We mowed the lawn. And it was fun!

I woke up this morning thinking about captured moments and "deliberate motherhood."   I had a moment like that yesterday but didn't realize that's what it was until today.

Yesterday the kids and I were draggggg-ing after school.  I looked out the kitchen window and decided I'd had enough of the jungle of grass in the backyard and asked the kids to come help me mow the lawn quickly.  "I'll do most of it!" I promised.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day--the wind had stopped, the temperature was perfect, and it just felt so nice outside!  Wade did the first couple passes because us girls are freaked out by sprinkler heads, ha-ha, but we all helped and had a good time doing it.  The grass was so high that we had to empty the bag on the mower 3 different times. (That's a lot.)

The funny thing were the tufts of grass all over after we were done that can really only be reached by the weed-eater...which all three of us were wary of using, ha-ha!

It was a great moment.  The weather won us over and we all hung out watching each other mow the lawn.  And NOT ONCE did those tired teens complain about taking a break to mow the lawn!  They were having as much fun as I was. Win-win!

night sky with the boy.

Jason and Rhiannon were off tonight--he to a fun retirement party for a friend, and she to a long drum line practice.  So Wade and I pigged out on junk food and watched a few Office shows (yes, re-runs of re-runs), and then he started playing a video game and I read a couple posts from a new blog I like called Hands Free Mama.

After reading her most recent post, about her family's final goodbye to her husband's grandfather, something snapped inside me.  The author also posted a line from a new Ed Sheeran song--"a life with love is a life that's been lived."   I almost threw my phone across the room and ran outside.  The sun had just set.  I moved some chairs around and invited Wade to come join me.

And for a few minutes, it was just me and the boy, and the lovely night sky changing to darker shades of blue and then black, talking about Drake the rap star and clean song versions and a favorite date that Jason and I did doing a similar activity (watching the night sky) and how our stake president had taken a photo of the Milky Way the other evening, visible in our desert sky.  Oh, and how the first album I ever bought was Whitney Houston's debut album, on cassette tape, and I listened to it over and over and over again and memorized the whole thing.  In my dorky-mom way, I tried to let that boy of ours know that I understood how important music was to him, too.

It was just a moment.  But it made my heart sing with love for Wade and the gratitude I feel being his mom.

Wade becomes a teenager!

Wade turned 13 on October 21 and got to celebrate his birthday for a couple of days.  

He got a donut for breakfast in the morning...

An excused-absence lunch break with his mom... (we got McDonald's and ate at a park on base near the school.  Fun!  I need to do that more often with him!)

A Baskin Robbins ice cream cake and Papa John's pizza for dinner  (we amped up the fun and brought the party to Howard and Sandi's house.  We loved doing that with them, and they really appreciated it!)

We waited to do present opening that night when Dad got home from a business trip to Italy (we were so glad to get Jason home!!!)

And then Wade got even MORE spoiled when he had some friends over the next afternoon, and his dad drove him and friends down to Ontario for a hockey game.  It was the first time for his friends to see a hockey game, so he and Dad enjoyed doing that with them.  (THANK YOU to Dad for doing this for Wade, especially after just getting home from an international flight and a "few" time zones the night before!)

With JoJo, Lars, Nick, and Tucker

WE LOVE YOU, WADE!!!!  Happy 13th Birthday!!!

2 big milestones

Two VERY big milestones happened in our family this summer.

Wade grew taller than his sister.

And Rhiannon got her learner's permit!  She needs 56 hours of driving before she can take her driver's test and get her official license, but she's doing it!  She's got about 3 hours of local driving done and looks forward to it every time.  Exciting times for this girl, even if her brother is taller than her, haha!

Happy Heart

Rhiannon leaves for seminary at 5:20 am. That's the only time I have her to myself until 3 pm, so we've been trying to say a little family prayer together before she goes. Last night I didn't set my alarm and slept in, missing Rhiannon by 4 minutes. She sent me this sweet little text, "I love you, Mom!"  As soon as I read that, my heart swelled so big that it hurt a little, and I got another tiny glimmer of how much God LOVES this girl! So grateful to be her mom!

Other happy news so far this week:

--A big weight was lifted off of Jason's shoulders at work with some successful testing on base

--Wade was voted to be one of 4 ASB (student body) representatives in his advisory class.  Every class chooses 4, so we're talking a lot of reps, but it was neat to know he'd been willing to try out for it and that some of his elementary school friends were telling people to vote for him. :)

--Rhiannon got a text from one of her friends who attended our missionary open house last weekend.  He wanted to know how to contact the missionaries! :)

--Wade tried out for percussion in his beginning band and got one of 4 slots.  A good week for this kid!

--Me?  I'm getting a much-needed haircut today.  Life is good! :)

"There is great purpose in our struggle in life."

Rhiannon was a bit grumpy this morning.

She has good reason to be.  

She gets fitted for orthotics at the ripe ol' age of 14 this afternoon.

She gets braces and a palate expander next week, just before her EFY Express outing in Lancaster, where there are bound to be lots of cute boys.

Her honors bio class is HARD, really, truly HARD.

There are ZERO vacation days in March.  It's a long, slow month.

One of her really sweet friends got in a crazy accident during PE on Friday during a capture-the-flag game and needed stitches.  The other girl involved in the accident is going to need some serious dental work done.

And on and on.

I was feeling a little helpless this morning, I'll admit.  I understood how she was feeling and knew it was normal, but I wanted to help move her gray cloud a little bit.  While she was at seminary, I printed out a bunch of great "happiness" quotes and scriptures and made a chain out of them, one for each day of the month.  

One of my favorites is this one from Elder Packer:

"Teach our members that if they have a good, miserable day once in a while, or several in a row, to stand steady and face them. Things will straighten out.  There is great purpose in our struggle in life."

We love Rhiannon so much!  She is a gem, a shining light, and she will be okay!  

Just like that

We are starting to experience the full-blown teenage years, where our kids start to spend LOTS more time with friends.

It happened out of nowhere, just like that.

Last night I dropped Rhiannon off, by herself, in this sea of teenagers, so she could watch her high school's homecoming football game with friends.  She had a TOTAL blast and kept texting me highlights from the game.  The funniest one said something like, "I think I'm getting into football!"  Almost every weekend she's been gone to a birthday party or a movie night or "kick-the-can" fun at the park.

Then today Wade went to an out-of-town birthday party with a couple friends to an indoor trampoline park called Skyzone in Riverside.  Gone from 9AM to later tonight, and he is having the TIME OF HIS LIFE.  I'll need to thank his friend's family profusely later for spoiling our son with this fun day!  (and not think about my own debilitating fear of trampolines, haha!)

So almost overnight, our weekends have changed a little bit, driving kids here,there, and everywhere.  Thankfully Jason and I have a few friends of our own--we're going to a game night with friends tonight.

And thankfully, we still have plenty of times when we are all home together, basking in a quiet evening of absolutely no commitments, appointments, games, or activities, haha! :)

Life is good!