Catching Up

I am so far behind on blogging.

This post will have a lot of pictures, and too many words, but I need to get caught up.

Last month, Matt and I went to Utah to see our Kate perform in her high school play, Les Miserables. She was the best Eponine ever. 

  

   We were able to take Grandma Harris out for dinner, and it was fun to see her, chatting with the girls and surrounded by our family, who hasn't seen her since we moved.  Matt really enjoyed getting to treat her and his dad out to dinner. 

We ate way too much and stayed out way too late but we sure had a great time. Sunnie and CJ were there and it was nice to sit with the kids and make my baby sister laugh.

I was able to get some family history done and talk with the experts at the Family History Library to help clear up some things that I have been trying to solve for years. It was exciting to present the evidence I had gathered regarding a family connection and have the workers join in my excitement as they said "You found her family- you found enough proof that THIS is her family, not the people that everyone has listed. Make the formal change in the records, you did it!"

S. S., I know where you belong, where you came from and you were so very loved. 

You were not the unwanted illegitimate child of a family that tried to forget you, it's just that your Papa and Mama had names that were too similar to another family in your tiny little town in Texas.

Family History is kind of super awesome. 

It's an interesting thing for me especially, because I have so many lines with broken branches and changes made because people got mad. 

I have people in my family that I cannot stand as well, but they existed and they had good things and bad things. Our relationship may have ended, but our being related never does. I am sure there are plenty who wish otherwise, but you do not have to have a relationship with your crazy kin. In cases where I am the crazy one, I am sincerely glad I'm not causing hurt to those people anymore.

 It doesn't change that our names belong together on lists and histories. 

I have ancestors and family who have tried with all of their might to hack people out and to pass on stories that absolutely could not be true when you look at the paper trails that people leave behind.

Every branch I look at, brings a similar issue, as I say to myself:  "that doesn't make sense, it isn't actually possible" and I get pulled into finding out what the facts were and documenting that, minus the anger and emotions of relationships that were just too hard for the living. 

I get it, but it makes for a puzzle, every step of the way. 

Maybe solving the puzzle doesn't even matter, but as someone who grew up in home where that same spirit carried on, I'd like to know it wasn't all bad. I like to see that people made big mistakes, but they also did good things too. There is life and happiness beyond the relationships that don't work, and it is okay to move on and go in your own direction. 

There is something inside of me that needs to show that people simply moved in a different direction, and that direction was not downward to Hell.

Anyway--So yeah, family history was a big part of my trip, our hotel was right next door to the Family History Library, which was very nice.

We enjoyed spending time with our Taylorsville friends.  There was good food, Utah food and a lot of laughter and hugs. Karin Holmgren came out to see me. I was so happy to see her, I love her so.

Matt caught up with his friends from Amex and we spent a good amount of time with family.

I have said it before, I love being an Auntie. 

Few sounds in life delight me more than the sound of my nieces and nephews, laughing.

There never is enough time, and I was running on NYC time, so I got wiped out pretty early in the evening every day and had to tap out too soon.  I can't go that long without seeing my little sister again, so we're going to try and get her out here in the spring.

 It's just too cold to enjoy NYC in the winter. It looks lovely in postcards, but it's too cold.

Since coming home, we enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving at home. We decorated for the holidays and have been listening to a lot of Christmas music and eating a lot of Holiday treats. 

We had friends from the ward stop by last night to visit and celebrate Zane's birthday (today!!) and the kids had fun decorating sugar cookies and making cards for the missionaries. The adults talked and visited and raided my Diet Coke stash and a good time was had by all. I am so thankful for the friendships I have in this ward.

Even with 25 kids running around, it felt like a close family get together, because these people here are the family of our hearts. As much as I miss and long for my wonderful friends in Utah, my life would be lacking if we had not moved here and added to our family with our friends in the Short Hills Ward. 

So that's the theme of this too long blog post: family.

We traveled to spend time with our family, both the living and the dead. 

That sounds so creepy, but I'm trying to tie it all in, Yo.

We came home and were surrounded by our new family as well and it's all so, so good. 

Emma, Kate and Jane will be here in 2 weeks, and the Olson family will hunker down and absorb each other. The blog will probably suffer more, but my heart will be happy and bursting with the joy of my own family- one more time.

Spring Break 2014

This weekend, we went to Washington DC.

Matt works so much now, such long hours, that getting away is really hard and besides, we love 15 miles from one of my favorite places to vacation. Every time we go to Manhattan, I get excited, still. It was always my dream to spend time in NYC and let that city be a part of my soul.

I love this place, even though the winters here are absolute crap. 

DC is also one of my favorite places, and it's only about 3 1/2 hours from here.

We only had Friday and Saturday to play tourist, so we made it count.

I got close to 25,000 steps on Friday, according to my Fitbit and about 17,000 on Saturday.

My legs are Jell-o.

My heart is happy though. I love, love love spending time wandering though historical places and seeing the artifacts as well as the people who come to enjoy them as well.

I love that my children see travel as a normal part of life, and that they have good memories of places all over the map. 

The Lincoln Memorial, Parker's favorite. 

He doesn't have the travel bug that I do, but he will sometimes walk on by himself and absorb a sculpture or a memorial and I watch him take the meaning and the art into his heart and it becomes a part for him. This boy is an artist, he just needs to find his medium for this season.

How is this child growing up so fast?

Oh, my heart!!

And this kid.....I don't know what I'm going to do when he is on his mission. He is my rock who always stands up for what he believes is right and who seeks out the good. 

.....and the funny.

We visited Uncle Niel and Bobby Shelton. 

My children have read and heard so many stories about him, they see him as family, a real person that they lost. They love Grandma Olson so much and ache for her heart, having lost her big brother.  We understand big brothers in this family and cannot imagine life without them.

I am growing my hair out again and have entered the  'I give up' phase.

The fountain at the Korean Memorial.

She actually said "Philippines in Da HOUSE!" when she saw this. 

Weird child.

Greyson....the world is sometimes just too loud for him, but if we take on the big things one step at a time, he does amazing things and always wants to help the world to be softer, more orderly and feel right. I love that he helps us from letting things get too out of control when some of our ideas go off the rails. He reminds me that great distances are still traveled by individual steps. He helps me slow down and when we slow down, the details of life are so beautiful.

I'm thankful that I get to be with these amazing kids and the memories that we make.

I am thankful that I have a husband who loves and values travel as much as I do and who cries every time he reads the words inscribed on the all at the Lincoln Memorial. he has such a good heart.

We went out, just the two of us for a couple of hours while the kids napped and had a massive pillow fight in the hotel. 

As we walked through the Mall, with the Washington Monument on one side, the Capitol building on the other and hundreds of families picnicking and enjoying the sunshine--I had one of those moments again where I knew my life was perfect. I really am so very blessed.

I can't always feel that, but I always know.

Sometimes, when I let my guard down and I can feel the sun shining on my face...it's like a wish or magic and all of the beauty and love I am surrounded with washes over me. Those are the moments that keep me going when I lose my way.