What happens when the middle child gets all the attention?

It's not often that Chris gets to headline the blog because he prefers to fade in the background, but he just turned 17 and went on his THIRD date (he was determined to beat Devin's record of two dates before his mission!), so here we go on a one-man show.  Heeeeeeeeeeeeere's Chris!

Last week we hosted a priest/laurel etiquette dinner (a fancy 5 course meal), and the price of admission was a date.  Chris asked Anna Call, dressed up handsomely, and enjoyed himself immensely!  When I saw how nice he looked I asked him to pose for some pictures.  Instead of running from the camera like some of my other children, he sat right down and gave me some goofy poses and cheesy grins.  He reminded me so much of my brother, James, that I just had to laugh.

GQ material here!  Almost Blue Steel!

This is the one he called "The Thinker" pose.

I call this one "Handsome Cheese"!

This one is called "I think my date is really cute".

A couple of days later we celebrated Chris' 17th birthday.  I asked him what he wanted for his dinner and dessert, and his only request was Frog-eye salad.  He's a funny kid! He asked if he could make his own birthday cake and started searching through all of my recipes for the perfect one.  Two hours later he still hadn't decided what kind he wanted and had changed his mind about wanting to make it at all, so he ended up with angel food cake with strawberries and ice cream because it was fast. 

This pose is either called "Grateful Cheese" or "Hopeful Cheese"--I can't tell which.

Chris was SO surprised to get a great picture to go in his bedroom (really he picked it out himself).  It goes perfectly with his new bedding and guitar pictures he got for Christmas.  Now if we could only get them all on the wall.

I also found the perfect t-shirt for him, and he loved it.  My attempts to encourage a positive attitude may be a little blatant, but life really is good!  It's nice to have reminders every now and then, and Chris is going to be doing his part to remind everyone when he wears this fun shirt.

So when Chris started getting all of this attention, I guess the rest of my family couldn't handle it and wanted some attention for themselves.  First, Del fell and sprained his ankle REALLY badly! He has twisted this ankle many times during our marriage, and he likes to call it his "trick ankle"!  I've told him that I think it's a really lousy trick, but he insists on doing it every couple of years.  It's hard to see in this picture but it was incredibly swollen!  It was about double the size.

Del's nasty foot.

After Maren saw how nicely I babied Del, she decided that she needed attention too, so she proceeded to smack her ankle really hard against the bed frame while playing horsey with Layla, bursting blood vessels and bruising it pretty good.  She was pretty miserable until she realized that she would be excused from the mile run in PE the next day.  Always look for that silver lining because life is good!

Maren's nasty foot.

This picture of my two gimpy people shows a little of the swelling.

Devin and Margene

The funniest part was that when we got Devin's letter yesterday from the MTC, he told us that he sprained his ankle last week, too!  Uuuugh!  What is it with these people and their ankles?  Again, though, there was a silver lining.  When Devin went to the health clinic in the MTC he met a second cousin of Del's, who bandaged him up and promised to make him a batch of cookies.  Life really is good!

Mission update

OK, I know I've been really slow about posting something about Devin's mission, but we have been pretty busy with life, not to mention decompressing from a stressful two weeks before he left! :)

Elder Devin James Symons

Here's the scoop.  

February 27th:  Devin gave a wonderful talk in Sacrament meeting about our duty to our Heavenly Father. It really was good--I'm not just being biased!  Afterward, we had family and friends over for a Mexican fiesta with Chicken Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, and Maren's Famous Taco Salad and an assortment of cookies including Devin's favorite Snickerdoodles.  Mmmm! We had lots of  fun visiting with everybody--it was a perfect day! 

I think Chris is trying to hug Devin in a loving, brotherly manner!

Samee Beck, Mom, Del, Joe Winder, Susan, Tucker, me, Michelle, and Ryan Winder.

Trevor, Jane, Jack, Karen, Rob, Farhana, Joy, and Monte Hibbert

March 8th:  Packing.  Devin spent most of the day packing, and I spent most of the day saying things like "Did you remember to pack deodorant" and "How much shampoo did you pack" so that I wouldn't say things like "I'm really going to miss you" and "Who will help me when I have computer problems, now?" Eventually he got tired of the reminders of what to pack and told me he was following the MTC list, so I didn't remind him about any more things.  The next day I realized I should have kept reminding him.  After packing, we met the Stake President, Ken Bernt at the church and Devin was set apart as a missionary.  It was a really neat experience, and he was given an amazing blessing.  The kids were all there, as well as Mom and Dad and Layla and Liam (they were babysitting). 

March 9th:  Off to the MTC!  We had the kids skip school so they could see him off.  Our first stop was at In-N-Out Burger in Bountiful.  I had just eaten there with Becky the week before and I told them how good the cheesburger was (Animal-style--covered in sauteed mushrooms and onions), and Devin wanted to go there before he left the country.  The boys each ended up eating 3 burgers, fries and a shake (isn't that about 3 days worth of calories for a normal human?---normal meaning not a teenage boy!), and with full stomachs we headed to Provo.  Along the way Devin remembered that he forgot his scriptures! Of all the things for a missionary to forget!  I think he was just trying to ensure that he got a care package right away!  We sent them to him a couple of days later along with some other goodies, and he said it was fun to share some gingersnaps with his companion and roommates.  Sharing!  He's already learning good things in the MTC!

We had heard that you only have 3 minutes at the curb with your missionary to say goodbye, so we went to the Provo Temple across the street and took pictures first.  It was pretty bright, so none of us could keep our eyes open, but it's still nice to have pictures.

When we drove up to the MTC I was amazed at all of the happy, smiling missionaries who were there to direct traffic and help new missionaries with their luggage.  It was a great sight and made me feel much more comfortable leaving Devin there.  Here are the two who met Devin and helped him with his bags.

Since Devin arrived we've had two very short letters, and he is doing great!  He has a Tongan missionary who reminds him of a friend of his from our ward, Pioneer Ofisa, and he is really enjoying the MTC.  He loves the food (I certainly hope the MTC cafeteria is used to feeding bottomless pits), and he is learning lots of Spanish.  He'll be there for another month, and it's exciting to see how much he is growing in such a short time.  The Lord really knows how to prepare these teenage boys and help them become men.

Not a Lotta Fun in Vacationland

 Del and Devin spent a few weeks in beautiful Island Park working on remodeling a cabin 

for one of Del's brother Jason's friends.  Jason designed the changes, and they all worked on

making it beautiful. 

 It sure would have been a lot easier if it hadn't snowed so much!  They had to hike in and 

bring materials to the cabin by snowmobile because their vehicles couldn't make it up the

 unplowed mountain roads.  I think Del is pretty certain now that he doesn't 

want a cabin in Island Park!

Jane's Shower

As soon as we heard Trevor and Jane had set a wedding date, we started planning a 

bridal shower to welcome her into the family.  Jane's life-long friend, Laura Blad, also lives in 

Pocatello so we invited her to join us for lunch.  

 

Jane picked Sumisu, a local sushi restaurant, because Trevor hates sushi and will probably never

 take her there. The rest of us, however, know good food when we see it (and taste it)!  

Becky seems particularly excited about the Fire Dragon Roll, which is served flaming.

 My mom's gifts are always fun and a bit wacky.  She gave Jane an adorable vintage 

swimsuit straight from the 60's!

 Jane loved the Victoria's Secret gift...

 and so did Becky and Laura!

 Jane's fortune cookie was perfect!  It said, "Your life will change for the better."  

I hope she gets another fortune cookie in 60 years that says, "And they lived happily ever after."

It's Complicated

It's funny that it's so hard to send a son on a mission when that has been one of our biggest hopes for our boys for so long.  We've taught them and hoped and prayed that they would go, but that doesn't mean that it's easy to send them off.  We're so excited but also a little sad and nervous.  It's so complicated!

I'll post some MTC drop-off pictures in a day or two.

Thanks a Lot, Joe!

February 15th was our friend Joe Winder's 40th birthday, and Michelle asked a few of us to give her some pictures and memories of Joe to put in a scrapbook for him.  There are so many because they have been close friends for a long time....long enough that they are actually family now.  But as I was thinking and writing, one memory made me smile...and then chuckle....and then laugh out loud, and so I decided to blog it.

My favorite memory of Joe is the time he got me in trouble with my bishop.  Oh wait….. he just nearly got me in trouble with my bishop because my bishop, fortunately for me, has a sense of humor!  It started out as an innocent night with friends, a chick flick, and popcorn and nearly ended up in excommunication! 

Here’s how I remember it:  Michelle and Joe came over one night, and when the guys starting talking about some boring manly stuff (cars, guns, …who knows…it’s all just a boring blur), Michelle and I decided to ditch them and watch a Jane Austen movie.  The kids were downstairs watching TV, so we went into my bedroom and sat on the bed to watch Emma.  After a few minutes Del and Joe began to feel left out (or simply bored into a stupor), so they came in and climbed onto the bed, too, since that’s the only seating in our bedroom.  Anyway, within a matter of minutes Joe was sprawled across my bed sound asleep, forcing Del and me onto the floor, which wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that he began to snore and snort!  We laughed and nudged him every now and then, but mostly we just enjoyed the show.  At the end of the movie, with hunky Jeremy Northam’s kiss punctuated by a snort from Joe, Michelle woke him up and he staggered groggily to the car. 

The next day at church I was leaving the Relief Society room and maneuvering through the crowds in the hall next to the bishop’s office, when I saw Joe.  He looked a little sheepish and said (much too loudly), “I’m really sorry about falling asleep on your bed last night.  I guess I was really tired.  I hope I didn’t snore!”  As I looked around me at several very interested faces, including the bishop’s, I must have looked a little stunned.  After a painful pause, I announced to the group at large, “We were just watching a movie in my bedroom!” Then I decided that I hadn’t made it much better, and I just started to laugh and said, “Michelle and Del were there, too!”  It had been a couple of months since the bishop had found time to have a PPI with me (I was Relief Society president at the time), but he quickly made time that day, and we had a good laugh after I explained Joe's blunder!  When I told Michelle what Joe said, we laughed so hard we had tears rolling down our faces, and it has been fun to tease him about it ever since!

Since I never heard any rumors flying around at church, I guess Joe’s cherubic face and spotless reputation were powerful enough to squelch any gossip.   

Thanks for the memories, Joe, but the next time you fall asleep in my bedroom and start snoring, why don’t you just write me a nice quiet note of apology, OK?     
Happy Birthday!

Music To My Ears

Thanks to our good friend, Diana Heder, who offered to teach Maren flute lessons in exchange for babysitting last year, my daughter has developed a talent we had no idea she had!

Maren and Carmen Thiessen, taken by Grandma's cell phone.  Thanks Mom!

We went to Maren's band concert a few weeks ago and had a really great time.  She has been in band all year, but in January she decided to sign up for Jazz Band, too, and they played some really fun pieces.  During the concert we were surprised by the announcement that the band teacher chose Maren as the 8th grade MVP!  Very exciting!  She was also chosen, along with five others in her band, to participate in Honor Band at BYU-Idaho.  She spent the day learning music with kids from schools all over the area and then played in a performance that evening.  Chris and Emma and I traveled to Rexburg that night for the show, and then we all went out to a frozen yogurt place with tons of yummy mix-ins to celebrate.  Poor Del and Devin were in Boise working on a bathroom remodel and missed all the fun!

On a final note of bragging, Maren decided to try out for ISU's Junior Symphony last month, and she made it! It is for students in 8th-12th grade, and she even has a few solo lines in a couple of the pieces. I can't wait for her concert in May.  Thanks for suggesting lessons, Diana, and thanks for encouraging her in the flute!

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.  ~Ronald Reagan