Washington DC and the Brain

Last week I had the most wonderful opportunity. I got to go to Washington DC with 4 of my favorite people in the world to attend a conference about the brain and creativity. I learned so much and had such a great time with my sisters and my mom. They are the best people you will find anywhere, and ooooh soooo smart! (And oooooh sooooo fun!)

My favorite take home messages from the conference were that exercise and music and creativity help the brain grow and make connections in ways I took for granted before. I always knew these were good things, but now, I'm signing my kids up for music lessons, and whenever they are being naughty, they are going for a jog. There was also a fascinating lecture about the brain after age 60 and how it actually does continue to grow, and in fact, at a certain age a person begins to use their whole brain to do things (instead of just certain parts) and so their capacity for greatness actually improves! They showed examples of how a huge amount of the geniuses we know today didn't even begin their greatness until they were retired. I thought that was very inspirational. The other lecture I specifically liked was one about how teenagers brains are not actually different from adult brains but are more like the brains of prisoners. The lecturer argued that teenagers needed more time with higher level, adult life, choices and responsibility instead of teen pop-culture. He argued that they should spend more time with adults learning to be adults and that they are actually capable of making adult decisions long before we let them in this country. He looked across he globe and found that most cultures do not have the "teenage rebellion" phase that we have here, and that the more "westernized" a culture was, the more they were likely to have the rebellion phase. I thought it very interesting. Overall, I found that the brain academics is such a new field that everyone disagrees with each other about everything. It was great to hear what all these intelligent people had to offer me as a mother.

On another note... Washington DC is about the neatest city I've ever been to. Memorials, museums, and historic sites. I loved being inspired by the great things individuals have done. The theme of my time there seemed to be that all the people who we celebrated there did amazing things. They changed history and their acts of greatness affected my little family and are the reason for the great life I get to live today. What really struck me though, is what a difficult time they each had. The changes they tried to make took great sacrifice and great strength. I think about Abraham Lincoln and how he was so dedicated to the idea of freedom for all people under a unified nation and I think that I might have thought it was too hard for me to handle, so I'll let someone else tackle that problem. These people never thought that. They tackled the problem. What an inspiration. I was truly inspired to let myself be more uncomfortable and to be the change I want to see. I think we all have amazing talents and we are each capable of doing great things in the world. It is a matter of commitment. I've been thinking about what I am committed to a lot since then.

By the way, I cannot over-emphasize how much fun it was to be with my sisters and my mom. The company was the highlight of the trip for me.

As for the kiddos these last couple of weeks, here are the happenings: We took Scotti and Ev to an allergist. We found out that Scotti is seriously allergic to all tree nuts (almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, pistacios, cashews, etc.) and has mild allergies to all sorts of things: grass, wheat, dust mites, feathers. Ev is in the clear except that he is mildly allergic to eggs. Sammi told me that it would probably be a good idea not to feed him chicken anymore either. When asked why, Sammi replied, "Because chickens have eggs in them." I thought that was pretty good reasoning!

Everett has started telling me that everything is "ok". "Sorry I colored on the floor mom. It's ok." "Sorry I hit Cooper mommy. It's OK." He also

Oh, you should have seen Scotti's face when he was presented with his trophy for T-ball this week. All my kids were excited about their trophies, but to Scotti it was the most precious thing he has ever received. T-ball was so fun. Scotti loved it all. He showed up ready to go, and went after every ball. Since he is really speedy, he almost always beat all the kids to the ball and had to learn about taking turns a little! He loved hitting and running the bases as fast as he could. Cooper was really excited about it (and a great player) until he had his first hit and ran around all the bases instead of stopping at first. Cooper, who really gets embarrassed if he doesn't do everything just right, was horrified and refused to run the bases in the subsequent games. He still hit really well though. Cute Coop! Sammi refused to be on the team. I told her I would sign her up just in case she changed her mind. When we showed up for the first practice, she again, refused to participate. The coach asked her if she could just help the coach instead. Sammi liked the idea of being assistant coach, so she agreed to help, insisting that she still was not on the team. She batted and played like everyone else, showing them all how to do it. The only thing she did differently is skip around the bases and wear her frilly skirt. She would not wear a uniform because they were too ugly and we really had to fight to get her to wear a batting helmet!

We have been preparing our vegetable garden. Since it is now just a big plot of dirt, Everett cannot stay out of it. He plays in it for hours, filling his dump truck and then dumping it out. He is so dirty, but he loves it, and I work right along side him. I've put together little digging spots in each of my gardens so that my kids can play by me wherever I am working (since they always seem to be wherever I am!) It is really fun.

I just have to brag about my husband for a minute too before I close. He is the nicest guy I know. That must be why I married him. He takes such good care of me. Here is just one example: today I was sick. Body aches and sore throat. He woke up and told me to go back to bed, made a big breakfast for the kids (which he does whenever he is home in the morning), and got them dressed for church. When I woke up, he greeted me with ibuprofen and a glass for water. Later in church, when we were in the hall, he handed me some Tylenol near the drinking fountain and told me to drink up. After church, he got all the kids in the car and took them home, put the baby down for a nap and got the kids all organized on activities. I read and fell asleep. We were invited to a BBQ at our wonderful friends' house and when it came time to leave, I was still asleep, so Grant packed all the kids in the car and took them, leaving me to get some rest. Isn't he sweet? He also cleaned the whole house and made homemade bread yesterday. Most of these things are not rare events. He does so much around the house that sometimes I feel like the slacker. I could tell you about all the things he did for me yesterday too and the day before that, but it would bore you. I'm lucky to have such a great person with me all the time.

Grandma Beck comes to visit this week! Yaaaahoooo!

Ev's Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated Ev's birthday. His actual birthday was on Easter Sunday, but we decided to wait a week and give him his own day, especially since he had no idea anyway! We always have muffins for breakfast for birthdays and put a candle in the muffin and sing "Happy Birthday." We probably had to sing this 9 times for Everett. He loved it. He sang it loudest of all! When we got out the presents, he just thought he was so special. He loved to open the presents and hardly played with any of them in between openings! When I put him down for a nap, he sang himself to sleep with "Happy Birthday," which was adorable. We had a really fun party for him after dinner, where he served everyone up some cake and was delighted to be the center of attention! He is just the cutest thing ever. He thought everything about his birthday was just wonderful.

On Saturday, we all went hiking around Lake Sylvia, on a trail we had never been on before. We saw all kinds of wildflowers, Newts, and birds. We had a great time together. I love that my kids like to do that stuff. Grant and I found a whole bunch of new mountain biking trails on the logging roads behind the lake as well, that we can't wait to tackle!

On Friday, we had our first T-Ball practice. Sammi, Scotti, and Coop are all signed up for the team. Sammi told me from the beginning not to sign her up because she doesn't like sports. Then, we started playing t-ball in the yard, and Sammi is a really good hitter, so I signed her up anyway, just to keep the option open for her. At our first practice, Cooper and Scotti could not have been more excited. Everything was thrilling to them. Sammi, however, politely refused to be a part of the team. Finally, after standing on the sidelines watching her brothers have a great time, she told me that she wouldn't mind hitting, but that doesn't mean she is on the team. She's just hitting for fun, OK? Then, she wanted to practice catching balls too, swearing up and down that she isn't on the team, she's just helping out. She is so funny. Even now, she says she is not on the team. I'll keep you updated on how that turns out!

Saturday was also our big performance for preschool. Sammi, Scotti, and Coop were all monkeys in an adaptation of "Caps for Sale" at our preschool Taco Feed. They were the cutest little monkeys you've ever seen. All the kids were adorable. Scotti had the worst stage fright I have ever seen. He kept coming off the stage, saying he wasn't going to do it. I would take him back to the stage and give him a pep talk. Finally, just when I thought I had him set, the show started and Scotti ran off the stage to me. He felt sad that he didn't stay and finish the show, and directed his friends from the audience the whole time! He's so funny.

A couple of days ago, Sammi, Scotti, and Coop were all outside dressed up. They were being superfriends. Scotti was "Super B" with the power to see inside people's hearts and to sting them with his imaginary stinger. (The stinger was attached to his underpants, which "Super B" always wore over his pants.) Sammi was "Dragon Girl" with the power to fight and to talk to bees, butterflies, unicorns, and something else that I can't remember. Cooper was "Underdog" with the power of stink. (I decided it was better not to inquire further about that one!) They were running all over the yard saving imaginary victims from imaginary foes. They had a great time.

Later that day, Grant went outside to find Scotti on our chain ladder that goes up our playground holding on to the chains with his hands spread eagled and his tummy facing out. He was only in his underwear. When Grant asked him what he was doing, he said that he was Sammi's father and he was dying for her. That's right. He was playing crucifixion. In his underwear.

Everett finds water everywhere in this yard. If I keep him in clothes all day long, he needs an entire new outfit every couple of hours or so. I just let him run around in his diaper nowadays. He loves it. He loves the hose, and our little water pump, and our little wading pool. and our watering can He thinks it is all so great! Tonight, he was playing with the hose and I called him to come to Family Home Evening. He yelled back, "No thanks! Playing hose!"

In the middle of one of our garden beds, we have a pedestal that stands about 1 1/2 feet off the ground. It is for putting a big pot on. Since we have nothing on it, today I found Scotti sitting on it in a yoga resting/meditation position. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was the king of the garden and that if I wanted him to talk, I had to give him a gift of nature. When I gave him a rock, he looked at me with a sheepish grin and said, "I don't really know what to say!"

Last week, Cooper had a long string of not making it to the potty. We started a chart for him, where he gets a sticker every time he makes it to the potty. He has to get 30 stickers and then he can get a reward. He decided he wanted to go to McDonald's playground. Now, with this goal in mind, Cooper calls me every hour or so to look at his pee pee in the potty so he can get a sticker. I've never seen a kid go to the bathroom so much.

Everett tells me every night in a whisper, "Shhhhh! Hear that? I hear a frog!" Then sits still listening for a few minutes. It is adorable.

Easter Sunday!

We had a fun Easter weekend. We started off on Saturday with a fun morning at the dog show (which was really fun!), continued at our local Easter Egg hunt at the fair grounds, and ended at a Easter BBQ at our friend/neighbor's house. We had such a fun day! It was windy and rainy, but my kids didn't even seem to care. Today, we woke up to our Easter baskets and put on our new Easter duds. We had our good friends the Beuses over for Easter dinner and it was a great time. We are so lucky to have such great friends. It felt like we were around a lot of friends this weekend--especially at the Easter Egg hunt at the fairgrounds. I just love going to Elma community events and knowing many of the people I see there. It makes me excited about living in a small town.

Let's see...stories about the kids this week. I was working in the garden this week, when Scotti appeared wearing a tuxedo (a costume from his dance recital last year.) "Mom, I'm getting married!" he pronounced in a low adult voice.

"Congratulations! Whom are you going to marry?"

Without hesitation, "Rosalinda."

"Sounds great. What do you do when you get married?"

Pause. Pacing. "I don't know." Pause. Pacing. Scotti returns: "Mom, I think I'll just be the priest."

"OK, but you realize that we don't really get married by a priest, right?"

"Yes mom, but I'm only pretending!"

Sammi, who is always interested in a wedding, came along and told Scotti to close his eyes. When he opened them, he was to stare at her really hard and then exclaim how beautiful she is. He did so, and Sammi replied, "Yes, I am beautiful, but I'm not Rosalinda, and I'm not getting married." Then she ran off. She and Scotti played this game for a good hour or so, Scotti telling Sammi how beautiful she is, Sammi coming up with different ways to dump him. They refined the scene immensely by the end, adding dramatic hand holding and fake crying and such. I couldn't believe I had such thesbians.

Cooper keeps defining words for me. He told me that another name for weeds is "deeds." When I used the word "deeds" in a sentence, "Could you please pull those deeds over there for me?" Cooper looked at me funny and said that I'm not allowed to use that word, only him.

As we were getting ready to go to the Easter Egg hunt, we were all in the car waiting for Cooper, so I yelled up the stairs for him to come down. He kept yelling back, "just a minute!" Finally, when I got fed up and began counting to the dreaded number three (one.... two...) he came out of his room crying telling me that if I could just wait a minute, he would come down. He was putting on his socks. Cooper does not know how to do this yet. I told him that we didn't have time for him to practice right now and to come downstairs and I would put them on him. He told me that he would just be a minute because he asked God to help him get his socks on and God said OK, so I was just going to have to wait! Needless to say, we had a discussion about how sometimes when we want to do something, God helps us get it done by sending helpers. "Mom!" Cooper exclaimed, "you are my helper!" I whisked his socks on and buckled him in his car seat. What a sweetie pie!

Everett's favorite song lately is "Whoop! There it is!" He sings it all the time. He loves music. In the car, we were listening to John Denver's "Thank God! I'm a Country Boy!" In the background, the audience claps to the music. So does Everett. It is so cute. He also sings along to Queen's "I Want to Ride My Bicycle" and loves "Witch Doctor." Just loves music. Sings all the time. Sings when he plays, sings when he goes to sleep. He is just such a sweet heart. Today is his 2nd birthday, although we won't celebrate it until next week. We decided to take away his binki today. We really geared ourselves up for such a move. We were ready to give extra comfort, listen to a little crying as he learned to go to bed without it. Funny thing is, he didn't ask for it once. Didn't even notice it was gone!

Oh yea, Cooper got stitches this week. We got a package and he couldn't get it opened, so he got a really sharp knife and ended up cutting himself. No problem! Grant just sewed him right up in our very own living room. Now that's service!

Also, at our Elma Easter Egg hunt, Scotti got an egg that had a number where you go to a tent to get a prize. Sammi was very disappointed that she didn't get a prize. She just couldn't recover from the disappointment and had to go sit by herself for a little while to pull herself together. Scotti got his prize, a cool game. Then, the lady came running over to him and told him that here was a little package that went with his prize that she forgot to give him. Scotti was really excited because now Sammi could have a prize too! He ran over and enthusiastically gave it to her. I was one proud mother.

St. Patrick's Day Photos

Here are those photos. I found my phone. The first is Scotti during the Motocross races. The second is our leprechaun trap. The kids lured the leprechaun up the ladder by putting a piece of gold on top. Then, once the leprechaun stepped on the top of the hat, the top fell in and the leprechaun would have been trapped inside the hat. Too bad it didn't work!

St. Patrick's Day

We had a very fun St. Patrick's Day this year. The kids built a trap (which we found on familyfun.com) for the leprechaun, but our leprechaun was just too sneaky. We didn't catch him. He DID, however, paint with green paint all over our windows, turn our toilet water and milk green, and leave us some green treats. The kids decided that, mess aside, he must be a pretty great leprechaun if he left treats. They had a great time cleaning up the mess from that naughty leprechaun!

This week, I came home from church a little after my family and found Scotti riding his bike with a dinosaur costume and my ski goggles. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow. It was hilarious. He has a new thing called "motocross," which is essentially bike racing. He gets in uniform, which could be any get up you can imagine, with my ski goggles on. Then, he goes out and rides his bike as fast as he can. His opponent is always called "Lucifer", but in recent times, he's been calling him "Luke-cifer" (in honor, no doubt, of his imaginary friend Luke.) His favorite uniform seems to be to wear his coat with a sweater over the top of it, and then a T-shirt on top. He says the coat and sweater underneath make it look like he has pads on, like in football. He also likes to wear his snowpants with normal pants underneath. Scotti also has taken to working out a lot. He made pretend weights out of some blocks, and he spreads his blanket out and does sit ups and push ups and lifts weights. His entire life revolves around sports, race cars (which I guess is a sport), and competition. He loves it. The only break he takes from it is in reading books and watching TV. Obsessed.

Sammi just seems old to me lately. She takes care of Everett and bosses around Cooper and Scotti so well. She tries to put them in time out, and loves more than anything when I give her responsibility. She has been reading words all over the place lately, which makes her really happy. Sammi has been talking like a baby as of late. I'm hoping it is a stage. My current strategy is to just wait it out, but if anyone has any ideas, I'm open to them. Today, Sammi stood on our bed holding a big stick she found outside and has adopted as her own, instructing Grant and Scotti of what to do on their work out: "Ok, good work Scotti, now here's what we're going to do. Ten pushups and then a new exercise which I'll show you later. Good work dad too. You follow what Scotti is doing, and then I'll tell you what to do next. Great work boys!" Sammi has a little cow which she calls "Reindeer Gold" who she keeps on a leash and takes everywhere she goes. She feeds it and gives it naps and gets mad at us if we are not thoughtful of Reindeer Gold's needs.

This week, Cooper and I (and the other kids, but Cooper got into it most), were super heroes rescuing our yard from the naughty ivy. We had to find it, catch it, and put it in the garbage prison. Cooper played this game with me for four days this week, sticking it out with me pulling Ivy until I was finished. The entire time, he talked in his lower super hero voice, and used his "Super Snippers," "Super Trowel," and "Super Gloves!" He loved it. I had a great time too. Who knew weeding could be so fun. I also read in my gardening book that urine can keep the deer out of your yard and away from your spring flowers. Well, my boys were thrilled to hear that! "You mean when we've got to go, we can go outside?" Don't worry, we've got specific rules about where they can go, and have talked many times about how we don't go in other peoples' yards, but we'll see if they stick to it. They have been really funny about it. Cooper hugs and kisses me so much in a day that I sometimes have to tell him, "Cooper, now is the time for reading books. Afterward, we can snuggle all you want." Sooo affectionate!

Everett has been singing like crazy this week. Grant is teaching him to sing "Zip a Dee Do Dah" and he loves it. His favorite book lately is the one about the ocean. He thinks every fish is a shark and screams "Shark!" every time I turn the page. All day long he asks me, "Daddy? Work?" When I say yes, dad is at work, he sweetly says, "OK." He is such a cutie pie. Somehow Everett goes through 3 shirts every day, and his face is always messy. I just can't figure it out. I hate to wipe his face too much, because he has sensitive skin and gets chapped so easily, but what's a mother to do? My favorite is to listen to Everett sing himself to sleep. That is sweet.

I can't find my phone that has my pictures on it. I'll post some tomorrow if I find it!

St. Patrick

Skiing in Salt Lake City!

We returned home last week from our fabulous week in Salt Lake City. There, the kids learned to ski for the first time. They absolutely loved it. They stayed most of the time on the "magic carpet" at Alta, which they stand on to take them up the small hill they practiced skiing down. They learned how to take their skis on and off and how to get up by themselves when they fall. I was glad to hear that they learned those skills, because those are two things that are certainly difficult to deal with when you are the adult teaching a kid how to ski! It was exhilarating for Grant and me to see that our kids loved something that we love so much as well. It was fun to think about the years we have ahead of family skiing. While in SLC, we had a delightful time with our family. We got to visit the Draper Temple open house with Great Grandma Bird, Great Uncles Clyde and Bruce, Great Aunt Diane, the Lords (2nd cousins to my kids), and Grandma Carol. My kids had a great time messing around with their uncles, but Scotti told me he doesn't want to go back to another temple because it is so boring there and there is just so much walking! Cooper agreed, but Sammi thought the diamond chandeliers were worth a return trip. On the other hand, this week, Sammi told me she didn't want to be baptized when she is 8. She had just been in trouble and had just received a whole lecture from me about how she really needs to practice making good choices in preparation for when she is baptized, because then she'll have to repent for all her poor choices and it's just easier to make good choices. She told me that it just seemed easier to do what you want and then get baptized as soon as you know how to make good choices. She thought that might happen when she is 9 or 10. We also had a great visit at Grammi's house and Great Grandma Hatch's house. We went to our traditional hamburger joint with Great Grandma Beck, and the kids climbed all over the restaurant. Grandma Beck didn't even seem stressed or upset that they were so wiggly. I was proud of my heritage! Other highlights of our trip included seeing my sister Amy's new house, disco night at the Beckstrand's, a dinner party for Grant's uncle who received an international award for his aid in writing the freedom of religion clauses in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, hanging out at Grandma Janet's and Grandpa Kelly's, family ski days for both the Beckstrands and the Jacksons, playing at Jer and Joni's house, a pizza picnic with Grandpa Jonathan, and as always, tons of great times with Grandpa Richard and Grandma Carol. Those two work so hard when we come into town. My mom especially did a lot of babysitting this trip, for which I am so grateful. We have the greatest family. We have so much fun when we come into town. I so appreciate how you all take so much time out of your schedules to see us when we come into town. We adore you. We love our family. I love the affect you have on my kids. They feel your influence, even from such a distance. Love you all!

As for the pictures: Sammi is in pink, Scotti in the red coat, Cooper in the blue coat. Jake Hopkins, our cousin, is the other skier in the polar bear hat, and Maggie Driggs, our cousin, in the blond hair and pink coat.