Monday, April 30, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Lessons from Hiking the Y
Yesterday for family night we hiked the Y. It was my first time hiking it. It's a pretty good hike. Cadence hiked the whole way, without being carried!!! He was so thrilled to be at the top too! Well, I say he did it, but we all did. We all had to encourage him to keep going and remind him he had to do it himself. We'd say let's make it to that fence and then take a break. We took lots of breaks. We sang songs (he didn't want any marching songs, just I Love to See the Temple). We pointed out the temple and how far we had come (our car was so small). When we got close enough he'd say "Where's the Y?" I said "It's so huge you can't tell up here it's a "Y". Austin and I had to switch off kids. We had to try different things to keep the kids going. There were so many lessons to be learned.
But one of the most amazing lessons happened when Austin got so far ahead, just enough up a steep slope and around a tree that Cadence couldn't see him. He said "Where's daddy?" He wanted to give up. He wanted me to carry him. He wasn't going to go any further if he couldn't see his dad. Even when I said "He's there, I promise, I can see him." he wouldn't budge. So I called to Austin and told him Cadence was done. He started to walk back and as soon as Cade could see him, all of the sudden he RAN to daddy - to Daddy's open arms. It was a powerful lesson for all of us. Daddy leads our family and we all have to be able to see him to know where we're going next. We need our Daddy!!
Learning this lesson made the rest of the journey that much easier. Daddy and Kory would move ahead a little, then turn back and cheer him on (Kory flailing his arms and calling his crude version of his brother's name). And Cadence ran! He did it! I was so proud of him!! He loved playing up at the Y, and it took some different convincing to get him to go back down. You would have never known he complained the whole way up.
Afterwards, we got ice cream, his favorite treat and I didn't make him share. He deserved it. He earned every bit. He was so awesome! I was so grateful for my husband who was inspired to go on the hike. We admitted it was hard to Cadence. We told him how we needed breaks too. But we did it, all together. We did it!! And I hope we can say that in heaven to - that we did it together.
But one of the most amazing lessons happened when Austin got so far ahead, just enough up a steep slope and around a tree that Cadence couldn't see him. He said "Where's daddy?" He wanted to give up. He wanted me to carry him. He wasn't going to go any further if he couldn't see his dad. Even when I said "He's there, I promise, I can see him." he wouldn't budge. So I called to Austin and told him Cadence was done. He started to walk back and as soon as Cade could see him, all of the sudden he RAN to daddy - to Daddy's open arms. It was a powerful lesson for all of us. Daddy leads our family and we all have to be able to see him to know where we're going next. We need our Daddy!!
Learning this lesson made the rest of the journey that much easier. Daddy and Kory would move ahead a little, then turn back and cheer him on (Kory flailing his arms and calling his crude version of his brother's name). And Cadence ran! He did it! I was so proud of him!! He loved playing up at the Y, and it took some different convincing to get him to go back down. You would have never known he complained the whole way up.
Afterwards, we got ice cream, his favorite treat and I didn't make him share. He deserved it. He earned every bit. He was so awesome! I was so grateful for my husband who was inspired to go on the hike. We admitted it was hard to Cadence. We told him how we needed breaks too. But we did it, all together. We did it!! And I hope we can say that in heaven to - that we did it together.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
No pictures, please!
While I'm usually "way behind" in posting because I have a TON of pictures I've captured and I want to share. Right now, my camera is being so finicky the only pictures we manage are few and far between. Not to mention, they aren't the best quality with Austin's IPOD (or catching my camera in a good mood). It's really sad and I'm trying not to think of it's implications when I go to make a scrapbook for 2012... a new camera just can't be on the "to buy" list yet... *sigh*
Still, even without pictures, I thought I'd catch up.
Reasons I feel "behind":
We've been sick. Over Easter weekend we were all really sick (nasty cough, fever, etc.). I was up to 4 a.m. one morning (with Cadence) and we're still catching up... that alone means I'll see you next week. Right now I'm blocked by the mound of laundry. It still managed to be a FABULOUS Easter (thanks to Maria)! Our 12 days of easter egg symbols were slammed into three I think, but we made it work. I think we'll be eating Easter dinner the rest of the week (yay - less cooking for me and more time to "catch up")!
SPEAKING OF LAUNDRY - Cadence is doing well potty training. So well that if he gets his clothes a TAD wet (even if it's from washing his hands), he HAS to change his clothes. *sigh* I do so much laundry for him it's ridiculous. HELP!
Kory is walking! Yes and getting into EVERYTHING (trash, toliet, toliet paper, etc.)! He's already learning to climb to grab at that stuff we carefully put up higher so we don't have to clean up messes. I'm glad we have a baby gate now, but it just means a lot of crying.
Our house seems to be smaller and smaller with two boys. I'm grateful we have a trampoline. They jump, I feed chickens and work in the garden. I jump with them too :-) In it's smallness, one challenge is rotating off season and not-fitting clothing to the crawl space. It always is a project that happens all to often with growing little ones. With more and more regular maintenance projects, I feel like I never get to what I really want to be doing...
Which is reading, and recording history, and that list of projects which never goes away. Still, I'm grateful because I'm not sure what the projects would look like with a bigger house. NEVER ENDING CLEANING - yikes! I need more helpers before I get there.
What have you been up too?
Still, even without pictures, I thought I'd catch up.
Reasons I feel "behind":
We've been sick. Over Easter weekend we were all really sick (nasty cough, fever, etc.). I was up to 4 a.m. one morning (with Cadence) and we're still catching up... that alone means I'll see you next week. Right now I'm blocked by the mound of laundry. It still managed to be a FABULOUS Easter (thanks to Maria)! Our 12 days of easter egg symbols were slammed into three I think, but we made it work. I think we'll be eating Easter dinner the rest of the week (yay - less cooking for me and more time to "catch up")!
SPEAKING OF LAUNDRY - Cadence is doing well potty training. So well that if he gets his clothes a TAD wet (even if it's from washing his hands), he HAS to change his clothes. *sigh* I do so much laundry for him it's ridiculous. HELP!
Kory is walking! Yes and getting into EVERYTHING (trash, toliet, toliet paper, etc.)! He's already learning to climb to grab at that stuff we carefully put up higher so we don't have to clean up messes. I'm glad we have a baby gate now, but it just means a lot of crying.
Our house seems to be smaller and smaller with two boys. I'm grateful we have a trampoline. They jump, I feed chickens and work in the garden. I jump with them too :-) In it's smallness, one challenge is rotating off season and not-fitting clothing to the crawl space. It always is a project that happens all to often with growing little ones. With more and more regular maintenance projects, I feel like I never get to what I really want to be doing...
Which is reading, and recording history, and that list of projects which never goes away. Still, I'm grateful because I'm not sure what the projects would look like with a bigger house. NEVER ENDING CLEANING - yikes! I need more helpers before I get there.
What have you been up too?
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