A Special Day

 Last Sunday my twin eight-year-old nieces were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They were baptized by my younger brother Peter, who also happens to be their Daddy!    

They were so excited to take this special step in their lives and as they stood in the baptismal waters giggling happily together, it was hard not to be enchanted by the deep bonds of friendship they share between them.

After their baptisms they dressed in the beautiful dresses homemade by their Grandma Baldwin, who sadly had just had surgery and was unable to attend. 

We were so happy to be a part of that wonderful day, along with my brother Matt and his family, my parents, my sister AnnaLisa, my Nana, and Mika's father, Lonnie.    

The boy cousins (minus Spencer and Andrew)  had a fun time running around together.

My mom and dad with 10 of their 13 grandchildren.  

Traveling was tiring for my Nana (and my parents), but it was such a joy to have them there!

More guy bonding...

and looking all GQ...

My mom's still got the moves too!

My Dad with Adam and Davin.  And Ellie having a chat with Bridgette.  

My Nana, Mom, and Dad with Lauren and McKenzie.  

Mika's dad came all the way from Washington State to be there. 

It was a privilege to spend the day with family...

and we've got a little nine-year-old girl in our family, who loves playing "big sister",  who's really hoping it won't be long before the next family gathering.  

Four Generations

It's getting to be THAT time of year again.  The time when our normally busy, but somewhat manageable schedule goes LOCO!  We've been doing end of year testing (required by Virginia law even for homeschool!), having planning meetings for next year, planning girls' camp crafts again, collecting youth conference registration forms, picking up Spencer from JMU, preparing for giving a talk in sacrament meeting this Sunday, going to a memorial service for a beloved former teacher of Adam's, and eating up the couple of days that my parents were in town.

All this extra stuff going on in addition to my normal running kids all over creation for 2+ hours a day  means that my own home has become a mere stopping place in the endless merry-go-round that my life has become.    I've spent no more than a couple of waking hours home each day of the last two weeks.

Tomorrow has the potential to be the first normal day in a while (except for the 4:00am drive to the school to drop Emma off on her field trip, the mommy-daughter activity day activity with Ellie in the evening,  and the extra chauffeuring duties I have in the afternoon), but all in all I am very much looking forward to some good old fashioned bonding time with washing machine again...at least for a few hours!

So I sit here tonight, eyes drooping with sleepiness, and the responsible side of me thinks I should be trying to dig out of the pile that my house has become or work on my talk or something, but instead I forgo sleep and sensibility and am writing this blog post instead.    I was worried that I would forget and let these precious pictures get buried into my computer files.  After all, it's only a few times a year that we see my parents and even less often that we see my last living grandparent, Nana Crain!  Four generations together is definitely worth staying up to commemorate!

 I had to share their visit with my two brothers and their families, so all in all we spent less than 24-hours together.   Luckily the weather was lovely,  and we took our lunch from Plaka (a greek restaurant) and headed to the park.

Ellie so loved seeing her grandparents and great-grandma again and I do have to say that I think she bonded with all three of them while they were here.  

Luckily my sister, AnnaLisa, lives close to me, so she  got to share in our time with them.

Adam's a little shyer about jumping into pictures, but I love how this one of Nana and them turned out!

My dad recently had knee replacement surgery and was hobbling around a bit while he was here, but that didn't stop him from being Silly Grandpa still!

I can't believe how tall Adam looks next to my mom in this picture!

Right after lunch they drove to Maryland to spend a day with my brother Matt and his family.  We loved having them visit and hope that they will be able to come again soon! 

At first I thought that we wore Ellie out with fun.  Turns out though, her fever (after the poor reaction to her medication) had returned.  The poor girl has now been spiking low fevers almost every day for about three weeks now.  Most of the time she acts pretty normal, but collapses once it hits 100º every few days (like in this picture).

Safe to say, she will never be trying that medication again!


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20 Lessons I Learned From My Mother

1.  Prayer works, whining doesn't.
2.  TV is bad, books are good.
3.  Some oldies music and a comfy pair of sweats is all you need for a good workout. 
4.  People of a certain political persuasion need to get their heads examined.
5.  Simple is better.
6.  Kids grow fast and it's important to focus on the things that really matter. 
7.  Coffee cakes and coffee tables don't really exist, they're actually called breakfast cakes and tv tables.
8.  The only difference between a person chewing gum and a cow chewing its cud is the intelligent look on the face of the cow. We had this quote hanging on our fridge for years, but alas it was one of the least effective of mom's edicts, since most of us kids have decided that we prefer having minty fresh breath over looking intelligent.
9.  Keeping one night a week set aside for family night is well worth the sacrifice and effort.
10. Our church leaders are called by God.
11.  One pair of tennis shoes and one pair of Sunday shoes is all the footwear you need.  I actually have about five pairs, three of which I wear on a regular basis, which basically makes me a shoe horse according to mom.  
12.  Freckles are angel kisses and nothing to be embarrassed about.
13.  America is a blessed land and we should do our best to be good citizens--by voting in every election (big or small) and by getting involved in trying to affect positive changes in the community.
14.  Beauty comes from within.
15.  You need to vary the hiding places of goodies and gifts frequently. 
16.  Embarrassing topics should be avoided at all costs, but if one has to refer to it, then code names make it less embarrassing. (For instance, saying you need a new "arb" is much less blush worthy than saying you need a new bra.)
17.  It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. 
18.  We are blessed to live in a day and time when there is a living prophet on the earth. 
19.  Why pay full price for something, when you can just skip buying it altogether?   
20. Slow down.  Take time to smell the coffee....er, I mean roses. 

...And the list could have gone on and on.  Thank you mom!!!  I love you!

                                          Our mothers on our wedding day-- Denver, Colorado Temple---December 1993

   from left:  My Nana Crain, Glen's Grandmother Loughton, Glen's mother Sandy, My Mom, My Grandma Hepworth             (The only missing grandmother that day was Glen's Grandma Goold)

 

I also want to express my heartfelt gratitude and love to Glen's mother,  Sandy, who is as kind, generous, accepting, and loving a mother-in-law as anyone could ever wish for! 

Happy Mother's Day!

"...I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them."  Alma 57:21

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"Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mothers image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child's mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security, her kiss, the first realization of affection, her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the world."

                                                                                                                                                             ~David O McKay

Meet my family...

There are 5 girls (from left: AnnaLisa, Heather, Mom, Kristina, Lara)  and 5 boys  (from left: Matt, Tim, Dad, Nate, Pete).    I am the oldest and wisest of the siblings and can still strike fear into the hearts of my sisters with a glare and a little flick of my pinching fingers. 

We now live scattered around the country, but deep inside we all still consider ourselves Minnesotans at heart.  Put us all in the same room and youbetcha we can whip around a good Northern accent and toss around some cold weather stories like nobody else.  In fact my brother Pete, now a father of four cuties, still loves to reenact the explosive Arctic blast of air that came through one year by jumping spreadeagled off ledges while yelling, "Arctic blast!" like he did when he was 8. 

Actually I stretched the truth somewhat when I said that we were scattered all over the country now.  While it's true that Kristina and Nate live in California and my parents and Tim live in Utah, it's also true that everyone else lives within an hour of us!  With 5/8 siblings and 10/12 grandkids living close by, we definitely hold some serious sway here in the DC area!

They think they all moved here because of the mild weather and strong job market, but deep down everyone knows that the real reason more than half of the Crain family lives nearby is to be closer to Cami's gourmet cupcakes and Emma's to-die-for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

Although we had more than our fair share of squabbles in our younger days, as adults we are pretty tight knit.  Rarely a day goes by that I don't talk to at least one member of my family and those of us that live nearby try to gather together monthly for dinners and holidays. 

On January 10th I dropped the bombshell on my family when I told them that Spencer had leukemia.  I hadn't really ever mentioned Spence's health woes before and since nothing anywhere near as serious as cancer was even on our own radar screens, it came out of the blue for everyone.    Within a couple days my mom and sister Heather were at our doorstep ready to roll up their sleeves and help any way they could.    A week or two later, my dad came too.  Matt, Pete,  and families came frequently for visits.   AnnaLisa started helping more than she already had been.  

In other words, they not only helped to alleviate the day-to-day stresses in our lives, but they also helped to keep life as routine as possible for the rest of the family. 

While we were busy with Spencer, the kids were attacking Uncle Matt....

Snuggling with Grandma...

Playing Beyblades with Aunt Heather...

Chilling with Grandpa...

laughing at Uncle Pete....

and being silly with Aunt AnnaLisa....

Luckily being at the hospital didn't prevent Spencer from joining in the "fun" as well...

I am pleased to announce that, in all the extra time we've been spending together, that I haven't once had to inflict any of my big sisterly tortures on any of them.  That is other than snapping photos of them while they slept.  ;)

In all seriousness, my family has been a wonderful blessing to us through these last couple of months  and I just wanted to publicly thank them for their love and support!   LOVE YOU!

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UPDATE:

• Spence is still experiencing chest pain, but luckily it is somewhat reduced from yesterday.  Mostly it hurts when he takes a deep breath or moves around much. 

• Today was his last day of receiving chemo.  It's a shorter duration than the first two rounds, but the chemo is much more intense, so it's still expected that he'll start feeling cruddy sometime next week. 

• His weight has been staying steadily around 57 kg. (125 lb.) for the last few weeks.

• Adam and Aunt AnnaLisa went to the Harlem Globetrotters game today.  With the tickets purchased a few months ago, it was an outing originally meant for Spencer and AnnaLisa, but since Spence wasn't available Adam was happy to take his place.  He came home laughing about all the players' fun tricks.  My sister AnnaLisa is so awesome to plan regular one-on-one outings with each of my kids. 

• Cami and I went out to eat with friends and then to the YW broadcast tonight, where we got to listen to some amazing inspirational messages. 

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"Taking life by the yard is hard,
but life by the inch is a cinch. "

                                                                                           President Thomas S. Monson

Lessons From My Mother

"...I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them."  Alma 57:21

Lessons I've learned from my mother:
1.  Prayer works.
2.  TV is bad, books are good.
3.  You don't need fancy equipment to exercise.
4.  If you're a liberal, you probably need to see a neurosurgeon. (don't worry liberal friends, I told my mom you're a moderate)
5.  Simple is better.
6.  Avoid the appearance of evil. 
7.  Coffee cakes and coffee tables don't really exist, they're actually called breakfast cakes and tv tables.
8.  People who wear high heels are people who enjoy inflicting pain upon themselves.
9.  FHE is well worth the sacrifice and effort.
10. Our leaders are called by God.
11.  Navy blue is the new black.
12.  Freckles are something to be proud of.
13.  America is a blessed land.
14.  Beauty comes from within.
15.  You need to vary the hiding places of goodies and gifts frequently.  A whole year of Little Debbies for breakfast taught me that trick.
16.  Embarrassing topics should be avoided at all costs, but if one has to refer to it, then code names make it less embarrassing. (An arb is much less blush worthy than a bra.)
17.  One pair of tennis shoes and one pair of Sunday shoes is all the footwear you need.
18.  Slow down.  Take time to smell the coffee....er, I mean roses. 
19. List making is for wimps who can't remember what they're doing.

...And the list could have gone on and on.  Thank you mom!!!  I love you!

 
I also want to express my heartfelt gratitude to my awesome mother-in-law and grandmothers (all pictured above, except for Glen's Grandma Frances). 

Happy Mother's Day! 

We love you! 

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