Davis and Melissa get Married

Last Friday Davis and Melissa got married. It was such fun day, and such a nice dinner. So great to see old friends there, and to have a great party to attend. They looked so happy, and we are so thrilled for them. Here are some highlights of the day.




Lucy couldn't get enough of her darling, twirly dress Melissa's mom made for her. Here she is jammin out.


Melissa looked so beautiful. Her dress was amazing.

Ryan and Davis singing "Forever" by Ben Harper



My sister Ali has been living with Melissa in New York, and so it was so fun to have her there too.


The ultimate BFFs.

Rex's Parental Side and His pure Love for the Cougs.

I took Molly to the Dr. on Friday for her 18 mos. check up, and I had another unexpected Molly caretaker along with me. As Dr. Witt asked questions about Molly and her well-being, ie....how well is she eating? How long does she sleep at night? Is she still a good napper, etc, etc...my little Rex was answering every question right along with me. "Yes Molly is an amazing eater. She is a great sleeper. Yes, she still naps everyday. She also has been kind of a bully in nursery ...so we have been working with her on that." All of this and more. It was hilarious and a little awkward at the same time. I would start to answer , but he always beat me to the punch, and we ended up just talking over each other. Even when I would tell him, "okay it is my turn now, Rex" , he just couldn't help himself when it came to his little Molly. He is such a protective older brother with her. He was really worried about the shot she had to get too. He brought her a sticker from home to put on her hand so she could concentrate on that and not on the shot. He and I both held her hand the whole way through. It was really sweet to see such a sensitive side of him. I think she has definitely brought that out in him.




Rex and I filled out March Madness brackets this year, mainly because Ry refuses for some strange, totally annoying reason we can't figure out, and because I knew Rex would LOVE to do it. We each sat down and went over the teams. I have really no idea how good any of these teams are with the exception of Utah teams. So I mainly pick them for reasons like , if I like the state or not, if I think their name is cool, if they have cool colors, if at one time or another my Dad told me they were good schools, and if I have been there or not. Basically we were both shooting from the hip here. Rex of course took the Sad Cougars all the way to the end, with Temple University coming in a close second only because "Temple is a good word."



He wasn't too miffed when they lost their game, but when he found out that meant they were out, he was really distressed. When Ryan broke the bad news to him he said "Ohhhhh! I planned all those games for them!" I love how loyal he is to those Cougs.

Happy Day!

(These darling cupcakes my friend kerstin brought over..I had to take a pic)



I had a fabulous birthday this year. Now please note a head of time all this eating and yummy treats I am going to show below did not happen in just one day...although I am not above it , it was spread out through the week. My birthday started early this year with a fun lunch out with DC friends. Steph came into town from Denver for her birthday and we celebrated both our big days with lunch at The Porcupine Grill with Elizabeth and Amanda. These girls are some of my most favorite people to talk to. There is never a dull moment and the time always flies by.

Then a shopping Saturday with my mom and sister at the new Nordstrom. If anyone thinks we are in a recession go to the new Nordstrom and you will feel differently after you see how completely packed it is. It is a really nice store, but I can't wait until our downtown one is done.
(head to the new Nordstrom Bistro for this yummy dessert)


The actual birthday started out with a trip out to breakfast with Ry and the kids. It was such a treat to have Ryan around in the morning and although he had us up and at 'em at the crack of dawn so he could get to work, we did enjoy a yummy breakfast with my favorite hot chocolate.



Then the day went on with a little luncheon my sister and Erin put on at Erin's house. We had yummy greek food and Molly picked up these delicious treats:


Then that afternoon it was off to the cheapy pedicure place to get our feet done with some favorite friends and we took along Lucy for her first mini-pedicure...I don't think I had a pedicure until I was in at least high school, but I knew she would love it maybe just once in awhile.


The day ended with a nice cozy night at home. Ryan's mom, JoLynn came down for a nice visit, and we went to bed early.


Even after all that fun I got to spend an afternoon with cute friends Kate and Courtney who planned a fun lunch at Kate's while the kids played. It was so nice to catch up with them. What great friends I have. I don't know what I would do without them.

Rex

(the intention was to put this up right after Lucy and Molly's posts, but, well, things got busy, I guess)

A few weeks ago, Rex gave another talk in primary. Although his first primary talk went really well, the next one wasn't quite as great, as he sort of shrunk from the bright lights and refused to deliver in the end. We worked on it for a few days prior this time, and that Sunday morning he was ready. As we got ready for church he came to us and said "this doesn't feel like last time I gave a talk. This time my heart and my head are excited to do it." He was right- he got right up and read right through his two-paragraph note paper and delivering the whole thing perfectly.

Rex also just finished his first season of basketball, and he had a great time. This was a different thing for him, compared with his past experiences with soccer. Basketball is not the intuitive exercise that soccer is, and he had to really apply himself to figure it out. It took time and Rex-like focus, but eventually he really became a big contributor to the team. I was especially impressed with his passing. He always found an open guy closer to the basket than him, and got him the ball. He also really progressed in his rebounding and shooting too. It was really fun to watch.





He Passes from Ryan on Vimeo.

The one downside is that because of the funky refereeing you get in the kindergarten league, he came away with some odd ideas about the rules. I kept telling him to bat the ball out of the other guy's hands, and he just refused to do it. When I finally pressed him on why he wouldn't swat the ball, he said the the referee blows the whistle on him every time. I kept trying to talk him out of that, but he wouldn't give. He played defense hard all the time, moving his feet and staying in front of his guy, but he refused to sink so low as to take the ball from the other guy. We'll save that part for next season. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to watch him learn a new sport.


He Scores! from Ryan on Vimeo.



Last week, Rex was looking through his Jazz schedule and noticed three games coming up. He asked me about them and I told him that all three were big games against good teams. We talked a little more about the schedule and I pointed out that they were the last home games for a few weeks. He disappeared and I went on reading my book. A few minutes later I heard him pick up the phone and ask Macy for Nate's phone number. He had a quiet conversation in the other room, and then hung up. After another few minutes he came up to me and casually said "Dad, Nate and I are working on a plane where we're going to go to one of these games." I smiled and went on reading.

A few minutes later, Brennan called and said "hey . . . are these guys cooking up a plan for us to go to a Jazz game?" Three nights later, we were all at a Jazz game together. I don't know who gave Rex the confidence or wherewithal to come up with a plan like that, but it comes in handy when you really want to go see the Jazz.

At Home With Macy

I've seen people try to define the quality of "Macy-ness" before. I've tried myself. It never works. When we were dating I used to tell her that what drew me to her was her slightly 'mysterious' quality. I didn't really mean 'mysterious.' I meant that you could never be sure you had her all the way figured out.

Part of this is because whenever Macy's in her element, she has a look about her that says she's having a lot more fun than you are. Her comfort with herself makes it look like she's on permanent vacation. She has this smile that's half out of a catalogue, half out of a book about mischievous children. Of course, the important thing is that her life now is not a permanent vacation. She takes care of three wonderful kids that each present their own set of unique challenges, runs a cramped house on a tight budget and an even tighter schedule, and keeps track of more friends and neighbors and young women and grandmas and primary kids than you can believe. But still, she has that easygoing, natural smile with the hint of a secret. I still don't know how to describe it, but let me show you:

















How does she do that? After nine years I still don't know. What I do know is that when Macy's enjoying herself (which is most of the time), she puts off a vibe that people can't help but soak in. Easy, comfortable, casual, but all put together in a way most people never could pull off. That's why it's so great to have Macy around. How could you not feel pretty lucky about having married into a permanent vacation?

I love you, Macy. Happy birthday!

Lucy

I hate to talk it up too much, because I don't like to focus on any one thing about one of our kids. But this new installment on Lucy is, once again, on her art.

Lucy keeps coming up with stuff that impresses me. I don't know that she's necessarily way ahead of the curve in basic drawing and coloring skills. What blows me away is her constant experimentation. Everything she does plays with some concept or assumption of art. I know that sounds a little overblown, but I think it's supported by the evidence.

For instance:

I thought this picture was so creative. Start with a lollypop, lion, and lemon on the left (all starting with L) and then what follows is her name, but with a face drawn in each letter (I assume the Y didn't get the full treatment because she ran out of space). What prompted her to draw her name with each letter containing a face, each face in a closed-or semi-closed space? Is the picture above the L a picture of her-- another L-word object? It's interesting, way beyond just looking at the aesthetics of the picture.

Another one:


This is a picture of Lucy, her two best friends (Grace and Jane), and Molly. (Sorry, I didn't take the time to find who is who). The interesting part of this picture is that Lucy's faces are never square. They're always elongated curvy shapes or circles. For some reason, she made what must have been a conscious decision to make all of the faces here squares. Why? Why would she be thinking about that at all? Is she deliberately trying to shake things up? Is she just experimenting to find out what forms look the best to her? Regardless, she's obviously giving a lot of thought to the assumptions of her work, and not just the normal aesthetics.

Last one:

This is a drawing Lucy did in Church last week. What's interesting is how the characters are clustered around the blue smudge, which is a watermark on every sheet of this stationery paper. (Recognize it, Julie and Reed?) Instead of just letting the paper remain as an inert backdrop to her art, for some reason Lucy decided to let it have an active effect on what she was doing. It looks like the blue ellipse must be a table where all the people are sitting. What made her decide to pull the blue part into the foreground and use it as a prop, separated from the white space that still serves as backgroud? How did she think of that?

This probably looks like a lot of over-analysis over nothing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I would never in a million years have come up with any of this when I was her age, so the contrast interests me. But I am really intrigued to know the reasoning in Lucy's head behind the obviously deliberate choices she makes in each new unique piece of art. None of them is the most beautiful thing ever, but the combination really shows off a pretty unique personality. Which is exactly what she is.

Molly

At one of Rex's basketball games

Molly is all kinds of crazy lately. A few little examples:

I took her to nursery for the first time today. You expect this to be a story about a little girl falling apart and not wanting to stay in nursery, right? It's not that story. She went in, ate the snack, and started playing. Within the space of about 20 minutes, she pulled a kid's hair and scratched his face; she stole a girl's binkie four separate times (until the girl just started running away any time Molly came near); she persistently intimidated a girl who was competing with her for time on a slide, by just grabbing a handful of her shirt and holding on permanently until I would come break her grip; and she kicked a sweet little girl with Down Syndrome twice, making her cry. All of these kids are much older than her, some by as much as a year. All of this happened with me about five steps away, watching her constantly. And most surprisingly, none of it was done in a way that suggested malice or anger. It was more the bemused detachment of an evil genius that just wants to see what crazy things the humans will do when you introduce a little chaos into the system. (Why . . . so . . . serious?) Pretty wild day in the nursery. (By the way, because I was on her like a hawk, the leaders didn't seem to notice, but eventually I'll leave her there for them to
handle, and who knows what will happen then).

I have no idea what's going on here

The thawing weather we've had the last week or so has been an absolute revelation for Molly. She's such a wanderer and an active kid. She's never had the chance to roam around outside, not having started walking until the winter set in. Having the chance to run around outside is almost blowing her mind. We walked home from church today and she would stop and walk up the walkway of literally every house, and most driveways. She had to stop and examine every change in terrain and run down every slope and kick through every pile of leaves. It was really fun to see. But the best was the trees. Lucy was running ahead of us most of the time, and she would often hide behind a big tree and wait for us to come. When we would get to the tree, Lucy would jump out and roar to scare us. After she did this a few times, Molly wanted in on the action. So every tree we passed after that, she would stop, climb up the little mound at the base, lean her face in close to the tree, almost like she was kissing it, and then roar loudly at the tree: WAAAAHHHHH! I guess she just thought Lucy was roaring at the trees that whole time. Molly roared at every tree on LeGrand Street, from an inch away. When we went for a walk several hours later, sure enough, she stopped at the first tree and WAAAAAHHH'ed at it. It's exciting to think how much fun she's going to have running around outside this Spring.



Lots of talking lately too. "ope!" for "open this bag for me!". "Upff" is a combo word, it means "get me up" (like onto a chair) or "take me off" like off the rocking horse. She has combined up and off into one word, which is pretty innovative. She now says "gay-coo" whenever you give her something ("thank you") and "he-go" whenever she gives you somethig ("here you go.") When you ask her to do something and she says no, if you ask her "why?" she'll say "cause!" And if you tell her to do something she's up for, she'll always say "okay!" She is also very good at running interior errands. She will fetch kleenex, take anything to Rex or Lucy, or get you a book or whatever else you ask for. I think we're very close to the ultimate goal, which is having her take out her own dirty diapers.

With a nice little goose egg she got from jumping on the bed with the older kids

Anyway, we're having a lot of fun with Molly.