Lila’s birthday isn’t for another couple of months, but I’ve been thinking about her over the past few days and decided to write about our little girl who almost wasn’t.
In early 2008, Jeanell had scheduled an oblation to help with some issues she had been dealing with. Since pregnancy would be dangerous following this procedure, I would also need to get a vasectomy. Since this would mean our family was complete with our four boys, Jeanell and I had discussed and decided we were ok with that.
But life had other plans. While attending a pre-op appointment for the oblation procedure, she mentioned to her doctor that she had “missed.” Testing was done and Jeanell’s suspicions were confirmed. She was pregnant.
(Jeanell believes she knows the night that this happened. I guess since I was still traveling most weeks at the time, it was easier to narrow down. We had gone over to Logan for some reason and while there stopped at Hastings. I bought her the complete box set of Friends on DVD. Apparently this spontaneous gift set the mood for fireworks later on).
Fast-forward to December of that year. Lila was due December 29. Jeanell had never naturally gone into labor (Devin was five days late and Jeanell was started when her blood pressure went up, with Tyler and Brayden she was started three weeks early, and with Caleb she was started two weeks early) so we thought that the same would happen with this pregnancy, that there would be no frantic trip to the hospital.
But the night of December 21, we were watching Mamma Mia together as a family and Jeanell started to experience contractions. It was snowing and the roads weren’t great, but we gathered some things and made the drive from Elwood to Logan, arriving shortly before midnight.
We got checked in and settled and about seven hours later, our little girl was born. I know I wasn’t a great husband that night because at some point I laid down in a bay window the room had and fell asleep. I was awake for the birth though. The doctor didn’t end up arriving until after Lila made her entrance.
We still had a couple of names in mind and hadn’t finalized when she was born, but we had known for some time that her middle name would be Rachel (after Jeanell’s sister, who had given birth to her first daughter, Emma Jeanell, a couple of months prior). Paige and Lila were the final two names we were considering (I had also suggested Mia earlier in the process). We said both of these names followed by Rachel and decided that Lila Rachel flowed better. So it was settled her name would be Lila. (Grandma Mouritsen gave Lila a book at her birth and inside the cover it says “Probably Paige”).
Since she was born, Lila has brought a happiness and enthusiasm into our life that is contagious. She fell in love with music early on and would sing songs from Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music at the top of her lungs while dancing in our Elwood kitchen. When she was young, we drove a fair amount around the state to attend her brothers’ athletic events and she loved to sing along with whatever music happened to be playing (“Something Stupid” by Michael Buble (she now prefers the Sinatra version) and “Thank You for the Music” by ABBA are two that I remember).
I always loved her enthusiasm just for random things. One day when she was maybe three we were having lunch and when I set her up at the island she said she wanted to sit on the left.
“I love left!” she exclaimed.
“Why do you love left?” I asked.
“Because it’s my favorite way!”
One day we walked to church together and I wrote about that experience which again just showed her love of life and her curiosity.
I wasn’t always a model father (as has probably already been established). One day on my watch, I had her in her high chair and I was doing something on the computer with my back to her. She climbed out of the high chair and fell to the floor. But I picked her up almost right after she hit the floor.
Another time I took her with me to Logan and while there decided to purchase a TV. I don’t remember the exact details but I couldn’t fit the TV in our van with her seat buckled in where it normally would be so I put her in her seat but it was just kind of balancing next to me and I held onto it while I drove us back home to Elwood.
Since Jeanell and I both worked when Lila was young, she had a few different babysitters while we lived in Elwood, all of whom adored her. Her first babysitter was Judy Okada, who also had watched Caleb for us some. She eventually had to stop watching Lila to take care of her mom and I still remember how sad she was to not be able to watch Lila anymore.
We moved to Grantsville just before Lila turned five. This meant she got to attend Karma’s Kiddie Corner for preschool with her “dubbin” Emma. They also were in Aunt Meghan’s kindergarten class, Aunt Jean’s second grade class, and Kelly Painter’s third grade class together. (They were in different first grade classes. Lila had Joan Painter, who she loved and who has supported Lila in the years since).
While attending Willow Elementary, she had a special relationship with Lenna Lambert, who was the school’s librarian. After school, she would go and visit Lenna in the library until I could get there to pick her up. (We saw Lenna at the temple open house a week ago and Lila was able to give her a big hug. It had been a while since they had seen each other).
Before our new home in Grantsville was complete, I would go to my mom and dad’s house to work. Lila would ride the bus home to the house on Eastmoor and spend the rest of the day there.
While still in elementary school, she received a ukulele as a gift and fell in love with it. She taught herself to play and the chords. She would perform at various opportunities and eventually even wrote her own songs.
She started piano at a young age, first taking lessons from her Aunt Shannon, and then taking from Jenean Christensen, who she has taken from for several years now. I love being down in my office which is just below the piano room and hearing her play one of Billy Joel’s songs or something from a play we’ve seen recently.
We’ve always said that Lila is an “old soul” because she has a love and appreciation for things well before her time (her Grandma Jefferies says that if Lila had been her age, they would have been the best of friends). Her favorite artist is Billy Joel (I am also a fan and hope I played some small part in her fandom, but while I am mostly a “greatest hits” kind of fan, Lila knows the deep cuts). She also has an appreciation for The Beatles, The Four Seasons, Frank Sinatra, Carol King, and Queen.
One of the things Lila and I liked to do together was to go on drives, taking turns choosing songs to play and sing along to.
In addition to music, Lila has also developed an appreciation for The Simpsons from me (this has at times led to her getting in trouble as she did one day when we took her out of school early and as she left the class, called out “So long, suckers!” (a line from The Simpsons that I frequently quote). Her teacher found it less funny than I did).
We’ve also watched several of my “nostalgia” movies together. Dumb and Dumber, Liar, Liar, The Truman Show, Mrs. Doubtfire, Back to the Future, Pee Wee Herman’s Big Adventure, Wayne’s World, and others.
Lila has always been insanely talented musically. In addition to the piano and ukelele, she learned to play the bass to audition for a play (she sadly didn’t get the part). When she got into the high school, the orchestra conductor (Mr. Kim) needed clarinet players so she learned the clarinet. Later, he needed an oboe player so she started learning that. (At the last parent-teacher conference I had with Mr. Kim, he said that she still had a ways to go, but that her progress was amazing for the few short months she’d been learning).
Lila shares her parents’ love of musical theatre. Years ago, we took her to a performance of Little Shop of Horrors that was playing in downtown Salt Lake City that River Robinson (a talented actress from Grantsville) was performing in. Lila has been hooked ever since.
She’s been to New York four times with Jeanell and I and seen many plays there, but one of my favorite things is that she loves to go and see community theatre performances around the state. I’m sure I’ll forget some, but together we’ve seen Little Women and The Drowsy Chaperone at the Murray Amphitheater, Guys and Dolls and Into the Woods by Lehi Arts, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by Sandy Arts, Evita at the Empress Theater in Magna, and Legally Blond at the West Valley Performing Arts Center. She loves to support local theatre and always gives a standing ovation.
Lila also loves to perform and has from a young age. She and Emma played the twin girls in The King and I at The Old Church. Lila has been in various other productions there as well.
When she reached junior high age, Lila decided to go to Excelsior Academy where she had the opportunity to be taught by the amazing Matt Price (Jeanell and I went to school with Matt and he has become a dear friend and mentor to Lila. Jeanell said to me on one occasion, “when we were going to school with Matt, did you ever imagine he’d become besties with our daughter?” I must say that no, I did not imagine that scenario). In addition to a revue her sixth grade year, she did four shows under Matt’s direction, Curtains (Chris Belling), Rock of Ages (Lonnie), Matilda (Miss Trunchbull), and Freaky Friday (the mom). She was also able to help music direct on some of those shows. She learned so much and put so much effort and energy into those shows.
In the last couple of years, she provided accompaniment for The Secret Garden at The Old Church and for Diary of a Wimpy Kid at Excelsior (Diary of a Wimpy Kid was brand new and there were not yet tracks available for it so Lila helped out by learning the score and accompanying the shows). She was also the Assistant Music Director for this past summer's Tooele Valley Theatre production of Into the Woods.
As she went into high school, she auditioned for and was accepted to the Centerpoint Academy at the Centerpoint Theatre in Centerville. She has had a wonderful time learning and developing her talents there over the past couple of years. They did a wonderful production of Big Fish last spring that I saw four or five times and loved each time.
Lila is such a bright spot in my life and I’m so grateful she is a part of it. She and I are kindred spirits and I love being able to enjoy so many wonderful things in life with her. I love you Lila.
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