The rest of Utah

WHOOSH! Nothing gives you a "best mother in the world" boost like driving 12oo miles over 5 days with three kids 4 and under BY yourself. Although I could also say nothing makes you feel like "worst mother in the world" doing the same activity.
A week before we left I decided to go. Crazy, right? I had a lot of things to reschedule and organize to make it work, but the stars aligned and my busy schedule last weekend parted like the Red Sea so we could go. Couldn't pass up the opportunity. My lovely, darling sister in law just got engaged (seriously love her to pieces, last Ellingson woman, men, she's taken!!). Like, JUST. I had a dream a while ago that my brother in law got married and we went to his wedding and the brides family was nutso and wouldn't let me near the couple with my camera. I woke up all stressed out, so I posted on his facebook wall to tell him how irritated I was that his future bride's family was ruining my sleep (he's not engaged, don't worry ladies...). I wistfully mused that maybe the next night I would have better luck with Amber's future spouse's family. Har har, right? Well Amber called me the next week, and here's me, not even knowing that she was dating anyone. And she's all "Ha ha- that was funny what you posted on Michael's facebook wall," to which I replied, "Oh yeah, make sure that you tell your fiance's family to move out of the way when I do your wedding, ha ha." "Okay, so you'll do my wedding pictures for me when I get married, right?" she laughs. "Of course!" I answer.
"How about on December 16th?"
"Oh yeah, ha ha, sure Amber, okay!"
*silence*
"WAIT. Are you trying to TELL ME SOMETHING???"
Yes, indeed she was trying to tell me something. DECEMBER 16th people!!
So I remembered that Craig's parents were driving out to Utah for the weekend to pick up apples, and I thought, what the heck. I need to meet this guy and I need to see my family and the kids need to see their cousins. It totally worked out! We stayed with my aunt and uncle in Park City for a few nights, then met up with all the Utah Ellingsons at Craig's oldest brother's family's house in Springville. I met the fiance. I approve. I saw Amber's wedding dress (by picture). I approve. I've got my wedding assignments so far (as both bride and brides mother are Relief Society Presidents this semester, yikes, talk about BUSY! But I'm THRILLED to be able to help, I love weddings :-)). I piled the kids in the Pilot and followed Craig's parents out there. I brought lots of snacks, pillows, blankets, and of course, the portable DVD player. The kids did great! I successfully changed DVD's on the mounted DVD player with one hand without unmounting it. It was fantastic. Aside from trying to drive to Vernal instead of Springville while getting from Park City to Provo, I didn't get lost once (I made it to this lovely reservoir along the Strawberry River before I thought to myself "...this road is not wind-ey enough to be Provo Canyon, I think I went the wrong way"- although I did get my "drive in the mountains to see the fall colors" trip taken care of in the meantime, it was a beautiful road to get lost on, if I do say so myself).
I didn't take a whole lot of pictures of the trip. My motivation to take pictures of everyone gets lost when I'm visiting with family. Here's a couple of the kids on various parts of the trip I fully enjoy sleeping back in my own bed in SEPARATE rooms from my kids. Linus wakes up a lot during the night, holy cow. Maybe that accounts for his bad attitude when he wakes up some mornings!

A bad day and Horse Chestnuts

So this last weekend I took the kids with me to Utah. By myself. Crazy? Yes. Worth it? Definitely. I have other pictures to post, but I'll have to get to them later otherwise this post will be super duper long.
Below is the story of another motherhood lesson learned. Enjoy.

So the day after we got to Park City, I really wanted to take the kids to see Temple Square in Salt Lake City. I thought it would be this perfect, spiritually uplifting event: the kids could touch the temple, we could tour the conference center, we could visit the Christus (a white, beautifully serene replica of the Ressurected Saviour, it's just glorious, I always love visiting it). Well I didn't much take into account the fact that the kids did not sleep at all the trip up there and then didn't fall asleep until sometime after midnight after we did get there, then woke up with Linus's internal alarm at 6:30. When we got to Temple Square, as pictured below, they were nice walking up to the temple to touch it. Then we went to tour the Conference Center. Chloe thought it was amazing. Odell didn't much care either way. Linus thought it was a ginormous concrete jungle gym. In fact, he thought that's what most of Temple Square was after that. These poor older sister missionaries gave us the tour and were so kind as to push the stroller for me while I ran after Linus and pulled him out of fountains and rope barriers in front of paintings and flower beds on the roof...the last half of the tour he spent riding on my shoulders. My scalp was sore afterwards from all the hair pulling and thrashing he did. We got back over to the temple grounds after that and I got them calmed down with a snack and juice box while we watched the fifty million brides and their families and their photographers going through. Then we prepared to visit the Christus. They were so quiet and still going up the ramp to the room where it's located, I thought for a moment we may actually have a beneficial spiritual encounter here. They quickly identified Christ, and as I was thinking about preparing my speech for mother of the year award, suddenly they both thought that climbing on the statue would be a good idea. I tried to take a picture of them next to it, but quickly realized that was not going to happen as more people started coming up and Linus began darting around the room finding other things to destroy. He successfully located a spot up about 6 or 7 stairs away from me where I couldn't take the stroller where he threatened to run away from me. Needless to say I ended that excursion dragging both of my screaming children back down the ramp where we all had to immediately find a potty because suddenly no one could hold it anymore. While in the bathroom I was ready to shed a few tears of my own. I got them out of there alive and made it back to the car in the parking garage in one piece. As I was driving out every exit I came to required $10 in cash to leave. My heart sunk as I realized that I didn't have any cash on me. I was planning on using my credit card to leave, but that was not going to work here. My heart raced as thoughts of getting out of the car and begging strangers for $10 to leave the garage crossed my frantic mind. Thinking back on it, I should have just parked the car, got the kids back out and found an ATM downtown somewhere to get some cash, but at the time that just didn't occur to me as an option, I was tired from lack of sleep and desperate to get the kids and myself back up the canyon for lunch and a nap. I timidly approached the main exit where there was a guard manning the exit. I stared at the money machine next to me, then prayed that somehow I would open my purse again and $10 in cash would magically appear there. No such luck. Eventually the guard came over and I explained to him my desperate situation as politely as I could. He paused, then asked, "Where did you go?" I told him I was just on Temple Square with the kids, we didn't go anywhere else. The kids started fighting at that point, and I was trying to shush them while figure out what it was I needed to do to get out of there. Would I have to work my wages out? Could I convince the man to let me take his post for a couple of hours so I could pay my way out of the garage? He sat there looking irritated, then hesitantly pulled out his badge, swiped it over a reader on the machine, and snapped, "I could get fired for this," and the barrier lifted and I could pass. I blubbered out my thanks and apology, but his concern was now focused on the line of cars that had piled up behind me and didn't so much as say "You're welcome," as I left the garage. Well, the straw broke and I am ashamed to say I cried almost the whole drive back to Park City. The kids sat in silence the whole way back, occasionally muttering "It's okay, Mom, you can go to the bank and get some more money!" and "We're so sorry we didn't listen to you, Mom, we love you, don't cry!"
We got back to Park City and I pulled into McDonalds where I sniffled my last sniffle, put on a pair of large sunglasses, and bought the kids happy meals for lunch to apologize for a Mommy meltdown. After a sugary soda and a fattening burger, I felt much better.
SO, not to leave you on a down and out note, because I did learn a spiritual lesson from this. When we had family home evening at Brent and Karen's house the following Monday night, we talked about Amber getting married in the temple and both the kids talked some about going to the temple the previous Friday and touching the walls and connected to that readily. As I was cleaning out the car after we got back, I pulled out the stroller and these little brown, smooth nuts fell out of the bottom of the stroller. I had forgotten, while we were walking around on temple square, the kids found some horse chestnuts. It was strange, I often think about this tree: when I was kid, in the apartment complex we used to live in growing up, they had these giant horse chestnut trees and I LOVED to collect the horse chestnuts. Something about finding these pokey, prickly green outsides, but then opening them up to find a perfectly formed smooth nut on the inside, a little present just for me, was thrilling. I even had a children's book about them, they were special to me. The kids had never seen them before and wanted to take some home with us. I showed them the prickly coverings that they came from up in the tree, and let them each pick out one to put in the stroller. Another one of those lightning bolt- message from God moments came upon me. Right now, my kids sometimes seem like these prickly pokey horse chestnuts. They don't seem to have any smooth edges sometimes, it is a struggle to feel like I've accomplished anything at times with them, or like they'll be anything but a green, pokey, prickly ball. But they just need to ripen. And one day I will open them up and find a perfect, smooth, brown nut as formed on the inside and I'll be proud of what they have become. A mother's work is never done. But it takes time to see the fruits sometimes. Even when we want immediate results, they just need that time, like any fruit or plant, you can't make them bloom before they are ready.
On that note, does anyone know why they planted this particular tree on the temple grounds in Salt Lake? Just wondering.
And hang tight for the rest of the Utah adventures, they will be soon up-a-comin'.

Yada yada...

It's been a little while!
In my effort to keep an upper hand on my photography/crocheting blog, I've shamefully neglected this one.
So here's one of those updates that everyone glances at the pictures of, but no one has the time to read (I'll admit I've done that a few times...). I'll keep on her
e so it can go in our printed book at the end of the year and I'll have something for the month of October. :-)
...although I'll likely have a few more posts for this month since it'll be Halloween and all. Can't neglect an opportunity to take pictures of kids dressed up.
Starting at the bottom and working our way up, Odell is a whopping 14 months old this month and still not walking! :-) She gets her way around, though. She's learned how to crawl up and down stairs, but hasn't figured out how to turn herself around at the top of the stairs, so I still have to keep the gates up, unfortunately (no one in our house is a fan of the gates and may have actually caused more injuries to the older kids climbing over them than they would have prevented with the younger one...). She can say "Mama" and "Dada" and "Gama", but only when prompted and is not real interested in speaking much more than that. She can sign "drink" and "please" and folds her arms lightning quick when we are ready to say a prayer. She also hugs. All the time. She lays her head on my shoulder every time I pick her up and she hugs her stuffed animals whenever she runs across them. Her favorite things to do are: climb stairs, climb the kids rocking chair, stand up and rock it, then laugh when I run over to prevent her eminent death from knocking the chair over, eat food (any food, she's never rejected anything I've given her, even the raw broccoli I once ground up for her with a little water when she was littler, she ate the whole thing and had a bright green diaper the next day), grab the clean diaper from me when I'm changing her and try to put it on herself, hand toys or spoons or my cell phone or anything to me, then take it back, then hand it to me, then take it back again, and so on and so forth, open cabinet or dresser drawers within reach and empty out contents, play with metal bowls and spoons on the kitchen floor while I'm making dinner, play pikaboo on the kids' couch, climb up on the fireplace, stand up and laugh when I run over to again prevent her eminent death from falling onto the brick below her, get really mad and cry while waving hands around hysterically anytime Chloe or Linus climbs into my lap (she's got some serious lap envy) and grab my glasses off my face every time my attention is diverted from her for a millisecond. Every time. And Chloe's too, it's a regular pass-time. Cannot get enough of this girl. Follow this link to see some cute pictures I took of her for a belated smash cake photo shoot.



Linus is getting taller and thinner every time I look at him. He's still a brute, don't get me wrong, but he's starting to even out a little bit. He's been learning how to help me more around the house and has been more and more sweet and giving every day. We still have our challenging days, but the more patient I am with him and the more hugs and kisses I give him, the better it is for both of us. The other day he was playing with my fantasia flower plant, and there were some buds that were open and some that were closed. He kept wanting to squeeze and pop the buds open and pry the petals apart to open them up. He thought he was helping me, but I had to quickly stop him from killing all the buds on my plant. He asked innocently why they wouldn't open, and I said that only the sun opens them, and explained that the warmth of the sun helps those petals open up little by little until they are in full bloom. He seemed to understand that, then said sweetly, "I'm sorry I popped your flowers, Mom." Immediately this divine impression popped into my head: Linus is one of those buds. Sometimes I'm so eager and impatient for him to change and settle down and "be good" that I try to force his petals open before they're ready to bloom. But what he needs is the sun: all the love he can get from me. The more hugs and kisses and giggles and tickles I can get out of him, the more he opens up naturally. I've gotta remember to do that. He also mixes up his words all the time, and it's so gosh darn cute I don't have the heart to correct him sometimes.
"Mom, are we having hangabers for dinner?" *hamburgers*
"Mom!!! I got-for my gun in the car!!!" *forgot*
"Mom! Are we going to the fixing-car today?" *T&T tire, where we get our oil changed and they "fix" our car*
The other day he was playing with one of the neighbor kids, whose name was Liam, and he kept calling him "Woman" because he couldn't say it right. Right now he likes to play with his gun (he puts this black and white sweat-band around his middle, which serves as his gun holster, and walks around protecting the innocent ladies here in the house), he plays "Da Mommy/Daddy and da sweetie" with Chloe a lot (sweetie being the kid), he likes to draw ovals (not circles, ovals), is starting to recognize some letters and numbers, takes 45 minutes to eat any meal, loves playing soccer outside with his Daddy or uncles, and genuinely feels bad when he does something to make me sad or mad. That's a really big accomplishment for him. He also still takes a 2 hour nap every day, which keeps me sane.
I wuv my Winus.


Chloe is turning into an actual little girl. Like, no more toddler whatsoever! That makes me excited and super sad at the same time. Her hair is getting so long, which I love, but also makes her look older too. She's mastered all the letters and their sounds, finally, and is starting to sound out some words a little. Yesterday she sounded out the word "OFF" on the thermostat in the car by herself and was very excited about it. She writes letters to her cousins, with my help (that...ah, yet to have been sent, but don't tell her that...) She's also learned how to swing by herself- she loves to swing now. The other day we were in a parking lot and there was a splatter of white paint on the asphalt by my side of the car- Chloe stopped, gasped and exclaimed, "MOM, watch out!! There's a REALLY big bird poop right there!!! That bird must have been HUGE!!!" I don't know why I thought that was so funny, but I stopped and laughed for like five minutes. She loves her little sister with all of her heart and will go and play with her whenever I ask her to. She's just about the only person that can really make Odell giggle without the help of tickling. I'm starting to realize the benefits of having kids so close in age- she and Linus play so well together, and will even include Odell in sometimes, when Odell is in the right mood. She loves to play house with her toys when the little ones are down for a nap, read lots of books, have her "lessons" everyday, give hugs whenever I'm frustrated, which makes it hard for me to get mad at her ever, loves to look at Spiderman, Batman, and Star Wars books in the library (oh dear...), but also loves to play "save the princess" whenever I'm watching kids and the kids I'm watching happen to be boys (which means no competition for the lead role, she can be the damsel in distress without a fight...), asks me to go swimming every day, asks me to go camping every day (I'm thinking this is going to be a long winter for her), and is one of my best friends.

I am doing great. Really. It's the first time in my life I've actually enjoyed housework (doesn't mean I do it everyday, but I enjoy it when I do do it!). I LOVE waking up everyday to an "unplanned" day, which means we can go and do whatever we want. Lunch at the park today? Sure! Stay in while I make bread and clean the bathrooms? Why not. Run errands with Mommy and stop for a treat on the way home? Perfect. Make a fort in the living room? Sign me up. I have a general idea of what I want to get done each week and I have the freedom to do it when it fits our schedule, instead of fitting it in our schedule somewhere. Ahh...and I've been busy with my creative outlets. Super Ahhh....if you haven't already checked out my blog, Chelsea's Attic, please do and look around! Even if no one looks at it, though, I really have fun with it. And if you have any suggestions or are confused about a tutorial, or see an editing mistake, please tell me. It's a work in progress. But one that frees my soul. In short, life is good for me. Which means I should watch out because something crazier will be around the corner I'm sure.
(Like maybe a wedding for a certain family member??? *coughAMBERcough*)

Craig is...less "super ahhh..." than I am, but thriving nonetheless. He is in full throttle mode right now, but somehow it seems like this was the final push in the puzzle pieces of our lives that made everything click together- having me stay home means that he has the freedom to do whatever he needs and not worry about stressing me out anymore by piling anything else on our agenda. So we thought his schedule was pretty much maxed out when we started the semester with full time school/work, then our wards split and he got called as the new Young Men's president in our ward (which means he is in charge of the male youth at church, basically), and then his computer crashed at work and now he's spending every waking minute at work (literally, he leaves in the morning before we even have a chance to rub our sleepy eyes) going through bills and records for the last two years. So needless to say, he's busy. But we do get to see him now and again and yes, it's hard, but yes it's worth it. At least I still get to have pillow talk with him most nights, that fills my "missing hubs" cup when I need it. :-)

We love our lives. Yes we do. We love our lives, how 'bout you?
Whooot.