Pitts Stop: July 2013

Saturday, July 27, 2013

I'm glad I'm Not a Pioneer

Today was a good day, a crazy day, a tiring day, but a good day.

Today my niece Lucy was baptized.

Today my nephew Shawn had his 2nd birthday party.

We left our house at 8:30 this morning to drive to Brigham City for the baptism and enjoyed visiting with family afterwards while having refreshments. The kids loved seeing my parents, my brother Jacob and his wife Carolyn, their Turley cousins, their Matthews cousins, and their Pachev cousins.

The fun was supposed to continue at the birthday party in Layton. Right after we got there my sister Sarah Pachev called my cell phone and told me their car had broken down 6 miles out of Brighan city. They have 10 people in their family, so my BIL Dave and my husband took our large cars and drove to the rescue. An hour and a half later, they returned.

My Dad took my BIL Sasha Pachev and his daughter Jenny to the TRAX station for the long trip down to Orem, including a 4 mile run to his house, where he picked up his OTHER 15 passenger van to come and get his family. I know, how many people own two 15 passenger vans and also ARE NOT polygamists?

We divided the rest of the family up between 3 cars. Luckily, our boys had not come with us due to being at Trek and Scout camp, so we had room in our car. There was just enough room to fit all of the people and all of the swimming bags, church clothes, shoes, coolers, towels, etc..

My car added 2 kids, lots of stuff, and my mom's wheelchair. My parents took 4 children. My brother took two people and my mom's bags. The Turley's took Jacob's cooler. It was like car tetris! Everyone met at my house and untangled their belongings from each other's cars. My sister and her kids came inside and we settled into making some dinner as quickly as possible since it was already 6:45 p.m.

I cooked some noodles, chopped some cucumbers and pulled out the arugula. Sarah washed the strawberries and washed a ton of dirty dishes for me too. Dinner was yummy and we finally finished eating and cleaning up around 8 P.M. Things MIGHT have been a little delayed by a chain reaction of children that accidentally knocked a can of spaghetti sauce on the floor. It MIGHT have splattered. Emmeline will tell you that "splatter" means "all over the place". And, well, yes, it did go all over. So, now a few things are cleaner than they were, including the floor, the door, the fridge, and Julia and Clara.

So, it was a favor, but not a huge deal to drive all the way back to pick up stranded family, shuffle stuff and people in cars, and cook dinner for another family. That's was family does for each other.

But, it's made me think a little bit about the early pioneers ( probably since my oldest child just returned from a handcart trek) and how, when they heard that the handcart companies were stranded and starving, the Saints immediately set to work putting together a rescue effort. It was a Sunday, in the middle of church. The meeting ended and the work began . There were lives to save.

I'm glad I'm not a pioneer. But, I'm also glad for their great example and for the things we learn at church that help us, in our modern callings to help our friends and family, to drop everything and go to the rescue. Nothing is more important than family.

The day was busy. It was crazy. It was messy. Things didn't go exactly as planned. It may have been somewhat stressful for a few people. But, it was also a chance to serve and bond.

In closing, I'd like to share what I shared from facebook the other day. It was written by a friend of a friend.

On particularly rough days when i'm sure I can't possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100%, and that's pretty good'. -James Bramble

Everyone survived. Enough said.

Friday, July 19, 2013

30 Day Swimming Challenge

June 2013

If you are my friend on facebook, you're probably sick of reading about me taking my kids swimming. Sorry.
The great photos are all at the bottom.

When I was a little kid my mom put me in swimming lessons every year from the time I was 5. I think I stayed in level one for about 5 years.

I was terrified. They wouldn't let me wear goggles and the chlorine stung my sensitive eyes.

The instructors demanded that I open my eyes under water.

I hated them.

Eventually I learned how to swim well enough to have a good time.

Fast forward a lot of years. . .

Last September we bought everyone in our family a Pass of All Passes. These are awesome! They have so many places we can go for free or very cheap that the passes are "paid for" very quickly. We've hardly used them due to my two surgeries and busy school schedule. We mostly bought them to enjoy Seven Peaks this summer. We have visited Trafalga and Holllywood Connection. This Saturday we are seeing the play Tarzan. All of that was free.

The next step is to go to Seven Peaks. I plan to take my kids twice a week for the summer.
Just over a month ago I realized that we would get a lot more use out of the pass if we could go during the day without Daddy. I also realized my six children would probably drown with only me to watch after them.

The boys could swim already. The girls needed swimming lessons, but there weren't any starting until June. So, since I specialize in my own kind of crazy, I decided to teach them all myself.

I bought a 30 day pass to the Gene Fulmer indoor pool, about 7 minutes from my house. It cost $95 for my family of 8. Swim lessons cost $35 for 8 lessons( 30 minutes long). I knew I could do better than that and for less money if I would just commit my own time and energy to my kids. I vowed to go every day but Sunday with as many kids as were available.

Today is the last day. We will go swimming after lunch.

We have gone EVERY SINGLE Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for about an hour. I really think I deserve an actual 14KT gold star for this, cause, it was not easy.

But, it worked.

Do you know the feeling when you see your baby walk for the first time?

I've had that feeling almost every time we've gone to the pool. As I have witnessed my children gaining new skills and the pure joy they feel in accomplishing something that seemed impossible, I too feel that amazement and joy. It's hard to adequately describe.

Reuben (14) and Tim (12)could already swim, but had never passed the scout swim test for camp. Now, they are ready.

Amy (10) couldn't swim at all. She swims. She floats. She jumps in the deep end. She is working on different strokes.

Clara (7) also couldn't swim. Her crowning achievement last week was jumping into the deep end and swimming across and back. She swims and floats and is working on the back stroke.

Audrey(5) did the death grip whenever I brought her into water deeper than her shoulders. Now, she loves to swim underwater and float on her back or tummy.

Emmeline(3). She is the most delightful. Every single day Emmeline pushes herself a little but more. She loves to jump into the pool and float to the top. She screams at me to put my arms down so I'm not trying to catch her. She jumps off of the steps and swims underwater to me, probably 4 feet. She loves to "go under"! She can float on her back by herself. The best moment was when someone asked me if she had been taking swimming lessons for a long time.

It has been worth it. The 30 extra loads of laundry has been worth it. The extra time has been worth it. The extra gas was worth it. Taking two showers every day was worth it. Scrounging for dinner or eating it quickly was worth it. Being exhausted and wet every day was worth it.

I'm going to miss it.