Children's Day at Art Park

Austin seriously has a ton of fun, free events. We haven't actually made it to many of them, but we did go twice this summer to Children's Day at Art Park. I'm a big fan of activities where there is free and convenient parking. This is one of those. You just park at the capitol visitor's center lot and walk two blocks. For this activity, it was fifty cents per kid. Everyone got a balloon, and we sat in a nice shady amphitheater and listened to a concert. First a small group from the Austin Symphony performed. Then there was a children's musician, someone different every week. The stage was in the full sun, so we also had the added pleasure of watching them sweat themselves to death while we kicked back in the shade. 

When the concert was over, we crossed the street and listened to some more music while we did a craft, bought lemonade, and got Annie's face painted.

We also went inside a little house and listened to Bernadette the British storyteller. She was really good! I wish we would have spent more time doing that, but Annie really wanted to wait in the long face-painting line...which was also very cool. And it's Children's Day at Art Park, right? Not Mom's Day at Art Park.

The first time we went, we also visited this book store in Austin that I'd heard a lot about called Book People. We ate our lunch outside of it at a nice, shaded picnic table. Texans are serious about and committed to shade. In some ways, this makes the heat more bearable here than it was in Utah where there aren't many canopy trees. 

The store was very cool. I think I'd like to live there. Since we were in Austin, there was an unusually large gay/lesbian section and feminist section which included this gem:

 It was also enlightening to glance at all of the liberal, sketchy, and strange advertisements on a board outside of the bathrooms. We spent the bulk of our time in the children's section which was magical with awesome displays, all of our favorite books, and cool toys and trinkets. I'll have to go back and actually spend some money some time. 

Father's Day

When Aaron and I were dating we went to Aberdeen, and one Sunday after church we went to tour Liz and Darren's new house which was then under construction. There was a huge dirt pile. Aaron and I were in our Sunday clothes, but somehow we ended up over by the pile, and at one point Aaron picked up little Seth to help him or save his life or just because he was cute or something. His tie got really dirty, but he didn't seem to mind. I remember thinking that if Aaron didn't mind a kid getting his tie dirty, he would probably make a good dad someday.

And I was right!

We did a grumpy Father's Day picture first in order to get all of our grumpy faces out of the way.

I'm 89% sure this is the tie Aaron was wearing that day in Aberdeen.

I'm sure one thing our kids will remember about having Aaron as a dad is his engineer-ing-ness. Aaron loves to solve problems and build things and experiment. And he loves it when those around him want to join him in these endeavors. One such endeavor was the K'Nex bridge.

This Texas house has a high ceiling, and basically the day we moved in, Aaron started dreaming of building a bridge that went from the low side of the ceiling up to the loft. So, one Saturday in February, he started this project thinking it would be a fun way to fill an afternoon. And that he could complete it in one afternoon.

Not so. Not so. My theory is that since Aaron no longer had a PhD program overshadowing the future of his life, he decided to make the K'Nex bridge as a replacement.

Here's the first time we got it up. This happened only after it snapped in half mid-installation many, many times. This was in March. It stayed up for about half an hour before crashing.

Aaron thought this first attempt was too rigid. So our second (that stayed up long enough to take pictures) attempt was much more flexible.

This one didn't come crashing down until Aaron and I were falling asleep in bed, about 11 pm. So it stayed up for maybe two hours.

I have to include this picture from the second attempt because I want you to imagine me helping Aaron to hold this bridge up while he ran around getting things connected. Now imagine my arms going numb while holding them way above my head. Using brooms helped, but let me tell it wasn't easy to stand on an unstable couch cushion or the thin back ledge of the couch frame while stretching your arms out as far as they'll go and/or holding everything up with a broom. I was totally fine with our decor being dominated by Aaron's experiment. But being recruited for this holding chore was what turned me against the bridge project.

Yet, I dutifully carried on due to Aaron's dreams for success. Here is our third (or 9423rd) attempt. As of the writing of this post, it is still standing:

Even Aaron's dreams had to be adjusted a little bit, though. The bridge no longer goes all the way to the highest point of the ceiling. There is a suspension cable. And, one time, the whole structure started falling forward, so there is a strategically placed nail or two anchoring it to the wall.

Of course Aaron has even more ideas for how to make the bridge better and cooler. But for now he is satisfied enough. The kids don't have any k'nex to play with, but everybody oohs and aahs when they see it for the first time. Makes for a great focal point. We love our dad/hubby and are glad we could contribute to his happiness this year by helping his bridge dreams come true.

Visitors

In the last couple of months we've had our first visitors! It's so nice to be able to have space to put people. We still don't have a bed for them to sleep in though...baby steps. 

Our first, official, overnight visitors were the Brimleys. They hung out with us on Friday and then Amanda and Brad went on a fancy date in Austin on Saturday while we watched all the kids. It's wonderful to be almost, kind-of neighbors with my BFF. 

Our next visitors were the San Antonio cousins. It was such a privilege to be asked to babysit their crew. They babysat for us when we first moved to Texas. We were glad to return the favor. Reciprocation is an important part of friendship!

Our kids LOVE these cousins. The older girls are so nice to Annie. They really make an effort to include her. The creek was the most popular activity. It had just rained, so there were lots of minnows to be caught.

We're so glad leaving Texas didn't mean we would be totally bereft of all friends and family. Texas is the new Utah, ya'll! Actually, it's not. Utah is and always will be the Mother Ship. But having (almost) three siblings and one bestie in the same state state is like being in a pod from the Mother Ship. 

Mother's Day

Laying in bed one morning, not quite awake, I realized that it's sort of a tradition for me to take a Mother's Day pic with my kids. So I carried on with the tradition.

5 out of 7 years of motherhood documented isn't bad. Scotty's primary Mother's Day gift had my favorite answer. "My mom is smart because she...cooks dinner." Planning and budgeting meals and then actually cooking them is one of the chores of stay-at-home wife/motherhood that I have struggled with the most. Glad Scotty recognizes how smart I am for doing it at all:) 

And, you know, secondary infertility and pregnancy loss have taught me about motherhood. Mostly I have learned that motherhood is a such a blessing, but it is not a reward for good behavior. I truly believe Mother is an eternal role for every woman whether or not she has kids, no matter her number of kids here on earth. 

As my favorite Mormon feminist put it: 

"The daughters of God are apprentices to Heavenly Mother, and the final destiny of a daughter of God--the pinnacle of all she can hope to attain--is the Motherhood.  Biological motherhood here on earth is not the template for Motherhood; rather, Motherhood is the template for biological motherhood here on earth. This apprenticeship is Motherhood-training, qualifying one more fully to become a Heavenly Mother than biological motherhood alone, expanding and deepening our concept of what it means to be a mother in mortality.  Indeed, one can aspire to Motherhood and progress in one’s apprenticeship without ever having given birth to a child in this mortal life and, in turn, biological motherhood can be profoundly magnified when a woman has apprenticed herself to the Mother in the magnificent work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of mankind in the Great Plan of Happiness."

I hope with each passing Mothers' Day, that I can use whatever life throws at me, whatever children do or don't come to our family, whatever opportunities or trials I seize or stumble upon to become more like my Heavenly Mother. And I'm so grateful for an earthly mother and aunts and sisters and cousins who have done so much to show me the way!

And my goodness I'm grateful for these two kiddos!

Grandma McCombs's Funeral

I started this post a long time ago, and now I'm finally getting back to it.

My sweet Grandma, Gwen Jenks McCombs, passed away at the end of March. She was 94. She'd been without her husband for 37 years. She'd been dealing with the effects of a stroke and other health problems for 20 years. In spite of all of that, she was always cheerful and kind and interested in her family. And I'm so happy for her that she got to pass on and see what's happening on the other side. I bet she's having a great time over there!

It was such a blessing to go to her funeral. I had anticipated being homesick when we moved to Texas, but it was worse than I thought it would be. So it was a therapeutic to be able to go back shortly after moving here. And it was really a family reunion. I saw lots of cousins that I haven't seen in years.

I flew into SLC about an hour before my sister Abbie. Felicia picked us up, and we headed to Idaho together. There's not much in life better than being in the car with your sisters for three hours.

We went first to my aunt and uncle's house where there was so much food. Fried chicken for days. We happily ate it and chatted it up. My aunt and uncle are such friendly, relaxed hosts.

Then we headed to the funeral home for the viewing. It was a lovely time to chat. And there was a video playing with all of these pictures of my adorable Grandma that I had never seen before. Being at this family function alone (sans kiddos) was sort of shocking--so strange not being in charge of anybody else. I had long chats with three or four cousins and my Aunt Jan.

My mom's siblings sent some beautiful flowers. I think they are the tallest purple ones. 

We went to my parents' house after this. It was snowing and slushy and freezing outside! That was one thing I did not miss about Utah/Idaho.

The next day we were at the church by 9 am practicing our girl cousin chorus piece: "I Wonder When He Comes Again." Can I just say we sounded amazing together! My mom chose the piece and accompanied us. It was so fun to sing together. It really felt like a tribute to my Grandma. I hope she enjoyed it.

The funeral service was so nice, a celebration of a truly good woman. I enjoyed hearing about how my Grandma made Aunt Jeanne wash clothes by hand even though they had a washing machine because how else was Jeanne supposed to learn how to work? Also, Grandma would talk to her best friend and sister Annie on the phone every single day. She would let grandkids have sleepovers with her, in her own bed, even the notorious bed-wetters. Some grandkids admitted to hiding snakes or mice in her room.

After the service, we had a meal and then we had to wait for the burial because another funeral was happening close to my grandma's plot. So lots of people shared memories while we waited. Those were fun to hear. Kidless as I was, I took it upon myself to take some pictures.

Here are some more from the cemetery. My sweet, petite, amazing grandma got a pink casket. I loved it. Weren't the flowers beautiful? 

I'm so grateful for my grandma! She has always been loving and kind to me. I was glad for the chance to learn more about her. Isn't she cute? And I've always thought my Grandpa McCombs was quite good-looking. 

At my parents' house, this was in the guest room. Since I'm from Texas now, it made me feel right at home:)

It was fun to say an extra day and be able to hang out with the Hall clan. Too bad Annie wasn't there to play with this girl.

 We got to watch conference together and eat really yummy food. I love being with my family. I snuggled on the couch with my mummy. Spencer and I got to spend time building our relationship (along with the blocks). And hooray, again, for sisters. Too bad Liz wasn't in this one.

Felicia took me back to SLC airport, and we got the traditional McCombs send off. 

On the way we realized we were going to be early. Instead of waiting at the airport, Felicia was kind enough to stop with me at Julie's house. I'm glad I stopped to say hi. I'm so lucky to have and to have married into a wonderful family. 

And I hope I'm making a wonderful family, too:) It was nice to come home to my little Texas family. And I really did feel happier and more settled here for having gone back for such a valuable visit.