TheHenrichsens.com

Noah started “Summer Fun Playground” today, a mini summer camp for kindergartners and first graders attending the same school. It’s kind of a fun little way for the newcomers to get to know each other and the school a bit. Anyway, I’ve been suffering a little anxiety at the thought of leaving Noah up at the school with a bunch of High School kids with no A/C in 100 degree weather. But Noah has been SO excited, I knew there was no way he was going to let me chicken out and keep him home. So today we packed up his little snack and headed up to the school. He said goodbye without a second glance and was on his way. Afterwards when I asked him if he missed me, he said “not a bit” which I guess is what you want to hear your kids say when they finally head out into the real world, but wasn’t what I was hoping I’d hear. Anyway, when I picked him up, this is pretty much how he looked. Guess he had a little tumble while they were playing “Duck Duck Goose” but he loved the crafts and playground time so much, he says he’ll go back again tomorrow.

Day One: So our flight finally took off around 3:00 a.m.–only six hours later than it was supposed to. We should have arrived in Utah around midnight, but instead landed in Salt Lake at 6:00 a.m. Fortunately, it only threw us off a little. First thing on my list was food so we hit Denny’s where I ate more than I’ve eaten in a very long time. Denver ordered Mac and Cheese and ate it all, as well as some of my pancakes. Guess the trip took more out of us than we thought. We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Stout’s farm where we met all 26 chickens and Zeke. Denver fell head-over-heels in love with the cat and would not leave the poor animal alone. He locked it in bedrooms and closets, carried it everywhere, wrapped it in blankets, everything. Caleb also fell in love with Zeke and Zeke fell in love with Caleb. They wrestled and played just like they were brothers. But at the end of the day, Zeke really loved Noah and fell asleep on Noah’s lap so many times, even Noah started getting upset about it, and Noah loves cats. We hit Wal-mart for diapers and formula and a few goodies for the boys to play with. Noah picked a Volcano sprinkler which the boys had a blast playing with in the backyard. We ate dinner at Training Table (probably the place I miss most) and had dessert at Dairy Queen. We literally fell in bed and fell asleep.

Day 2: We ran a few errands on our second day there–mostly Beehive clothing and Seagull Book and Tape. We met up with Mom, Dad and Kathy at Bajio’s for lunch and drank enough Apple Beer to last us the entire trip. Then we took the boys swimming at the West Jordan Rec center, which everyone was thrilled with except maybe Noah. They have a giant waterslide there that Noah couldn’t wait to get his hiney on. There was one of those little critter boards up against the wall, holding its hand at 50 inches high and sign that read “you must be at least this tall to ride the waterslide.” Noah walked right over to the board, backed himself up, held up his chin and looked at me with a great big grin. I sadly shook my head “no.” He was about ten inches too short. That didn’t stop Noah. He immediately got up on his tippy toes and looked at me again, with an even bigger grin on his face. When I shook my head “no” a second time, he immediately melted into tears and was devastated. He really wanted to go to Seven Peaks Water Park, but I’m afraid he wouldn’t have been tall enough there either.

Later that night we joined the Stout family for a picnic at the park. Hunter learned to play Five Crowns while we were there and loved it so much he continued to nag us, the entire rest of our trip, to play it with him over and over and over again. We played until the sun went down and then returned to the farm where we crashed in our beds once again.

Day 3: We spent almost all of Saturday at the Children’s Museum with Bethany and Devin and their family. I think it was the most fun we’ve had there, ever. The boys drove the trucks, flew airplanes, painted, played with balls, built some towers, played in the water, played with bubbles and pretended all sorts of fun scenarios. Denver learned how to wash laundry the “old fashioned way” with a bucket and a washboard and he and Noah could have spent hours in the frontier house cooking me tea and pancakes and washing my laundry. Eventually we had to leave so we could meet Grandma and Grandpa Stout at Joe’s Crab Shack. On the way we stopped at Petco to buy Zeke a few toys and met up with Uncle Michael (H) and Caroline and James. At dinner Noah met Christina Stout, who is currently in school studying Geology and happened to mention that she loves volcanoes. Noah was thrilled to talk to her and spent the rest of the evening talking her ear off about lava and asking her all sorts of questions. When everyone was done, we bought the boys new Crab Shack t-shirts. Hunter’s says, “Homework makes me crabby” and he can hardly wait to wear it on the first day of school.

Day 4: We went to church of course and then spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Stout eating Mark’s fabulous homemade scones and playing Five Crowns with Kathy. Then we headed down to Spanish Fork where we joined the Henrichsens for Family Dinner (another thing I totally miss). The kids frolicked and played till the sun went down and Mark and I were introduced to the BYU Creamery’s Graham Canyon ice cream, which we both fell in love with. Hunter, Noah and Denver discovered “Uncle” Jeremy who ran and played with them for as long as they could run and play and who kept them laughing and being silly the entire night and then some.

Day 5: At the suggestion of Matthew and Anita, we decided to head into the city and visit Temple Square, with the hope of meeting up with family while we were down there. So we hopped aboard Trax and headed north for the day. Unfortunately, Christie Sue had trouble with her teeth so we didn’t meet up with any Henrichsens while we were there. But Kak-Kak did go with us and we had fun wandering around in the extreme temperatures, splashing in fountains and walking through the Visitor’s Center. We then took the kids over to the Gateway, where the kids put on their swimsuits and joined a million other kids playing in the fountain. Denver was a bit cautious, but Noah and Hunter went crazy in the water and had a blast. I think we all suffered a bit of heat exhaustion that day and were all very glad to get home. We stopped by Kak’s house for a tour and ended the day at Village Inn for dinner.

Day 6: Tuesday we spent part of the morning at the grocery store buying things we miss and all the things we needed to bring to the Ray and Roy Family Get Together. We used to miss a lot more about Utah but I guess we’ve found happiness in CT and really only needed Homemade Chili Sauce and Stephen’s Hot Chocolate to take home with us. After we finished cooking up a bunch of salads and cookies we headed South for the party. We spent the afternoon swimming and eating and enjoyed a special performance by PALS, Nathan Henrichsen’s singing and dancing group. It was great fun to be together with everyone and especially watching the kids play and get reaquainted.

Day 7: We picked up our rental car as soon as we had everything for Reunion packed up. We were supposed to get a minivan but due to minivan demand, we were blessed with a Suburban instead. Mark and I joked about a two day test drive, since one of the cars we’re considering purchasing is a Suburban, but mostly we were glad to have it for the off-roading we were about to do up to Reid Ranch. Along the way we stopped at Walmart and the grocery store for various wedding shower items for Caroline and got some lunch at Arby’s. Then we hit dirt road, where we experienced our first flat tire since Mark and I have been together. The boys hiked a nearby mountain while Mark handled the tire changing like a pro. We reached Reid Ranch just in time for the boys to shoot a round or two of arrows and then the heaven’s burst open and dumped buckets of rain on us for the rest of the evening. Uncle Matthew saved the day shuttling us all back and forth between the Cafeteria and the Lodge. Then we played Five Crowns with Hunter and Paul introduced Hunter to Killer Bunnies which now has very high priority on his Christmas Wishlist.

Day 8: Very early in the morning I got up to go to the bathroom. About half an hour later, Mark and I both thought my water broke. Due to the dark dirt roads and the washout earlier, we didn’t leave for the hospital until later that morning. Mark and I were both very upset because the odds of 24 week twins surviving premature labor didn’t look good. The doctor ran several tests and concluded I had basically just peed my pants and my CT doctor agreed and said that sort of thing happens all the time with twins. Funny no one mentions it until it happens. Anyway, we returned to Reid Ranch to find Noah and Denver happily playing with Grandma and Grandpa Henrichsen and Hunter happily playing Killer Bunnies with Paul. After a brief swim, we had dinner and then enjoyed a family get together around the campfire and Caroline’s wedding shower. Of course, our camera batteries died on our return to Reid Ranch so. . . if any of you who are reading this have pictures you’d be willing to share with us, we’d be mighty grateful–especially pictures from the campfire. You can email them to us at sshenrichsen@optonline.net or mhenrichs3@optonline.net.

Day 9: Aunt Kathy arrived early in the morning to take family photos and although the boys weren’t really in the mood to have their pictures taken, they smiled occassionally and were pretty good sports. We took the boys up to ride the ponies afterwards and Denver was especially thrilled. He rode the pony once and the big black horse, Blackie, twice. Hunter and Noah weren’t so thrilled but I imagine that had something to do with the heat and the fact that they wanted to do paddle boating instead. After lunch we said our farewells and headed back down the dirt road once again. We stopped at Cows in Park City where they have some of the very best ice cream ever, washed the Suburban before returning it (leaving behind half a mountain) and then met Grandma and Grandpa Stout and Kathy at the Golden Corral for dinner.

Day 10: We spent our last day in Provo, running to several different stores here and there. I wanted to go to Deseret Industries (Utah’s equivalent to Goodwill) and look for some modest dresses. Seems Goodwill and DI have a nice assortment of modest dresses that are hard to come by anywhere else. I managed to find a few and Hunter found a book about the United States that he wanted. We then stopped by the BYU Bookstore where we picked up some lunch and Mark found a lanyard that he wanted. Of course, we also found a couple of books we wanted too. Then we swung by the BYU Creamery for some ice cream (Graham Canyon for me, of course) and some Mint Chocolate Brownies for Grandma and Grandpa Stout, just to say thanks for letting us crash their house and use their car for a week and a half. Then we returned to SLC where we stopped by Chick-Fil-A for dinner and got to see Megan, Uncle Aaron and Aunt Alice, Grandma and Grandpa Stout, and Joe and Suzie and kids. After dinner we headed over to the Streadbeck reunion, where we once again chatted and then made our final farewells. We packed up all our belongings and headed East once again–this time having a much smoother flight back. Mark had a little bit of a falling out with the parking authorities because it seemed they were charging us ten dollars more than they were supposed to. Afterwards Mark realized that they were totally right and we will very easily chalk it up to sheer exhaustion on Mark’s part. We spent our entire first day back catching up on lost sleep, not just from the flight back but from so much partying and having fun out there in Utah. We definitely can’t wait till next time.

Noah is still the Nintendo addict he’s been for the past two years. He loves to play but he continues to struggle with most of the games because he’s still so young. His latest thing is to shout at us every time he loses or makes a mistake and tell us how much he needs “concentration” every time we make the mistake of talking during his game play. Today has been no exception. Lately he’s gotten really good at Super Mario 64 and has found great pleasure in winning stars his Daddy hasn’t been able to. As he played this afternoon, he won a star on his game that he knew his Dad hadn’t won on his own and immediately said, “I’m going to win it for Daddy and he will be so impressed!” As he set out to do just that, he began having struggles. Perhaps he has beginner’s luck the first time around, maybe he just gets too excited the second time around and isn’t as careful. Either way, after several unsuccessful attempts, he turned the game off and before he burst into tears, ran up to his room. Once up in his bed, the floodgates burst open and all the frustration and anger came pouring forth. But the surprising thing was, he wasn’t mad that he lost the game or that we weren’t giving him concentration. His anger was directed at me and the fact that his blanket is dirty. His tantrum went something like this:

“I have to sleep up here with this stinkin’ hot blanket.” (His special ble-ble is in the hamper at the moment waiting to be washed so for now he’s been sleeping with a wool Indian blanket.) “Arrrggghhh! I have to sleep up here with this stinkin’ hot blanket and it’s dirty! It’s dirty and it has pizza on it and blueberry pie! Arrrgggghhhh! And my bed has swimsuits on it! Arrrggghhhh! And I hate my bed. I have to sleep up here with this blanket and it’s filthy and I have to sleep at a different end from everybody else! Arrrrgggghhhhh! And I never get to watch my movie!” On and on and on and on. . . . Then all of the sudden we hear a thud as Noah jumps down from the top bunk and he comes down the stairs, brushing the tears from his cheeks and joins Denver in playing playdough at the kitchen table, like nothing ever happened and everything is just dandy. Go figure. Guess I’d better go wash his stinkin’ filthy blanket and his special ble-ble also. Sheeesh!

We do. I think we picked over 12 pounds of blueberries yesterday in the hot and sticky and miserable weather. Despite the unbearable temp and humidity, I think the boys had fun. Caleb especially enjoyed eating the blueberries fresh off the bush and ate enough to dye his bottom blue later on. We returned home to find our A/C broken, once again. I thought for sure I was going to die of heat exhaustion. It was 81 degrees inside and climbing. Seems we’ve been having a bit of an unlucky streak lately. Anyway, the craving for blueberry pie outweighed the need to be cool and I somehow managed to bake us up one dang good pie for dessert. It was just what I needed after visiting the doctor for the third time in two days. Everyone’s fine (just a couple of ear infections and a rash), the air conditioner is fixed, our house is almost finished being painted and it looks fabulous, the bills are paid and we have enough money to make it through another pay period and we have enough blueberries to last us quite sometime. That is, if I get them canned and frozen before they start molding. The race is on.

(July 11, 2006)
Today started out early with a “Twin Growth” ultrasound at the hospital. They seem to be doing well and the doctor says they weigh in at a whopping 1.2 pounds each. Shortly after the visit to the hospital, I had a visit with the OB/GYN who after waiting over an hour to see, had less than two minutes to spend with me. He didn’t even take the time to measure their heart rates. Glad I don’t normally see that doctor else we’d have some major issues.

Today was also Mark’s birthday which ended up being a huge flop. It wasn’t that I forgot, it’s just that life sometimes takes over and does its own thing. So Sunday while we were eating dinner outside and I was asking Mark for birthday gift ideas, he said, “You didn’t get me a hammock did you?” The problem was, I had but I wasn’t going to admit it right there and then. So, I said “no,” to which Noah immediately protested. “But Mommy. . . what about the big box we helped you carry into the house and hide?” Yes, yes we did get you a hammock. So Mark opened that up on Sunday, instead of today which left me with nothing for him to unwrap today. Then, because we’re going on vacation tomorrow, he said not to make him a birthday cake because we’d never eat it all. Instead he suggested we make brownies because we could take them with us, which I had every intention of making. Except the afternoon was gobbled up by reading library books which we had to return before vacation and which the boys had to finish for their summer reading program. And then it rained and the sun came out all at the same time so we had to go outside and look for a rainbow. And that of course, turned into a rain walk which we haven’t done for so long and Caleb has never done before.

And on our way back inside we discovered a giant zucchini in our garden and I was so overwhelmed by the thought of homemade zucchihi bread the brownies were completely forgotten.

So all Mark got was two whimpy candles shoved into a loaf of zucchini bread and a hug and kiss as he ran out the door for Elder’s Quorum meeting.

But look at his smile–despite the lack of presents, the chaos of our house as I try and pack and clean for tomorrow’s trip, a terrible meeting at work, and the lack of a chocolate dessert and the proper number of candles, he’s still smiling. And that is how I always see Mark. No matter how bad and crazy things get around here, no matter how much weight I pack on or how many unexpected pregnancies I spring on him, no matter how many bills the mailman delivers and how many dollars short we are, no matter what I serve up for dinner or what I don’t for that matter–he keeps on smiling and loving us. And he is always gentle and sweet with me. And he deserves so much more on his birthday than a whimpy loaf of zucchini bread and a spoiled suprise and yet I know he’s content with things just the way they are. And Mark, I love you and count each day as a blessing. . . just to know you. Happy Birthday!

It’s not that everything has been bad since we left home. We’ve actually been having a very nice vacation. And for the most part, everything has run very smoothly. And I’m not trying to focus on the negative things that happen to us. But it is the first flat tire we’ve had since we got married almost ten years ago and it was pretty exciting considering we were stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service and miles and miles from any help. But Mark handled it like a pro, and Hunter was really thoughtful and fetched his Daddy some water as he worked and the boys didn’t complain, not even for a second, but rather chased lizards and climbed the mountainside happily, to the point that they complained when it was time to get back in the car and finish the drive to Reid Ranch. And in the end, we made it to reunion safe and sound, just before the monsoon hit and washed out the dirt roads.

We left on time. A drive to the airport that should have taken us two hours max took us four. We thought for sure we were going to miss our flight. Miraculously, we didn’t. They told us they were boarding as we checked in and we sailed through security and right on to our gate. But no one was boarding. No one. And we’ve been here ever since–stuck. We should have left three hours ago. Actually, we should almost be there by now. Instead, there’s a ground hold due to lightning and heavy rain and we don’t have a pilot or a co-pilot. Denver finally gave up and fell asleep. We’re trying to convince the other three to do the same. But I’m certain, as soon as all four of them fall asleep, it will be time to board the plane.

After working on the puzzles one time with my help, Denver set out to do them again all on his own. I was sent away with orders not to look. Ten minutes later. . . success!

Little sticky fingers, it is very plain to see
With your pulling and your tugging that you make a wreck of me.
There’s a splotch upon my collar
That is larger than a dollar,
And my new and costly necktie is a positive disgrace!
On the bosom of my shirt
You have left a smear of dirt,
And something seems to tell me there is butter on my face.

Little sticky fingers, what’s a grown-up man to do
When he comes down stairs o’ mornings to a laughing babe like you,
And your arms are held out, shaking
For a bit of merry-making,
And those chubby little fingers and those rosy little thumbs
Seem to dance and throb with glee?
Would any daddy flee
To save his spotless collar from the butter and the crumbs?

Little sticky fingers, as a gentleman is dressed
I have held you on my shoulder and I’ve hugged you to my breast,
While those little hands were pressing
All the signs of their caressing
On my white and shining raiment, and I’ve seen the people smile
At my collar sadly soiled
Where your rosy thumbs had moiled–
But linen doesn’t matter, it is only pomp and style.

Little sticky fingers, stamp your seals of love on me;
Press those hands upon my collar and it’s happy I will be.
Oh, it’s little I am caring
For the linen I am wearing,
I would rather own those smudges than the jewels of a king;
I would rather folks could see
Every stain you leave on me
Than to wear a spotless collar where no sticky fingers cling.

-Edgar Guest-

So Mark set to work building me a chicken coop a few weeks ago. When I saw this triangle laying on the garage floor I didn’t think it was going to be big enough. Mark had the same thought.

He spent several Saturdays and almost every night after work out in the garage slaving away over the coop. Come rain or shine, oppressive humidity and several children underfoot, Mark measured and cut and drilled away.

After he put the pieces together we were both surprised by the size of the “Chicken Tractor” which was more the size of an Ark and practically could have been with the amount of rain we had during its construction.

There were several nights I came out to watch Mark work after the kids were in bed, only to find him adding fancy details like linoleum flooring and crown moulding. Suddenly it no longer seemed like a Chicken Tractor or a Chicken Ark, but rather the Chicken Palace. There were more than a couple times I thought it was nice enough the kids could use it as a playhouse and had I been a kid myself, I would have climbed in and had a blast playing inside. The thought of putting a bunch of smelly, poopy chickens in the place was almost painful.

Finally, after a million trips to Home Depot and lots of planning and re-planning and sweating and sacrificing, Mark finished his masterpiece. And a masterpiece it is. Mark isn’t one to go halfway on a project. When he starts something he gives it his all and always produces perfection. And our new chicken coop is no exception. It’s absolutely fabulous! We’re still working out a few kinks, like where to hang the feeders and where to place the perches so they don’t poop in the feeders, but for the most part it’s done. And the chickens love it and I love it and I think Mark is pretty darn proud of himself, which he should be. Thanks for all the hardwork and sacrifice on behalf of us girls. Here’s hoping the eggs are worth it and that we get dozens of them!