Week 44: Things I Want to Remember

 We were at Luke's game. And Luke's team won by A LOT. I mean, its 3 year olds so who cares. But it was obvious. Between one girl and Luke, they scored every minute or so. At the end of the game, Jax declared to Luke, "LUKE! You're team won 24-4. Astrid scored 14 goals, you scored 7, Sam scored 2 and Henry scored 1." 

I want to remember Jaxson's mind. 

 I had Ty and Luke unload the groceries from Costco. I was in the restroom. After about 4 minutes I hear, "OH NO!" then Ty kncoking on the door saying, "I'm really sorry mom. The peanut butter broke." Sure enough Ty couldn't just unload the groceries, he had to build something while doing it. 

I want to remember that Ty is always thinking about what he can create.

 

I want to remember the first time we sat and ate pizza and hot dogs AT Costco. The first real sign that maybe just maybe things are going back to normal. 

We were at Jaxson's physical therapy appointment. All 5 of us, in a little corner. They had some shoulder and knee replicas. Inside the shoulder was a humorous piece. Luke pulled it out and thought it looked like a Microphone. So with that he serenaded the entire PT room with ABCs, Twinkle little star, Ba-Ba Black sheep, the Dino song and many more. 

I want to remember Luke and his singing with every step. 

Landon was in a case one night. A kid swallowed a battery and they had to rush to get it out of their little body. Thankfully, after they pulled it out, they realized it was two coins stuck together. The little one was okay and Landon was able to safely pass them off to their parents. 

I want to remember the sacrifice Landon makes while all of us are sleeping. 

At the beginning of the Summer Jaxson set a goal to real 90 minutes a day. after 17 days, one day got away from him and it was 8:00pm. He kept saying, "Mom! I have to read 90 minutes." I took it personally, "Well you should have thought before you did XYW." But then I realized, as he sat on the couch that what he was trying to say was, "I'm so tired but I have to read these 90 minutes." And he did. He went to bed exhausted at 9:47pm. 

I want to remember Jaxson's natural drive. And I want to remember to go easy on him, because he doesn't do that to himself. 

One morning I woke up, Brigham had a rough night so the boys were already out of bed playing. As I walked out of the hall I heard Ty and Luke talking.
"Lukie, whats your favorite dinosaur."
"A T-Rex"
"Wow! Okay your turn Lukie"
"Ty whats your favorite movie?" 
And on and on they went, I just sat there in the hall listening as Ty brothered his brother. 

I want to remember the natural way Ty includes his brothers. 

I want to remember how often Luke wants to give hugs. He'd literally hug you for an hour if you stayed there long enough

The night before Washington DC, Landon was at the hospital all night, I was overwhelmed, the house was a mess and we hadn't started packing. I laid on the couch, it was 6:27pm. The boys were watching TV downstairs and I was prepping for a long sleepless night of work. But then I heard little footsteps and saw ty peer through the banister, "Mom? Aren't we suppose to be getting ready. I can help." And he did. Then they all jumped in. I turned the lights off and set the alarm and went to bed at 10:30pm

I wand to remember how helpful Ty is and praise him for that. 

Every morning I am greeted with a personal sports new caster. The very first thing Jaxson does in the morning is wake up, go to my computer and read ESPN. He then spends the next 15 minutes(or more if I have the willpower to stay engaged) telling me all the updates. 

I want to remember Jaxson's love for all sports 

Also that one dinner that we were all a little on edge. And Luke wanted to eat outside by himself. And then he proceeded to smash his face into the window and smile and laugh at us. All through dinner. 

I want to remember how Luke always makes everyone smile 

Landon came home one night and showed me a picture of a little tiny 33 week premie who he did anesthesia on. The baby wasn't doing great and he was obviously effected. 

I want to remember, always, how important and pressured filled work Landon is doing. It must be so exhausting. He is a real hero. 

And I hope I ALWAYS remember the sweet SOUL that Brigham is. Cause there is nothing sweeter than Briggy. He is all of our favorite. 

Week 43: Washington D.C. & more

So we closed on a house on Monday. A HOUSE! ON MONDAY!!!! What? I can’t believe we own a home!!!! I can’t believe we own a home *anxious breathing*. We love it so much and really feel it is where we are suppose to be. 

The home listed on April 29th. And they said “you have 3 days to get your offer in, give us your best and final.” So we did. And then we gave them one more best and final. And 77 hours after I saw it listed on Zillow, we beat out 17 other offers and it was ours. 

When I saw it listed on Zillow, I knew immediately it was our house. We even went back and watched the Vivint recording a few times and watched each of our reactions. It didn’t take long for Landon to love it even more than me, but the very first moment he felt this sadness of not being able to get that house on 5 acres of land like we always hoped for. But let’s be honest, we can’t afford that right now. Maybe later. Or maybe never. 

When we went out to Spokane last month, our offer had already been accepted and the home was set for appraisal and inspection. We were so grateful we could walk through it once before we officially bought it. We also were able to go to the local elementary school and FALL IN LOVE. Oh and meet our neighbors. Two boys, Jax and Tys age. 

I just can’t believe all the good things that we were able to get with this home. And it felt sooooo exciting to close on it on Monday. 

Other than buying a home, this week marked the LAST TIME LANDON WILL EVER HAVE TO DO A WEEK OF NIGHTS. Or a month of nights. Or a week on then off then on again. Just never again. He will have call, but not like this. 

So with our new debt and our lack of sleep, we decided to celebrate by driving 10 hours to Washington DC to spend two days, then drive 10 hours home. 

IT WAS THE BEST! 

Thursday:

We picked up Landon on Thursday morning at 7:25 all rest to go. Our 8 and half hour drive turned into 11.5 due to potty breaks and construction/car accident stand still and a few nursing stops. But we all talked about WWII, how eating only strawberries wouldn’t be good for you and why, the Tulsa Masacre, what the purpose of nipples are, what a monument is, what the Navy is and does, Loving Day, Prophets vs Presidents, to name a few. Then while the boys listened to Harry Potter, Smash Boom Best, and played soccer on the iPad, Landon and I talked about thoughts and feelings towards the LGBTQAI+ communities, BICOP communities, and the church culture and doctrine. We talked about how men can struggle post birth but it’s not really talked about. We talked about why some women in the Mormon church struggle with the little representation they have. We talked about food, eating healthy, health, sex, finances, our home. We went down memory lane of the last 12 years. We celebrated never having to deal with nights again. We talked about drinking Coke. 

I mean, people wonder why we drive so much with our kiddos sometimes. And this is why. We could do it for days and days. Which is a good thing, cause we have. 

Friday:

This was a very very last minute trip. So when we showed up we realized all the free museums are still free, but COVID required reservations. (Well we didn’t realize that once here, we knew that going in). But it was pouring all day, so The Mall didn’t seem like a good activity. Though Landon did get to run in the morning and I know he loved that so much. In the end we were happy for the rain. It’s the only reason we got into the Zoo. Which was amazing. If you had to be an animal in a zoo, be an animal at The Smithsonian National Zoo. The habitats were incredible. Landon loved the elephants and described it as a spiritual experience. We also all saw pandas for the first time. Then we went to The Spy Museum, they have everyone get stylists and badges and give them an identity and mission. It was cool. It was also hard to take all of it in with a baby, and toddler, and Ty who can’t read most of the stuff. But we still had a great time. Quick PB& Honey in the car and we hopped over to The National Building Museum. Which blew me away. I walked in and was instantly moved. Landon and the older boys started off on a scavenger hunt and I fed Brigs while I also played pretend dinosaurs with Luke. He raced them, played hide and seek with them, and we helped the T-Rex find food so he didn’t eat the people. We met up, and I went into an exhibit called House and Home. I unexpectedly started crying. I was overwhelming moved by the way they depicted home, house, ownership, community. We all live somewhere. It was a spiritual experience for me. Then we walked around The National Cathedral. Sixth largest gothic cathedral in the world! It was stunning. 

The night ended with the boys watching a movie in the hotel while Landon and I walked a half mile with Brigs to pick up Indian food and dessert(both incredible BTW). Brigs fell asleep. We talked and gushed over our life, our kids, and the literal

walk we were on. 

Favorites:

Luke: The Hotel, The Zoo, 

Ty: Getting Bamboo, The Cathedral, The building zone at The National Building Museum

Jax: The Spy Museum, Driving past all the Embassy’s, The Cheesecake cup

Becca: The House & Home exhibit, Walking around in the rain at the Zoo together, The Indian Food 

Landon: His run—he had the whole Lincoln Memorial to himself and read the Gettysburg address in the midst and it moved him, our walk to pick up food, Doing the scavenger hunt with the boys. 

Saturday:

What a day. I don’t even know how to write all that we did today. If my feet could just map out the footprint they would tell you that we walked for over 8 hours and saw up close:

-The Lincoln Memorial 

-The Vietnam War Memorial 

-The Washington Monument  

-The World War II Memorial 

-The US Capital 

-The White House 

-The Korean War Memorial 

-The Martin Luther King Memorial 

From further away we saw all the Smithsonian Museums, The Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and so so so so so so so so so so so so so many more important buildings. It’s insane all that is in this 3 mile radius. We walked from our hotel and circled the entire National Mall. 

The moments I loved, eating lunch by the Washington Monument. Walking in front of the Smithsonian’s while pushing all four. Experiencing all the different people at the same place. It was really a beautiful environment. I also felt a and growth in my loyalty towards this country. Also I just couldn’t fathom how Jan 6. happened. I can’t believe that happened. 

The night ended with Landon and I grabbing  pizza for the boys, watching Peter Rabbit while I passed out, and now I’m finally watching my first Jazz game of the season with Jax. It started early, 8:30. Annnnnd the Jax is losing and Jax is emotional about it. Sooooooo there ya go. Hopefully the Jazz can pull through haha. 

Sunday:

We woke up and tried to make it to the Changing of the Guards at the Arlington Cemetery, but missed it by three minutes. Then we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The boys loved it. People are incredible. Ty and Jax were inspired to build airplanes and rockets. I assured them they absolutely have the mind and ability to do that, just comes down to desire. Landon and I caved and let them pick out something at the gift store. They both picked out the huge rocket Lego. I think that’s the first time we’ve ever let our boys buy anything at a gift shop. And I’m fairly certain we won’t be getting them Christmas presents now haha! 

Our drive home has not been the smoothest. Throw ups didn’t make it out of the van, poops and pees caused multiple stops, part of our van siding just flung off the side of the van. The car is a mess, and smells like throw up and the boys are beat. But I’ll never really remember this car ride. And I’ll always remember Washington DC. It’s probably my new favorite city in the US.

I can’t believe we are at this point. Twelve years into our marriage. 13 years post mission for Landon. 16 years post high school. This week for the first time over all of these years, I see can see more than the light at the end of the tunnel. I can legitimately see what is awaiting for us once we step out. 

And I’m so excited.