Pets

(I just found this draft from ages ago and figured I might as well post it...Especially in light of our recent dog adventure...)

Growing up, we had a lot of pets. A REALLY lot of pets. My parents thought that pets would be a great way to teach us responsibility. For a while all NINE of us had our own pets. And it was a bit of a zoo (literally).

We started off with a cat named Meow Meow (an aloof Siamese who didn't love me and Shawni as much as we loved her) and a dog named Barney who seemed to like us about as much as we liked her - a lot.

Here's me and Barney:

Here's a random puppy we took in one summer until we found its owners:

When I was eight, my family visited Geneva, Switzerland on a quick European whirlwind tour at the end of the three years we lived in England. I fell in love with the name Geneva and decided that if I ever got the cat I dreamed of, I'd name it Geneva. So when I received a cute little grey tiger fluff-ball of a cat for my 9th birthday, I named it Geneva - even though it was a male cat. Poor Geneva got called a "she" his whole life. But he didn't seem to mind. 

Geneva was my best friend and constant companion for years - put up with all the times we dressed him up in doll clothes, always came around to comfort me when I was sad, always ran to the kitchen when anyone shook the catfood container (or a cereal box or whatever sounded like that). He died of old age after I got home from my mission to Bulgaria when I was 22. I still miss that cat.

Here's me and Geneva and Shawni: 

When I was 10, Geneva was joined by Caine, the sweetest little Beagle-mix mutt ever. My 4th grade teacher, Mr Waldhouse, found Caine lost and scared between a bunch of cars in a traffic jam, picked her up and brought her home. The next day he asked the class whether anyone wanted a dog. I raised my hand because my parents had promised Shawni a dog since I had Geneva. He had me go down to the office and call my parents to ask their permission to get a dog. Amazingly, they said sure. And Shawni and I walked home from school that day with an exciting new dog. Somehow we came up with the name Caine, thinking it was unusual and cute, and Shawni decided her middle name would be "White Socks" since she had white feet. Oddly, no one mentioned right away that we were picking a name of a villain in the Bible for this cute little dog. Later on, when the name was firmly attached, that we learned our name choice maybe wasn't the best. And Caine got called "he" most of her life. Somehow we ended up with a girl name for a boy cat and a boy name for a girl dog. Oh well!

Caine and Geneva were best friends. They'd always jump over each other and chase each other around playfully and sometimes even curled up together. Caine was a seriously great dog, so loving and obedient, short haired, clean, and cute as can be.

Here's Caine and Geneva with me and Jonah:
 

Caine had a litter of puppies one time and that was SO exciting and fun. She had some very interesting-looking pups. We never figured out what sort of dog the father was. But we were able to find good homes for all of them.

Here's Talmadge with one of Caine's puppies:


After about 5 years, Caine disappeared one day. We never found out what happened to her. We thought maybe she was stolen because she was so cute. We never saw her again. And we're still sad about that.

Saydi got her own cat when she was about 8. This cat was named "Windy." Windy sadly didn't last long. We were at Bear Lake and left Windy with some food while we went somewhere overnight. When we got back, Josh found Windy all stiff and dead. Apparently an animal got poor Windy. Saydi remembers Josh walking in with the stiff dead cat and saying, "Hey, Saydi, look. Windy died."



For years, Josh had tons of gerbils and named them all things like Fasty and Slowy and Browny and Blacky based on their various characteristics. His longest-lasting gerbil was one with a very short tale because someone accidentally shut his tale in a drawer and cut it off. But he led a long life with that short tale and was a favorite. I think he was called Shorty. Sorry, no pics of the gerbils could be found.

We had a few different bunnies over the years. Noah had our longest-lasting bunny named "Cosette." Cosette would wander the backyard and was a great playmate. But one day Cosette disappeared and Noah was pretty distraught. He felt much better when we convinced him that Cosette had gone off to join the wild bunnies - sort of like in the Velveteen Rabbit.



For a while, we had chickens. Josh was in charge of them. Dad built them a chicken coop using some old doors and windows and it worked pretty well. They provided great eggs and they were very stinky. That's all I really remember about them.


When I was about 12, my dad got us a horse named Banner then a couple years later, another horse named King. We kept the horses up at our cabin and loved riding them up the canyon there. Banner was a really awesome horse - great with kids, totally obedient, fun to ride. When I was 16 though, he took me on a really really wild ride down a very sharp incline and jumped over a stream at the end. I still wonder how in the world I stayed on that horse!

Here's Shawni and Ann (our Nanny from England who lived with us for a while) on Banner (the black and white apolusa) and some other horse we must have borrowed from someone.

We had a turtle named Bubba, another cat named Pearl who had a bunch of kittens we kept for a while. We had numerous snakes, gerbils, hampsters and lizards. One snake (the snakes were usually Josh's) escaped from his cage and I found him in my bed. That was freaky. One time Bubba the turtle crawled away when the kids were playing with him out of his cage and got lost and we found him 2 weeks later, seemingly perfectly fine. Poor Bubba lived for years in the sink in what we called the "pink bathroom." There were two pink porcelain sinks in there and one seemed sufficient for our needs so we gave Bubba the other one. It was super easy to put in fresh water and clean his "cage" that way!

Our last pet was Able (yes, she was a female and yes, we had to have an Able to make up for naming our other dog Caine). When Jonah was 9, he was attacked by a dog and had to have surgery to repair his arm and leg from the wounds he received. To help him not be scared of dogs after this sad incident, my parents decided to get him a puppy. Jonah picked out a cute little chocolate labrador retriever and Able became our longest-lasting and dearly beloved dog.

My kids got to know and love Able. The twins were especially enamoured with Able. And she was fabulous about putting up with all the kids who adored her at Bear Lake.

Here are Oliver and Eliza with Able at Bear Lake:

Able finally had to be put down as her arthritis took over and she had some tumors. We all miss her.

Able was the last Eyrealm pet.

Somehow, after a rich history of growing up with pets, none of my parents' children have opted to have dogs or cats. A few of us have had various gerbils, fish, lizzards, hampsters and snakes. But not one of us have dogs, cats, bunnies, horses or the like. 

My dad thinks we're a bit mean to deprive our children of the rich experiences we had with pets growing up. But perhaps we all saw the mess and stress that pets can add and didn't feel right about adding to the already messy and stressful lives we lead. I don't feel like I can take care of one more living thing in my life right now. 

Plus I think expectations have changed when it comes to having pets. It used to be that you could just bring a dog that your teacher found in a traffic jam home from school with you and it wasn't a big deal. You'd buy a collar and feed the dog scraps and a little dog food. The dog would run around when the kids were running around and didn't need to be taken on walks. No one cared much about leashes. No one picked up their dog's poop. Our animals never went to a trainer to be trained or a groomer to be cared for or to the vet for check-ups or shots. When we went out of town, we'd bring the dog with us or there was always someone in the neighborhood willing to take the dog in for a few days. And the cats could just be outside while we were gone with a neighbor putting out food and water for them. There was no "doggie day care" or pet hotels or anything like that. Pets were beloved animals and we were always taught to treat them kindly and respectfully, but they weren't a big deal to care for.

In today's world, I'm sure the normal and generally kind treatment our pets received would be viewed as sadly insufficient. Nowadays, there are a lot more restrictions and expectations when it comes to pets. So it's a bigger deal to have a pet than it used to be.

My kids would love love love love a dog or cat. But I just really don't want to deal with the fur, the smell, the walks, the litter boxes, the health issues they might have - let alone the behavior issues the dog or cat might have. Animals can come with difficult behavior issues or hard personalities and traits and if you get a dog or cat that can involve a whole lot of needs you may not be prepared to deal with. And if you get a dog or cat that isn't working out, what do you do? It's hard to give away a dog or cat that just isn't working out.

So we've decided to stick with reptiles. Lizards and snakes are fun, quiet, clean and easy. The kids catch a snake or lizard every so often and we have a nice terrarium we keep it in until we need to go on a trip or the kids loose interest or the animal "seems want to go back to nature." Then we simply let the creature go and say goodbye.

So while I really do love dogs and cats, they just aren't right for our family right now. And my kids have lots of dog and cat friends thanks to our neighbors. I think having friends with pets is really the perfect way to have pets!

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school and the kids declared it the best first day of school yet!


(someday we'll get the house re-painted...)
(Eliza has worn pig tales every single first day of school since preschool so she wants to keep up her tradition...)

The kids' school finished some beautiful new buildings over the summer and it was very exciting to start school in brand new classrooms with great new amenities (especially after sort of limping along in not-so-great facilities the past few years). And seeing all their old friends and meeting new teachers was very exciting. Plus everyone started some new things this year. The twins started the full Spanish immersion program. Eliza started 5th grade which at our school means she gets to have her own locker and switch teachers for each subject. Isaac started middle school and has some classes and teachers he's really excited about plus it's fun to get back going with the cross country team. And Ashton has all honors classes this year and is determined (or is that me that's determined???) to overcome some issues he's had in the past and get great grades this year. Plus he's trying out for the school volleyball team and volleyball is brand new to him. We're proud of him for trying something new and difficult.

Here are our two junior high boys (who weren't overly fond of photos and Ashton forbade me from hugging him in front of the school or following him inside with my camera...But Isaac gave me a nice big hug right there in the parking lot. Way to go, Ike!)

And here are our elementary schoolers (the two schools are right next door to each other). These cute kids were more than happy to have me accompany them into the school and get them settled.

Note the backpacks - there's this store her that sells returned Pottery Barn Kids stuff for super cheap prices and the kids found their perfect backpacks there. Silas and Oliver weren't one bit concerned that their backpacks have random monograms on them - all that matters is that they are Star Wars backpacks.

The twins were so excited when their teacher said they could sit wherever they wanted. They quickly gathered some best buddies and sat down.

Eliza was pretty pleased about her locker - and about the fact that her best friend Rachel was in her first class so they could visit their lockers and head to class together.

I just had to spy on them in their first class for a minute.

Then I had to spy on the twins for a minute before leaving the school.

We got rolling on our school year schedule quite nicely, I've got to say. Scriptures were right on time. Breakfast was right on time. We had time for photos and got to school early. Yeah us! And today we did great again. Two for two! I'm determined to be better about getting myself up right on time this year so I can keep everything on track...

It was so fun to see the kids at pick-up time. I really missed them. I just plain like these kids a lot and while it's great for them to be back in school and for me to have specific hours each day to do my work so I don't feel so pulled in different directions, this transition is feeling a bit hard this time round. I got tears in my eyes as I pulled away from the school. I felt so oddly alone after so much togetherness with the kids and upteen other great people all summer long. These kids are getting so big. I'm working my way out of a job bit by bit. They don't need me as much in some ways. They're so fun to have around. The house feels so empty without them. But it's all good.

And I carved out time from the long long long list of Power of Moms tasks I've had to put off over the summer to make cookies and have them waiting for the kids when we got home after school pick up. I have to say it was an extra good batch (I made these - so moist and yummy - and sort of healthyish too...). And the kids had SO much to say as we enjoyed our cookies and milk (plenty of interrupting but somehow it all worked out OK).

Then I sat down one-on-one with each child and went over all the disclosure/curriculum information they brought home from their many teachers and talked to them individually about what they're excited about this year and what they're worried about and that sort of thing. Felt so good to do what I've meant to do every school year but haven't done as fully as I'd hoped - really spend some time getting things organized with each kid for each class. It's so tempting to put those piles of papers they bring home on the first day aside for a while. But it's so nice to just plow right in and get this done right off the bat.

Then for Family Home Evening, Jared gave each child a beautiful back-to-school blessing.

So we're off to a great start!

Three Years in England

When my parents were in their late twenties, they were asked to go preside over our church's "England London South Mission" for three years. They had 4 children (the oldest of whom was me and I was five years old), my dad had a flourishing career as a political consultant (he's run Jake Garn's campaign and the bond election to build Symphony Hall in Salt Lake and restore the Capital Theater), and neither of my parents had really left the U.S. before. But they accepted the call, rented out our house in Salt Lake, and packed us all up for an exciting new adventure in England where they'd be charge of managing and supporting about 200 missionaries.

 

Us kids quickly picked up proper British accents at the regular public Church of England schools we attended and after a while, our parents' American accents started to sound sort of foreign. Here we are in front of the mission home where we lived, headed out to school in our school uniforms (they had these matching pants to go under our dresses and keep us warm in the winter and we're holding our gym bags with our blue leotards, gym skirts and plymsols we changed into for PE)




At school, I loved learning English Country Dancing and participating in some dancing festivals.

That's my beloved teacher, Miss Christie, in the background of the picture above. When I was this clueless little American 6-year-old who couldn't read at all (they didn't teach reading in Kindergarten back then) and everyone else in her class had started school at four years old and already had reading pretty much down, she patiently helped me to catch up. Then I lucked out and got to have Miss Christie for a second year because she moved up a grade. Then the third year, I got Ms Sharman for my teacher who I thought was probably the meanest teacher ever in the history of the world (at least to my 8-year-old mind). She screamed so much that I started getting stomach aches and calling home sick because I was so scared that she might scream at me. Thinking back, I often wondered if she was really as bad as she seemed or if I was just going through some anxiety in general or something. But then we lived in England again when I was 16 and my brother Jonah happened to get the same teacher. He had a very similar experience and had such bad stomach aches that my parents took him to the doctor, fearing he had ulcers. I guess she really was that mean . . .

And I loved, loved, loved when I got the special honor of being the angel in the school Christmas Nativity and one of the teachers made me elaborate wings covered with hundreds of tissue-paper feathers.



We loved having elders and sisters from the mission in our home a lot for meetings and dinners (I remember my mom making amazing dinners for scores of people on a regular basis - I so looked forward to those dinners!).

Here are the "Office Elders" and "Traveling Sisters" at the mission home for a special brunch at Christmas (that's my mom on the far left in a smashing patchwork full-length dress and that's my head in the foreground)


My parents always had us sing or play violin or piano for the missionaries at firesides and meetings and my dad often took me with him as a speaking partner to do mission conferences when my mom needed to be home with the other kids. From the age of 6, I learned to be ready to be called up at anytime when my dad was speaking to give a little talk or sing a song. And when the missionaries were over, we often sang together.

Here's a picture of Saydi with one of the office missionaries - one of the few shots I could find that showed a little more of the mission home we lived in.

One year, my mom made us all matching PJ's for Christmas with the Union Jack on them. She had us wear these pajamas to sing at firesides and that sort of thing. We were all pretty proud to be honorary Brits.


Here's my 6th birthday party in the backyard (or back garden as we learned to say) of the mission home. This was right after we moved to England. My mom always made us fun cakes and made sure we had great birthday parties.



For birthday parties, all the girls came in nice dresses and common gifts were underwear and bath things like soap and sponges (but this pink doll Shawni is holding up was the star gift at my 7th birthday party). I was sort of expecting toys. But fun bath stuff and new underwear proved to be very helpful and fun gifts in the end.






We spent so many fun hours playing around in that backyard on the old rope hammock. Once day we found a hole in the fence and climbed through to find a seemingly magical garden behind ours. There were daffodils everywhere and a huge huge tree that seemed so perfect for a swing. We got to know the man who owned the garden and lived in a big old house there - Mr Godwin. He let us build a swing in that huge tree of his and we'd go over there and swing all the time. Mr Godwin's garden and Mr. Godwin's swing were big parts of my childhood. Wish I had a picture.

We often spent nice chunks of the weekends at nearby Box Hill where we'd run and play and wander.

When we weren't in school or involved with the mission stuff, we visited quite a few castles and learned a lot about English history.

Here's my mom and brother Jonah at Buckingham Palace with our mission car (we named it Redy Rosie)


Here's Josh and Saydi at the Tower of London.


Here's the changing of the guard at the Tower of London.


We loved running around and flying kites on the Epsom Downs right near where we lived (where the Queen and everyone who was anyone showed up in fancy hats and lovely dresses and morning suits to watch the big horse race, the Darby, every year).





Here's my mom checking out all the fanciness at the Darby.


My mom had two babies while we were in England. Jonah was born 10 weeks early and was given a 50% chance to live. The whole mission, members, investigators and missionaries alike, fasted and prayed that little Jonah would be OK. I remember so vividly praying so hard for that little guy to pull through. And he sure did. That tiny little three-pounder is now 6'5" and the father of four.

Here's Jonah with the nurses who took care of him for the 6 weeks or so that he was in the hospital.


Here's Jonah when he came home from the hospital.


About a year after Jonah was born, my parents started thinking about whether it might be time for another baby. They were hesitant and a bit worried after how hard everything had been with Jonah. I remember that one Sunday afternoon, Jonah was down for a nap and they sent me and Shawni upstairs to look after Josh and Saydi while they thought and prayed about whether it was time for another baby. After a while they came upstairs to let us know we could come down now and we proudly presented them with four slips of paper, all of which said "yes" on them. Shawni and I had decided to hold our own little kids' counsel and vote on whether we should have another baby while our parents were having their counsel. We'd had to help Josh and Saydi write down their votes. But the vote was unanimous. And my parents had felt the same way. It was time for another baby.

The pregnancy with Talmadge was probably my mom's easiest, the delivery went perfectly, and Talmadge turned out to be the calmest, sweetest baby ever. We were all so delighted with him!

Here we are meeting him in the hospital:


And here we are with him at home:


This is Saydi, me, Shawni, Talmadge, Josh and Jonah (who apparently wasn't happy about being in the picture)

England was all we could remember by the time our mission was done. As we headed home, we were a bit apprehensive about what America would be like. On the plane home, Shawni asked my parents who was the queen of America and we were quite shocked to hear there was no queen. Shawni then asked, "Then who do they put on their pound notes?"

When we settled back into our American life, I remember thinking that American accents sounded so sloppy and was so surprised at how American children treated older children, parents and teachers - there'd been so much more respect in England! And school was SO easy for me and Shawni in America after getting ahead for those three years in England. I think a lot of our good grades throughout the rest of our school careers can be attributed to those years in British schools.

That three years in England was such a formative learning experience for all of us - perhaps especially for my parents (after the mission my dad gave up political consulting and started writing books which ultimately led them to be bestselling parenting authors). And my parents wished the younger children could have a bit of the same experience. So when I was a junior in high school, we went back to England and lived in the old mission home again (the church had just purchased a new mission home and wanted to rent out the old one while waiting for the market to improve - amazingly perfect for us!). I'll write more details later but it was great for us to go to British schools again and reunite with great friends and neighbors while learning a ton more about British history, visiting lots more historic places, and also doing a lot of geneology since our ancestors are mostly from England.

Then I went on Study Abroad for 6 months in London my sophmore year of college, my siblings Josh, Jonah and Charity all served missions in England, and Eli went on study abroad there. We've been back many times to visit. England is still with all of us in so many ways!