Omaha Spring Break 2017

I’m afraid that my most recent blogpost about a “Rough Go” sounds a bit pathetic. I wanted to toss something positive out there to let you know that we are all doing just fine. (Although when Brooklyn got back from Brighton Beehive Camp I learned that she too had thrown up all day Tuesday. The camp thought it was altitude sickness so they never called to let me know. Fortunately she recovered quickly and still had a great time.)

Anyway, let’s rewind back to our spring break in April, when we all gathered in Omaha to enjoy everything the city has to offer.

Number one attraction was Anders, of course.  Brooklyn was in baby heaven.

Naturally we were delighted Zoe made the trip as well.  She takes excellent care of her little brother, often keeping watch over his bouncy chair.

Our home celebrations included a decadent bunny cake for Papa Kay's birthday.  Some traditions are too delicious to give up.

Unsurprisingly, our first excursion was to the Henry Doorly Zoo.  While we definitely enjoy Salt Lake's Hogle Zoo, Annika had been begging for months to go back to the "big zoo with the fishies."  

I guess she's missed her turtle.

Eila loved the aquarium as well.


We made it just in time to watch the penguins dine on sushi.

After all that excitement, we were ready for a snack too.  With a pretzel this large, there's certainly plenty to go around!

Eila's first ride on a giraffe...

...and an elephant.

Wait a second, what's wrong with this picture?

Meanwhile, sweet Anders enjoyed most of the zoo with his eyes shut.

So does Eila realize there's a gorilla napping directly over her head?

This time it was Talia who was caught napping.

 A favorite cousin picture of all our monkeys aping around.  Thank goodness responsible Alesia was there since we lost track of half the kiddos right after this picture was taken.  Oops!

All's well that ends well.  Lunch at Firehouse Subs makes everything right, especially when it's courtesy of Papa Kay.

The next day we headed to Lauritzen Gardens to see their new Lego exhibit.

Crazy ants!  (For the record, that's Talia and Annie.)

Note to self: place on Jason's birthday wish list.

Speaking of the handsome devil, he was delighted to have bricks to play with.


The kids, on the other hand, preferred the giant blocks.

What did they construct?  A prison, of course.  Both Annika and Eila spent time in solitary confinement.

The escape.

Proud master builders.  Since not even Alesia has inches to spare, this was as high as they could go.

Eila decided that our entry stickers made for great adornment...

...especially when plastered all over her Dad.  :)  Looking sharp, Adam!

Back at home, there were chores to be done.  Thanks to those pesky squirrels, the tree house is in constant need of a good sweeping.

As a reward for Eila's hard work, we hosted a marshmallow roast in the backyard.

You're never to young to fall in love with s'mores!

As you can see, my daughters take their marshmallow roasting quite seriously.  Anything for the that perfect golden brown.

Before we knew it, it was time for the Wilhoits to head back to their Washington home.  We refused to let them go without a few runs down the giant slides at Gene Leahy Mall.  Eila was a natural!

Alesia takes Eli for a run.

Talia appears to be doing the conga,

Sad as we were to bid farewell to the Wilhoits, Papa Kay took everyone to a Stormchasers baseball game as consolation.  As you can see, Talia came well-equipped with her needlepoint.

Alesia, meanwhile, was hard at work learning how to crochet.

And Annie, well, that rascal decided to repeatedly gnaw on Papa Kay's finger during the fireworks.  Nobody could figure out why.  It really shouldn't have been that funny, but it was late and we were all a bit punchy.

Other interesting highlights of our trip:  Jason and I took a quick trip out to Valley, Nebraska to see how construction was coming along on the Yin residence, a high-end home that Jason helped design while working for Alley Poyner.  Scheduled for completion in the next couple of weeks, it's going to be amazing!

Later that day, Papa Kay met us at Jimmy John's...

 ...before we all headed to the Kaneko for some cultural enrichment.  Talia actually worked with the creator of this exhibit, Therman Statom, during her Girl Scout ArtVenture experience.

While we are glad you like it, Annika, I'm pretty certain they would prefer you didn't kiss the art.

We were so thankful to Alesia for keeping the little ones entertained once they'd had enough art.  She's amazing!

A couple random Annika pictures.  Here she is at the Children's Museum after giving herself a good face paint.

And once more hanging out in the yard in a vest that's two sizes too small.

I know I posted about it before, but next up we have photos from the Zoo, Round 2.  Because really, can you ever get enough of Omaha's zoo?  From the pictures, you'll notice that we added to our crew.  Uncle Lance came to visit us from Chicago for the Easter weekend.  With both Alesia and Lance around, the kids thought they had died and gone to heaven.


Alesia loves all of her first graders, but I have a feeling that Eli might be her current favorite.  She is certainly his!

Eli's actually watching a large bird that landed on a branch directly over his head.  He had good reason to feel nervous from the splash zone.

Polar bear fun.


Brothers!

Even big girls need a snuggle, especially from their grandpas.

Annika displays her Madagascar side as she connects with a lemur.

Even without water, the splash pad's pretty dang cool.


Such happy times!

As usual, thanks for the terrific vacation NomiAnn and Papa Kay.   With adventures like yours, it's no wonder we all love coming to Omaha!

A Rough Go

We've had a rough go of it lately.

On Father's Day, Jason got called to be second counselor in our ward's bishopric (the group presiding over our local congregation.  The LDS church has an unpaid clergy so responsibilities get shared around.) While some might consider this cause for condolence, I'm excited for his new opportunity to learn and grow.  However, I was secretly hoping for a few extra blessings from above for his willingness to serve.

Apparently God had something else in mind.

That same Sunday, Eli woke up with a stomach ache.  While the rest of us celebrated fatherhood, our poor guy vomited, slept, and ran to the bathroom with extreme diarrhea.  Fortunately, on Monday he felt much better.  It was a busy day as we sent both Brooklyn and Talia off to week-long excurisions at Brighton Beehive Camp and Camp Cloud Rim respectively.  With the end of the fiscal year approaching, it was an even busier day for Jason, who worked until 3:30 am trying to wrap up ASSIST's budget for an upcoming board meeting.

As for myself, I was uncharacteristically alert when Jason made his weary way home.  I'd woken up about fifteen minutes earlier with an awful stomach ache of my own.  I groaned my way through the next few hours from the couch downstairs, lamenting the fact that we don't have a bathroom on the main floor.  When dawn finally broke and I checked my phone, there was a message from Talia's Girl Scout camp letting us know that she'd also been sick in the night.  Talia endured the next morning at camp from their sick room until lunch when her fever came back and her mac and cheese didn't settle.  Despite how much she'd wanted to be at camp, our sick gal was ready to come home.

Of course, with Jason's board meeting and busy schedule, I knew he couldn't get away.  Despite feeling completely wretched, I pulled my act together long enough to make the three hour round trip to pick her up.  (Fortunately my system was completely empty by this point so there wasn't anything left to lose.)  I do feel like I was blessed with extra stamina to handle the curvy mountain roads all the way to the top of Big Cottonwood canyon.  However, by the time I got home I just collapsed on the couch--achy, exhausted, and longing for someone to take care of me.

Jason made it back from his challenging but successful board meeting at about 6:30 pm.  As you can imagine, the house was in shambles, but he did his best to meet the kids' basic needs (like dinner) before running out the door again at seven for his first night of bishopric visits.

Here's where I fell apart.  Intellectually, I knew that my husband was doing his very best and wished he could be home.  I knew that he was stretched incredibly thin trying to fill many challenging roles while operating on almost zero sleep.  I knew that the struggles faced by those he was visiting were much greater than my own.  And yet...

I was selfish.  In that moment, I didn't want to share.  Instead of Jason the executive director, Brother Wheeler the counselor, or even Daddy Jason, all I wanted was Jason, my husband.  Even though I knew that nothing but time can cure a 24 hour stomach bug, I wanted him to stroke my hair, bring me an otter pop, and sigh sympathetically when I moaned in pain.

So when Jason got home, I behaved totally immaturely.  I was sulky, pouty, and still quite sick.  I regretted my miserable behavior as soon as I realized that we needed to sleep in different beds to keep the germs apart.  What I really wanted was a snuggle to connect and apologize but that couldn't happen.  Unfortunately, there was no chance to put things right the next day.  Jason had a busy morning at work, then took a 1:00 pm flight to Texas for a conference.  Concerned that I might still be contagious, we parted without a kiss.

On the home front, things remained fairly calm for a while.  Talia and I both felt better, Annika seemed fine, and there was no call from Brighton about Brooklyn.  Things seemed under control until our minivan broke down at midnight.  I'd just picked Uncle Ben up from the airport and was taking him to a hotel in South Jordan where he and Christy were spending the night following their European adventures.  It was meant as a favor to give Christy a few extra hours sleep after they took such great care of Brooklyn there.  The best laid plans of mice and men...

Steering the car as it shuddered to a stop was terrifying.  I was stranded far from home in the wee hours of the morning in front of a strange 7-11.  My babies were alone (I'd left them sleeping with Talia in charge), and I had no way to call for help since I'd given my phone to Talia to use in case of emergency.  Ben had a phone, but with its European SIMS card, it could only be used to facetime family.

In desperation, we roused Christy to come and rescue us.  Despite the jet lag, she arrived with a huge smile and shuttled me all the way back to the Avenues from 6200 South.  Meanwhile, we woke up Jason as well so he could call for roadside assistance.  As soon as I got home, Jason called to let me know that AAA had a tow truck on the way but I needed to meet it in person. Leaving a note on the counter for my snoring kids, I immediately turned around and drove our old van back, arriving just twenty seconds ahead of the tow truck.  Before long, I was on my way back home again, finally crashing into bed at 2:30 am.

Looking back, I know it could have been much worse.  I am grateful Ben was with me instead of breaking down all alone, without a phone or a way of letting him know what had happened.  I'm thankful AAA was willing to renew our membership that had expired at the beginning of the month.  Since our free towing radius is only five miles, it was fortunate that our mini-van broke down on our way to South Jordan because it was closer to CarMax, where our vehicle is under warranty.  I'm thankful that I missed my exit onto I-15 and was traveling on the slower, back roads.  I'm especially grateful my kids were sleeping safe at home.

Most of all, I'm grateful to Jason and Christy for coming to the rescue.  I'm ashamed to say that at times I've been crabby with Jason for being so good-natured and chipper in a crisis.  Doesn't he know the world has come to an end?  Well, I was wrong.  I am so sorry.  I finally figured out where his smiles came from when Christy showed up at 1:00 am in the morning with a genuinely positive attitude, despite the fact that she had every reason to be grouchy.  I was so humbled.  I learned so much in that moment--all about love, happiness, and choices.  I want to change.  It's not that these amazing Wheeler siblings don't recognize the gravity of a situation.  They simply choose not to let external circumstances change the wonderful, joyful people they are.  I want to be like them.  Instead of falling apart when the fire gets hot, I want to react to stress with similar poise and grace.  I want my children to grow up knowing that they can handle hard things, not just because their father could, but because their mother did as well.

Yes, the going has been rough lately. I'm sure it will be rough in the future as well.  But instead of beating me down, I want the stress to refine me.  I want to laugh more and smile more--no matter how the tempests may rage.  As so eloquently stated in something I recently read, I long to "let the blows of God mold me.  For when I am in His hands, I am my best self."

Love you, Peanut Butter.  Thanks for sticking to your Jelly.

Blessing Anders Rhys

Blogging isn't that fun right now.

Don't get me wrong.  Life is fun, and I dearly want to remember all the great moments I blog about.  Still, the task can be overwhelming, plus I messed up the settings so that these posts no longer show up on my friends' blog rolls.  Not that many people were looking, but even so.  (Hoping I fixed it.)

While blogger stats suggest that what I write isn't very significant (my last post generated one thoughtful "Anonymous" comment and 0 pageviews), it helps to remember what this blog is all about: family.  And family matters.

Speaking of family, in mid-April we had a fantastic Andrus/Wheeler/Wilhoit/Wells reunion.  We met up in Omaha from coast to coast.  Alesia flew in from New York while Callie and Adam bravely flew from Washington with Eila, Anders, and Zoe.  :)  As for our crew, we drove.  The fun began at Mahoney State Park with some excellent playtime and a picnic.

Meet the Cuz.  Alesia: She's the pretty petite blonde riding the merry-go-round who blends right in with the rest of the family.  A dedicated first-grade teacher in Queens, I'm so amazed that she would give up her spring break to spend time with our crazy crew.  Thank you for coming!

Brooklyn: While it's hard for me to admit, this beautiful gal has definitely grown up.

Talia: Right side up.

Upside-down.  Eila seems interested in knowing what that's all about.

Eli: Happily doing his own thing.

Annika: Bonding with her Papa Kay (and probably begging for Pony Girl and Trot Trot to Boston.)

Eila: Uncle Jason is delighted to have a frisbee companion.

Always on the go!

And the star of the show: Anders.  In the words of Chrysanthemum, this two month-old is "priceless and precious and fascinating and winsome."  

I simply couldn't get enough.

Anders really was the main reason we all gathered.  On Sunday, April ninth, he was blessed in his grandparents' home.  But first, we got all gussied up and headed to church.

Alesia and Anders.  (I just looked it up, and they are technically first cousins once removed.)

A sister pic of Callie and I.


Meanwhile, Adam got stuck with a baby carrier full of heavy quads.

And the littles, all looking adorable in the coordinating outfits NomiAnn and Papa Kay provided.  The gorgeous hairstyles are courtesy of Alesia.

Annika Mae, looking suprisingly prim and proper.

Cousin shot, take one.  (Actually, it's probably take number 22, but this is the best we got.)

A different angle.

Hop in, Lesha!

Now for the boys in their coordinating vests.

Back at home, Anders seemed quite content to hang out in his bouncy chair.

Not for long!  Here he is getting changed into the baby blessing outfit Eli wore.

Beautiful mama.

Beautiful babe.

The girls.  From left to right we have Eila, Callie, Cathy, Talia, Alesia, Annika, Brooklyn, and Kara.

The boys: Jason, Adam, Anders, Eli, and Kay.  Still outnumbered, but a growing contingent.  If you look really closely, you can see Jason blocking Eila who didn't want to leave her Daddy's side.

Getting a picture of all the grandkids was tricksy.


Say pug!

And an everybody shot (minus Alesia, our photographer.)

Papa Kay in his happy place.

Callie and Adam, thank you so much for sharing this special day and your beautiful family with us! We are so grateful to have been a small part of welcoming Anders Rhys Wilhoit to this world.  He may be tiny, but he's already had a giant impact on our hearts.

We love you!