Man, have we had a week! Noah surprised Kristi for their anniversary with a trip to Latvia where she served as a missionary 10 years ago. We got the privilege of tending their three adorable kids: McKay 6, Lyla, almost 4 and Cubby, 2 (also shown in the previous post) while they were gone.
Since there was a lot to do to open our Bear Lake places for the summer we thought that would be a perfect place to take care of them. Actually it was! And even though we didn’t quite get through our list of “things to do” we had so much fun! Living with those three musketeers for a week was an eye-popping experience….in more ways than one!
We begged them to let us have baby Bennett too but they decided at the last minute to take him along.,.which, after six whirlwind days of fun with these kids, we decided was wise. Here they all are with Grandfather just before mom, dad and baby departed.
So six-month-old Bennett showed off by doing “The Trick” and left with his parents.
Their mom left the kids with a new package of disposable cups (thanks for that great idea Julie)and they went right to work:
McKay decided the cups would make perfect earphones to drown out Lyla’s screams. Here is his creation complete with duct tape for a headband and treats in each cup in case he got hungry. Believe it or not one of those cups contains grapes and the other, crackers
Cubby found this cute hard hat that he was given when he was a teenager when he toured the Kennecott Copper Mine. How it survived, I’lll never know!
We got the Grammie Camp tent set up:
Lyla somehow found a dress-up dress which she immediately put to good use!
And Cubby made good use of the box that the new dishwasher was delivered in….
And Lyla and McKay got the new tent ready for Grammie Camp!
Friends came to visit and fell in love with the kids and visa versa!
And we went to visit friends….from fifty years ago! It was Dad/Rick’s 50 year High School Reunion on Saturday night and we had a couple of girls come from Dingle to babysit while we traveled to Logan for the big event. Rick/Dad thinks of it as one of the most fun things he’s done in ages! It was great to put a face to the name of all the people he’s been talking about all these years. Here is just our table. The turn out was tremendous!
On our way home we stopped to see sweet Grandma Ruthie and she lit up like a lightbulb. Her life is pretty dreary most days. She’s mad every morning when she wakes up and she’s still alive but she is accepting what life has to give her with sweetness and patience. She loves those hugs!
Watching her grandchildren put the puzzles together that she made with her own hands with a jigsaw many years ago is one of her great pleasures! It’s the first time she hasn’t worried about pieces getting lost But she is having a hard time even remembering who we are so I guess that’s just one less thing to worry about!
Cubby did this one all by himself!
And McKay did the impossible Santa Claus puzzle which I can’t do myself.
Sweet Grandma. How we love her. We’ll celebrate her 90th birthday in August.
Next stop was at the Loosli’s in Ogden. That little cluster of cousins simply loved seeing each other. Liza and Lyla immediately started doing each other’s hair and the boys took of for immediate adventures. Everyone was delighted to hear Cubby talk! He was just a baby last year! They took to each other like bees to honey and Saren insisted on keeping them overnight. Bless her heart!
It was delightful to catch up with the Loosli too! The older three kids had just finished a neighborhood “Loosli Learning Adventure Camp” which was truly amazing! They planned and pulled off the whole thing with sixteen little kids with very little help from their parents. To take a look at the fun click here. They are quite the entrepreneurs!
These Loosli kids are definitely into learning. Oliver has become quite a writer! Here’s Grandfather reading one of his essays:
About 24 hours later with lots of cousin fun packed non-stop into those hours, not to mention a very nice little break for us, Saren brought the kids down to the Ogden train station where grandfather was waiting for them on Frontrunner, the local train that runs along the Wasatch Front. Grandfather loves trains so after, the Loosli kids climbed aboard to look around and get a short tour from the conductor, the kids bid each other a fond farewell and everybody headed for home. I’m not sure who had the most fun on the way home, the kids or the Grandfather!
After a ten hour flight from London and a delayed flight from Chicago, Noah and Kristi arrived from their long journey at 2:30 a.m. The amazing troopers Noah and Kristi along with baby Bennett were reunited with the kids when they woke up! It was pure glee from all directions!
Even though Kristi had gotten up to feed the baby at 5 a.m.,and Noah was out helping move some stuff outside by 7:30, they ate breakfast and started the long drive home to California at about 9 a.m. albeit, totally jet lagged! Noah had meetings in the morning. Back to the real world.
What an stellar memory this will be for all of us!
2 comments:
oh Linda! we are forever grateful for you and Rickey for being you and also for jumping in so many times to help us out. Thank you so much. The kids have been filling our minds with fun stories from their time there. I didn't realize until we got home that not only were all the bags packed but their clothes were laundered and smelled so good. As i took out the clothes I just shook my head in utter amazement. How. Do. You. Do. It?
Hi! I am a long-time reader of your daughter Shawni's blog (love it so much)... AND small, SMALL world, awhile back, I saw a picture of Kristy on her blog, and thought man oh man, she looks SO much like a girl I went to high school with (in Texas!). Sure enough, after some clicking (I guess I was REALLY convinced!), she is the sister of Stacy Monson, who I sure enough did graduate HS with. :) How wild is that! Anyhow, I have fallen in love with so many of your family's blogs, and just eat UP the info. you provide for us as young mothers. You all are amazing.
So, on a lighter note - do you have a tried and true WAFFLE recipe!?!?! haha!! I just saw that picture of you all making waffles, and we recently tried a box mix, and YUCK! I'd love to save myself the time of trying out a bazillion on the internet! Pass it on, if so! I'd LOVE it! Thanks so much, and happy week to you. :)
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