Thanksgiving Weekend...

Because I enjoy disappointing my family as frequently as possible I put my foot down and said we weren't going to travel for Thanksgiving.  True story, we almost never travel for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  We love being at home and we hate the hassle/crowds/annoyance of traveling over the holidays.  Mid Pandemic, Charity offered to host Thanksgiving this year so we could have a little meet up with Will's father and siblings.  We agreed to attend and bought plane tickets to avoid the nightmare drive down California and across the southern dessert to Saint George, Utah.  As the holiday approached, COVID 19 cases started climbing in Utah.  I decided it was not worth the risk in going to see family with cases so high, especially when we had seen all of these loved family members at the lake in July, for visits in August, and for fun in October.  I said I wouldn't go.  Am I a brat?  Possibly.  I determined, even if Will said "Instead of seeing my family, how about we fly to Maine and see yours."  I still would have thought it wasn't safe and declined.  Brat, possibly.  Prudent, totally.

With my temper tantrum behind him, Will decided it would be best if we all stayed home.  I said he could go without me but he didn't want to break up the family over Thanksgiving.  We invited Alan and his family over for dinner since they too were not going to travel to Saint George for Thanksgiving.  

We shopped and planned, prepped and cooked.  We pulled together a delicious feast.  Alan and Heather took a turn brining the bird.  We split up the sides and sat down to eat.  IT WAS SOOOO YUMMY!

 

We Americaned it up and ate until we thought we might explode.  It was amazing.  As is our custom, the Saturday after Thanksgiving we picked out our Christmas tree and got it up and decorated.  Welcome to the Anderson home Christmas.  We are excited to see you.

Not to be out done for disappointing family members, Wyatt decided to get back on the drugs and alcohol train in the last month.  He hopped on the marijuana train over the summer with his friends.  We tried to put a stop to that but he just switched tracks to alcohol.  We tried to stop that too but he and his friends decided it was too much fun.  We decided he couldn't do drugs and live at our house.  So we sent him to rural Idaho to live with Grandma Judy this weekend.  It was awesome?  He ran away from home for a minute.  2020 has been a hard one guys.  I've cried a lot.  I'll probably cry some more before 2021 shows up.  I won't regale you with all the sad stories I tell myself about my mistakes and screw ups.  Suffice it to say, I keep on keeping on and disappointment is part of the deal for all of us.  Sometimes I am the giver of the disappointment, sometimes I am the receiver.  Lorien also hopped up on the drug train for a little bit in 2020.  She says she is off it right now.  I won't go into that garbage right now guys.  Those confessions are enough for today...or for the year.  

Peace out.  

Eleven year old!

Adell it's your birthday!

Happy Birthday Adell!

Ahhh-dell!  You are eleven years old today.  You have been looking forward to your birthday (like every kid does).  This year we were going to be in Utah for your birthday (again) so we planned to celebrate the weekend before.  Once mom threw a fit and said she wouldn't go to Utah because of COVID 19 we decided to stay home and you had to wait until your actual birthday to celebrate.  Alas, it was totally worth the wait.  

Here are some things I want to remember about newly 11 year old Adell.  She is so artistic.  She loves crafts and crafting and loves it the most when she can wrangle a sibling, parent or friend into crafting with her.  She makes special craft decorations for every holiday.  She is getting better and better at drawing!  She is careful with her work and always wants things to turn out perfectly.  She likes to bake and eat yummy treats.  She likes family activities and always wants the whole family to participate in her schemes.  Remote learning is going really well for Adell.  She loves her teacher, Mrs. Eplin.  She likes Mrs. Eplin's laid back/supportive style.  Adell still has some anxiety around time and there being a "right" choice.  The most tortuous thing you can do to Adell is offer her two very good things but tell her she has to pick only one.  She will agonize for hours over which one to choose and what she will miss out if she chooses one or the other.  It's a rough life.  Adell still has to share a room with Clare.  It is not fair.  Adell is an excellent friend to many but her best friends are Maggie, Julia, and Aviva.  Adell still loves to swim and is looking forward to wrestling being allowed again.  She loves guided draws on art hub.  She loves roller blading and bike riding.  She also likes telling her younger brother what to do.  Adell is still the only girl in her primary class but since they don't meet in person...she's cool with it.  Adell will move into Young Womens in January and that is exciting!  We love, love, love Adell and are so happy to have her eleven year old self as part of our family.

This moment in time Wyatt...

Oh Wyatt.  How will you look back on these years?  What will you think of yourself, of your parents, of the world when you look back on 2020 and the weirdness that happened?  You've had a lot of weirdness forced on you: COVID 19, distance learning for your Junior year of high school, friends and family moving away, no sports or social activities...a lot of weirdness.  You've also picked some weirdness to take on this year: you know what I'm talking about.  

However, I think you are learning and growing every day. I think somedays you give into the weirdness and comfort yourself with video games.  Other days, you push against the weirdness and make plans with friends or clean your room.  You are smart and so funny.  I know you are going to keep rolling with the weirdness.  I hope you will look back on this time with kindness and grace for yourself and the world.  

Happy 17th birthday my biggest boy.  

 Forced labor with your father to dig out a post hole for a zip line.

Forced Halloween levity for you and your friends.

Cake, ice cream, and presents with the family.

Another birthday forced to share with your favorite big sister, Lorien.

Agency in birthday dinner!  Ramen.

This moment in time Lorien...

The world is your oyster.  I don't know what this saying means.  I know it is supposed to indicate that you can have whatever you want in the world.  But I am not sure how that makes the world and oyster.  I guess maybe we are all grains of sand and we have the opportunity to irritate the heck out of the world in hopes of being turned into a pearl?  Is that it?  I don't know?  Somebody explain this one to me.

On to Lorien.  Is the world her oyster right now?  I think maybe she is the oyster and the world is the grain of sand right now.  She seems to have been loaded up with opportunities to be irritated to no end.  School has been moved online.  None of her classes have an interactive element.  They are all very boring.  She decided to stay at home for the online school year.  Her social engagements are strictly confined to screens: phone, tablet, laptop.  She spends all day and night in her little cave bed (the bottom bunk of a bunk bed shared with Colter) with her makeshift curtains drawn.  She sleeps a lot...I mean A LOT!  It is hard to find the motivation to get out there.  She does not want her parent's help.  She is hanging onto whatever independence she might still have by insisting we not talk to her about her future or possibilities.  The world is very sandy right now and Lorien is a very tender oyster.  

I'm trying to see that as a good thing?  In her tenderness she will have abundance and create more pearls than she can count because the world is so freaking annoying right now?  I do have so much faith in her as a human being.  I have seen her grow through challenging times over and over again.  Last school year was a doozie.  I didn't know how hard it was for her until we brought her home.  But she grew through the hardness.  She is so much wiser and mature now.  She sees teenage angst in a different light, I can tell you that much for sure.  

I am hopeful.  I hope for all of her dreams and all of mine for her.  I know she will do good things.  The world is her oyster...or she is an oyster for the world?  What did I land on for that?  Never mind.  Happy 19th birthday my Lorien dear.  

Stevie Nicks for Halloween.

Yearly pho at Pho Saigon for her birthday dinner.

Cake and presents at home with her wicked cool family.

Another birthday shared with her favorite sibling named Wyatt.

The time of our life...

What a wonderful gift this week has been!  We escaped the awful smoky air we've been breathing at home since August.  We got to stay in a big, beautiful, clean home with all the comfort amenities.  The kids swam every day.  The kids also all got their own rooms (a luxury they do not have at home)!  We ate lots of yummy food.  We all "went" to school with our laptops and Wifi.  Best of all, we got to see our family and feel loved by them.  Thank you, thank you Uncle Chris for the gift of this week in your house.  

Will is still on his wrestling trip.  I get to drive all five kids back home by myself.  Actually, I have two teen age drivers and they can help.  We stopped at 7 Magic Mountains just outside Las Vegas for fun.  Totally worth it!

I did let Wyatt and Lorien drive the last four hours home.  It was awful.  I hate being a passenger when teens are driving.  We made it home safely...I just have more gray hairs.  No big deal.  

Lone Mom Making Life Fun...

We were in search of adventure on our last full day in Hurricane, Utah.  Will left earlier in the week so he could attend some wrestling tournament, not as a participant but as an official from the Olympic Training Center here.  The night before, Uncle Chris took Clare, Me, Adell, and Colter out on his boat.  All the kids got a turn to drive the boat and I got a turn to get motion sick.

Saturday we made our way into Zions National Park for an adventure with the big kids.  Originally, we were going to hike the Kanaraville Falls hike.  However, Kanaraville changed their admission process.  It used to be pay to park open to hike, now you have to register and pay for a ticket to hike (150/day) and parking is free.  The hiking tickets were sold out until October 19 (thanks COVID).  

Plan B was to head to Zions and try a hike there.  Zions was really full...lots of traffic...lots of people.  We got into the park and drove through a tunnel carved through one of the mountains.  It was cool!  Traffic was backed up because they were only letting cars go through the tunnel one way at a time (social distancing, I guess?).  While Uncle Chris stayed in the car, Lorien, Wyatt, and I got out and walked along the road to take in the majesty a little closer.  

Home from the big kid's adventure it was the little kid's turn.  Clare (the middle kid) decided to stay home and chill out with her cousin, Clara.  Colter really wanted to go water skiing but we couldn't find a place to  rent easy-up skis and his feet didn't fit the adult skis Uncle Chris had in his boat.  We went down to the reservoir to have boat rides.  The cancelation prize for not skiing was driving the boat as many times as possible in the waining light.  Adell and Colter were satisfied with their fun.  

I was satisfied with the adventures I had provided and really thankful for Uncle Chris driving, boating, and taking us all around.  It was a really, really, really good day.

Oh!

I did a crazy thing.  Our little hike in Zions took us through a river bed up to some water falls.  On the way, there was one point where the little river narrowed and a deep pool was created between large stone walls.  Chris told us we could jump off the rocks into the pool on our way back.  I decided I would do a scary thing and jump.  While we were at the falls, Lorien and Wyatt slid down the rocks under the falls and into the very shallow pool there.  They told me I should do it too but I declined, knowing my adventure waited at the pool.

Once we got to the pool, Wyatt scrambled up and jumped off the rocks right away.  Lorien also got to the edge, counted to three and jumped!  I was next...and last.  I crept to the edge of the rock and down as close to the water as I could get.  I hate, hate, hate the sensation of falling.  It is the worst.  As as I perched on the edge all those fears of falling came rocketing up.  I knew I had to jump fast or I'd throw up.  The fall was terrible (milliseconds but terrible).  I hit the water and came up just fine.  I didn't feel how cold the water was because I was so fixated on the fall.  As I swam over to Lorien who was waiting to catch me I started to feel the cold.  That took my breath away.  So I started panicking and the most effective swimming stroke when you are panicking is the dog paddle...at least it is the stroke I always revert to when I am panicked.  This was no different.  I started panicking, not breathing, and hoping Lorien would save me.  I made it to Lorien and she pulled me to safety.  Ugh.  I was so proud of myself for doing a scary thing!

The Road Less Traveled...

Yesterday, Will headed out to find a trail from Chris's house out into the wilderness nearby.  In the process he got our van stuck in sand and had to be bailed out but he did find a way across the Virgin River and into the wilderness to a natural arch and hike through canyons to sand dunes.  

We headed out as a family to do the reverse of Will's hike.  It was so beautiful (and hot)!

We really enjoyed dipping our toes in the river.  

We found this tree or bush that had been eaten by the dry, hot, wind from the inside out.

The arch was very cool.  I haven't seen a natural arch in person until today.  It was fun to know it was so close to Chris's house and with in walking distance.

Clare was too hot and tired to keep hiking with us.  We let her stay by the river and cool down while we headed into the canyon to scramble up and up and up!

On the far end of the hike we came to some sand dunes.  The kids had a blast jumping down the dunes and filling every pocket/elbow crease/ear canal/ with sand.

Our hike was long and we started to worry we had left Clare for too long.  Will hiked ahead to collect Clare while Chris, the other kids, and I made our way down through the canyon.

Back at the river, where Clare had spent her hours cooling her toes and relaxing, the kids jumped all the way into the river.  

We were hoping to hike the Narrows in Zions.  Even with COVID weirdness the crowds in Zions are significant.  We couldn't get tickets and there was a toxic algae bloom in the water.  So we had to bail out of the Narrows.  This hike turned out to be SO much better.  We were the only people on the trail the whole time.  We got to pick our path many times.  We got to see trails that were not crowded or over used.  The kids scrambled up crazy high rocks.  We got to see a natural arch and roll down the sand dunes.  It was beautiful!

When we got back to the vacation home we all jumped in the pool with out hiking clothes on.  The pool was the perfect temperature!  We loaded up on Little Caesars Pizza and were thankful for the day.