Laurence Living

Morgan's Beautiful Christmas Dance

2009-12-20T18:17:00.001-07:00

Morgan has been taking dance lessons for a number of months now. About a week ago she got to perform at the Festival of Trees, and yesterday she got to dance again. As all of the families arrived, the audience got bigger and louder, and Morgan (and the other little girls she danced with) couldn't contain themselves as they kept peeking out from behind the curtain. It was cute.

Of course we have a huge bias, but this may be the most darling dance ever. The video is a bit long, but well worth it.

Our Family Vacation

2009-11-25T11:07:00.083-07:00

Just before we left to go on our family vacation, Melissa had to run something into the kids' school. Naturally, as we're sitting there in front of their school waiting for Melissa, they got to talking about how fun it was that they were going on vacation while all their friends were in class!

Our first vacation stop was in Las Vegas to see the Donny & Marie Show. Thanks to Wendy and Jerry for getting us the tickets! The show was very entertaining; we had such a good time. All of the kids have become Donny fans as they've watched him on Dancing With The Stars.

It was really nice to have Grandma and Grandpa Besaw with us. After the show we all went to Serendipity for a "little" dessert.

The next day we drove almost straight to Adam's baptism. His baptism was beautiful, and we're so glad we got to be a part of it. Unfortunately, on the drive there, Madison got sick. Amazingly, during the baptism, she was fine. But just before and after were a different story.

The next day Madison was fine, though, and she and Mackenzie had a great time hanging out playing with Annaka. And the two peas in a pod seemed to have a lot of fun being Nerf warriors!

After visiting with Carl and Amy and their family, we headed over to Renee's. We hung out long enough for Annabelle and Daisy to warm up to their cousins (which didn't take long).

Then we zipped off to the beach after having an incredible lunch--probably the best tacos ever!

The beach in October is a little cool, so we weren't planning to swim, but it didn't take but a few minutes before the kids were soaked enough that they didn't care how dirty they got.

So Clayton let everyone bury him, and the rest of the gang seemed to enjoy piling on the sand. Meanwhile, Morgan seemed rather obsessed with finding shells.

We had a lot of fun at the beach. We always do whenever we go. We are glad we got to have so much fun together with Renee's family.

Who would guess that the American Girl store closes at 7:00 p.m.? We had planned to meet Wendy, Jerry, and Michaela at The Grove so the girls could all go to the American Girl doll store. But they were closed! Grrr. (Actually, can't say as I minded so much that it was closed, but the girls were sure disappointed.)

The painful part of the store being closed is that we then had to go back the next day! Clayton was such a trooper: 3 1/2 hours in the American Girl store. Now that is torture for any young boy. Madison, Mackenzie, and Morgan seemed in heaven, though.

Ah, the American Girl doll store. Such . . . fun. Yeah, such . . . um . . . fun.

Now the mission at San Juan Capistrano was fun. The grounds there are just gorgeous.

We got to spend another day with Renee, so we headed to San Juan Capistrano. We visited the mission and then grabbed a quick bite at a fun little restaurant nearby.

The petting zoo was a huge hit. Who'd have thought?

We had another really fun day with Renee and her girls. San Juan Capistrano was a great idea. It was also nice for us that it was along the way to San Diego, which was our next stop.

We spent two days at Sea World and really had a blast. This was our first time to Sea World, so the kids didn't really know what to expect.

They loved the rides and the shows. There was one exception, though. Morgan was not very excited at all about going on Shipwreck Rapids. Truth be told, neither was I.

We'd have probably been a lot better off had we followed Morgan's instinct. We all got drenched and were freezing the rest of the day!

Sorry, Morgan. Next time we'll listen to you!

The shows were a different story altogether. Very impressive.

Touching a dolphin was perhaps the kids' real highlight . . . and Melissa's!

We wanted to show the kids the San Diego temple, so after Sea World, we stopped to take some pictures on our way back to the hotel.

The temple is beautiful and we were glad to have a chance to let the kids see it.

The dolphins were perhaps the Sea World highlight, but swimming at the hotel pool was by far the most anticipated event. And it always is.

Flag Football

2009-10-05T09:19:00.002-06:00

Youth sports is supposed to be about learning the game, playing as a team, and having fun. Yeah, it is fun to win, too, but it's more fun to see the kids having a good time together while developing their talents. These two video clips are THE highlight of Clayton's flag football experience this year. In the one, he got to kick off AND grab the other kid's flag. In the other clip, Clayton actually ran the ball in a game.

Clayton used to love flag football, but now he doesn't really care about it. Unfortunately, every game this season, one kid ran the majority of the plays. Now Clayton thinks the game is boring. Truth is, it was. But, hey, that's a good thing! Now he doesn't want to play tackle football. Whew!

Little League Fun

2009-07-15T08:53:00.000-06:00

Clayton had a great time with little league baseball this year; it was his first year playing. He had a great coach and learned a lot about the game. It became one of his favorite sports. It was fun to watch his games because he had such a good time playing with his friends.

Clayton's Baptism

2009-07-12T10:53:00.006-06:00

Kent (Clayton's uncle) made a great comment in his talk on baptism just before Clayton was baptized yesterday. He said, "I've been to Clayton's flag football games, soccer games, basketball games, and 5Ks, but I'm most grateful to be here for Clayton's baptism." What a great thing for a young boy to hear from his uncle! Kent's comments, and other things he said in his talk, set a perfect tone for the way we all felt at Clayton's baptism. Being at Clayton's baptism was a special experience for all of us.

Clayton enjoyed contacting various family members asking them to participate in his baptism. He called his grandfathers and asked them to be witnesses. They were, of course, anxious to be involved, but Grandpa Laurence let Clayton know that his participation was conditional: "If I'm going to be a witness I reserve the right to remind you whenever necessary that you've been baptized!" Clayton seems to still be trying to figure out just exactly what Grandpa Laurence was getting at, but he has a hunch that it has something to do with keeping his nose clean!

All the kids sang "I am a Child of God" at the baptism and reminded us of how lucky we are that our kids' cousins are some of their best friends. Some of our family on Craig's side were unable to be there and we missed them, but we felt so blessed to have so many family members and friends there.

We are so pleased that Clayton chose to be baptized. It was an almost perfect day as the spirit of the baptism carried over into the time spent with family afterward in our home. We know Clayton made the right choice; we could feel it in our hearts and in the peace that surrounded us. We love you bud!

The Third and Fourth

2009-07-06T17:37:00.000-06:00

We had a very enjoyable Independence Day weekend. Robert and Renee (Craig's sister) visited Utah from California with their twin daughters Daisy and Anabelle. They stayed in Midway at Zermatt, and we cannot pass up an opportunity to go to Zermatt, of course! So we joined them on the 3rd for a swim.

Tarahumara is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, so we ordered take-out and enjoyed a nice poolside lunch. Craig's parents brought yummy donuts for everybody, too. Rumor has it that Clayton and Robert were grateful for the leftovers later that evening!

After our pool party, we went to North Salt Lake for a stop at Kevin and Patrice's. In addition to the festivities of Independence Day, we also always get to celebrate a few birthdays as Morgan's birthday is June 30th, Clayton's is July 3rd, and Kirsten's is July 4th.

So we usually get to have a little birthday party followed by fireworks. Robert and Renee supplied the cakes this year--one for each of the birthday kids, and we all had a lot of fun relaxing, BBQ-ing, exchanging presents, and watching fireworks.

The next day the party moved to our house where we had a little backyard fun. Klara and Morgan seemed to enjoy soaking up the rays.

Almost all of the kids tried out the slip-n-slide. Even Daisy and Anabelle mustered the courage toward the end to give it a go.

This little video is just a funny demonstration of how completely random Morgan can be. Everybody's just having fun relaxing in the sun and Morgan decides it is a good time to remind Craig that he and Grandpa need to fix the bottom step! Hope you saw that, Grandpa, because Morgan seems to think it is a job for Craig AND you! What a character.

Madison and Mackenzie seemed to form a special little bond with their twin cousins. Must be a twin thing!

Grant and Clayton could play for hours on end--and they did. They had a lot of fun with the laser tag guns Clayton got for his birthday.

With a cousin gathering this size, we had to play the candy bar game. Klara seemed a bit frustrated that she wasn't rolling doubles, but Madison made up for Klara's missed opportunities with at least 5 doubles, so Madison got to have her pick of the candy; it was fun for all of the kids.

Independence Day at our house isn't complete without the front yard spectacular, which always starts with the kids chasing down their parachute prizes.

One small disappointment this year was that the flasher fireworks we bought turned out to be duds. They're usually the crowd favorite as they get people onto their feet dancing to the strobe effect. The flashers were a bit short-lived this time around, though. Oh well; there's the 24th to look forward to!

We all had a really great time and had a lot of fun watching Anabelle and Daisy get more accustomed to us, and we also had fun watching them savoring their popsicles! Now we're looking forward to next year!

Bobbleheaders

2009-06-30T11:01:00.002-06:00

This is Clayton's first year in little league. Last time we went to a game, Melissa commented that all the little guys look like bobbleheaders with their batting helmets on. This little video is pretty cute because if you watch carefully you can see Clayton sliding into first. He hit a double and the 1st base coach is telling him to go onto second, but he had to slide into first because he loves to slide into the bases. So he slides into first, gets up and trots to second!

Another 5K--Are We Insane?

2009-06-28T21:01:00.002-06:00

Apparently we are insane because one 5K wasn't enough. Yesterday Clayton, Craig, and Melissa ran in the Lehi Roundup 5K--our second 5K! All three of us got personal records. Clayton beat his best time by 2 and a half minutes, coming in at 26:50. He's pretty proud of himself, and we are, too! That's pretty amazing for a 7-year-old . . . or any age!

Clayton (and we) really appreciates that Uncle Kent came along. He ran with Clayton to help set his pace and to help push Clayton through some of the tough stretches when walking seems like a really good idea. Kent's pretty much responsible for getting us into this running business. It would seem that the insanity is contagious!

Craig finished with a time of 25:58, which was 5 1/2 minutes faster than his last 5K. Hmm, what does that say for the kind of shape he was in for the first 5K? Ouch. At least he ran the whole thing this time!

Melissa shaved nearly three minutes off her time compared to the last 5K. As you can see from the clock in the picture, she came in at 27:40-and change. It must have been due to the sweet new running shoes Kent won for her at the last 5K. We all had a lot of fun and are actually looking forward to getting ready for our next race; a distance of 5.2 miles. Yeah - insane!

Toofless at the Alumni Pops Concert

2009-06-14T07:02:00.001-06:00

After weeks and weeks of wiggling, Clayton FINALLY lost that second front tooth! Of course, of all the times for that last root to snap, it was in the middle of a concert at Melissa's old high school. Dr. Bentley is leaving the music department at Hillcrest and some of the alumni went back to sing at his final concert. Melissa sang two songs from Wicked and saw some old friends; Mackenzie and Madison enjoyed touring the high school where they filmed the Disney movie Hatching Pete, and (after being told it would have to dangle until the concert was over) Clayton was thrilled with his loss. Overall - an enjoyable evening.

Morgan's Preschool Graduation

2009-06-10T09:45:00.007-06:00

The other night we had preschool graduation. Our last one for our kids. I can't believe I'm done with that stage and my baby will be in kindergarten next year!

This year Morgan really enjoyed attending the Tree House Preschool. She adored Mrs. Skousen and learned a lot from her. She also loved having her two friends, Lexi and Lauren, in school with her.

The program was great, as it always is when little kids sing.

True to form, Morgan spent all month singing the songs around the house, then barely sang a word during the actual graduation. I really haven't figured out why she does that; it's a crack-up, but it's a bit frustrating, too! Luckily she did at least participate in the pledge of allegiance and say her part. She was thrilled to get her diploma, grinning from ear to ear.

Morgan really had a fun time memorizing her part in the ceremony!

The first time I wrote my name,
it must have looked a mess.
My mom did not know what it was;
she had to guess and guess and guess.
But now our names look great!

Fun with Cousins at Zermatt

2009-05-31T10:56:00.005-06:00

Last weekend Wendy (my sister) and her girls came into town somewhat unexpectedly, so we decided to have some emergency fun! We all (us, Wendy and her kids, and Kevin and Patrice and their kids) met at Zermatt and had a great time. It was a great cousin fest! The kids swam (of course); played chess, horseshoes, board games, and "spy"--whatever that is; we celebrated birthdays, went out to eat, and enjoyed gelato (or at least the kids did).

The munchkins also rode the carousel, which the two littlest thought was pretty special (and I think the rest of the cousins thought was a lot of fun, too, but are just a little too cool now to admit it.)

One of the big weekend highlights was the candy bar game. There is a big pile of candy bars in the center of a circle composed of all the contestants. Each takes a turn rolling dice. When a contestant rolls doubles, that contestant gets to pick a candy bar from the pile.

The trick is that you don't want the others to know what candy bar you pick because in the end (after all of the candy bars in the pile have been picked), you have a speed round where contestants who roll doubles get to pick a candy bar from another contestant, only you have to guess the candy bar right when you announce which one you want, or you don't get it.

So each of the kids went to extraordinary measures to conceal their pick from the pile, and that was cause for quite a bit of fun.

The candy bar game reveals kids' personalities. We all had a great time. It was funny to see Morgan's little personality come alive, especially as she "nonchalantly" hid her stash in her shirt!

FYI: If you'd like to stay at Zermatt, let us know as we might be able to make arrangements for you to stay there at a great rate!

Dance Festival: Being Cool Versus Having Fun

2009-05-24T09:37:00.001-06:00

Dance festival was last week and the kids had a good time. It would seem, though, that maybe Clayton had the most fun. How much fun could we all have if we just had Clayton's attitude? You'll have to watch the video to understand.

Actually, the dance festival was really fun for everyone, even those without Clayton's energy! This year's Dance Festival was the finale to Hispanic Week at the school so all the performances were traditional dances from Spanish speaking countries. Clayton is currently taking Chinese, not Spanish, so he was the maracas player for the second grade dance. The fifth grade did a couples dance, but they had too many girls for the number of boys, so even though their Spanish is coming along great, Maddie and Kenzie didn't dance with their group either. However, because they had taken sewing, they became the costume committee and made all the cute skirts, ponchos, and hair bows for the fifth grade costumes. They also helped with the decorations, spending two hours making and hanging the chains of flowers along the fences. We ended with the family dance and a picnic lunch of traditional Guatemalan food. It was a perfect morning and we all had a great time. Everbody Dance!

Spring Soccer

2009-05-24T08:53:00.001-06:00

Clayton finished his soccer season yesterday, and in his final game he had the eye of the tiger! After waiting on the bench for the first few minutes, he really went after it and scored early on. He was quite pleased with himself and seemed to have a lot of fun, and he had a great "header" off the other team's throw-in. He also had a fun time playing goalie with some good stops.

Coach Weaver, who is a UHP officer, came by our house (with his police car and uniform on) later in the day and gave Clayton a silver dollar for heading the ball during the game. That was a good gesture from a good coach, and it will leave a lasting impression on Clayton. Some neighbors likely wondered why the police were at our house (but we'll just leave them wondering unless they read this post)!

Backyard Theatre

2009-05-20T19:36:00.005-06:00

Grandma Besaw has a great selection of kids costumes, and the kids all love to dress up in them. Often when we go to Grandma and Grandpa Besaw's, Madison and Mackenzie become on-the-spot playwrights and conjure a skit for everyone's entertainment as the evening's grand finale.

The top picture is of them rehearsing for a recent production. I was honored to meet one of the play's central figures who let me take a picture of her. She truly did a remarkable job of playing the blue fish in act one and the lovely princess in act two.

Happy Birthday to Melissa

2009-05-20T19:25:00.007-06:00

Melissa just recently celebrated her birthday. I didn't take her to NYC, but I did take her to Olive Garden with the rest of the family. During the day she accompanied Morgan on a preschool field trip. That evening we went out to eat and opened presents. The kids were all very excited to give her gifts. I put Mackenzie in charge of all of the wrapping; she did a fabulous job. Hope you had a happy birthday, Melissa! Incidentally, Morgan took the picture of Melissa with the gifts. Looks like we may have a budding photographer on our hands!

Calamari Anyone?

2009-05-17T21:05:00.016-06:00

For our anniversary, I took Melissa to Market Street Grill and we had calamari for an appetizer. Melissa thought it would be a good idea to take some home for the kids so they could try some.

We made sure to save nice big ones with tentacles. Morgan didn't want anything to do with it, but the rest of the kids were interested in trying it. Believe it or not, Clayton liked it! Madison (left), too. Mackenzie (right) not so much; she found it quite disgusting!

Hope of America

2009-05-16T09:47:00.000-06:00

Madison and Mackenzie got to participate in the Hope of America program, which was part of the kickoff for America's Freedom Festival. They've had a great year in 5th grade with Mrs. Styler, and they've looked forward to Hope of America for a long time. About 3,600 kids from elementary schools in Utah County performed in the program at the Marriott Center at BYU.

The kids all sat on one side of the Marriott Center and wore red, white, blue, or yellow shirts to create the image of the American flag. The program consisted of a number of patriotic songs. The preceding video was the finale song, which was quite spectacular. Watch to the end to see what the "flag" looked like.

The girls were very excited for Grandma and Grandpa Besaw to come watch them, and it worked out great for me as I happened to teach class that evening and just walked over from my classroom after finishing teaching.

After the program we went to Baskin Robbins for an ice cream treat. The kids are always crazy about ice cream. In the end, they all zonked out on the way home! They were so exhausted it was funny. We all had a lot of fun, though.

Spring Break at Zermatt

2009-05-12T23:03:00.000-06:00

For Spring Break this year we spent a week in Midway at Zermatt. No phone calls. No doorbell. No work. No Disneyland. It was fabulous!

We probably spent about 20 hours actually in the pool. The kids were completely content to swim, swim, swim. When we weren't swimming we were either playing games or watching Hannah Montana or Suite Life of Zach and Cody.

We did make an occasional trip into Heber for treats. The kids loved Dairy Keen and Melissa and I particularly enjoyed the bakery at Tarahumara. I would so like a chocolate chip pecan cookie right now! Unfortunately, we also had to take Madison to an InstaCare as she got an earache. She rebounded really well, though.

What is the fascination with jumping on elevators? Clayton and Morgan were quite the crack-up as they'd jump up and down on the elevator and tear out lickity-split as soon as the doors opened, racing down the hallway.

When asked whether they liked Disneyland or Zermatt better, they all agreed: "Tie!" Looks like there's no need to go to Disneyland again. It was nice to spend so much time together as a family.

Our First 5K

2009-05-10T21:21:00.001-06:00

Kent (Melissa's brother) is the superstar runner in our family. A few months ago he took Clayton on a 5K fun run. Apparently Clayton has runner's blood coursing through his veins because he did quite well. And so began our family adventure of preparing for the big 5K held by Clayton's school.

Before getting ready for this 5K, I think the farthest I'd ever run was about 800 meters, so running 5 kilometers seemed like a mountain of a hurdle. Melissa, Clayton, and I prepared for a couple months, though, by jogging the course 2-3 times per week. By the time the big day arrived, I'd gotten to the point where I could at least jog the whole thing. Hurray!

On the day of the run it poured buckets, and it was very chilly out. The run was on May 2nd, which should have been decent weather.

As you can see from Clayton's big toothless smile as he crossed the finish line, he probably had a lot more gas left in him. He's a natural at age 7 clocking in at 29:18. Among the students from his school who ran the race, he came in 3rd; 1st and 2nd were two 12-year-olds, so he did pretty darn good! He beat Melissa by a minute, and he beat me by just over two minutes! But we all finished! We're very proud of Clayton for doing so well, and we're grateful to Kent for getting us off the couch! Oh, and by the way, Kent won Men's Overall . . . of course.

New York for a Weekend

2009-05-10T11:20:00.000-06:00

Melissa surprised me on my 40th with an announcement that we were going on a trip to New York City. We had a great time. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the top of the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, American Museum of Natural History, the Manhattan Temple, and a couple of plays--Mary Poppins and Blithe Spirit. It was fun to see Rupert Everett and an 83-year-old Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit. We unsuccessfully tried the lottery to get Wicked tickets, but that didn't work out. We still had a great time, though, but I'd have been pretty bummed if we hadn't already seen Wicked.

Eating there was a lot of fun, too. We went to Tavern on the Green, Serendipity, Magnolia's Bakery, Katz's Deli (Where Harry Met Sally), Mimi's, Maoz, and even the Sbarro on Times Square where the stunt driver just crashed a Ferrari filming the upcoming Nicholas Cage movie. What's not to love about eating in NYC? Especially WITHOUT kids!!! Melissa was so excited to eat warm food when it was supposed to be warm and cold food when it was supposed to be cold! Ah, heaven. The frozen hot chocolate was rather exquisite . . . especially after Melissa made me jog from the American Girl store near the Rockefeller Center to Serendipity so that we could make our reservation on time!

Of course we went to Canal Street, Wall Street, Ground Zero, the Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and a number of other places, too. We had quite the clandestine experience on Canal Street getting whooshed away into a minivan on a side street by a little Asian woman covertly transmitting messages to her sidekicks to determine whether the coast was clear. Melissa was quite pleased with the outcome of the operation. Mission accomplished!

Thanks, Melissa, for a wonderful 40th birthday party! Thanks also to Rod and Terry for watching the kids (and picking us up from the airport), and to Dad for dropping us off! It took a team to pull it off, but we did! It was a fabulous couple's getaway.

Grandpa's New Wheels

2009-03-10T21:52:00.021-06:00

Grandpa Laurence finished restoring his '52 Hudson, and we got to take it for a spin. The kids all have a blast just sitting in it, opening and closing doors, holding onto the steering wheel, rolling windows up and down, and (of course) bouncing on the seats. I'm not too sure Grandpa likes that bouncing on the seats business!

The kids think it's pretty cool Grandpa has Doc Hudson from Cars.

As you can see, it's just a lot of fun, and I'm sure this sort of thing builds lasting memories for wide-eyed grandkids!

What's Better: Watching Cougar Basketball or Going to Jason's Deli?

2009-02-01T09:07:00.023-07:00

The kids have discovered they have fun when we go to BYU basketball games, so they've looked forward to this game for a few weeks. We all had fun at the game, but it was quite a blowout and not all that exciting. More exciting was getting popcorn and waving wildly to try to capture attention to hopefully get a free t-shirt thrown their way. Morgan asked, "Dad, next time can we sit closer so that I can catch a t-shirt?" Ha-ha.

It was fun to coincidentally sit in front of Mark and Kim Bird, whom I know from my mission. Clayton enjoyed running into his friend and neighbor Nathan. It was also fun to see that six families from my ward that I know of were actually at the game. Yeah, that's what living in Utah County on BYU Basketball Family Night is all about: nosebleed tickets are only a dollar. The following little clip is about as exciting as the game got; listen carefully for Nathan's commentary at the end of the video:

On the way to the game, the kids all decided that after the game we should go to Jason's Deli for dinner. Being the mischievous daddy that I am, though, just to yank their chains, I decided to suggest that we go to a host of different restaurants. Morgan hit her breaking point, though, and exclaimed, "Oh come on. Let's just go to Jason's Deli." There was more of a plea in her voice than exasperation. I thought it was so funny that when we got to Jason's Deli, I asked her to do a redo; this is what we got:

In the end, on the family excite-o-meter, I think Jason's Deli beat out Cougar basketball this time around.

Just Because I Love You

2009-01-30T09:17:00.002-07:00

To my sweetheart, Melissa:

Why wait for Valentine's Day? Love in full bloom is a great thing to have. Thank you. Truly, I love you truly.

Craig

(Okay, Kent, I know you are gagging, but about that I feel a bit like Rhett when he walked out on Scarlet.)

Formerly Miss Braceface

2009-01-30T09:09:00.004-07:00

Madison got her braces off! Now good luck to all of you out there in your attempts to distinguish her from Mackenzie!

B-Ball Boy

2009-01-30T08:52:00.005-07:00

I look forward to getting off work Thursdays to watch Clayton play basketball. He loves playing, and that makes it fun to watch him; he really hustles around so he can get a chance to shoot the ball.

I was never good at basketball, so I hold out hope for him. I figure that since he's got Besaw blood he stands a pretty good shot at it.

He's Got His Head in the Game

2009-01-10T08:54:00.007-07:00

Clayton started youth basketball the other day, which he is really excited about because he says basketball is his favorite sport. He has lots of friends on his team, which makes it extra fun. We're still working on helping him understand that when you play with friends you share. As you will notice in the second video, he is pretty good at following parental instruction. Of course, it doesn't help that he gets such mixed signals! From where would you guess he gets his competitive instinct?

Happy New Year!

2009-01-10T07:58:00.014-07:00

We spent New Year's Eve at Uncle Kent and Aunt Jamie's having a little party. The kiddos were definitely getting their groove on as they tested out an assortment of dance moves.

There was dancing, eating, reading, and just celebrating. We even had a mini fireworks show thanks to Kent.

Happy New Year to you! Good luck keeping those resolutions in 2009!

Snow Shovelers

2008-12-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

Morgan and I had a fabulous time shoveling snow after a recent storm. She's such a good little helper that it made the job enjoyable!

On Christmas Day in the Morning

2008-12-26T07:52:00.031-07:00

The kids seem to have the routine down now: On Christmas day in the morning, they excitedly jump out of bed to dump out the contents of their stockings. What time each does this is anyone'e guess, but they all know to eventually gather in Dad and Mom's room to share with each other what Santa brought. Then the processional begins: The march from the bedroom to the Christmas tree.

One thing for certain this Christmas has reinforced in my mind is that the best things in life aren't things. What can beat happiness together?

For sure, the kids are excited about the things they are getting, but it's the time together that makes it exciting. And afterward, the time we get to spend together with the new presents is truly special. Real gratification comes from seeing your kiddos figure this out. It's like realizing the Savior's birth is a magnificent occassion, but what He did with His life is divine.

It seems that Clayton will be very protective of his karate lessons!

The fun thing about Madison and Mackenzie this year is that they have arrived at the age when being cool starts to be important . . .

but the problem is it becomes so very difficult to contain themselves and keep that state of coolness. Thank goodness!

As you can see, we were blessed with a very Merry Christmas, and we hope you were, too! Happy New Year!

Our Christmas Eve Tradition

2008-12-25T16:30:00.002-07:00

As Christmas approaches, more and more presents appear under the tree. On Christmas Eve, we take turns the presents to each other. This year, Grandma and Grandpa Besaw joined us for dinner and the gift exchange. I enjoy the gift exchange on Christmas Eve because the kids exhibit joy as they struggle to contain the giddiness they feel over giving. They are filled with hope that the recipient will like their present. On Christmas, when they get Santa's and Dad and Mom's presents, the "joy" is more exhilaration over getting the longed for present.

Morgan seems to really love her MyPod!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Laurence's

2008-12-24T12:01:00.001-07:00

Last night we had Christmas dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Kevin and Patrice and family were there as well. Everyone contributed to the fabulous dinner. Afterward, we did our annual telling of the Christmas story, this time narrated by Maren. As you can imagine, with nine grandkids acting out the story, it gets crazy.

Still, though, in the end, the kids manage to feel the reverence of the story. This year, I think they particularly felt the spirit of Christmas as Grandpa led a discussion about why the story of Christ's birth is so important. I have always enjoyed how we focus first on why we celebrate Christmas before everyone tears into their presents. It can be a bit chaotic managing all the anxious kids who want nothing more than to find out what they got from their cousin, but taking just a few minutes to discuss the meaning of Christmas gives purpose to the gift exchange, strengthens faith in Christ and each other, and will surely have far- and long-reaching effects.

I think the pictures tell the tale of how the presents were received!

Klara was on a roll last night, providing lots of entertainment. She seemed to love her present so much that she couldn't resist kissing it. Then, while we all enjoyed dessert (which we really did quite enjoy), Klara shows up with a potty seat around her head!

Though we had a great time, we all missed our California cousins and Oregonian uncle. Hopefully Lauren, Michaela, Daisy, and Annabelle will be able to get together, too; I think Nathan's on his own in Oregon, but we look forward to a time when we can all celebrate Christmas together. Maybe next year!

Swaddling Clothes

2008-12-21T20:52:00.003-07:00

Morgan is at the stage where her understanding about Christmas is so precious. She is very intrigued by the story of baby Jesus and Mary and the reasons behind Christmas. We are so glad for her sweet spirit that reminds us to avoid the commercialism and focus on the true spirit behind the holiday. This little manger and doll were given to her this year by Grandma Laurence. The doll had seen better days, but Morgan didn't care. All she knew is it represented baby Jesus, so she brought it home, got about ten kleenex's out and made that baby as comfortable as it could be in the manger. Merry Christmas my sweet little angel!

A Visit from Santa

2008-12-21T20:31:00.005-07:00

"Morgan, who is it?"
"Santa!"

Preschool Christmas Program

2008-12-21T19:30:00.010-07:00

Morgan is not one to be told what to do, including performing for an audience. She loves preschool, but when it comes to the programs, she tends to clam up and resist with her "will of steel" any coercion to play the part of happily singing four year old. This is so funny to us at home because around the house we can't get her to STOP singing. This Christmas season was no exception. All month long she sang Christmas songs around the house but we feared what the program would bring. Our little Christmas miracle this year was the night of the program she sang all but two songs and seemed to actually enjoy it for the most part! Grandma and Grandpa Besaw were able to view the miracle as well. We love that Morgan sings for us and are so glad she shared that with others! Thank you Mrs. Skousen, for putting together such a great evening.

Piano Recital

2008-12-14T16:52:00.005-07:00

A Christmas tradition that started when Mackenzie and Madison were in second grade was the Christmas piano recital each year. This year Clayton was able to participate in the recital for the first time which made it extra special. They all worked very hard to prepare for this night and did an amazing job with their Christmas songs. We are so pleased with the progress the kids have made in developing their musical abilities and talents. It is always a treat to hear them playing, especially during this season when so much can be expressed through music! Thank you to Jill Bell for teaching them so well and providing them with the opportunity to perform. We hope it is a tradition that lasts for many years to come!

A Christmas Tradition

2008-12-14T16:21:00.013-07:00

The Live Nativity

2008-12-13T14:33:00.010-07:00

Blessing Baby Baylee

2008-12-13T14:21:00.006-07:00

Thanksgiving

2008-12-13T13:51:00.007-07:00

Snowball Fight!

2008-12-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

I love kids playing in the snow. Something about it just makes me happy. The other day we barely had enough snow on the ground to play in, but it didn't stop my kids. They rounded up some friends and had a boys vs. girls snow war going in our back yard. Each team built a fort and stocked it with snowballs in preparation. Then the battle began and so did the shrieks and giggles.

Wii!

2008-11-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

What could be better than cousins and a Wii? Nothing! They can get out all their energy and excitement without ever making physical contact. Love it! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Besaw - one of the best Christmas presents ever!

Battle

2008-11-25T14:22:00.002-07:00

It is a very odd thing that my kiddos all get along so well and have so much fun playing Battle! They run around the house play-fighting. It is hilarious when they play-die; it can get quite dramatic.

It is frustrating as a parent, though, that so often when they don't play Battle, they really fight. I mean, grrr: What the heck!? Why is it they can't just get along and stop fighting about such stupid things?

For me, the real battle seems to be to keep the peace. Harmony in the home is such a beautiful thing; I just wish there was more of it!

Eat Your Veggies!

2008-11-17T12:18:00.002-07:00

When Melissa made this meal I insisted that I take a picture because it really does mark a major milestone. When we got married, I was hardly a vegetable eater. I mean, I ate vegetables: potatoes, carrots, beans, and peas. (Ha!) One day I came home to our newlywed little apartment (in Provo) after having gone to class and smelled a really foul odor: "What have you been cooking that stinks so bad?" After Melissa sheepishly informed me she'd just had cauliflower, I said, "Please make sure that if you ever cook that stuff again, I am in a different state!" Okay, maybe it wasn't that exaggerated, but to this day Melissa repeats the story with some sort of similar outlandish declaration that is quite akin I'm sure to what I actually did say.

Everything pictured in this meal is from our garden or the community garden. The kids loved it, and even I loved it! That's right, I actually eat cauliflower now...and broccoli, beets, asparagus, zucchini, and squash. I still hate tomatoes, though, which is funny because everyone else in the family LOVES them. Last Thanksgiving I even tried Brussel sprouts just to demonstrate to my mother-in-law that I had in fact learned to appreciate vegetables. I'd have to say, though, that I hope to never eat Brussel sprouts again.

Hankerings to Paint

2008-11-17T11:23:00.009-07:00

Every now and then Melissa gets a hankering to paint. I used to offer resistance because I thought white walls were perfectly fine.

I've since learned, though, that resistance is futile. I don't even protest anymore (except for her latest hankering to re-paint the ENTIRE upstairs). If she gets a bee in her bonnet, something is going to get painted. This time it was Madison's room.

So here we have the before, during, and after pictures of Madison's room. As usual, it does look better. Now I wonder if we can make it half a year before she gets another hankering.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-11T23:55:00.006-07:00

This year was the first year in a long time that we didn't have a costume theme for our family. I think part of me was secretly hoping everyone's costume would bomb so I could do a theme again next year! However, nobody's did, and we all had a great Halloween!

Craig makes a great Captain Hook and all the kids think his hair is hilarious. I was a scarecrow, Mackenzie was a sassy Sharpay from High School Musical, Madison rocked as Hannah Montana, Clayton was a gallant knight with a very cool sword and shield, and Morgan was the cutest Dorothy ever. (I'm obviously very objective.)

Thursday morning Morgan's preschool class put on a great Halloween program, and to our delight, her teacher was Dorothy, too! Halloween morning Morgan and I helped put on a party for Clayton's class with Miss Hart that really kicked off the excitement of the day. After school we drove to Craig's work for a company trick-or-treat party and were able to see just how creative some of those tech-guys can get! Then we came home to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. Kenzie and Maddie went off with Courtney but were great about checking in. I supervised the trick-or-treating of Clayton paired up with his bud Jaxon and Morgan with her friend Paige. We had beautiful weather for a Utah Halloween and were able to hit almost every house in the neighborhood. Craig got candy duty at home. All in all it was a great Halloween and the kids ended up with quite the candy stash! Next up - Thanksgiving - and from the sounds of this video, Morgan is getting ready!

Fabulous!

2008-10-26T11:09:00.000-06:00

Most ten-year-old girls got excited about the new High School Musical 3 movie coming out in theaters, but Madison had the good fortune to win free tickets through her orthodontist and attend opening night! The girls' got dressed up in their best High School Musical outfits as "Gabriella" and "Sharpay," and we were off. It was such a fun girl's night out. The good fortune continued when, at the theater, Mackenzie won the HSM 3 soundtrack. The movie was great (I heard many a sigh over Troy!) with all the music, dance, and glam (do people really dress like that in high schools outside Utah?) that two young girls could want. We listened to the new CD on the way to Subway for a late dinner and ended the evening excitedly explaining the movie and playing "The Boys are Back" for Clayton and Morgan.

I've enjoyed this new "tween" stage with Mackenzie and Madison so much. It is fun to see their interests blossoming to include clothes, hair, music, and occasionally the cuteness, rather than grossness, of boys. They are becoming such beautiful and nice young women and I love having them in our home. It's a joy hearing them sing along to their MP3s or asking each other fashion advice. We're really glad SOMETHING good came from Madison's stubborn front tooth; thanks Dr. Swenson for a FABULOUS night out!

We Builded a Fort!

2008-10-25T08:03:00.001-06:00

"Dad, Mom! Come see what brudder and I did."
"What did you do, Morgan?"
"We builded a fort!"

It is such a wonderful thing when the kids decide to play together contructively and get along instead of battling over who gets to sit where, play with that, or watch what.

They're All Winners

2008-10-25T06:49:00.000-06:00

Clayton's flag football team--the Cougars--really played well this year; they actually won almost all of their games. Most importantly, though, they all had fun, especially Clayton. Next up is basketball.

Besaw Cousin Halloween Party

2008-10-24T15:17:00.002-06:00

We kicked off Halloween early this year with a cousins party at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We wanted to have it before UEA weekend and before Grandma and Grandpa flew to Florida for a family reunion. We changed last year from having the big family bash at our house on the 31st to doing a pre-Halloween party because the kids are getting old enough that they want to spend more time trick-or-treating in their own neighborhoods.

For Halloween this year I was out-voted (which I'm still sad about), so for the first time in six years we do not have a family costume theme. Instead, Mackenzie is going as Sharpay Evans from High School Musical, Madison as Hannah Montana, Clayton as Sir Clayton the Brave (a medieval knight), and Morgan as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. I think they look cute although they don't match!

This year we had a yummy soup bar with ice cream sundaes for dessert. The kids looked great in their costumes and we had some fun Halloween games. It still amazes me how thrilled kids get over prizes and treat bags! Of course, the highlight of the party is watching all the kids (Kent included) dance to theme music like "Thriller" with Grandma's strobe light going! Do they even make those anymore? It really adds life to the party!

Skylight Went the Way of All the Earth

2008-10-24T15:00:00.000-06:00

Skylight, passed on to a better life a few weeks ago. Craig and I are not pet people. I figure I can barely keep up with my children's messes, much less animals', and I'm allergic to just about everything with fur. So when our kids exhibited signs of pet deprivation we caved and bought two Beta fish.

Clayton named the iridescent one Skylight, and Mackenzie named the red one Rose. We actually came to really love and enjoy our pets and were sad to see Skylight go. It was a great two and a half years!

I Didn't Settle for the Evil of Two Lessers

2008-10-24T09:10:00.001-06:00

Just another Craig's Corner post.This one is about my voting experience yesterday. As you can tell from the post title, I did not vote for McCain or Obama. I guess I should apologize now for the offensive nature of the title: two is really much too small a number!

Our UEA Weekend at Zermatt

2008-10-19T16:17:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Wendy (Thanks, Wendy!), we had a fabulous stay at Zermatt in Midway over UEA weekend. We didn't really do much besides relax, which was what made the vacation truly fabulous. The first day the kids went swimming twice and wanted to go a third time! Unfortunately Craig had to grade papers all day, but sitting by the pool made it amazingly bearable. If the kids weren't swimming, they were either watching the Disney channel or playing games. We played quite a few games such as Zobmondo, Apples to Apples, GameCube games, and the Star Wars game on the back of the kids' Lunchables boxes. Anytime we went anywhere, the kids raced each other down the long corridors at the resort; occasionally they decided to create human obstacles by laying on the floor and jumping over each other. Whatever it took for fun was what mattered most!

Our second day there, we went swimming two more times. Kevin and Patrice showed up part-way through the second day, and the kids paired up to really get the party going. Thanks to Maren and Kirsten, we got to go to dinner at a nice restaurant with Kevin and Patrice.

On our final day we stopped at the Provo River Falls and explored before continuing on to Mirror Lake for a picnic. After our picnic, we walked around the lake; the kids were all real troopers.

Back at Zermatt, we went swimming one final time. If we'd only figured out years ago that our kids were totally content doing nothing but swimming, watching the Disney channel, and playing games, we'd have saved a lot of money on vacations! It was a nice getaway.

Bribery Works . . . for Now!

2008-10-12T13:15:00.005-06:00

A friend once told us that they made a deal with their kids that every time they had to throw up and managed to do it in the toilet instead of on the floor, they'd get a dollar. What a brilliant idea! So, when our kids are sick, we remind them that they get a dollar for every time they make it in the toilet. This method of bribery has had serious benefits over the years.

It was actually snowing (lightly) at Clayton's last flag football game, which made it all the more impressive that his cousin, Tyler, and uncle, Kent, showed up to cheer him on. To help Clayton keep his head in the game (instead of on how cold it was . . . and other things), at the beginning of the season, we decided to "pay" him a milkshake for every time he scores and/or gets five tackles (flags) in a game. It seems to really help, but it is starting to get expensive!

Our Rights are Being Taken

2008-10-10T06:37:00.000-06:00

I've resisted making Laurence Living a political forum, which is why I started Craig's Corner (at the bottom right corner of this blog). With all of the ridiculous things Congress and our president are doing, I feel compelled to make a statement. If you are interested in seeing what I have to say, click here.

Soccer Rainout . . . but not Football!

2008-10-04T11:02:00.011-06:00

Clayton's last soccer game of the season was rained out. Or at least the other team didn't show up, so it seems it was rained out. Those sissies were too chicken to show up! But not the Red Dragons!

Football didn't get rained out (though it was pouring), and thank goodness because Clayton had a great game. On his first run he went the length of the field before an opponent got his flag just before he could score. His second run was just a blur as he crossed the goal line. Why is it that the picture you always really want to turn out never does? Grrr. On defense Clayton did well, too, getting four "tackles."

20-Year Germany Frankfurt Mission Reunion

2008-10-04T06:15:00.005-06:00

On May 4, 1988 I entered the MTC. Amazing to think that it's been 20 years! More than any other job or calling, I loved learning and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm anxious for the day when I can have that full-time job again. (Sorry future grandkids: So long as I'm healthy, you may not get to see much of me!)

I served under the presidency of David and Anne Wirthlin and was thrilled to see them at the reunion last Thursday. The first half of my mission I served under Christian and Karma Vikari; they were unable to attend the reunion. During my mission, I served in 11 cities with 20 different companions. The cities included Darmstadt, Friedberg, Koeln, Pirmasens, Frankfurt, Idar-Oberstein, Karlsruhe, Krefeld, Sohren, Kaiserslautern, and Dortmund. My companions were Smith (Mark), Reynolds, Gansauge, Tatton, Wimmer, Mostert, Colton, Ford, Wares, Schmidt (Dean), Doud, Cooper, Furlong, Gibson, Cook, Seamons, Sparkawk, Sanft, Johns, and Knight. I couldn't believe that out of 20 companions, only one showed up at the reunion! It was sure good to see Brian Seamons, though.

The pictures I took on my mission are slides. The reunion may have been nostalgic enough to inspire me to dig out those slides and scan them so that I can make an electronic slideshow. I'd like my children to be able to readily identify with my mission experience, so I think I'll do that this weekend.

Evadyna Hart Laurence (1909-2008)

2008-09-26T19:56:00.013-06:00

Grandma (Evadyna Hart Laurence) lived to be 99 1/2 years old. Grandpa (Elmer) passed away 15 years ago. Now they're together again. Last Sunday night I got a call from Mom that Dad was at the hospital with Grandma because she'd had an aortic aneurysm. On Monday, Melissa, the kids, and I went to the funeral of our good friend, Dirk Roberts. Just after his funeral we went to visit Grandma in the hospital. She seemed quite pleased to see the red-headed twins! She passed away two days later on the 17th--Constitution Day.

Grandma's funeral was on the 24th; I read her obituary and offered a brief message. After a quick lunch, we proceeded to Richmond for the interment. Afterward, we went to Uncle Bruce and Aunt Alta's in Logan for a wonderful dinner where we were able to visit with a number of cousins, aunts, and uncles. It was nice to see so many relatives; many came from long distances. Just before returning home, we went to the Logan temple grounds. It was neat because we were able to tell the kids that this was where their Grandma and Grandpa Laurence--my dad and mom--were married.

I think Renee's wedding was the last time my entire family was together, so even though it was only for one hectic day, it was good to be together again. Funerals offer clarification on life's most meaningful things; we've been to two in the past two weeks. It's nice to know that families can be together forever.

Cougar Football

2008-09-26T17:31:00.000-06:00

Sports is like a drug; it is absolutely addicting. For years I spent 3, 4, sometimes 5 hours every weekend watching sports. Then one day I just stopped caring so much. Don't get me wrong: I’m not entirely uninterested in sports. I do enjoy the drama of good competition, and I’m even interested in how some teams perform (such as BYU), so I’ll watch things once in a while. When Regan called the other day with an offer for tickets to go watch BYU wax Wyoming, I thought it would be fun, especially since Clayton could come, too.

It was a fun afternoon with Regan, London, and Clayton. We parked at the Marriott Center and walked to the stadium. BYU crushed Wyoming 44-0. Clayton and London seemed to have a lot of fun together, and I enjoyed the time with them and Regan, too.

I also enjoyed answering question after question for Clayton. He wanted to know the intricacies of the game. He's quite excited about it all, which reminds me a bit of me when I was growing up and friends dubbed me "Mr. BYU." Lately, I've grown dangerously close to an inability to recognize names of star athletes, and now my son is just starting to get interested! I just really hope he doesn't get so consumed as I did. Since I stopped almost five years ago, I have really felt free. I didn't see that stuff as an addiction then, but now it is clear to me that it was. Even so, Goooooo Cougars!

Simultaneous Soccer and Football

2008-09-26T14:01:00.050-06:00

I'd rather watch Clayton play a game than sit at the Super Bowl 50-yard line on the front row! When Clayton played soccer a year or so ago, people regularly commented about him because he grinned from ear to ear and giggled the entire game. It was so obvious he was having the time of his life that people couldn't help but notice. It was pure joy to see his delight. He seems to be enjoying himself as much this year, but his competitive streak is starting to show.

There is a great deal of obsession with sports in our culture. To me, the pressure some parents put on kids to perform undermines the joy of playing. Sometimes I watch and listen to fathers (and mothers) willing their sons to stardom, yet when I look at the field, I just see a kid trying to have fun. I think to myself that if the pushing doesn't stop, the kid is likely going to stop having fun soon.

I confess that when Clayton scores touchdowns, goals, and baskets my pride swells a bit, but for the most part I am just genuinely excited to see him discover the thrill in it. It fuels his fun, and it is so much fun to see his fun. I really don't want to focus on whether he performs well or wins; I just want him to enjoy what he does.

This year, Clayton is playing soccer and flag football, and it is wearing us out! His practices and games are back-to-back and on opposite sides of Utah Valley. It is hectic keeping up with his schedule, but it is really great to see him enjoying himself so much.

I was REALLY frustrated about the play in the video; the ref thought someone got Clayton's flag, but no one had, and he zipped down the sideline to score . . . only to bring it back since the ref blew the play dead. Still, I bit my tongue. Just keep on running, Clayton!

Grandpa Laurence's Hudson

2008-09-25T09:30:00.002-06:00

Grandpa Laurence is restoring a Hudson. The kids all think that is really cool because Doc Hudson from the movie Cars is a Hudson. I bet it won't be too long before he finishes working on that car. The kids are looking forward to dragging State with Grandpa, and so am I! I have a feeling there will be a future blog post about that.

Grant's Baptism

2008-09-25T08:29:00.008-06:00

Clayton and Grant are great buds. It's nice that our kids are able to be so close to their cousins. We went to Grant's baptism and then to Kevin and Patrice's house for a family get-together.

Kevin and Patrice are responsible for Melissa and I meeting; they have an amazing matchmaker record. We always enjoy visiting with them, and after Grant's baptism, we ended up just hanging out all day talking about a myriad of subjects. It was an enjoyable day.

The cousins pair up well: Clayton was thrilled to spend the day with Grant; Morgan with Klara; and Mackenzie and Madison with Mette.

Be Kind to Your Parents

2008-09-25T07:29:00.007-06:00

Over the summer, Mackenzie, Madison, and Clayton took singing lessons. Just after our vacation to Southern California they had a recital. They sang a number of songs and sounded great!

Be kind to your parents, though they don't deserve it! Those are the words to the song you can listen to if you play the following video. The song is cute, and the kiddos are even cuter (but I sure do wish that lady in the front row wasn't in the way)!

Be kind to your parents, though they don't deserve it.
Remember they're grownups--a difficult stage of life.
They're apt to be nervous . . . and overexcited,
Confused from the daily storm and strife.

Just keep in mind, though it sounds odd, I know--
Those parents once were children long ago: Incredible!
So treat them with patience, and sweet understanding,
In spite of the foolish things they do.

Some day you may wake up, and find you're a parent too!

Treehouse Preschool One Last Time

2008-09-23T19:29:00.001-06:00

Because of our trip out to California, Morgan missed her first week of four-year-old preschool. But Wednesday morning we got to make the familiar trip (by scooter this time) four doors down to the Treehouse Preschool. Clayton loved going to school here and I'm sure Morgan will too. Mrs. Skousen is an excellent preschool teacher, and I look forward to seeing Morgan grow and learn this year. However, amid Morgan's cute smiles, I felt just a twinge of melancholy knowing this was my baby and my last year with a preschooler.

The Besaw Reunion

2008-09-22T07:06:00.002-06:00

It's always tough when family lives far away; little windows of time become so precious. I don't just want my kids to know that they have cousins; I want them to BE cousins, which to me is like a natural friendship. Clayton loves to play with Adam, and Madison and Mackenzie love to play with Annaka. They seem to enjoy each other's company so much that wanting more time is just part of life.

Of course, with a NEW cousin around, the excitement was more intense. Everyone was anxious for a chance to hold baby Ashlyn. She is a sweet little angel and a welcome addition to the family. Examining the situation, I'm not sure anyone was more excited to hold Ashlyn than Melissa, but don't anyone get excited because we are perfectly content to just hold YOUR little cuties.

Rod and Terry's posterity is expanding thanks to Melissa's siblings. The more the merrier! Eleven now. But who's counting?

The ladies got it in their heads that they deserved to be pampered. And what better way for female bonding than the beauty shop?

So off they went for pedicures, manicures, and beauty shop talk! They returned with beautiful toes, lovely fingers, and warm smiles.

The Utah bunch stayed at a hotel not far from Carl and Amy's house, and we all had fun swimming in the pool one afternoon. After swimming, Carl and Amy treated everyone to a yummy dinner at their house; afterward, the kids got to hang out and play together, which is what they love most. I think the thing I enjoyed most about visiting Carl, Amy, and their family was time together talking about what is happening in their lives. Sitting and talking is so underrated!

Blessing baby Ashlyn is what brought us all together, and Sunday morning, the invited priesthood holders gathered in a circle in the chapel and Bishop Besaw blessed his baby. It was a great experience, and I'm grateful to have been able to participate. After church, we all got together for a fabulous lunch before we had to hit the road for the long trek back to Utah. It's always so enjoyable to visit with Carl, Amy, and their kids. This busy and hectic life we all live dictates our ability (or inability) to get together; it's just never frequent enough.

That little Morgan was quite the tease about giving her Uncle Carl a hug. Nothing doing time and time again, but finally in the end as she sensed that prolonged separation was for real this time, she gave him a great big hug! Morgan hugs are great!

A Day At The Beach

2008-09-18T07:20:00.010-06:00

Who doesn't love boogie boarding? A fond memory of my youth is of going to Zuma Beach to boogie board with my brother and cousins. I'm glad my kids got a taste of the exhilaration. I didn't think that Grandpa Besaw would find it so entertaining, but hey, why not? Melissa couldn't resist getting in on the action, too. Thanks, Regan, for such a great idea and for getting the boogie board. Fun!

There's not much better than a day just hanging out at the beach: boogie boarding, building sandcastles, sunbathing, collecting seashells, reading, talking, relaxing, eating, laughing. We enjoyed spending the day with Grandma and Grandpa Besaw and Regan and Miranda; it was a day I'd like to do again sometime.

Dizzilyland!

2008-09-17T20:00:00.029-06:00

Morgan calls it Dizzilyland and it kind of caught on with everyone in our family. She is funny how she has names for certain things even though we tell her the correct name many times. Despite the fact that she KNOWS Robin Hood is Robin Hood, she calls him Ribison Robison. She has a number of quirky but cute things like that.

Morgan was like Brer Rabbit on this trip, only her begging and pleading not to get thrown in the briar patch was anything but an act. Her fear was real, which made it tough to prod her along, but once she finally took the leap she'd find herself in the laughing place!

Clayton was quite pleased to be tall enough for ALL rides this trip. Morgan didn't really care that she was too short, but it made for a cute picture! Last trip we stuffed socks in Clayton's shoes so he could go on the Indiana Jones ride; he'd BEGGED to go on it. Why is it that we often so desperately want what we can't have? The shoe-stuffing worked, but he ended up being so flipped out by the ride that he had no interest in going on it this trip. He says, "California Screamin' and Hollywood Tower of Terror are TOTALLY AWESOME . . . but please don't make me go on Indiana Jones!"

This trip marked the beginning of a new era: Madison and Mackenzie had no interest in princesses; they mostly just liked fast roller coasters such as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, and California Screamin' (which they probably went on 20 times). Morgan was still very interested, though, so Melissa took her to Ariel's Grotto for lunch and to meet the princesses. Morgan has always liked Snow White, but she discovered on this trip that she also likes Jane; she was quite excited to visit Jane's treehouse, and since we've been home she's watched Tarzan quite a few times.

I'll never forget one trip to Disneyland when Madison and Mackenzie's favorite ride was Splash Mountain, and we went on it again and again and again. I think I loved it every bit as much as they did. The image impressed upon my mind of that trip, though, is one of their itty-bitty hands raised in the air for the whole ride as they just laughed, giggled, and sang Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah; meanwhile I stressed and fretted over the possibility that they would tumble out of their seats because they were not holding on for dear life as I was!

I don't think Disneyland is really the happiest place on earth, but it is definitely a lot of fun; we love Splash Mountain! What a great ride.

We spent three days at Disneyland this time, which was just the right amount of time for us. We stayed for the fireworks one evening, but the other nights we left early and went swimming in the hotel pool where we had a great view of the fireworks. The kids seemed to enjoy that part of the trip every bit as much as the thrilling rides; they love to swim. Another fun ride, though, was the new Toy Story Mania ride. The yellow glasses enable you to see things that you shoot as part of the ride. We spent more time in Disney's California Adventure this trip than we did in Disneyland.

Clayton and Morgan did an impromptu version of their own monster mash while waiting to go on the Monsters, Inc. ride. We discovered on this trip that the Monsters, Inc. ride is pretty cool because there's never a line, it's fun, and it's air conditioned! Perhaps the funniest part about the ride, though, is the part at the end where the character, Roz, seems to have a personal message for you. She addressed the kids each time we rode, and to this day they all think there must be someone hiding inside her who talks to you.

Every time I have gone on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride I have been most intrigued that people were eating at a restaurant where the ride begins . . . and it always smells SO good. Yes, I have been quite jealous about that. So this time, we ate at The Blue Bayou; it was fabulous, and other people had to smell MY food! Ha-ha!

So I'll always remember trips with those cute little redheads and their hands in the air, but Clayton screaming his little lungs out on every roller coaster ride is what will stick with me from this trip.

Twins Times Two!

2008-09-07T21:56:00.001-06:00

It was a lot of fun to go to Crystal Cove State Park with Robert, Renee, and their twin girls, Annabelle and Daisy. Just about every passer-by stopped and said, "Hey, there's twins pushing twins!" I think Madison and Mackenzie thought that was special. It reminded me of when they were infants and we lived in Northern California; as we walked them in the double-stroller, we'd get stopped periodically as gawkers just wanted to see red-headed twins. Every now and then people even asked to take a picture with them!

After 15 months we finally got to meet Annabelle and Daisy! Yay! When we arrived they were napping, so we just sort of hung out and enjoyed Renee's fabulous guacamole. Madison and Mackenzie made real pigs of themselves leaving about one or two chips worth of dip for everyone else. Ugh! When Daisy and then Annabelle awakened, they weren't too sure about this cousin business, but I told Renee that within an hour they'd all be best friends. I'm not sure it even took an hour. It was a real crack up watching Annabelle with Clayton: she seemed fascinated with petting his hair!

After a grand tour of the beautiful new home and a very yummy lunch, we decided to hit the beach. Morgan and Daisy were two peas in a pod wanting absolutely nothing to do with that frightening water, but the rest of the kids, including Annabelle, couldn't seem to get enough of it. Despite repeated futile threats to not get wet, Madison, Mackenzie, and Clayton practically went swimming while fully clothed; they just couldn't resist. It was like watching Californians enjoying snowfall in Utah!

After the beach we enjoyed yogurt at the Red Mango. We're hooked; it was very good. Annabelle and Daisy were getting their groove on to the music at the restaurant, and it seemed to be contagious as Morgan decided to dance a little jig, too. We had a great time with the Yaniks, and we are already anxious for our next visit.

Visiting the Williams Family

2008-09-03T23:27:00.000-06:00

We try to make Southern California an annual vacation destination. Melissa's brother, Carl, and my sisters, Wendy and Renee, live there. Of course, we never have enough time, but we try to make the most of what we have.

With Wendy and Jerry we did a number of things: visited Forest Lawn (another post), swam in their pool, suffered through a trip to the American Girl Place (another post), ate at El Pollo Loco (of course) and the Farmer's Market (by The Grove), went to church, and vegged in the theater room (this time watching a travel video on Italy instead of an opera, mostly because we were so exhausted).

The things we do together on these trips are always enjoyable, but it's the glimpse into each other's lives that adds the spark of fun and memory. For example, we don't get to just walk out the front door and pick a bunch of oranges to have fresh orange juice. For Morgan, sitting on Michaela's toy horse, Buttercup, is every bit as great as any ride at "Dizzilyland," and the dress-up opportunities are so entertaining. Lauren offers Clayton video game competition...and a true bud! And with Mackenzie, Madison, and Michaela, gear up for the talkfest, and I'm still not sure what exactly they talk about! Just going to church where you don't usually go to church is a great experience. This trip, Jerry introduced us to The Teaching Company, and we watched a lecture on Mary Cassatt. Of course, where else can you actually witness a human being pretty much exclusively drink Diet Coke? And it's always nice to just hang out with Wendy in the kitchen and talk, because that's not something we get to do very often. Oh, and I almost forgot about how I get just a little further along in King Lear with each trip!

Forest Lawn in Glendale

2008-09-02T22:18:00.000-06:00

Glendale's Forest Lawn is a hidden gem amid LA's hustle and bustle; it's a welcome retreat. While much of the art are re-creations, it doesn't matter. Jan Styka's original of The Crucifixion alone merits the visit. His painting captures like no other the majesty of the Savior's supreme sacrifice.

The story of Dr. Hubert Eaton's life seems embodied in "The Builder's" creed. Part of his creed reads, "I believe, most of all, in a Christ that smiles and loves you and me." Eaton created the remarkable cemetery and spent much of his life gathering the displayed artwork. If you click the image, you can read the creed in its entirety.

Amazingly, even the kids seemed to enjoy Dr. Eaton's legacy. There were moments when they got bored, but when we explained to them what they were seeing, they seemed to appreciate it, too. As you can see, though, from the "Clayton" statue, there were still times when they decided to just be kids!

Melissa enjoyed the sculpture "Reveries" of a woman thinking about her book; each color is a different type of stone, individually sculpted then perfectly pieced together.

In LA, we've visited the Huntington Library and the Getty Museum; Forest Lawn is as enjoyable, if not more so than these other homes for great art.

To me, the thing that makes Forest Lawn unique and so personally enjoyable is that its creator, Hubert Eaton, so effectively communicates the essence of the Savior's mission. In addition, Eaton juxtaposes this essence with The Court of Freedom, a part of the cemetery memorializing the mission of our Founding Fathers. The entire place is Eaton's testimony of the message of Christianity and the ongoing battle to protect our agency. It's very cool.

American Girl Place

2008-09-01T20:04:00.009-06:00

The thing I like about this picture is that you can see Uncle Jerry just off to the left doing his absolute best to nonchalantly remain out of the picture. Meanwhile, other people were doing their best to be in the picture. It took about half a dozen attempts just to get this!

We really weren't planning to go to the American Girl Place on this trip. In fact, I really didn't want to take the girls there at all. There are certain times, though, when it becomes obvious to a dad just how important something is to his daughter(s), and he'd best try to accommodate. This ended up being such a time! Who knew?

Having been to two of the three American Girl Place stores, Michaela was the experienced trooper as she ensured all had paper and pencil in hand to take note of the array of options from which to choose.

Leading the crusade, Michaela marched the girls up the escalator, and she marched them down again. In the end, each girl seemed VERY pleased to find the perfect individualized doll.

Of course there is a catalog, too, and Michaela, Madison, and Mackenzie studied it religiously so they would know how to best accessorize! Rather than waiting to look at the catalog, Morgan was mostly interested in actually playing with the dolls and all of the accessories at the store.

For Dad, the American Girl Place is about as painful a place to shop as Justice and Bath and Body Works, but the girls loved it. Naturally, in the end, Daddy gets the well laid out wish list ... as if I'd know what to do with it?! Guess I better send it to Santa Claus.

Back To School

2008-08-19T20:49:00.001-06:00

Sadly, Monday morning at 8:00 a.m., our summer fun came to an end as the kids headed into their first day of school. I can't believe how big my kids have gotten! Almost every day this summer, Clayton would say, "Please let me get Miss Hart" as he got out of bed in the morning, and he's very pleased to have gotten her as his 2nd grade teacher. Mackenzie and Madison are headed into 5th grade with Mrs. Styler. We really enjoy our school, Renaissance Academy, but won't enjoy nine months of homework!

"Man"icure

2008-08-18T09:17:00.013-06:00

Sundays have become much busier days at our house since I was called to be the Primary President, but we try really hard to keep our late afternoons open for family time. Unfortunately it doesn't always work out. Last Sunday I was on the phone trying to work out some Primary stuff, and when I finished up, this is what was going on.

It was funny that Morgan told Craig exactly what to do: "After the color you have to put on the sparkles." I hope my kids realize what an amazing dad they have! He has always been supportive of me, and I hope my girls are lucky enough to find a guy someday who is willing to give their four-year-old a manicure . . . with sparkles!

Family Time Before Bedtime

2008-08-13T21:20:00.011-06:00

The half hour before bedtime can get pretty silly at our house. Kids just naturally seem to resist the dreaded trek to the bedroom to close out the day. Admittedly, sometimes the silliness can be a bit unnerving, but other times it is just a lot of fun. Tonight was just a lot of fun as Morgan decided to put on a funny face show.

Sometimes you just have to let kids get all their wiggles out before they'll unwind. So we let all of the kids put on funny faces to help transition from silly time to scripture time.

Part of scripture time usually entails questions as we ask the kids about the passages we read. This evening we read from The Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi chapter 9:12-16 where Christ speaks to the inhabitants of North America. After reading it, I asked Morgan, "Can you tell us who was speaking?" Clayton piped in with a little clue: "I'll give you a hint; he lives in heaven," although Morgan didn't need the hint because she simultaneously declared, "Jesus!" Then, Morgan furrowed her brow and corrected Clayton: "No, you mean outer space!" Who knows where that came from, but we all laughed!

Lead by Example - Morgan's Reunion

2008-08-10T14:05:00.003-06:00

A wise person once said, "Parents, watch what you do; you never know who else is watching." That quote hit me full force the other day as I came down the hall after showering and getting ready for the day. As I turned the corner this is what I saw and Morgan immediately said, "Look, Mom, I'm having a baby reunion."

July is usually our time for reunions with extended family and friends. I couldn't believe how quickly a four-year-old picked up on what a reunion is! What else has she (not to mention the seven-year-old and the two ten-year-olds) been "watching" us do lately? One of my favorite quotes by the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, is, "As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Unlike the book on the library shelf, the covers of which shield the contents, our lives cannot be closed. Parents, we truly are an open book."

I feel a deep gratitude that I have children who are surrounded by good examples in our families, our neighbors, and our church. I'm so grateful that the gospel has taught me principles to live by that help me live in a way I will be pleased with, no matter who is watching. Most of all, I'm grateful for my kids and the little lessons they teach me every day. I only hope what I'm "writing" in my life is teaching them what I want them to know.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2008-08-09T20:12:00.000-06:00

Mel, Mel, it looks so swell . . .
How does your garden grow?
With sweat and toil and mink poop soil,
And four children laboring in a row!

Actually it's more like Craig and I and the rest of the neighborhood laboring in the rows while the kids run around crazy and whine that it's too hot, but we try! Our neighborhood is unique in one way: each year we turn an empty lot into a community garden. We till and plant together, divide sections by family to weed, rotate watering days, and then get together to pick the fruits of our labors. It is an amazing experience—one we love to participate in.

We also do a garden in our own yard each year to grow those "weird" things like beets, cabbage, cauliflower, and herbs that don't make it into the community garden. For the last couple of years we've had a berry patch on the side of the house, too. But our favorite is our fruit trees! We have two peach, one nectarine, and this year planted two pear. Fruit trees are the least labor intensive and the fruit tastes the best because it's so sweet. That many peaches makes me a busy girl in the fall with canning, but we love having "homegrown" peaches all year, so it's worth it! It's been fun finding the "inner farmer" in ourselves the past few years, and since we love to eat more than mow, we can't think of a better way to use our space!

My Vampire Vixen

2008-08-08T23:50:00.006-06:00

Just as Edward sweeps Bella into his icy but assuring arms . . . I catch my vampire vixen off guard as she nears the dramatic conclusion of Breaking Dawn! Can we all say Hallelujah? I heard there is a club for men called something like A Club for Men Whose Wives Neglect Them Because They're Reading the Twilight Series. How do I join that club? Okay, so it really hasn't been that bad; I mean she stays up until the wee hours of the morning reading, so I really haven't felt too neglected while I snore in her ear! Still, happy day as she has fewer than 20 pages to finish the series so I can get my wife back. By the way, if you haven't noticed, I—not Melissa—have written the last FIVE posts! Uh, yeah, I've had fun teasing her. :)

All right—Melissa here to defend myself against my poor, neglected husband's accusations! The REAL reason Craig has been posting is that over the past few weeks I've written the Primary program for our ward, shopped for back-to-school clothing & supplies, and kept myself very busy with four kids, reunions, and so forth. There's NO way it would've taken me a FULL week to get through Breaking Dawn—that only took two days, and I must say: VERY SATISFYING!

So Uncle Jerry's Famous!?

2008-08-05T21:46:00.001-06:00

We were flipping through channels one evening when all the kids simultaneously shouted, "Hey, that's Uncle Jerry playing the piano!" Sure enough, there he was on KUED (the local PBS channel). Clayton's eyes got really wide as he inquired, "So Uncle Jerry's famous?" Melissa and I smiled and responded, "Well, he IS on tv." The kids sat mesmerized for the next hour as we watched the Osmond special.

They had no idea Jerry (our brother-in-law) is the musical director, even though we've told them a gazillion times. Funny how some things just don't sink in. Now that I think about it, I think they just didn't really know who the Osmonds are, let alone what a musical director is. They probably thought he led the music in his ward or something. As we tucked Clayton into bed that night he still had stars in his eyes: "Wow! I never knew I had a famous uncle!"

This past Pioneer Day, Jerry conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as they performed with the Osmond family in the Tabernacle. What a treat for Jerry; we're thrilled for him. What a moment as he received a plaque from, and got to shake hands with, President Monson, the living prophet of God!

Congratulations, Jerry! The next time the kids dance around your family room singing "Follow the Prophet" bar mitzvah-style, it will have a little more meaning to them: "He knows the way . . . Hey!"

Barrett Cousins Reunion

2008-08-03T00:13:00.014-06:00

Earlier this evening we had a Barrett cousins reunion. It's not very common for so many Barrett cousins to be in one location at the same time, so this was quite a welcome treat. Thanks Mom and Aunt Diane for putting this together! We all really had a great time.


Brent & Simone Laurence My Parents	Frank & Diane Hunsaker Diane's My Mom's Sister

You can sure tell that my mom (Simone) and Diane are sisters; they are daughters of Marvin and Nezzie Barrett. Marvin and Nezzie had ten children: Sherwood, Louise, Larry, Orson, Simone, Diane, Sharon, Letitia, Don, and Rebecca. At this reunion, there were three Barrett siblings' children represented: Orson's, Simone's, and Diane's.


Bryan & Toni Roberts Toni's Orson's Daughter	David & Corrie Barrett David's Orson's Son

Kevin & Patrice Laurence Kevin's My Brother	Craig & Melissa Laurence I'm Craig!

Mike & Ginger Steensma Ginger's Diane's Daughter	Rick & Pam Peeler Pam's Diane's Daughter

In many ways, David and I look more like brothers than my actual brothers. When we were younger, we almost looked like twins!

There's no doubt we've got Barrett blood.

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage

2008-08-02T16:25:00.004-06:00

We had a bit of fun with this celebrity morph thing; the girls thought it was really cool. It's surprising to us how identical twins end up with such different celebrity look-alikes. I've decided I'm a bit concerned about how much my daughters are likely to be major babes. I think I better get my shotgun while I can before Obama-nation sets in!

Madison above and Mackenzie below. Pretty trippy!

We All Scream for . . . Sorbet!?

2008-08-01T20:44:00.007-06:00

Ice cream before bed was a way of life for me when I was growing up. Then, chocolate was my favorite, but I'm not really much of a chocolate ice cream fan anymore. Funny how that is. When I was a kid, one of my favorite ways to eat ice cream was to mash it and stir it until it was like a Wendy's frosty. I still like it that way; it brings out the kid in me. I especially like to do it that way with vanilla ice cream and Hershey's syrup. Go figure.

We don't have ice cream nearly as often as I did when I was a kid. I probably have ice cream once a month, but the kids have it a little more frequently. As Melissa had to run an errand this evening, I was alone in charge, and the kids all screamed for ice cream . . . but we were out. However, we did have sorbet, which is actually my favorite now. The kids thought it was a real treat to eat MY sorbet! When Melissa returned, she heard comments like this: Morgan: "Mommy, I ate ice cream outta a orange!" Mackenzie: "Can I keep my coconut shell? Mmm. Smell it. It tasted even better than it smells."

They acted really surprised about how good it is. It seems we now have little sorbet lovers on our hands.