Perspective

I woke up grumpy this morning.  I'm going to chalk it up to the fact that between a young men's activity, a ym training meeting, home teaching, and playing tennis and basketball,  Adam was gone every single night this week.  (The only exception was Monday night, our family night.)  I woke up around 7:30 AM.  Alone.  Adam had left before 7 to help one of his priests with his Eagle Scout project, and will be gone a good chunk of the day, leaving me on my own with the household chores and the 2-year-old tantrums that inevitably will be.  I was contemplating the fact that, tomorrow, Sunday, a so-called "family day" he will be gone from 10-6 at various church meetings and responsibilities.
So yes, at 7:30 this morning, you might say I was feeling disillusioned, perhaps even a tiny bit bitter.  I'm not trying to suggest that Adam is a slacker in his husband/fathering duties, in fact, he's an all-star.  It's just that he has lots of responsibilities as a young men's president, and I find myself alone, and yes, even lonely, more than I would choose.
So where was I?  Ah, yes, waking up alone this morning.  Well, a few minutes later, Ty came into our bedroom and sweetly asked, "Can I snuggle you, Mom?"  Oh, how grateful I was this morning that I have a snuggler!!  And then as he was lying next to me with his arms wrapped around me, he beautifully, tenderly said these exact words: "Mom, you are one of my favorite things in my whole life."
Sigh.  I attest that the Lord sends sweet, tender mercies to us when we need them the most.  This morning that tender mercy took the form of my four-year-old son.  He made me stop and realize that my life is really not that bad!
Is life busy?  Yes.  Is Adam gone a lot doing church business?  Yes.  But...

1.)  I have a husband.
2.)  Said husband is a stalwart man who serves incredibly faithfully in whatever capacity he is asked to.
3.)  My sons have a wonderful example to look to of a righteous priesthood holder.
4.)  I know Adam is a profoundly powerful force in the lives of the young men in our ward.  I have seen countless examples of that firsthand, and have also heard many stories from others about the impact he has had, particularly with some of the youth who have struggled.  In many cases, he has been exactly what a particular young man has needed.

So, basically, I'm a little selfish.  And I think that's ok to an extent.  I don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with wishing I had more time with my husband, as long as it doesn't become crippling or debilitating when that doesn't happen.  But, ultimately, I also recognize that if I were to sum up my life is a single word it would be blessed.  Thanks, Ty, for reminding me.

Earthquake!?!

Last night I was lying in bed, just drifting off to sleep when I felt the bed shake.  Adam was downstairs working, so my eyes immediately flew open.  "Was that an earthquake?!"  I thought to myself.  Then I reminded myself that I live in Colorado, which doesn't happen to be a particularly seismologically active place.  My next thought was, "Oh my gosh, someone is under my bed!"  For the next several moments I toyed with the idea of getting up and turning on the light to check, but after telling myself that it was incredibly improbable that someone was under there, I dismissed that idea, too.  Then I wondered if perhaps it was me that shook the bed--that as I was dozing off, maybe I jerked or twitched enough that it moved the bed.  I can't believe that I am admitting this in a public forum, but I spent the next several minutes intentionally twitching to see how much it made the bed move.  After a few moments of this, I wasn't completely convinced that I had created the movement, but I reminded myself that it was very late (Adam and I had been discussing a fascinating book that we have both been reading) and 6AM was coming soon, so I decided I needed to let my overactive imagination rest so the rest of me, could, too.

And that was the end of that.  Or so I thought...

Against the odds, I did manage to drag myself out of bed at 6 this morning to go run.  On my way to the gym, I heard on the radio that last night Colorado had experienced its largest earthquake in over 40 years.  I immediately wondered if it could have possibly been around quarter 'til midnight, at the time when I felt my bed shake.  The radio announcer didn't elaborate where the epicenter was, or what time it had occurred, so I determined to find out when I got home.

Sure enough, on the Denver Post website, it said the magnitude-5.3 quake had happened at 11:46 PM, down by the Colorado/New Mexico border.  It mentioned that people in Colorado Springs had reportedly felt a tremor.  And I can add that some 55 miles north of the Springs in a little town called Parker, I felt it, too!  Adam said he didn't notice anything, and I probably wouldn't have, either, if I hadn't been lying in bed on the verge of sleep when it happened.

What's even stranger about this is the fact that a magnitude-5.8 earthquake also occurred last night in Virginia, only about 150 miles from where my brother and his family live (yes, I used google maps to check this out).  Two earthquakes in two places where they almost never happen.  Pretty interesting.

I'm just glad nobody was under my bed.

HA!

I have been planning to do a Funny-Things-That-My-Kids-Say post for quite a long time now.  I have been gathering and mentally storing awesome Ty and McKay quotes.  But, tragically, after putting off and putting off writing them down, I have forgotten about 80% of the material I wanted to include.  It's a real shame.  So, though this is a very shortened list, I decided I should write it before I forgot it.  Here goes:

Today after preschool, I was asking Ty about what he did, learned, etc.  After listing off several items, I asked if he had played in the toy kitchen area today.  He looked at me quizzically and asked, "Do you mean the dramatic play area?"  I was like, "Um, yeah, I guess. "  He responded, "Yes, mom I played in the dramatic play area."  Ok.  Good to know.

A week or so ago, I impulsively bought a box of fortune cookies at the grocery store to serve after an Asian-style dinner.  Both boys were completely intrigued that there was a "message" inside their cookies!  After dinner, Ty broke his open and asked Adam to read him what it said.  As far as I can remember, his fortune was, "You will be fortunate at everything you put your hand to."  Ty gasped, "Ooooh!"  He ran to the sink where I was washing dishes, and exclaimed, "Mom!  My message told me I will be fortunate if I can put my hands together!"  Fortunate indeed.

This last one I have been holding onto for a while.  On Father's Day, the boys chose out a Lightning McQueen card to give to their dad with his present.  After he had opened and read it, Ty posted it on the fridge.  The next morning as soon as Adam left for work, Ty went to the fridge, reached up with both hands, pulled the card down, and clutched it to his chest, quietly murmuring, "It's all mine."  I looked at him, and said, "Wait a minute, buddy, that was actually for dad, remember?"  His response?  "Well, Dad's not here, is he?"

And if you want to hear something else that is funny, you just need to listen to McKay sing.  He doesn't say his l's well yet, so his (very sincere) version of I will Follow God's Plan begins, "My wife is a gift.  My wife has a plan..."

Sure do love my guys!

Backyard Adventures

Ahh, life is good when you are four.

Encore Performance

I posted a video back in June of McKay singing one of his favorite primary songs.  The overwhelming response was now sweet it was.  On Friday, I tried to get him to sing some more primary songs on camera, but his personality shone through just a bit more this time.  :)  

What can I say?  He's my little goofball.  

Salad by McKay

Tonight I made a chicken salad for dinner--a typical, simple Friday night meal for our family.  As I was preparing it, McKay was standing on a chair next to the counter, watching my every move and "helping."  (This is also typical.  He does this every. single. night.)  I turned my back for a fraction of a second, and when I spun back around I was met with this sight:

Here's the close up:

Yes, that is what it appears to be.  McKay dumped an entire bottle of bacon bits over the top of his salad.  When Adam came home from work just a couple minutes later, he was greeted with, "Hey, Dad!  I don't like tomatoes.  I just really like bacon bits."   We never doubted that for a minute, son.  And now the secret is out.  Now you understand what we mean when we say salad is McKay's favorite food.  What 2-year-old wouldn't like a salad like that?!

First Day of Preschool

Sigh.  It's true.  I have really mixed feelings about this one.  These three hour afternoons while Ty is gone and McKay is sleeping?  Yes, please.  And yet, I already miss my little boy.  When did he get old enough to be in preschool, anyway?  

Ready to Go!

Brothers and Best Buds 

Ty and his friend, Josh.  Josh and Ty are in the same Sunbeam class at church.  There are actually 5 kids total from their Sunbeam class going to preschool here, but some are in other classes.  

When Ty woke up this morning, he ran into our room and blurted, "I'm going to school today!"  He had a huge grin on his face, and has been so excited all morning!  When we got to the school, he ran inside without even a backward glance at McKay and I.  It's hard to be too sad about having him gone when he is so happy about it!

Day 4: Home

Friday night was freezing.  Literally.  When we woke up Saturday morning, it was only about 30 degrees, and there was frost on our tents.  It was really hard to pull myself out of my sleeping bag that morning, and then try to motivate my girls to do the same!

Once we finally pulled ourselves together, we were privileged to hear from our stake presidency and area authority seventy, Elder Hillier.  Then we got loaded up for the 8 1/2 hour bus ride home.  

Marchant Family Ladies!

Our family (sans Julius--he had to leave on Friday night)

After several days of walking and having very little sleep, we were all exhausted!

I am so grateful that Adam and I were able to have this experience.  My favorite part was being with our awesome youth.  I really love them.  It was wonderful to have so many opportunities to testify of truths, and to have them respond so well.  It was special to walk on such hallowed ground.  The Spirit was strong, and I loved just being able to listen and ponder.  I will still attest that I am not a camper, but if we were asked to go again, I think both of us would do it in a heartbeat.  It was a real privilege to be a part of trek.

Day 3: Rocky Ridge

Friday consisted of basically nothing but walking.  We did 14 miles on our third day.  There were a couple of things that really impressed me about our kids that day.  First was that they really wanted to push and pull our handcart.  Neither Adam nor I had much of a turn to pull because the kids wanted to do it.  That was awesome.  The second thing that was neat was that the kids sang almost the entire 14 miles we were on the trail.  By the third day, we had already earned our reputation as "the singing family," but I figured with such a long hike that day the singing would subside somewhat.  Not so.  One of our boys had brought a hymn book, and they rested it on the front rail of the handcart and sang hymn after hymn.  They got through the book twice.  On top of that, I didn't hear a single complaint from any of the kids.  It was incredible to see them demonstrate such spiritual maturity.  

Singing their way up the hill!

Right before we reached Rocky Ridge, the boys and girls were separated.  Sister Williams, our stake YW president, spoke to the girls and Brother Frakes, the stake YM president, spoke to the boys.  It was my favorite part of the whole week.  The girls had to pull the handcarts up a really mean hill alone, while the boys silently lined the trail with their hats on their hearts.  It was so awesome to be with those strong young women as we labored up the hill, and to watch those boys, many of whom had tears in their eyes and streaming down their faces.  When I saw Adam, I felt as much love for him as I ever have before.  It was one of those moments that I was able to feel how much he loves me.  It was incredibly special.  The Spirit was so powerful.  It was an unforgettable moment for me--something I will truly remember forever.

Our family at the summit of Rocky Ridge

Rocky Ridge is owned by the government, and we had to have permits to hike it.  Our of the BLM's conditions was that the handcarts could not go off the trail at any point.  There were a couple of pretty nasty mud bogs along the trail, and though most of us could walk around them, the carts had to go straight through. Several young men valiantly pulled the carts through.  These are some of my very favorite pictures from all of trek!

When we finally reached our campsite that evening, the stake leaders had music playing and they were all lining the trail cheering for us.  Adam and I both had a feeling similar to that of finishing a long race--a huge sense of accomplishment.  It was special to be able to catch a tiny glimpse of what it must have felt like for the pioneers to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley.

Adam and Bishop Bashaw, our Company Captain

Later that evening, the young men and women got letters from home via the "pony express."  That was another special moment for many of the youth.

We spent the evening on Friday with our wards.  We had a testimony meeting, and Adam and I were both able to speak to the youth in our ward and sing a duet for them.  We loved that, too!  In fact, at the very end of the day after Adam and I were alone, we prayed and talked about some sacred things that had happened to us that day, and Adam whispered, "This has been one of the best days of my life."  Believe it or not, I felt the same way!  It was a beautiful, wonderful day.