Macbeth Family Vacation Part I

Our family hasn't gone on a legitimate just-us vacation in years.  There are lots of reasons.  Mostly because the idea of going on vacation while pregnant or with a newborn sounds like more work than fun.  Also, in the summer -- because of my heart -- I can't be on my feet for too long outside without passing out.  Also because of Ben's job.  While we absolutely LOVE his job, he is paid by the hour (which is great because he never works over 40 hours but if he does he's paid overtime).  But he doesn't get very much vacation time.  And what vacation time he does get automatically gets devoted to his calling in scouts.  A good portion of the rest of it was devoted to his appendectomy.

So when Ben and I had been feeling like we needed to get out of town, it wasn't a question of how many vacation days he could take, it was a matter of vacation hours.  So we knew this would have to be a weekend trip.  I like to be very careful with our finances.  And with all of our medical costs, I was wondering if it was worth it to spend money on a trip.  When I prayed about it I got the clearest answer that I needed to give up the family portraits we were going to have done and go on the trip instead.  So that's what we did!  And then I learned once again how much the Lord loves to make us take the first step in faith before he blesses us.  Because the week before we left, Ben was given a pretty decent raise with back pay.

The kids had been desperately wanting to go to the mountains and we decided to surprise them with a trip to Bryson City.  We really just wanted to go somewhere new and throw the kids out in nature.  Since Ben couldn't take off a whole Friday, we picked up the kids from school around 1 and surprised them!

The kids were fantastic in the car even though it took 6 hours to get to our cabin.  Miraculously, we didn't play a single movie in the car during the entire trip!  Instead the kids were just as happy coloring, playing with pipe cleaners, and wearing stick-on mustaches.  And I don't know if the kids were better than usual in the car, or if Ben and I have just gained a lot more patience in the past few years (probably both), but this trip seemed a lot easier than other trips in the past.

I had looked into hotels, but there weren't any that I could find that would allow 6 people to stay in the same room.  So I looked into cabins and they ended up costing the same as the hotel rooms I was looking at!  So Ben and I chose one that overlooked Lake Fontana, had a fire pit for making s'mores, a jacuzzi, and a foosball table.  The kids loved the cabin.  They wanted to "live there forever."  

I, on the other hand, still love my house that has a dishwasher and the world's best bed.

Lake Fontana in Almond, NC

The first night we decided to have Lily and Skyler share a bed with Ella in a sleeping bag on the floor.  The next morning Ben found them all in the bed together.  So the next night I put them to bed like this just to save time.  :)  We could hear their giggles outside while Ben and I were next to the campfire.

The first activity was gem mining.  We ended up at a pretty remote place next to a lily pond.  (You better believe that had Lily's stamp of approval).  The kids and Ben chose their buckets and went to town getting them cleaned up in their sieves.

Still too dirty to tell what they are...

Skyler got a little overzealous and ended up splashing mud all over his face.

Documentation that Thad really was there... on my back.  Poor baby -- I somehow packed an extra set of sweatpants for him instead of his jacket.  So we had to double up his sleepers to keep him warm.

Ella enjoyed watching and stealing the dirt from some old man's bucket and sticking it in Skyler's.  He chuckled over it and was really nice.  But as we were leaving that man found a 4 carat ruby.  I guess Ella just didn't steal the right dirt!  ;)

After the kids were a little tired of cleaning up their rocks, I took over Skyler's dirt and I ended up with the best haul (not that I'm bragging -- except I am).  I was most excited by my arrowhead, fool's gold, small rubies, and the bluish gem stones.

Blessed

I'll keep this short.

Basically, this is all I have to say:

My lifelong dream when I was younger was to be married in the temple to my best friend (check), have super adorable kids (check, check, check, check), and have my own house -- and equally important, a yard (check).  That's about it.  I didn't really have anything else I wanted for my future.

And ba-bam.  It's all here.

(How blessed am I?!)

And maybe that sounds silly that that's all I have ever really wanted in life, but I'm a happy girl and that's all that matters.  I mean, look at these five people who make up my daily life:

 (Sorry for the poor picture quality in the following photos.  I was taking pictures through the window so that everyone would be natural).

 Having a dad who's 6'3" has some serious perks.

I changed my mind.  There are two things I really would like to add to my list.

1.  Traveling the world

2.  Better grass

But other than that, how blessed am I?!

1

Thad's first birthday is on Monday.  Let's make a deal and not talk about it, okay?  He is my last and I'm currently on the bitter side of this bittersweet event.  And let's face it.  I'm not good with my kids having birthdays in the first place.

I lost my winning streak for the year and finally broke down in tears this time.  It's only because he is the sweetest sweetie in the history of the world.  I kid you not.  I told him today I want him to stay this age for the next 3 years and then he can go on to being 4.  Let's just skip the toddler years, okay Thad?

Whatever my emotions, we had a small party for him with just my parents. 

He is so so so close to walking!  It'll be any day now.

Skyler didn't have a present to give Thad so he wrapped himself up for Thad to unwrap.

They seriously love being bedroom buddies.

We all took time to play extra long with him today.

The cake was consumed in the way of one year-olds -- aka the best way possible.

And note the leg on his tray.  He likes to make himself at home at home.  And at Pei Wei.  And everywhere else.  The foot stays up.

Have you ever lost so much control while eating something so ooey gooilly delicious that it ended up being smeared everywhere that you just had to keep licking it, even if that meant that you were licking it off your feet?

No?

Me either.

(Thad's complete whatever face is my favorite part of this whole picture)

After a much needed bath it was then time for presents. 

(It was about 3 hours before this picture took place that I realized Uh, it's Thad's birthday party today.  Hmmm.  Guess I should have bought him a present.)

Be comforted in knowing that he will definitely have a present by the end of his birthday on Monday.

Thank goodness for grandparents being prepared, right?

His foot went in his mouth, his ball went in his mouth, the wrapping paper went in his mouth, Lily's flip flop went in his mouth...

He didn't even want to bother with Nanni and Papa's much cooler other toy they brought him.  The ball was a huge hit!

Thad stop growing!  I love you too much to lose you in this perfect state!  You let me cover you in kisses whenever I want.  You hardly ever cry.  You take about 5 hours worth of naps every day.  You aren't fazed by your siblings' craziness and noise.  You don't get offended when I tell you not to jump on Skyler's bed or swing around on the ceiling fan when I leave after tucking you and Skyler in bed.  You say Dada when you see Daddy.  You say "Whoooaaa" after you choked on something and spit it back up.  You say "Uh oh" over everything because at this age you pretty much do everything wrong.  Oh. My. Goodness.  I completely adore you.

Happy first birthday, Thaddeo!

Another Miracle

Last Sunday we were almost in another car accident.  We were driving home from church and taking the short cut -- country roads -- when we had to slow down to make a left turn.  

Oncoming traffic was leaving few gaps for us to turn through.  My focus as the passenger was merely waiting for that gap.  But out of the blue Ben steered us as far off the road as he could and into the grass to the side of the shoulder -- as far as we could drive in a split second, anyway.

He yelled something like, "Oh my gosh!" before it all happened but it didn't click in my mind until I heard the moving truck behind us squealing its tires as it spun, over-correcting itself behind us, probably missing our van by about a foot.  Ben had at the last second seen the truck in the rear-view mirror and knew they weren't paying attention.  He reacted instantly.

Unfortunately, two elderly men in the oncoming lane were the victims of the ignorant truck driver.  Neither were killed in the head on collision, but a few involved from both parties were injured.  

The sound of the crash was all too familiar.  I knew by volume alone that we weren't the ones hit.  We were blessed.

Ben jumped out immediately to help.  Although there were several people at the scene, I was somehow the first one to call 911.  I ran across the country road in my heels to help once the kids -- mostly Lily -- were emotionally fine.  Ben stopped a man's bleeding with one of our burp cloths.  We talked to the police officers a little bit.  When we couldn't do anything more we went home.

I call myself a magnet to car accidents.

Miraculously, this was the first one I've witnessed where I wasn't directly involved.

I could have asked myself many questions this week as I've thought about it.  Why not us?  Why was the driver not paying attention -- especially since he was renting a moving van?  Is everyone involved okay?  Am I going to have to re-do my therapy I had to have over my fear of driving thanks to all the said accidents?

But the only question that's really been filling my mind is this:  Why did Ben look in the rear view mirror when he should have been looking for a gap in the traffic to turn left?

I honestly consider this no less than a miracle.  After seeing the damage, Ben and I are sure that some if not all our kids would have been in the hospital had the truck hit us.

The next day I did next to nothing in terms of chores around the house.  I cuddled my kids instead.  Out of the good, better, and best options, I would say I chose the best by cuddling them and thanking my Heavenly Father for their safety.

September Random

As soon as our children are born, it's a countdown to when they're ready to play Shark Attack.  All four have loved this game that Ben came up with six years ago.  Although now it is much better on hardwoods than it used to be on the carpet.

What I said:  "Oh look!  Thad's climbing the stairs.  I should take a picture."

In Ella's head:  "If I hurry I'll make it to the stairs and photobomb this picture before Mom even gets her camera."

One of the things on our summer bucket list was to get Lily to ride her bike without training wheels.  As soon as Ben had his appendectomy, she started pleading to have her training wheels removed.  So of course when we took them off she got on and freaked out that she was wobbling all over the place.  She still can't do it, but it's cooling down outside and so I think we will finally be able to practice more consistently.

P.S.  Nice tan, Lily.  

I captured this one day when Ben was on the phone with a coworker.  I just want a visual reminder of how wonderful it is to have Ben work from home.

Database analyzing and IBLS'ing at its finest (aka weeding).

(Don't ask me what either of those things mean.  If anyone asks what Ben does all I can really tell them is that he manages Walmart's contract with Cisco and that he is an excel expert.  Other than that I can tell you that he has a black computer and he pushes buttons on it.  So... yeah.)

I don't know if I've ever blogged about this before.  I can't remember.  But something Ben and I have always been grateful for was that Ben went to BYU-Idaho to get his business degree.  2 years after Ben got home from his mission he was discouraged because they changed the business program.  BYU-Idaho had just hired a new college president (Kim Clark) who was formerly the Dean of Harvard Business School.  He wanted to change the program to make it more like the Harvard program.  This meant that Ben basically had to start college over since a good portion of his credits meant nothing anymore.

But while Ben spent more time in college than he would have liked, trying to complete the new program, and then having a difficult time finding a job straight out of college, it all turned out to be fine.  Since we moved all the way across the country where practically no one has even heard of BYU-Idaho, Ben had a unique education.  I won't say that it is better or worse than someone who graduated from a local college, but it is definitely different.  

While a lot of the local business grads here are basically cookie cutters, Ben is different -- not better or worse, just different from his different education.  That has really given him an advantage here with his expertise.  So if you are in college and want a great chance, move across the country!  It worked for us!