Last rays of summer

The house was a mess (how many posts could start like that?)
And I just didn't feel like cleaning. (imagine that)


Summer is waning. And so is our families energy. 


But we know come January will we wish we'd spent an evening cleaning the house or outside playing while we can? Canadians have so much pressure during summer, two short months to cram in all our summertime dreams.


Tonight's outing (ie avoidance of cleaning) turned out really fun.


As I was chucking our two year old in the stroller (the one who had whined non-stop all day...pleeeeeeease tell me it's a phase!) Benny said, "Can I take my plane?" I gave him my best "I'm not your mother" face, and said "Sure."


What a great idea. 


Ben has a love for anything remote control. 
Love. Fascination. Obsession. 


A few facts about RC toys: 
1) they break
2)there is always a more expensive one to buy
3)they also break too
4) but they're always fun while they last




The first purchase Benny and I argued  disagreed about was  a remote control plane he bought with a friend. Busted the first time they flew it. They fixed it. Broke it again. By the end of it's life, it had been converted into remote control boat! Pretty sure those boys had more fun "fixing" that thing then they did flying/floating it.


There's been various helicopters and cars since, which he's really good about limited to birthdays or Christmas time. 


A few months ago Fed-ex dropped off a box. I opened it and called Ben. 


"Um, so dear...your uh plane came today..."


I think I could hear the fear in the silence. "Oh yaaaa...I uh...forgot to tell you about that?"
I laughed, and he realized I was just teasing him. Poor guys works hard. 


Now he tries to convince me there for McKye...

...we all know that 's not quite true. 

Oh but they were cute together out there, oh so excited. 

Ah, another generation of boys loving their toys. 

Sorry to the future Mrs. McKye, I tried. 

My new toy??? 

Lately, I'm liking just taking picture on my phone. 

Love the quality of my real camera, but I just can't lug it to every park...

so now instagram 

just helps me celebrate the low quality and make the graininess reto and cool.

My kids get a little sick of me so her my "self-portraits"

Love that this one shows my puzzle piece necklace...mother's days present from Benny. 

Remote control...pretty necklace, guess we all have our things that make us happy.

Some thoughts at Poppa's passing

One of the things I found interesting about getting married 
was going from being part of one family to two.  A whole other sets of grandparents, aunts uncles, cousins, people you basically don't know from Adam that in a instance become "family".


Because Ben and I dated so long (1999-2005...with the exception of one very sad summer for Benny, and our missions) I already knew his parents and siblings VERY well (he's the oldest of 8, and the youngest was not even a year when we started dating, so she's basically never known her brother Ben with Chelsea too.)


But the extended family was a bit different. 


Takes time and patience and observation and asking questions and really listening and trying to keep everyone straight to make a meaningful relationship out of a mere"relative"


Poppa was easy.

Poppa liked to talk. He liked to share: his thoughts, his opinions, his testimony, his theories on microwaves, his full-endorsement of DeVry (every grandchild will chuckle at this), his genealogy, his time, his love.


Poppa was incredible smart and has an unbelievable story.






He left us, his posterity with many things...

A certain recognizable head-shape (that needn't be covered by hair) and maybe the ears too!

A sense of our heritage. he was a great family historian, loved the temple, exemplified the role of a patriarch, and often spoke lovingly an hopefully of his posterity.

Wisdom...

....and more wisdom.

The first time I heard Poppa speak in church he was reporting his church-service mission as a employment specialist. The meeting had long since gone overtime and the poor Bishop, realizing Henri was just getting warmed up looked helpless on the stand. Finally, his wife, June, got up and tugged on his suit jacket. He looked down at his little cue cards, and apologized to the audience, "I've only got through two of my twelve cards, but my wife's telling me it's time end...perhaps another time"

I wonder if he feels like that now, his time on earth running out, but he still would have loved to share more.

I'm sure he is still sharing. { What happens after we die}

Henri sharing his ice cream with Ben's other grandpa Albert.

Such a great picture, of the men who's blood flows through my husband's veins and now mingles with mine, in my sons. 

Both left a legacy. Both are missed. I hope I can through my own memories and the journals and memoirs they left, help my children"know" them and learn from their examples.

Daddy-day: Part 2

This post from last Father's Day is one of my favorites. So here is is again.




I remember being asked when I was single. What I was looking for in a future husband.


My answer?


A good father. (I may have already of had Ben in mind)


So tonight (with half an hour left of Father's Day) I thought I 'd just list a few things 
Ben has taught our kids.

1. When your wife wants you to smile for a picture, just do it. 

You may not want to, but one day they'll be good memories:)

2. To work hard and provide well

3.That they are accepted just the way they are.

4. To feel safe.

5. How to be a problem solver and a good listener.

6. To love technology.

7. Patience.

8. That family is everything.

9. That all dads are really just big kids.

10. that sometimes you just hafta go for it! 

11. that he'll always be there beside them 

as they experience new things.

12. to eat meat (often and love it)

13. to get an education

14. that real men kiss on the lips 

(actually Ben thinks it's gross that I let our kids smooch us on the lips)

15. how to hang out...

..and just enjoy a good laugh!

 most of all. he is just there. Even though he has to be gone a lot, 

he somehow manages to make sure he is a presence in our kids lives.  

Maybe not always there physically, but  still there for us, in every way.

And that he'll carry us through,  and love us no matter what!

He is for them (as he is for me) a stable influence for good. 

A support. A friend. An example. 

 A dad.

 Happy Father's Day Benny!

Daddy day: Part 1

Sleeping father with child, a classic.

Why? Because the mom always thinks to grab the camera and capture the sheer cuteness...

silly mommy why doesn't she realize she should be napping too!

When ever I think of my relationship with my dad 

I always think of the same moment.

I was in Jr High.

And we all know what Jr. High can be like.

I was the tallest in my class--yup that's me standing in the middle of the back row in between all the boys in the class picture. Yup that's me wearing "mom" pants, that my hips defiantly do NOT fill out because they're the only ones long enough. 

Bushy eyebrows, an attempted perm that resulted more in random kinks, in a word? Awkward.

I was trying desperately to figure out who I was.

I was even more desperate to know if that someone I was, was anybody special.

It was all the rage to trade your yearly mugshot photo with your friends (the ones in front of the unflattering blue backgrounds, or if you were really cool maybe the splatter paint...I'm such a child of the 80's). We couldn't afford to buy a bunch of wallets so I would get my photo color copied (scanning was a brand new technology, and the quality was horrible!) 

What does this all have to do with my dad?

I got in his car one night to get a ride somewhere. My dad's a total hoarder, especially in his car. But there among the extra sunglasses, water bottles and air-freshers, displayed on his dashboard was one of those laser-copy wallet sized photos of me, his daughter.

My dad never said much about how he felt about us. But somehow that picture said it all. 

He was proud I was his. 

And even though my dad's a bit of a character ( I come by the awkwardness naturally)

I'm proud I'm his too.

me and my hip n' hairy daddy-o

Happy Daddy's Day Daddy.