver–we saw the Capital, the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, the Brown Palace (where Dustin had just been for a business lunch, little did he know he was going to such a special place–it has been a fancy, old hotel in the heart of Denver for 100 years), and the 16th street mall. It was fun and a nice taste of big city life, which brought back memories of Germany for Dustin.

Abbey Road, Anyone? (This was not planned)

The very next day there was a free day at the Children’s Museum, so of course we couldn’t miss that either. I’d wanted to go earlier, but when I saw there was a free day, we decided to try it out then, and then decide if we needed to pay to go back. It was crowded, but JJ and Cameron had a great time in the Center for the Young Child which wasn’t as crowded as the rest of it. JJ was a little intimidated by the masses of big kids in most of the rest of the place, and I can’t blame him, it was chaos!

Virtually all of the Children’s Museum pictures we took are fuzzy–those boys couldn’t stay still!

As we left the Children’s Museum, the See Denver Trolley was doing a short ride so we decided to hop on. Here we are:

Here’s the view:

Finally, yesterday we made it to the Denver Zoo. A dear old neighbor of my family’s, Mrs. Lou has always been a big fan and usually a member at the Zoo. So we called her up to see if she wanted to show us around. She was able to get most of us in for free with her membership, so that made it even more enjoyable!

It seemed that this monkey:

would be a lot easier to keep track of than this one:

And then the boys are keeping us entertained at dinner. Here they are in their new bibs–it appears Cameron’s also doubles as a plate:

So I eluded to another issue that came up at Cameron’s last checkup, but it was worthy of it’s own post! We were seeing a different doctor, and he noticed that Cameron’s head had passed two lines on the growth charts, from 90th to off the charts. He was concerned and initially suggested we may need to take him to the hospital for a catscan. Keep in mind that we were leaving for Colorado the next day. Thankfully he called a specialist at primary children’s and determined that an ultrasound would be sufficient! So we got to make another trip there. They did the ultrasound and we were supposed to wait until the beginning of the next week for the radiologist to call us. So we left town, hoping that everything was okay!

We got here and I saw this picture, of me and my younger sister Julie when she was about the same age:

I wasn’t terribly concerned before, but after seeing that picture I knew Cameron had just gotten the big head genes. My sister Julie really is brilliant, so I’m hoping the big head just means Cameron is on his way to following in her footsteps!

Cameron has started scooting around since we got here. If you give him a toy that rolls and turn around, he may be on the other end of the room when you look back.

Here’s a video we took a few weeks ago when he was just starting to move:

Cameron always captivates strangers with his million dollar smile!

There were moments when we wondered if we would . . .

Subleasing proved not as simple as we were hoping, we learned:
KSL attracts a lot more people than craigslist or BYU off campus housing, and craigslist attracts people from out of state. Not necessarily bad, but it’s certainly preferable to deal with someone who can be there in person.
In situations like these, it’s a good idea to go cheap so you can choose the best fit. We debated about moving out all together but finally found someone who was a good fit and didn’t change their mind after we call all their references and signed a contract with them Monday night. It was eerily reminiscent of finding a place to live before we got married, signing a contract the night before we left town!

We packed up our house and got everything, except our queen sized bed, into our basement:

Moving the bed was not a fun adventure. TIP–queen sized beds are awkward and hard to move! Get a big truck, buy plastic mattress covers from Wal-mart, and say your prayers that it all works out.

The day before we left, I took Cameron in for his six month checkup, 3 1/2 weeks early. I debated about doing it at all, but it’s a good thing I did. Cameron had an ear infection (he’d had a runny, green nose for a week but hadn’t seemed too uncomfortable), a rash under his arm, and another concern that required a second visit that afternoon (more on that to come).

Additionally, we’d known a new furnace was in the plans eventually, but the contractors called us up and wanted to do it the day before we left as well. So it made it rather difficult to get much done, as they were right in between us and our storage room. Thankfully we were way ahead because of lots of help from both of our families and some friends, so it worked out. That night my siblings and their significant others had their date/Friday night fun cleaning our house and bringing dinner. Thanks again Sibs!

And we very nearly didn’t survive the drive over. I was so busy and worried about packing up the house that I didn’t think too much about our drive. After a half hour in the car JJ wanted to get out, and within two hours he was screaming. We were in the most desolate stretch with nowhere but the shoulder to get out, so we pressed ahead, enduring more than 100 miles of 2 year old tantrum. Finally he settled down and began to fall asleep one minute before we reached our planned stop, but Cameron (the one with the best excuses to be cranky, did I mention we noticed two new teeth the morning we left?) was finally crying and ready to eat.

Thankfully the second half of the drive was more tolerable, more of just some whimpering rather than all out screaming. The poor guy had had a rough week, being bounced around to different sitters and having his world turned upside down. And he was a bit sick too. So just in case we forget what it was like (I don’t anticipate that happening any time soon!)

At the Colorado Welcome Center there is a helicopter memorial. Since Dustin will be working for a helicopter company this summer, we snapped this:

We FINALLY arrived at my parents house around 7, so relieved to be out of the car.

JJ and Cameron are getting adjusted. JJ asks for “Grandma’s Milk”. My mom has faithfully made powdered milk for my entire life, and JJ has decided he likes it better. We’ll see how long it lasts. And Cameron has started buzzing his lips with spit. Here’s a video for his fans in Utah.

We took Cameron in for some brain testing, and our assumptions were right–he really is brilliant! Actually, we were invited by BYU to participate in some research on babies his age, finding whether or not they can process the things they see with the noises they hear.

They hooked him up to this fancy net with sensors on it, and had him watch a video of different circles and sounds. They did say he was one of the best babies they’d had for the study, hardly getting distracted at all. I’d like to think that’s a good thing, but being totally intent on the TV? We’ll call it focus.

We havev the other genius helping with this post, so we better sign off!

James – Rex Lee 2010

It’s going to be hard to beat last year:

James – Rex Lee 2009

After an intense internship search all over the country, we are going to:

Colorado! I suppose that my parents prayers were heard! We anticipate it will be a great internship–Dustin will be doing just the things he’s studying and gaining great experience. We’ll be living with my parents–although it’s not quite the adventure we were envisioning, we are looking forward to being able to spend more time with them, having free in house babysitting, and a fully furnished kitchen! We are excited about Colorado as well–the weather won’t be unbearably hot or humid, and there is plenty we haven’t seen there. The nearby reservoir even has a place you can practice your open water swimming for triathlons! We’re leaving shortly after the semester ends in a few weeks, so life is crazy. We are also trying to find someone to rent our house while we’re gone–it’s a great house for a great price! Let us know if you know anyone who might be interested!

We had the good fortune of happening to reschedule JJ’s dentist appointment on St. Patrick’s Day. JJ’s favorite color is green, so he had on his favorite green shirt before I even thought about it. He was very cooperative, and came home with a green toothbrush and this little treasure from the treasure box. Learning how to use it was quite entertaining: