The Bosens

We finally made it back to Provo for a visit to our alma mater earlier this month (we have been back to visit my sister but not really the campus at all).   We visited my sister and saw a few memorable spots.  It was a little rainy and without a stroller getting around with two kids was difficult.  So we will need to go back again sometime and make sure we have the stroller.

I made sure Adam took a picture of these two spots.  This is where we lived when we met and where I lived when we were engaged.  Good old Heritage Halls (definitely old, but still lots of fun).  Bring back any memories?

And here is one of my favorite spots on campus.  It used to be a beautiful grassy hill over looking  trees and a stream (right by Heritage Halls).  They put in this waterfall and more landscaping between the time we got married and graduated.  It is still definitely beautiful, but different. I always thought it would be fun to bring little kids here to see the ducks and the water.  It wasn’t quite as idealistic as I had imagined, but maybe in warmer weather it would be.

Here is Carina with the kids.

And here is an attempts at getting a picture of me with the kids.  Hyrum likes to add a creative twist to the picture you could say. None of those boring stand-there-and-look-cute poses.

Here is what Annie did while we took more pictures.  I had a new headband that was hurting my head after while so we put it on Annie.  It didn’t stay on top of her head for too long.

This was Hyrum’s favorite part.

That and we went in the HFAC (Harris Fine Arts Center if you don’t speak Cougarese) at the end of the day and Hyrum saw their elevator.  After a long day with no nap, getting him out of the building (away from the elevator), down the stairs and into the car was rather tramatic.  We will have to go back sometime and let him try out all of the different elevators on campus. BYU may be his new favorite destination (except maybe the airport since there are no excalators at BYU).

While we were there I found out that BYU’s homecoming was the next week.  It was short notice and we were getting ready for a trip the week after that, but I figured I’d have to wait a whole year for another opportunity and who knows what would be happening then.  So I asked Adam to go to the Homecoming dance with me.  Special thanks to my grandma for helping me with my hair and Marie for watching Hyrum and Annie (and letting us sleep in a bit the next morning) and Carina for meeting us and hanging out with us at the dance even though we are old and boring.

It was really fun, but we realized that we’ve become so serious and responsible (as Adam said "In other words, old."  It was kind of strange to see all these people who were so close in age to us and yet in such a different part of life.  When we left the house we were yawning and pretty much ready to go to sleep with about 40 minutes to drive just to get there.  Hard to believe how things have changed in the 2 1/2 years since we graduated.

Here is my cute sister and her husband.  Sorry this picture turned out blurry, Carina!  Here it is anyway.

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Latley Hyrum has been extremely inquisitive.  I think this is a normal stage, or at least I’ve seen other kids who do this as well.  Does anyone want to tell us how long this stage usually lasts?

Tonight, Adam was painting the deck and Hyrum was watching through the screen door and overflowing with questions as he does so often lately.

Hyrum: "What are you doing, Daddy?"

Adam:"I’m painting the deck."

Hyrum: "What are you doing?"

Adam: "Painting the deck."

Hyrum: "What you doin’?"

Adam: "I’m still painting the deck."

Hyrum: "What you doing, Daddy?"

Adam: "Same thing I was doing 5 seconds ago."

Hyrum: "Whatchoo doing?"

Adam: "Don’t keep asking me that.  Why don’t you go play with some toys?"

Hyrum: "What are you doing now?"

Eventually Hyrum changed to questions like this:

"What does that paint roller do?"

"What does the deck do?"

"What does… our… car do?"

"What does our garage do?"

"What’s mommy doing?"

He also likes to ask where things are (even if he knows exactly where they are) and what other random people are doing.  A somewhat embarrassing and repeated occurrence is that we are outside and someone walks or jogs by and Hyrum asks me, "What is that guy doing?" or "What is that man doing?" The embarrassing thing is that he says this even if they aren’t a "guy" or worse "a man" (to be explicit, even if they are actually a woman).  Rest assured, I don’t think he’s said that about anyone we know.  But if he does, don’t take it personal.

Annie has also been going through a stage of unbounded curiosity.  I remember thinking that Hyrum had so much energy, but I am often surprised at the intensity of Annie’s attempts to get to anything she wants to explore.  She fusses and cries if we don’t hold her at mealtime and then proceeds to try with all of her might to get a hold of our food and dishes.  One time before I knew how desperately she wanted it, she grabbed my cereal bowl and spilled it’s contents.  (She hasn’t really liked the two foods we’ve offered  her outside of her usual nursing diet, though.  I don’t blame her for not being excited about rice cereal.  And she took about two sips of formula when I offered it to her a few days ago and looked confused. She decided to give it a second try and then promptly stopped and gave me a look that seemed to say, "Mom, something is definitely not right about this milk.")

Another example of unbounded curiosity is the way that she almost leaps from my arms when she spots something she wants.  I was walking by the digital thermostat in the hall today and she lunged toward it and tried to pull it off of the wall.  When it wouldn’t come she leaned over, pulled herself to it and attempted to fit it into her mouth.  I am afraid that she may throw herself out of my arms sometime.

The other day I left her sitting on the couch for a moment to get something.  I looked up as I walked into the room and had a heart-stopping moment when I saw her head dangling over the edge of the couch and her arm stretching toward a toy that had gotten away from her.  She was half way off the couch trying to reach that toy!  No more sitting on the couch for her!

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I haven’t posted anything for more than a month, but I’m finally back!  I decided to post my thoughts instead of pictures this time though (Hope you’re not disappointed.  Maybe some day I’ll get to those pictures I mentioned).  I have felt so overwhelmed lately that I finally decided that blogging was taking too much precious time, so I cut back.

I love being a mom, but when combined with trying to run a household, it can really leave me feeling discouraged and inadequate.  It often feels like there is so much to do and when I get one thing done, three more things have been added to the to-do list and the one I just did will make its way back on the list again soon.  It seems I am always neglecting something (actually a whole list of things).

However, this post wasn’t meant to be depressing.  Last weekend was the annual General Relief Society meeting and I felt that Elder Uchtdorf’s talk was exactly what I needed to hear.  (For anyone who doesn’t know what I am talking about, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , twice each year we have a worldwide conference where we get to hear from the leaders of our church including apostles and prophets.  This particular meeting was for the women.)  I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I love these meetings!  I know that our leaders are inspired because although I am only one out of millions that are listening to these messages, they always share something that really helps me in my own life.

Let me first mention two previous talks from General Conference that I found so helpful and encouraging as a mom. The first is this talk by Elder Ballard about the demanding role of being a mom and how to make it more fulfilling and enjoyable.  I realized during this talk that Heavenly Father was aware of my concerns and appreciated my work as a mom. And this talk by Elder Oaks about spending our time on what matters most really helped me work on my priorities. Especially after Annie was born, it reminded me that I can’t possibly do everything and that is okay. If I spend my time on what matters most, then its okay if I don’t get to the other things. Like if I can’t clean the house because Hyrum and Annie are taking all of my time, I shouldn’t feel bad about it, and I certainly shouldn’t get stressed or angry that they are keeping me from less important things. But I need to make sure that I’m not neglecting important things because I’m spending time on things that don’t matter.

However, I was getting quite discouraged again, and Elder Uchtdorf’s talk left me feeling so uplifted and encouraged!  He helped me to realize that being a mom is about so much more than trying to keep things from falling apart and following a to-do list.  It is about creating something beautiful, from my home to my own life to the countless ways that I influence my children.  And that taking the time to create something beautiful (like a piece of art, a smile on my child’s face or, yes, even a clean house) is not only okay, it is a huge part of why we are here, to leave this world and the people in it more beautiful than we found them. Somehow thinking this way makes a huge difference for me.

If you’re feeling discouraged, I highly recommend these talks! Hopefully someone will find this post helpful!