Week #19: Your Four Minutes Grandkid Luncheon

This week...

...we had our sixth annual Grandkid Luncheon. I know, our sixth one! I can NOT believe it! Here we have them lined up youngest to oldest. Aunt Shelly organized this as a way to keep them occupied as we waited for everyone to gather, but I loved it and started snapping shots. We included Aunt Shelly on the end because she has been in just about every Grandkid Luncheon photo we've taken over the years.

Lainey, Rylan, Allie, Keaton, Claire, Benjamin, Jenna, Paul, Emma, Ethan, Katie, Trenton, Sydney, Alex, Brennan, Christian, Austin, (Spirit Elder Zirker-Jordan), Aunt Shelly

Here's the secret to our keeping-the-little-ones-in-line success. Uncle Corey stood just out of the shot coaching them and telling them where to look.

This year my brother Corey and his wife Julie Kay offered to host the luncheon at their house in West Richland. Corey ran the BBQ, Julie Marie (Kent's wife) helped me with the message, Grandma Zirker led a trivia game in honor of Grandpa Zirker's 70th birthday, and we took a small walk/hike with the grandkids. 

This year's theme was "Your Four Minutes." I absolutely loved Gary E. Stevenson's talk from April General Conference where I got the idea. I printed off some pictures of the three Olympic athletes that he talks about - Noelle Pikus Pace, Chrisopher Fogt, and Torah Bright - and made some collage pages to send around so they could see who I was referring to. I briefly described that all of the athlete's preparation and training came down to four 60 second runs at the Olympics to determine whether they would win a medal.

Noelle Pikus-Pace

Noelle Pikus-Pace missed the 2006 Olympics when she broke her leg in a terrible accident. She missed the 2010 medal stand by a tenth of a second. She had a lot of training, hopes, and dreams riding on her runs in the 2014 Sochi games. And she won the silver medal! As she stood on the medal stand and bent to receive her medal, her young woman torch could be seen around her neck. I thought that was awesome! Talk about stand for truth and righteousness. 

Christopher Fogt  

 Christopher Fogt didn't give up after a devastating crash in the 2010 Olympics. His four-man bobsled team took bronze in Sochi. Just the coordination necessary to make each team member fit inside that bobsled makes me cringe.

Torah Bright

Australian athlete Torah Bright had four intense runs in snowboarding. Not only did she finish off an amazing run with a backside rodeo 720 for the silver medal win, which sounds great even though I don't know what that is, but she was seen hugging American competitor, Kelly Clark, between runs, offering support and encouragement. Bright commented, "I am a competitor—I want to do my best—but I want my fellow competitors to do their best, too."


We related these athletes and their four minutes to our lives. This life is our time to perform our four minutes. Gary E. Stevenson states, "Dear friends, you are in the midst of an exhilarating journey. In some ways, you are racing down the half-pipe or sled track, and it can be challenging to perform each element or navigate each turn along the way. But remember, you’ve prepared for this for millennia. This is your moment to perform. This is your four minutes! The time is now!"

The whole day was great! I love this tradition and that we've stuck with it. Each time that we gather all of the stress of putting together a big meal and the worry over whether everything will turn out falls away. It does work out. Everyone enjoys themselves and I feel so much love all over again for these young people in our family. I want them to be successful. I want them to be strong. I want them to remember that they are loved.

Picture taking is always a big part of the day.

I love Paul trying to find some peace in the chaos.

The hike/walk was great. Piggy back rides, football in the street, what could be better?!

Photo Bomb!

They ran down to the bottom of the hill. They weren't too thrilled about all the brush that ended up in their shoes though.

The girls showing off their stuff. 

...we once again realized that there is never a dull moment with Lainey, shopping or otherwise. She sure cracks me up.

These are the pick glasses that we bought at Old Navy and then returned because we found some cheaper at Children's Place. The cashier at Old Navy totally understood when I explained that they just weren't right for Lainey. "Girl problems," she stated good natured-ly.

These are the yellow glasses that we bought at Children's Place that were cheaper than the ones we got at Old Navy (that's the only reason I didn't mind making the return at Old Navy).

Here's she's clowning around at Old Navy. "Mom, I'm going to hold their hand." This makes me laugh every time I look at her face. :)

I had to meet up with Jason's while he was on shift and take him some things that he forgot. Lainey wanted to come and I said that was ok. This is how she came to the door all ready to go with me. I couldn't believe it. And of course I had to take a picture.

She saw this summer display at Walmart and it just called to her. She hopped onto the chair, pushed the glasses up to her face, and gave me a saucy I'm-ready-for-anything look. She could have been a mannequin in the display she was so into it.

Lainey has come up with a new way to point. She closes one eye to focus in on what she is pointing at. Try it out! You may find that it increases your capacity to point.

...I was a guest of honor at Lainey's preschool. They made muffins together and then served us for a special mother's day event. Miss Amy ready the kids' funny responses to questions about their mothers. We had a good laugh.

...I discovered a hole in the toe of Ben's shoe. (Apparently he knew about it for a while, but hadn't bothered to let me know.) This guy loves his tennis shoes and therefore they get a lot of wearing, wearing out that is. He wore them to school even after I discovered the hole because I hadn't had time to go buy some new ones. I w thinking, "Thank goodness we don't have to worry about rain." And what does it decide to do outside the very next day? Rain! We duct taped it so that his toes would stay dry. He liked the idea at first, but then saw how conspicuous it would make him. I learned that he swiftly tore it off once he got to school.

...we met up with some of Paul's friends at the park. These boys have been Paul's good friends since Kindergarten. They are sweet, responsible boys and their moms are super nice (that makes it nice for me). They're the kind that I don't worry when Paul's around them. Great kids! (L-R: Cooper, Paul, Brody, Caleb)

...Jason's dad came and helped us burnish our floors. Jason put several coats of polish on the floor and then they rented the burnish to top it off and make the floors look super nice. And they did look nice...until Lainey brought down her chair and dragged it across the whole length of the floor.

...Emma and Afton were being silly as they waited for their ride to Activity Days. I told Afton that I would save this lovely shot of her silly face and share it with her Prom date when she's older. Haha!

Week #18:Pocketfulof Treasures

This week...

...Lainey documented our time volunteering in Benjamin and Claire's kindergarten classroom. I let her play with my phone because she was especially noisy and disruptive. She often skips the games and starts snapping pictures of whatever she can. Once in a while, she does get some good ones. This is me trying to look stern.

...I washed Benjamin's jacket. Only before I could through it in the washer, I could feel that there were extra things in the pockets. This is what I found after emptying the four pockets. These are things that Ben just collects from all over - on the bus, on the ground at school, on the playground. He just likes to fill his pockets, much like when he was younger. We'd have to watch what little toys he swiped after visiting friends because he would fill his pockets.

 

...Emma did a science project on how the type/quality of paper effects a paper airplane when it flies. She made sure to fold each plane the exact same way and then conducted her flying trials in the garage. Surprisingly, the wrapping paper was a contender.

regular printer paper, wrapping paper, cardstock

...Lainey let me do her hair before preschool. And then she took it out at preschool, of course. At lest we did a mini photo shoot in the backyard. This is proof that she did look presentable when she left the house.

Week #17:The Black Bag Adventure

This week...

...we celebrated Easter! We had a great Family Home Evening last Monday where we showed a video and talked about the Resurrection. The kids really paid attention and I felt like we were in that zone of learning and internalizing, however short duration that zone may have been. Following are our attempts at an Easter picture before church...

We went to Mattawa for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. It was fun to be with my family and for my kids to play with their Mattawa cousins. We enjoyed lunch...even though we were two hours late. *See Black Bag Adventure.

*Black Bag Adventure: We had two cars at church because I stay late for our youth leader huddle. I accidentally put my phone with all of my stuff in the van with Jason. Thus I did not get his text asking me to check the chapel for his black bag. He forgot it. Once we both got home and realized that neither of us had it, we knew we were going to have to go back despite our pending departure for Mattawa for Easter dinner.

In an effort to save time, Jason called the church and talked with one of the counselors in the Bishopric. He asked if anyone had turned in a black bag and if this man would be willing to check the chapel. He reported that they had seen a black bag in the clerk's office and they would send it with the Bishop because he lives close to us. We got to the Bishop's, and he didn't have it. He didn't really know what we were talking about. We went to the next counselor's house, he's close too, and caught him as they were headed out to Moses Lake for Easter dinner. It turned out that the black bag that was in the clerk's office was his. So on the way back to the church, I called the other counselor that Jason talked too initially just to get some clarification. He had not checked the chapel and acted like he didn't know what we were talking about. Enter sick feeling. We needed to find that black bag because it not only had the tablet and jambox speaker but also Jason's wallet. Ugh!


At the church, the black bag was not under the pew at the back of the chapel where Jason had forgotten it. We searched everywhere for that bag. We checked with the Spanish Branch President and the Fourth Ward clerk's office to see if anyone had turned it in. After searching for a little while with Jason, I couldn't take the sick feeling anymore and I went and sat in the car. We knew that someone had taken it, but since it hadn't been turned in we couldn't fathom why. I sat in the car as the kids played on the lawn and prayed. There was nothing else to do because our frantic efforts of searching were turning up nothing. Twenty minutes or so later, Jason walked out with his black bag. I was so relieved. I was relieved that we had it and that I didn't have to embrace the possibility that we would never see it again.  

It turns out the sister missionaries that serve in the Spanish branch noticed the bag. They searched the bag for identification and then proceeded to drive to our house to return the bag. They rang the doorbell and left a message on our house phone with their handy cell phones that they carry now. But we were gone, obviously. They then returned to the church to turn it in there. I think they were a little nervous as they carried the bag down the hall to Jason. They had tried to do a good deed, even though it caused us much frustration and anxiety. Jason reassured them and thanked them for keeping it safe. What an ordeal! 

We made it to Mattawa where we ate a late dinner. It was fun watching the kids during the Easter egg hunt. They searched all over the garden and yard. Here's Paul and Emma on the ride out there. The Black Bag Adventure made us all tired.

Before

After 

Rylan and Lainey were making dinosaur sounds to go with their dinosaur eggs. It was so cute!

Benjamin and Keaton showing off their loaded Easter buckets. These two love playing together.

...we went to our first ever Blue and Gold Banquet. Paul is loving cub scouts! He has some great leaders, Brother and Sister Cress. Paul turned 8 in January and was able to earn his bobcat and wolf. He's been working hard. Paul loves that cub scouts is something just for him and that he can do "boy projects". They had these really cute campfire center pieces. They just made me smile the whole night.

Paul lost his tooth during dinner. He tried to bite into the Costco hot dog and left that poor tooth hanging barely attached. He was still not sure that he wanted Jason to get it out. Go figure! It was so ready. Luckily, it came out as he took a bite and he was able to get a hold of it. Two awards and a lost tooth! Yeesh! He was in heaven!

...we went to a backyard movie night. We were invited by some friends to watch Monsters University outside in the cool night air on the big screen. They have a projector and they set up a makeshift screen with a sheet.

...more soccer fun.

Lainey hard at work play on the toys.

Week #16:No Training Wheels

This week...

...we went to the Temple. It was a gorgeous day and a wonderful session inside. Then we went out to lunch. I remember my mom and dad going to the temple when I was younger. It was a pretty big deal because they traveled all the way to Seattle and were gone most of the day. My older sister was in charge and we were given instructions for dinner and how to get by without them. :) What a blessing that we no longer have to make that long drive. We have a temple right here in the Tri-Cities.

...Jason made himself a work bench for his tools out in the garage. I have to say it turned out really well. Lainey was playing on the frame before he put the shelves on it. Silly girl.

...Lainey learned to ride a bike without training wheels. I went to a stake young women meeting and Jason helped her while I was gone. He texted me a little video of her riding along as if she'd been doing it for ages.

...I found a lilac hedgerow. It was beautiful. I totally stopped in the middle of the road to get a better look. Then I pulled off so I could get a picture. It smelled so good when I hopped out of the van, camera in hand.

...we went to our traditional Easter breakfast. This year they had over 1,000 plastic eggs ready for the kids to find. I would say this year's egg hunt went off without a hitch. I caught Lainey being silly on stage before the breakfast started.

They always scatter so fast and collect so quickly that I don't have much time to get any good pictures.