2024 Moments: Week 4

 This week is one I’ll never forget. I was absolutely given strength that was not my own. Between Landon leaving to Ghana, preparing a talk for ward conference, helping coordinate the funeral for Brother Bob, lead our beginning of the year RS lesson, Jaxson’s basketball tournament 3 hours away, and just normal mom stuff, oh and of course I start my period….. I prayed so much this week for help! I got it! In so many ways. Two ways particularly is my mom coming and Katalyn’s flourless cake. But other ways too. But I want to go eat the cake now so…. Here are the moments: 

Lando:

Is in Ghana 🇬🇭 

Becs:

On Monday I got a text that Bob fell from his ladder and was being rushed to the hospital, Cheryl followed behind the ambulance. I went over to their home with a few other sisters in the ward to clean. Try to carry some of her responsibility where we could. While there we got the news that Bob wasn’t going to make it. It was a really sad night. One thing I noticed that I’ll probably never forget, is that when I opened their back door to get into their home…. Bob and Cheryl’s scripture lie open on the table. I thought that was real evidence that they were striving to draw closer to God, each day, in the way they knew how. It made me wonder, if something tragic happened to me one day, what would be on my kitchen table? What efforts would lie open on the table. The rest of the week I spent helping with the funeral, preparing my talk, and lesson discussion, getting landon ready for Ghana, taking care of my own family (kind of), and going to Hermiston Oregon for Jaxson’s tournament. Lots of prayers were said by me this week. 

Jax:

He played so well in his tournament this weekend! I felt like God blessed him because of his decision to not play on Sunday 

Ty: 

Asked me to times 44 by 44 on my phone to see if he got the number right in his head. He did. His teacher said “he is a model student.”

Luke: 

He cried every time the other team scored on Jaxson’s team. Even when we were up by 20. Oh he has the same competitive heart as Jax. 

Brigs:

He just is getting better at communicating. He wanted an apple at study group and kept asking so nicely and I kept explaining we couldn’t do it that way. He didn’t just scream his head off. But he kept insisting in the kindest of ways. Katalyn noticed that for me and I saw it once she pointed it out. We need friends like that in life! 

2024 Moments: Week 3

 JaxTyLuke threw up BIG! 

We went to the Picketts for James birthday. 10 minutes late Luke ran down “Mommy! It was an accident. I tried for it not to happen. I promise it was an accident.” I wasn’t sure what he did but I just said, “Show me!”

Luke took me up to the top stairs to show me the throw up! I immediately gathered my boys and got them in the car. I did not want to get the Pickett of Ditto kiddos sick. But Jax seemed 100% okay so I left him with the Dittos so they could take him to the basketball game. 

We grabbed a bucket from the Picketts, and luckily we did. Ty and Luke threw up three times each in that 10 minute drive. It was WILD how fast it came on and how INTENSE it kept coming. I settled them on the kitchen floor and tried to feed them dinner but, they didn’t even have time to eat. They’d run to the bathroom, throw up, wash their hands, brush their teeth, come lay down to catch their breath and then repeat. 

At 7:26 Ashley Lepisi called me to tell me Jaxson was throwing up at the Warehouse. Oh man! I called Kelly and Annie, “ummmm….. can you go pick up Jax? Also bring a bowl.” I also told Ashley to quarantine him the best she could in a gym full of basketball games. 

By the time Jaxson got home, he had thrown up 4 times (so I’m told). 

Luke announced in between vomits “this is the worst day” and Ty pleaded, after catching his breath “can we say a prayer.” 

Oh! And ps: Landon was at the hospital for the night!! 

We prayed and then I asked if they’d also like a blessing. Kelly and Neal Peterson came and gave rapid fire blessings. It was kind of a cool moment. It did make me think of the pioneers. I knew my boys were going to be okay, and I still wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity for a blessing. The pioneers didn’t know their loved ones would be okay, I am sure they hung on to those blessings with everything they had. 

The boys still continued to throw up. At about 10:00pm, it just became comical to me. The skin on my hands were peeling off because i washed my hands after every bucket to toilet drop. By 10:00 I bet I had washed my hands 30 times. In four hours. Anyway, I started texting Landon every time one threw up. To be honest they definitely slowed down by 10pm, but it was still coming every 10 minutes or so, til about 2:00am. 

When we all finally woke up at 7:00am, Jaxson announced, while stretching his whole body, “we made it!” And Ty, shortly after, said, “thanks mom! For taking care of all of us.” 

A night to remember for sure. Landon walked in at 8:00am with disinfectant supplies and milk. And we spent the rest of the day watching Harry Potter and Psych and eating Chicken Noodle Soup and rolls. Oh and I did laundry and laundry and laundry. And disinfected x 4!  Come lick my toilet, it’s cleaner than your cup :). 

Brig:

He wakes up every day before 7 and announces to me “the sun awake mom!” He repeats it’s over and over again until I turn on all the lights and get going. But often I’m trying to finish up reading the scriptures, so I try and stall him, but he’s a persistent little bug. Once he’s awake my scripture study is shot. When I do finally get up and turn the lights on and start breakfast. I will say “Buddy let’s go potty.” To which he replies “No. No thank you. Pees asleep.” 

Luke:

I told him “you need to get better at not having your emotions fly off the handle when things don’t go your way, deal?” To which he promptly responded, “No. Deal.”  

Ty : 

I picked him up from school on Friday and he was SOOOOOO happy. So chatty. And finally I said “ohhhh you went to Tessera today. That’s why you’re so happy!!! What did you learn?” To which he promptly said “what didn’t I learn?” And then proceeded to talk to me for 30 more minutes about all the things he’s doing and learning at Tessera. 

Jaxson:

Jax had a tournament this weekend! Which isn’t unique, but this one had a few twists. #1 Two guys weren’t there, and with 7 guys, Jax was able to get more playing time. His coach basically played him the entire 3rd game. It would be nice to have more playing time on Sunday. AND we knew it would be a burden to the team to only have 6 guys for Sunday. Ugh! Why does this play on Sunday decision continue to feel hard. I’m glad we have given the decision to Jaxson. 

#2 We found out during the final game that our church was cancelled. We felt like Jax needed that piece of information so that again, he could make an informed decision with God. Landon told Jax and then I had Jax run over to me. “Bud! This is your choice and we are here for  whatever you decide—maybe you could go find a quiet spot and pray about it?” To which he promptly responded, “I made a commitment to God to not play on Sunday. I’l readdress that commitment next year.” I started crying and said “if pit bulls were going to bite you if you didn’t play…. Would you play?” He laughed!

Becs:

I shared this with my family and my Relief Society sisters:

I struggled reading the Book of Mormon four years ago. I decided to give it another shot 

this year and ask TWO QUESTIONS:  1: Does the Book or Mormon really have power to help me with my daily life? And 2: does it bring my closer to God and Jesus.

Let me tell you!!! I have felt extra help with my life the last 18 days. I’ve parented softer than I normally do, and I’ve been less movable with the upsets of daily life. I’ve forgiven myself and others much faster. I’ve felt it easier to think with a long term lens than a shortened one. I’ve had more energy to do what I needed to. I’ve been able to gain insights for my life through the words of others better. I have just felt happier—even on these cold often grey sick spokane days

I keep thinking about how Lehi tasted the fruit and then immediately wanted to share it with his family. I often don't live my life that way, I share the things I find interesting or amazing to the people I think will be interested. 

So here I am sharing something that feels a little uncomfortable for me to share, The Book of Mormon has been making a difference in my life the last 18 days!!! I know you all have struggles of your own, that I can't help with, but maybe the Book of Mormon can..... it's worth a shot right? 

Lando:

No story this week. But he’s cute sitting over there in his BYU hoodie, planning our Italy trip.

Hello 2024: Week 2 Moments 2024

 Hello 2024! 

I’m going to do this year different and just write a moment in the week about each person. At the end is my Hello 2024 and review of 2023 recap. I just went through my pictures and Landon seemed to take some moments of my mothering, which I LOVED. It inspired me to take one picture a week of our family having a moment. So that will be added to my goals. The first one is below. Luckily Landons knee is in it, so it counts! 

Lando:

Landons brother was being honored in SLC this weekend. We kind of forgot to talk about Landon going, until late Friday night. That’s not actually true, we discussed it last week but tickets were over $700. 

Friday night we had the idea of flying standby with the help of the Nolan’s. Landon wanted to be there for Logan so he booked a ticket at 11:00pm and then woke up at 3:30am to pack and get out the door in time to be extra early for his flight. I don’t know if that helps with standby but you want to do all you can. Anyway, at 5:40 there was only 1 seat left but the plane was boarded, so they called lando up and gave him a ticket. He was able to get on the plane and get his seatbelt on. But at 5:46 they came back onto the plane and told Lando the paid ticket holder showed up so he needed to get off the plane. Such a bummer. So Landon shifted focus and came home and helped the family get into the spirit of chores and played with the boys and went to conference with me…. I think this isn’t constantly Landons battle. He has opportunities in every direction to do good, and he feels pulled. But I love that if he had made that flight he would have been present with Logan and his parents. But instead he was present with me and the boys. Tonight brigs asked him to cuddle him, Luke asked him to read Charolette’s Web, Ty asked him to give him a piggy back and Jax asked him to play blitz with him. All at the very same time. Landon did each of those things.

Becca: 

I dropped jaxson off at dribbling practice at 5:00 and ran to Costco. I got some much needed food and loaded the car up, it’s chilly!! I was back at 6:01 sharp to grab and take Jax to his team practice & 6:30. After dropping Jax off, I headed home. Landon was already gone to work for the night. The boys and I read scriptures. Brushed teeth. Forgot about prayer. Did our handshakes. I kissed Luke and Brigs goodnight. I left Ty in charge while I went and picked Jax up from practice and took him to church ball. Phew!When we were finally home, I said goodnight to Ty and Jax. Brigs came out a few times, itchy bum. I had a text convo with the Picketts about testimony leading to action. I chatted with Katelyn Newey about Alayna not sleeping—we prayed that she’d sleep tonight. Then, I drifted off to sleep while listening to Essentialism. 

This morning I woke up and got the boys to school. Talked to Katelyn, Alayna slept til 5am(miracle!!). I gave in to Landons desire to discuss and plan our anniversary trip IN JUNE. At 9am I started making Maddies Parfaits for Landon, Brigs and me. I opened up the fridge to grab the blueberries I got at Costco last night, only to remember….. 

All the food is still in the car. 

Jax:

I was telling Jaxson all the exciting things happening with his basketball schedule. He stood in the kitchen, listening intently and  blowing air into a Kazoo. He had managed to put just the right amount of pressure into the Kazoo to make the tongue of the Kazoo roll out and back without making the annoying sound that comes with Kazoos.

Anyway as he stood them, I told him the most exciting news! His YMCA championship game will be on a Wednesday, NOT on a Sunday. I thought he would be thrilled, jump up and down, give me a hug, tell in excitement, SOMETHING!! But he just listened and blew air into that little non-noise-making-Kazoo.

So after I got all excited for him about that piece of news and a few other things I said, “Jaxson! I thought you’d be more excited about all of this….” 

To which he responded by simply, blowing into the Kazoo for it to make noise. 

Everyone laughed! 

Ty: 

We got 12 a series of 10 books for Christmas called Spy School. He’s excited about them. But refuses to start them til he is finished with Harry Potter. But he’s in book five of Harry Potter and it’s boring. So he rarely reads it. Tonight I sent Ty to bed at 7:00 for him to read and then go to bed early (we were up late last night because of Rubber Chicken). 

Ty: But I don’t have anything to read! 

Me: Yes you do! You have soy school! 

Ty: But I can’t read that til I finish Harry Potter 

Me: yes you can

Ty: No I cant! I don’t like having two stories in my head

Me: Then finish Harry Potter 

Ty: But it’s sooooo boring 

Me: Then don’t read Harry Potter 

Ty: I can’t read anything else til I finish Harry Potter!!! 

Me: (with an angry voice now) TY GET IN YOUR ROOM AND READ HARRY POTTER NOW! 

He did end up doing that. And he got sticky notes and set the goal to read 50 pages a day. So that he could then finish book 5 in 8 days. 

Oh Ty. 

Ty came home yesterday(it was 23 degrees @ 3:00pm) and announced that some random teacher told him he had to wear pants to school and he was annoyed. “If my mom is fine with me wearing shorts to school, that teacher should be too” he vented to me. 

I had to set a rule right then. “Okay! If it’s under 10 degrees, woolf boys wear pants.” Landon chimed in and said 20. We settled on 15. 

This morning Ty checked the weather, 0 degrees with a wind chill of -15. “But it doesn’t make sense! We will be inside all day. They won’t let us go out for recess. We go from car to warm school, back to car, back to my house. But whatever.”

I acknowledged his frustration and moved on. Thankfully, the rule was set in place, so no argument was needed. He wore pants. 

Luke:

We went to the Rubber Chicken on Wednesday. Rubber Chicken is the coolest High School rivalry I’ve ever been to. Everything is a competition. The costumes in the crowd, the cheers, the sportsmanship, the dance performances, the theme. Ironically, who wins the basketball games, isn’t a value in this scoring system. Anyway, it’s a way to get the student section involved. And my does it work!! It’s madness’s. Never have I ever seen so many people at a high school girls basketball game, let alone a boys high school game. 

We took our three oldest boys. Luke was a HIT! He sat in the middle school section with Jax and Ty and everyone loved him. They wanted handshakes from him, high fives, and they asked him a million questions. Every time I looked over my shoulder to see if he was okay, a new kids was vying for his attention. 

After the game we learned that the kids were asking him questions like “who is going to win rubber chicken” and “how old do you think I’ll be when I die” and “do you think I’ll be rich.” Apparently he became everyone’s living magic 8 ball. 

After Jaxson explained what was happening and how Luke was big hit, Luke laughed and agreed but then said, “yeah but I couldn’t even watch any of the game!” I wish I could explain his tone. It wasn’t whiney and it wasn’t sad. It was just acceptance that he had too many other important things to do than watch the game that he wanted to watch.   

Brigs:

Little Briggy threw up on Saturday night. A lot. I was impressed with how calm and poised he was about it. No tears, no screaming, just acceptance. I feel bad admitting that I loved how much he let me take care of him in that moment. He let me hold him while he threw up, he let me brush his teeth to get the taste away, he let me cuddle him in bed. Brigs is fiercely independent that I often don’t really get to baby him. He threw up  3 more times in the night and he would run into my room and softly whisper, mommy…. Potty…. Tummy. I never feel closer to God or my own mom than when I am caring for my sick children. There is something so tender about a child who obviously doesn’t feel good. Anyway, Brigs seems to be doing much better today! 

Here were our 2023 Goals:

2023 New Year's Resolutions 

Landon: 
Physical: Run 50 miler/In Bed by 9:00pm on work nights ✖️
Spiritual: Read New Testament, Magnify Calling Better ✅
Intellectual: Read 1001 pitfalls of Spanish and learn Italian ✅
Social: No phone from home-7:30 ✖️

Becca: 
Physical: Yoga/Mediation 365 days ✖️

Spiritual: Read New Testament & Temple once a month ✅

Intellectual: Do 60 Spanish lessons before Argentina--Finish Course by 2024 ✖️

Social: Play a game with the boys on Sunday ✅

Jaxson: 
Physical: 25 push ups, 10 pull ups, 13.1 race✖️

Spiritual: Take names to the temple on my own ✅

Intellectual: Read New Testament ✖️

Social: Make a comment in church every Sunday ✅

Ty: 
Physical: Run 8 miles ✅

Spiritual: Write and read a talk in primary on my own ✅

Intellectual: Do my homework ✅

Social: Take responsibility for my actions ✅

Luke: 
Physical: Eat more healthy food ✅

Spiritual: Say night time prayers ✅

Intellectual: Learn to read ✅

Social: No man tantrums ✖️

Brigs: 
Physical: Eat more healthy food ✖️

Spiritual: Reverent in church ✖️

Intellectual: 30 words ✅

Social: Stop screaming, biting and scratching people ✖️

These are our 2024 Goals:

2023 New Year's Resolutions 

Landon: 

Physical: Complete a Misogi; Earn a medal; Learn to manage stress

Spiritual: Have my boys see me read the BOM; Make Sabbath Day a delight 

Intellectual: Review Oral Board Stems (Study for work)

Social: No Phone Zones at home 

Becca: 
Physical: Create a vitamin routine. Limit Gluten. 

Spiritual: Read the Book of Mormon and see if it brings me nearer to God

Intellectual: Read 20 books 

Social: Say yes to my priorities (and say no to some things) and take a family picture every week

Jaxson: 
Physical: Run 2 Half marathons. 5:15 mile 

Spiritual: Read the Book of Mormon 

Intellectual: Read 30 books 

Social: Become a better host 

Ty: 
Physical: Run a half marathon. 6:20 mile 

Spiritual: Read the Book of Mormon 

Intellectual: Read 15 books 

Social: Be able to strike up a conversation with an adult

Luke: 
Physical: Play basketball 

Spiritual: Say prayers habit 

Intellectual: Finish 100 easy lessons 

Social: Gratitude at meals 

Brigs: 
Physical: Eat dinner 

Spiritual: Enjoy being a sunbeam 

Intellectual: Say /c/ and /g/

Social: Stop screaming 

Family Goals:

2024 Miles run 

Read the Book of Mormon is 2024

Read 2024 books (books to Brigs counts) 

Host 224 people in our home. 

Landons a big goal setter. I think I am too, but he loves the drive he gets from it. He doesn’t even care as much if he achieves the goal as long as he was trying. So I think it’s a good approach. Continue to find ways to strive and reach, and when you fall short, do it again.