Big Willie’s Do Orlando Day 5

We were originally going to hit universal studios today but opted to hang around the villa instead. We swam for hours, and ate ice cream and chips and salsa poolside. The little kids and I did a sand art craft at the clubhouse, and aaron took them to the arcade for a bit for ping pong and other dad shenanigans. We also did some puzzling and played hook and ring. 

Q had kind of a bummer day knowing she was missing out on an exciting road  trip to Dallas with friends and asked to go shopping for a pick me up and retail therapy. She scouted out an outlet mall nearby and we went as a family. It was crazy! We found some nice deals on back to school shoes and jeans and ate dinner at Shake Shack. A double bacon cheeseburger makes all the things better. We watched a great movie as a family tonight called a Woman and the Sea with Daisy Ridley about Gertrude “Trudy” Ederly, the first woman to swim the English Channel. 

Again I hardly took any photos, but here are a few! 

Funny Quotes/Memories of the day: 

Corbin name 3 things that live in the dirt

Corbin: uhhh grandmas, grandpas, great grandmas….

Aaron: (quoting the concert lady) mom went to get us dessert. That bee does not disappoint! 

Quincy name 3 things that are hairy: 

Q: Isaac, Bear, actual bears

Bear: Someone help! Trump is taking over! 

Aaron: this is ridiculous. I can’t get us home. I have ZERO cell service! 

Siri GPS: make a southwest turn in .25 miles.

Sloane: oh HAIL. And Lightning?! Well this is just great! 

Aaron: I thought you were gonna go doggie on the sidewalk! 

Big Willies Do Orlando Day 4

Today was beach day! 

We slept in, this morning. Then a few kids went to the pool for a hour with Aaron and a few stayed home to puzzle and do some clean up with me. 

We ate lunch at home and watched Bride Wars, then drove to Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach, where we found a 7-11 for Slurpees and a few hours of PERFECT warm ocean water, shells, and a wonderful afternoon/evening at the beach. Is there anywhere better in the world than the beach? It is forever my happy place, and Aaron’s happy place, and Quincy’s, and Sloane’s happy place, for sure. Sloane grabbed a boogie board and made a beeline for the water. I’ve never seen her move so fast. Ever. She likes pools and lakes but she dove right into the waves without so much as a glance back. 

One of our favorite shells to find when we go to Destin/Navarre are the auger “unicorn” shells. Today we found several that were still alive-a first for us! We loved watching them burrow into the tide pools Bear built after every wave. We stopped for dinner at Portillos (soooooo good!!!) and after the littles went to bed the big kids ate ice cream and watched a movie. The 3 little guys are working shifts waking up during the night, so this little moment to watch a show with just the big kids while all 3 were asleep was great! Sloane was up within 30 minutes after and the graveyard shift began haha! 

We tried two new things today to try to curb some behavior/attitude concerns. The first is Aaron and I each chose a child to show extra love snd patience to for the entire day. At the end of the day we report back to each other with 3 positive experiences, interactions, or qualities about that child. There was no difference in behavior, but this exercise did help with our feelings about them. We will each choose another child to focus positive thoughts and energy on today.  

The other new thing I came up with is to play some behavior mod/connection games. The goal of the one we played yesterday was to encourage more listening and less talking over one another. It’s called 5 Seconds. We played this on the hour+ drive over to the beach and it was so fun!

It started with me as prompt giver, but eventually the kids came up with prompts. You take turns being asked a prompt. You have 5 seconds to “name 3”. It just gets your mind thinking, but the answers were pretty funny under the pressure of only having 5-4-3-2-1 seconds to answer. Examples of prompts were: name 3 foods, 3 things you wear, 3 things you do when you wake up, 3 colors, 3 cold foods, 3 reasons to be late to church, 3 reasons to miss school, 3 countries, 3 months of the year, 3 things that fit under your bed, 3 bands, 3 foods you don’t like etc. 

We laughed a LOT. It was a good day. 

Every day at the beach with my family is a good day. 

They could have stayed for hours more.

Quotes from the day: 

Esme name 3 things that fit under your bed. “Underwear!” 

Bear: what happens when you win this hook game? What do you get?

Aaron: you get to be obedient all day.

Bear: it looks like you’re supposed to drink that cup.

Aaron: the cup is obedience. 

Big Willies Do Orlando Day 3 Disney

Oh Disney. There was good bad and ugly. 

Favorite parts:

Aaron: Tron

Meg: pineapple whip and Tron

Quincy: definitely Tron

Corbin: my bucket hat and Tron and 7 dwarves ride

Soren: space mountain 

Sloane: the ducklings and pirates.

Bear: Tron and the ducks

Esme: Alladin carpet ride with the fireworks 

Big Willies Do Orlando Day 2

Travel with a big family isn’t easy. This trip in particular has had a lot of great moments but definitely more difficult moments than enjoyable ones and I regret choosing Orlando over just sitting on a beach somewhere.  We really were hoping to avoid tv rot and have this magical time together, but reality is that I have a couple kids with debilitating anxiety, and a couple children that struggle with flexibility in schedule. All 6 children have intense personalities due to the combination of said anxieties, living with each other, and hormones. Just keeping it real here, it’s been kinda rough with our people this year. This trip has been full of back talk, endless arguing, complaining, sibling fighting, and so many tears. Orlando is also hotter than the surface of the sun, which is probably why flights were so affordable. I said this 3 years ago, and I’m saying it again so that I hopefully listen to myself next time. I will not do Orlando in July again. I have hope that the kids will get along better by the end of the week though! 

A few positives about this trip are the fact that no one is in a car seat or a stroller. We’ve turned a corner of independence there that has been awesome! 

Another great thing is the hotel aaron found us. It’s a villa with an incredible pool, really fun decor, space for everyone, and amazing location! Great job aaron! 

Day 2 was off because we didn’t do a great job making it feel like the sabbath. We tried though and watched metfield ward sacrament meeting on zoom. We went to the pool (which closed after an hour ish due to lightening threat) so we came back inside, showered, and taught the kids how to play phase 10. I set up a playdough and coloring table and the littles have enjoyed that as well. We went to dinner at Buca di Beppo, a kitschy family style Italian restaurant we thought the kids would love. We ended up spending a while looking for 2 kids who went for a walk to see the decor and went for a walk outdoors but didn’t take a phone. I was frustrated that our “family together time” was spoiled, but the food was really good! 

We finished the night with popcorn and a movie and we were all together and peaceful then, which was wonderful. I didn’t take any pics this day, but here are a couple! 

Big Willies do Orlando 2024 Day 1

Our flights were delayed and we made it to our villa around 1:30am. Friday morning we slept in, Aaron made a grocery run, then we hit the awesome pool with slides and splash pad. Quincy was happy to have a DJ bumping good music, Sloane and I won the hula hoop challenge, Esme and Sloane did a craft, Corbin and Soren played ping pong and pool. We came back to the room for ice cream and glorious vacation naps. We went to Disney Springs for dinner. We ate dinner at Chicken Guy (soooo good), and a volcano dessert at rainforest cafe. We were on the roof of the Coca Cola building in time for an incredible drone light show. So cool. Sloane was nervous about the lightening in the distance (hence the sad face) but everyone else had a blast! 

Quincy Speaks in Church

Quincy gave a talk in church on Sunday. Her prompt was “How do you find shelter in the Lord?” She told me she wanted to do this independently, and brushed me off with “Mom I’ve got it.” anytime I reminded her she had this responsibility coming up with a nudge to work on it. She pondered the topic all week and intermittently made some insightful comments in conversations we had that exposed the constant turning of the gears in her brain. 

On Friday after work, she holed up in her room and buckled down to write, and emerged a few hours later saying “it’s not polished but my thoughts are organized now. I’m going to bed, I’ll finish it tomorrow after work.” 

She left at 5:30am, worked an 8 hour shift, and then drove straight from work over to Beaver Lake to meet Henson B, Luke D, Luke C, and Ella D, and Luke C’s girlfriend fir their last hour of tubing. They were having so much fun that they stayed out for 4 hours, then they went to Andy’s custard, and then Q ended up having a bonfire and playing MarioKart until 11 at Henson’s. 

Anyway, I admit I thought Quincy was unwise to save her talk preparation for the very last minute, but I clearly did not need to worry. Here’s what she wrote. I think her testimony is so beautiful. 

Hi! I’m Quincy, I’m 17, and I usually sit right back there with my family on that loud row. 

I recently started a new job as a CNA in an Assisted Living Facility. In this field of Healthcare, it is standard practice to place a timeline on recovery for residents who are in rehabilitation. There are many factors that lead to this, including insurance and financial limitations, but the goal is to push people along and ultimately when the resident has reached their progress deadline, they are released from the facility regardless of their physical or mental state. It is frustrating for me to watch someone who is struggling and still very dependent on assisted care be sent off on their own without support. I worry about them and wonder how they will make it at home when I know there are basic things they cannot do independently yet.    

As I’m headed into my senior year of high school, I’m entering a place in between being very dependent on my parents and learning to navigate parts of life on my own. I’m building my own testimony, learning about my strengths and weaknesses, developing my talents, and making a lot of really big decisions about my future. 

There are so many resources available to guide me in this process, but fear and pride sometimes creep in and complicate things. I think we all have a natural tendency to create limitations for ourselves and abandon the help right in front of us, so we try to go out on our own and end up like the residents leaving rehab before they are fully prepared to be on their own.  

As members of the Church, we have the gift of the Holy Ghost. His presence in our life provides us with guiding personal revelation, companionship, love, comfort, counsel, and a deeper relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Fortunately, there is no timeline on Jesus’ love for us. He does not launch us out  to do impossible things or send us before we are ready. He meets us where we are and walks beside us. We are not kicked out if we are not progressing at a certain pace, and the enabling power of His Atonement is infinite. It never runs out and it never expires. I am learning that I can continuously rely on the Lord when I don’t know what to do and He will send help. 

One experience that has been an impactful resource for me is my Patriarchal Blessing. I received my Patriarchal blessing 6 months ago and on my own account I can testify of the power of this blessing. I will never forget how strong the Spirit was in the room, and the blessing offered specific counsel directly to me about my future, my strengths, and my purpose. 

God asks us to do a lot of things that require courage.

Share the gospel, surrender bad habits, be patient, apologize, forgive, take on new responsibilities, share talents, speak in church, love difficult people, give your all in a church calling, serve a mission, learn a new skill, and say a lot of goodbyes. I am not a super brave person. I’d like to say that I am but the reality is: I am not. In order to do brave things we need to feel safe and secure. Overs the past year, I have had people in my life help me push me past self-made limitations and overcome some great fears. 

For me, safety and security came through friends who coaxed me onto a roller coaster, jump off their lake house roof, submit an audition video for orchestra, and board the super sketchy elevator ride up into the observation tower. Doing each of these brave things was empowering and helped helped me build confidence that I can do other scary things. I have come a long way in the fact that I now trust the Lord to lead me on the right path and help me fill the measures of my potential. 

I am entering a stage of independence, but I know I do not have to do anything alone. 

Jesus Christ is our stable friend who never leaves us. He has empowered me through debilitating trials, sadness, loneliness, and anxiety I never thought I could overcome. Through trusting in the Lord, inviting the Spirit, seeking guidance from my parents, receiving my patriarchal blessing, repenting and striving again and again to be my best self, I have found the shelter and peace that come through Jesus Christ and His gospel. 

In Alma 26, Ammon talks about the blessings of being faithful to the Lord. Our labors do not go to waste. One of my favorite parts of this scripture is “the Lord will raise them up at the last day.”

I believe the scriptures are true. 

I feel peace when I attend the temple. 

I believe families can be eternal. 

I feel love when I let go of pride and fear and trust the Lord to fix things that are broken.  

I know Jesus Christ is my Savior. I trust God’s plans for me and I know the Savior will help me do God’s will.

My Sunday school teachers shared this quote by Ezra Taft Benson, with our class last week. I’m going to read it because it summarizes how I feel about the blessings that come from living the Gospel. It says, “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that he can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour our peace. Whoever will lose his life in God will find he has eternal life.” 

I testify that turning my will over to God has fortified my confidence. He sheltered me with solace when I was grieving and courage to do and say brave things. He raised up friends in a time of need and He quickened my mind so I can become what he wants me to be. He will guide me to the work He is preparing for me to do.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.