My, oh my, how I adore Claire. She is so sweet and kind. I had a primary teacher tell me that in primary the other day, Brielle was called up to help with something. This teacher happened to see Claire at that moment, and Claire was BEAMING and clapping her hands mouthing "That's my sister! Yeah Brielle!". She said it was so incredibly sweet to her that Claire was so excited for her sister.
That is just so Claire. She has the biggest heart.
She also has a really big personality and makes the best faces.
We celebrated Claire's birthday with family having cake and ice cream.
The kids rode the wiggle cars down a hill, across the basketball court and down another hill in my parent's yard.
Then jammed out with a karaoke party on Claire's new karaoke machine.
For 3 1/2 years, Aspen and Ben were in sibling bliss. They had mom and dad wrapped around their fingers, and were living a full and beautiful life. They had formed an unbreakable bond, and were the very best of friends. There was no room for another person in their lives.
Then I arrived.
And as cute as I was, Ben was not amused.
In his mind, I was here to compete for the attention of our parents, as well as possibly weaseling into his perfect friendship with Aspen. He did not want to be left watching from the sidelines.
I believe Ben and Aspen quickly began plotting how to get rid of this new baby in their lives. You can see in the picture below that the wheels in their heads are spinning, trying to come up with ideas of how they were going to finally be free of this new offspring.
"Hmm...what happens if I poke her in the head like this?" Aspen says. "Yeah, try it!" Ben agrees.
Some of the things I KNOW they tried included:
-Feeding me a booger
-Smashing my finger in a door
-Putting me on top of a big tractor tire in the back yard, hoping I would fall to my demise
After almost 2 years of doing all I could to win them over, I think they finally accepted me.
Then Emily came into the scene.
Our only option then, was to try and run away...
We didn't get very far.
And eventually Emily wiggled her way into our stone cold hearts as well.
But not before Aspen and Ben tried offing her too...with possibly a little help from me.
One morning as the older girls were getting ready for school, Molly found an extra backpack and had me put it on her. She then carried Brielle's lunchbox with her and stood at the front door looking out the windows as her sisters left. She walked around jabbering by the door for a good 15 minutes, all ready to go to school with the girls.
She is so dang cute!
(If I do say so myself.)
Giving herself kisses
There is a picture of me from when we got married where I'm looking out a window, quite similar to this. If only it weren't in storage I'd do a side by side comparison...:)
This girl just brings so much joy into our lives. Such a happy, smiley, sweet baby girl. We're definitely lucky to have her!
I'm sure being the only boy with three sisters had it's good and bad moments.
Some times it really worked to his advantage. He was the king of the castle and our one and only brother, the boy that was sent to our family to try and keep us girls under control. But I also imagine at times he probably felt like fitting in was a little hard.
He would suggest playing cowboys and Indians rolling in the mud, climbing the trees and throwing snow balls at passing cars.
We would refuse and instead tell him we wanted to play Barbies, or house and that he had to be the dad, the horse or the dog.
But Ben never played along begrudgingly, he always jumped right into our fun, taking it to the next level. While we were playing merry homemaker, he was the bad cowboy coming to steal our babies and eat our pies. While we were playing fancy dress up Barbies, he was the local wagon builder using his constructs to make covered wagons to help our fashion star Barbies cross the plains, as well as the local horse trainer and wagon driver who would then help get us safely to our destination. Where we wanted to pretend to be pioneers in the back yard, he got out the saw horses, threw blankets and ropes on them and turned them into our REAL horses. When we would pretend a giant boulder was our tree house, Ben found scrap wood, nails and a hammer and went to work making a REAL tree house for us.
Ben made our lives full of fun and laughter (and a huge amount of teasing).
He loved high adventure and let us tag along.
He never once complained about having all sisters (that I heard) or wished he had a brother.
Claire had to have some cavities filled recently. At the pediatric dentist, they choose to give the children a sedative before beginning because it helps them not have screaming, fighting kids. Afterwards was some good, quality entertainment! Here are some of my favorite things she said:
C: Mom, did they actually paint my teeth pink?
M: No. Did they say they were going to paint your teeth?
C: Yes.
M: Huh, well they aren't pink.
C: What? Then what color are they?
M: They're still white.
C: White?! They aren't supposed to be white!
C: I'm just going potty.
M: [Checking] Oh, man, did you pee your pants?
C: Huh? Oh....ooooopppssss....I didn't know I was going.
C: I see two of everything. There's two tv's, do you see it? Can you see the two tv's?
M: No, I don't see two tv's.
C: You don't? They're right there!
M: Nope, I only see one.
C: Oooohhhh.....I see two because I'm doing cross eyes.
C: I eat so many vegetables, I can carry up a building
C: Can you get me an apple? A whole apple?
M: I'm not sure we have any more, but I'll check.
C: We do, I saw grandpa carrying a bag of apples around yesterday.
M: Oh really? Okay, I'll check.
C: And even if they're way far in the back of the drawer, I just can't reach them. But be warned of the apples in the front. The apple in the front has a bite out of it, beware of that apple. Reach the one in the back.
M: Okay, I'll do my best.
She heard me listening to something on the computer and tried to come see, but kind of rolled out of her chair and almost fell. I hurried and caught her and put her back in her chair:
C: Hey, why can't I stand?
M: You aren't quite strong enough yet.
C: Why am I not strong enough?
M: Because of the sleepy medicine they gave you.
C: What medicine!?
Here is a video I took right as we got in the car to leave after we were done at the appointment. There are some pretty great things in this as well.
And that, my friends, is some good quality entertainment...or does thinking this is hilarious make me evil?
Today was a very special day. Brielle made the decision to be baptized.
It was a wonderful program, and a great spiritual day. Everything went smoothly (besides the visit to Instacare with Molly later...kids...) and we were so grateful to share the day with so many family members.
I know I should focus solely on her, but I have to deviate slightly. As this day drew closer, I couldn't help but feel a little pange of sadness that Ben would not be able to be here physically for this day. This is the first "big event" since he passed away, and it made it feel a little difficult.
But as we were going about our morning and getting ready, I felt the spirit close. I felt peaceful and knew that even though Ben wasn't physically with us, he would be there in spirit to support Brielle.
In talking to my family afterwards, we all felt his presence there. It was very special and peaceful.
I also have to write this down so I don't forget it. At Brielle's baptism preview a while back, one of her leaders told her that Heavenly Father gives our loved ones who have passed away special permission to be able to come for special occasions like this.
In Brielle's little mind, she took that literally. She later looked at me with a huge smile and said, "I am going to save a seat for Ben in the very front!" It was so hard not to completely squelch her enthusiasm but also let her know that it didn't mean Ben would be there physically, but that he would definitely be there in spirit. She was worried that because people couldn't see him, he would get squished and wouldn't have anywhere to sit or stand. I assured her it would all work out.
We missed him there physically, but were so grateful for his spiritual presence and comfort that accompanied.
We are so proud of Brielle.
She is an amazing girl, and we couldn't be more grateful to have her in our family.
Ben and my Grandma Ridges are truly kindred spirits. They were always up for adventure, and much happier and at peace if they were outdoors enjoying nature. We have said many times that we like to think Grandma Ridges met Ben as he passed into heaven and took him straight to Moab to enjoy the red rocks and sand that their spirits were so drawn to.
Grandma Ridges and Ben getting ready to have lunch on a slick rock trail...not sure who is passed out beside them. Jeeping can be rough!
Grandma came on almost all of our Jeeping trips to Moab. When we would come up to a big obstacle, many of us would bail out of the Jeep out of fear and stand to the side to watch rather than ride.
But not Ben and Grandma Ridges. They wanted to be right in the action.
In 2001, Grandma was with us on another trip in Moab. However this year the Jeep had gotten taller, and at 87 years old, and 5' tall, her little legs couldn't quite make it up to get in. She typically did her best to get a leg up, and then would reach in and the driver would pull her up. But this was getting more and more difficult. She decided once she got in with some help, she would just have to stay put until we were done.
But Ben took it upon himself to be Grandma's personal lift into the Jeep. He scooped her little body up very gently and sat her in her seat up front. And Ben did that for her every time she wanted to get in and out.
Ben has always been so thoughtful and kind, especially to our grandparents. And as he passed through the veil, I think my Grandma was happy to return the favor as she helped him into heaven.
Excited to have this sweet boy to share some new adventures with again.
Why, oh why, do my children continue to grow up?? It really is unfair.
She will be getting baptised on Saturday and I just can't believe we're entering this phase of life!
This year, being her 8th birthday, she was allowed to have a friend party. But instead of going all out with a big group of girls, she chose to have a "girls day out" with Claire and her two cousins.
The day went like this:
Manicures
(my children always look so great in pictures)
Ice cream cones at Arctic Circle - because we had time to kill between manicures and our next activity.
Ice skating
(I'll admit it...I was glad Claire used the little walker thing because it gave me a good excuse to go slow and hold on to something as well...what used to be a fun, fairly easy activity for me in my youth has become something that made me fear for my well being and pride.)
Lunch at Chili's.
Do you like how they're all on one side of the booth while I was on the other side alone? Yeah...I felt awesome.
Brielle's actual birthday happened to fall during spring break while we were in St. George. So we threw a little party there as well. I didn't take many pictures...because I'm a slacker...but I did get pictures of the pinata.
One of the items in the pinata were these sweet glasses. So we did a couple photo ops with them.
Happy Birthday Brielle! We are so lucky to have you in our family!
It was 1997, and Ben was just 16, but had years of driving experience under his belt. Ben and my dad had recently bought a Jeepster, it was in amazingly good condition and a rare find. It was a true gem.
I found myself as Ben's trusty co-pilot on one of many vacations exploring the beautiful landscape and scenery of Moab. Moab was our second home, we knew the ins and outs and had locals that we were friends with. We knew where to eat, what time of year to go, what trails to go on and the best camping spots.
Riding the familiar trails with Ben, I had complete confidence in his ability to maneuver the vehicle around difficult terrain, and knew that I was safe there in the passenger seat.
The warm sun ducked behind the clouds, and the rain began to come down leaving a muddy mess. I started to worry about the mud and possibly getting stuck, but I looked over at my brother and saw that to him, this was just a sweet adventure. He zipped around in the mud, slipping and sliding with that infamous Ben smirk on his face.
He was in Heaven.
Continuing our co-pilot status, I was asked to ride along with Ben as he drove home to keep him awake. I tried my best to make small talk and keep my eyes open. I had promised my parents that I was not tired and would keep Ben company. But the hum of the Jeepster quickly lulled me to sleep.
To this day I can't ride in a Jeep without getting sleepy.
I woke up a short while later as we exited the freeway for a pit stop. Sheepishly I looked over at Ben, expecting him to be annoyed that I hadn't stayed awake to keep him company. But instead, he flashed a smile at me and joked, "Some co-pilot you are."
And even though I felt bad I had fallen asleep, I knew I was safe in that passenger seat and that he wouldn't ever let anything bad happen to me.
