Grandpa Myres

A few weeks ago my grandpa Myres passed away. Ever since then I have been thinking so much about what a legacy he has left for his whole extended family. I think that all of his fifty-four grandchildren have inherited a lot of his characteristics and values. It's hard to even comprehend how much of an influence the Myres ethos has had in trickling down through the generations. These are the things that I think of when I think of Grandpa Myres:

-love of Grandma

-love of the Church: any time you talked to him, he'd always throw that in somewhere.

-love of BYU: he loved to talk about how that was the best school anywhere.

-love of family, especially his mother, his brother, and his kids

-love of missionary work

-love of talking to other people, particularly people he didn't know

-love of the underdog, wanting to lift people up

-love of HARD WORK, frugality, not being a "Hollywood baby" (a family favorite saying)

-not wanting to be fancy, but keeping things simple and valuing what you have

-loving and trusting people, even and especially when they are not the ideal of what you think

-love of words, books and reading

-healthy eating and life habits (exercise as often as you can!)

-always so strong, physically and mentally

-pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and making it through hard times. Because of my grandpa's example, I know that "I can do hard things."

This is not the most eloquent of tributes I could have written. But I feel grateful for his example. From watching him, I know how I want my marriage to be like in 50 years. I think about the stories I know of from his young life and childhood and am inspired to think I came from his same stock and his blood runs through my veins. I can be tough and do hard things--especially if my hard things are just a week with three kids while Tommy is out of town (cue major eye rolling, because I know that's not that hard). I know that more than anything, he loved the gospel and he clung to it because of how it had changed his life for the better and transformed his life and his family's trajectory 180 degrees, and it makes me value this blessing of the knowledge he's helped to give me all the more. 

A few years ago I had to give a talk in church about "priesthood and the family," and I used Grandpa Myres' life to help illustrate the points I wanted to make. It shows a little bit of how much his example has meant to me and my testimony:

President Snow makes two points that struck me very strongly as I read the manual. He said, “The object of the priesthood is to make all people happy.” And: “The priesthood we hold has been revealed for the salvation of the human family.” Those two quotes are deceptively simple. If we examine them both closely, we can really learn a lot about the priesthood and what its purpose is on the earth today.

My Grandpa Myres, my mom’s dad, is a wonderful example of these two principles--of the priesthood being here to make us happy and for the salvation of the human family. My grandpa was born in the tiny Icelandic settlement of Mountain, North Dakota. His family moved to San Diego when he was a child, and he had a difficult childhood and family life there. He was plagued with health problems, including years of hospitalization in his early teenage years, his father was an angry alcoholic who eventually left the family, and they were never very well off. My grandpa was himself a rebellious and difficult teenager, and as the family folklore goes, my great-grandmother signed him up to go to BYU after high school because she heard it had a strict honor code that she hoped would help him shape up. They weren’t members at the time, and didn’t know very many. But while at BYU, my grandpa met many members, and eventually became one himself after being taught by the missionaries, and married my grandma in the Salt Lake temple. My grandpa took his newfound life and conversion as a member of the church very, very seriously, and a focus on the gospel has directed his entire life. He and my grandma have served in every capacity of callings in the church, served four missions, had nine children and fifty-three grandchildren, and now spend much of their time in doing service and temple work and genealogy.

This story is a huge simplification of my grandpa’s very long life, and I’ve left out every interesting detail and story of things he’s done. But I share it because my grandpa’s example of overcoming his background has always been a huge inspiration to me. By all rights, my grandpa could have, and maybe should have, followed the example of his own father (and several generations of fathers before him)--attached to alcohol, not being around much, and eventually leaving his family. But because of the gospel, and because of the power of the priesthood in his life, my grandpa is the patriarch of a huge, tight-knit, gospel-loving family, and, as he would say, he has been very blessed in all aspects of his life. My grandpa is a pretty simple man; he owned a moving company and was a truck driver for most of his life, goes to bed at 7:30pm every day, and has worn the same one type of shoes for as long as I’ve known him. But he has several things that he KNOWS and that he will tell anyone any day--and one of them is that THE CHURCH IS TRUE and we are blessed to have the gospel. So, to me, his story is a perfect example of the principles President Snow has taught to us.

Remember what President Snow said: “The object of the priesthood is to make all people happy. . . . and The priesthood we hold has been revealed for the salvation of the human family.” President Snow is basically saying that Heavenly Father gave us the priesthood on this earth to make us happy and to SAVE us and bring us back to him. My grandpa’s story exemplifies this to me, because with the gospel in his life, and because of the ordinances of the priesthood that have shaped his life, my grandpa has led a happy life, and I’m guessing will have a good chance of going straight up to be with Heavenly Father in a long, long time once he passes away. The priesthood has blessed his life with happiness and with the hope of salvation. 

I got to go to his funeral in Utah. I flew out with Lucy and we met up with my mom and Dallin at the airport (thanks Dallin!) and went to the viewing the night before. It was filled with the entire extended family--which is a huge party considering his nine children and fifty-four grandchildren (only seven of whom were missing). I had only been to one funeral before when I was about twelve, so it was a really weird feeling to be there, enjoying seeing all these cousins who I haven't seen for a long time, and also crying off and on seeing my grandpa's body in the casket. The hardest moment was the family prayer the morning of the funeral, when they invited the immediate family up to say good-bye as they closed the casket. I think everyone in the room was crying then. But the funeral itself was wonderful (even though I still cried then)--I loved hearing the stories people told about him and the talks reiterating the importance of the things that my grandpa loved the most: his family, the Church, and the Book of Mormon.

I talked with one of my uncles at the viewing and we agreed that it was hard and sad to say good-bye, even though we know all is well--but just because we are going to miss him. I do miss him. Even though I only got to see him about once a year for the last few years, his presence has always been larger than life for me and his influence has been much stronger than that amount would seem. But I am very sure that he is healthy and whole again, maybe more so than he ever was in this life, and that he hit the ground running in heaven and is doing his favorite thing: talking to people and being a missionary.

The nine Myres children.

All the women who were there, aunts, cousins, and sisters.

Grandpa Myres' posterity right there. Missing seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, but almost all of us were there.

A four-generation pic of Myres women (or Haymond, Myres, Murphy, Leininger women).

Another highlight of the trip was getting to see Grandma Murphy and stay at her house.

AND getting to see my mom again. I've seen her just as often this past year while she's been in Ecuador as we do in our normal life! 

Lucy got passed around and everyone loved getting to hold her. She got about nine million compliments on her hair at the family gatherings and while traveling through the airport.

Love getting to see Sarah at family reunions now.

Lucy loved her grandma.

And Uncle Dallin too!

We love you, Grandpa and Grandma. We are still inspired by you and promise to live up to your example the best we can.

A billion pictures of BETHANY

Bethany left on her mission to Puerto Rico yesterday. Technically, she just started today (she had an overnight flight from Ecuador last night)--she is currently at the DR MTC probably feeling crazy homesick right now! In honor of her beginning her mission I thought I would write a blog post about her trip out here to visit us, oh, a month ago, on her way down to Ecuador. This will be the first blog post of mine that she gets emailed to her. Sorry, Bee, this is the only one that will only have pictures of you in it. 

We were really excited to have Bethany come stay with us for a few days in between her finishing her time in Provo and heading down to Ecuador before she left on her mission. So, if you can't keep track of that, she went from Provo --> Dallas to see us --> Ecuador to be with my parents --> Dominican Republic MTC (today) --> Puerto Rico (in a few weeks). Very exciting time for her. But we were just happy to have Bethany come stay with us. For some reason (probably because she is awesome), Bubba has really captured my boys' affections and she is always their number one choice for FaceTiming (though now, no more, sob). She is such a fun aunt for them and I'm always impressed by how she loves spending time with them and never gets tired of their craziness. Those qualities will no doubt serve her well as she has crazy companions on her mission. We love you B!

Bethany got in late one night but when we got back the boys were still awake in their room and they were so happy to be surprised with Bethany coming in to see them.

Graham REALLY loves Bubba. 

She is also an excellent train track builder. 

Lucy smiling at her :) :) :) :) :)

BEST DECISION EVER to watch the One Direction movie. 

Just try to watch One Direction and not sing and dance along.

We got some enormous Hurts Donuts for breakfast while she was here.

Not sure why this pic is sideways but I'm too lazy to change it. I had some face masks from Christmas that I'd never done, so we put them on while watching Austenland (which was surprisingly hilarious). Perfect girls night activity (with Tommy being nice and playing along with us).

The boys are lucky to have fun aunts like Callie and Bethany to introduce them to the wonders of Snapchat.

In-N-Out for one last time before she leaves for the wilderness...

The last full day while she was here, we spent the whole day going everywhere we could to get free birthday surprises from restaurants. We'd signed up for about 20 birthday giveaways and managed to get a pretty good haul. The best by far was the Nothing Bundt Cakes mini-cake. We took them all to the park for a picnic lunch.

An attempt to get free ice cream which we ended up having to pay for.

Celebrating her birthday for FHE.

We got some Chipotle for her LAST MEAL in America (except for her layover in Miami...).

Too sad to say good-bye! (Graham had already thrown tantrums and had been put down for his nap.)

It's hard to say how much we are going to miss Bethany. We love her and will miss being able to call her several times a week. But she is going to be excellent and I can't wait to read her emails. GO BUBBA!

Lucy ALL DAY EVERY DAY

I know you supposedly take less pictures of each kid as time goes on, but Lucy is so lucky to be born in the smartphone age, that every time she is doing something cute, I can grab my phone and take a picture of her. Which is pretty much ALL DAY EVERY DAY because she is the cutest thing ever. 

She is so beautiful I can hardly even stand it!

Texas baby. All she needs is a cowboy hat!

I am amazed by what a sweetheart she is. We have had hardly any crying out of her, at all. This is not an exaggeration. She will sometimes whine and yelp and very rarely actually start to wail, but man. She is easily satisfied with someone picking her up and holding her and popping the pacifier in her mouth. What a sweetheart. We keep pinching ourselves that she is such a good baby. 

BIG BIG fan of the swing. 

OH MY GOODNESS. I just can't contain it.

NOT that she is perfect. The last two days she was on a nursing strike--where she screamed and writhed and howled bloody murder every time I tried to get her to nurse. So I eventually had to give up and pump and give her a bottle before she would finally give up and be happy again. It was a really long and frustrating few days. But she started nursing again today, although she doesn't do it enough to really satisfy me that she's getting enough--another issue we have with her. She is so tiny and doesn't seem to be concerned about growing that much like I am hoping she will be. Stinker. She also is not the best sleeper in the world, but at least she's not crying while she's awake for long chunks during the night. Just awake and trying to keep us awake with her.

Her feelings about nursing the last few days. Also, my feelings.

Getting a bottle just like she wanted.

The main comment we get about her everywhere we go is "Her hair!" Because she has so much of it and it's so amazing. It's curly and adorable and my favorite thing is how it curls all around her head like an afro after she gets a bath.

But OH my goodness, she is smiling all the time now. Every time she makes eye contact with Tommy or I, she lets out a huuuuuge grin. It's the best. She really watches the boys when they get close to her, but they move too fast for her to really focus on them and smile--so far. 

Smiling and cooing at Auntie Bubba while she was here visiting.

This is my favorite picture ever. Background on my phone for forever and ever.

It is so amazing how once you have a baby it's almost hard to remember life before that baby came into your family. It seems like eons ago when we had only two kids and were waiting for her to be born. And yet she's only 10 weeks old tomorrow--barely two months old. We are still figuring out our routine--so far, we've just slowed everything down significantly and kept things quiet around here. Lots more shows for the boys (usually in the 4-5pm hour while waiting for Daddy to come home), lots more hanging out at home and not going anywhere. Today we missed a fun swimming party at a friend's house that I was kind of sad to miss--but I knew it would be a BAD idea to bring three non-swimmers to a pool party by myself and I would be too stressed out. But the most important thing is that everyone is (mostly) happy, including me. And someday we will be up for getting out and doing lots of things again!

We have three kids.

My first real outing with the three kids. We all survived!

Three kids sure seems like a lot of kids. But seriously. I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, by how well everything is going so far (knock on wood). I was prepared for the worst when Tommy went back to work. But it's gone so well--mostly meaning, I have been happy and not overwhelmed. There have been exactly zero days when I've gotten overly frustrated and had temper tantrums of my own (hooray!). There are a few things that are significantly helping things to go pretty well so far, I think.

1. Low expectations. I expect Lucy to want to be held all day and Graham to be throwing tantrums and Dane to be whiny... and it's fine when those things turn out to be true.

2. Not trying to do anything. I have no plans or goals most days other than holding the baby and keeping the boys happy. That fills up my whole day in general. 

3. Getting outside at least once a day. We go to the park or just play in the backyard. Getting outside is magical.

4. Making lunches in advance. I am trying to make lunches earlier in the morning and have them waiting in the fridge so that I can just grab them and throw them on the table once everyone decides they are STARVING AND MUST EAT NOW. It has made such a difference in my happiness level (and theirs). 

5. Getting exercise at night. This is definitely not a long term solution, but for now, Tommy and I are trying to switch off going to the gym in the evenings. It's awesome to get to the gym at least a few times a week.

Lucy is seven weeks old now, and we are coasting along to her two-month mark. Things are slowly falling into a routine and we are all happy about it! Things are going by SO FAST.

Camille sent the boys these stuffed bunnies, which they loved!

Lucy = adorable.

Some sleeping smiles--I love those. Plus, look at her hair.

Dane is so stylin' with his sunglasses.

Not many husbands are EXCITED to have to teach Joy School while they are on paternity leave... but Tommy was. 

Lucy's superhero name is the Purple Cupcake. (Really--that's what we decided.)

Dane loves climbing into these trees at our park. He feels so cool.

The "little kids" while Dane is at Joy School.

Dane was super excited about this carrot. "Mom, this is the BEST DAY EVER! Because I have a carrot like Olaf's nose!" Then he ate 95% of it for a snack, haha.

This happened in their room while I was nursing Lucy one morning.

There are no words. 

Graham loves his trike. He insists on riding it to and from the park when we walk there, and it takes FOREVER.

Lucy's first REAL SMILES last week!!! It was the BEST THING EVER.

Dane at the dentist office, haha.

This girl and her daddy. So cute.

So many times a day I find them reading books.

Tummy time! She's a natural!

Dane got a ladybug to climb on him and was thrilled.

Love these two brothers.

Graham lookin' sporty during Family Pizza Movie Night.

She is nine pounds now! I am soooo happy that she is growing so well. She's getting so big and looking so different than just a few short weeks ago. I feel like it's all going so fast and that she's going to be six months old before we know it. It's awesome that it's going so fast (I'd love to sleep again) but also sad (because she's so adorable).