And Yet Somehow Life Goes On

For CGH, your scripture so you don’t feel like you’re neglecting your studies: Book of Mormon  Mosiah 24:15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did^astrengthen them that they could bear up their ^bburdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with ^cpatience to all the will of the Lord.

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on."
- Robert Frost -

We are going a mile a minute over here.  We can’t stop.  If we stop the scars they made might catch us.  None of that.  No, No, No.  We'll run away, move on.  Moving forward, onward.  Too busy living and loving our days to be slowed down by deep hurt.  Our days are filled – with smiles and with friends and with love and sometimes even with hope, but not that often.  If we keep moving and living suddenly time will have passed and we will be alright again.  Until then we will cheerfully SINK OUR TEETH INTO LIFE.
So this week we:

Went steampunk.

Spraypainted Jude’s purple bike baller gold.
 
Cuddled on the comfy chair.
 
Played dress-up in mama’s sparkly clothes.

Dropped THE papers at the Family Law Court.  Again.  We are four once more.

Played Dada, Mama, and Baby.
 
Rocked fashion couture
 
Got our necks kissed.

Drip painted.
 
Learned about Magna Tiles (need!  wishlist!)
 
Went to a science craft fair.

Strolled around Yerba Buena Rooftop Gardens
 
Rode horses into the horizon.
 
Practiced our posing.
 
Built houses at the MOMA
 
Listened to art.

Learned how close to stand to a piece of digital art.

Just another week of living over here.  Taking it all in stride.  Licking our wounds.  Retreating.  Regrouping.  Pushing through.  All the euphemisms.
We are ok.  We are living.  Life goes on.

Buster’s Wedding

These are all the photos off my iphone from the Camille’s and Alex’s wedding.  My flash is broken and my camera is nearly worthless.  Anyone care to sponsor a new iphone?  Bueller?
I’m sorry for the below average quality, but Sherman Chu hasn’t finished working his editing magic and this is what I have for you for now.

Ellie and Paige
  
Me and Si

Nancy and Celia.  Nancy is my pseudo-sister.  I can’t remember life without the Nance.
 
Dapper little Jude.  The matching bowties I ordered didn’t come in the mail so I made these for my boys the night before.  They served their purpose.

Val and Alina

My Mimi

Charlotte (p’s) Mimi and Alice (c’s).

Sisters attempting normal. 
 
This is my absolute favorite picture and moment of the day.  While we were posing for the traditional siblings shot and about to take the picture someone said “WAIT!  Get the deck!”  Mark took off running for the car and skated back on one of Nate’s skateboards.  We took this picture in honor of our brother Nate.  I think we were all thinking about him that day and it was especially powerful for me when I looked out at the crowd of people watching us pose for this weird photo and saw my mom’s face.  Though a bit bewildered and caught off guard, I could tell that she in particular appreciated the siblings demanding to have Nate represented in some way. 
Always 8.

Pam photobombing

The dress.  Made specially for Camille.  It looked like she had just walked out of an epic Hollywood movie – Gone with the Wind maybe.  She was glorious.

But brides need to eat.  Ellie helpfully shoved food down her throat.

We usually take family shots since every body is all matchy-matchy.  This is Phil Aub and Teddy (11 months).

Me and my minions.
On to the reception.
The majority of the reception was orchestrated by our newest sister Robin.  The Perrys live at The Mothership right now because they’re in between homes.   They are not blood relations, but man, we love having them.  Darin and Robin worked their buns off.

Ellie was very helpful yelling at people with her megaphone.

Cake assembly

Favorite cousin Max showed up from BYUI and was swarmed by the cousins.
Then the fun began.  It was a hoedown so there was a caller instructing everybody in the dancing.  He was appropriately bossy and it was so much fun.

Silas had a ball

Bride and groom first dance.  Oh, you didn’t know that the dress was CONVERTIBLE?!!  Yep – the bottom ruffles came off for dancing!!

There were about 300 people there.  It was crowded and we were so happy that so many people came to celebrate Camille and Alex.
Here are some random dancing shots:
 
These last few shots are stolen from Sherman.  He is an incredible photographer and practically part of our family.  Hey Sherm, if you don’t want these posted let me know – not trying to step on toes and stuff but really, I love these pictures so much I couldn’t help myself.

Testing Out a New Hobby

special blog feature for CGH so she doesn’t feel like she is neglecting her scripture reading to read my blog, there will occasionally be scriptures at the top.  Two birds, one stone!  One stop shopping!  Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 24:3 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall give thee ^arest, from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve.

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Invariably my undiagnosed ADHD (N. Cox, you might have been on to something) has kicked back into full gear:

DO SOMETHING.

Yes, parenting is doing something, but I feel like my best self when I’m working on a project. During the summer it was teaching, but this semester I’m just substituting and that doesn’t weigh on my mind the way a normal teaching gig does.  And the LSAT is done, but I’m not ready to jump into the law school game yet. 

My mother used to say when I was a child that when I am bored I make trouble.  There shall be no troublemaking.  No drama (which may mean no men?)

I needed a new project, something to stimulate my synapses after the children are in their cozy beds.  Time to put the other side of my brain into work mode.

Niya came to town!  She spent the week opening up a new hobby for me: Painting!  Like, moving beyond spray paint painting.  Not graffiti this time (MMcA, remaining nameless, that never happened) but canvas and paint and texture and sparkle and varnish and all those things I knew so little about.  My education began this week!

Of course, what I get into my kids get into, so they painted right along side us and will continue to do so. 

Here’s some of the process:

Mimi hauling canvas. 

Niya coaching Jude.

 

An old horrible painting that Silas improved upon.

Mimi calls this one Corners.  Jude is painting a picture of Spongebob, clearly.

I like that Silas knows when his paintings are finished.  He never over does it.

Jude sometimes stays up late for extra Mama time.  I love it.

  

For this one we did the background together and then Niya taught me how to do lines and edging.  It is hard. 

I might be in a dark phase.  Surprise.  Actually, this hobby is totally helping me through these difficult confusing times.  It frees my mind.

 

Exhausted.  We were up late doing these.  I’ve found it becomes addictive – when you start it bugs you until you can go back and finish.

And I may have fallen asleep mid-session.  I love our new little studio.  It’s going to stay up in the family room. 

  

   Watching Niya work is amazing.  She’ll just brush onto the canvas and it turns into the perfect curve of a foot and angle of a neck.  And she’s fast too.  She has a ton of talent.  Go see (and buy) her work here:  http://artbyniya.tumblr.com/  She does commissions too – like if you have a wall you need filled or a blank space you want dressed up she’s your girl.  I love her faces series.

 

More painting babies.  We’ve found that the less clothes you paint in the less paint you get on your clothes.

And for the finished pieces:

Lifeline

The Stars Aligned

Broken Girl