Books We've Been Enjoying

My sister has six boys and recommended this book to me.

I'm always looking for ideas on how to keep my boys busy doing something worthwhile and this was a great solution. It provides both mental stimulation and hands on learning.

There's also one for girls called The Daring Book for Girls.

I've enjoyed reading these (both true stories):

Dominion

Thanks to Uncle TJ and our dear friend Julia, we have a new favorite game. I think you could say we're addicted.

The boys received this game as a gift a few weeks ago and we've been playing it non stop. I love it because the games go quickly (15-20 min.) once you know how to play, and it's fun for all ages 8+.

I enjoy playing games with my children that are stimulating and fun for me as well. This is. I love strategy games, but they usually take at least an hour to play, which I rarely have, so this is perfect.

Another great thing about Dominion is that there are several expansion sets to keep the game interesting.

Thanks Julia!

A Gathering Place

History of Beaver Springs cabin in Tony Grove- Logan Canyon

Nestled among the trees of beautiful Tony Grove in Logan Canyon is one of my favorite places on earth - the Israelsen Family cabin. Since I was a little girl, I’ve gone to the cabin for annual reunions, New Year’s celebrations, snowmobiling, horseback riding, etc.

At our reunion this summer, I asked my grandma to review the history of the cabin with me. This is what she said.

In the early 1900’s her grandfather, Nicholas Crookston, asked the government for several acres to homestead, which they granted. He loved being in the mountains and in order to have rights to the land, you had to prove you were homesteading. So he did.

When his son (my great grandfather), Robert Burns Crookston, was married with children, he asked his father if he’d give a portion of the land to him to build on. He said, “Sure. Why don’t you look around and decide which piece you’d like.”

My grandmother said she remembers riding up there with her parents when she was a little girl and looking around for the perfect spot. My grandma said, “when we came to this spot, my father knew right away that this is what he wanted.” His father gave him the land and shortly thereafter, my great grandfather had a little railroad car transported up there, which became the beginnings of a family cabin.

When my great grandfather died, he divided the land between his children. Since my grandparents were living in Logan, and had the ability to care for the cabin, they inherited that portion.

Over time, that little railroad car was added on to, and added onto again. And now there’s a beautiful addition to accommodate the growing family. My grandparents had twelve children and all of them, plus grand children and great grandchildren gather at least once a year for our family reunion. This year we had over 130 people and it’s amazing that you don’t feel cramped.

The cabin has been a gathering place for decades. It’s a place for people to go and feel peace. It’s amazing to me, that all the years I’ve been there, I don’t ever remember feeling contention. We have a diverse family, but everyone is welcomed and loved and there is a strong sense of family unity and loyalty.

The cabin represents to me a place of gathering, hard work, family unity, being still, building memories, sacrifice, service, and love. One of my cousins said something this year that really stuck with me. He said, “Service is a way of showing love to others.” We don’t necessarily enjoy the jobs that service requires, but we do them, because we love the people we’re serving.

He gave the example of cleaning out my grandma’s basement after my grandpa died. It was infested with mice. It was a disgusting, dirty job, that I’m sure none of them looked forward to, but they did it, because they love my grandma.

I think of all the hours of service offered by different family members at the cabin or otherwise, and have a great amount of respect and love for all of them.

I’m so grateful my grandparents and their predecessors had the foresight to create such a haven for our family and many others to enjoy.

This is a bronze sculpture my dad made of his grandfather, Robert Burns Crookston. He's the one who started the cabin and now whenever we walk into the main room, it's as though he's with us. The bronze is titled "Coach" because that's what people called him. He coached at Utah State for many years.

My grandmother is an artist and several of her children and grandchildren have inherited that gene. I didn't. But, obviously, my dad did and I enjoy his work.

This is the original cabin - it was an old railroad car.

I come from a family of hunters, so there are almost as many stuffed animals in the cabin as there are people. The bear below was my grandpa's crown jewel. He shot it in Alaska a few years ago, accompanied by two of his sons.

The cabin has a nice blend of rugged and artistic - representing both of my grandparents.

Exhilarate - to make (someone) feel very happy, animated, or elated

Few things exhilarate me more than getting organized.

I love to have a place for my stuff.

On the flip side, few things make me feel as frustrated as being unorganized. And that's exactly how I've felt since moving here two years ago.

For a year and a half, we were renting, so I kept pushing the anxiety aside, realizing I couldn't really do a long term fix until we had a permanent residence.

That decision was made in February, and since then, I've been chomping at the bit to get things in order. My friend calls it "the order disorder." I have it bad.

After three months of remodeling, things are starting to shape up.

Here are some of my favorites:

I love tools.

And, I don't mind doing a lot of the handyman work around here.

But, I can't tell you how frustrating it is to do a project when our tools are strewn all over the house and it takes more time to find and gather them than do the project itself.

So, today I decided to change that. And here we have our new and improved tool bag. I don't know who's more excited about it- me or Brad?

Yesterday, Sawyer and Charlie were gone to Cub Scout Day Camp. While Ruby was napping, Spencer helped me put together these ball holders.

I’ve spent many hours out in the garage at night thinking about how to organize it.

So, to finally get these babies up was a huge thrill.

The thing I like about them is that you don’t have to take all the balls out to get the one you want. They can be taken out in any order.

I keep the kids’ sport shoes below it and have hooks for their sport bags.

Brad has been in serious organization mode as well and got our shoe racks up.

Then he put the coat hooks up, which eliminates a huge part of the mess around here. I think we'd both agree that the mudroom is key to helping things flow around here.

And he didn't stop there. We now have hooks in the garage as well for all the swim stuff in the summer and snow stuff in winter.

Every time I walk past these hooks, I smile.

This is what exhilarates Lucy.

And, I'm pretty sure the highlight of scout camp for Charlie (and all the other boys) was catching tadpoles.

Is this for real?

Yeah, that's what I thought when I found him. But, he really was sound asleep!

10-month check-up

Ruby's "routine" visit for immunizations turned into quite a dramatic affair. On the way into the appointment, her foot got caught in the van door, and was bruised and swollen by the time we made it up the elevator.

So, instead of getting shots, Ruby got an ice pack and an order for x-rays at the local children's hospital. (Which I thought was unnecessary because they wouldn't have done anything about it anyway.)

Fortunately, nothing was broken and she's fine.

It was one of those "please don't give me one more thing to do or worry about" kind of days.

But, I did learn two things:

1) Ruby weighs 19 lbs.

2) She's terrified of elevators. We had to ride in four elevators and she was visibly trembling each time.

flower sales

One thing I've always loved about Spencer is his eagerness to try new things. When he turned eight, he was so delighted to start Cub Scouts and got right to work on passing things off.

As a new Boy Scout, he still has that same eagerness. To earn money for camp this summer, his troop sold flowers and vegetables.

I personally really dislike fundraising and really discourage activities that require door to door sales. I don't like people coming to my door, and figure most people feel the same way. Nobody likes to feel obligated to buy something they don't need or want.

I was leery of the flower sales, but figured it was something many people are interested in this time of year and a worthwhile way for him to earn money.

Since he was new to this whole thing, Brad and I did a little coaching about how to approach people, what to say, etc., but left the bulk of the project up to him.

I'm learning to let go more and more and let the kids take on more responsibility for themselves. I believe that is key to building confidence and empowering them to excel.

I believe kids need to learn how to work and earn the things they want. It helps them be less impulsive and really think before they act. They start to calculate what it's going to take to buy something special and analyze how bad they really want it.

Spencer spent over four hours just pulling the order once it arrived and then got to work at delivering.

I was really proud of his "stick-to-it-tiveness" and enjoyed watching how he handled the process from start to finish.

I think this boy is going places and I just want to shout and cheer (and usually tear up a little) when I see him work at and accomplish his goals.

He's setting a great example in so many ways for his younger siblings.

I loved listening to he and Charlie talk about what their favorite flowers were (which they're holding below) and what they wanted to plant in our garden.