Thursday, December 17, 2015

Getting to know you circa 2007

I found another little gem in my emails from March 2007.

1. What time did you wake up this morning? 6 AM (It was a freak accident!) 
 2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
 3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Pursuit of Happiness 
4. What is your favorite TV show? currently... Gray's Anatomy 
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? cereal
 6. What is your middle name? Catherine
8. What food do you dislike? Mushrooms, onions, anything fishy
9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Dianna Krall (From this moment on) Everyone should listen!!! http://www.dianakrall.com/music.aspx
 10. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota Sienna
11. Favorite sandwich? Anything that has avocado on it
12. What characteristic do you despise? People who lie 
13. Favorite item of clothing? cute shoes
14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Australia or Ireland
15. What color is your bathroom? Green
16. Favorite brand of clothing? It depends on who has the best sales!
17. Where would you retire to? Anywhere near family
18. What was your most recent memorable birthday? #27...I can't remember any others..sad.
19. Favorite sport to watch? soccer
20. farthest  place you are sending this? Iowa and Oklahoma
21.  Who do you least expect to send this back to you? I really don't know
22.  Person you expect to send it back first? ?
23. Favorite saying?  And we lived after the manner of happiness
24.  When is your birthday? Dec. 9, 1979 
25. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night--that's why I surprised this morning to discover that there was even such a thing as a 6 AM :)
26. What is your shoe size? 5 -5 1/2
27. Pets? One fish
28. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Karaia got her hearing aid AND Kevin only has 8 more wks until he graduates!!!
29. What did you want to be when you were little? I was having too much fun as a kid to think that far ahead
30.  How are you today? Great
31. What is your favorite candy? Today? Hmm anything with coconut
32. What is your favorite flower? Calla lilies
33. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Fist week in May (Graduation!)
34. What church do you attend? LDS
35. What is your full name? Emilie Catherine Daly
36. What are you listening to right now? Silence
37. What was the last thing you ate? M & M's
38. Do you wish on stars? yes
39. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Brown
 40. How is the weather right now? cold
41.  Last person you spoke to on the phone? Candace 
42.  Do you like the person who sent this to you? Of course!!
43. Favorite soft drink? I like water
44. Favorite restaurant? depends on my mood
44. Hair color? Dk brown
45. Siblings?   2 sisters, 3 step-sisters, 5 step-brothers
46. Favorite day of the year? Thanksgiving 
47.  What was your favorite toy as a child? My bike or my roller skates 
48. Summer or winter? SUMMER
49. Hugs or kisses? both
50. Chocolate or Vanilla? strawberry
51. Do you want your friends to email you back? Sure
52. When was the last time you cried? Are you kidding? I'm pregnant. It a daily occurrence :)  
53. What is under your bed? Kevin's firearm, sheets, clothes, and a jumper for a baby and....yup I think that covers it.
54. Who is the friend you have had the longest? my mom
55 What did you do last night? Mutual. Played human Foosball
56 Favorite smell? Cinnamon
57 What are you afraid of? Not teaching my children the gospel well enough 
58 Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn? plain
59 How many keys on your key ring? 2
60. How many years at your current job? 4
61. Favorite day of the week? It's easier to say I don't like Monday, Tues, or Wednesday
62. How many towns have you lived in? 9
63. Do you make friends easily? yes
64. What are you most looking forward to? When I can go to Disneyland again...sad I know :)

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Throw back Wednesday

I found this email as I was cleaning my inbox of  OVER 5,000! Sheesh. I don't think I believed in deleting or putting things into folders in my early days of gmail. Now that's the first thing I teach my kids!

Anyway. This email was to all of Kevin's female cousins' wives, his grandma Janice, and Lyndi. So basically anyone from that side of the family that didn't live close. It was sent 02/06/07. I was pregnant with Tennyson.I'm also going to include the responses to the email.

 The pictures below were also attached. Enjoy!



Hi everyone,
     Since we don't see each other that often, I'm taking a page from Katie's book and sharing our news through email. I hope we can see each other soon!

We have two big announcements this month. On Jan. 25th we found out we are having a little boy! Karaia was a bit disappointed about not getting a sister. This pregnancy just isn't working out for her. No twins and no sister. But, she has thrown her sorrow into naming her new brother. The current frontrunner for her is Marvin..............which is really a step up since her first choice was Dinosaur Web. Beckham has refined his name choice to 
Buzzlightyear The Robot Daly
. Kevin and I currently have no favorites. Or even a list for that matter. And on Jan 13th we bought a van. WeLOVE the extra room and that we can transport more than just our little family now. We bought a new 2006 Toyota Sienna.

   In Jan. we also took a trip to Bear Lake (in our new van with the extra room) and we went snowmobiling (no Emilie did not go) and extreme sledding. Karaia loved both and Beckham's pretty sure making a child participate in those kinds of activities can be categorized as abuse. The "hill" was about 1/4 mile long and VERY steep and fast. Karaia could not get enough of it. "I just like to scream on the way down", she told us. Beckham wouldn't even SIT on the sled...... even while it wasn't moving. Emilie finally put him on the sled kicking and screaming and just pulled him around awhile. He did eventually warm up to snowmobiling. And when we asked him later what his favorite part of the day was he said, "The snowman building ride".
    Speaking of funny things our kids say. Karaia was asking about baptism and she wanted to know if you got baptised with your clothes on because you go in the water. We told her yes, and explained how they are white because they symbolize being clean. Then Emilie said that when you come up out of the water all of your sins and mistakes are washed away. Karaia asked, "Do they go to the bottom?". To which Emilie explained, "No, you can't see them. It's kind of like a metaphor." There was a long pause from Karaia after which she finally announced, "Mom, I think you're speaking Spanish."
     Beckham's been learning what letters words start with and had quite the amusing if not confusing conversation with Kevin.
Beckham : "B is for me!"
Kevin: "I thought M was for me."
Beckham: "No, M is for mommy. D is for you!"
Kevin: "I thought Y was for you."
Beckham: "No! B is for me!"
 Aw the mind of a 2 year old :)

Love, Em


-------------------------------------------------

Katie Longhurst 

2/6/07
love it!  keep them coming. 
kade and i laughed so hard at beckham and kevins conversation, classic!

--------------------------------------------------

Teresa Longhurst

Hi Emilie--I laughed out loud at your email.  Thanks for sending it to me.  We just bought a van too.  I keep telling myself over and over, "I can still be cool and drive a van!"
Hope to see you soon,
Teresa

---------------------------------------------------

Janice Holmgre 





Thank you.  I love getting these letters and pictures.  I copied the family one for the frig.  Love Grandma Janice


--------------------------------------------------

Friday, December 11, 2015

Beckham done with 5th grade

I have really been feeling like the very worst memory keeper of all. So this is an attempt to document at least this one thing, that I think Beckham will want to know later. 

Today, Beckham officially finished and passed all his requirements for 5th grade math in the Think Through Math program and will now start on 6th grade math. Go Beckham! He's worked really hard for this achievement and we are so happy for him that he accomplished it. 

Here's the email from his 5th teacher, Mrs. Eliason:  

"Beckham has finished the 5th Grade material on Think Through Math and will now be working on 6th Grade stuff.  Yay!  I am so proud of him!

He is such an amazing kid, I love having him in my class!

Laura Eliason"

Elementary school has been a challenge for him in that he can't always progress as quickly as he'd like. This is fine with Kevin and me because we realized that he only has these short years to be a kid. The majority of his life will be spent on being an adult and excelling as fast as possible. We've promised him that in Jr. High we will help him navigate any barriers he might encounter that impedes forward progress. But for now, we are happy it's mostly social learning for him (heaven knows that social learning is such an asset in real quality of life situations) with a few academic cherries he's been able to work for sprinkled in. 

I'm excited to see where he goes once the gates are open and he can run as fast and as far as possible. Love that kid. 

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Sanders, Sonja, and Glasses

Sanders has been friends with Sonja from nearly the second he was born. They are only two weeks apart. She being the older one.

Last year, whenever anyone asked Sanders or Sonja if they were going to get married, they both would basically say, "Duh! Obviously." Sonja even gave Sanders a darling framed picture of the two of them for his birthday...all her own idea. He keeps it on his night stand and makes sure it never tips over for very long.

This year, well, they are in first grade. First grade is different than kindergarten in a lot of ways. The biggest social way is that they are starting to care a little more about what everyone thinks. It's a shame really, to see their innocent personalities become contained into acceptable boxes. But it also provides for some humorous insight.

Sanders hasn't hung out with Sonja for awhile for a number of reasons. Curious Beckham asked him at breakfast the other day, "Sanders, do you still like Sonja?"

He stopped mid-bite, turn his head so he was fully facing Beckham, and stated in all seriousness, "If you want to keep your love a secret, you don't play with each other," and then continued with his cereal.

I can't wait to hear what comes out of that kid's mouth sometimes!

Sanders earned some plastic glasses for good behavior at school. He since getting them, he worn them all day at school and home for nearly two weeks straight. Sometimes he even sleeps in them! I asked if they were really comfortable to which he told me, "No, not really. They kind of hurt my ears." HAHAHAHA! What a great kid!

He has big plans to spray paint them black and be Harry Potter for Halloween.













Thursday, August 20, 2015

Records and Mom's Surprise

Too much time has gone by since I've recorded my family's journey...and they've still grown and changed. Stinkers.

We are entering a new era around here and I'm feeling a bit nostalgic about the things I haven't written down. However, I can't change the past, so I'll reshape my future instead.

I don't know how often I'll write, or even if I'll keep this a public publication. Sometimes I really want to document the less than perfect parenting moments so my children will know it happens and how I learned and grew from it. I'm not sure that's something I need to world to know about though ;)

We went to Lagoon at the end of July. It was the first time our whole family was able to ride on just about every ride if we wanted to. It was also the first time we could send some of the kids to ride one ride while the rest of us stayed back to ride another. IT. WAS. MAGICAL.



I loved it. No one whined. Everyone communicated their needs and wants like human beings. They were grateful and plain ol' fun to be around. It made me so excited for this stage.

A few things I learned about my kids:

Sanders has turned into an Adrenalin junky, just like his sister. He would hardly go an any rides last year and this year he went on Cannibal at the ripe age of 6. He was in tears when he thought he might be too short and not able to ride it. Thankfully his hair topped him over ;) He thought it was the best!

Tennyson, like me, has a strong sense of survival when it comes to amusement rides. He opted not to try Cannibal, but declared his favorite rides to be Wicked, Colossus, the White Roller Coaster, and Wild Mouse. Which is a far cry from refusing to go on ANY daring rides at all last year.

Beckham, has learned that he traditionally feels flutters and anxiety before the big rides, but if he powers through those hurtles, he LOVES those big rides. His strong sense of mortality and his need for the rush and, to be completely honest, a good story to tell, fight with each other. He's learning to trust the statistics that most people simply do not actually die on roller coasters. It's been fun to see him work through this process and not let fear keep him from doing things he loves.

Karaia is CRAZY! The bigger, the faster, the higher is all the better in her book. She reminds me a lot of her Uncle Landon who does big adrenaline rush things because 1. It sounds fun. 2. The payoff of fun is so much better than wondering what it would have been like if he'd done it. It's just not worth staying up at night wondering about that stuff I guess.

Kevin loves a good roller coaster too and thankfully thinks the same amusement park rides karaia likes are pretty awesome.

I went on Wicked for the first time this year. I used to be SO afraid of roller coasters and never once felt like I was missing out when I politely, but firmly, kept my feet planted to ground while others strangely rushed off smiling to be nearly killed. Something changed this year. I found myself thinking, "I could probably do that without hyperventilating".

When my family rushed off to ride Colossus, I found myself sitting next to Wicked with these thoughts. Next thing I knew I was in line, BY MYSELF. Then, without any warning whatsoever, I found that I had willingly buckled my seat belt on the ride.

 Just as I clicked the belt, my phone started ringing. It was Kevin. My family was wondering why I wasn't predictably waiting on the ground for them. The kids joked, "What if Mom comes walking out of the Wicked exit?" To which Kevin nearly forgot how to breath because of the laughing. He has known me for 18 years and that scenario was 99.9% unlikely to EVER happen.

Except it did. It was perfect. Like you'd expect to see in a movie. The kid's mouths broke out into HUGE smiles and they all rushed over with lots of whooping and screams of delight giving me big hugs and high fives. Kevin's jaw dropped and his feet became glued to the ground. Where were the prank cameras? There is no WAY this just happened. But I saw the twinkle in his stunned eyes.

Perfection.

The kids begged me to go on it with them. So we all went, as a family, together.

 The beginning of the end of our time with the kids home is so bitter sweet.