The Haven and other Happenings

I last posted 5 6 months ago and since that time we have spent most free bits of time (and some of our not free bits of time) working on building a new house.

Every time I mention that we “are building a home,” I feel a little funny about it because neither Scott nor I have so much as lifted a hammer this year.  WE are not building it. Unfortunately, “having it built” sounds awfully pretentious though it’s definitely closer to the truth. At the same time, saying we’re having a home built makes it sound like all we have to do is open our wallet. Instead, given our personalities, we’re predictably deep-ending on every aspect of the build, learning far more than we ever wanted about a wide variety of topics, agonizing about unimportant details, overlooking important things until it’s too late, delighting in the things we’ve been able to tailor to fit our family, and sometimes just hanging on for the ride.  There’s such a learning curve that a tiny part of me wants to do this again in the future so I’ll know better how to handle things, while the more greater and more reasonable part of me wants to cross this life experience off my list with a red sharpie.

Until this past spring, we’d only ever purchased a handful of things in our 12+ years of marriage that cost more than $1000.   Now the thousand dollar decisions seem to happen almost daily as we seek to build something beautiful and enduring, while keeping our broader financial goals in mind (ie not spending too much on the house!)

The Haven.  That’s what we’re calling our new house and that’s the vision I cling to when I want to throw my hands in the air.  We are building a home for our family and (hopefully for others that cross our path) which will be a haven.   We picked a quiet spot of land, and we want to preserve a bit of a quiet childhood for our kids with room to romp and grow.

Of course our new neighborhood will fill in so it won’t be just us and a field, but we’re not complaining in the meantime!  We do have a couple acres just for us, and where we live that’s a rare chance.

I’ll save the house building details, decisions and drama for another post or two, and fill this post with our other happenings since March.

Scott and I flew off for a long trip to Hawaii with his kid sister and brother-in-law and no kids.  Thanks to another fabulous sister of his, our kids were swept off to make memories with cousins and Scott and I had more uninterrupted time to think, talk and connect than we can remember having in close to a decade.  Especially because it came on the heels of many months of hosting extra children through Safe Families and it came in the midst of lots of Haven angst, it was a delicious respite.

This is the third time Scott and I have returned to the same spot on Maui and the view from the condo never gets old.

I could go into detail here about how great it was to travel with Kristin and Travis, but instead I’ll just post a picture that encapsulates it all:

See the rubber spider on Scott’s shoulder?  They packed that all the way to Hawaii just to scare him, and were in every other way wonderful travel companions as well.

I mentioned that I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to Hawaii several times before, but this trip was poignant in a new way.  My wonderful soccer coach from high school brought me to play in Hawaii on my first trip and I learned of his passing while we were in Hawaii this last time.  He embodied the aloha spirit and I was glad to be able to say my goodbyes to him in that beautiful place.

God puts on a beautiful show in Hawaii, and we loved exploring His creations.

Haleakala feels like being on another planet.  I’m guessing here, of course, lacking firsthand experience at interplanetary travel but I’m pretty sure I’m right.

In other news, Daniel graduated from his one (and only) year of Joy School.  I love that program but at this point in our lives committing two mornings a week to it is a big deal, so one fabulous year is what he got.

This picture is a pretty good summary of how he spent his time during Joy School:

He was absolutely in his element singing, imagining and learning with his buddies and he grew up an alarming amount.

 

Post-Joy School Daniel is now most likely to be found reading a book aloud to himself or trying to wrestle an unsuspecting person.  A third favorite past time is riding a big kid bike.  Mackenzie taught him a little when I wasn’t paying attention and then he pretty much just figured it out, much to my delight!

We continued our Marathon in a Month tradition with some new friends joining us for the Final Mile.  Mackenzie went ahead and did a double marathon, tenacious lady that she is. She sneaked in miles on the treadmill and soloed around the neighborhood when necessary to get her 52.4 in!

This one figured out the medals were something special:

Daniel earned his first one ever!

We spent the month of June, our “bonus month” of school (when I pick a certain topic and we deep-end and take a break from our regular studies) on traveling the world:

We maxed out three library cards and read piles and piles of books (plus videos, music, adventurous food challenges, etc.) from every culture we could find.

At the end of June, we took a roadtrip to UT for a wedding and through one of those amazing serendipitous opportunities, we seized a day to spend with three fabulous families we cherish as friends from our time in Columbus, OH.  We live in Nebraska, Texas, Oregon and Utah now but were all in the same city on the same day and we jumped on the chance to re-introduce our kids and stay up until the wee hours talking and playing games.

I only have this one random picture to show for it but it does show lots: random kid feet, most in crocs (18 kids among our 4 families), lots of smiles, and one masterful otterpop resuscitation.  What’s a little dirt among friends? A little water and the otterpop was back in action. Once again, the Baughs saved the day for us. May it not be the last time!

 

The wedding was beautiful. My kids love going to the temple and partying afterwards, and since this was the third niece in so many years to get married, it’s practically a family tradition by now! All of us adore being at their Uncle Steve and Aunt Suzie’s house so it makes even the 12+ hour drive out there a treat.

From there, Scott flew home and the kids and I visited Aunt Melanie, where the kids scored BIG TIME with her handmade animals. She let them each pick one from her menagerie:

I picked a darling bunny rabbit for Josie, who kept choosing every single animal at once.

I even made it in a picture!

We made our way down to St. George to spend time with my wonderful 88 year old grandpa.  He had an important part at a nearby nursing home’s Fourth of July program, and oddly enough we ended up spending the Fourth of July morning listening to a great Irish band perform for the residents. Josie and I walked the halls for part of it and she very nearly commandeered a scooter.

We debated barreling out of St. George the next morning to head to the Bay Area to stay with my family, but a horrendous yet fortuitous diaper disaster delayed our trip and I’m so glad.  By the time I emerged from the laundry room and Josie got out of the bathtub, my older kids were all eating breakfast.  Pie and pickles.  Grandpa Johnson had told them they could have anything in the fridge and he meant it.  I’m not sure they’ve ever been quite so pleased with themselves.

We spent the rest of the morning learning how to drive the ride on lawn mower and rolling in the grass clippings.

Grandpa made sure Josie got a turn as well:

When we finally rolled out to head to CA, my kids were promising to come back VERY soon.  We don’t do screens in the car, but per our usual audiobooks, looking out the window games, and some healthy boredom got the job done. (And bonus, nobody threw up pie or pickles.)

Posting this with a promise:  More to come!