Freebairn Family Reunion

We live across the country from my side of the family, which has been hard for me.  Sometimes I get mad because it's not what I pictured for my life.  Other times, I get jealous of the big or small events I miss, even if it's just a random family dinner.  Thank goodness for social media, texting, and being able to go out to see everyone.  Because we see our Freebairn relatives only once a year on average, we all try to take advantage of that week we get together and create fun memories and forge deeper friendships among cousins so that when we aren't together, we still feel connected.  We started telling our kids about the summer 2017 Freebairn Family Reunion over a year before it happened.  Once we got the dates and plane tickets, it seemed like most things we talked about were "before the reunion" or "after the reunion".  On a related side note, the week after the Freebairn reunion was the Zwahlen reunion, which I will cover in a different post.  Both were definitely highlights of the summer for all of us.  It was amazing to see so much family in just a few weeks!

As soon as we left the Salt Lake Airport, we went to Roy's favorite restaurant in Salt Lake, Crown Burger.  We were lucky and my dad met us in SLC and had dinner with us.  Then Roy took the 3 youngest up to Midway while Abby and I stayed with my dad for a Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra concert featuring the organists.  It had already been a really long day and the seats were hard (oops, I forgot to warn her about that), but she loved the concert and we soaked up the extra couple hours we got with my dad!  I made them pose outside the SLC LDS Temple and I love this picture :)

My kids are really blessed because they all have cousins who line up with them in age and gender.  Sam and his 7-year-old cousins Logan and Tyson wasted no time in creating comic books, talking all manner of potty humor, and inventing the scariest or stinkiest monsters ever created.

We rented this massive car that could fit 8 people very comfortably.  We tried to keep it as full as possible, which was really fun for all of us.  After the trip was over, we decided that the song everyone danced to the most in our car was "Something Just Like This"--we got all ages and all cousins singing and dancing to it :)

We did a really fun hike called Cascade Springs with all the families.  The trail was really flat and beautiful, there was a creek to play in, and the kids were so happy to be together.  Here are about half the grandkids in their serious and silly poses:

We had a free afternoon so Roy and I took the kids to Provo to show them some of the highlights of our time at BYU.  There's never enough time to see everything even if we had days.  So many memories came flooding back of time spent on the BYU campus, time spent in the MTC (Missionary Training Center), and things in the general area of Provo.  We took the kids through the apartment complex (Cinnamon Tree) where Roy and I met and showed them our apartments (from the outside...we didn't want to freak people out), took them to the Panda Express where we loved to eat dinner together, and showed them the two temples in Provo.  

There's a big hill in Midway with a memorial on top for soldiers who served from the area.  We loaded up our car with kids and headed out for what turned out to be a longer hike than we planned :) but it was so much fun.  It was a beautiful day and there was a lot to explore.  Once we got to the top, it was a very humbling feeling to be surrounded by the American flag and names of those who had given up time and even their lives for both friends and strangers so we could continue to enjoy the freedoms of living in this country.

Abby and Brynne, born 2 months apart, have an incredible friendship and have this marvelous ability to pick up where they left off each time we see each other.  I absolutely love it!

Sam was super thrilled to pause the fun for a family picture :)

No family reunion is complete without family pictures.  That is so important to me!  We were the first to arrive so we got to be the practice people for background and lighting.  I love these cheeseballs!

More than once, Uncle Neil was at the bottom of a wrestling match dog pile.  You can just barely see his head under all the blondes and browns and reds :)

My dad's side of the family lives in SLC so we got to see them a couple times.  My Aunt Carla, who we call AC, is the best and also sends surprise packages to the kids for holidays and for just because.  The kids loved spending time with her!

My sister Cami is such a big part of the fun in our family.  A lot of the time she just listens, but it's not like she's quiet.  The kids have some funny games they like to do with her like asking her to laugh like certain people (her impersonations are pretty uncanny), asking her if she wants to go on the poo-poo train, and playing a game we played with her when I was growing up: while sitting on her lap, you say, "Oh, Cami, you're so (fill in the blank with adjectives, preferably ones that begin with a k sound)...and kind and" and Cami knows that when you say kind it's time to push you to the floor.  It's a game that has been going for a good 15 years and everyone loves it.  It's almost a requirement to do it now :)

We were so lucky and got to celebrate Father's Day with my dad!  He is the king of drawing pig noses when he draws pictures so it was very fitting that we gave him both a pig nose and this picture of all 18 grandkids trying on the pig nose first:

We also got in a great visit with my Grandma, whom we call Mambo.  This Grandma, who has 8 grandchildren, plus 5 in-law grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren, has never missed a birthday card for a birthday and prays for these little ones.  She's so positive, has kept her Southern charm, and hasn't met somebody who isn't already a friend.  I love every chance we get to spend time with her!

And we got in time with Uncle Danny (who we used to call Pumper Panny when I was growing up...I wish I could remember why besides the fact that we were just weirdos), Aunt Jenn, and my cousin Jared.  They are so much fun and make goofy faces, tell silly stories, and take time to talk to each of my kids to get to know them.

This picture is blurry, but I have to share it.  Lydia wanted a sleepover with her 5-year-old girl cousins so bad and so we did it!  They fit into one small bed, played blanket jump in the morning, and giggled together.  It was so sweet!

We went to the local hot springs hill across the street from the resort where we were staying.

Photobomb by Uncle Steven

One cool thing my parents did was to take out small groups of kids on dates.  Their attempt to take the littlest boys (age 3) wasn't going well because both boys were shy so they grabbed the big boys (age 7) to accompany them.  I joined in for the fun since Andrew panicked about needing to go potty while they were out.

The Midway area is beautiful and the weather was so nice!

The last night we were together was the big, culminating ride on the Heber Creeper, a train that goes around the Heber Valley.  Besides being sickeningly hot on the train for the first little while (and a super grumpy lady who couldn't keep her thoughts about others and the overwhelming smells of her Christmas Tree essential oils to herself), I loved the ride!  Look at these sweet faces.  They loved it so much!

Coming Soon!

For quite a while, Roy and I felt like our family wasn't quite complete.  When I was pregnant with Lydia, we knew we wanted one more, but I had an inspiration that that baby (Andrew) wasn't going to be it for us.  I felt like there was still one more after that.  I absolutely love being a mom and besides the 8 or so weeks of being disgusting and sick and exhausted, don't mind being pregnant.  The few months after having a baby where it feels like I am the walking dead aren't my favorite, but we've managed and been incredibly blessed to do everything we need to do, including things outside of meeting the needs of our growing children.  We have always been involved in church service, have added PTA and school volunteering through the last few years, and tried to keep friend relationships alive even in those crazy baby transition months.  So the thought of having another baby after Lydia and then another baby after that wasn't all that scary to me.  I have to say, Roy is a one baby at a time kind of guy so he wasn't as thrilled as I was, but did promise to seek out his own answer.

So Lydia came and we adjusted to her and loved the fun addition she brought to our family.  Then we started talking about adding #4 and we were both so excited.  Andrew was the first one we really had to do any waiting for.  It was hard to find out several months in a row that we would have to keep waiting.  I started to question a lot of things.  I've had many friends who have waited much longer than we did and I tried to keep that in perspective, but it was still hard.  And then we discovered he was coming and healthy and that 6 months of disappointment and all those tears and worries were pushed aside and we embraced the idea of another little one.  I think Heavenly Father blesses us to learn from and look past the sorrowful times so that we can feel the joy more fully.  We certainly experienced that with Andrew's arrival.

When I felt like it was time to start talking about having baby #5, our lives had just stepped up to a whole new level of crazy.  We bought our first home in Woodbridge, VA and it needed a little bit of work.  Not too much, but some fresh paint and love.  And then our basement flooded and that was a huge job.  And then Roy was interviewing for a job at UNC, the job he ended up getting.  And we were helping the kids adjust to a new everything.  And fixing up our house so we could list it and hopefully not lose out on a ton of money.  And looking for a new place to live in an area that we had been a grand total of 4 times for Roy and 2 times for me.  It was a wild time so we decided that we would keep praying about it and plan for the fall.  I thought for sure that we would get pregnant right away, planned out how perfect it would be and how to still have a fabulous summer, and how we would arrange the new house to fit the baby.  It was a long 8 months of disappointment and questioning my previous inspiration and my motivation and even if I had just made it all up.  I wish I knew why it took so long, but I know I learned a lot along the way and my focus in my prayers and listening for answers developed during this time.  I'm thankful for that.  Then we had a positive pregnancy test just before our big 3 week vacation and I was thrilled.  Nervous and thrilled.

I haven't felt great the last little while, but I felt the baby move for the first time last week and I've heard the heartbeat at all our appointments and I am so happy and grateful that Heavenly Father is allowing us to have one more little one in our family.  It's such a privilege to be a parent and to take these perfect, beautiful children of God and watch them grow and learn and be excited and show love.  I am excited that these four sweet kids already feel so much love for this teeny human sibling growing inside of me.  What a heavenly blessing it is to love and to show love!

Andrew is 3!

Andrew turned 3 on July 29.  Honestly, he's been waiting for and planning this day since Abby's birthday in December.  The poor kid has to wait through everyone else's birthdays and then 4 months before getting to celebrate his.  He planned his whole day!  We started out at Marbles Museum, went to McDonalds for lunch, played water games outside with cousins, and had a cookie cake.  We were able to fulfill every wish for this guy.  I'm so glad he's in our family!

MaKayla and Arianna came to NC from VA to hang out with us and celebrate Andrew.  Grandma and Baba Z were nice enough to be the chauffeurs :)

Andrew was so excited to open presents!  Getting him to hold still for a picture while he excitedly bounced around had everyone laughing.  He was more hyper than I've seen him before and definitely acted like he was the center of everyone's universe :)

Uncle Steven Michael helped Andrew do the research for the perfect Batmobile that drives and has a shooter and Andrew was sold on having it after getting the stamp of approval from the Z Family Toy Master :)  Thank goodness for Amazon!

Andrew is such a wonderful kid.  I cannot imagine life without him.  He is my cuddle buddy, my "one more book" guy, the only person who is allowed to stroke my face when he apologizes, the most annoying eater, the only one who will say "I don't love you" as a joke (several times daily) and immediately correct with "I just kidding.  I DO love you!", the only kid who has ever peed on my face, my baking buddy, and is woven tightly into the fabric of our family.  He gets along well with everyone, has his special thing with each person, knows just the right weird thing to do or say to make the grumpy person break out of their grumpiness, and is so curious about how the world works and why, why, why we do things a certain way.  Happy birthday, Andrew!  I'm glad we finally reached the big 3 for you...and now we have a full year of hearing you plan for "the next birthday when I turn 4." :)

August 2017

We had a big vacation to kick off the summer, but we slowed down big time after getting home because it's summer and it should be low-key.  We also found out at the beginning of the summer that Baby #5 is coming around February 14.  We're super excited and have prayed for this little one for a while and we are also SO grateful that the first trimester yuckiness seems to be mostly gone.  Roy and the kids have had to be so patient with late dinners, a messy house, a napping mom, and me being less patient and organized.  But we have had a lot of fun and the kids have had a lot of time to explore their imaginations, as evidenced by the utter disaster that is the game room :)

We celebrated Sam's 7-1/2 birthday on August 4 with brownies.

Sam has this incredible mind.  It blows us away to see what he creates.  He has been awesome and a huge helper by making awesome train tracks for Andrew.  But one night, he came down while Roy was playing guitar and whipped this genius creation out.  Can you see the guitar-shaped tracks?  And above it, the blocks read THANK U and the trains on the inside spell out DAD.  Love this kid!

Grandma and Baba Z gave Andrew a really cool big rope swing for his birthday.  The kids spend hours playing on it every day.  It's awesome because it's big enough for all 4 to go on it if they want.  It is definitely the favorite thing in our backyard.

And then Sam lost his first top tooth.  He was so determined to get it out that he wiggled it from the somewhat-loose stage to the hanging-by-a-thread stage in about 36 hours.

We were at the park last weekend and ran into the cutest teeny puppies.  The kids fell in love with them and had to get a picture.

We did a love note drop-off at Roy's work the other day and Roy's co-worker took this picture of my kids attempting to be sneaky as they slid notes under the door while Roy was on a phone call.

Abby and I have fallen for turquoise lately so when we drove past these rocking chairs, we had to stop and try them out :)

More train track creations:

We had some friends come over and bring their dogs.  Lydia, who would like to be a veterinarian, loved Oreo instantly.

Last Sunday, I took a nap and woke up to find Andrew asleep on my legs.  Roy got jealous of the semi-cuddle and pulled Andrew over to him before falling asleep himself. :)

We've had some fun afternoons playing in the sprinkler, creating a water slide playground, and having squirt gun wars.  Even though I sometimes feel guilty about being too boring this summer or not planning a bazillion wonderful adventures, I think this has been a really fun, memorable summer for the kids.  They are happy.  They have invented games together.  They have grown closer together.  It makes me happy to know that they can start out a new school year happy and feeling loved.