http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQEFOOCT8yM&feature=youtu.be

Picture overload

The internet is working well this afternoon so I'm getting lots of pictures uploaded. They're not really in order - but at least they're here, right?

Caleb's favorite game at this time is washing dishes. He will ask to wash dishes - pull up his stool to wash dishes - and play in the water. He gets very distressed when I can't drop whatever I'm doing to "play" with him.

Brothers

Caleb and Dad hiding in the hamper

Caleb with Tey and Emmett.

Caleb playing with some of his favorite characters - Lightening Mcqueen "cha - kow" and Mater "dad-gum"

Emmett in his new outfit from the Tietjens - I love this color on him.

I don't think Caleb knew he was laying the same way Emmett was - but it made me laugh.

I don't think Caleb knew he was laying the same way Emmett was - but it made me laugh.

About 2 weeks old

Caleb proudly showed off this trick the other night - He got up here and said "Caleb's flying!" Personally I thought he looked more like a beached whale.

When I laid Emmett down on the floor the other day Caleb decided he needed his own blanket so he could lay down next to Emmett.

My boys under the Christmas tree.

Brother love

More brother love

Playing with Dad - Caleb decided they all needed to be hiding.

Mom and the boys

Emmett is king of scratching his face. It seems like no matter how short of a time we have the mittens off his hands and no matter when we last cut his nails he manages to scratch his face. This was the worst though. I think he was about a week old when this happened. In fact - I think it was the day before I took his 1 week pictures. Thank heavens for photoshop.

Emmett all wrapped up in the Christmas blanket I made for him.

When Santa came to visit - 12/6/11 - from a student ward on campus and he brought Caleb an orange truck that he absolutely loves. They brought some other presents that are under the tree too.

2 weeks old

The first of Emmett's bucket pictures:

He now weighs 6 lbs 4 oz and has grown an inch.

1 week old

So proud of myself - I pinned an idea for doing pictures like this on Pinterest - and I did it!!!

Off to add this to my Pinned It & Did It board.

I remember

Christmas time is a magical time of year. And having a new baby at your house is pretty magical too. But when you combine them together you get something pretty special. It’s often said that Christmas time is a time for remembering. And usually we rejoice in that remembering. Remembering our Savior and his life and sacrifice for all of us. Christmas time is a time for rejoicing.

But for me, December 8^th is a special day for remembering, remembering the day we lost our first baby. I know she was gone before that date, but that’s when we knew she was gone. It has been three years now. It seems strange to think that much time has passed already. That little baby has been especially close to my heart this year. I’ve been dreading this date for months now. Mostly I was hoping Emmett wouldn’t pick today to come. I’m so glad he’s already here.

In the past few months I’ve had 3 friends lose babies – and all 4 of them were boys. My heart aches for these mommies. It is so hard to have to say goodbye to a baby you haven’t even really had a chance to meet.

As much as these stories break my heart they rarely made me worry. I’ve often had the impression that Emmett was going to be ok. That he was going to be a fighter. Even when he tried to come back in October, I didn’t worry. Somehow I just knew inside that he was going to be ok. That he would be strong when he did come. Because he was 3 weeks early the hospital staff had all kinds of oxygen set up in case he needed it. His head was barely out before he started crying. I have never heard such a sweet sound as that first cry. Within seconds the nurses reassured me that they wouldn’t even need to test how well his lungs were working because they could hear by as much as he was crying that he was ok and had strong lungs. I suppose it is fitting that Emmett means strong.

Stacy doesn’t mean strong though and I feel right now I am particularly not strong. It still hurts and I can’t imagine that hurt going away. It is one of those experiences that teach you things you cannot learn any other way. It teaches you patience, faith, and love like you can’t imagine. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. But I needed to write a post to let that baby know, and to remind myself, that no matter how much it feels like no one else cares – I remember that baby. I know she is happy in heaven and that someday we will get to meet her, that even though she isn’t here with us now, she belongs to us and will be a part of our family forever.

Isn’t the principle of eternal marriage wonderful? Isn’t it amazing to be able to have our families forever? I don’t know how people survive without that knowledge.

And here is a little excerpt from an article by Joseph B. Walker called Explaining the Inexplicable: “…Sometimes there is no explanation. Sometimes during our precarious journey through life stuff happens that defies explanation. It just happens…Thankfully, our success in life isn't determined by our answers to "why" questions. When it comes right down to it, success, peace and happiness have less to do with external forces acting upon us than with how we choose to react to those forces. It's a matter of attitude, not platitudes. Because the fact is, none of us can control what happens to us. We can't bottle sunshine, or lasso the wind. But we can control our responses to the stuff that happens. And if we can control our responses and reactions, then it doesn't really matter what happens.”

4 day old photos

New Baby

Emmett Steven - born 11/30/11 - 4:43 p.m. - 18 inches - 5 lbs 13 oz

Baby Emmett has the most loving and excited big brother I've ever seen.

Bucket Photos - the first two years

Can't believe we've been doing bucket pictures this long. There probably won't be any more of just Caleb by himself - at least for a long while. My little squirt is getting so big!

A Christmas blankie for a Christmas baby

Besides Squirt getting better this is about all I have to show for last week. I worked on it a whole lot last week. But now it's done and I'm so excited!



I saw a similar blanket HERE and though I had no idea where to find the pattern, I decided to try it anyway. I'd never tried crocheting granny squares before - but it was actually really easy.




The best part was that I could work on tiny little squares for most of the time and didn't have to hold a whole blanket on my lap. Definitely a good summer time project!

Balloon Surprise!

Here are a few pictures of the gender reveal - in case you can't get the video to work.

Blue and green balloons....





Caleb's reaction was my favorite - he sure loved all the balloons floating to the ceiling.


Sam's reaction was the next best - he said, "That was AWESOME!"


And then we ate yummy little blue cupcakes.





And Caleb got a ride in the spinny chair from Dave.

Yes, it's true. Brandilyn and Dave are the best neighbors ever.


On the way to tell Grandma about the balloons.



Oh - and we asked Caleb if he could say brother. He said, "No. Balloon!" And we checked with him this morning - he still thinks that a baby says 'meow.' I wonder if he'll get the point by December.

Making Ethel Smile

By Joseph Walker

MAKING ETHEL SMILE

Her name was Ethel. I didn't know it at the time, of course. To tell the truth, it really didn't matter. All that mattered was that the music was playing, the dance floor was beckoning, she was woman, I was man. Let's dance.

I know – I was married. It was OK. My wife, Anita, was on the same dance floor, cutting a rug with a good-looking' guy named Clarence. That's sort of the way it is during dances at the nursing home. You come, you see who is ambulatory, you dance.

We had gone to the nursing home "hoe-down" to be with my Dad, who was a resident there. But my sister, my daughters and my wife were handling Dad's dancing needs, which left me free to check out the female talent. I danced with several women, including one who whistled – loudly and beautifully – throughout the song, and one who started screaming when I asked her name. They were all wonderful ladies, and I enjoyed each moment of musical movement – even when that "movement" consisted mainly of keeping my partner from falling down (sort of reminded me of a sorority dance I was invited to in my college days – but I digress).

Ethel, however, was special. There was fire in her eyes, and passion in her voice. When I asked if she would like to dance, she looked me dead in the eye and responded brightly: "Yes I would!" Her eyes never left mine as we danced. When I asked her name, she said, "My name is Ethel!" When I asked if she liked dancing, she told me, "Yes I do!" When I told her she was a good dancer, she replied, "Yes I am!" Always brightly. Always with energy. Always with grace.

But never with a smile. For some reason, during all of our pleasant interaction, she never smiled at me. Not once. After our dance was over and I returned her to her seat, I asked one of the care center employees if there was a reason why Ethel couldn't smile.

"No," I was told. "She can smile. She just doesn't smile very often."

Well, that sounded like a challenge to me. So I spent the rest of the night trying to make Ethel smile. I told her both of my jokes (note to self: a care center for Alzheimer's patients probably isn't the best place to try out a standup comedy routine). I brought her food. I made faces at her while I was dancing with other women. She watched me carefully – almost intensely. She nodded at the jokes, thanked me for the food and made faces back at me. But she didn't smile.

I was about to go Jerry Lewis on her – you know, drop my pants, fall on the floor, break a vase over my head or some other sophisticated form of comedy – when something funny happened. Or didn't happen, as the case may be. Clarence, Anita's former dance partner, wandered over to where Ethel was sitting and sat in the chair next to her. He reached over and gently patted her hand. She looked at him. He smiled at her. She smiled back. Simple as that. The smile I had been working for all night was given to Clarence for just a pat and a grin. It wasn't fair. Unless . . .

"They're married aren't they?" I asked the attendant. "Or maybe sweethearts?"

"Nah," she said. "They're just friends."

I've heard that phrase before – "just friends" – and I'm not exactly sure what it means. It seems to infer a relationship that somehow lacks something. But my experience has been that a good and trusted friend is more than just . . . well . . . "just." Friendship is an extraordinary thing. It can bring depth to your life, comfort to your soul, joy to your heart and a smile to your face.

Just ask Ethel.

Graduation!!!

Just a few for now - I have hundreds of pictures to go through from this weekend...but I wanted to get some of the favorites up at least.

Everyone after graduation (except for one sister who had to leave)


And of course, Sam on the motorcycle all dressed up - apparently a big hit in Rexburg. He said lots of people honked at him.


At the graduation party we had Sam get all dressed up again so that we could take a few more pictures.




My new favorite picture - and Squirt's too. He's got a fever today and he really wants his daddy who left for scout camp this morning. Squirt is mostly satisfied if we have this picture up when he wants Daddy.


I'll add more as I get around to editing them.

Warm River 2011

When I asked Squirt if he wanted to go swimming this is how he looked....


Osprey


Picnic with Kathryn and Christian - and not forgetting the most important thing - Sam's solar hot dog cooker!

This is a project that has been in the works for several months. Though it has only recently been working. Sam's turning it in for a final project for one of his classes. The parabola - the big shiny metal thing - is shaped in such a way as to direct all the sunlight it catches to one point. You can direct the light and by placing the cooker in the direct sunlight you can slide a hot dog onto the skewer thing in the middle and cook it - yes - they really get cooked!

It takes about 5 minutes to heat a hot dog to where it's nice and hot. Closer to 10 minutes if you want it toasty like the picture above.

If you leave it for half an hour...

It will burn the hot dog - no that's not a shadow - it really is burned.


Squirt enjoying a solar cooked hot dog (actually he enjoys all hot dogs - he'd eat hot dogs for every meal if we would let him)


Yesterday we needed a last minute improvise to cook a hamburger. Thanks to a pickle lid, my wonderful engineer and his pocket knife - a plate was fashioned that cooked the hamburger. It sizzled and smoked like hamburgers do when you cook them on the grill. So cool! Sam's got plans to make a separate attachment to cook hamburgers - something more long lasting than a pickle lid.



After lunch it was time to float the river.

Caleb didn't mind the river...

Until he felt how cold it was.

He was not very impressed and even tried to climb up Sam's legs so that he could get out of the water. Despite the name of the river being Warm River - it wasn't really warm.

Even sitting on a tube that kept him out of the water was too much for Caleb...nope - he wasn't impressed.



Even being in the tube(s) on land was traumatic.

But when he rode down with Dad he was pretty happy.

He liked the ride until it was time to get off and he got splashed a little. I didn't know there were little kids who didn't like to splash...but we have one. (I took him to the splash park in Rexburg a few days ago and after an hour his swimming suit was still dry - pictures to come.)

Caleb much preferred doing this while the others floated the river:

So he and I sat on the bank and ate chips

and Oreos

and watched the others float past





And life was good - and we enjoyed the view






After the final run Dad insisted that sitting in a tube and watching the river was even better than floating the river - and he and Christian came up with some ideas for a motion ride at Disneyland that was like floating the river. I think they called it The Great Idaho Adventure ride...and Kathryn added that there should be a squirt bottle to get you just a little bit wet.

We went down the river a bit to feed the fish after everything was over.

I've been up to Warm River to feed the fish a number of times - but this is by far the best picture I've ever gotten of fish there. I'm so proud!




Caleb liked the wind in his face on the way home.



Silos in Ashton

We stopped here to get ice cream and mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes for dinner - ice cream because that's what you do if your last name is Robbins and you've been swimming.

The bathroom was kinda scary - but really, really clean.



And look at how beautiful the fruit is there!!! I especially love the mirrors behind it - makes it look like there is tons of fruit.

And for the Psych fans...yes, I found the pineapple

Sam got Cotton Candy ice cream and I got Huckleberry (one of my favorite flavors of ice cream EVER!)

And then we came home and had showers and went to bed. It was a long day but so fun. I think I'm the only one who ended up sunburned - and only a little on my face. We stopped by the Jet Stream on the way home just to show Christian where it was...but the water at the Jet Stream is incredibly high this year.

Like so high we may not get back here before we move. And that makes me sad. Here's a comparison for you:


I posted with the blog post from 2009 that the water was higher than normal that year - but it's nothing like this year.