Happy Birthday, Annie!

Last week Annie turned 3! My baby is already 3 years old. Aaagghhh! And because she is my baby, she got 2 parties. Friday night we invited all the family that was in town (not many) for hot dogs, cupcakes and a pinata. Annie was sporting her new birthday outfit that she wore all day Saturday, too.

On Saturday morning, Annie's birthday, we went to St. Johns. It was planned long ago, but Annie thought it was a special trip just for her. When we got to Grandma and Grandpa Platt's house, Cyndi had a Raggedy Ann cake for her. It was adorable and Annie got to be the center of attention once again. She ate it up.

She got a lot of good loot, but her favorites were her new clothes, including the tu-tu outfit from Grandma Goodman, her skinny jeans from Alex, and her new bouncing baby doll.

Annie is such a great kid. She is very much a 3 year old. She is opinionated and, with her hands on her hips or her arms crossed, she will let you know exactly what she's thinking.

Each day I know how her day is going to be by how she wakes up. I ask her, "Annie how did you sleep? Did you have any dreams?" If she answers yes, then I know it's gonna be a great day because the next question is, "What did you dream about?" Always, the answer is "Crocodiles." I have no idea where it came from, but that is the standard answer when she wakes up in a good mood. Then we make up a story about the crocodiles, they were dancing, or were wearing diapers, or putting on make up, or singing Taylor Swift songs...you get the idea. We laugh and our day is off to a great start.

Annie, I love you. You may not like to be called my baby, but for now and maybe for always you are my sweet, special baby!

Do as I say, not as I do

This last weekend we went to St. John's for part of October break. While there, we headed up to Greer to do our second annual walk along the creek with Jeremy's parents. It was a great time: beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, trees turning colors, chilly creek, great company... As any good mother would do, I warned my kids over and over again to stay dry and stay out of the creek. And wouldn't you know it, by the end of the hike we had 4 wet feet coming from 4 different kids. "Deal with it, I told you to stay out of the creek," I told them. I tend to not be very sympathetic sometimes, wondering why on earth it's so hard to stay dry. With only minimal whining we made it through the rest of the hike and then the kids were back in the van with their wet shoes off and bundled up under their blankets.

(The whole crew, minus Drew who was behind the camera - Annie, Karrie, Jake, Abby, Jeremy, Hannah, Cyndi)

(Jake)

(Annie)

(Hannah and Abby)

Fast forward a few days to yesterday at McCormick Train Park in Scottsdale. We spent a lovely morning with the Ricedorff's and Goodman's playing at the playground, riding the train, riding the carousel and then finally chowing down on yummy ice cream, when wouldn't you know it, I turn around and bam - step right in the only puddle at the whole park. Every eye was on me and Joe even said, "really, Karrie, you didn't see that puddle?" Obviously not.

(The Crew in the train at McCormick Train Park - they all squeezed into the only enclosed car)

Rewind to every single time I sweep the floor (about once a month - haha) and the kids, without fail, step in my dirt pile. "Really, I told you to watch out for the dirt." I'm usually a little annoyed by their absent mindedness.

Fast forward to today when I was sweeping up the floor after Hannah's parmesan cheese fiasco last night (only one day later). What do I do? I step right smack dab in the middle of my dirt pile.

Thank goodness only Alex was there to see me do it. Boy oh boy, if the kids had seen it, what little credibility and respect I still hang on to would be history!

The Desk

A few weeks ago, we listed an old desk, that was handed down to us from Jeremy's parents, on Craigslist. It was posted for about 2 hours and then it was sold, picked up, and gone. I commented to Jeremy that I was sad to see it go and he just looked at me like I was crazy.

We got it not long after we were married. It always housed our computer until we moved to New York. That was in 2003 when Jeremy started PA school. It soon became his studying desk. We lived in a 3 bedroom house on Long Island and at the end of the hall was the spare bedroom that doubled as his office. That was where Jeremy would spend countless hours studying. And I mean 3 binders of notes open at any given time, 10 textbooks piled on the corner with about 3 open as cross references, re-listening to lectures. It was the most dedicated I had ever seen him to that point.

A typical day would go like this: Get up, eat, family prayer, go to school all day for class, come home go to his room to study, come out and play with Jake and Abby for a while, go back and study some more, come out and eat dinner, go back and study again, come out to read to Jake and kiss the kids good-night, and then go back to study until usually at least 1:00am.

He never complained, he never gave up. He worked his tail off and showed his kids by his great example the importance of hard work, and he ALWAYS found time for his wife and kids. Sometimes the kids would beg to go see him and I'd make them wait at least an hour for his study break. Then they'd storm down the hall, burst in to his office and he'd wrestle Jake and hold Abby.

The wonderful traits that came out so strongly in PA school are still there, but even better. He still rarely complains. He still reads with Jake every night. He still studies and expands his already full brain. But he also teaches Hannah to ride her bike without training wheels, wraps Abby's "hurt knee" in a towel for her, treats family and neighbors' illnesses late at night, attends church meetings all the time, takes Jake home teaching, dresses the girls' dollies, builds a treehouse, jogs the dog, brushes Annie's teeth...and on and on.

I love Jeremy. I love him for making me want to be a better person, for his patience, for his kindness, his amazing work ethic, for the fantastic husband and father he is. I'm thankful for all the long hours of studying at the old desk and that he works so hard now to provide a living for our family.

Thanks for the great example you are to your wife and children, Jeremy.

Rim2Rim - minus the pictures

Yesterday was the big day.

The Rim to Rim hike.

North to South.

With only 6 weeks of working out.

The group was so fun - Dad, Matt, Luke, Kelli and Ryan Brown, Billy Rowley, Katie Vermillion, Chuck Melser and me. The ride up was filled with laughter and stories of past Grand Canyon hikes, including the fastest times -Luke at 6 hrs and 5 min and how he beat Willie by taking off when Willie went to the bathroom, our favorite hikers (Steve Patience), Billy Rowley who once brought a frame backpack for the day hike stocked with 5 lbs of M&M's, a few of the Rim to Rim to Rim hikes of the past... We laughed at who would get to sit where on the way back (not wanting to be the one who had to climb into the back of the van) and how sore we were going to be. It was a great, fast drive, great job on that Karolyn, and thanks a million for driving.

Saturday morning we headed out to start. After a few pics (which I didn't take because I brought my camera but left my SD card in the computer), we were off. The group quickly separated and my dad and I were left to bring up the rear, the cabooses.

Each time I do this hike, I start thinking of the book I'm going to someday write titled, Life Lessons Learned Going Rim to Rim. Lessons such as:

The rock that gets in your shoe that seems small, but can cause major discomfort just as a sin without repenting can.

The importance of steady perseverance even when the going seems too rough.

The difference a smile and a kind word can make. My dad has taught me that over and over again in my life. He said hello to just about every single person he passed. This forced them to look up and notice others and hopefully the beautiful sights they were missing out on.

The beauty of the creation.

You can make friends anywhere. We briefly made friends with a group of Iranians, the man from Iowa, the lady from Phoenix who was a rookie rim to rimmer and needed advil, the boy scout group from Tucson. These people become familiar faces as you leapfrog them as you take turns resting at the switchbacks and continually pass each other.

There are many more lessons I thought about during the long hours hiking, but the delirium that sets in going through the Devils Corkscrew made me forget them all.

However, the biggest lesson I learned came as we were less than a mile from the top. My dad looks up and heartily exclaims, "Bro. Larson". There standing ahead was his old temple co-worker, who he served with for a year. We were introduced and then my dad asked him how he was doing, asked about his wife and then his son who was in the Army. He then told us that he lost his boy. My dad asked if it was in combat, and he said no. Bro Larson told us his son had successfully completed a tour of duty in Iraq, even had a grenade land on his chest and bounce off him miraculously with not even a scratch. But after he was finished, he was back in the states at Fort Hood when he was killed by the gunman that so brutally took so many lives. He left behind a wife and I think two kids. As I was choking back the tears, I continued to listen to him testify of the plan of salvation. Bro Larson is happy for his son's service and the honor given to him by the Army. His son is with his Heavenly Father, he is in a peaceful place. His son's wife is excited for the day she can be reunited with him in the next life. And he did this all with no malice and with such a gentle heart. This taught me the best lesson of the day. I have so much to be grateful for. I have a Heavenly Father that loves me so much that he gave his Son to die and atone for my sins so that I can return to live with Him again. Families are forever. Heavenly Father is there for us and though I know Bro. Larson misses his son madly, he has been given peace. After that little conversation, my little aches, pains and annoyances didn't seem like that big of a deal. Thank you for the grand lesson.

It was truly a memorable hike and if I can get over the soreness, I just might consider doing it again next year!

Fashion 101 - by Hannah

You can imagine my excitement this morning when Hannah said, "Mommy, can you braid my hair?"

"Yes, of course. I'd love to!"

My kids never let me do their hair, so how am I supposed to get better at being a girl mom? I parted her hair and went to work french braiding her left side. It looked really good (for me). I went to the other side and she tells me she doesn't want it braided. She loved the one-side-braided look, even though the unbraided side kept flipping over to the braided side making it look so messy!

If that were the end of it, I'd be okay, but then she puts on these high heeled boots with her tights and then even worse, wraps the scrap of her new blanket around her like a scarf and has me tie it in the back kinda like a backpack.

And then we went out!

To stores.

Where there are people.

And then to pre-school.

I had to smile because she looked so incredible and was so proud of her look for the day.

You are cute, Hannah!

Anyway you say it, a girl is still a girl

I have four wonderful and unique children. They all have their own strengths they bring to our family, they all make me crazy at times, and the definitely all have made me laugh a lot over the years. I love them ALL so dearly.

I've been noticing how Annie has been saying the word "GIRL". All of my kids have had to learn it and they all say it well now (except Annie), but not always. For some reason, it has been a toughie for the Platt children to learn.

Jake used to call them grrr's - with no vowel and no 'l'. For that matter he called "squirrels", squr's - and this was the child that was so articulate so young, but he just couldn't get down those two words.

Abby had a terrible lisp and called them girlths. Everything ended with a 'th'.

Hannah also lisped, but added in some spit with it (still does) calling them 'girlths' spraying you each time.

Annie I think is my favorite girl sayer, she calls them "gores". I often ask her if she's talking about Al or Tipper.

It makes me sad when my kids innocent way of talking finally matures and they figure out the way they're supposed to speak. I find myself still talking in their old ways, while they look at me like I'm nuts.

Star Student

My beautiful peanut, Abby, got the honor of being the first star student in Mrs. Parra's class this year (only because that is the week I signed up for). She was so excited for me to come in and to be the center of attention. She was especially pumped up because she got to hold the teacher's special pointer stick, the only time all year she'd get that honor. So Annie, Hannah and I all got to visit her class last Friday and watch her use that pointer to show her classmates her poster and pictures. She may have been a teeny bit nervous though, because she looked straight at the poster on the wall, back completely to the kids, and talked about each and every item on her poster.

Abby really is a super star. She is a wonderful older sister and a great example to Hannah and Annie. She is kind, sweet, funny, smart and caring. I never thought I'd get through that first year of life with her, she was a permanent attachment on my hip. Only I could make her happy. But I look back and think how precious she really was and I wish I could go back and just scoop her up and cuddle her sometimes, but she's just too cool now and I'm getting to be too dorky for her (I've always been dorky, but I've had my kids fooled).

Abby I love you and as much as I wish you'd quit growing, I'm excited to see the wonderful young woman you are going to grow to become, because I'm seeing it already - just don't to it too fast.