To Vlog or Not to Vlog?????

Once upon a time, approximately 6.5 years ago, I started this blog. It's been such a blessing to us. I had never in my whole life been a consistent journal writer or scrapbooking person of any sort. I moved away from my huge immediate family and wanted a way to keep them posted on some of my day to day life since calling 10 siblings regularly can be impossible at times. This blog has filled all those needs. But lately I find myself lacking time or energy (thinking out what and how to write really zaps my energy) to keep really on top of it. I feel like all I'm able to do, especially for the past several months, is post pictures of events with captions here and there. Sometimes this happens months after the event happened so I've forgotten all of the little memories I wanted to write down that weren't photographed. I also have been feeling more and more like I want to capture more of my growing kids' personalities and funny quips and the emotions of our day to day things - the parts you don't get from a picture. I felt the answer to this was to get in the habit of taking more videos, but I feel like the only reason I've been somewhat successful at being consistent with this blog is that knowing others had access to read it kept me accountable to it. How could I get that same accountability with videos??

ENTER VLOGGING

The first real exposure I got to the vlogging community was when Robert's cousin started a daily vlog  on YouTube with his family (check out J House Vlogs) last September. The thought intrigued me right away, but I had a lot of reservations about doing it. Mainly insecurities (do I really want people to see how I'm wearing no make up and a pony tail a lot of the time? And hear my manly voice???), fear of blogging in public places (I don't like drawing strangers' attention), and of course privacy concerns. So I've been researching more and more over the past several months, following several more family vlogs (shout out to Matt and Em and Sam and Nia), getting a ton of tips on everything, and we've (Robert and myself - Robert's been in on the entire debate) decided it's time to test the waters.

So without further ado, our newly launched vlogging channel is Find Joy With Us. And our first video is here, also below:



I think we're in "beta mode" of this new endeavor right now. We're still figuring out what exactly we want the videos to be, how we want to structure and present them, how often we want to post, or if we are really up for consistently doing this at all. So we're testing it out and learning as we go. We'd love any feedback you have to share!!!

P.S. One privacy or identity protection suggestion we're trying to follow is to do our best to not include our last name. If we continue with the vlog past "beta mode," I will probably stop this blog and start another that follows that and other identity/privacy rules. We'll see where it goes from here! :)

March So Far

Articles of Faith

We've been making a little extra effort to work on the Articles of Faith with the girls. They almost have the first 5 memorized. Here's Mary reciting the 4th :)

Running West Cliff
I'm trying once again to recommit to my running goals (though I've somewhat slacked this past week). I go with James while the girls are at preschool. Running with a stroller is not my favorite, but James' cuteness and the view make up for it.

National Pancake Day
We love when restaurants give free food for random holidays!

Lydia's New Swing Tricks
Lydia can now pump herself on the swing, making trips to the park that much more enjoyable for Mommy :) She also knows how to jump off the swing which I was completely surprised with at the end of this video.



Family Sunday Stroll
We're trying to really take advantage of the area we live in with the time we have left. This is the meadow right next to our apartment. On 4/20 it gets packed with 20,000 people smoking pot, but every other day of the year it's a beautiful place :)

Do you see the deer she's looking at?

Pi Day of the CENTURY!!
We like Pi Day! We usually eat some yummy pies to celebrate. This year being 3.14.15 made it extra special. I couldn't resist impulse buying these way overpriced shirts off of an ad I saw on facebook.

We wore them on a Pi Day Eve date night where we counted all of the circles we saw and ate pizza pie and donuts :)

Then the day of Pi Day we ran in circles at 9:26am (3.1415926) and we bought my favorite Pi Day treat.

The full truth is that my favorite is a homemade recipe I make of these, but they are not easy to do in a kitchen as small as ours, so we've settled with store bought ones while we've lived here. Not complaining though because I also love the store bought ones :)

James' Laugh
I may be biased, but I think that James has the best laugh ever.



St. Patrick's Day
I have mixed feelings about this day. I love having an excuse to wear green, and I don't mind squirting a few drops of green food coloring in whatever foods we're making and having a bit of fun with that, but I have no desire to do any of the leprechaun tricks or whatever I've seen others do. Sometimes I feel like it's only gotten as big a creative deal as it is because of Pinterest. I want to make it clear too that I have nothing against moms who go all out. In fact I'm always super impressed at all the things I see, but I don't think that will ever be me. I guess I just would rather invest my energy in some of the surrounding holidays like Pi Day, Easter, etc.  So this year all our festivities included were green clothes, green pancakes, and green milk, and the kids thought that was just great :)

Instagram Revisited - February

2/2/2015 - 5 seasons of MASH on Netflix. My life just got a little sweeter. #myfavoriteshow

2/4/2015 - Face still super numb, but 4 visits and 7 fillings later my mouth is finally cavity free again! Hip hip hooray! #untilnextcleaning

2/15/2015 - I was totally his favorite 2nd cousin once removed for 5 minutes. #coveychristopher #bestsurpriseever @kellkaelyman

2/15/2015 - I feel like as the years go on each reunion gets more chaotic and exhausting which in a weird way makes it even more wonderfully worthwhile. #wilckenreunion2015 #familiesareforever

Anniversary Fun

This year our anniversary was on a Saturday. I've decided that I LOVE when holidays/birthdays/anniversaries are on Saturdays! I think that's a sign that I'm maturing because when I was little I HATED it because it meant that I didn't get to see as many people at school or whatever to celebrate with me. I think that attitude just stayed with me all these years. But now I'm older and wiser and appreciate how if it's on Saturday we have more freedom to choose what we want to do the whole day, or even choose to celebrate it the whole weekend if you want!

So Friday night we went as a family to Pizza My Heart to celebrate our "family's birthday" ;)

So for our anniversary this year in the morning we had thought we'd go kayaking in the bay, but we decided since we only had 3ish hours in the morning we wanted to save that for a time that we had almost a whole day so last minute we decided instead we would record a music video!! We finally did a "Breaking Free" music video. We had the idea to do it 3 years ago. We even filmed a little footage for it once but then never did anything with it. We decided THE TIME HAD COME. To see the video, go to my Facebook page. :)

After finishing the video we came back home for a lazy few hours then dropped the kids at a babysitter's and went to a Children's Youth Theater production of "Beauty and the Beast." It was the most masterfully done youth theater production I've ever seen! The orchestra, the acting/singing, costumes, set, EVERYTHING was great!

After the show we went out to Chili's. Say what you want about it! It's one of our faves!

So all in all, it was a pretty low key anniversary but we had a blast! It's been forever since we were able to spend almost a whole day with just the 2 of us, and it was awesome.

We're BFFs :)

Love Week Facebook Posts

So this year in honor of Love Week I decided to post something each day on Facebook about me and Robert. When I first had the idea to do this I was thinking I'd post a random story each day, but it quickly turned into a full synopsis of our love story which worked too :) So here are the posts in all their glory.

Love Week Day 1 - Robert moved into our junior high school boundaries in the middle of our 8th grade year. My first memory of him would be that 8th grade year when I beat him in the school spelling bee. I got 1st and he got 3rd. We were in the same choir in 9th grade. We knew of each other and have a lot of memories of each other in that time, we were even friends with a lot of the same people, but neither of us remember actually having a conversation with each other that whole year.

Love Week Day 2 - Halfway through our sophomore year of high school we both tried out for the school musical. We were paired as partners in several scenes and instantly became close friends and developed crushes on each other. However, we were both shy about matters of the heart. Especially Robert as I was his first crush EVER. We never told each other we liked each other, never officially became "boyfriend/girlfriend," never held hands or anything of that sort, but EVERYONE knew we liked each other. This lasted for a little more than a year. During that time we were in 2 musicals together and went to Homecoming (our first date) and Sadies together. Alas, before the end of Junior year due mainly to our complete lack of communication of our feelings, high school rumors and drama made our relationship fall apart. This fallout left Robert somewhat bitter. In fact, there's an entry in his journal that states "The last time I wrote, I was in pure infatuation with one Heidi Wilcken... Heidi was a fluke. I think I only liked her because she was the first girl to like me." So we didn't talk to each other for almost 4 and a half years, and by our senior year, we were both "officially" couples with other people. We have termed this high school time in our relationship "Round One" :)

Love Week Day 3 - This is somewhat of a continuation from yesterday as it's a memory from our "Round One" days. The second high school musical we did together was Music Man our junior year. Robert was cast as Marcellus Washburn and I was Ethel Toffelmier, Marcellus's girl. My heart may or may not have skipped a beat every time we did this dance and Robert kissed me on the cheek. 3 days before the first performance Robert got a bad case of appendicitis and had to have his appendix removed. I was CRUSHED! No more kisses on the cheek for me from him :'( But 2 days later in comes Robert to our last dress rehearsal, staples in his side and all. Ignoring doctor's orders, he was ready and willing to still perform in his role for the rehearsal and all 3 performances. I still can picture vividly where I was standing when he opened the door and walked in. I immediately burst into happy tears.

 Here's a video of the whole song and a blast from the past to those in it. Mine and Robert’s 30-second dance starts at about 2:17 :)

Love Week Day 4 - (Picture from the night Robert got home from his mission) Four and a half years pass. At the beginning of that time I was Robert’s younger sister’s youth camp leader at our church girls’ camp and remained close with her. Robert was coming home from his mission and there was going to be an open house at his home to welcome him back. A few days before the open house, his sister I had been a camp leader for called me. Since she and I had stayed in touch she knew I was still friends with a lot of Robert’s friends and asked me to get the word out about the open house and also invited me. So ironically, after having not talked to Robert for 4 and a half years, I not only found myself getting people to go to his house, but I was going there myself and very nervous to do so, and I couldn't understand why. I waited outside in my car for a half hour until some friends got there that I knew and I could walk in with them. When I walked in everyone told me later that as soon as Robert saw me he basically froze and got really awkward. The next day at work at Vitality Med Spa, which my brother-in-law owns and I worked at as the office manager, our computers crashed and we lost all of our client information. (Robert and I term this the "Divine Computer Crash) So my bro-in-law asked me if I had any friends that would want a job for just a couple of weeks re-inputting all of our client information from the paper files. I said that I had a friend that had just gotten back from his mission the night before that would be heading up to BYU in a few weeks that might be interested. Lo and behold, Robert worked for me for 2 weeks, in which we talked A LOT and basically got reacquainted. I went to his homecoming talk that Sunday. He gave an awesome talk and then for the closing hymn we sang “Abide With Me” and I watched him as tears just streamed down his face through the whole hymn. I thought to myself “Why in the world did I give up on and ruin my chances with him?!?” Then as he continued to work for me I started realizing more and more that I liked him again, and we started spending more and more time with each other.

Love Week Day 5 – 3 weeks after he had returned home (and seeing each other almost every day of those 3 weeks) we were finally going on our first official date. The night before the date, Robert had told me he wanted to talk to me so after hanging out with friends that night he drove me home. He was SOOOOOOO nervous! He drove around, literally in circles, for 45 minutes hemming and hawing before finally saying, “The night I got home I was having a blast. I was relaxed, seeing and talking to a bunch of friends and family that I hadn't seen in 2 years. Then, I heard a knock at the door, and I heard you come in and start talking and laughing with my dad. I realized right then that I still had feelings for you. Then you came around the corner and I saw you and you were a hundred times more beautiful than I remembered. Then over the next two weeks I realized more and more how absolutely wonderful you are. And it’s been a while now that my main priority every day is making sure that you are happy and that you are safe. So basically, (and he started tearing up at this point) I think that I am starting to fall in love with you.” Then, he just waited for me to respond. But honestly, what do you say to something that sweet??? So I did what I felt like doing and reached over and held his hand. After a few seconds he just said, “Wow, I am actually holding Heidi Wilcken’s hand!” At dinner on our date the following night I asked, “So what are we now?” and he said cheesily, “You mean if you were to introduce me to someone and say ‘This is Robert. He is my _____,’ what would you say there?” I said that that is what I meant, and then he got very serious and said, “Heidi, I would love to be the guy that is lucky enough to have the privilege of calling Heidi Wilcken my girlfriend.” I said that I would be okay with that. After dinner we went to our stake center to use the piano in the Relief Society room to play and sing songs together. We sang all sorts of stuff, mainly jazz, Billy Joel, and songs from musicals. And for about another week and a half we went on a date every night until he went up to BYU. Long distance dating wasn't easy, but we made it work. We averaged 4 hours of phone call time a night, we traveled back and forth a couple times each, and Robert did what he called “weekly projects.” These were one thing a week to make me feel special. My top 4 favorites:
1 – I got envelopes in the mail filled with 100s of straw wrappers tied in knots, taped, and cut so that every single one of them was sure to not have a knot when I pulled them with a note saying “Just in case you’re ever wondering if I’m thinking about you.”
2 – His dad, uncles, and grandpa came to my work decked out in their barbershop clothes and sang a song while holding cutout faces of Robert in front of their faces.
3 – A CD Robert recorded of himself playing and singing cheesy love songs for me.
4 – His mom delivered a huge bouquet of balloons to me at work.
So many sweet memories from around this time!

Love Week Day 6 – We knew pretty quickly that we were in this relationship to stay. Within a couple of months I was expecting a proposal at any time, but Robert’s one goal was to catch me by surprise. This isn't easy to do because I am a total snoop. Robert came down to visit the weekend of Halloween, which happened to be the same weekend as our stake conference. People kept asking if I thought Robert would propose that weekend and I said that I didn't because I knew for a fact that he hadn't talked to my dad yet. The plan was for me to pick him up from the airport at 7:00 Friday night. It turns out that Robert had sneakily flown in at about 2:00 and talked to my dad and my mom and then his mom took him back to the airport in time for me to pick him up that night. That Saturday, November 1st, we went out to lunch with all of my married siblings and then we went and saw “High School Musical 3.” We are both High School Musical fans, and proud of it! One of the final scenes of the movie Troy announces that he has chosen to go to a college that is close to his girlfriend because, “Most of all I choose the person who inspires my heart which is why I picked a school that’s 32.7 miles from you, Miss Gabriella Montez.” I had my head on Robert’s shoulder and while this scene was happening my head started to feel all wet. I turned and saw that Robert had tears streaming down his face! He told me later (after he had proposed) that he was worried that getting so emotional during that scene was going to give away that he was about to propose, but (although he will deny it) getting emotional during cheesy movie moments has never been out of character for Robert, so I didn't suspect a thing.
On our way home from the movie, Robert said “Hey, do you want to go an hour or so early to the stake center for the adult session of stake conference tonight and just play on the piano again like we did on our first date?” I said it sounded like fun. So we went, and since it was just before the adult session, we thought it would be more appropriate to just sing and play Primary songs. The last song that we played was “I Love to See the Temple” which is my favorite Primary song. After we finished that song Robert said, “Well, we should probably head in soon but first I have to give you something.” Then he pulled the ring box out of HIS SOCK (didn't want to run the chance of me seeing or feeling the bulge in his pocket) and got down on one knee and said, “and I want to give this to you because I love you and want to be with you for forever.” And he asked me to marry him. He caught me COMPLETELY off guard, but I said yes anyway.

Love Week Day 7 – And at long last, 6 years ago today Robert and I entered the Mesa Arizona temple surrounded by family and dear friends to be sealed for time and all eternity. Together we've had many ups and downs. We've brought 3 beautiful children into the world. We've endured the year of trial that the pain and suffering before, during, and after my surgery brought us. We've spent the entirety of our marriage as a student/grad student family and endured the financial stress that has brought many times, and look forward to the next step that is just months away when Robert will graduate and we’ll actually have to be grownups with a grownup job. We've had our absolutely wonderful times, and our downright awful ones, but I can without a doubt say that there could not be a more perfect match for me than Robert. He’s my everything and inspires me to be the best me I can be. I love him. 6 years is nothing but a drop in the bucket when you compare it to eternity. But if the past 6 years are any indicator of how eternity will be for us, I’m looking forward to an AMAZING journey!

And one more time... I LOVE ROBERT!!!!

Wilcken Reunion 2015

We were able to go to Arizona for the Wilcken reunion this year! We hold this reunion every 2 years and we missed it 2 years ago because I wasn't cleared to travel yet after my surgery, so it had seemed like AGES since I had seen some of these people. Far too long!! The Willis clan was in charge this time around and it was AWESOME!

I'm glad to have these pictures because I didn't take a single picture all weekend. Shame on me! I constantly went from one person to the next visiting and catching up and didn't get even close to talking to everybody. At least there's Facebook and the next reunion! :) I'm so glad that all the branches of my family put such a high priority on reunions making it possible for me to remain close to such a HUGE amazing family.

Instagram Revisited - January

1/1/2015 - That moment when you're shopping and you feel like someone's watching you, so you slowly turn around, see this, and scream a little bit. #awkward

1/4/2015 - Guess who's a Sunbeam??? #ilovemykids

1/13/2015 - Had my first "run the forgotten lunch to school" moment today for one of my own kids. I feel like I've achieved a new level of motherhood. #ihavearrived

1/24/2015 - I've started a preliminary declutter, surveying what will need to be done before the major clean out when we move. It began with the kids' clothes. A LOT of sentimental tears were shed as I put all the clothes that didn't make the cut into these 2 bags. Filling the huge black bags to bursting. But it felt so great dropping them off at the donation center. Like a breath of fresh air. #declutteringourlife #moveprep

1/26/2015 - Out with the old, in with the new! Upside to Christmas presents from grandparents being backordered is that it's like Christmas again a month later #merrychristmastous

1/26/2015 - My random after kids' bedtime mini project this week = Trying to beat Super Mario World in less than 15 minutes. Tonight's time was 21 minutes. I think it's a worthwhile goal ;)

1/27/2015 - They've been like this, chatting away for an hour. Sometimes they're best friends, and it makes my heart cry happy tears! #ilovemykids #sisters

1/30/2015 - So close and yet so far. #questforunder15 #onedayleft

Just Exploring

These are just from a walk around the area by our home and the college.

  

The girls call this their secret spot :)

We sure have a beautiful home :)

Beach Mallow Roasting with the Fam

As I said, we're trying to get in a lot more beach. Our favorite thing to do is roast little smokies and mallows on the beach while watching the sunset. It was the PERFECT family date night.

Only had my phone so the pics are a bit blurry, but still fun :)

  

Robert even treated us to a performance of Little Bunny Froo Froo - The Adult Version. The girls loved it :)

You can always tell how fun of a time a baby had at the beach by how much sand ends up on their face. ;)

A fun trip indeed!