Emily’s Curio

Well If I haven’t written for a year it’s because of all of the things that have been happening. We’ve moved into a house. we’re renting most of it, I have actually kept the place pretty clean and organized, and I have been teaching the kids how to read and how to write. Brigh is doing well, he can spell any letter you put in front if him and it almost looks exactly like it. Sometimes it is even readable. Then he can sound out each letter very well and even read three and some four letter words. I am proud beyond what I can say. Then KD gets involved, she is a smart cookie, and Chris is terribly good at scribbling circles and such.

I am a very proud mommy. I only hope that I can keep it up.

Some of the sweetest memories I have ever had in my life, that I often think about over and over again are:

When I worked nights at Wal-mart while I attended Southern Utah University, I got off early so I could drive home in time for Christmas day. I got to Vernal at around eight oclock in the morning. I sat down on the couch and dozed off. A while later I heard something plop down on the floor next to me. Then someone took off my shoes. I tried really hard to open my eyes. Then someone picked me up. I managed to open my eyes in time to see my little Brother T.R. laying a blanket over me. I think I cried because my mascara was streaked down my face when I finally woke. I was so tired. He was so tender.

Another time was when I was having a hard day because of some neighbors who were excluding me because of something I stood up for. I was having a hard time because one of those neighbors was a friend I loved. I woke up one morning after tossing and turning all night. My little son asked for breakfast and I chocked back some tears and said,  “In a minute I just need to pray.” I knelt down and cried that I knew I had done the right thing by standing up for what I needed to. I was having a hard time withthe rejection and needed a blessing to know I was loved. I ended the prayer and opened my eyes to see my little boy, two years old, on his knees next to me with his arms folded and his face so concerned. I hugged him and thanked him for praying with me.

Then, just recently, I went home to Vernal. I was so tired from caring for sick kids night and day. I myself was feeling the illness. After church I went to my dear Mom in laws home and laid my little tired baby on her bed. I thought, ‘I will just rest a minute.” I heard someone come in. I saw my mom in law walk quietly out and then later I felt something lay over me. I woke to find a light sheet laid over me. She had noted how warm ot was bit still wanted me covered.

I am so happy for these sweet memories, and the dear hearts who gave them to me.

Our little Daughter loves to hug bugs. We are always finding her with a little dead bug in her fingers. She kisses them, and hugs them. And she isn’t afraid to pick them up. During Easter she found a tree swarming with boxelder bugs. She was thrilled. She grabbed them one at a time and loved them to death. Litterally.

She has been found chaseing spiders around the cement walks. She searches for them. She caught a moth, and had a beetle in her other hand. I can see KD coming inside from playing outside, and I will have to check her pockets for critters, and hope that they weren’t smashed to death during the collecting.

It makes you worry about what she may try to catch unnoticed. How on earth do you help a kid to be aware of the danger.

My friend and I got together to make a recipe for tootsie rolls. You can’t find the exact recipe anywhere and we are both addicts to the candy. As we were talking and experiementing we came across a substance that almost looked perfect to the texture of the candy so we decided to taste it. We were kindof stunned at the result of the flavor, it wasn’t bitter or sweet and it wasn’t good or terrible bad either. Somehow, during our conversation, we had managed to forget to add the sugar. Because the dough wasn’t sticky, we decided to let our kids play with it. THey had a blast.

When the time came for me and my kids to go home her husband had entered the house and was playing with the kids. He asked if we had been cooking and my friend told him that we attempted some candies, and she helped me get my kids out the door. When I got home with my children my friend called me to tell me that her husband was helping one of her daughters climb up on a chair. He saw some of the dough we had made on her shirt and he took it off and put it in his mouth. Because the dough wasn’t sweet he immediatly thought he had eaten something else that was brown and mushy, and he began to dry heave. When his wife asked him if he was alright he told her what he had done. On inspection, and feeling terrible that he didn’t know of our failed attempt at making candy, she explained everything to him. Although he was relieved at not just eating something unappetizing, he didn’t have an appetite for dinner. So here’s one for the books.

My friend and I may have failed at making candy, but we just might have come across a very safe pretend poo.

A slide show of my Dad is found here.

I have a three year old son. My neighbor and friend has five sons. One of them is three, and one is two. Another lady down the street also has a three year old boy. One morning I was out on a walk with my friend who has five boys. We walked past the girls house who has one three year old. As we walked by we noticed the embellishment on her front room window looked quite strange. Further observation led us to realize that pasted against the window was not an interesting decoration, but a nude boy, spread eagle, holding onto the curtain rod above the window. Politely, we waved back to him and went on our way wondering if we should inform the mother of her expressive youth.

Not much later than that my own child went out to play in the yard. As I was getting shoes on my daughter my husband noticed a car slow down in front of the house and he went to see if our son was crossing the street. Our obedient son was quite in the yard but unabashedly pointing the way for passing traffic, and watering the ground at the same time. As my husband searched for the missing articles of clothing strewn about the yard, I took the liberty of giving the boy a bit of cover. This happened in the matter of minutes.

That very evening my friend with the five boys, two within my sons age range, shared that her sons were outside playing when they decided that, despite the snow and weather, they had become to hot and needed a break from the restricting garments. Her elderly neighbor was the one to call and give her the information as to their whereabouts and their doings.

I can’t think of a better thing in the world, when having a three year old, than to live near other mothers who have three year olds.

Bernie is a man I taught when I served in the mission felid. He was baptized and has been a faithful, active member of his branch ever since. Everyone who knows him says he is the greatest asset. He is the only one that I know of who is still acitvely attending church. He has kept in touch with my efforts to keep in touch.

Yesterday Bernies daughter got married in the Salt Lake Temple. He told me about it months ago and I asked if I could come. They both said yes and I looked forward to it everyday, and kept their wedding announcement on my fridge to remember. I highlighted the event on the calander and put their picture in a conspicuous place so I could look at the beautiful girl who had grown up over these years and her bright eyes and the choice of her heart next to her.

Two days before the wedding our children got a runny nose. The next morning our littlest one was having a hard time breathing. They cried and were more easilly put to bed than usual, and they slept a lot. Robin came home and mentioned that the wedding was the next morning. I was stunned that it had come so soon, even with all the reminders, and I weighed the decision. I decided to stay home with the kids. I felt good about the decision to stay, but not the decision to not go. I wrote an apology email. That didn’t make me feel any better so I called the Church offices for the phone number to the temple. I was on hold for forty five minutes. I couldn’t hang up, and I prayed that there might be a chance that I could get a hold of them before the wedding. Suddenly a woman answered and I told her I was trying to reach a wedding party. She asked which one and I told her. She asked how I am associated withthe party and I said, “I taught Melissa’s Dad on my mission.” She hurried and took my message down and then she sorrowfully said, ” They are already up there, I don’t know if I will be able to get this to them.” I told her I understood and we said goodbye. I felt sad for the whole day. Then I checked my email and Bernie had written. I opened the mail and he was very understanding. He then said, “Elder Chrisstopherson, one of the Presidents of one of the quorums of the Seventy came to the wedding. He shook the Brides hand, he shook the Grooms hand, He shook the grooms parents hand, then he got to me and he said, “Emily won’t be able to make it. I am so sorry.” Bernie asked if I knew Elder Christtopherson. I wrote that I didn’t. He must have been right there and decided to deliver the message personally. He was an answer to my hopes.  And an answer to my prayer. And Bernie was elated to have met him.

Christmas always makes me think about my Dad. I remember a lot of weird Christmas’s when my Dad was around. I remember the Christmas when my mom bought my Dad a huge thick  midnight blue coat that was weather proof on the outside and had the softest warmest dark blue fur on the inside. I remember that coat because I could fit my entire body into one of the arms of it. My dad had worn a tan, lined jacket that had stains and rips in it for the longest time. I remember him sewing it up a lot. The look on his face when he got the coat was delightful for all of us to see. He used it for a whole week, and then one day he came home without it on. He took the tan jacket out of the storage closet and wore it to work. We were all young but we knew enough to ask my mom what happened to the coat. She never did answer us. It wasn’t until I overheard her talking to her sister that I found out what happened. she and my dad came across a guy walking down the street in the snow storm and pulled over to offer him a ride. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, and they took him as far as they could and my dad gave him every cent he had on him and the coat he was wearing.

There were many Christmas’s I can remember things like that. My Dad never talked about them, he never bragged or gave himself credit. He just always did it, and I don’t remember him ever looking for anything in return.

I know my dad is up there looking down on me and seeing how I’m trying to continue in his example. I know he is happy with me.

Christopher Eugene was born on the nineteenth of September of this year. I have reflected on the events over and over again. I have been married four years and have three children that I devote my time and attention to.

I remember the birth of my first child well. I remember all that I gave up to be at home with him and be the major influence in his life. I remember all of the grief I was ever given by my neighbors, friends, and some few family members for my decision not to persue my own interests  for a season so that I could do what I thought was right. It has been a hard road and many people have not held back on their critisisms and judgements. It has been hard giving up my dreams of being an illistrator, and animator, and character desigener right now. But when I saw my son take his first steps, when I heard him speak his first words, clock, rock, and duck; when I saw his mind focus on the things I was showing him and teaching him, I knew I was doing the right thing. 

For some reason I have had a neighbor recently put me down for not making the same decisions with my family that she had made with hers. She had continued her education and not let having a baby stop her from finishing. As always I didn’t know what to say, I had no desire to put her down in defense, or explain my reasons for my decision, so I just let her go on. A friend that I go walking with occasionally was listening to my neighbor correct me and she interupted the conversation. My friend had also finished her college education, and she had a degree in physics. She heard my neighbor tell me that I was not a good example for my kids. My friend said, ” she is showing her children where her priorities are. She is heeding the prophets council and showing them how important following the guidance of the living prophet is to her and not her image to men, she is showing them how important family is to her by teaching, guiding, and showing them herself, not giving the responsibility to someone else. She is showing them how important education is by teaching them herself, showing them how fun it is to learn, continueing to perfect her own talents, and reading to them.” my friend  concluded that my not having finished schooling at this time did not make me a failure. I appreciated her. I never knew how much of a friend I had in her. She understood it was hard for me to stop persueing my dreams for myself, at least for now. I don’t understand why those who are so quick to critisize think this is easy. To succeed in art you have to devote all of your time and attention to it. I can’t thank her enough. A well educated woman defending me in my decision to do what I thought was right. What wonderful blessings I have received. A new Baby and a freind. Thank you Melanie.

Robin and I took the kids out to Provo and Salt Lake, we were down there for a close cousin of mine who was getting married. The trip was wonderful because we got to see Andy and the place were he works. WE got a personal tour of the set for the Legend of Santa Claus animation that they are working on. I was thrilled beyond belief. Brighton was enchanted by the small houses, sets, and dolls. He got to touch a reindeer and take the glove off of Mckeein(sp). He wanted to play with it all, and so did I. I thought it funny that I had to contain myself as much as I needed to contain him, if not more. Robin and I got some really fun ideas about what we could do for Kjerstine when she got a little older, and maybe even sooner. We have built a playhouse together for Brighton’s second Christmas, we are building a bunkbed for the two chick-a-dee’s before Christopher is born, and we want to make some plans for building a little play house for the kids, and get some kind of dolls for them too. I know KD would love it, and I saw how much Brighton would too. Something I love about my and RObin’s families is that we have a lot of the same loves. LaRue’s Dad built a puppet house for his little girls, my dad built a doll house, my mom and grandma made dolls, Great Grandma Ruth made clothes, etc… What a fun legacy to pass on. We didn’t get to see Laurie. And I think that, besides not getting to stay and visit longer with Andy, that was the only thing we would have wanted different.