The Musings of a Mother

I can't believe it. Richard turns 30 today! He was born about 8:00 pm on a Wednesday night. I had toxemia for the second time and wasn't dilating even with the PIT going. (Oh that is wicked stuff!) His heart rate started going down and my kidneys had quit functioning (I could tell because they insert a catheter to monitor my urine after administering the magnesium sulfate which they gave to prevent seizures.) My B/P was also going up higher. So they decided to take him C-Section. Since I had had toxemia with Kim eight years before, the doctor explained that I would probably have it with the next one too and that we needed to think about a tubal ligation to prevent anymore pregnancies. I had had a stroke when Kim was almost three weeks old secondary to the toxemia that I had had while carrying him. Hence the eight years between Kim and Richard. My sweetheart had told me that he'd rather have me to help raise the four we had than to have five to raise alone. But I had always felt that our family wasn't complete. I remember Kim saying he felt the same way and he remembered setting the table for seven instead of six and we weren't expecting company. As soon as I held Richard in my arms I felt that our family was complete. I would be very surprised when I get on the other side if I found out that I was to have had more. I just know that I had agreed to have these five children. My first three were so close (Bryan lacked seven weeks of being three, Michael was only 20 months old when Karen was born [he would have been 21 months in three days].) Then Kim came along 2 1/2 years later. So Bryan was 13, Michael 12, Karen 10 and Kim 8 when Richard was born. We all enjoyed him so much. Bryan and Richard were very close until Bryan left on his mission. He went to BYU for nine months before then too. It was neat to watch Bryan and his little brother and how they interacted. I remember Michael saying to me before Richard was born, "I suppose we are going to have to change his diapers too." I explained that it was entirely up to him whether or not he changed the baby's diapers but he must remember that that was when one played with the baby and got to know him and he know you was when you changed him. I don't remember Michael ever changing Richard when he was little. But I do remember Bryan doing it often. Thus they were very close. Michael and Richard didn't get close until Richard graduated from high school. They are still very close. However, with Richard living in Phoenix it is hard for him to be close to any of his siblings at this time. =) The year Richard was born Bryan was on split sessions because of the building of the new Bonneville high school. RS was on Wednesday morning then. I would leave Richard home with Bryan and be home by 11:30 so Bryan could catch the bus at noon for school. This one day, it was spring and fairly warm so Richard would have been five months old or so, I had gone to RS and came back and the back door was open but no Bryan. Richard was in his crib lying there cooing and perfectly happy. I went down stairs and still no Bryan. I was really puzzled. Then the phone rang. It was Bryan. He said that Richard had been asleep so he was outside on the driveway shooting baskets and his math teacher drove up and wanted to know if he wanted to go early to practice for the upcoming math meet that was on Friday. He said, "I didn't even think about Richard. I just tossed the basketball down stairs and left." He apologized. I could tell he felt really bad. I told him that Richard was okay and I determined that it had been only about ten minutes or so until I had arrived home since he had left. It was an adjustment for all of us to get used to a little baby again. But he brought so much joy into our lives that it wasn't hard to adjust. By the time he was in fourth grade he was the only child at home. So I got to know him a little better in some ways. I had a special relationship with each of my children but I had more time with just Richard. I didn't have much one on one time with each of the others (which I wish I had realized how important it was to make that one on one time with each one of them.) I was so close to Richard while he was the only one home that when he was a sopohmore in high school I would think about his only having two years left at home and then it would just be my sweetheart and me there. It actually frightened me as well as saddened me. But with his being active in debate and going on over night trips to debate tournaments etc. his junior and senior year he weaned himself away gradually and I was okay once he graduated. After Karl became a custodian and was gone every Friday afternoon, during his sophomore year those Fridays were our special time together. We would order in Pizza or go to Wendy's to eat supper and watch something special on TV or play games. I really enjoyed those times with him. During his last two years I was just home alone on Friday nights. But that did help me to get used to not having him around (when he moved out to live with Michael & Tanya for a while) after he graduated from high school. Some people have asked if Richard were an "after thought" since there were so many years between him and Kim. I'd say, "No, the first one and last one were planned." I remember making him a t-shirt with "My Friend" stamped on it advertizing The Children's Friend. I think that was when it went from The Children's Friend to just The Friend. I remember someone asking him who his friend was and he replied, "My mom". That made me feel so good. I enjoyed making many shirts for him. I remember feeling like we were on the same "wave lenght" often. One Christmas, I think his junior year, after opening our gifts and Karl going back to rest (he had doubled back the afternoon before after getting off work about 7:30 am he had to be back by 4:00 pm). Richard and I were playing the game Mastermind. He had just put his colors in his slots and and the phone rang. He went to answer it. It was one of his friends (Chad I think) and while he talked I tried to guess which colors he had put in. When he came back he accused me of peeking. I hadn't but it was the first time on those colors and I had them all right and in the right order! I later found out that I couldn't be a successful Mr. X when he was playing because I couldn't "hide" from him. He knew how I tho't! Needless to say I am very thankful that he was born and is a member of our forever family. I love him very much as well as his wife and children. My life wouldn't be as rich as it is without them in it. (Needless to say that I feel the same way about all of my children and their sweethearts and their children.)

This is another cute family picture of the Richard W. Robinson family. Emma, 5, Téa, Elena,4, Richard, Ephraim, 15 months, Duncan, 9 and Cheanna, 7.

Everyone but me at the Mesa Temple Grounds with decorated trees in the background. Karl, Téa, Richard, Elena, Emma, Duncan, Cheanna & Ephraim

Some or the decorations at Mesa Temple Grounds

Decorating Christmas Cookies
Cheanna, Richard, Emma, GrandmaR, Duncan, Ephraim, Elena

The Rest of our Trip

Now to finish telling about our trip to Phoenix and our visit with Richard, Téa and children. On Saturday I played Mouse Trap with the children. Since there were only four game pieces to move, Duncan used one of his little Star Wars characters. When Cheanna saw that she, had to use one too, so we actually had one left over. It is like shoots and ladders in that there are some squares that can make you start over and start over and start over. They both can last forever! We all played shoots and ladders the day before. In the Mouse Trap game you build a mouse trap as you move along the board. It is an ingenious game. The “funnest” part was building the trap. It has stop signs, a rubber band, a bath tub, a diver, two steel balls and a chrank…. It would be really neat if it worked after it was assembled. As you move around the board you eventually get to the cheese wheel. There you have to keep going around and around until you are caught. The last one caught wins the game. In this cheese wheel there is a square that says, “turn the crank”. That is the only time that the crank can be turned. Emma was really upset when she had to move to a “safe” spot. It took me a little bit to realize that she wanted to be the first one caught. We finally all got under the trap and turned the wheel (like I said, it could go on forever and lunch was ready) and turned the crank. It didn’t work. The shoe couldn’t kick hard enough to do what it was supposed to do and the ramps weren’t lined up right so we helped it along. It was fun while it lasted. I enjoyed playing the games with the children. Duncan at first didn’t want to play Friday with the shoots and ladders game but I’d like to think that he wanted to play because I was playing. If it were just his sisters, I don’t think he would have succumbed. It was really more fun when all of us were playing. That night Richard and Téa took us to an ice cream parlor where every day they make all of their ice cream (31 flavors, I think,…many of them anyway) and treated us to a dish ice cream of our choice. I had the mint (green mint) with a Heath bar chopped up in it. I only had a child’s portion and it was plenty for me. Karl also had the child’s portion of Pecan Praline. Each of us had a different one. Then we left to go see the temple lights in Mesa. As I said before, we had to use two vans. It’s a good thing Richard and Téa had their cell phones. As we were merrily traveling along, Richard called and said that Ephraim was really upset and he couldn’t get him to stop crying. He’d drunk his milk in his sippy cup and would pull over and see if he could get him settled down. So we pulled off the freeway and started circling down town waiting for the verdict. Richard called back after about five minutes or so and said that Ephraim just wouldn’t settle down. So we bagged our trip and headed home. We were glad we hadn’t gotten any further than we did. They gave Ephraim some children’s Tylenol and some symethicone drops in case he has gas bothering him. His cry was like he was in pain. He soon went to sleep beside Richard on the couch. Shortly after we arrived home, their friends the Roberts called and said they had found some Christmas lights that Téa wanted to get for the outside trees. They had been at Sears and they were on special, buy one get one free so they got some for them. They said to come on over. So we visited with them for and hour and a half or two. They are Kurt, Adriene, David who is 9, Samantha, who is 6 and Alison who is 4. They and Richard and Téa’s children are best friends. After they left, Richard and Téa got their Christmas stuff out and started to set it up. Many of their lights didn’t work and after messing around with them for quite a while Richard just left and went to Wal-Mart to get some more lights. The tree remained bare all thro’ Sunday. But that’s OK. Sunday was plenty busy as it was. Their meetings don’t start until 1:30 which is even later than ours! I had time to get my shower and get all ready and curl my hair and Cheanna’s hair, and Emma’s hair and Elena’s hair. They all looked so pretty with their hair all curled. They seemed to feel pretty too. Cheanna especially seemed to feel beautiful. She acted like she felt beautiful. We enjoyed church with them. Sacrament meeting was a couple who apparently hasn’t lived in the ward that long spoke to us. Sunday School and Relief Society were also interesting. I didn’t realize that Daniel was the only book in the Old Testament that wasn’t written in Hebrew until Brother Stucki told us. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had relatives up here. Stucki is a very local name. The sister who gave the lesson in RS was also very good. She had been on a mission and had such a sweet spirit about her. We went home had delicious leftovers from Thanksgiving for dinner. Then we went to Mesa to see the Christmas lights. Ephraim was OK that night. The Temple grounds were just beautiful all lit up with many different colored lights. Even lights in the palm trees. They had the Nativity scene and the scene with the shepherds and the sheep a quarter of a block away or so. In another part of the grounds they had Isaiah, the prophet and had a recording telling of his prophecies of the Saviors birth. A little ways further they had a figure of Mary on a donkey and Joseph leading her as they traveled to Bethlehem. Almost all of the trees were lit with lights, the trunks as well as the branches. I hadn’t seen trees decorated that way before. We also visited the Visitors Center and went thro’ the room that had Nativity scenes from all over the world. There was some very beautiful ones. We went to the presentation where two sister missionaries spoke of our Savior, Jesus Christ and His mission on earth and His love for each of us. One sister, Sister Millburn, said she was from Centerville, UT. I wondered if she knew Sharon & Ralph Cutler, my cousin and her husband, and their children. When I asked her she got so excited. “They’re in my ward!” she said. She told us that she knew all of them. The other sister, Sister Hayes was from Kuna, ID over by Boise. It was neat speaking with each of them afterwards. We then went to a film of the Savior’s birth. The people in the film were speaking Hebrew. As we went in a sister sitting on the same row as Cheanna, Ephraim and I were asked what part of Idaho we were from. When I told her, she said her parents lived in Rigby. These are indications that it really is a small world after all. I’m so thankful that Richard and Téa took us there. It was a wonderful experience.

On Monday we knew that Roberts were coming over that night for supper and to play games. So we pitched in and helped clean up. Richard and Karl worked outside and cleaned up the patio and cleaned out the black widow spiders so Ephraim could play out there again. I helped by helping to pick up the family room and washing the French door windows and putting the sticky plastic of the Nativity scene on it. Cheanna helped me too. It was fun working together. I had to admire Téa the way she has her children organized in helping her clean. It was her job to supervise and advise as Cheanna, Emma and Elena did the vacuuming. And supervising Duncan in cleaning up his bedroom. It was a full time job just doing the supervison. She has one upright vacuum and two small canister vacuums. Cheanna used the upright and Emma and Elena used the two small ones to go around the edges, the walls and couches etc. It was very effective that way. Téa worked on the living room while Cheanna and I did the French door and Nativity scene there. Earlier in the day Téa helped the children put together a cardboard version of the Nativity scene while Richard put their large Nativity set on top of the piano. It is a perfect place for it and looks perfect there. They even have a star for it. I told them they’d have to move the piano bench somewhere else so Ephraim wasn’t tempted to climb up on the piano. I think he would attempt to climb anything anywhere. And he’s fearless. Then we got the food ready. That took a while too. The Roberts got there between 7:00 and 7:30 PM. We ate then played The Great Dalmuti (the six adults) while the children had fun playing together. It was a lot of fun. We all enjoyed it. It was 11:00 by the time the Roberts left. After which I pulled out the Reader’s Digest Christmas Book that Richard requested that we bring. We spent about 30 minutes or so singing songs from there. Duncan, Cheanna, Karl and Richard sang while I played. I was able to sit there that long. The longest yet for many years. We all enjoyed it. We found Bonatali that Richard remembered from his childhood. We did it two or three times. It was a song that we had on a tape by Nat King Cole. After we were thro’ there Richard said that if we weren’t too tired that he wanted to show us their Karioke game that Téa’s mother had given them when they updated theirs. We enjoyed listening to each of the children sing and Richard sang a couple of songs too. He really does have a very nice voice. I think each of the children will be singers too. It was after 1:00 before we headed for bed that last night. I woke up at 5:10 the next morning and lay in until 7:00 or so When I got up and got my shower and we finished packing. I had time to fix my protein drink and drink it before we left. The Super shuttle was to pick us up at 10:25. He was right on time. We were able to tell Richard good bye before he left for work. Téa was also up and Duncan and Ephraim. Elena woke up shortly before we left. Duncan said, “I want to spend time with you and do something with you before you leave but I don’t know what to do.” I told him I didn’t either. So I asked him about his Cub Scouts. He told me about the boat regalia that they had. I found it very interesting. My boys didn’t do that particular thing. It was fun talking to him. He is working on his Bear now and seems to be doing quite well in Cub Scouts. He said he had just received his Wolf with the arrow points and beads last month. It sounded like he had quite a few arrow points. We had told Emma and Cheanna goodbye before we went to bed the night before. It took only 30 minutes to get to the airport that day. We checked our luggage at the curb which went very smoothly. Our plane was to be 15 minutes late. It actually was closer to 1:00 when we finally took off. We still got to SLC about 2:10. We were supposed to land at 2:04 so we still had plenty of time to catch our 3:00 Salt Lake Express Shuttle to IF. While we were waiting for our plane, we had overheard a woman from Pocatello talking on her cell phone and learned that Pockey had gotten 4” of snow the night before. I didn’t look forward to the cold. While waiting for the shuttle, I met a young woman who had been on the same plane and was riding the shuttle to Rexburg. I visited with quite a few young people both going and coming who went to BYU-Idaho. I enjoyed visiting with them. We arrived in IF at 7:00. I had called Michele and told her that we were late getting in as we were leaving Pocatello because I didn’t want Brian to have to sit there and wait. (A young woman across the isle from me graciously let me use her cell phone. It turned out she was also on the same plane and going up to BYU-I.) He was there by 7:15. I waited inside the Fairfield Inn…the wind was sooo cold. I just had my blue jacket which is good for 40 degrees but with the wind chill I’m sure it was in the teens. It has been hard this past week to even go outside but I’ve put on my cuddleduds (long underwear) and my winter coat and have gone. It was good to be home.

I’m thankful to Richard and Téa for putting us up (and putting up with us) for a week and for the good time they showed us. I so enjoyed being with them and the children. I’m thankful that my health is so improved that I can and could do the things that I did. nd going up to BYU-I.) He was there by 7:15. I waited inside the Fairfield Inn…the wind was sooo cold. I just had my blue jacket which is good for 40 degrees but with the wind chill I’m sure it was in the teens. It has been hard this past week to even go outside but I’ve put on my cudleduds (long underwear) and my winter coat and have gone. It was good to be home.

Our Phoenix Trip

We left home November 21 by 8:00 AM; our neighbor, Brian Hatch took us and our luggage over to Fairfield Inn to meet the Salt Lake Express Shuttle to ride to the SLC Airport. We were there by 12:30. We waited about an hour for the plane after getting thro' security and checking our luggage and everything. We used the kiosk this time and just typed in our ticket numbers and it printed our boarding passes and it took no time at all. It was great! My sweetheart had to go back and check my "carryon" bag because it had my shampoo, toothpaste (he put his tooth past in mine too.) and hair spray in it. Those things can no longer be in the carry on luggage. It was actually much easier for me to get around the airport and on board that way. I'll have to think about that for next time. The advantage of having the carry on luggage is you have what you need with you. Otherwise it might get sidetracked or lost as it did when we flew down to Santa Maria, CA when Chris was baptized. The plane took off on time, at around 2:50 PM. We arrived in Phoenix on time at around 4:30 PM. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the Super Shuttle to take us to Richard & Téa's. Our driver, Al was very helpful to everyone. It took us about an hour to leave the airport because he had to stop at all the other terminals and helped two different batches of people to find out where they were going. At first I resented all the time he was taking but then I decided, I'd rather have a nice, helpful guy driving me (which he really was) rather than someone who didn't care about anyone but himself. We got to Richard's and Téa's at around 6:30 PM. It was very dark by the time we got there. Richard was even home from Flagstaff (had been for about 40 minutes or so.) by the time we got there. It took almost an hour from the time we left the airport to get there because the traffic was so bad. (On the contrary it took 30 minutes to get back to the airport the next Tuesday morning.) It was so good to see everyone. We got a warm welcome and hugs from everyone. Ephraim was asleep tho' so we didn't get to greet him until later. He didn't take to me as readily as he did last April but he did to Karl. That was OK. After a couple of days he came to me tho' and let me play my games with him. He liked "mousey, mousey" better than "This little piggy...." this time. It was the other way around in April. I got him to laugh a few times and of course I enjoyed that. On Wednesday afternoon they took us to the Science Center Museum that Téa has featured on her blog a few times. It really is very interesting even for adults (they can learn things too) but especially for the children. We stayed there from 1:30 or so until it closed at 5:00 PM. I'm glad I got to see the things in person. It really was interesting. Téa made pies and I made the cranberry apple salad and Richard was doing something for the dinner the next day too, but I can't remember what. We then watched Peter Pan, the one with the people, not animated. The children really enjoyed it. Richard fell asleep after about 20 minutes. He said he enjoyed what he saw. He must have needed the rest tho'. Because we weren't quiet nor the show quiet while we were watching it. I helped Richard fix the Creme Burlée French toast for the next morning before going to bed. They are night owls around there....children and all. Most of the nights Karl and I were the first to go to bed. And it was late for us. They read to their children before they go to bed...They have different books for Duncan, and Cheanna and Emma and Elena. Karl and I read to them quite a bit too. They love books and I enjoyed reading to them. Richard handed me a book by Suzanne Collins called Gregor the Overlander that he had read to Duncan. I was able to finish it while we were there. I also read Christmas Jars by Jason Wright. They were both good. I think Nathaniel and Collin both would enjoy the Gregor books. She has three or four others about Gregor out now too but I got to only read the one. Richard was home all of the days we were there. It was really fun and enjoyable doing things with him and his family. Richard and Duncan taught Karl and me to play Magic that first night.

Téa wasn’t feeling too well Thanksgiving Day morning so took it easy. I’m thankful that I felt well enough to help Richard fix dinner. I actually stayed standing longer than I have done for a long time. With some walking around some too. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy (Cheanna, Emma and I peeled them), sweet potatoes, (Karl peeled them and cut them up), cranberry, apple and marshmallow salad, dressing, butternut squash, and a veggie plate. It was all delicious. We had pie later on that evening…pumpkin, pear and a pumpkin and cheese cake pie. They were all delicious. Richard, Téa, Duncan, Karl and I played the Great Dalmudi that evening too. It was a lot of fun.

On Friday afternoon Richard, Karl, Duncan and Emma went to the Stake Center to help take down the set for the Christmas production that the stake did the week before. Richard participated in it. Téa, Cheanna, Elena, Ephraim and I stayed home. We started to bake cookies so they could be decorated. We had done the first batch when one of Téa’s friends called and wanted to know if she could go out on a “girls’ night out” with two of her friends. She called Richard and talked with him then asked me if I would feel comfortable with the children till Richard and the others got back home. I told her that would be fine. I continued baking the cookies with Cheanna and Elena. I wondered if Ephraim would be OK but he was. I just played with him for a few minutes then we worked on the cookies again. By the time Richard and the others got home we had one batch decorated and the next batch in the oven. Duncan, Richard andEmma helped Cheanna, Elena and me to decorate the second batch. We had fun doing that. After we were thro’ and had some supper, we watched Man from Snowy River with Kirk Douglas. Richard and the children really seemed to enjoy it. Téa came home while we were watching it. She looked much better and rejuvenated. I’m glad she has Tamara and Adriene for her friends with whom she can go out and get away. Where she home teaches her children, she needs to be able to “escape” sometimes and have some “me” time. Richard is very understand with that also.
That is the first four days of our trip. I’ll finish the rest tomorrow.

The Richard W. Robinson Family November 26, 2006