Daddy Daughter Weekend

Years ago, Graci pointed out that I took the boys on father/son camping trips, but didn’t do daddy/daughter camping with the girls. So we started an annual daddy/daughter camping trip. Several of those have blog posts on this site. But after 5 years of camping trips, the girls decided they weren’t really tent campers. (Given wheelchairs, blindness, lack of appendages, etc., who can blame them???) So we changed our annual daddy daughter trip to renting an Airbnb for two nights. We go to a movie, go out to eat, play games and watch more movies at the Airbnb, and just have a generally fun and relaxing time. I’m so grateful to have these amazing daughters!

Braille Uno!

Daddy Dates!

 Two weeks ago our town festival, Fort Herriman Days, was in town. There was a parade, a carnival, a big fireworks show, lots of fun. On Saturday morning I walked Elli down to the festivities. I wasn't sure how she would respond, but she used to really like rides, so I decided to try it with her. I asked "Elli, do you want to go on a ride?" In her unique way she replied, "Yes." "Do you want to go on a big ride or a little ride?" "Big ride." I figured I'd start out on a medium ride so we got on the Scrambler (sometimes called the Sizzler). She did pretty well on it and seemed to enjoy it. Afterwards I asked her if she wanted to go on another ride and she said yes. I asked, "A big ride or a little ride." "Little ride." So we rode the Ferris wheel (big in height, little in impact on your body). Afterwards she asked for another big ride, so I took her on the biggest, craziest ride there. You're clamped down with one of those large body clamps that comes over your shoulders. You're on huge swing arm that takes you above parallel with the ground as you swing on a radius of about 30 feet. At the same time, the seats, which are at the end of the arm, are spinning like a merry-go-round. It's pretty intense. She liked it as it started going but got pretty clingy by the time it was full speed. Afterwards I asked again if she wanted to go on another ride. Yes. "Big ride or little ride?" VERY emphatic "LITTLE RIDE." So we did the Yo-yo, which turned out to be her favorite. We had some lunch from a food truck and headed home.

Later in the day I went down with Lexi, Sophi, Jesi, Conner and Graci. Elli came again and enjoyed more rides. Really fun day, and it's great that it's only a couple of blocks from our house:)

Lexi and Sophi acting master class

Miss these two little girls!

-Dad

Stars

Sophi wrote a poem for a school project and I wanted to share:

STARS

When I go camping, I look at Stars!

Those bright Stars!

I wonder what they do at night those Stars.

What are they made of?

Maybe gas or maybe small Stars!

What lives up there?

Star fish?

The world may never know.

I bet Mars knows.

Love my Sophi:)

Sophi Shines On!

Four years ago, Barcroft Media made a beautiful video about our sweet Sophi. Barcroft has rebranded themselves as "truly." In April, they reached out to us about doing an update video. Since it was during quarantine, they asked Taylor to do all of the camera work. Great job Taylor! Here is the new video and below that is the original video from 2016.

Road Trip

Sophi is the world's best traveler. No matter what the scenery looks like, she loves it! We recently had a daddy date road trip to Cedar City, about 3 hours south. We had so much fun talking, taking turns choosing songs to listen to, and observing our surroundings. We had dinner, watched Spies in Disguise at the theater and swam in the hotel pool. We saw 3 hawks on the way down. We thought we saw a fourth sitting on a fencepost right by the highway, but as we got closer we could see it was actually a golden eagle. So cool! On the way back, we stopped to visit Grandma Larsen in Richfield. We also saw the largest herd of deer I've ever seen. They were grazing near the freeway. We pulled over to have a better look and I counted at least 112. Such a fun trip with a fun kid and with lots of great wildlife. Love you Soph!!!

-Dad

Loving the ride! (At least for awhile;)

We stopped to view some pioneer era charcoal pits. They stacked wood in here wall to wall and  burned it  until it turned into charcoal.

Sound asleep!

Our golden eagle. First on the post, then flying away!

Tuckered out after a long day! Cutest sleep position ever:)

Nutella waffles are just to good to eat with only one fork!!!

No Quarantine Necessary!

Sophi went to school last week and a boy in her 5th grade class asked: "Are you Chinese?"

Sophi: "Yes."

The boy, after taking a step backwards: "Do you have that virus???"

😂😂😂

One super-cute, virus-free, Chinese angel!

Cool Asians

As a parent of a diverse group of kids, I find great joy in watching them find role models that they can relate to. Lexi and Conner loved meeting Blessing Offer at one of their USDB camps. Sophi has had the opportunity to meet Tisha Unarmed, Jessica Cox and others with limb discrepancies. Parker saw Ed Sheeran in concert 😂. Lately, Sophi has really honed in on her identity as an Asian. Last night we were watching America's got talent as a family. I absolutely love this show. I love the diversity of talents and the diversity of the performers. When one particular act came on stage, Sophi said, "Hey look-they're Asian!"  Then the performance began and they were A.Maz.Zing! At one point during their act, I was blown away and said out loud, "I don't even know what I just saw!" Sassy little Sophi said, "Um, you saw a bunch of Asians doing cool things!!!" Parker quickly responded with, "No biggie. Dad sees that every day."

I love my family!!!

Here's the AGT act:

New Year's Resolutions

Sophi has a way of filling up my heart every single day. She's pure magic. Every day I find evidences of her cuteness scattered around the house. A few days ago I found this little gem. #1 melted me. I wish I could freeze her at this age and with this spelling. (;

Christi

Parenting skills

Wednesday was the last day of school for our Providence Hall kids. Today is Elli's last day.  Since most of the kids don't have to get up, Christi and I get to sleep in a little bit, but Christi still gets Elli ready and on the school bus.  Yesterday when her alarm rang, she said, "I'm so tempted to just keep sleeping and then drive Elli to school later in the morning."  Sensing an opportunity to gain some always-needed husband points,  I told her I'd get up and take care of Elli. (Poor Elli.  I've given up on trying to make her hair look even remotely good.  I just make sure it's in ponytails and out of her face.)

By the time Elli was on the bus, Sophi and Lexi were awake.  I was needing to get started on some projects, so when those two asked me to make them breakfast, I told them they could do it on their own.  Now I know they face some obvious challenges in this course of action, but they really are quite capable and often feed themselves, usually working as a team to take care of everything they need.

About ten minutes later I hear scrambling in the kitchen and start to smell smoke.  I rush in and, even in the midst if disaster, they've taken care of things.  The burning item has been taken outside and they got it out there before the smoke alarm could go off!  Apparently they had found some leftover french toast in the fridge.  Lexi thought it would be better with some chocolate syrup on it, so they unwrapped a couple of mini Hershey's bars (leftover from Halloween) and put them in a bowl in the microwave.  Sophi asked Lexi, "How long should we cook it?" Lexi replied, "I don't know. Try two minutes." Hence the smoke.

Undeterred, they kept going.  They melted another round of chocolate and heated up the french toast. When they finished their creation, they were so proud they invited me in to see the final product.  Three layer french toast with chocolate and whipped cream between the layers and topped with strawberry yogurt.  Gourmet!

Oldest and Youngest

A couple of funny conversations:

At family council on Sunday I mentioned that one of my cousins' kids was having a wedding reception in a couple of weeks.  I knew my little wedding buddies (Sophi and Lexi) would want to come with me.  I asked if anyone else would like to attend.  Graci quickly asked, "Are they having dinner or light snacks?" Christi and I cracked up.  I guess if you ever see Graci at your wedding reception, you can thank the caterer!

I was dropping Sophi off at school earlier this week.  There are two lanes that parents can pull into: lane one is right next to the sidewalk, lane two goes through the parking lot and requires the kids to cross at a crosswalk.  Usually I pull into lane one, but the flow of traffic that morning required me to get into lane two.  A deep, annoyed sigh came from Sophi in the back seat.  "I hate lane 2!  It's so humiliating!!!"
Me, in surprise: "you're embarrassed when you go through lane 2?"
Sophi: "I'm not embarrassed! It's just humiliating!!!"
Me: "Humiliating means really embarrassing."
Sophi, now a little embarrassed: "Oh.  I thought it just meant terrible."

Sophi is SO amazing.  I love her independence.  The other day she needed something out of the fridge:

I love kids! They keep me laughing:)

Jer

All kinds of drivers!

Sophi isn't quite ready for her driver's license yet, but she sure is having fun on the lawnmower!  No hands? No problem!!!  (The blades are off as she's driving.)

She really loved this, and a couple days later on the way to school she said:

"Driving the lawnmower is awesome! It's the funnest thing I've ever done!!!"...pause..."well, maybe not the funnest.  I've been to Napa and London and Disney World and a cruise..."

Spoiled much?

-Jer

Happy Birthday Sophi!

Christi is a master of making kids feel important.  Perhaps the best example of this is how she treats them on their birthday.  If it were up to me, we would sing Happy Birthday and put some candles on a cake and that would be about it.  But Christi likes to add a bit more fun to the mix.  Sophi's birthday on September 4th was a good example.  The day starts out with the whole family marching into the bedroom to sing Happy Birthday and give them breakfast in bed.

If you can't tell, she's holding up all 10 toes!

We will sing Happy Birthday multiple times throughout the day, lest the favored child forget how special they are.  Mom will often take the birthday girl out to a restaurant.  She checked Sophi out of school and took her to Ihop for lunch.  Later that night Sophi had her requested birthday cake: Key Lime Pie.  As you can see from the video, Sophi took full advantage of her opportunities:

The day also included a trip to Target to pick out her own birthday present.  If you know Sophi, you won't be surprised she picked something that had to do with animals. A play set from the animated series, "Spirit" about a group of girls that solve myriad problems in the old west with the help of their trusty horses:).  

We are so lucky to have Sophi as part of our families.  She's our spicy, sassy, funny, self-confident little whirlwind.  We love you, Soph!!!

Love, Dad

Love my girls!

Last Friday night I had the awesome opportunity to go on a daddy-daughter campout.  As the girls get older and I get older I guess Dad gets less exciting to hang out with.  When given the choice of coming with me, only two of the girls decided that was what they wanted to do with their Friday night.  (And let me be perfectly clear: the option was to stay at home.  No big plans for anyone.  Basically a campout with Dad just didn't seem particularly awesome.  I guess I had some foresight when I blogged our campout in 2011.)

But Graci, Sophi and I had a great time!  We returned to Clover Springs for the first time in seven years.  The campground is pretty remote and the stars were absolutely fantastic.  Hot dogs, s'mores, and egg mcmuffins for breakfast made for a great menu.  The first year we went on a daddy-daughter campout we started a funny tradition.  On a pre-camp shopping trip I saw Funky Flames in the camping section at Walmart.  We tried them out, the girls loved the colors, and now they want them every time we go.

Having Taylor leave for school has really driven home the reality that our time with these angels in our household is limited and short.  I am so grateful for opportunities like these that provide the chance to create memories that will help sustain me when more of them are gone.

Jeremy

Sophi loves to pose 😂 

We took a little hike...

...to the springs that give the campground it's name.

Apparently Sophi decided to take some pics before I woke up 😂

Cool pic, Soph!

Field trip Fail

I thought I was being a great dad.  Sophi somehow found out that she was my only child I had never been on an elementary school field trip with.  (Except for Conner and Cali who were already past elementary when we adopted them.)  For the past year or so she has been asking "When will you be able to go with me?"  So the time finally came.  She was going to the zoo. I love the zoo.  We had a date!

I packed Sophi a fun lunch. I sat next to her on the bus.  I was super kind, patient and understanding with the great kids in her group.  I took pictures.  I joked with them.  I rented a wheelchair so Sophi's shorter leg wouldn't get sore from walking.  I carried her on my shoulders on the long walk back to the bus.  I kept my phone in my pocket so I could focus on her.

Later that day when I got home from work, I found Christi and Sophi talking in their bedroom.  I proudly asked Christi, "So did she have a great time?"

Christi responded:  "Well, Sophi said you did OK, but Claire's group got ice cream..."

Sigh.  The vastly underappreciated role of parent.  I guess it's a good reminder to look back and remember all of the things my parents did for me that I didn't realize at the time.  Well, at least I had a fun time Sophi, ice cream or not!

Loving the lions!

This peacock showed off for several minutes.

Polar bear swim anyone?