Cousin Day

When I was growing up, I was lucky enough to have a bunch of girl cousins my age. It made up for not having a sister. There were countless slumber parties, birthday parties and even a handful of boy band concerts that are among my best childhood memories. With the growing up and having our own families, we don't see each other as often as we would like. Luckily most of us still live relatively close (ahem...Kim) Thanks to my awesome sister in law...we actually get together sometimes!
We scheduled a cousin day where the husbands would take on the kids all day and the girls would have fun together. We started our day with a session at the temple. It was a beautiful peaceful way to start our day.

After a lovely session, we made our way back to my house to eat lunch. and change our clothes. We met up with my cousins Callie and Julia as well. We then piled in Brittany's van and made our way to hike Multnomah falls.

 

At first we hiked a short loop to Wahkeena Falls, then hiked to Multnomah Falls, once we got to Multnomah Fall we decided to just make the whole trek up to the top. It was a busy day at the Falls

 
You can see the very busy it was by the crowded bridge


 
And we huffed and puffed to the very top of the falls! Aren't my selfies awesome?

 Looking over the edge

We made our way down and decided on Mother's Bistro for dinner. We had never been there but I had heard great things. The food was delicious. 

 

 After that there was talk about going to Salt n Straw to get ice cream, we went and the line was incredibly long and we weren't that set on getting ice cream so we made our way home. It was a good day reconnecting with my childhood friends when we haven't made the time in forever! Thanks to Elizabeth for organizing such a wonderful day! And to the husbands for taking on the kids. ( Max braved taking all 3 boys to a 6 year old's birthday party!)

5 months

Our little Edwin was 5 months old....3 months ago. And I took a bunch of photos of him. He was an awesome sleeper back then and very mellow and delightful. The whole crawling thing has made him a little more wild these days. And the fact that he climbs up in his bed now makes him not the greatest sleeper. He's actually still pretty good...I just got spoiled for the first 7.5 months of his life. So here's our Edwin.

And Charlie was helping me out with the photos by making Edwin smile but then wanted to be in some photos with him.

Which then reminded me of Charlie's 5 month photos...

 

Charlie can get the biggest laughs and smiles out of Edwin and it's fun to watch, except I'm just waiting for Charlie to figure out how to be more gentle.  

And here are Miles 5 month photos for comparison...

4th of July

Remember when it was warm and the days were long? It seems like a lifetime ago. But here I am, blogging about it. We kept with tradition by going to the parade on my Grandma's street and watching the fireworks show at our High School. 

Baby's First 4th!

Getting ready for the parade!

We added a new stop to our tradition by making the walk up to my green Grandma's house. She hadn't met Edwin yet, and after all, he is named after her father.
It was a pretty hot day so we made lots of stops.

We looked like we had our own parade going down the street.

We made it to Grandma's house and the boys immediately requested Uncle Gary's cool marble game.

And Grandma got some Edwin snuggles.

 My Green Grandma (Marion Virginia Lovett Roemhildt) Her Father's name is Ralph Edwin Lovett. And here is a little story of how Edwin got his name...When we were realizing that we needed to come up with another baby boy name we had looked at our family trees to see if any family names popped out at us. I started making a list of anything that seemed like it would make a decent name. Family names included Walter, Edwin, William, Coleman, Murphy...(there were many more but those were the ones I wrote down, there were also many other names on our list that weren't family names) I read the list to Max and we both agreed that the names that stood out to us most were Walter and Edwin. A couple weeks later, out of the blue Max says...What do you think of the name Edwin?...it was almost as if he had forgotten our whole conversation (he probably had) and had come up with the idea all on his own. haha! Then at some point we must have been talking about names with our boys because one night as I was putting them to bed we were talking about naming our baby and Charlie says "por favor can we name the baby Edwin, por favor?" At that moment, I felt a bond with the baby that I hadn't felt before (and that our boys had a bond with him) and was almost certain that his name would be Edwin. I was not certain with our older boys until they had been born and Edwin had never been on our name list during previous pregnancies so it was weird that I felt so strongly that our baby would be called Edwin. I strongly believe that my ancestors know my babies before they are sent to me and that there is some reason that he was to be called Edwin, I have an incredible story of how I received my name that involved many of my ancestors. I will share that sometime on here or in person. SO the point is, we wanted to learn more about my Great Grandpa Ralph Edwin Lovett. My grandma spoke so highly of him. She said he was a lawyer but he didn't love that work and she thinks that maybe he had been pressured by family to do that profession. Many of his cases were divorces and he had a hard time seeing that happen to families. She said that he had the most beautiful full head of silver hair as he aged and that he was a loving father and husband.

Here he is pictured with his wife, Marion Henrietta Davies.

Anyway, it was a great visit and it is always fun to feel connected to the past generations.

We then made our way back to Red Grandma's house. (It was about 2 miles round trip.) They were starting some fireworks, so we watched a bit then loaded up our stroller and got Charlie ready for his little business.

Max helped Charlie set up a little glowstick business. They made his little tray together and Charlie purchased all the glow sticks with his own money. He went around yelling "glow sticks for sale" At first he was just walking and yelling and not really aware of people that were interested but he started to figure out to watch for people that were trying to get his attention and just from walking around the high school for 10 minutes, he sold tons of glowsticks and made more money than his original investment (and he still has quite a few glowsticks to sell) He was super proud and had lots of practice talking to people and giving people change. He said, half of his money is for his mission and half is for fun things like a hot air balloon ride.

After some glowstick sales, we found our seat, busted out some snacks and got ready to watch the fireworks.

I didn't even try to take photos of fireworks, I just snuggled with my boys and enjoyed them!

And even after 10pm...this baby was all smiles.

Questival

A year ago, Max participated in a 24 hour scavenger hunt/good deed/competition call Questival in Sandiago as part of his 30th birthday Celebration!
They were so close to winning last year, and the Grand Prize was supposedly a trip for your whole team to South or Central America. it's all a little nebulous but I think this year it was money towards airline tickets.The basic idea is that you have a huge list of tasks you can accomplish for points and you take photos/videos and submit them through the app.
So, this year Questival came to Portland! And since they were so close to winning last year, they knew they could do much better in their home town. Max and Nathan and Kerri were on board. The other couple that did it with them in San Diego was out of town so they couldn't participate.
 So we made a new dream team and my mom volunteered to take on all three of my kids. Our friends Heather and Brad joined the team and it was perfect. We were totally serious about winning. We had planning meetings, maps, designating assignments and everything. Anyway...The event started at 7pm on a Friday evening. Everybody participating met at Sellwood park for some pre-event activities and the kickoff. we were then set free for the next 24 hours to complete as many tasks as possible and rack up points. the trick is that points are not enough...your submissions need to be unique and creative because you are also graded by your peers.  Here are some highlights from our submissions.

Do a team wall sit...

 

Have someone on your team do 50 consecutive push ups.

 

Go roller skating/blading and hold a limbo contest

Give flowers to a stranger...this turned out to be the best!

Do a blind taste test! Another great one!

 

Make a campfire scented cologne commercial 

 

Hold a team plank

 

"Dance on the ceiling, I don't care how" were the instructions for this one.

 

Video a teammate throwing a doughnut hole as fast as they can at another teammate's face (Protect your eyes!).

Make your own grape juice by grape stomping, and then drink it.

Decorate your face like a cake. Frosting, sprinkles, whip cream, etc. Get a teammate to taste your face. Watch it...it's so creepy!

 

Use kitchenware to perform a boyband song of your choosing, modern or classic.

 

As a team play hard boiled egg roulette. Make sure to clean up the mess, no littering. 

Ok, there's a story here. Max had pulled out a bowl of eggs from our fridge and assumed they were hard boiled. I thought the bowl of eggs on the counter were brought by someone else so I didn't question anything...this is the result.

 

Do your best gymnastics trick on a trampoline that you have permission to use. The rest of your team needs to hold up judging point cards.

Heather's art skills making a Llama pancake!

And if that isn't enough of a glimpse for you...here is the link to all of our submissions...You should seriously look at it. if for nothing else, to get a glimpse of how many things we were able to do in 24 hours!  http://questivalteams.cotopaxi.com/teampage?id=6R5BbtWaZt
We ended the event and instead of going home to sleep we made our way to get ice cream at salt & straw. then we went home where i pumped milk (haha, I'm pretty sure it is because of this event that i dried up but that is another story) We were able to sleep so well since my mom had the boys for another night and after getting a good rest we were all pumped to do it again next year. Oh yeah, and after all the points were calculated...we ended up taking 3rd place...out of 340 teams. Pretty good but we didn't win a trip...we did however win a Cotopaxi gift card. Hurrah!

Father's Day

I love celebrating Max for any reason so Father's day is pretty great because he is an amazing father for our boys! On Father's day I was asked to speak in church and basically speak on how Max has been teaching our children to gain their own testimonies of Heavenly Father. I could speak on this a whole lot and there is so much to say. But I was really nervous to stand in front of everyone and basically say how amazing my husband is. I tried to do it tactfully but I still felt super awkward about it. But since this is my blog...I can brag all I want about my husband without feeling bad about it. haha. So, on father's Day morning, i was anxious and super nervous so I don't even think I made Max a great father's day breakfast like usual. So we went to church, I struggled through my talk and survived. 

Here are my notes from my talk...if you care to hear my thoughts.

I was asked to share some examples from our family and specifically Max, on how we have helped our children gain testimonies of their Heavenly father. I could speak very highly of my husband and all that he does for our family and others but also be aware that we are still figuring out this parenting thing and we are very far from perfect parents, so I will share some things we’ve tried and what may be working for us.

But first,

I reviewed a talk given in conference last year by

Elder D. Todd Christofferson who spoke on Fathers, he gave very direct and clear directions to fathers so I wanted to share some excerpts from that talk.

As a Church, we believe in fathers. We believe in “the ideal of the man who puts his family first.”2 We believe that “by divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families.”3 We believe that in their complementary family duties, “fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.”4 We believe that far from being superfluous, fathers are unique and irreplaceable.”

Perhaps the most essential of a father’s work is to turn the hearts of his children to their Heavenly Father. If by his example as well as his words a father can demonstrate what fidelity to God looks like in day-to-day living, that father will have given his children the key to peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come.9 A father who reads scripture to and with his children acquaints them with the voice of the Lord.10

Certainly teaching the gospel is a shared duty between fathers and mothers, but the Lord is clear that He expects fathers to lead out in making it a high priority. (And let’s remember that informal conversations, working and playing together, and listening are important elements of teaching.) The Lord expects fathers to help shape their children, and children want and need a model.

Loving the mother of his children—and showing that love—are two of the best things a father can do for his children. This reaffirms and strengthens the marriage that is the foundation of their family life and security.

James E Faust has said:

Noble fatherhood gives us a glimpse of the divine. James E Faust

So here are some of the things we have tried with our Children

Pray with our children as soon as they are born and help them pray as soon as they can talk. We feel like this is the best way for young children to form a relationship with their Heavenly Father.

Spending One-on-one time with each child, which could be a fun date, running errands, doing a service project, or  going to work.

Attending church weekly despite meltdowns and resistance from certain children of mine.

Temple attendance-our boys often ask if we can drop them off at grandma’s so we can go to the temple.

Temple Visitor center. Beautiful interactive place for them to feel the spirit.

And some things I’ve observed about Max as a father.

He is an example of one who loves the Lord and follows the commandments.

He is an Example of diligence and hard work -Yard work, construction project,

He is constantly seeking more knowledge and sharing that knowledge with the family.

He is an example of service and putting other’s needs before his, whether this is for a family member, neighbor, or stranger.

He is always seeking opportunities to teach the children and show reasons how and why we do things.  

He loves his family and makes time for them no matter how busy his schedule gets!

President Henry B Eyring, while addressing the men of the church said

In our home and in our priesthood service, the greatest value will be in the small acts that help us and those we love work toward eternal life. Those acts may seem small in this life, but they will bring everlasting blessings in eternity.

Out of the missionary work we have done we feel that our Children are our greatest converts and it is our responsibility to teach them how they can build their own relationship with the Lord. 

After my talk Charlie sang with the primary children. 

Then I could relax.

A few days before Father's day, Charlie shared his gifts that he made in preschool which consisted of a 2018 calendar made entirely of his artwork.  I gave him a framed photos of the boys to put up in his office.  

Anyway, after church we enjoyed dinner and relaxing at home. Shortly after dinner, Max ended up outside with all the boys while I finished cleaning up the kitchen. My heart was so full when I went outside and found them like this. not posed, just a glimpse of the kind of father Max is.