Family Pictures

Over the holidays, we were able to spend lots of time with Travis' family and my own family. We took family pictures with both groups- and they turned out pretty cute... except for my unruly children, of course! I love that these pictures are both so different! We took pictures with the Pitchers up at Sundance ski resort, and pictures with my family in my sister Mary's driveway in Arizona. 

I love this cute picture of Travis' parents with all their grandsons. We loved having James and Finn visit (from Perth, Australia) and the boys loved spending time with their only cousins.

 Look at all those beautiful, tall blond people! Sometimes I still feel like a little hobbit when I'm with my in-laws!

Family pictures, take two. 

My siblings and I. My little sister Katie is only 10, and is the boys' favorite human on the planet- except (maybe) for Travis. My cute sister Mary is 8 months pregnant here (although she's currently a few days past her due date, and we are all anxiously carrying around our phones- waiting for the text that tells us she's in labor!). And my handsome brother-twin Jack, who is 18 and surprisingly tall next to all his shorty-sisters.

We loved being together over the holidays- even if we didn't get pictures taken in time to send out a christmas card. Maybe i'll send out Valentine's day cards this year instead...


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Black and White

Now that we live in a new house with lots of wall-space, I've been aching to put up "new" pictures. Except that the pictures I want to put up aren't new. They're old! 

I've always felt a deep love and connection to my grandmother "Babalou," whose name sake I am (she was Louise, I am Rebeccah Louise). When her husband, my great Grandpa, celebrated his 90th birthday party a couple years ago- dozens of old photos were gathered together by my relatives and scanned into a slideshow. I loved all of the photos and wanted to hang them on all my walls (of which I had very few, at the time). 

In the past two years, Travis' grandparents have both had similar birthday celebrations that resulted in black and white photos being gathered and then distributed. 

I love feeling such a connection to the past of our family members. I am so excited to have wall-space to finally display some of these beautiful photographs, and I wanted to share some of my favorites here. 

Above, my great-grandpa Jim and great-Grandma Louise with my grandma Marcie (the toddler) and her little sister Linda. 

 Above, Travis' Grandpa Decon in the flat that he lived in during his church mission to the Philippines.

 Above, my Grandma Marcie with two of her siblings, all chubby cheeked and bundled up in the snow.

 Travis' grandma Bob and Grandma Mary Louise on their wedding day! How sweet is this picture? It looks like it's straight out of a magazine!

Travis' grandpa Decon again. I seriously wish I had a copy of every Steinbeck book with this picture as the cover. 

My cute great-grandparents again. I've always wanted my hair to look like this, but even when it was long, I could never, ever do it. Isn't she adorable? I love her!

 Travis' grandparents again at the beach. Travis' grandma was a serious looker. I love knowing my kids have such good genes coming in from both sides of the family.

Travis' great-grandpa lived (and lives still) up in Canada- he grew up poor and hardworking. And tall, and goofy. And I love him. 

 Another picture of Travis' grandparents that looks like its from an old movie or magazine- it's just so perfect and sweet!

Isn't this picture of my grandma Mary sweet? She and her big sister are wading in Minnesota, and yes- her sister is wearing lederhosen! I snagged this right off the wall from my grandma's house (Don't worry! I left the original!) after I saw it two summers ago. It's just been waiting to have a home on my wall. 

Travis' Grandma Mary Louise in the flowers. I think this might be Travis' favorite in the bunch, it's so artistic and sweet. 

 Check out my cool great-great grandma Bessie! She rode a motorcycle and my grandpa... rode in the side car!


How handsome is Travis' grandpa Decon? Seriously, what did I say about good genes!

I'm excited to print and frame the above two photos as Christmas decorations. The first is of my great-grandparents and their family and the second is of Travis' grandma having a Christmas tea party. How perfect! I love them. 

I love seeing these old photos so much. Sometimes I just need a reminder that human beings are all the same. I love seeing that my grandmothers did the same things that my children do- pull each other on sleds, wade in overflowing ditches, read stories, kiss babies, have tea parties. Any relatives of mine or Travis that are reading this? Email me more photos! I love them so, so much. They bring such a sense of comfort and peace to me when I look through them. 

I love knowing that families can be together forever, and I seriously can't wait to see some of these wonderful men and women again and in the prime of their lives (as it were). 

In the meantime, those grandparents of ours that are still around (okay, most of them! We are pretty lucky) should come and visit me in my new house. There are pictures of you going up on our walls and a mediocre guest bedroom waiting for you. 

Red Rock River, Waterton AB

One of the best hikes I've ever been on, and definitely a high light of our trip to Canada was the trek up Red Rock River. There were paths along the sides of the rivers, I believe, but we decided to do things the fun way and climb up the red, rocky ravine ourselves. It was a blast! We probably hiked a mile and a half each way, and Grey and Micah were able to do everything on their own. (The last half mile or so , they did get pretty whiney though.) Most of us were in hiking sandals and shorts, but the few people who wore pants were even able to hike without getting wet- as long as they were helped over a few tricky places. We had a ball, I'm only sad I didn't get more pictures. As I was holding the baby most of the time, my sweet sister in law had the camera. And didn't she do a lovely job capturing the hike? It was so fun, and I highly recommend this hike if you're in the Waterton area!

Hello, new favorite family picture. I will hang you in my new house, and you will be extra large. 

 Just checking out the different rocks with Grey. He's turning into quite the tiny geologist! (By which I mean, he loves rocks!) I guess he'll have to follow in his uncle's world-traveling, rock-examining footsteps.

Portraits of my Boys 27

This week we were able to go up to visit Travis' sister Tessa who works at a really cool adventure campground. We got to participate in all the fun activities, like paddle boarding, horseback riding, zip lining, and rock climbing - and we got to do it in a practically empty campground for free! Yeah! It was so much fun, and I was so proud of the boys. They were so brave and involved. At one point, I told them to put on helmets and harnesses, climb to the top of a ladder, buckle themselves in to a rope hanging 10 feet off the ground... and then JUMP off the ladder, and they did it. They swung around over the ground and had a ball!

Grey:

Wading down a river.

 Micah:

 Climbing up a very tall rock wall, and do it like a pro!

August:

August rode on my back when we went trail riding, and he loved to lean back and take in the pink sunset. 

Donut Falls + Camping with Kids

On Saturday I woke up with a headache, it was already hot in our tiny house in the city, my kids were anxious, whining, and fighting. So I basically rolled over, kicked off my sheets and yelled, "Today we are going on an adventure!" We needed to get out of our house and up in to the mountains! And judging by the overflowing parking lot at our chosen trailhead, and the bazillion people we passed on our way to the falls- everyone else in Salt Lake seemed to have woken up and said the same.  

I love that we live so close to so many amazing places to climb, hike, and explore. We live right in Salt Lake and are about half an hour from the hike we went on this weekend. Not too shabby!

I was so proud of the boys! It was probably a mile and half total hiking time, but it was pretty tough going for four year olds. There were rocks to scramble over, a river to cross, and an extra mile to and from where we parked the car before we even started (or finished!)
But Grey and Micah walked the whole time, running ahead and racing back to us, occasionally taking off their cloaks or shoes to cool down, and picking out places for us to rest and divvy out more raisins and water. The only time they complained was when we said we were going to turn around and walk back, and when we had to walk along the road in the hot sun towards our car- but their whining paid off. Remembering a scene from their favorite movie Kiki's Delivery Service, the boys stuck out their thumbs and managed to flag down a car that was willing to pick us up and drop us off at our car down the road! Haha, good! Teaching them hitchhiking early. Next comes pot smoking. All life's most important skills of survival and being classy.

Last year in the fall, we were able to visit the Grand Canyon, and Travis bought a National Parks Pass- hoping that doing so would encourage us to actually visit more National Parks. 

But guess how many we've been to since then? That's right. None!

But we went camping at Goblin Valley a few months ago and I learned an important lesson. If I book a campsite and spend money on it ahead of time, then when my husband tries to cancel last minute for work reasons- he feels too guilty! He comes camping out of obligation instead of canceling on us. 

I have decided that this is the only way to actually get him into a tent with us, and am now in the process of planning several camping trips and spending non-refundable money ahead of time.

Hopefully one trip each in July, August, and September!  We are hoping to visit The Grand Teton National Park, Zions National Park, and one more... maybe Redwoods? Maybe The Grand Canyon or somewhere else in Arizona or Nevada?

But we've never been at all, let alone with kids! So if any of you have made trips to "local" National Parks and have tips on good activities or campsites, please, please, PLEASE leave them in the comments. 

I'm making plans and forcing my husband to participate, so they better be good!

The Famn Damily

The last two months have been pretty much some of the worst when it comes to my desire to blog. Obviously. I haven't posted any pictures in ages.
We've been to Goblin Valley camping (in Southern Utah), to my parents by Lake Tahoe in Nevada, to Seattle for a wedding and to the beach house in California and I haven't shared even a bit!
So I'm going to! I promise! I am!
My camera is currently at Travis' office, and it has a small number of photos on it (compared to how long we were gone) and as soon as I get that and upload it and edit ...well, you get the picture. It might be a while.
But I figured, in the mean time- I'd share some cute pictures we got of our family a few weeks ago in MARCH. Sheesh! Time flies!
So it's been awhile since these were taken, but I love them all the same!

Grey, Travis, Micah, Becky, August. (Note to self, in case I can't tell who is who when I'm an old lady.)

We took these pictures when we had a church meeting on Temple Square a few weeks before Easter. I figured, if we are all dressed nice for church and in a beautiful location- we might as well get some pictures, right? Right. I agree, self.

Lately, I came to a realization. I always like to say, my children are like the little girl who had a little curl- right in the middle of her forehead. (And when she was good, she was very, very good and when she was bad she was horrid!)

But it comes in waves.  They are good for a long time. Weeks, in fact. They are kind, they are polite, they say please and I forgive you, and You're the prettiest mom in the whole world!
And then- like a horrible wave of reality crashing over me, they become tiny monsters. They try to beat each other to death with their light sabers, they yell I wish you would die so I could just live with my dad and do whatever I want! and they resist all love, parenting, discipline, and meals.
AND I WANT TO BEAT THEM! (But I don't, because they're children, I love them, etc. Obviously.)

But seriously. Every time it happens I'm completely blindsided. It's like I've forgotten they're ever like this. I mean, are they on their period? How can I survive? Can I give them up for adoption? WHAT IS GOING ON? And I totally panic and call my husband and mom crying, and I look up day care, and announce that my plans for home schooling were a little premature and get these demons out of my house. 
And then, without my even noticing it right away- they are good again. They ask Do you need any help? and Tell me how clouds form and If I die, I'm happy I get to be with you again.
And I melt into a big puddle of "Holy cow, I love you more than anything, you're perfect, and I want twelve kids."

But then I remembered. Their brains aren't fully developed. This is not science, religion, or anything other than a theory- but I think that every once and a while- they forget how the world works. On a regular basis, I look at myself and go, "What's going on? Why am I so crabby/unhappy/stressed out?" and I realize that I haven't been reading my scriptures, finding time to create, indulging in poetry, that I've become addicted to a new game on my phone, or haven't been expressing gratitude to my family. I know how to be happy. And yet, I forget. I forget to choose the good. And so I redirect myself. And things get good again.

I think, in their own small way, my children are doing the same. Every a few weeks, they forget- kindness will get them more than demanding, love gets them more attention than yelling, their brother actually is their best friend. They forget, and then they realign. They test and check, "If I tell my mom she's the meanest mom in the world- does she feel guilty and give me what I want? OR if I tell her I love her, does she love and take care of me and give me what I want?"
Haha, okay- maybe they're just practicing different techniques of manipulation...
But I have to remind myself- if my children aren't the people that I want them to be, sending them away isn't going to make them better. Yelling back at them isn't going to teach them not to yell.
Kindness will out.

And right now, things are pretty good, and they are perfect and sweet and I want one million babies- all homeschooled.

Portraits of my Boys 8

I love these boys. This week I even got a good picture of them all looking at the camera and smiling! I think it's the best picture I have of them. August is finally big enough to sit up on his own, look at the camera and smile on command. Hurray!
All of these pictures were taken the same afternoon, but I love them. In fact, I'm going to include a lot of pictures besides just the three portraits. But I'll start with those:

Grey:


Grey is so snuggly and sweet. A friend once described her twins as one being physically demonstrative for his own sake, and the other more likely to love and comfort those around him for their sake. Grey is definitely my boy who snuggles and hugs for other's sake. He gives me hugs, kisses, and love because he knows that I want them.

Micah:


Performer, entertainer, music-maker Micah. Here my little Bob Dylan is making music for his Mom.

August:

I love, love, love this picture of August, because it is very true to life. My happy, cute boy is almost always thronged (over-crowded) by his brothers. They're leaning on him, trying to pick him up, trying to get his attention, and generally harassing him. It's good to be loved.

And now some more pictures:

Here's one of Motherhood:

Micah took this one and I love it. I love that Grey and I are reading a story while a baby climbs over us and I'm holding him so he doesn't fall off the couch, while still letting him "explore" a little. Motherhood requires more than two hands and the ability to mulitask.

So far, I'm on Morning Three of waking up and announcing "Today is going to be a really good day," and so far- I'm striving and succeeding at obedience to that decision.
Okay. The days aren't that good. Travis is still sick, and yesterday we found out that our car is so totaled that it essentially needs a new engine, so goodbye $4,500! But I've had happy children, and we've eaten yummy foods, made messes, read stories, and the baby is officially off the pacifier (cold turkey, holla!).
So good. "I gotta feeling, ooooohhhoooohhh, that today's gonna be a good day, that today's gonna be a good, good day!"