while i know, and fully agree, that huge ground-breaking days containing huge milestones and miraculous events are wonderful and bring lots of happiness, they are not my favorite. I know what it feels like to pass a huge test, or accomplish something you have been working on forever. I have experienced days where the world seems to comply to my every whim and my life seems like it will become something amazing. but to me, they don't compare with a simple, family day outside on a regular Saturday summer day.
we usually all gather at our house. But this time we decided to go Lauren's house. i should have realized how wonderful the day was going to be as i walked up the driveway and saw Matti running as fast as her little legs would carry her, in her adorable little way. she looked like the cutest thing you could imagine in her bathing suit, with her blond wavy hair in her face. She was so excited to see us all, even papa, at her house! she could barely contain herself as she ran back and forth between us, showing papa her awesome blow-up pool and telling me where to put everything, as if she planned the whole dinner. there is something about my niece that gives me such happiness. i love her so much. so we sat around, soaking in the warm California sun rays. ill admit it may have been a smidge to hot, but just sitting around in regular lawn chairs, talking and laughing. admiring Matti's skills of being able to go down a slide, it made the heat bearable, no, enjoyable. then we got to play with adorable Clark. He had his own baby pool, shaped like a whale. We all sat around and laughed at how it was was to short for him, and how he couldn't stay still, yet when he climbed out on the grass he freaked out and crawled on his tippy toes to reduce the contact with the grass. Now i have an undeniable love for games. This being said, i sent Matti on a secret telephone mission. in our family we love to do this "Matti, go tell mommy to do this". to hear her variations and to hear her try to say the complicated words makes us all laugh. so i told her "Go tell mom to get a game and bring it outside" so she sprints into the house and can barely contain her excitement as she yells "mom!! get catch phrase!" so then the game began. we all circled around, some on the blanket that was partially wet from soaking bathing suit butts, some in lawn chairs, some in beach chairs, and some (well one) in toy cars. with our family, whenever we play games we all start cracking up, and by the end we had a few more inside jokes to add to our list. something unique this time, no fights. it was destined to be a beautiful night. amidst the laughter and talking, and trying to guess words, i realized something. i could never ever stop loving my family. after the game, Matti forced me to race her around in the toy car. i made it a little interesting with going down steps, hitting walls and circling trees at top speed. the bad thing about making things fun: they never want you to stop. but then dinner was ready and i had an excuse to quit. we made foil dinners and cooked them over our fire pits on red hot coals. something about foil dinners brings back memories of countless family beach trips, coming back from bonfires smelling of smoke and having sunburned skin. they remind me of camping trips, everyone gathered around the campfire, exhausted and enjoying nature. these foil dinners did not disappoint. we all sat outside as the night air started to cool, talking about life and stories we had experienced lately, and catching skunks and opossums in traps that the city refuses to give you. the conversations and jokes flowed, not a face was unhappy and everyone just sat under the umbrellas enjoying a summer night where we could all be together. a night where we could sit outside and see the stars as our family shined as a beautiful thing. of course, since we used the fire pits for dinner we had to make smores. Lauren bought some cool new marshmallows, we had Reese's and graham crackers that were already broken in half. we roasted marshmallows for each other and all ate one more than we should have. the sugar of the marshmallows and chocolate made everyone happy. we sat around and talked by the light of the perfect roasting wood. we listed to Lauren's garden skunk rustle in the bushes, and surprise surprise talked and laughed some more. then Matti came and whispered to me that this fire business should be done and we really needed to go inside to watch some of her shows. so i went inside with her and got to watch mickey mouse clubhouse with her. it was so adorable to see her answer all their questions and smile so much at everything that was happening. eventually everyone else came inside, and we all combined onto the couches and sat there for a bit. when it was bedtime, a certain little girl in her terrible twos threw he usual bedtime fit. but after she went to bed and we got in the car to drive home i realized something else. not once during our whole day did we fight. not one of us started an argument or got angry. there was not at point in time when i was annoyed by something someone did. in a family with 4 girls that doesn't always happen. i love my family so much, but sometimes i forget just how amazing every singe member of my family is. Family is so essential to God's plan, and sometimes i just need nights like these to make me realize how wonder my family as a unit is, and how much Heavenly Father influences everything we do. i would not be able to feel such joy with out my family by my side. whether we are separated by state boundaries or simply a argument blown out of proportion, my family will always be there for me and will support me through every obstacle of life. My parents have been amazing examples to me, and my sisters have been amazing friends. i love them all. i hope life holds millions of these days in store for me.
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