Context

I love to know the circumstances around how people are shaped and why they do the things they do.
And in some cases, how to have healthier relationships and to overcome past triggers, hurts etc.

It is Veterans Day today and I've spent most of the day online researching my family members from Europe.  We went to Adelaide's blessing and at sacrament meeting in Springville got to hear the best talks from veterans.  I want to know the stories of our families WWI veterans.

Artur was my mom's grandfather who served as an officer in the German army during WWI.  At home waiting for him were his wife Sophie and his two young sons Erich and Bruno.

Artur was killed by a sniper while shaving in the forest.  Apparently his mirror caught a glint of light and gave away his position.  At the time, his older son Erich was 10.

Artur's family lived in Karlsruhe.  The area was heavily bombed during the war and at one point a bomb hit a circus tent and killed around 70 children and 50 adults.  Sophie later wrote about that incidence that she was so grateful that she was inspired to keep the boys home that day.  I can only imagine how tragic that must have been, even when their own family was unhurt.

I don't know a lot about my grandpa Erich.  But he and his brother both developed type 1 diabetes.  They had severe hardship with not much food during the war.  At one point my grandma told me that they had to go outside the city and dig around in gardens to try to find turnips or other root vegetables that the army had not taken.  My mom remembers something about the boys being sent away at some point because it was too dangerous to live where they were because of the bombing.

At some point Sophie and her boys joined the church.  She had a dream about a church among the skyscrapers and knew it had to be in the United States. One day a salesman came by selling metal plates to nail on the kids shoes.  She invited him to eat with them and when she prayed over their food he was surprised and was happy to see that there were people in the world who still believed.  He invited her to come to his church and she was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1919.

Erich later attended college and studied horticulture before emigrating to the US in 1927 and residing in Utah with an LDS family where he worked in exchange for his passage to the US.  He married my grandma in 1937 during the Great Depression when he was 32 and she was 28.  Which seems kinda old for both of them for that generation and I'd like to know more about that.  Two years after their marriage WWII started.  They had four children within 10 years and my grandma had several miscarriages (which she described to me somewhat nonchalantly in great detail. I think one was at a movie theater.  Lol I guess in those days loss was more common)

After immigrating to the US he made wreaths for Hotel Utah, and had an interest in Photography.  He had to work for a long time for the family that helped him get his boat passage to come to the US.  He later owned nurseries and did landscaping for his career.  I've been told that he wasn't happy with how his career in Horticulture was not as prestigious in the US as it was in Germany.

He died before I was born from complications from diabetes.  He had lost his sight and his legs and apparently didn't control his blood sugar well.  It looks to me like he did a lot of family history and temple work.

The fact that he died before I was born was always a curiosity for me.  I wanted to know more about him.  We didn't have a lot of extended family.  When I'd ask my sweet grandma who lived with me growing up if she missed her husband, she'd say, "He had a German temper."  Lol.  I took that to mean, "No."  Grandma was a peacemaker and pretty low-key and positive.  So I think she probably had some good reasons.

And somehow that makes me sad.  This is a person who obviously had some early trauma and serious health conditions as well.  Those things can really influence a persons demeanor and It is kinda interesting to me how he would have been if he hadn't had those hardships in his life.

I someday would like to go to Karlsruhe and Baden Baden and visit where they lived and see what it is like in Germany.  I would like to know more of his story.  Why he left Germany for the US.  I would like to know more about what it was like after the Great War.

He and my grandma kept in touch with his mother and brother and would send them packages during or maybe just after WW2.  Things like sugar, chocolate, and a suit for work.  What would it be like to know that your family was on the other side of that war?  That would be very difficult.

Taking the Bull by the Horns

Simone had this great exercise given to her by her climbing coach last night.  It was a Google doc and basically had their goals for the season and also some direction to change their negative thoughts to positive ones.  Overhearing the kids say things like, "I'm not good at redpoint comps" etc they would  change it to say something positive as a way to "train the brain."

I loved that they did this!  It made me wonder what I can do to train my brain.  I've been struggling lately with meeting the many emotional and physical needs that we are having in our family these past few months.

It has been so great to have all the kids in school, and yet each night I'm driving Simone to climbing and spending several hours of my evening doing that stuff.  My time during the day has been really stretched too because of obligations that I didn't used to have.

So, its challenging.  And I don't have the greatest control over my attitude sometimes.  I get down about buying clothes and finding things I like.  I know that in many ways I just need to "take the bull by the horns" and change what I don't like.  This is my life and I need to feel like I can direct it to be what I want.

My friend has been inviting me to come to these exercise classes with her.  They are hard.  They are early.  But I am loving it so much!  Praying that I keep feeling great and the vertigo stays away.

I am motivated by watching my kids practice and improve at their sports.  Simone started climbing 1 year ago.  In the past year she has made such huge improvements!  It makes me wonder what kind of progress I can make in a year.

Over the past few years, my own exercise and nutrition needs have pretty much been put on the back burner.  I just have a lot to juggle at this point in my life and it felt very overwhelming to me to try to get up early to work out and try to get through the day tired when I have to go go go all day long.  I get thrown off by travel and health problems (mostly Menieres disease) as well.  But honestly I'm feeling like it is totally doable now!

Anyway,  I have a long way to go to get to where I feel healthy and like myself again, but I'm patient and I enjoy it and I feel like that is who I am at my core.  I like to be active and I love feeling strong and being able to progress in my running, workouts, etc.

So anyway, I'm happy for some good friends who are supportive of me being active.  My hiking group, Katie (always such a motivator to me!) and Tonya who is always asking me to come to class.  Carla who keeps texting me to take our dogs for a hike.  I'm so lucky to be surrounded by these awesome friends.  I need this connection and the support.

Whats new with Miles

Yesterday in church Jared was told by a mom in the ward that her daughter had to give a talk a couple weeks ago in Sunday School.  A lot of the boys in the class were teasing her and she came home very upset.

But her mom wanted Jared to know that Miles told the other boys to quit it and stood up for her and said how smart she was.

Proud mom moment!

A few weeks ago Simone had a loose belt on her longboard and he stayed up late fixing it for her.

Another time a few months back he was out in the garage and he and Soren were putting together Soren's new Raptor truck he got for his birthday.

I'm so grateful to have a kid like Miles!  He is sooo incredibly funny.  We love his humor and his playfulness.

He's such a social kid!  Last year we got the hot tub and shortly after we came home one night to Miles and friends sipping drinks in fancy goblets and they had set up the laptop out by the hot tub and were watching a movie out there.  Haha.  He's always been the kid that can figure anything out.

A few weeks ago he got out my silhouette machine and he started making stickers with it.  I love that I didn't show him how to use it at all, he just did it all himself.  He likes stuff like that.

He's always thinking of ways to make money.  Both kids really wanted these expensive electric longboards.  I tried to discourage them from spending so much on something like that.  But Jared wanted them to try for it.  Why not?  They earn the money, they figure out what they want and they get it.  Good lesson really.   And I guess if that longboard breaks then they learn another good lesson.

So Miles and Simone both earned over $1000 of their own money this summer and bought the longboards!  They were so creative.  Washing dogs, doing curbs, babysitting, selling stuff on eBay.  And they were both so excited to get them.

Recently Miles has started getting into making burgers and grilling.  He really likes cooking up a burger for himself when he isn't thrilled with what we are having for dinner.  While I'm not super happy with all the red meat going into that body, I'm pretty impressed with his drive.  The kid just loves to try new things.  Lately he's making lots of pancakes.  Last week he and his buddies made really good banana bread.  I imagine he will be a creative chef someday!

One thing about Miles is he likes a new challenge.  When he learned to read, he was so eager and made lots of mistakes because he would rush through.  But pretty soon, he was reading far above grade level and his teachers were super impressed!  He's got a lot of drive!

Something that impresses me about Miles is his love of information!  He reads everything it seems and is always giving us these random interesting facts about things.  He likes to know about politics and whats going on in the world.

We measured him last week at he's just a quarter inch shy of six feet!  The kid has arms almost as long as Jared.  It is insane.

Those long arms are helping him in basketball!  Jared is challenging him to get lots of blocked shots and he's doing great with that.  Lots of blocked shots and rebounds.  He made one of the bantam AAU teams for Lone Peak.  Its beens so fun to watch their team!

Miles doesn't like to do things that he doesn't think are important.  Which is often homework.  So I arranged his schedule so that he has a free period every morning.  He goes and practices basketball at the church as long as his homework is turned in.  Its been a really great thing for us!

Sometimes Miles reminds me so much of Jared!  Everyone says to me that they see Miles being super successful someday.  I agree he will be creative and a great influencer.  I love him so much!

**Update:  Both kids bought longboards, and rode them for 2 years.  They each sold their longboards this year for the same price they bought them for.  So a good deal after all!**

First Climbing Competition

We got to watch Simone's first climbing competition on Saturday!  It was super cool and interesting to see how it is all done.  They keep the kids in "Iso" or isolation in the beginning so they don't get to see the boulders before their turn.  Then when they get to the circuit of six boulders they are not able to watch the other kids do it first because that would give them an unfair advantage.  

Simone flashed 4 of the 6 boulders.  "Flash" in climbing means that you climb the wall to the top on the first try.  She got one of them on her second try and the other one was a tough bugger and after three tries she ran out of time.  They get I think 4 minutes for each boulder and they rest between each one. 

There were about 15 girls and she was one of the youngest.  She tied for 5th!  All the other girls that came in ahead were from her same gym and have been climbing for years!  Like 5 years.  So she's doing great for being 11 months in.

Homecoming 2018!

These three girls are beautiful and it is pretty fun to do the dance thing!

Elise humored me and sent a pic of herself getting ready for BYU homecoming.  I wish I had another picture and maybe I will get one because her date is great at taking photos.

Taylor went with Spencer.  Spencer is a rock climber, and a cross country guy.  He's so nice and we think his long hair is pretty cool.  Faith did an amazing job on Taylors nails and Savannah came over and did her makeup!  It was fun to have Savannah and Kelli there when Spencer picked her up.

He made this corsage himself!  Wow!  Nice work.

Monet and Calvin!  Monet got some help with her hair from her friend Mckenzie.  She told me that she didn't want to go to the curling place because she doesn't really like how they make her hair crispy and put lots of stuff in it.  So Mckenzie did it and it was soooo beautiful!  Such a nice friend to do that on a busy day!

Called to Serve!

This week Elise's mission call arrived electronically.  I was trying not to thing about it too much because you never know how long it will take to come and we knew that it could be delayed from conference.  But it came so fast!  She submitted on September 30 and it arrived on October 9th!  Grandma Adair's birthday.

Just this past month the mission calls started going paperless, so there isn't any waiting by the mailbox and we were really happy about that! We had my cute neighbor Annie log into Elise's LDS account and come and print out the papers.  Elise wanted to print it so she wasn't "reading ahead" on the iPad since its a little trickier to not see the location.   It was so hard to wait!  Although I was NOT going to peek because I definitely didn't want to know before Elise and Jared.  Elise had to sit at work and stare at her phone knowing she could open that email at any time!  One of her bosses told her she should just open it.  Lol!

Most girls I know have been called stateside.  Many people prefer this because there are lots of benefits to stateside missions.  However, Elise was sure that her call was going to be foreign.  She REALLY wants to learn a language and being the adventurous girl that she is was really hoping to have the experience of living in a foreign country.  Plus her patriarchal blessing talks a lot about her mission and it really seems to suggest different cultures, etc.

I think I must have said over and over that it would probably be somewhere in the US.  That was starting to annoy her!  But I explained I just didn't want her to be disappointed and that it is going to be an adventure wherever she serves.  She responded with this: "Mom, if I get called stateside, I probably will be a little disappointed but then I'll get excited about it."  This was reassuring to me because I know her easy going nature and I know she WILL be fine either way.

We had lots of family friends come to watch her open her call.  Skye flew out from LA to be here!  I seriously want to cry just thinking about how lucky Elise is to have such loyal and amazing friends!  What an amazing group of people pictured above, from neighbors and friends since she was a baby, family, roomies, friends, lacrosse teammates, yeah I just love all these faces!

I'm SO glad she didn't peek because it was really cool to see her reaction when she opened her call and found she was assigned to serve in the

Milan, Italy mission!  

Wow!  There are so many places she would have been thrilled to go but honestly the northern half of Italy is just kinda insanely lucky.  Such a beautiful place with amazing food and really kind people.  Its still going to be hard.  She knows this.  But wow, she is over the moon.

I called her the next day and let her know that I was so excited I could hardly sleep.  She said it was the same for her!  Then I talked to my mom and she said she couldn't sleep either!

Knowing Elise and her easy nature I am most excited for her to serve the people in Italy in any way that she can!  I know she will work hard and be a great example to those around her.  She will learn and grow to stretch her comfort zone and gain new skills that will help her in the future.

Elise and My "Little" Brothers!  Luke, Sam, Max

Roomies!

Skye!

Peter!  Friends since 8th grade!

Guess who picked Niger.  Lol.

Simone's Climbing

Simone and Soren have loved their climbing classes.  Simone loved it so much she tried out for the Momentum Climbing Team and made it!  Its pretty hard to make it.

I just love watching this sport!  They have so much fun and love the challenge.  They have amazing coaches and I love the encouraging environment in the gym.

She is a kid who has always loved to eat healthy and to be strong.  And climbing 4 days a week is definitely helping her reach those goals!

Its not easy and there is a lot of failure in climbing!  She calls certain climbs "projects" and they work on them for awhile sometimes before figuring it out.

She has her first competition on Saturday.  We are excited!

These are her coaches Jon and Guy (I think) she has the nicest coaches!  Even though she has different ones now these guys were so encouraging and positive.  

This is what happens to your arms when you climb a lot!  The six pack she was pretty much born with though.  Haha.