Fitz at 3 years, 11 months, 1 week

Fitz will be 4 years old on March 29. He is obsessed with sharks and trains, but loves pretty much all animals and cars and planes as well. He loves superheroes and wears Alek's blanket around his neck like a cape (but it has to be that blanket; don't you dare try to give him another one). Fitz is a rough and tumble kid who likes to wrestle and play fight, but is sweet and obedient. He's laid back and happy-go-lucky. He loves school and is doing well there. He gets very excited to get on the bus. Josh talked to his teacher today and she said he is just a joy to have in class. He has several friends he has gotten quite attached to, he does whatever he is asked to do by his teachers, and is a quick learner. His vocabulary grows every day. Over the weekend, he fell down in the yard and told Dad, "It's okay. I'm not hurt." He knows his colors and shapes, can count to 20 and is learning the alphabet. He is an extremely talented sleeper, slumbering while Charlie jumps on their bed or occasionally on him. He loves all his brothers and sisters and enjoys playing with them. He loves to sit with Auntie Kim and Uncle Aaron at church and is so happy Auntie Kim is in primary with him. He had a hard time leaving nursery behind but has now settled into the routine of Sunbeams. Fitz is cute and fun and funny and brings a lot of sunshine into our home.

Charlie at 5 Years, 10 months

Charlie is going to be six years old on May 3, but you can see from the above that he is still our baby. This picture was taken right after Charlie dressed himself for the first time, on February 22 of this year. We were all cheering and praising him as he completed his task and he was quite pleased with himself as well. That beautiful face says it all. Charlie still rarely says words and is struggling to communicate in other ways. He was having a difficult time last month and was often crabby and frustrated. He seems to have come out of that and is doing better. Maybe he had the winter blues, just like the rest of us. Charlie loves to jump and spin. He loves Winnie the Pooh, Cars and Finding Nemo. He loves movies with animals, especially sea life. He loves to eat and eat and eat, and is getting a little better about sitting at the table to do so. Certain noises bother him, but he can usually stand them by plugging his ears. Charlie loves soft, squishy mattresses, blankets and pillows and especially loves Grandma and Grandpa's bed. He loves school. He loves to be outside. He is a happy boy, and we all adore him.

Katie at 7 Years, 4 months

Katie (aka Katie B, Katie Anne, Kitty Cat, Katherine, #2, etc.) is 7 years, 4 months old. She asks just about everyone she meets when their half birthday is and will then happily share when hers is (May 3, Charlie's birthday). She can talk your ear off, but fortunately the stuff she says is pretty interesting or just flat out delightful most of the time. She's extremely expressive and pretty silly. She has a flair for drama. She loves dolls, ponies, dress-up, sharks, Star Wars, superheroes, Legos, dresses, make-up, and art. She loves to dance and to sing. She especially loves to sing with her cousin, Alesha, either well-known or improvised songs. She enjoys school, but is a little sad about some of the kids who are mean to her sometimes. She loves to be around other kids and to play. She has a great imagination and will tell herself fantastical stories when there is no one else around to play with. She is in 1st grade and is just starting to learn to read and do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. She wishes she could do chemistry and physics like Alek. She adores all her siblings and is a good sister. She is very helpful around the house and with the kids. She loves to spend time with her Mom and Dad and with Grandma and Aunt Doreen. She says, "I'm a very beautiful princess, but the kids in my classroom are very disrespectful and I feel we need to be very kind to each other. My family loves me very much and they very kindly like to play board games and card games. One of my favorite things is going on vacations. I love my Nana very much and I want to see her."

Alek at 13.5 Years

This is my firstborn, my Alek, just 4.5 months away from his 14th birthday. He is 5'3" tall and weighs about 95 pounds. He's in the 7th grade. He loves to play video and computer games, play basketball and soccer, run, eat sweets, read, joke around, build legos and watch movies and TV. He likes girls. He is a little embarrassed by Mom and Dad in public, but he still talks to us about anything and everything, which is awesome. He is great with his younger siblings, who respond well and look up to him. He is a very bright young man, but struggles to pay attention -- in school and everywhere else. He loves science, math, history and reading, but is not a fan of writing, much to my sorrow. He is a talented singer and actor. He sings with the ward choir and sang "Angels We Have Heard on High" as a duet with me in sacrament meeting during the Christmas season. I was beaming from ear to ear the entire time, and it was truly one of my favorite experiences of all time. Alek loves to dance Gangnam Style, and doesn't get too annoyed when Katie and I get down with him. He's very handsome, as you can tell from the above. He is currently the 1st counselor in the Deacon's Quorum in our ward. He played on the school basketball team this winter, learned a lot, and is looking forward to playing again in 8th grade. Alek gets along with and enjoys people of all ages. He is a good person and I enjoy his company, even if his overabundance of energy sometimes wears me out.

A Poem for Alek

Bird

Youth can be given a bad seed
Which holds the mind and heart in check
And slows the thought
And slows the mood
So that one
Sits more frequently on branches and
Isn't as flighty
Does not squawk as much
Maybe sings less

The pill
That stops the singing
The song which is misunderstood
Only
to be something other than what it is

The bird
Whose song goes with the eye
Where it looks
Goes the heart
From branch to branch
Moment by moment

A bird
largest animal on the planet
Needs no remedy

       -- by Zachary Phillips, Alek's teacher


Leave your impressions and interpretations in the comments.

Josh is Funny

I am having fun with Josh, torturing him with these questions I found online:

http://www.corebloggers.com/blog/fun-questions-to-ask-your-boyfriend.html

#9 asks "Do you hate your boss? Why?"

Josh said: I'm the boss. I love the boss.

It's probably not translating in writing, but it was hilarious.

#13: What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever done in your life?

Josh: My teenage years

He makes life fun. I am a lucky lady.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (But I Can't Draw)

Today is my Josh's 38th birthday. I've done some posts on here on the past about his birthday, to celebrate how awesome he is. As I was thinking today about what aspect of Josh's awesomeness I wanted to touch on, I couldn't get an image out of my head:

Unfinished and a bad photo of it, but still copyrighted!

This is the project Josh is currently working on, a picture of my friend, Farrah, and her family as super heroes. It's been a while since Josh has been able to put pencil to paper for anything more than simple sketching and I think I forgot how good he is. When I saw this, I was in awe. I am particularly taken by the details of the super villain's face. They're just perfect, meticulous. For a girl like me who can't even draw a good looking stick figure, I find his talent unbelievable. I simply do not understand how he does it.

But this is who Josh is: an artist.

Josh doesn't do abstract art and he eschews the whole notion of deep, hidden meaning in art. Artsy fartsy? No, he isn't. But that's because Josh is a simple, straight forward dude. And he also is a humble guy and not a fan of those self-congratulatory artists who are trying to change the world with their work. He's not trying to change the world. He just wants to draw what he likes, what he loves. He wants to have fun. And I think he does want to express himself, but not to change the world or because he thinks what he has to say is super important.

Josh has sometimes been criticized for drawing things that are "scary" or for not drawing things that are "nice." But Josh's art is inspired by what he loves -- movies, comic books, humor, and yes, monsters. His monsters, to me, are beautiful. He's also got a soft spot for things that are unusual or different (to a point) and for a lot of his life, he felt unusual, out of place. I admit to being a little put off by the first piece of his I saw -- a lanky, long-fingered creature, surrounded by a sea of eyes. I had a moment where I wondered if I was safe getting in a car with this potential psycho. But Josh is no psycho, as it turns out. In reality, he is one of the most solid, stable men I've ever known.

When he veers away from his standard comic book or monster work to draw things that are "nice," he creates trees, roses, sharks, his babies, me -- all of his greatest loves.

There are some who want him to create gospel-related art. I'm not sure why he doesn't do that and neither does he. He has done some in the past (he did a great portrait of Joseph Smith once upon a time), but it's been a while. I think one of the reasons is because of the sacredness he feels for certain subjects. For instance, he is particularly reticent to draw a picture of the Savior. It's no big deal to draw an imperfect picture of Spiderman, because, you know, it's just Spiderman. (The Josh in my head: "Just Spiderman?!") But how do you appropriately portray the Savior?

So last year, I was surprised to see that he had sketched this:

I wish we had a better scanner or that you could see the original. It was just a few inches on the side of one page, a page that also contained a sketch of Batman. But it's so beautiful. I especially love His eyes.

Josh doesn't bear his testimony very often, but I think this is his testimony.

His art also speaks to another thing that is great about Josh -- his dedication and perseverance. He has spent thousands of hours studying technique, talking to and learning from other great artists and practicing his craft to become the artist he is now. And he is still working to become better.

Josh, as you may have heard me say, is my favorite person in the world. There are so many things I love about him. I have talked a lot about those things, I think. But one of the things I love most about Josh is his art. It's a core part of his being and reflects who he is. He cannot remember a time before he was drawing; it's been a major facet of his life for almost his whole 38 years.

Josh and I are both getting closer to 40. As that milestone year gets closer on the horizon, we both have been thinking a lot about where we are in our life, what we've done with the time we've had so far. In my  opinion, every second Josh has taken to work on his art has been time well spent.

Happy Birthday, cutie.

To Bring the World His Truth

My oldest nephew (a whopping 18!) received his mission call yesterday to the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission. He will report to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT on Wednesday, February 20, a whole two days after his half birthday. This is all coming to pass about 6 months earlier than any of us were expecting due to changes in missionary eligibility age for both young men (now 18, instead of 19) and young women (19 instead of 21) announced at the October General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When the announcement was made, I thought instantly of my oldest niece and nephew, Ellie and Ben, who were suddenly eligible to serve missions right now. I have been reveling in this change ever since it was announced, having received an immediate confirmation from the Spirit that this was an inspired policy. Since learning that Ellie and Ben were both getting mission papers ready and preparing to serve within just the next few months, I have felt elated at the prospect of having two missionaries from my family out in the field and all the blessings that will come to them, their family, and the lives of the members and non-members they interact with during their service.

My sister, Jen, their mom, posted the pictures they included in their mission papers and I stole them for my blog:

Ben

Ellie

Aren't they adorable? I love them so much!

Of course, when I look at these photos, I can't help but think about when Ellie and Ben looked like this:

Ellie and Ben with Grandad, Hyrum and Grace

See that proud Grandad in this photo? That's my Dad. I don't think there are very many things in the universe that made my Dad happier than having grandchildren. He was wonderful with them, he loved them completely, and they loved him right back. I also remember how happy it made my Dad to have his children serve full-time missions.

Dropping Rachel off at the MTC

With his two eldest grandchildren getting ready to serve, I've been thinking about him a lot and how thrilled he must be, to have his posterity going out to bring the world the truth, the same precious gift two young men gave him 50 years ago.

Since I heard the news about Ben's call yesterday, I've also been thinking about this scripture:

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." -- Doctrine and Covenants 84:88

And I've been thinking that maybe this goofy, wonderful, loving, wise man may be one of those angels, bearing Ben up on those hard days when doors are slammed in his face, he's not getting along with his companion, he's freezing and exhausted. If so, I can't imagine having a better one. Ben will be just fine.