Fall is just plain fun

Yes I love this season.  In every way.  I love the warmth of the colors and the briskness of the air.  I love the caramel and the apples and the candy.  (Admittedly, my kids get a little angry when their Halloween stashes diminish more quickly than expected ;). I love thinking up and making costumes for the kids with Kevin.  (Narnia theme this year....Darren is Aslan....

Eden is modeling Ryn's White Witch crown)

I love the leaves and even raking them.  

I love chilly days spent inside that end like this one: (Darren helped pick up some toys in this bucket....)

http://youtu.be/CVcgkhAKcSQ

And the perfect ones where you glory in every second you can be out there in long sleeves and pants or short sleeves and a light jacket soaking up the golden light. 

 

 And the evenings just begging for a fire to roast marshmallows and hobo dinners with friends like the Lehnardts.  (In case you can't tell great photography from mediocre, most of these pics are from the Great Michelle :))

And Halloween recitals, parties and trick-or-treating....

Darren wore the clown costume Carma made for Kevin to a cousin Halloween party. 

Ryn--White Witch, Elle--Susan, Eden--Lucy, Darren--Aslan, Hope--Reepacheep and we had my sweet parents handing out candy and Kevin's trick-or-treating with us. 

And now we have Hope's birthday to add even more joy every year!  I can't believe it has really been a whole year.  What a gift she has been!  Next post:  "Hope turns 1" :)

A SUPER Ellis family reunion

Joy was in charge of picking the theme and doing the major planning for this summer's reunion.  A huge job, but she worked her usual magic and we loved every Super minute. When she called to explain the shirts she wanted me to make and bounce some ideas around I knew it would be fantastic.  "On the front, we need a superman symbol with SF inside.  And then the words, 'Super friends in a Super family = Super fun'. And it was.  

Even the 2 day road trip was super. 

The venue was a "resort" called The Other Place.  Situated right inside a big bend of the Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas, we occupied several comfortable cabins and enjoyed 5 days (june 30-july 5) of family memory making. Each morning we did a craft:  t-shirt hero capes (seen in the pictures with the SF tshirts), personalized superhero books, and American flags and red/white/blue drinks on the 4th.  It was a great way to give the cousins something fun and a little organized to start the day.  

Everyone took care of their own lunch and then we spent the afternoons floating on inner tubes on the river, playing games, or enjoying the shaded playground.  

The man taking these river photos couldn't believe how many we packed in our raft :).

Ryn, Caitie, Coco, Ethan, Elle, Nora, Darren.   That old see saw was holding on for dear life.  

Savannah and Lily were the dose of adorable we all needed each day.  

The girls' table with Mis, Maurie, Nora, Eden and Anne-Loren.  

A spirited game of boules between Rae/Conlon and Kevin/John.  Let the fingers do the talking to tell who won.  

Conlon and Baby Jane.  

A father and son moment 

Kitchen-turned-ping pong table in action between Matt and Conlon. 

Joy helping Maurie get dolled up.  

Eden and Mia checking out the bunk beds.  

After lunch, Mama KK and Papa Stan would get a group of the grand kids together to practice a slot they could present to all of us at dinner depicting scenes from our ancestors' lives. 

http://youtu.be/RbqbAmKZif8

Then after dinner we had some great activities.  Monday night we watched the world premier of each unit's family SUPER home movie to go with our theme.  Hi-lar-i-ous.  Natalie was the rappin MC of theirs so we had to get a recap with Conlon B-boxing. Oh yeah.  You'll be dancing. 

http://youtu.be/4fjvuFQE708

Another night , Rob and Christa held a taste-test challenge (that we girls killed the boys in :)) to pick name brands from generic ones.  Peanut butter, Nutella, root beer, Oreos, Reese's, and Ruffles.  Yummy business.  Unfortunately I was too busy eating to take pictures.  

On the night of the Fourth, some of us found a park where we could enjoy the town's fireworks display.  Somehow to me, fireworks are an essential part of this holiday. They were beautiful.  And I always feel like "standing up" with Lee Greenwood and singing "I'm proud to be an American."  

Joy brought otter pops and we had DumDums so we survived the wait until the show started. 

Sweet Matt and his boys

"Sisters, sisters....."

Before checking out and heading to San Antonio, we had our SUPER photo shoot provided by our super in-house photographer/brother, Rob.  Here is the whole crew.  We were missing Mark and Aup and Co., and Spencer so you can catch them in the cut-outs :)

Super Papa Stan decided he would fly up to the balcony to grab the towels

Then he offered some private flying instruction to Darren and Eden

Kevin was going to take some more individual shots of Eden and Hope, but I tripped and sprained my ankle pretty badly.  The photo shoot was over and he had to use his super strength to carry his clumsy wife up the hill, then clean up, pack up and load up all of our things by himself.  I sat on the couch, icing and elevating said sprain, feeling guilty and useless, and thankful to be married to a true superhero.  

We left "The Other Place" and checked into a hotel in San Antonio.  That night we competed in the Super Olympics where each family led us in an event of their choice.  Seriously entertaining.  Here are two highlight videos--one of the hula hoop finals between Jared and Sam. Insanely talented closet hula hoopers, both.  The other is a tiny glimpse of Ryn and Elle in the three-legged race.  

http://youtu.be/Qu3lBOhdAG0

http://youtu.be/--LpZpVzMzs

Here are Rob, Christa, Savannah, Lily, AND baby bump#3 making it across the finish line!

Warren is the ultimate oldest cousin.  So good with babies, toddlers, you name it.  This picture just makes me happy. 

The next day was our Sea World adventure.....to be documented in Part 2 of this post.  À la prochaine.....

Driving funnies

We hear so many funny things from the back seat as the girls chat the minutes away.  Kevin and I try to keep our laughter silent even though our sides hurt and we're crying.  

Talking about Nephi, Laman and Laban....

"Nephi is like Mitt Romney and Laban is like...."

"LaBan is the bad guy and LaMan is Nephi's brother.  Like "lame".  

"What does lame mean?"

"I don't know.  The "L" stands for looking good."

At the library today, Eden making self portrait, "those are my sniffles!"  (Nostrils)

On road trip, in the middle of some contention,  Eden yells through the noise to happily (and with some surprise in her own voice) announce, "dad, I didn't do any of the fighting!"  

Mother's Day 2013

I will make posts about many things soon.  I promise. But I need to get these mother joys and pics recorded before they are accidentally erased by little hands that are always playing with my phone.  The first shots are taken before getting ready for church...as soon as the kids woke up, actually.  They were so excited to give me the cards that they had made at school.  Not the prettiest shots, but I was crying tears of total joy as I shot them with each tiny person.  Darren's card was his own arm, decorated with love :).

Eden told me I could look at this magnet with her picture every time she went to school or a friend's house and I was missing her :).

Elle really got the tears going.  I can't believe she's reading and writing and leaving me for first grade all day next year!!

And Ryn's first French "bonne fete, Maman"...trop mignon.  

These children never cease to amaze me.  I learn so much from them every day and I'll never stop thanking Heavenly Father for the privilege of being their mother.  How thankful I am for my mom, my mother-in-law, my sweet grandmothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, cousins, aunts, and friends--the great mothers in my life who have taught and continue to teach me how to navigate this crazy adventure!!!

Power

Its a good thing I'm not a popular blogger, or this post might ruffle a few feathers. But since it is my online journal, I wanted to record some of what I've been learning and thinking about.  There are all kinds of power struggles in this world.  What kind of power are we seeking? Power for women to be able to wear pants to church or pray in conference or have more leadership roles? I keep hearing about these things and, honestly, it makes me sad.

I started this post back in April, after attending "Zion's Journey" for our ward. A day when we all try to be in the temple as much as we can. We find babysitters (thank you so much, mom and Tom and Carma! ) and take off time from work. We try to find family names for whom we can make sacred promises and receive great blessings. As I sat and pondered and read scriptures there, the promise of power kept coming to my mind. Power to do what?

For me, I need real power to become more like the Savior. More patient, more kind, more loving, more obedient, more selfless. I need power to see the needs of people who need help. I need power to know how to teach my children to overcome their own trials and find joy in serving The Lord and others. I need power to see these little people,( and Kevin, and myself and everyone around me ) as they really are and really willI be. I need power to teach them how to protect themselves from the countless ways they will be tempted and attacked by a different, but very real power. I need power to bring this precious family back to Heavenly Father who entrusted them to my care. My time and strength are limited. I simply can't use any of it in pursuit of any other forms of worldly power.  

How grateful I am that Heavenly Father's power is real and available to me every minute of every day as I keep the covenants I have made with him.  

This past weekend was the semi-annual General Conference of the church. That has been such a source of strength to me my entire life as I listen to the prophet, apostles and other church leaders teach and testify of truth.  It has always left me in awe as I hear messages that were specifically meant for me.  A few examples just from this time:

--I've been praying to know how best to prepare Ryn for her upcoming baptism.  The very first talk in the very first session for the women spoke specifically about that:  I can help teach Ryn to make and keep simple promises, to joyfully bear the burdens of others, and do these through my own example.  

--I recently read Clayton Christensen's book on being an everyday missionary and had been praying for direction.  Several talks helped me remember to pray daily for the chance to bring someone closer to Chist THAT day, to trust that The Lord will help me and to seek and follow the spirit in every effort.  

--My constant prayer is to know how to strengthen and bring the spirit to our family and home.  So many messages helped me and encouraged me.  President Monson's question "shall I falter or shall I finish?" And his reminder if God's promise, "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee" will give me an extra nudge to not be weary in trying to be a joyful mother to 5 busy little angels. Elder Soares' message on meekness inspired me to strive for small victories and incremental changes to my nature through the love of Jesus Christ.  It IS possible to change and become more like him.  

And that is power.  

Our first family CARD

Yep, we're so behind on life that we've NEVER sent out a Christmas card.  We still haven't made it there, but we are happy to unveil our first Valentine's card :).  (I'm a good 2 months behind on pretty much everything right now so this is par for my course)

Stationery Card

View the entire collection of cards.

However, the probability of getting them stuffed, stamped and mailed in the next 2 weeks is extremely low, so don't hold your breath.  Let's just all enjoy the thought of them being created for now :)