Overload of Dudley Information

Remember when I used to blog several times a month? You don't! That is because it has been a long time since I used to blog with such frequency. I will try and do better. I promise.

Our summer was busy. Ashton played his first season of soccer. He loved it. I am not sure he has a natural talent for the game but he sure had fun with the boys he played with! He will definitely continue his soccer next spring.

Jace played his first season of Baseball. Turns out he swings left and throws right. Just like his dad. Jace is actually showing a lot of potential for the game of baseball. He hits hard and straight and throws well. He too had a lot of fun and will be continuing baseball next year.

Sage spent her time over the summer earning money for her tuition for the Utah Children's choir.  Sage has a tendency to not take extracurricular activities seriously.  When she approached us and asked us if she could sing in the choir, we were concerned that like all extracurricular activities before, she would put little effort into her success. We  decided that she should take some ownership in joining the choir by coming up with half of her tuition. She cleaned out chicken coups, did yard work, housework, and other farm chores. And by the end of the summer she had reached her goal and was very proud of herself. And we were proud of her too.  Sage is indeed taking her choir seriously. Her choir director says she sounds like someone who has had voice lessons even though she has not. She is in the intermediate choir and is working towards moving up into the Concert choir.

Ryker spent his summer simply being a 2 year old. He loves all his brothers and sisters and is still my baby. He will always be my baby. All my children will always be my babies.

Flight simulator

Fathers Son

Fathers Son Camp out

Remember that Time?

Curtis was busy this spring/summer as always. With his partner Jay, he designed and built his first flight simulator and sold it to a school in Arizona. He took his Varsity Scouts on a 5 day hike totaling over 50 miles. During this hike they summited Kings Peak, the tallest peak in Utah. It was a hard hike for all those involved. But Curtis was very proud of his scouts for finishing the hike. Curtis also took the boys on a father sons camp out. They had a lot of fun doing manly things. Later on in the summer, Curtis also went on a Youth retreat called Youth Conference for a few days. He had a great time with the youth. It was almost perfect, until he backed his truck into the side of a tree. That incident made Curtis a little grumpy. Speaking of grumpy, remember that time when Curtis sliced his hand while making a sling shot! Late night visit to the ER was a blast. Wasn't it Curtis?

We have been having a lot of fun our our new boat this summer! We ventured out at least 6 times. Sage loves the thrill of being out on the water on a tube. Ashton was a bit scared at first but slowly gained his courage to go at high speeds and be tossed into the water. Jace and Ryker went out on a tube a few times. But neither of them really enjoyed it. Especially since Ryker's tube actually nose dived and Ryker did not let go of the tube for a few seconds after he had been submerged. And yes, as mom i was freaking out a bit. But his life jacket popped him up and he was fine. After that his desire to go out on the tube was lacking. Curtis LOVES driving the boat. And he looks great at the helm.

Sage And Gabbi are still very good friends.

We went Camping twice as a family. Our first trip was at Payson lakes with our dear friend Krisi and her family. We had a lot of fun at Payson. We caught a lot of fish and ate lots of good camp meals! Jace did however disappear on us. We could not find him anywhere. He had walked himself down to the nearest lake and hiked to the other side of the lake. We followed tips for a half of a mile till we found him. Again, yes I was scared and yes Jace and I had a serious chat about not taking off without an adult!

Dudley Campout

Our second camping trip was a Dudley get together. We camped for 3 nights. Again we ate a lot of good food and caught some nice fish from the lake of which we fried up and devoured. We also ventured out and went for a small hike for a few hours. Everyone had a great time and no one was lost.

Lots of Kids in the Wilde house!

Singing and Playing Rainbow connection.

In August we went to Bear Lake for a Wilde family reunion. My parents rented a very large house for all of us overlooking the lake. Most of my family lives out of state. So I look forward to these reunions! The house was noisy but full of love and laughter. We boated for one day, had a talent show on another day and simply hung out and enjoyed each others company the rest of the time. The night before we left, we had the best raspberry shake in existence. Curtis and I devoured it in the car on the way back to the house. It was a five minute drive...

We loved hanging out with Sonya!

After Bear Lake we had the pleasure of having Cousin Sonya over for a few days. The kids loved having her here and we hope to get her again in the future! We went to the aquarium, a car/plane show, and played hard. And when her parents came to pick her up we followed them to Dinosaur National Monument! We do love our National parks!

School has started for the children. Sage is in 6th grade this year! It will be her last year of elementary school. This year i have decided to step back and let her either fail or succeed in school. So far she is doing ok but has room for improvement. But she is getting there!

Ashton is in 3rd grade. He thinks his teacher is pretty and he is starting to discover that reading can be fun if you find the right book. He has discovered he likes the series I Survived.  I spent the summer looking for and buying all sorts of books he might be interested in reading. Most of them bored him. So I am sooo happy that he has found something that sparks his interest.

Jace is in his second year of preschool at Rocky Mountain Elementary. He is loving it and is glad to be there. He has struggled a little bit with getting along with other boys in class but has made his peace with them now. He loves show in tell and socializing.

And that is about it. Any questions? If you do have questions you have my number, give me a call and we will catch up.

Oh wait! I have neglected myself yet again. I am sorry. Some of you I know are curious about little ol' me. My summer has been spent running to and from activities, taking the kids out on adventures, improving my guitar skills, baking goodies just because, holding down the fort when Curtis was gone, helping out with scouts, recovering from a torn calf muscle (from which I am now trying to get back in shape), raising a male kitten (that can be daunting), and trying to keep the house clean (almost an impossibility in the summer!) And finally I have been working on my final child's stocking. And I am almost done! I never thought it through when I crossed stitched Sage's stocking. You see the stockings have to match somewhat! I estimate that each stocking has taken me about 500 hours to complete. That's a rough estimation. So I have spent a total of 2000 hours on these stockings! That means a little over 2 months of my life has been spent cross stitching stockings! Labor of love... labor of love.

A Child can do Hard Things

The year is approximately 1991. I was attending an extremely small elementary school in North Albany, Oregon. It was track day, and our teacher was asking us to run a mile without stopping as fast as we possibly could. We were encouraged to meet the guidelines of the Physical Fitness Presidential award. This meant I had to run the mile in about 7 minutes and 30 seconds. It was cold and drizzly. I lined up with the other children. I looked around. Most of the children seemed very focused. The teacher yelled out, "GO!"

I was small and quick. I pulled out in front of most of the children. Only two of the boys in my class remained in front of me. I then proceeded to run my little heart out. My lungs hurt, it did not feel good. Running the mile fast, was hard. But I continued, placing 3rd in my class overall and 1st among the girls. I had met my goal running the mile in 6 minutes and some odd seconds.

Now lets fast forward to this year. Sage and I were talking about how I run on a regualar basis. I asked her how fast she could run the mile. She did not know. I began to pry a bit deeper. "Sage do you at least run the mile without stopping?" She responded, "No." A bit taken back I asked her, "Have you EVER run the mile without stopping." Indifferently she said, "Nope." Even more flabbergasted I asked, "Do they even encourage you to run the mile without stopping anymore??!" Sage said, "Not really." It was right then I decided that I would get Sage to run a mile without stopping by the end of the summer.

It was a Monday morning. I woke Sage up at 10am. I whispered to her that we were going to try and run a mile together. She moaned, dragged herself out of bed, and got dressed. We headed outside. We started to jog at a relitevely slow pace. Before Sage had even gone 1/8th of a mile she gasped and said that running was hard and she did not want to do this. I pushed her to continue. Run. Stop. Run Stop. She had just had the worst day of her life. "Mom, I don't like this! This is too hard. It hurts!." I replied, "I know its hard. I know that it hurts. But Sage you can do hard things. It is a mind game Sage. You have to conquer your doubts and physical limitations and just push through the pain. If you can do that, it will become easier. Remember... it is a mind game. And you Sage have a strong mind." I could tell that she needed some more encouragement. So I promised her I would reward her with something she wanted if she could run a mile without stopping.

A few days past. This time Sage came up to me and asked me to run a mile with her. So we went. She looked at me and said, "Its a mind game right?" We began. We ran the first 1/8 mile. No problem. On our next 1/2 a mile we identified trees as we ran, to keep our minds off of the fact we were running. At the last 1/4 of a mile I encouraged her to keep on going. On the last 1/8 of the mile we could see our finishing spot. I told her to pick up the pace, to go as fast as she could to the end. And she did. Sage had just run her first nonstop mile. She was glowing.

A few days later she came up to me again. "Mom can I run 3 miles with you today." I was ecstatic. "Of course you can!" 3 miles was a bit harder for Sage. She desperately wanted to stop on the last mile. But she kept on going. At the end, she was tired, sore, and red in the face. But you know what? She did it. She did something hard.

I have noticed that my generation has been  raising many children to believe that they don't have to do hard things. We buy them Velcro shoes so they don't have to learn to tie their laces. We don't have winners anymore, because losing is hard. We clean their rooms for them, and dress them, when they are perfectly capable of doing it themselves. We carry them instead of asking them to walk.  We give in to their fears trying our best to keep them from having to face them and overcome them. We tell them that it is ok to walk instead of run that mile. Well you know what, it is not ok. Because children can do hard things. We just have to give them some space and allow them to try. Yes they might fail a few times. But they will get it eventually.

I am so proud of my daughter. She mentally and physically pushed past her comfort zone and did something that was extremely hard for her.  I am fully confident that next time they ask her to run a mile at school, she will run her little heart out like her mom did in 1991. Bravo Sage.

We are still alive!

It's been a while. I know, I know shame on Becky. Time has flown by for our little family. We have enjoyed Thanksgiving, Christmas, The New Year, Jace's Birthday, Ryker's Birthday, and Valentines Day. Lets catch up a little shall we?

Ryker

Ryker turned 2!!! He is growing up to be such a sweet, sweet boy. He always says thank you and please, and he is such a little lover. He hugs, kisses, strokes your face gently, and cuddles all the time. He reminds me of a small Sage but even more cuddly. He can name all his ABC's on flashcards and LOVES to be read to. He has also learned to balance a two wheeled bike (strider). This summer I am sure that he will  take on Jace's old bike and will be riding a two wheeler with pedals soon!

Ryker has really found his voice. The little guy talks all the time. And if you tell him something he repeats it just to confirm what you said. He still loves everything with a motor and has recently discovered remote controlled cars and trains. We love Ryker and he really has been such a blessing to our family.

Jace

Jace turned 4 in December. He asked for a chocolate, construction cake with a back hoe on the top. So that is what we gave him!

Jace has been having a blast this year at Kid's Village. He has just started to sound out letters and read. School has been good for him and Jace, although he is still stubborn, has been learning to take things in stride and not get upset about little things.

Jace has become quite the charmer. He has this look that he uses to make any girl or woman swoon. Goodness, it practically works on boys and men too. The kid is irresistibly cute. He has become best friends with little Ryker this last year. They do everything together. With this new friendship Jace is learning how to be a big brother and how to be patient.  Although Jace has been extremely challenging in the past, as he grows up and matures, he is becoming easier and easier to handle. It is amazing what love and patience can do for a child.

Ashton

Ashton has had a great year in 2nd grade so far. He does well with his studies and manages decently with friends. He did get in a fight with a boy at school this last month. But he was not the aggressor. He did learn that sometimes you have to walk away and choose not to play with someone when they are being disagreeable. We did make his attacker cookies in hopes to extend an olive branch but that did not seem to work. So Ashton decided he wanted to take up basketball so he could play in a different crowd. And since I am actually a pretty decent basketball player, I bought him a ball and taught him how to play.

Ashton continues to take piano lessons and has recently learned how to work and shoot a BB gun. It has been fun to watch his Dad teach him the basics in firearms and safety. Ashton definitely loves everything his Dad does. I would not be surprised if he take up flying airplanes one day.

Sage

Sage is growing into quite the little lady. She is FINALLY starting to care more about her appearance and has been learning how to blow dry her own hair. She has even been asking for earrings in which I told her when she showed me that she could stay responsibly clean (meaning take showers where she actually washes her hair and body) then we would consider getting those ears pierced.

Sage is still very much into Science. It is her favorite subject. When asked what her talents are she always mentions her knowledge of Biology, Geology, and Physics. Now if I could just convince her that math is just as fun as Biology then things would be perfect! I am not saying she does not do well in math. She does great when she actually tries. But she sure does whine a lot about her equations. Especially when I tell her she has to re-due them because she got them wrong.

She is still very much into boys. She even came home the other day excited to tell me that the boy she likes has a 6 pack. When I doubted this story she explained that he was in gymnastics... and then I realized the kid probably did have one and the fact that my daughter noticed and was excited by that scared me just a little. Having said that, she really is an amazing gal. She still shares her testimony every month at church, helps out at home, and is the perfect big sister. Well maybe she is not perfect, but she is perfect enough for me!

Me

My fall and winter has been a bit of a whirlwind. In the fall I was inspired to pick up an old guitar and start playing. And now, I can actually play the guitar. I am no pro, but I do alright for a self taught beginner. I really enjoy learning the guitar and even bought myself a new guitar that sings a much sweeter song than the guitar I started on. And yes I did name it, and that guitar is sometimes my refuge from the storm. Do you realize how loveable a guitar is?? You can actually comfortably hug it. If only they could hug you back. I have been tinkering with various songs and styles. If you are ever visiting, just ask and I will play a little tune for you.

Just before the beginning of the year I was called to Primary President at my church. At first the calling was a bit stressful due to the time of year. But I have amazing councilors, a better than average secretary and I sure do love the kids I get to serve. I can honestly say that I truly do enjoy my new calling in my church and am thankful for the blessings it provides. Kids really are the best! And I find it easy to connect with any child.

Curtis

Curtis has been a busy guy as usual. He continues to work on various projects and education. Right now he is actually working on creating a flight simulator with a friend that could potentially be sold to flight schools around the country. There goal is to make it affordable and functional. He has also been having fun buying a bunch of toys for our new boat we purchased recently and he can't wait to take it out on the lake.

Curtis has taken on the huge task of redoing my entire basement. We have added one bedroom, a hallway, and a storage area to the once more open floor plan. Next comes paint and carpet! I am so thankful for the fact that my husband is capable of doing almost anything. He is such a hard worker.

Curtis continues to work hard at Fidelity Investments and SAR. This winter has been relatively calm when it comes to Search and Rescue. Curtis has become the Dive Sergeant once more for the team and is looking forward to energizing the program. Other than that things are pretty normal for Curtis.

And there you have it folks! And now I must go downstairs and put my kids to bed. Hope all of our family and friends are doing well!