Aaron and Bree Get Married

Two weekends ago we made a quick trip to Utah for the wedding of Adam's youngest sibling, Aaron, to a beautiful girl named Bree.  Bree and Aaron are a perfect fit!  On their wedding invitation was this quote by Robert Fulghum: "When we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love—true love.”  And there you have them, Aaron and Bree.  Fantastic!  Even though it was a fast trip, we were so happy to be able to celebrate the beginning of their lives together with all of our beloved Conlins.

Aaron met Bree soon after returning from his mission in Georgia.  Bree was still in high school but had gone to visit older friends who were attending school at Weber State, just like Aaron.  Aaron and Bree happened to meet when they were accidentally both promised the same couch to sleep on one night during her visit.  And thus Aaron and Bree began.  Although he knew Bree was the one for him right away, Aaron waited a couple of years before his proposal so he could be closer to graduation.  Having waited so long, it was a quick two months after he asked her to be his wife that the two were married!

We left Colorado Springs on Friday the 18th of May, swinging by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to pick up Ben, who was there on an end-of-year field trip.  We arrived in Tooele, Utah, Bree's hometown, very late in the evening.  Everything for the wedding and reception had been set up earlier that afternoon at the LDS church building where Bree's grandmother attends church, so on the 19th we just hung out with the family, waiting for wedding time, while the wedding party got themselves all spruced up.  The kids swam in the pool and we had lunch at Cafe Rio, our very favorite Utah food stop.

The wedding was lovely.  Bree looked beautiful and both Aaron and Bree were absolutely blissful!  They make each other so happy and are simply a matchless match.  The smiles they put on each other's faces are priceless.  It was a happy day!  They were married by the bishop of the ward they will be attending now that they are married, back in Ogden, where both Bree and Aaron are still going to school, Bree entering her junior year and Aaron getting ready to graduate.  The reception was fun and family-filled, with family there from both Bree and Aaron's sides.  We danced the night away!  My camera battery died one picture into the afternoon, dang it, so all of the wedding photos in the post were taken either by Adam's cell camera or Angie's camera.  Thanks for sharing, Ang!

Sunday morning, the 20th, after one last delicious visit to Cafe Rio for a family birthday brunch requested by Adam's mom, Nicolle, who on that day was celebrating her 39th birthday, again, and is perhaps Cafe Rio's biggest fan, we began the drive home.  We drove along the vast and beautiful Great Salt Lake until we reached Salt Lake City.  We were so close to the temple there, we wanted to make a quick stop so the kids could see and feel the goodness of the beautiful temple grounds.  It was as stunning and peaceful as ever, even though we felt awkward walking around in our comfy traveling clothes surrounded by the many church members visiting the temple before or after church in their Sunday best!  Still, we were so glad we stopped.

We arrived home late on Sunday, ready to jump into Monday, the first day of the kids' last week of school. A wonderful whirlwind trip indeed to celebrate a special couple!

I don't know how many more road trips we will get away with sleeping the boys four across the bed like this (they sleep in the bed sideways so they can all fit), but they sure are cute.  Zac even has his arm around Ben, just like they used to sleep when they were 2 and 4!

Burning off some road trip energy in the pool with Dad and Uncle Ryan.

All the Conlins

Aaron and Bree with his immediate family

The sibs!

Helping Bree get ready.  Love this picture.

The beautiful bride!

Aaron was so happy all day long.

The first dance.

Dancing with Mum.

Al and Ben.

Rick Clark, Ryan (with Tommy) and Brennon Schweikart.

Ben loved the dancing!

Luke doing "The Robot," his favorite dance!  Hilarious!

Josh and Ash.

Sisters!!

Luke loving on Auntie Angie.

At go time, Bree and Aaron discovered their car was encased in plastic wrap.  Bree looks pretty ready to get on with her first night as a married woman as she rips that car free! :)

The plastic wrap entertained everyone for quite awhile after that.  Zac, Alea, Angie and I were wrapped in it...

...and Adam, Bree and the kids played tug-of-war with it.

One last meal at Cafe Rio.  Happy Birthday Nicolle!

The many fountains around the temple were a huge hit!

This is the LDS Church headquarters, where President Monson works.  Zac guessed he worked at the top.

I love the feeling at the temple, even though the immediate grounds are closed on Sundays, we were still feeling the peace and joy of that holy place.

Our Keller House Guests

I've had several friends say that they quit blogging because it's too overwhelming to try to catch-up when they get behind.  It's easier to just ignore the catching-up and do something else.  I can definitely relate!  That is how I am feeling about the past month!  But I need to stop ignoring and just DO the catch-up.  So here goes.  I will begin the catching-up with a post about the Keller Family, minus Father Keller :), Matt, our house guests over the past two-and-a-half weeks. 

A little over two years ago I met Ashley in the mothers' lounge at church.  She was visiting our ward as a potential move-in.  We were both nursing newish babies, Tommy and Lance, at the time and we struck up a conversation which led to the discovery that we were both Northwesterners, me having grown up in Bellevue and she having lived in Woodinville for five years after her marriage.  Even though they didn't end up in our ward, our friendship grew from that meeting, and we still hung out at playgroups and play dates.  Her twins, Maia and Isaac, who are just three days younger than Luke, were two of my preschoolers over the past two school years.  Issac was introduced in an earlier post as Luke's best friend, the two of them gelling perfectly.  Josh and Ashley's daughter Tristyn, who is eight, loved to pal around too.  And Ashley and I loved talking and talking...sometimes too much, as we would find ourselves late to pick up Luke from his preschool and late to pick up Tristyn from AIES because we'd get chatting at my preschool pick-up and lose track of the time!

Last summer Ashley's husband Matt found himself in need of a new job.  He was lucky to find one before he left his old job, but it was in California, with Nestle.  Matt began his new job last July, in Southern California, and Matt and Ashley put their home up for rent.  It was up for rent for five long months, with no bites.  So they decided to try to sell the house.  It still took three months to get the house sold, but after a long, long time apart, it finally did sell and the end was in sight.  During all this time I could not only sympathize, but could really empathize, having done the same thing in Washington for six months when Adam started working out here in Colorado.  We often commiserated together on the challenges of living away from Dad.  To add to the difficulty, four months ago, Ashley found out she was pregnant.  And while I didn't have to live through my time as a single mom of young children pregnant, I did have a newborn, a newborn who did not love to sleep, which I think is just as tough.  We had a lot to talk about!

The closing on the sale of their house was at the end of April, and with the end of the school year so close, Ashley decided to stay for one more month to let the kids finish out the year.  But they needed somewhere to stay.  They had several offers, but one seemed the most ideal.  They were planning on staying with some friends from their ward who have older kids and some space in their house.  The husband/father of the home they were staying at was healing from an Achilles injury, which wasn't a big deal until, right before they were to come to stay, Ashley's friend, the wife/mother, tore her ACL.  Ashley and her four kids still went there to stay, by this time mostly so Ashley could be a help while the injury was acute, but after providing that initial help, Ashley felt her large family's presence was more harmful than helpful.  When I heard the situation she had found herself in, I offered our house up.  We have an empty bedroom upstairs for the girls, Isaac could sleep with the boy,s and Lance could take the basement office, while Ashely could settle into the guest bedroom.  It worked and seemed like a very logical solution.

So Ashley took me up on the offer, especially after Adam talked to Matt and made the offer again, letting both Matt and Ashley know he was just as up for it as I was.  Thus, three days after my friend Jen left for home in Washington, we grew from a family of seven to a family of twelve for two and a half weeks.

I won't say it wasn't complete craziness at times.  We had several nights when, come 5 o'clock, Curious George was put on the TV just to subdue the madness of the "witching hour" a little bit.  But it really wasn't bad.  Ashley kept a watchful eye on her kids and was extremely helpful around the house.  I never felt like I was taking care of the entire crew on my own.  I watched her kids for some errands, she watched mine too.  She never assumed I would watch them though, she never took advantage of the situation, and even set up babysitting situations for some of her errands with other friends.  I had to convince her I was fine with them all and it was really OK for her to leave her kids.  We put together a menu and a grocery list and fed the troops well, Ashley even bought most of the groceries.  After a couple of days we got into a kind of routine and it was working pretty smoothly, as smoothly as a hodge-podge 2.5-week-long family of 12 can work! 

The kids did a good job of getting along.  Zac and Ben, the two oldest, were both extremely helpful, especially Zac.  All of the kids were so busy during the last weeks of school, we had several evenings where they didn't see much of each other.  Luke had a blast having his best pal Isaac living in his house.  Isaac started calling our house "his" house.  Sometimes we had to force Luke to have some "alone time" just so he could recharge his battery a bit, because we could see his patience starting to fray after non-stop sharing and playing with his friend, and we knew he just needed to chill on his own.  Our biggest challenge was with the littlest people.  Tommy and Lance, both in the throes of twoness, got on each other's nerves a lot.  Lance is a little more aggressive of a two than Tommy, and by the end of their stay, Tommy had come up with a way of coping.  He wouldn't stay in a room with Lance unless a grown up was there too.  If Lance came into a room where he was playing or followed him outside, Tommy would immediately leave the room or go back inside.  It was like a little dance.  And if Lance was nearby, Tommy always seemed to be keeping Lance in the corner of his eye, just to watch his own back.  It was pretty funny!  And of course, it was fun for me too, having a friend around all the time.

They "moved out" on Friday.  After 10 months of separation, the Keller family is back together again; they moved into their new home in So Cal today.  I am so glad that Ashley has her Matt again and the kids have their dad.  They sure have missed him!  While we are sad to have our friends go, knowing exactly what they have endured these past months, it is definitely more sweet than bitter.  Plus, we were able to get a good strong dose of Keller before they left to hold us over until we get to see them again.  Goodbye for us is really more of a "see you later," as we plan to bring the Chaos to them, for a much shorter visit than 2.5 weeks, the next time Disneyland calls to us, which we are hoping will be this upcoming Spring Break.   

Josh and Tristyn

Isaac, Luke and Maia

Lance and Tommy, and the awesome two-year-old "cheese" face

The kids...all 9 of them!  Poor Isaac was suffering from a fever on moving day.  :(

Ashley and I

Luke's Last Day of Preschool

This week Luke wrapped up his preschool year with four days of preschool fun.  Each day this week had a theme: Wacky Dress-Up Day, Pirate Day, and Beach Day.  Today was Party Day!  Parents were invited and the teachers put together a sweet little slideshow, had a fun paper-plate awards ceremony, and then hosted a little party goodie feast.  It was fun to watch the slideshow and see how the kids have grown and changed over the year.  Of course, there were tears from this sappy mama.  They are all such great friends with one another!  I know Luke is going to miss his pals; they will all be heading to different schools in the fall.

Luke has thrived this year in his preschool program.  He started the year as a frightened little boy, unwilling to communicate with unknown adults and children, afraid to try new things, and over the year has grown into a confident, well-liked child, willing to give you the lucky chance to get to know him and willing to give unfamiliar situations a try. 

I would still describe Luke as "shy" when he meets new people or is put into a new situation.  He will probably always be a little slow to warm up to new things and people.  And behaviors at home can still be tranquil one minute and then plummeting the next.  However, he had no real difficulties at school this year and is no longer allowing fear or shyness to keep him from having fun or experiencing and learning new things.  And once he does warm up, it's hard to get him to stop talking!  He loves hugs and playing with his friends.  He loves laughing and making others laugh.  He loves to explain things to you and tell stories.  His paper plate award today was "Mr. Funny."  Do you know how much that warms the cockles of my heart?!  My once-upon-a-time shy, quiet boy is now Mr. Funny!  It is so fitting.  He has a goofy side that is charming and entertaining and oh, so endearing.  He has come out of his shell so much, and I know he is going to be successful in kindergarten next year.  Yes, believe it or  not {I am kind of on the side of *not*}, Luke is off to kindergarten in the fall!  He is so excited.  And now I am confident that he is very ready. 

Get ready world!  Luke is on his way!

Dress-Up Wacky Day, which we forgot until we were driving to school, so the t-shirt is inside out and we found the hat and glasses crammed in the corners of the car seats!

Clearly this photo was taken on Pirate Day!  Luke made that little perler bead pirate at home before school, complete with eye-patch!

Beach Day!  The kids were able to play in a small wading pool and with several water toys and a water table in the afternoon.

At preschool graduation, two weeks and two days from his 5th birthday, looking cool, calm and confident!

And silly.

Luke won the "Mr. Funny" paper plate award because of his cheerful, silly personality.  Please note that in the picture on the plate he is making the scarecrow wave to the camera.  Love it.

Luke's teachers.  Miss Katie is in the blue, she's the head teacher.  His two classroom aides are Miss Laura, in black, and Miss Pam, who is in white.  We love them all!

This Is All I Ever Wanted....

There is a scene in the movie The Family Man, starring Nicholas Cage, where his wife, played by Tia Leoni, wakes up on the morning of their anniversary, zinging with excitement over whatever wonderfully creative, endearing surprise gift her husband has come up with for that particular anniversary.  This is how I feel about my Mother's Day gifts.  Adam always has something equally sentimental and humorous up his sleeve.  I love it.  I look forward to this day just to see what he's come up with that will make me laugh and cry, all in one well-thought-out, deeply personal and usually homemade gift.  This year, as always, he did not disappoint.

Over the past month he and the kids have worked on a video where the boys were asked mom-specific, and me-specific questions, like "What makes a good mom?" and "What is your favorite food that Mom makes?"  Tommy could do little more than laugh through most of the clips.  All the boys had some very tender responses and some that just made me crack up.  It was wonderful!  The movie ended with a montage of pictures of my darling men and a song by Snow Patrol called "This Is All I Ever Wanted (From Life)."  I've attached it below, but it is long, so it's mostly for Mom and Leah who said they wanted to see it.  Get the Kleenex.

These boys, Adam included, the deep abiding love I have for them, the way they stretch me and make me into an improved me, the joy I have in them, the challenges they provide me, the way they make me want to be more and better, the light they are, the chance to watch them learn and grow and become, the hope I have for them, the belief I have in them, the future I see in them...this is all I ever wanted from life.

A Cloudy Day At The Zoo

Today I took Luke, Tommy and Luke's buddy, Isaac, to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for Luke's preschool's zoo trip.  It was a chilly day, but there was no rain, and the zoo's location in the shadow of the mountain helped to block the wind, so it wasn't bad at all once we were bundled in our jackets.  In spite of the end-of-the-school-year-field-trip crowds and the coolness of the day, the boys were thrilled to be there and many of the animals were quite active.  I am glad I ignored the gloomy weather and took action on Luke's excited eagerness to go even with the chill.  We had a great time.  

I loved that the ducks lazily swimming in the moose pond were just as exciting as the huge playful grizzly bears to my little boy entourage.  Their joy was contagious.  I couldn't ignore the sweet feeling of my own inner child come alive.  Together we grinned like fools as we watched the siamangs swinging from tree branch to rope bridge to feeding ledge, whooping it up, as Luke said, "like the frogs do," by filling expanding air pouches in their throats.  Together we thrilled at the lioness' lightning quick pounce at some small bugs right next to the viewing glass.  Or the irrepressible laughter that comes as you watch the playful otters perform their slippery swimming acrobatics.

As it usually is, the zoo was a happy place to be.

 

 

 

A Night with the Music

Tonight Zac and Ben had their Spring Vocal Choir and Handbell Choir performances.  While the show may not have been action-packed enough to keep our wiggly two-year-old interested, Adam and I enjoyed it very much.  Well, as much as we possibly could trying to keep said two-year-old's noisy wiggles from disturbing the enjoyment of the show for our near, and not so near, neighbors.   

After one semester of chimes, the Third Grade Chime Choir transformed into the Third Grade Ringers, advancing from chimes to handbells.  Ben and his fellow Ringers did an excellent job tonight!  They played three songs, first a song called "Wind Chimes," next, the classic "Old MacDonald," and finally, a pretty little piece called "English Country Dance."  Ben has enjoyed his year playing the chimes/handbells, and he is hoping to make the Fourth Grade Ringers next year.  He also plans to try out for the vocal choir.  This is not surprising for two reasons 1) Zac did it, so he must do it too, and 2) The boy loves to explore new and exciting things, and music is always a source of exploration joy for him!  He has been a wizard on the recorder, that all the 3rd graders learn to play during music class, this year too; going beyond black belt to earn his gold belt in Recorder Karate!

Zac has sung for two years with the International Singers (so called because we are Academy International Elementary School, not because they are a world-touring group).  This year's concert was a fun one, with the kids singing songs such as "Hello, Goodbye" by the Beatles, "Jump" by VanHalen, "Defying Gravity" from the musical Adam and I just saw, Wicked, "Somebody to Love" by Queen, and "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers.  They bopped and grooved as they sang, and it seemed that they were having as much fun dancing as they were singing.  With the closing of this year, it will be the end of choir for Zac, as he is eager to be in the band come middle school.  Last week Zac went to the middle school band instrument selection night.  He tried out for percussion, tuba*, trumpet and clarinet.  While he did equally well with all the instruments, the clarinet, with the promise that he can move to playing saxophone next year, won out.  It has been so fun to see him enjoy choir so much over the past two years and we will miss watching him sing, but with my music-loving boy private performances at home are frequent, so we have certainly not heard the last from him!  And soon a squeaky reed instrument will be joining his Zacesque vocal stylings!

Great job boys!  Bravo!

*man I wish he picked tuba!  he's so cute with that giant instrument!

The 4th Annual Jen Visit

There is nothing quite like having a *really* good friend.  The kind of friend you can simply be yourself with.  The kind of friend who loves you for that person you are when you are simply being yourself.  The kind of friend you wouldn't change one little bit, not for anything.  The kind of friend who wouldn't let a friendship die despite the miles between your physical locations.  The kind of friend who you can laugh with.  And cry with.  The kind of friend you can talk and talk with, about the simple or the complex.  Or just be quiet with.  The kind of friend who loves your kids, celebrates their victories and commiserates with their challenges.  The kind of friend who can step into your home, your world and your life and slide into the flow of it with ease, like they are supposed to be part of it.

That is the kind of friend I have in Jen.

And her annual Colorado visit was, as usual, wonderful.  Love you, Jen!

That Was Totally WICKED!!!

Several years ago, when Adam and I were the parents of only two small boys, the touring company of the stage musical Wicked had a run at the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle.  We love the theater and had never heard anything but raves about the show, so of course we REALLY wanted to go, but the $110 per ticket was far outside of our very tight budget.  It was a sad thing, but there was nothing for it.  We didn't go. 

It has been many years since that day, but I still remember feeling so unhappy that we couldn't see it.  Since that time, we've never had the opportunity to go again, never been in the right place at the right time, although we have invested in some of the songs through iTunes because they really are so good, even without having seen the show.  Thus, last winter, when Adam and I saw Wicked would be playing in Denver in the spring of 2012, we did a happy jig, and bought ourselves some tickets!  The countdown to show day had begun.  And what could make FINALLY seeing Wicked even better?  Seeing it not only with my best guy Adam, but also with my best friend Jen!  She timed her annual visit to coincide with our theater date.  Yay!

Yesterday the looooong awaited night arrived.  We had a delicious dinner downtown at The Rock Bottom Brewery.  And, of course, I was compelled to grab a cupcake at a little cupcake booth located outside the restaurant, because if there are cupcakes I must get one (even if I was too full from dinner to eat it so it is still sitting in its cute little box in my refrigerator).  Then we were off to the show! 

Wicked was every bit as fantastic and wonderful as we had always heard.  We did not have one single disappointed feeling from having built the show up in our imaginations because of all the good reports we had heard of it over the years.  It was a brilliant show!  The touring company leads' voices were amazing.  The story adaptation was a perfect mix of comedic and dramatic, and not at all weird like the book it is based on.  The acting and set--well done.  Goosebump moments, much laughter and even a few episodes of *hot eyes* throughout.  We enjoyed ourselves so much, and we will definitely be seeing it again the next time the tour makes a run! 

 

Luke's Best Pal

Meet Isaac.  He is Luke's best buddy.  They met last year in my preschool class and instantly clicked.  They are two peanut-sized boys in a pod.  I love to watch them play together.  They have so many intersecting interests, from Squinkies to superheroes.  I think Isaac gets Luke, and Luke gets Isaac.  They rarely disagree, and when they do, they work it out quickly and on their own. 

A couple of months ago, Isaac spent a weekend with us when his parents went away for a birthday trip for his mom.  Isaac and Luke attended one of Ben's soccer games, sitting in two little blue chairs, sharing a blanket to keep them warm from the March wind, pouring over a Lego Club magazine full of pictures of Lego superheroes.  I don't think they looked up from its pages once.  It was a snapshot of a great friendship: two best buddies spending some time together, sharing the things they love which allows them to forget about what the rest of the world is doing for just a little while and be content. The world would be a happier place if everyone had a friend like that.

Which is why it is so sad that Isaac has to move away to California this summer.  We are squeezing out every last minute of buddy time until the month is up and Isaac and his family move on. And by squeezing, I mean Isaac and his three siblings and his mom are moving in with us for a few weeks starting Sunday so they can finish out the school year before hitting the road.  Luke is going to be in heaven.  I think Isaac will feel similarly.

And when their time is up, it's not just Luke who is going to be singing the blues.  We are ALL going to miss Luke's best pal Isaac, because, really, everyone needs a friend like that.  I am so glad Luke had him.  Even if it was just for a short while.