everyday life

loving...

2012-01-27T09:16:00.002-07:00

...my toes. a friend of mine has a girl at her church that does pedicures for ten dollars. ten dollars!!! this is my second one and i just love going. we get to sit and talk AND get my feet taken care of. love!

...my laptop. rob got it for me for christmas and i have already gotten his moneys worth out of it. i use it all. the. time.

...my new chandelier. i have wanted this thing for a couple years but, being at ikea, i never wanted to spend the money on it when i actually had the chance to go. my aunt was going to one and said she would get it for me if i wanted it. she called and asked if i was sure i wanted the big one, because it was pretty big, and i assured her that it was the big, not the smaller one, that i wanted. it arrived in the mail, we put it together, and i had giant light remorse. big time. but the longer it hung there the more i fell in love.

...my glass coffee mugs. i got these in texas at crate and barrel for $1.50 each. sad thing is i only got two of them. stupid, stupid, stupid! i love how big they are. i love their shape. and i love that my hands fit so nicely around it.

...my burt's bees chapstick. i thought i would always be a blistex girl. i had been for many a year, but after we started down the healthier living road i learned of many not so great things in it. i am a chapstick girl. i always have to have it on me so i was a little intimidated trying to find a new one that had natural ingredients and wasn't waxy as i am a very picky about my lip balm. hellooooo burt's bees. everything i wanted and more.

...my mantel. i'm not good with decorating. i know what i like but have a hard time getting it to translate around my house. this took me almost two full days(sad i know) but i love the way it turned out and it makes me happy every time i look at it.

hodge podge

2012-01-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

--rob and em were out the other night and she tells him that she is so glad we live where we do because if we are ever hungry we have so many places to go eat like "walgreens(?), j.b.'s, jack ons." what? he told her that it was jackSon's, as in the shell station around the corner. she said she thought the squiggly line in between was to separate the words.

--in going over things in my head for our trip i have come to realize that i still have the same bathing suit i wore on our trip 6 YEARS AGO! i don't wear it but tit's still in my drawer. note to self:get rid of 6 year old bathing suit.

--i found two more chairs for our dining room table at the youth ranch yesterday. chairs by themselves have been super hard to find. i was walking around the store and came upon four chairs that weren't marked. i was almost afraid to ask how much they were cause the youth ranch can be a little pricey but they told me ten bucks a piece. sold! i took the best two and brought them to their new home.

--rob got me a laptop for christmas. probably my favorite present, aside from the gurgle pot, but it has been both a blessing and a curse. i love having it downstairs on the counter so i'm not constantly running up and down the stairs all day to our other computer. however, having it on the counter all day leads to spontaneous, all day sessions of facebook, pinterest and craigslist. must get that under control.

--i'm on a no meat kick again. i watched the movie forks over knives and coupled with food inc. and super size me i never want to eat anything but veggies again. i am in the process of making the next two weeks menu and so far there's no meat in sight. i've also gone to almond milk instead of cows milk and am trying to limit the amount of dairy in general. eggs, butter and sour cream might be a little harder to limit but we'll see. everyone but austin seems to be ok with it and, hopefully, he will come around too.

--we got snow shoes, from santa, for christmas and decided since it finally snowed that we would take them out last saturday. we didn't really know where to go and the spot we chose wasn't very good. and it rained. and we had sadie who sunk to her shoulders every time she took a step. a memorable first trip if nothing else.

so excited!

2012-01-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

the hotel is booked and we are headed to the happiest place on earth the last week of march!!!

woohoo!

i am so excited! it has been six years since we last took the kids. i can hardly believe it's been that long.

but here's the thing...

it's a surprise!!!

we have talked a little with the kids about going back but we haven't told them that it's a sure thing. so if you see them around please, please, please don't say anything to them.

i want to do something cool like wake them up the morning we leave and tell them where we're going.

we still have a couple of months so i have time to brainstorm but i would love to make it a huge surprise.

it also got me thinking about our last trip. i haven't even scrapbooked it yet. must do that before march. seriously...time to get my butt in gear.

so that's our big news. here's hoping we can keep it under wraps for the next two months.

first snow

2012-01-18T10:47:00.002-07:00

it has been a dry year so far this winter. very little rain and no snow. but that all changed today. it started snowing at 7:00 this morning and it's still going strong. we've gotten about three inches so far and i don't see it ending any time soon. as much as i dislike the snow it's kind of nice to see it today. as long as it is gone by tomorrow :o)

the stroke of midnight 2012

2012-01-03T10:17:00.004-07:00

here's to a fabulous 2012!

to do

2011-12-29T14:34:00.002-07:00

be unlike you now and then

wear colored socks

take the scenic route

listen to beethoven

watch the sunrise

buy new shoes

feed the birds

call your mother

eat something new

wear a dress

drink wine

walk in the rain

sing out loud

sleep in

dealing

2011-12-05T12:10:00.001-07:00

man it's been a tough week! we were blind sided by three different sets of circumstances in the last seven days that sent us reeling.

last monday we received an email informing us that havvn was closing its doors. we have been with this company since the very beginning and, with no prior notice that anything was wrong, we were completely taken aback by the news. having been on the products for more than four years we have seen marked results both in our own health and in the health and lives of those close to us. having put so much time and effort into this company and working with people who have such high standards regarding health we are left completely disappointed that things we have come to rely on are no longer at our disposal. we have also had to watch as people close to us, who financially relied on this company, try to decipher what comes next. it has really shown me that there are no guarantees in life.

toward mid week it was brought to our attention that both keith and doug had resigned from the pastoral staff at bridgepoint. the first few days i was in utter shock. that is news that i never in a million years thought i would ever hear. having ministered closely with keith and chrisanna for seven years i know their hearts and i know that this was an agonizing decision to make. sitting in the meeting last night i wept for the legacy that is ending, for the absence that will be so hard to fill and for the friends that we have come to love over the years. psalm 30:5 says ...weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. though it's hard to say goodbye, god has a special plan for them and i look forward to watching them write the next chapter in their lives.

and lastly, though not as great as the other hiccups in our week, our car died last night. on the way to my parent's yesterday afternoon the lights on the dash seemed dim. i told rob he should brighten them thinking that they had somehow been turned down. he tried and the radio went off. that can't be good. my parents only live about five miles from us and by the time we made the ten minute drive to their house we had no radio, heat, speedometer or anything else. we were running a little late so took my parents car and decided to worry about the car after church. we got back and rob jumped it but within two minutes it had stopped running. we jumped it again and hurried to try and drive it home but even make it out of their subdivision before we lost everything including headlights. rob's dad helped him tow it home and they think it's the alternator. please please please let it be the alternator.

in the last week things have surprised us and hit us hard but they have not surprised our god. he knew these things were coming and, though we may not know where we go from here, he certainly does. i take comfort in knowing that he guides us and does what's best for us even if it hurts sometimes. a song that we sang a couple weeks ago at church keeps coming to mind so i will leave you with its precious words.

never once

Standing on this mountaintop
Looking just how far we’ve come
Knowing that for every step
You were with us

Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You’ve done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You’ve done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Never once did we ever walk alone
Carried by Your constant grace
Held within Your perfect peace
Never once, no, we never walk alone

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Every step we are breathing in Your grace
Evermore we’ll be breathing out Your praise
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

a penny saved

2011-11-15T13:59:00.001-07:00

we have been saving change for about a year now. we've gone to a mostly cash system so we have a fair amount coming home with us. i decided to pull it out and count it so we could use that money for our texas trip. this is what we started out with. a full jelly belly jar and a half full glass jar.

the kids and i separated and stacked and ended up with this.

doesn't look like much does it? we started rolling and adding and we came up with...

can you believe it?! and that was before we added the pennies. we had another $12 in pennies giving us a grand total of

$290!

cha ching!

unfortunately on vacation that will last us about 8 minutes, but it's $290 we didn't have to come up with. doing a happy dance!

disappointed

2011-11-14T09:31:00.001-07:00

we have put together shoe boxes for operation christmas child for several years now. this year was no different. we loaded up in the car yesterday and headed to target to buy lots of goodies to fill our boxes.

mistake number 1: my expectations were too high.
mistake number 2: i didn't explain things, very basically, to the kids on the way there. why we do it(although they should already know), who they are going to(there has to be a video somewhere right?), etc.

we get to target and austin doesn't even want to get out of the car. um, what? we have three boxes, three kids, the third box is yours. he didn't want to. i threatened him with death if he didn't get his rear end out of the car and we finally made it into the store. i tried explaining to him who they were going to. the kids around the world that have absolutely nothing. and you know what i got from him? nothing. so box number three was mine.

we started in the dollar section and picked up a few things then went strolling through the rest of the store looking for more stuff. and before i knew it i was about ready to walk out that door and never look back. the only one who was any help was emily. if i let her get everything she wanted we would have had to pack a container and ship it ourselves. taylor was ok until we got to the pens and pencils. he wants a mechanical pencil. bad. the kid put it on his christmas list. he saw several that he liked and i repeatedly told him that we weren't there for him. he could get a pencil anytime. we were there packing boxes for needy kids. so he mumbes something under his breathe and starts sulking. austin is following us around like a lost puppy and only opens his mouth when he sees the new playstation call of duty game.

for the love of pete!

i left that store so disappointed. and it was as much in myself as it was in them. i made my children that way. i've made them self centered beings who want everything and have no idea how to give to others.

how do i fix that? how do i teach them that it's not all about them?

bangs

2011-11-09T09:22:00.001-07:00

she has wanted them for a long, long time. over a year. probably closer to two. i had lots of excuses as to why i didn't want her to get them. she has a horrific cowlick, bangs actually have to be done, i loved her hair all one length. she continued to beg. i finally had to give in to the poor girl. we made an appointment with skye's cousin and it was set for a saturday afternoon.

this is my scraggly girl before. please note that i had been gone all morning and got home with just enough time to pick her up and get her there. don't judge me.

and this is my precious girl after.

how could i ever have said no tho this? her cowlick is still super crazy and it takes some work to get her bangs to lay down like they should but she just loves them and so do i.

dinner

2011-11-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

a good friend of mine has a great tradition. every sunday night the whole fam damily(as my grandma used to say) gets together for dinner.

i started thinking about my own family and it's lack of togetherness. i lived within fifteen miles of siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles and sometimes we would go months without seeing each other. people were "busy", no one had any time to drop by and see each other so our lives went on solo with no intersection with those that should be closest to us.

i finally decided that it would happen no more. i got together with my mom and aunt and we decided to give family dinners a go. that was over a year ago and we are still going strong. but let me say that it hasn't always been easy. we try to rotate houses but my mom and i have done the majority of them. it's not always easy to feed 25 people every other week or to plan them in the beginning when it's still new and to keep them going when no one wants to host anymore but we have gotten through all of that and grown better for it.

i love the feeling of togetherness. we know what's going on on every one's lives. we laugh, we talk and sometimes we bicker but that is what family is about right? the good, the bad and the ugly. all for one and one for all. we have lost a few people in the process. roc moved back to oklahoma and how i miss having her there each week. jim, theresa and the kids are on their adventure so we don't get to see them like we want to but we know they will be home soon and back in the mix. we gained some too. uncle kelly used to not come at all and now he is one of the biggest supporters. looking back at all the years we were all so distant makes me sad but looking forward to all the years we will have from here on out makes me very, very happy!

dreaming

2011-11-03T13:04:00.000-06:00

i have always loved to travel. go here, see that, then come home. i've noticed lately, though, that it's starting to change. i have the urge to not just leave for a week but to really have a change. i tell rob quite frequently that i would love for him to be transferred for a couple years. and it could be almost anywhere. they have a plant in scotland and i wanted to go so bad that i got online and looked at housing. what fun to know we could leave for a while, have some fun and come home.

i read a few blogs about families living abroad and, i have to admit, i'm a little jealous. i read about their lives in a foreign land. i read about their troubles and hardships. i read about the adventures and the wonderful times they have. i read about the sights they get to see and the things they get to do. italy, germany, china, france. can you imagine? i certainly can. but if that day never comes i guess i will just keep dreaming.

by joe i think we've got it

2011-10-30T21:41:00.000-06:00

taylor has asked us in many years past if he could play basketball. after the career that rob had you'd think we would jump on that band wagon, but we didn't, especially after he started playing football and lacrosse. those two sports take up so much time that i wanted the couple months in between to be uncommitted. this year there were a couple of kids that he plays football and lacrosse with that were playing basketball together too. their team just happened to need a coach. hmmmm. one of the moms talked rob into coaching and within five days of football ending we were back at practice.

it's been a little crazy trying to get the team together because it was so last minute but we finally figured things out and managed to get in three practices before our first game last saturday. i try to watch a little at practice but end up talking to the other parents most of the time so i've never really seen what kind of player taylor is. i wasn't expecting much when rob finally put him to the game.

boy was i wrong.

he is his father's son.

he got out there and went crazy. he was stealing balls, his defense was spectacular and he hit a fade away jumper that was nothing but net. it was unbelievable. whose kid is that?!

and to top it all off i couldn't get my camera to take a decent non blurry picture.

note to self: figure out how to work your camera this week.

taylor has loved football from the moment he started playing but he just isn't aggressive enough. he doesn't have the tough mentality for it. if he sees a kid that's bigger than him it's all over.

he loves lacrosse too. he has the speed you need for that game but sometimes you have to get in there and not only throw some punches but take some as well and he's just not quite there in lacrosse either.

but basketball. basketball fits him. he has the speed and he has the ability. he doesn't have to worry about someone three times his size trying to take him down. he doesn't have to worry about getting whacked with a metal stick. it's just him, a ball and a basket. and i can't wait to see where it takes him.

i love to laugh

2011-10-26T19:01:00.000-06:00

remember that song from mary poppins?

i was singing it the other day. i don't remember how i even got it stuck in my head but i started thinking about how much i love to laugh. it's one of my favorite things. there isn't anything much better than laughing. especially uncontrollable laughter.

i saw a print that said something about "there's nothing better than laughing when you aren't supposed to" and i thought how true that was. it immediately brought me to a situation that took place at church a couple years ago. skye and i were at the saturday service sitting in the second row with no one in front of us. she yawned and a button on her sweater popped off. and i don't just mean the thread came loose.

it. went. flying.

talk about dying.

we tried to control it, we really did. but there was no possible way. pastor jeff probably thought we were being so rude but we couldn't help it. it was pure, uncontrollable, shaking, tears streaming down my cheeks laughter. i spent the next twenty minutes getting myself under control and, just when i thought i was ok, i would think about it and lose it all over again.

those are some of the best times.

done and done

2011-10-24T11:42:00.001-06:00

the boys had a great season this year. they finished the season 5-1-1, including scoring on a team that hasn't been scored on for two years. we were so blessed to get on the team we have been apart of for three years now. i believe whole heartedly that we have the best coaching staff in optimist football. we also have the best parents. i can't wait to watch these boys as they go through middle school and high school. they rock!

coach buss wanted our boys to be noticed this year. hellooooo green socks! the boys loved them and definitely got them a few looks. waiting to see what next year will bring.

a new thing this year was getting to play a scrimmage during half time of the mountain view game. it happened to be on the 'tough enough to wear pink' night so they were decked out. emily had decided that one year of cheer was enough but after this night i'm not so sure. she loved being out on that field cheering.

this is all the coaches and their kids. pretty great group of people.

from day one they have done this cheer. i love hearing them do it. so simple yet so them, so until next season...

raiders! give yourselves a hand!

(clap clap clap!)

RAIDERS!!!

thoughts

2011-10-04T15:55:00.001-06:00

a friend and i went out the other day for lunch and a shopping trip to a new decor store. they have lots and lots of christmas stuff so we went to take a peak. my friend started talking about christmas trees and asking if i put ribbon in my tree. she had no intentions of sounding stuffy but the more she talked about ribbon and birds and color schemes the more i started thinking that i need to put a tree upstairs for all of our current mismatched and hodgepodge ornaments and get a tree for the living room that is themed.

a grown up tree.

a fancy tree.

and then i started thinking about our current ornaments. and how much i love them. you see, those ornaments are not merely random things to hang on a tree. they represent milestones and memories of our little family. they consist of ornaments that rob and i made when we were growing up, ornaments from our travels together and different stages and phases that the kids have been through.

they are snap shots of our lives. pictures that, each year, allow us to take a walk down memory lane.

and they mean the world to me.

so this year when we put up our tree we will once again walk down memory lane and i will, once again, be thankful for those ornaments and the memories that they hold and i will go to bed on christmas eve giddy with happiness that this hodgepodge tree sits in our living room.

ear ache

2011-09-25T11:53:00.001-06:00

a conversation on the way home from football practice.

emily-what does it feel like to have an ear infection?
jen-your ear hurts really bad.
e-oh, ok.
j-why? does your ear hurt?
e-no....my arm does.

goodbye summer

2011-09-23T10:42:00.000-06:00

we didn't get to get up to the lake much this summer but we weren't about to let summer go without giving it a proper send off.

this was the first time emily and taylor had been on a tube. as you can see by their faces they had a blast!

my girl.

i have to tell you the story of the white shorts. we were on the boat and pregnant skye had to go to the bathroom. really bad. we were stopped so marc told her to just get in the water and go. she stands up and pulls off her shorts and marc goes "skye! where are your bottoms?!" she looks down and quickly pulls her shorts back up. turns out she left her bottoms on the dryer at home and only had on her cotton undies and shorts. we'll be laughing about that one for years to come.

i.love.this.picture.

give me an E!

2011-09-22T09:53:00.002-06:00

well there she is. my girl, the cheerleader.

does she love it? no

but she has fun and it keeps her busy during the games.

they look like a bunch of misfits don't they?

so precise in their technique :O)

notice the socks?

they are construction worker yellow.

much brighter in person.

so loud.

it was the coaches idea.

he has a thing with socks.

he wanted the team to be noticed.

they definitely get that job done.

i just love this girl.

my little funnies

2011-09-15T07:31:00.001-06:00

taylor was upset with emily yesterday because she has been telling a girl down the street that taylor likes her. he denies it vehemently. so he was going on yesterday about emily telling abby that he likes her and emily was reading her book at the counter not paying much attention to him. taylor says "emily, i'm going to school tomorrow and telling luke that you love him". without looking up from her book emily says "he already knows".

another year begins

2011-08-30T10:50:00.000-06:00

austin starting 10th grade. i don't know what is up with this child. i cannot seem to get him to take a normal picture. he only did this when i threatened him with death. fetching isn't it.

baby girl is starting 3rd grade this year. how the time flies. she picked out this shirt and has been dying to wear it.

and this guy is starting 6th grade. middle school. he was so nervous even though he is staying at the same school he's gone to since kindergarten. he's a funny kid.

and just like that they are gone.

ha! just kidding. i had to race to the school to catch them before they went in. it's tradition :O)

taylor, emily and hailey

taylor and matt

and we can't forget joel.

emily's special day 8-21-11

2011-08-22T11:54:00.000-06:00

emily decided she wanted to be baptized too. there was one more river baptism this year and that was where she wanted to do it. it was so great to have friends and family share such a momentous occasion with us!

emily and hailey

i was happy that austin came to watch her. even if it was from across the river.

the water was a little cold.

we were happy to have keith baptize her.

kiki got baptized today too!

art

2011-08-20T12:03:00.000-06:00

for the sake of my sanity we had to do an art project today to keep the kids busy. i saw a fun idea on whatever and i figured it looked easy enough for us to give it a try. all you need is a canvas, crayons, a glue gun and a blow dryer. glue the crayons to the canvas, turn the blow dryer on high and watch then crayons melt. you can do as little or as much as you want. this is how tay and em's turned out.

emily wanted hers in a rainbow. we bought two boxes of 64 so she would have enough colors. i glued and she placed her crayons.

taylor went with the random approach.

corn pickin'

2011-08-17T08:56:00.000-06:00

lizzie said she had a lot of sweet corn that was going to go bad if it didn't get picked soon. you don't have to ask me twice. skye and i headed to melba and picked more than our share.

there isn't a whole lot of room to move between rows. and it's a little spooky.

let's talk about the clothes for a minute. we both went out there in shorts. lizzie said that was a bad idea because of the weeds etc. so she offered some pants for us. my wind pants had no lining so those things were sticking to my sweaty legs. skye's preggo belly wouldn't fit in anything of lizzie's so she had to wear dusty's jeans. we looked awesome.

corn, glorious corn. we will be shucking until the middle of next month but it will be so worth it.

my day yesterday

2011-08-14T13:57:00.001-06:00

1. woke up at 7. not by choice.
2. woke emily up at 7:02 for cheer camp. yes, she started cheer leading for taylor's football team this year. no, i'm not thrilled about it. but all the other sisters were doing it so i gave in. peer pressure at its finest.
3. tried to pick out rain boots for steph to order before the deal was up at 8. her computer wasn't working so we missed the deal. next time.

4. read the newspaper with a cup of hot coffee. outside. on the back porch. alone.

5. mowed the lawn. one of my favorite summer activities. provides me instant gratification twice a week.

6. cleaned up the remainder of the dishes from our night of ribs, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries, watermelon, apple pie and peach crisp. taylor's happy birthday dinner.

7. chores done so i can finally have some fun. went to see The Help with alyssa. fabulous book. fabulous movie.

8. movie went longer than i thought which made me late picking up emily. i apologize profusely and friend's mom finally tells me to quit apologizing, it's fine. still feel terrible.

9. go home and rob and i sneak in an episode of 24. yes it's unrealistic. yes it's predictable. yes we make fun of how many times they say 'protocol' and 'do it now!' in every episode but we love it and are hooked and plan on seeing it through to the end.

10. head to the meridian speedway for the eve of destruction with megan, ben, rodger, cole, rich and rykon. and when they say destruction they mean destruction. things were blown up, crushed, burned, pulled, pushed and set on fire. it was awesome. except for the noxious fumes. and the drunk people.

11. home for one more episode of 24. i just can't help myself. and finally sleep. glorious sleep.

my heart is happy!

2011-08-06T13:02:00.000-06:00

my baby. my last born went to kids camp this year.

how can this be?!

she's only 8!

not old enough to be on her own, away from family for such a long time.

but, indeed, she was.

she made the decision to go to camp and nothing was stopping her.

we got to the church and she found kiki.

born only three months apart they now depart on this new adventure together.

checking off their names.

climbing aboard.

she looks heartbroken to be leaving doesn't she?

and then she was off.

with one final wave my girl was gone.

i waited so patiently for friday afternoon to come.

when alyssa saw me she came up and told me that emily wanted to ask jesus in her heart so much but she wanted to wait until she got home.

to do it with me!

my heart melted.

she got off the bus and after many hugs she informed me that she wanted to stop on the way home and get a bible.

she picked out an adorable purple one with a cover to go with it.

we got home and her and i came upstairs.

i talked with her about what it means to be saved to make sure she understood and then we said a prayer together.

and the angels rejoiced!

so proud of my little girl for making the decision to follow christ.

7/31/11 a very special day

2011-08-01T22:37:00.000-06:00

taylor got baptized today!!!

he got out of church and decided that he wanted to do the river baptism.

what made it more special is keith did it.

we started in youth ministry with keith and chrisanna when taylor was 7 months old.

it's all come full circle.

we are so proud of our little man!

out of the mouths of babes

2011-07-22T08:05:00.003-06:00

while leaving sunday...
me-what did you do today?
emily-we were supposed to tell about a problem us or a friend was having.
me-oh yeah? what did you say?
emily-i didn't have anything so i made something up. i told her my friends dog had cancer.
(insert hysterical laughter)

the best yard saleing day ever!

2011-07-18T11:45:00.000-06:00

my mom and i went out last saturday to see if there was anything in this valley we couldn't live without. the main yard sale we wanted, the one that was still on craigslist at 7:00 saturday morning, was not open. it was clear out in caldwell and there was not a soul in sight. we even went up to the door to knock just in case we were there too early and no one answered. totally disappointed we started driving around stopping at all the other sales we saw. this is the small stuff i got.

let me break it down.

an air pot for coffee when we have big family gatherings. it seems like i spend most of the evening making coffee for everyone cause we go through it so fast. this will be perfect. and as soon as i saw those retro flowers i knew it had to be mine. it even has the original tag on the handle.

coffee pot $2

i got these at the youth ranch in nampa. we were driving by and thought we would stop and am i glad we did! we walked in the store and it took about 5 seconds for me to see them on the back wall. i told my mom i would be right back and took off after them. mandi says it's ok to hoard lamps :O)

2 vintage lamps $10.50

i also got this at the youth ranch. and wouldn't you know it was right by those beautiful lamps. i saw it and made the decision in about two minutes to get it. it's a dresser with three drawers on each side when you open the doors. the left side of it needs some work on the drawers but for the price it will be so worth it. i usually don't by furniture at the youth ranch cause they tend to be pricey but this beauty was a steal. it also came with two full length mirrors. i plan to paint one for emily's room and sell the other.

vintage dresser with mirrors $18.50

and this is what i plan to do with it. i am in love with the mirrors on the front.

we found these half gallon jars at a sale we were just going to drive by.

3-1/2 gallon mason jars $5

i have been searching for one of these and only out of sheer luck did i find this one. i saw the house of smith's post on halloween decorating and i loved how she used hers.

wooden bowl 25 cents

this was another one of those yard sales that we weren't going to stop but my mom hates to just drive by so we got out and looked around. i saw this and knew it had to be mine. when i saw the price i thought it must be wrong. the lady said her mom died a few years ago and she didn't have room to keep all of her stuff so she just wanted it gone. what am i going to do with it? i have no idea.

vintage stereo cabinet $5

i also got a brand new 8x8 scrapbook for an album i am doing for rob's grandma for 75 cents so my whole day of shopping, which included two large pieces of furniture, came to a whopping $42! so happy!

camping

2011-07-11T12:19:00.001-06:00

things i want to remember about our camping weekend

*boating*s'mores*setting up our tent in the rain*old friends*stepping over a snake and not even knowing it*hot springs*sitting 'round the campfire*laughing*kids playing*sunshine*all girls boat ride*all girl boat ride that ended with towing a broken down boat to shore*cold nights*dirt biking*geocaching*the dock*pineapple upside down cake*the beautiful idaho mountains*skipping rocks*catching up*the clear sky at midnight*

we had a great weekend camping at anderson ranch with the hamilton's, the duggan's and matt and brindee burchfield. i forgot to take many pictures but these are a few times i managed to remember.

last day of school

2011-06-17T12:53:00.000-06:00

the last day of school for taylor and emily always includes the school talent show, yearbook signing, picnic lunches and saying goodbye to friends.

this is taylor's best friend, joel. they are a hoot together. for the talent show joel memorized the napoleon dynamite dance and did the whole thing. it was awesome!

these are emily's good friends maggie and kelsi. aren't they cute?

miss parham was emily's third teacher this year. yes, you heard right. her teacher, miss beck, had health problems and hoped to be back before school. she was there at the meet and greet before school started but so was mrs. elwood. she would be their teacher until miss beck made it back. before we knew it december was here and we were told that mrs. elwood only agreed to sub til christmas break meaning that the kids would be getting another teacher mid year. in came miss parham and emily was so happy. she was young, full of energy and the kids loved her. Emily loved her so much that the last two mornings of school she cried cause she wouldn't be able to see her anymore.

miss chetwood was taylor's teacher. she is the one that wrote the great things about taylor a few months back. he absolutely loved her. she was just the type of teacher a fifth grader needs. she's young, fun, gets along so well with the kids and they all adored her. taylor is really going to hate not having her next year.

her first show

2011-06-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

i love the theater. love it. i wish i had had the opportunity to go when i was young. i want to foster a love for the theater for my little one so rob and i took her to her first show last night. she loves the mamma mia movie so we thought it would be the perfect first show.

she didn't know where she was going only that we had a surprise for her. we started with a nice dinner at cottonwood grill. it was a huge relief when she realized that the restaurant was not her surprise. she couldn't get over how nice it was. guess we need to venture to places besides red robin and wendy's. you should have heard her in the bathroom. "i bet they don't get any spiders in here cause they keep it so clean. the tiles are clean, the walls are clean..."

we got to the morrison center and she still had no idea what was going on. i pointed her in the direction of the souvenir booth and she finally got it. she was so excited!

she smiled and sang her way through the entire show. the night was a huge success. in her words "that was really cool!".

special somethings

2011-06-10T12:55:00.000-06:00

my mom, aunt and i went to an antique store the other day and i found this and fell in love with it. i know it will be a long long long long looooong time until we have any but i just couldn't pass it up for a future granddaughter.

for my birthday my mom and aunt made me a quilt out of emily's baby clothes. the whole top, minus the borders are her clothes. i saved them in hopes that someday my aunt would do this and they finally did. isn't it beautiful?!?! and so full of memories from my baby girl.

this pink and white striped was from a long sleeved onesie she had. it had a pink fleece lined jean dress that went with it. i have a picture of her in it from the first time she climbed out stairs on a sunday afternoon.

the purple flowers are from the outfit she wore home from the hospital. we got it on vacation at the oregon coast and, even though it was newborn, was a mile too big for her.

the striped fabric is from a pair of leggings that she wore quite a bit. i loved seeing her chunky legs in those things! the fish are from one of the umpteen summer outfits i bought at the carter's outlet for $5.

what a difference 9 months makes

2011-06-10T12:41:00.000-06:00

Our lives right now

2011-06-01T15:04:00.001-06:00

hectic i tell you!but things are finally slowing down. thankfully.
happenings in the past month:

**we finished our last lacrosse games. they were exciting too! playoffs always are since there is so much more involved. austin's team won their first game then lost in overtime to centennial. taylor's team also won their first game in overtime but the real joy came with taylor making that winning shot! it was his first goal of the season and he was so proud. unfortunately they lost in the second game.

**we learned my aunt is moving back to oklahoma. i am sad at the thought of not having her here all the time but i know her heart is there. we will sure miss her though!

**we have been preparing for my brother's family to depart for a year as well. they are following their dreams of travelling the country and they leave june 16th. what an adventure!

** rob took me to see wicked for mother's day. what a surprise!!! we started with lunch at the cottonwood grill then went on a 'walk' which just happened to go by the morrison center. it was everything that i thought it would be. absolutely fantastic! i can't wait to see it again!

**our family tried to take a memorial day camping trip but, unfortunately, got rained/snowed out after the first day and had to come back early. rob picked a beautiful spot up by prairie that we will have to try again. maybe. the road getting there was a little scary.

**i was making bundt cakes for a ladies thing at church. emily was asking what it was for, and then could she go. i told her she couldn't and she said "why not? i'm a woman!"

**mr. smith turned 34. our lives have been so crazy that we haven't even had time to celebrate. poor guy. we will take care of that on friday.

** we started watching 24. we hurry and put the kids to bed and try to squeeze in a couple episodes every night. it's so hard to stop. my favorite nights are the ones when we can watch three or four episodes at a time. so thankful for netflix so we can watch whenever we want :O)

now we are just waiting for school to be out and summer to be ushered in. i am more than ready to spend less time making lunches and more time swimming, staying up late, sleeping in and barbecuing. come on warm weather!!!

Isn't he precious?

2011-05-09T09:26:00.001-06:00

my brother, that it.

this is what he gave me for mother's day. gave me a good chuckle.

let me give you the back story.

gaither scripture tea:

my parents love the gaither's.

love them.

they have every vhs and dvd that has ever been made by them.

every darn one.

my brother and i don't particularly care for that style of music so we always joke about who gets all the gaither music when our parents go to meet the good lord.

this is why i got the promise tea with "inspiring gaither lyrics on each tag to set your spirit singing".

orange tootsie pops:

when we were young, maybe 10 and 13, we went on a family vacation to mt. rushmore.

my parents bought a huge box of tootsie pops at costco before we left home and leaving that great mountain i was ready for a tootsie pop.

a chocolate tootsie pop because they are my favorite.

my brother, however, knew i hated the orange ones and would not give me any other color besides orange.

my parents got tired of me squawking about the suckers and told me to eat the orange or do without.

i did without.

and to this day we joke about the orange tootsie pops.

so again i say...isn't he precious?

mtn. view lacrosse

2011-05-03T17:27:00.000-06:00

We have so enjoyed watching austin play for mountain view this year. he went from not knowing how to play at all last year to mastering it and becoming so much more aggressive this year. he has worked hard to get his share of playing time and gets better each game.

The Almost Forgotten Argentina Posts: Part Six

2011-04-29T10:04:00.000-06:00

Today is a random post about Argentina. Enjoy!

The Asado

An asado is a huge barbecue. And boy do they love their barbecues. They look for any excuse to gather together and eat meat. They raved and raved about how good it would be so we were all excited. I am pretty picky about my meat but was willing to give it a try.

Along with the beef we regularly eat, they also include the innards consisting of spleen, intestines and blood sausage. What is blood sausage you ask? The cow's blood and spices poured into a casing and left to coagulate. Mmmmm.

I made myself try one thing. The spleen. And it was nasty. The end.

Regular sausage and blood sausage. It looks harmless enough but I wasn't about to try it.

Here are some pictures we took in the square. It was a beautiful day!

This is Martin(marteeeeen). He was fabulous! So full of life and personality. And he can do a spot on impression of just about anyone he meets. It's so awesome to watch. He needed a new Bible so we all pitched in and bought him one before we left.

He is doing an impression of Lauren here. "And, like, I don't know, like, which shoes to buy."

Priceless.

Breakfast. These little babies were our morning meal everyday we were here. And let me make clear that the yellow stuff is not lemon, nosireee, it is creamy custard and oh so good. Bye bye diet, hello pastries!

The girls and I went for coffee one night and on the way home decided to try a couple pictures in the park. At night. By ourselves. Jumping pictures no less.

These were our sleeping quarters. Close sleeping quarters. Ten air mattresses crammed into this tiny room. There were also four or five more on the other side of the wall. We were sardined like I've never been sardined before.

Next to Melissa's bed was the door. If I had a dollar for every time she was hit in the butt with that thing. The door was thin, metal and stuck at the top so every time it was opened it made a super loud noise which was really great at night when we had our potty parade. One of us would get up to go to the bathroom and within five minutes we had all been up to go. Laurel, Skye, Melissa and me. Not necessarily in that order.

One of our coffee/smoothie runs.

Handsome Rob. Name that movie.

One last group photo the night before we left.

It seems every foreign country has a sign they like to do in pictures. This is Argentina's.

One more picture of the cute Martin.

i can't believe i'm doing this

2011-04-22T13:43:00.000-06:00

before you go any further, if you have issues with messes, an aversion to clutter or are just plain ol' judgmental you might want to skip this post.

i also want to say that i really really really can't believe i am putting this out for people to see but if it gets me this

then i am totally fine with it.

if it doesn't bring her to me then hopefully the shame of people seeing my bonus room like this will get my butt it gear.

seriously folks, you have no idea what you are about to witness.

i also must put up a disclaimer that the rest of my house does not look like this.

i have been reading mandi's blog for a while now and i love her thrifty, chic style. it's what my house would look like if we were best friends and i could buy cute stuff and let her fix it, paint it and place it for me.

unfortunately that isn't the case.

but fortunately she is doing this fantabulous makeover contest.

and soon you will know just how bad i need this thing.

are you ready?

OK, here goes.

this...

this is my bonus room.

(please take a look while i hide under my desk)

to start the tour if you look to your right we have the sewing/ironing/fabric craft portion of the room. to answer your question...YES, it is almost impossible to do any crafting here.

directly opposite we have the computer/scrapbook/ebay/garage sale pile/library portion.

straight ahead we have the entertainment area. pretty entertaining isn't it?

and to complete our tour we have a full view of the scrapbook/bathroom/where the heck is the door to get me out of this pit portion on our lovely bonus room. don't you just love the fan pull?

me either.

and that, my friends, completes the tour of our overcrowded, overstuffed, underused because of the above pictures room.

please mandi! please please please pull me out of my pit!

it's offical!

2011-04-12T17:28:00.000-06:00

the magnolia doesn't lie...it is officially spring! just look at those blooms. there's no way they could be wrong.

tis the season

2011-04-09T09:01:00.001-06:00

lacrosse is in full swing at our house. it is the time of year where six days a week are immersed in lacrosse and we eat things like fish sticks and pizza for dinner cause we don't get home til 7:30 but we love it. these are from taylor's game last week. austin's first official game is today. woohoo!

a gardener and his sidekick

2011-04-06T12:41:00.000-06:00

rob is an outdoorsman. anytime he can be in the yard doing something is a happy time. he has put countless hours into our yard since we moved in here.

she is just like him. she has always preferred being outside. playing, riding bikes and, yes, working in the yard.

rob wanted to start most of our garden from seed this year so about four weeks ago he got his seedling kit, all the seeds and they planted. now they all look like this so it was time to transplant.

she loves to get out with her daddy and get her hands dirty. she spent most of the evening filling pots with dirt, transplanting the veggies and writing what it was on the pot in her own little abbreviated form.

this year we are doing:

butternut squash

jalapenos

onions

potatoes

asparagus

carrots

garlic

watermelon

cantaloupe

cilantro

strawberries

lettuce

cucumbers

broccoli

corn

pumpkins and

zucchini

we think that's it. we may add more if there's room.

we also needed a new composter. we have a wooden box that rob built a couple years ago but it isn't the same. she left her friends house to come home and help put it together. so sweet.

a mini makeover

2011-04-05T10:42:00.001-06:00

i have been wanting to redo emily's room for a while now. i had a bunch of great stuff i've bought over the last year, i just don't have the decorating skills to put it all together. i was not in the mood to paint so i kept the color and skye came over and put it together. emily loves it!
here are the before pictures

that little thing hanging on the wall is a piece of pottery that she made at school. there was a nail there so she hung it above her bed to put a necklace in.

and here are the after pictures. it is amazing what rearranging things does. we added a mirror that makes the room look twice as big. pay no attention to the missing drawer...

i have to get some sticky tack to put the rest of the letters on the fence for em's name. and i happened to find a sewing table redo today so i will be doing that this week.

i just love it. it looks so much bigger the way it is now. it's so nice to get someone with a fresh perspective to change things up a bit.

The Almost Forgotten Argentina Posts: Part Five

2011-04-04T09:12:00.001-06:00

I love old stuff. Love it. So I loved Argentina. The cathedrals and the buildings were all so beautiful to look at. These were some of my favorite architectural things from Cordoba.

This is a silhouette of a building. Most of the buildings in the square had these in front of them. It was a cool little detail.

I fell in love with the doors here. They were all really tall, maybe nine feet tall, and super skinny. I also loved that the doors to houses were right on the street. There would be a couple shops and a few houses then more shops. My favorite thing to do was walk at night and try to peak in the windows. There were some absolutely beautiful homes.

This is the ceiling in the foyer of the church. I loved that the plaster had fallen off and allowed the old bricks to show through. The building that houses the church is over 100 years old.

This is the world's skinniest building. I would have loved to take a peak inside of it.

The Almost Forgotten Argentina Posts: Part Four

2011-03-24T10:16:00.000-06:00

The biggest project of our trip was building a half pipe. The kids love to skate and what better way to draw them in? Obviously we didn't come with professional carpenters but we had hammers, lots of nails, a saw, blueprints and several willing bodies and that's all it takes right?

We did lots of measuring...

hammering...

and drilling...

and two days later had some semblance of a half pipe.

We only had one sheet of plywood on at this point. This was right before Sasha put a hole in it with his heel.

Did I tell you it was cold here? I had five layers and a scarf on at this point and was trying to attract some of the sun to warm myself.

More sawing...

sweeping...

hammering...

painting(courtesy of Chelsey)...

and it is finally done. Four days work to get to this night. The youth outreach that was the main reason for going to Argentina. And every single frustration, speck of sawdust in the eye and hammer to the thumb was worth it.

Attempt number two went much better.

The Almost Forgotten Argentina Posts: Part Three

2011-03-22T14:06:00.002-06:00

Today started our first day of work. And, believe me, there was more than enough work to go around. These lovely ladies got to cut and staple invitations for the Saturday night outreach. Don't worry girls...only 5000 to go.

There was a lot of cleaning and de-junking too. This whole area had to be cleaned out so the new basketball hoops and skate ramp could be stored. It may not look like much but it took a lot of time and people it took to get this area in ship shape. There was a lot of junk stacked and hidden in there.

Rob, Skye, Aaron, Brady and I took on this project. There is an area like this on both sides of the church, more specifically on either side of the platform. They had the glass doors covered with paper and drapes so the congregation didn't have to look at this while at church. We decided it might as well be cleaned out so we got started. Among the things rearranged and removed from this area:

*a rusty rotting bathtub filled with years old rain water and soggy rotten junk

*tons(literally) of tile

*wood

*shutters and doors(which I would've given my eye teeth for)

*spiders

*cement and sand bags

*glass

*metal

An interesting fact about Argentina is people are not the least bit proud to go dumpster diving. There were always men out front waiting to see what we would bring out. We would fill it up and, ten minutes later when we headed out with another load, the dumpster would be almost empty. That rusty bathtub? Yep, gone.

It took some elbow grease and a lot of work but when we were done it looked like this.

Jeff Geer tried to fix this copier. Just when he thought he was done...it caught on fire :O)

Some people washed walls and painted.

This is the other side of the platform. Not nearly as bad as the other but still in need of some work.

Much better.

Work projects are always hard and not always fun but I feel like we've left our mark on a place when we get in and get our hands dirty. Definitely one of my favorite parts of missions work.

Happy St. Patty's Day

2011-03-19T11:15:00.001-06:00

I was planning on skipping the green meal this year. Both boys had practice til 7:15 and it made more sense to do something quick than to make a big ordeal out of the day. Emily didn't see it that way, it is St. Patrick's Day which means we eat a green meal.
Totally unprepared we headed to the store after dropping the boys off at practice. Wandering around the store we came up with this meal.

Green tea and chipotle lime tilapia(not exactly green but there were green flecks of cilantro so it did the trick).

Cucumbers, roasted asparagus and broccoli and french bread with green butter.

Chocolate cake with green frosting for dessert. Looks scrumptious doesn't it?

I am so happy that the kids love our traditions and they aren't just something that I get a kick out of doing. Anytime I try to skip something at least one of them makes sure that I do right and, in the end, I am always glad they set me straight.

The Almost Forgotten Argentina Posts: Part Two

2011-03-18T11:06:00.000-06:00

The group ventured to La Cumbrecita today. It's a small German town nestled in the hills of Argentina about a two hour bus ride from Cordoba. Obviously we are in South America but we got to this village and you would have thought we were in Germany somewhere. There don't allow many cars in town so we had to walk down from the main road and walked into this.

We walked about a mile or so and came upon this waterfall. We didn't ahve a lot of time so we hung out here and took in the beautiful scenery. If I didn't know better I would have thought we were back in Idaho.

They had to reinact a picture they took many moons ago.

We ate lunch at a restaurant in the village. We had an amazing panoramic view from high on a hill and great company to share it with. One thing I learned pretty quickly is the food in Argentina is unbelievable!

They brought out the appetizers and they didn't look that great. Looks can be deceiving. One appetizer was sliced potatoes with a cream sauce and the other was like a potato soup with bacon and cheese rolled in a ball and deep fried. Holy smokes! I thought the four of us were going to come to blows trying to get every last morsel off the plates.

Then they brought out dessert. A crepe filled with dulce de leche and ice cream. I may or may not have licked the plate clean.

After lunch and a hike back to the bus we made the trek to another settlement. This one was an actual town. Big and touristy. But we were told they have the best apple streudel and best hot chocolate anywhere. We walked around and shopped for a an hour or so and then stopped in for an 'el submarino'. They take hot milk and sink a chocolate bar(the submarine) and let it melt. It is the richest, most decadent drink I have ever had. Pure joy.

The Almost Forgotten Argentina Posts: Part One

2011-03-16T10:11:00.000-06:00

I realized the other day, when I was printing my blog, that I never posted about Argentina.I almost decided not to but since it was a big part of our year I wanted to have the memories written down.
When the Argentina trip was announced we immediately knew that we wanted to go. Argentina, and more specifically Cordoba, is where Sasha Rasmussen moved to be a missionary. We thought this was a great opportunity to, not only see another country and do missions work, but do it in the place that we have heard Sasha talk so passionately about.
We left June 10th.

We took off bright and early and flew the usual route through L.A. then onto Santiago, Chile where we would have a six hour layover. We landed there at midnight and didn't leave til 6 in the morning. We thought it would be easy to sleep until we got off the plane and found out pretty quickly that south Americans don't use heaters. It was so cold. People walking through the airport had on huge jackets and scarves. That would have been nice to know before we left home. Skye and I were trying to get warm enough to sleep. I didn't get very much between being cold and the overhead announcements every few minutes.

We made it through the night and got into Cordoba about noon. Mostly the first day was orientation, getting sleeping arrangements taken care of and taking a very long walk around the city showing us the main plaza, the market, several cathedrals etc. It was great to see the city but after all the traveling we did we were all ready to be in bed.

The cathedral at Plaza San Martin. It was beautiful!

The next day was the first game Argentina had in the World Cup. It was also our first big outreach event. There are many differences between our country and other countries but one of the biggest I noticed in Argentina was their affinity with soccer. When this game started Cordoba became a ghost town. Stores closed and the streets were deserted. It was a little creepy. But when a goal was scored it came to life. Singing, cheering, dancing, canons going off. It was insane. They do love their soccer.

We also tried Mate tea. This is a social drink. Argentinians are very close. One person brews the mate in a special cup and they pass it around to all their friends and share it. One cup, one straw, many people. I tried it and did not enjoy it. It must be an acquired taste.

These are a couple of the girls that go to the church. They loved practicing their English with us.

After the game was over, we had eaten dinner and most of the students left, which was very late, Sasha and Chechu took us to Grido Helado, an ice cream place a couple blocks away. Oh. My. Word. This stuff was like heaven in a cup. And it was only 75 cents for a cone which is probably why we ended up here almost every day slurping down ice cream. My favorite was the white chocolate.

Ice cream should always make you this happy!

what i like to hear

2011-03-13T15:04:00.002-06:00

In the comment of Taylor's report card...

What would I do without Taylor in my class?! He makes me laugh every day and brings a smile to my face. Taylor is such a fun loving, genuine person. He works hard and takes pride in everything he accomplishes. He has had another successful trimester academically. Taylor is a team player and gets along well with others. He is a true friend and is willing to lend a helping hand to others. I am so proud of Taylor in all he has done this year. Keep it up!

Made my heart smile.

Say what?!

2011-03-10T11:21:00.001-07:00

I get an email from my mom the other morning asking if I had gotten rid of my blog.
Ummmm no. What a weird question.
Then I went to my blog and all I see is "This blog has been removed..."
What?! Where did it go?
I didn't do anything to it.
I just looked at it yesterday and it was fine.
Then the panic set in.
Where are all my posts?
The yearS of documenting our lives were just gone.
I tried to contact google but all they do is send you to a glorified chat room to ask your question and hope you get an answer.
The answers I was getting as I read through the list were not making me feel any better.
**You have to appeal blogger.
**Only about 50% of blogs get restored.
**Most are deleted permanently.
My heart was sinking faster and faster.
When I tried to log in it said there had been some suspicious activity in my account.
"Give us your cell phone number, we will send you a code, enter it and your blog will be restored".
Badda bing badda boom done.
Only it still wasn't there.
I had to get the kids up for school and I tried not to think about it for the next hour.
As soon as they left I was back on the computer and...
Tada!
It was back!
Guess what I did that day?
I went to Blog2Print and printed all three years.
In case you didn't know, you can pay $7.95 and get the pdf file sent to you and you can print it yourself instead of paying $50 for a ready made book.
And now I am at peace knowing that my blog will be around for years to come.

Reflections

2011-03-09T12:05:00.001-07:00

Do you think your kitchen is a perfect reflection of what's going on in your life?

I do.

Our lives have gotten a little out of hand lately.

Two boys going to two different places to practice.

Time and score keeping clinics.

Homework.

Chores.

Team manager meetings.

Kids all home by 4.

All of us out of the house by 5.

Back home by 7:30.

Or so.

Then dinner.

Showers.

Make lunches.

Get kids to bed.

Crash in to bed myself.

The kitchen?

It's fine til tomorrow...

Stuff

2011-03-03T14:59:00.001-07:00

**lacrosse is in full swing starting tonight. austin has a game at 5:30 and taylor has a team meeting at the same time. welcome to life with two kids in sports.

**rodger had surgery to remove his prostate yesterday. we went and saw him last night and he was doing reasonably well considering he had been cut open only a few hours before. we are so thankful that the cancer hadn't spread.

**i got sucked into 'the bachelor' this season. i'm not sure how it happened, all i know is that i have spent the last two days getting caught up. pathetic.

**we've all adjusted nicely to kya being gone. sadie went through a period of depression where she wouldn't eat or drink and she would just lay around. now that she is inside all the time and getting more attention than she knows what to do with i sometimes wonder if she's thinking "kya who?".

**i was going back through some old pictures today. these caught my eye and have me wondering where the time goes.

austin and tay at the fair

my mom bought this dress for the baby of a friend of mine. i didn't know if we would have any more kids but i asked her to keep it in case i had a girl...

austin at about seven months old

taylor was always a ham

emily grace...must have been about 18 months here

my boy. doesn't like to have his picture taken very often but i'm sure glad he took this one of himself.

taylor at the water park. we used to spend most of our summers there.

Done

2011-03-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

I am finally done with this quilt. Not that it was complicated by any means, more like I finally took the time to get it done. I love it. It's just big enough to curl up on the couch in. And the best part? It has minky on the back so it's super soft, just perfect for a cold night.

Steve and Laura

2011-02-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

This is Rob's cousin and his wife. Also known as Steve and Laura.

And this is us.

Rob and Steve have known each other for a long time. Actually their whole lives. We knew of them and would see them here and there at family functions but that was about it. Then around Christmas we were all at Rich and Steph's and decided we needed to get together just us adults. No kids.

We set a date to to hang out at Steve and Laura's and wouldn't you know...Rich and Steph couldn't find a babysitter. Rob and I had never hung out with S&L on our own and wondered if we should cancel and do it another night when we all could be there, because sometimes it's nice to have a buffer. We finally decided that S&L couldn't be all that bad so we kept our plans and made one of the best decisions of our lives. We spent that Saturday night and every Saturday night for the next six weeks with S&L. We watched football together, we played Rockband, we ate, we played Rockband, we laughed, Rob helped put together baby furniture, we played Rockband, we went shopping, we went to dinner and we played just a little more Rockband.

We have had the best time hanging out with these two(soon to be three!) and we are so happy that a couple months ago we took the leap and found out what great friends they are!

This is our night at Chandlers. Great food and great company!

Love Day

2011-02-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

These were Emily and Taylor's valentines this year. I loved them!

We have traditions in our house that we stick to for certain holidays. Two of ours for Valentine's Day are heart shaped pizza and red drinks with whipped cream and sprinkles. I have been really watching what we eat(no more boxed, ready made stuff) so I made our pizzas. For Rob and I it was caramelized onion and prosciutto pizza. A little olive oil, salt and Parmesan on the crust, mozzarella, caramelized onion and prosciutto on top. Super yummy!

For the kids it was pepperoni and olive. I didn't use pizza sauce, I used crushed tomatoes, olive oil and salt, turkey pepperoni, colby jack cheese and olives. And they devoured it.

For the drinks we did 100% juice(apple raspberry) and heavy cream that I whipped. And salad of course.

I did do valentine peeps, which I will never do again cause they were hard and gross, and conversation hearts because what valentine's day is complete without conversation hearts?

It was a great evening spent with the loves of my life.

The Great Comb Disaster of 2010

2011-02-09T11:13:00.001-07:00

We had a meeting to go to so Terry came over to watch the kids. After she left I went to tuck Emily in and turn off her light and I noticed this:

Is that a comb in her hair?! I looked closer.

Yep! The girl had, apparently, started playing with a comb after she was in bed, got it stuck, couldn't get it out and went to sleep. Being a rat tail comb I didn't want to leave it in and have her poke herself in the night so the process of untangling it begun. I thought it would be fairly simple. Boy was I wrong! I'm not sure what she did but that comb was good and stuck. First Rob tried to do it without waking her up. That worked for a few minutes but all that tugging didn't go unnoticed by our girl.

How she got her hair wrapped around the comb like this I will never know.

Before long we had her in our bed and Rob was bending the comb and pulling her poor hair trying to get it out. I just knew we were going to have to cut it out. She was so tired that she kept telling us to cut it so she could go back to bed.

He was able to break the comb in a few spots and get the hair off. It was a slow process but it was working.

We even managed to get a few smiles out of her.

An hour and many pieces later the comb was finally out. It took another half hour and a whole lot of de-tangler to get the tangles out. Lesson learned...hopefully.

If it was the right thing to do...

2011-02-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

...then why do i feel so bad?

We sold Kya last night. This is one of the pictures we used to list her.

She looks so sweet and innocent doesn't she?

Then I think of all the H-E-double hockey sticks she put me through in the last two and half years.
-ripped my favorite mother's day swing to shreds.
-chewed the siding on the house.
-dug huge holes in the yard.
-killed three of our neighbors chickens.
-barks every time I go into the garage.
The list could go on and on.

But then I think of the times that she didn't bother me.
-When we go camping and she wears herself out running all day and we find her curled up on our air mattress by 7:00.
-After she had been hunting with Rob and she was tuckered out and so calm.
Yep, that's about it.

I had talked about getting rid of her for a long time. After the chicken incident I was done. She was a good dog but far too hyper to be couped up in our back yard all the time. We didn't have the time, or the motivation to get her out like she needed every day to run all that energy off. I talked to Rob about it a couple of times, pled my case and he finally agreed that the eight days of hunting he does a year did not necessitate having a dog the other 357 days.

I took some pictures of her and put them online. Because it wasn't necessary that we sell her we were going to be really picky about who we let take her. She needs lots of attention and even more room to run so that was very important in anyone that wanted to look at her. We didn't get any calls on her the first couple weeks and I was starting to think we may have her forever. Then we had a call from a guy in HOmedale. He wanted to come see her but didn't know when he could get out here. Great. The next day we received another call. He lived on a farm outside of Ontario. Sounded like a good fit on the phone so he said he would come by at 6:30. Turns out he has 160 acres between Ontario and Vale and he had a German short hair for 12 years and just had to put him down three weeks ago. He said he's always had 2 or 3 dogs running around and didn't know what to do without a dog around. He saw Kya for about 15 minutes and said he wanted her.

We let the kids say goodbye and it was downhill from there. Emily and Tay were crying and before long Rob started in too. I started to think that maybe my decision to get rid of her was selfish and, maybe I hadn't really thought of what it might mean to everyone else. I felt terrible. If it was the right thing to do then why did I feel so bad? I started talking to Taylor and was explaining that even though it's hard to say goodbye Kya was going to be so much happier where she can run and be free. She can chase birds, chase the tractor and run until she can run no more. In the end I knew we had done the right thing but, I've learned, the right thing isn't always the easy thing.

Signs of Life

2011-02-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

I was walking around the house today and a little frustrated at the amount of stuff that was all over. Then I started to think of them as signs of life. Sure it would be nice if the house was picked up all the time but I kind of like seeing the signs that people actually live here. Signs like:

Austin's clothes piled on the floor of the bathroom. I have to ask him to pick them up almost

every. single. afternoon.

Emily's line of shoes along with her backpack and coat by the front door.

This mountain of animals that she piled up sometime AFTER she went to bed.

Her shower buddies. A place for everyone and everyone in its place.

The sports page left by the heater. Taylor sits here every day and reads the sports page while he warms up in the morning.

My dry erase board that Emily likes to draw notes on. She wrote the first line, I wrote the second and she wrote the third.

Austin's forms for lacrosse.

Taylor's football that is almost never out of his sight.

Now, I've got crayons rolling around in the floorboard of my car

Bicycles all over my driveway, bats and balls all over my yard

And there's a plastic man from outer space sitting in my chair

The signs of life are everywhere

-Steven Curtis Chapman

Winter Carnival

2011-02-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

Marc and Skye invited us to the Winter Carnival in McCall this past weekend. I hadn't been in years.

And by years I mean Y-E-A-R-S. Let's see...wavy hair, glasses...yep it was junior high last time I made my way to the Carnival. We gladly accepted and packed up Emily and Tay, Austin had an overnighter the previous night so he was home sawing logs, and headed north.

After getting out of the car the kids noticed some friends wandering around. And they weren't the least bit afraid of us. This one was actually, ever so slowly, walking towards the kids. I got the picture and then made them retreat to a safer locale.

We started to walk into town and noticed that somehow we had taken the same route as the parade was going. Hellooooo McCall!!

This was the actual beginning of the parade. Can you believe all the people?! I don't think I have ever seen that many people in McCall at one time. The parade was fun and full of candy and mardi gras beads being thrown.

We were completely unprepared and had no idea where all of the sculptures were. We ended up only seeing five the whole day.

Aren't we a hodge podge mess...

The bathroom makeover

2011-01-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

Remember this? What was I thinking? What was going through my head when I thought this would be a good color for the bathroom?

I never loved the color but figured I had painted it so we were going to live with it for a while. Finally on Sunday I had had enough. I walked by the bathroom and immediately went and asked Rob if he wanted to get paint. I came home and started right in...even though I still had my church clothes on. I was done people! I worked most of the day Monday and got it all done and I am still in shock over the difference. Wanna see?

Drumroll please...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The coconut

2011-01-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

Emily likes to try new things when we go to the store so last week when her eyes locked on a coconut we bought one and brought it home so we could try the fresh stuff.

We got our tools together and I started pounding.

More than anything the kids wanted to drink the coconut water. It has to be good right? They sell it in bulk at Costco so I figured how bad could it be? I got enough of a hole that I could pour it into a cup. Taylor tried, then Rob and then Emily and they all agreed...

...it was gross! Now if I were on a deserted island and I needed water then I would have no problems drinking it but round these parts, where we have good ol' tap water, I think we will be leaving the coconut water to the castaways.

I finally got it open and it was so pretty. We started digging into it to eat it and, well, living your whole life thinking that coconut comes in a bag with the words "shredded" and "sweetened" on the label doesn't really prepare you for the real thing. It wasn't for us but at least we tried.

no idle hands here

2011-01-18T11:15:00.001-07:00

I have been a busy little bee the last couple of weeks making fun projects. The first one is a heart wreath. It was so easy and I just love it!

The second is a Christmas ball wreath. I found it on Meg's blog and as soon as I saw it knew I would have one by next year. I went to Goodwill and they had all of their ornaments 50% off so I stacked my cart high, ridiculously high, cleaning them out of ornaments. I got 17 boxes of ornaments for $12. This was mid process. It took a loooooong time to finish it. Like 6 hours long but it was totally worth it.

I absolutely love this one too!

And last bug not least I made a caddy for my sewing machine to put scissors, rulers etc in so I don't have to go searching for them when I need something.

Christmas

2011-01-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve started with the service at church followed by looking at lights. This tradition is 15 years strong now! We decided to go to Hidden Springs for lights this year. The lights weren't that great but the houses...if I can't live on the east coast then I should at least be able to live here. The mercantile, the service station, the post office, the houses. I can't stand it! Rob had to wipe up a puddle of drool by the time we left. After our tour we went back to Rodger and Terry's for food. Lots and lots of food.

Before we left Steph pulled up the Santa tracker so the kids could see how close he was. They were mesmerized and so excited. We've never pushed Santa a whole lot at our house but watching that made even me want to believe.

Emily wanted to leave cookies and milk out for Santa so we let her. Rob needed a bedtime snack anyway.

Taylor and Emily wanted to sleep together upstairs. She fell fast asleep.

Taylor not so much. It was after midnight before he was out.

Christmas morning. Yes we took another picture but Emily's eyes were closed in that one too. We had fun being together opening our presents and spending time together. We were spoiled with lots of things but we remember the real reason for celebrating.

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Emily is 8!!!

2011-01-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

My baby girl turned 8 a few weeks back. Man how the time has flown! And just like any 8 year old should, she got everything she wanted.

This is the ipod cake that she wanted her Daddy to make. Not sure why an ipod and not sure why he had to make it but he did. All by himself.

She received a diary(with a lock to keep snoopy brothers out), a pink ipod and tons of gift cards(which she wanted so she could go shopping herself), among other things. She was spoiled! And we wouldn't have it any other way.

My Girl

2011-01-04T15:01:00.000-07:00

I was looking at this girl yesterday and she looked so old. Where did my baby go? My baby girl that I would rock to sleep for her afternoon nap just cause I could. And when I was being really bad would hold her for the entire thing too. Gone are the diapers and the binkys and the baby talk. Gone are the chubby cheeks and little girl curls. I am grateful that we aren't at that stage most of the time but sometimes I long for those days when she drank from a sippy cup and watched Monsters Inc five times a day. She is growing up and that is OK. I am just happy that I can witness it. Here are a few photos of Miss Personality.

She did a comb over on her own and when I went to take the picture she gives me this.

We got rock band for Christmas and she LoVeS to belt out the tunes. Even the ones she doesn't know which is particularly fun for us.

I try to put her hair up at night so it isn't ratted in the morning. She got a kick out of this night 'do.

Captured this one this morning. Still half asleep and not ready to get up for school. I wanted to crawl in bed with her and let her sleep an hour longer.

Trying to teach herself to braid.

Shopping!!!

2010-12-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

As if there isn't enough shopping going on for Christmas we like to add a little more. Tonight it was...

This is one of my favorite activities for this month. I love watching the kids get so excited to buy something for someone else. I love watching them sneak around the store trying to stay out of the way of other family members and I love seeing what they come up with.

Rob had Emily and he got her a Littlest Pet Shop.

I had Rob and he got a pair of socks, a pack of gum and tootsie rolls.

Taylor had Austin and he got a geyser tube and a Pez dispenser.

Austin had Taylor and he got him Mighty Beanz, twizzlers and notecards.

I got socks and gloves from Emily.

It's not much but we love our traditions. Emily asked if we could raise the amount to $10 next year. We'll have to see about that.

It's No Rockefeller Plaza

2010-12-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

One of our advent activities is to go look at the Capitol Christmas Tree. We tried to do it last year but they were doing construction on the capitol so they decorated an existing evergreen about a block away and called it good. We called it lame. This year we knew they would have a good tree so we packed in the car and headed downtown. We were not disappointed.

Afterward Steph told us about a Christmas thing the Anniversary Inn was having. You can go tour all the rooms, have cookies and hot chocolate and get your picture with Santa for free. We figured we were already down there so why not. The kids loved seeing all the cool themed rooms and getting there picture with Santa, even though "that wasn't the real Santa. We could see his moustache coming out from under his beard." To top it off the great night I got a call a couple days later and we won a free nights stay at the Anniversary Inn! Woohoo!!!

John S. Fitch 1926-2010

2010-12-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

I found out Saturday, December 4, that my grandpa went home to be with Jesus. He has battled Parkinson's disease for many years and Friday night he told my grandma that he was ready to go home. She said "Then, Honey, you need to go. And I won't be far behind you".

I have so many fond memories of my grandparents. As a child I spent many summer days in Wimer, Oregon with them.

I don't know if there could be a more picturesque couple miles of road than the stretch they lived on. They were about a quarter of a mile from this bridge so we spent lots of time walking to and from this place to drop rocks off the rail into the river and watch the water go by. Just the other side of the bridge on the right was a small ice house where Grandpa would take us to get treats. My favorite was the blue Nehi cream soda. Grandpa always said it looked like battery acid.

We walked the devil out of this road. And we knew all of the neighbors by name. I can remember walking to the creek and every so often we would have to stop so Grandma and Grandpa could talk to someone. Such a sweet place and such sweet memories. I can still vividly remember how their house smelled and how the walk in pantry in the garage smelled. And I can hear the sound of their white Peugot as we drove around town and see grandpa with his driving gloves and straw hat on. It was so familiar. Every afternoon grandpa would lay in the middle of the living room floor and take a power nap. Every day. Every night he would get up and take me to the bathroom so i wouldn't wet the bed. There was as steady stream of classical music that came from Grandpa's office and sometimes grandpa would sit in there with the door closed and crank it up. He loved his composers. There was always a book case full of National Geographic to look through and I always went to the same issue. It had a picture of a small child in a dish tub full of water with a baby monkey on it's back. I loved that picture and some years later they framed it for me and gave it to me as a gift. I still love that picture. My brother, cousin and I had our own metal cups that hung by the sink for brushing our teeth, getting water etc. and we had ice tea breaks every day.

They moved from that house many years ago yet we still sit around and talk about the great times we had there. Unfortunately life moves forward but I am so thankful for the man my Grandpa was and the memories I will always have of him.

Winter Wonderland

2010-12-03T09:37:00.001-07:00

It finally came. It started snowing late Tuesday morning and didn't stop until Wednesday afternoon. The kids got a snow day and we ended up with a little over eight inches of snow!

The Blizzard of 2010

2010-11-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

I was waiting for it. I was ready. We had been hearing about it on the news for three days. It was coming. I woke up at 3:50 this morning to the sound of sleet pounding against our bedroom window. I got up to look out the front room window and sure enough it was here. The power was out by 5:00a.m. Oh no! Why didn't I charge my cell phone last night? Why haven't we ever bought a propane heater? We do live in Idaho. How are we going to stay warm for the next two days til they restore power to us? Do we all huddle in one room to keep all of our heat together in hopes of surviving below freezing temps? Good thing Rob has backpacking gear so at least we can heat up food. I can't go without food you know. Does this mean no showers? Do the toilets work with no power? Oh man! I've got four boys in the house with me!

I start to doze off thinking that with no power Rob can't get ready for work so I may as well go back to sleep and worry about all that stuff later. Right now I was snuggled under my down comforter. Next thing I know it's 9:30. Taylor is watching TV, my clock is flashing and Rob is gone. What?! But there's a blizzard wailing outside! Or was there...

Well if this is what a blizzard looks like then one definitely blew through here.

The game

2010-11-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

I guess it's probably time to finish up about our trip right? Geez.

We drive to the stadium and Rob and Taylor are going crazy since the Redskins are their favorite team. They were more than excited to get to see FedEx field in person. As we park and are walking to the stadium we notice that there is quite a bit of blue and orange which made us feel a little better as we waded through a sea of 75,000 wearing red and gold. The closer to the stadium we got the more electric it felt. You could just feel the excitement in the air. The stadium is huge so as we were walking around to find the entrance we ran into a booth where you could make your own sign for the game. This is Taylor's.

Rob wanted to go in to look around so we headed that way. Man did i feel small when we actually walked out to the field. Again, the place was enormous!

We quickly found our seats and could not get over how great our seats were. Richie did an awesome job finding them for us!

The energy continued to build and by the time the game was getting ready to start it was crazy.Our guys came out to the cheers of the faithful 15,000 fans that were there and then it was time for VT to take the field. The first three notes of Enter Sandman by Metallica came over the speakers and immediately the entire stadium, minus those of us in blue and orange, were on their feet jumping. I thought the stadium might collapse. Young, old and everyone in between were cheering on their team. Here is a little preview from another of their games... VA Tech Entrance

So the game starts and during our first drive we score. Hallelujah!

Taylor was just a little excited. We all were. There was more whooping and hollering that I have heard in a long time.

The game ended up being close towards the end but we pulled it out 33-30. It was truly one of them best games I have ever been to and I was so happy to have spent those few days with these people!

On our way to the car, which we ended up sitting in for almost an hour before we could move, we were walking along and Rob said "hey, there's Kyle Wilson". I said "too bad we don't have anything for him to sign" and he said "but we do have a camera". Genius. This just topped off the whole evening...

Arlington and Georgetown

2010-10-14T10:15:00.000-06:00

Going to Arlington cemetery isn't just 'something to do' while you are in DC. Going to Arlington is an experience. There are no words for all of the headstones. There are no words for all of the history. There are no words for the sacrifices that become unmistakeably evident when you step on these hallowed grounds.

This is the eternal flame, the burial site of JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy. It sits below Arlington House which could require a whole post of its own, as could the majority of things we saw.

There were many quotes by JFK around the memorial but I was especially drawn to this one.

"In the long history of the world

only a few generations have been granted

the role of defending freedom

in its hour of maximum danger.

I do not shrink from this responsibility,

I welcome it"

Goosebumps! That's what I got reading this quote. We have gone so far in the wrong direction in our country that it makes me long for leaders who believe in our freedom and what maintaining that involves.

The changing of the guards. Although there were hundreds of people standing around watching you could hear a pin drop during the ceremony.

On game day we decided to explore Georgetown. Of course when you visit Georgetown you must also visit Georgetown Cupcake. We got to the shop and Rob said "are you really going to stand in that line to get cupcakes?". I sure am! It ended up being close to half an hour of waiting in the hot sun but those cupcakes were worth every minute.

These were the cupcakes we decided on. They were a little cockeyed from a day of shopping. After we dug in I really wished we would've gone with the full dozen. If you ever have a chance to try these go with the red velvet. It is hands down the best cupcake I have ever had. The frosting was like silk...pure heaven.

Unfortunately in all the shopping we did we didn't have a lot of time to look around the neighborhoods but houses like this were everywhere. I could look at them all day.

Touring the Capital City

2010-09-21T15:02:00.000-06:00

I said we were going to squeeze every possible thing in that we could and we spent three days doing just that. People keep asking me what my favorite thing was and, to be honest, I don't think I can pinpoint one thing. I can tell about some of the great stuff we did so here goes.

We saw lots of monuments and it was every bit as cool seeing them in person as I thought it would be. The Washington monument can, literally, be seen from everywhere. I never realized just how tall it was but soon found out when we were walking up to it. It stands just a little over 555 feet tall.

We went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History and it was so interesting. We didn't have nearly enough time to see everything since there were four floors but we did make it to each floor to scan some really cool stuff. This was one of the magnificent things we saw. It's Abraham Lincoln's top hat. I just couldn't get over it. Our 16th president possibly wore that for very important decisions he made. It simply amazes me. They also had, among other artifacts, the suit and dress that he and his wife wore to his inauguration.

Probably my other favorite display(which we weren't allowed to photograph) was The Star-Spangled Banner.Very interesting.
This capsule was at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Now that's a cool place! It was the capsule that john Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. I don't think I would've had the nerve to be put in a space craft that small and hurled into space.

This is Julia Child's kitchen. Her actual kitchen. Exactly as she left it when she died. It is quite fascinating to see her handwriting on papers on the counter.

By the time we got back around to the white house it was dark. Boo! So this was all we got.

The reflecting pool as you look at the Washington monument from the Lincoln memorial.

Honest Abe

Because Blogger isn't putting my pictures in order this one is down here

World War II Memorial

Here is Christ Church. It is where George Washington, Robert E. Lee and many other prominent Washington figures worshipped. What did they talk about when they were walking into church? What was a typical Sunday like for these families? Fascinating.

Bleed Blue

2010-09-03T09:41:00.004-06:00

Rob and I are Bronco fans.

We love to watch them every week whether it's at the stadium or at home on our comfy couch.

But who loves them even more than we do?

This guy...

He begged and pleaded

And pleaded and begged to go to the BSU-Virginia Tech game.

At first we blew it off.

Then we started talking about it.

We've never been to Washington D.C.

We love BSU.

The poor kid has been on his knees for weeks asking to go.

Sure. Why not.

So we on our our way tomorrow at 6:40 a.m.

Rob, me and that little football loving guy we call Taylor Tot.

We plan to see everything in three days.

The Smithsonian(s)

The monuments

The cemetery

The documents

All of it.

Will our feet hurt? Probably.

Will we be tired? Absolutely.

Will it be worth it? Most definitely.

Jamboree

2010-08-23T13:40:00.002-06:00

Every year before the actual season starts the Optimist club puts on a jamboree. This is where the players get weighed, get their pictures taken and then get to play a mini game on the Blue. Pure heaven for this BSU fanatic.

My little guy is playing linebacker this year. All 68 pounds of him.

The pictures show how this play unfolded. Taylor saw this guy coming and wasn't about to let him score. Loved it!

Taylor is #10 and his buddy Joel is #22.

They are a good team.

Taylor went after this guy with all he had but in the end all he got a hold of was some turf.

My first drive in movie

2010-08-18T12:40:00.002-06:00

Yes, you heard correctly...I had never been to a drive in movie before. Not as a child, a naughty teen or a young adult, but at 34 I finally made it! It was the perfect night for a movie.

Sneak Peek

2010-08-17T15:50:00.003-06:00

A couple months ago Becky Higgins did a "Big Photography Giveaway" where photographers from all over were giving away free sessions. After watching her blog for days and days she finally had a photographer from the treasure valley. I was so excited to finally be able to have a chance to win. And guess what...WE DID! We won a session with Amber Fischer! And she was fabulous! She was so personable and actually got Austin to smile a few times ;o) This is the sneak peek we have and I am chomping at the bit to see the rest!

40 Years

2010-08-16T10:01:00.003-06:00

We threw a surprise party in honor of Rodger and Terry's anniversary and, together, friends and family celebrated 40 years!

Surprise!!!

Green Box Scavenger Hunt

2010-08-14T15:19:00.002-06:00

We teamed up with Rich and Steph and Marc and Skye to do the Green Box scavenger hunt. We had a ball driving all over creation taking silly pictures. Here are just a few of the things we had to do. Some of them were team photos, some were individual and some just had to be a certain object.

The rest of the team trying to figure out the first clue so we could get our big list of clues. It took a while cause it was three pages and coded.

The Preppy Potatoes. We came in 9th out of 14 teams. Not bad for our first year. We plan to do better next year.
In a dog house

Wearing hats

With a fish

Wearing glasses

On a trampoline

On rollerblades

In BSU gear

Getting a whole restaurant to 'raise the roof'

Mary Mary quite contrary...

2010-08-02T14:49:00.003-06:00

We planted a garden again this year. We didn't plant as much as last year because we were gone so much in June but we did get some things in.

carrots/lettuce/spinach/broccoli/cucumbers/string beans/zucchini/potatoes/pumpkins/strawberries/cantaloupe/raspberries/tomatoes

The bad thing about planting a garden and leaving the country is you miss out on what it has to offer. We missed all of our broccoli because it matured and flowered during the ten days we were gone. Bummer. We also lost a lot of our lettuce and decided that planting spinach is worthless. Mature spinach is gross.

We were outside last night and the kids wanted to pull some carrots. We may have waited a smidge too long since they were so big but the kids loved them.

These carrots didn't fair so well.

2010-07-30T13:25:00.003-06:00

We've been having a lot of crazy summer fun the last few weeks. My favorite so far has been boating. Marc and Skye have asked us a couple of times to go and we always have the best time.

Rob and Austin learned to wake board, one taking a little longer to get it than the other. Austin put on that board and it took him three times to get up and look like a pro. Rob took a little while longer but got the hang of it too.

Taylor really wanted to learn to water ski so Skye offered to teach him. She stayed in the water with him to help hold him up, explained everything he needed to know and when he was ready we took off. Unfortunately no one told him that when he fell he needed to let go of the rope. Poor little guy. He fell and all we could see were his two little hands hanging on for dear life. Needless to say that was his first and last time trying that for a while.

We love summer!

On the road again

2010-06-09T20:47:00.004-06:00

Actually it probably should read on the plane again since we leave for Cordoba, Argentina bright and early tomorrow. We are travelling down to work with Sasha and Maria Silvia as they try to reach the youth of Cordoba for Christ.

I am thrilled.

Excited beyond words.

But I feel a little unprepared. Although we have planned for this trip for over a year it seemed to come out of nowhere and suddenly we are leaving tomorrow.

I have a couple prayer requests. First for our traveling safety. The older my kids get the more I think about this. Second for our kids while we are gone cause it gets hard on them after a while. And finally that we would accomplish whatever it is God wants us to do while we are there. We have an awesome group going and I am so excited to spend the next eleven days with them.

Well most of them ;o)

I also thought of another request...pray that we stay warm. They don't have central heating where we are staying, or many places for that matter, and I don't do well in the cold. Especially showering when it's 49 degrees outside.

See you all on the 21st! I am going to try to post pictures on facebook while we are gone so if you want any updates check there.

What a weekend!

2010-06-07T09:50:00.004-06:00

Saturday I got to attend celebrations for two special women. The first was a bridal shower for my cousin Becca who is getting married in August. It was a sweet shower filled with food, laughter and sunshine.

Top row:Landry, Marlene, Roc, Becca, Natalie

Bottom row:Lizzy(with soon to be baby boy #2), Me, Mom, Theresa

The second celebration was a bachelorette pajama dance party for Alyssa. We had a blast!!! We ate and danced and danced and danced some more.

The bride to be

Last but not least was the wedding for Alyssa and Randall. It was a beautiful ceremony followed by more dancing and eating...two of my favorite things.

I had to post this picture of Emily and Rob because when Rob went to get her to dance for the father/daughter dance she ran away. Wanted no part of it. Something about being embarrassed. She finally gave in and spent the rest of the evening dancing her little buns off.

She was dancing with Alyssa here and I'm pretty sure she was over the moon.

Here is the beautiful bride. We wish them all the love and happiness in the world!

One man's junk...

2010-06-01T11:13:00.003-06:00

The whole family headed to Sumpter Oregon last weekend for the big flea market they hold three times a year and did we have a good time. The treasures I brought home...oh the treasures! Unfortunately I had to leave more there than i wanted to but you can guarantee we will be back.

First up is this lovely bowl. I simply couldn't pass it up.

I got two Pyrex bowl for $3.50.

I got this wooden fork for 25 cents. I can't tell if it is an old fork that was functional or if someone just carved it as a decoration. Either way I loved it when I saw it. The Nehi bottle cap is something I had been looking for for a while. When we were younger my brother and I would spend time with our grandparents who lived in Wimer, Oregon. It is a teeny tiny town complete with a covered bridge. We spent many a day walking that road across the covered bridge to the ice house that sat just on the other side. Inevitably each time I would get a blue Nehi in a bottle and every time my grandpa would tell me it looked like I was drinking battery acid. I was so happy to find that bottle cap in memory of our days there.

I saw this set from across the way and practically ran to it. Sometimes there are things you just have to have. You don't know why but they call to you. This was one of those things. I can't pinpoint why I love it but I do. And for $7 I think it was worth it.

This set makes me smile. I love the color, I love the size of the pieces, I love the handles on the bowl. I love it all!

I have come to the conclusion that I love stemware. All colors, all designs. They had some great sets but this was the one that made it home. The orange is fabulous and I love that the stem and base is a different color. They are so bright and fun.

Looking forward to Labor day when I can do it all again!

Lacrosse

2010-05-17T10:28:00.002-06:00

Both the boys decided they wanted to play lacrosse this year. This just happens to be a sport I know nothing about. A lot of Taylor's football team plays so we thought it would be really great if the boys played football in the fall and lacrosse in the spring together. Taylor ended up with nine boys from his football team so we were happy.

Like all spring sports the whole season was C-O-L-D! Sometimes I wonder what we are thinking when we let them sign up. They started practice and over time we started to figure out the rules, Rob more than me, but at least I wasn't as clueless as before.

Taylor was a natural. Any time he can hit someone and it's OK is a good time for him. He grabbed that stick and went with it. He was a little behind simply because several boys on his team had played at least one year prior to this but overall he picked it up and had a ball.

(he's in the black helmet)

This was his first goal. I really wished i had gotten him in the shot too but it happens so fast that i was lucky to get this.

Austin picked it up pretty quickly too. The downside for his age group is most of the boys had been playing for years. It's hard for a fourteen year old to come in and pick up a game three to four years behind your teammates. He held his own though. And he really liked it. he has even talked about playing for Mountain View next year so we will see how that pans out. We have tournaments this week and then it will be over. I'm a little sad thinking about not watching them anymore. This truly is a fantastic sport to watch and I am so happy they both decided to give it a try.

Another of Emily's funnies

2010-03-26T09:29:00.002-06:00

Emily pretty much knows how to say everything and doesn't do those cute little funny words like she used to. However...every once in a while she will say something wrong and give me a good laugh.

This week she said two.

We were at Taylor's practice Wednesday night and she asked me if I knew what someone was called that watched a game.
J-yes, a spectator.
E-yeah, that's what we will be. Expectators.
I kind of grinned and said
J-Spectators.
E-Yeah that's what I said...expectators
Poor little thing.

This morning she was sitting on the toilet asking me what time she gets out of school today since they have a short day. I told her 1:30.
E-Is that the usually time I get out?
J-No. You usually get out at 3:35.
E-So the usually time I get out is 3:35?
J-Yep.

I could just eat her up!

My ears hurt

2010-03-02T08:46:00.002-07:00

My two youngest children have been recently diagnosed with an illness. Chronic diarrhea of the mouth. I'd like to say it isn't serious but that isn't the case. With is comes terrible side affects such as sore throats and jaw pain. This disease is serious because it not only affects the person stricken but also those around them with symptoms like impatience, bleeding ears and neck pain (usually caused from trying to shut Em's bedroom door and throwing my head back because she always says "just one more thing", which is, of course, after the six "one more things" she's already had to tell me.)

I'm laying in bed this morning at 7:15 and I hear Em's door open. She comes in our room, goes to the bathroom and at 7:18 climbs in bed with me. Now I don't get up til 7:30 so I still had 12 minutes of sleep to get. Not gonna happen. She immediately starts talking and these are the parts i remember.

E-Can you sew my bunny? She has a hole in her neck.
J-Mmmhmm
E-I know how long I've had this bunny...seven years...I know how long a year is...January, February, March (all the months in between) November, December. We're in March now. The rainy month.
....a blessed moment of silence...
E-Remember when we took you to the airport?
J-Mmmhmm
E-I used to cry when you or daddy would leave. I used to think you would get in a plane crash. If dad was gone and there was a robber...was dad a police officer?
J-No
E-Never?
J-No
E-I know why dad leaves when it's still nighttime...cause it takes him a long time to get to work.
J-No it's just still dark in the morning.
E-How long does it take dad to get to work?
J-Fifteen minutes.
E-I know how long fifteen minutes is. You count to one then wait for an hour.
...the radio comes on and I roll over to turn it off...
E-No! I like this song. (slight pause) I thought you were going to tell me that if I didn't like your nails I couldn't like this song. Your fingernails look like rotten blueberries.

And on that note I rolled out of bed.

Four weeks is better than four months

2010-02-22T08:57:00.004-07:00

So it's been four weeks and I've not blogged again. I know I must have a few things to list out from the last month so here they are in no particular order.

--This one is fresh in my mind cause she said it last night while we were finishing her project at 8:00. Talk about procrastination. Emily is the star student this week and had to make a poster about herself. It is supposed to include likes, dislikes, pictures of her and her family...stuff like that. So we were having a hard time coming up with things she doesn't like. She loves veggies, football, dirt and bugs. there's not a whole lot left for a first grader to dislike. So we were flipping through magazines and she says "can I cut out a bra?". She ain't no dummy.

--The boys start lacrosse practice this week. I'm excited to see what all the hype is about. I know nothing about the game other than it's rough and you get to hit people with sticks. Sounds like a good time will be had by all. Unless you are the guy that just got hit with a stick.

--Since it's been a week since i started this the boys both had their first practice. They have practice at the same time so rob took Austin and i took Taylor. Yay for us there are 9 boys from Taylor's football team on his lacrosse team. We were really hoping to get everyone on the same team but the lacrosse people were a little grumpy about making our own team. I guess nine is better than none.

--With both boys playing we are pretty much going to be busy six days a week. They each practice three times and have two games. unfortunately they aren't on the same days. I feel a lot of crock pot meals coming on.

--I got some new nail polish and actually painted my finger nails. I went with China Glaze Reggae to Riches. Fabulous. I had an OPI color picked out but chose this instead. I bought it for my toes because they are always painted and I am getting tired of the colors I have. I painted my pinkie to see if I liked it and lo and behold i loved it so all my fingers got a coat. It has been years since I painted my finger nails. Like, probably close to five or six or seven. Maybe longer. I hate painting my nails but this I can handle for a while.

--Rob bought Austin cleats the other day and he is in a 10 1/2. Rob only wears a 9 1/2 so he's in eighth grade and already passed his dad. I think next comes uncontrollable eating.

--We also just registered him for high school. High school?!

--I've become a spray painting fool. If it's not nailed down it's getting a coat.

--Rob mentioned yesterday that Easter is just around the corner which means it's time for us to host our annual Easter dinner. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet.

--I'm still working out five days a week. Tyler measured me last Friday and I'm still going strong. I lost a pound of body fat in 20 days. Not bad. My only issue is I keep losing body fat and gaining muscle so my weight is staying the same. For this girl that wanted to be 125 pounds it's driving me crazy.

--101 days til Argentina!!!

What to say

2010-01-19T12:37:00.002-07:00

I finally figured out why it's so hard for me to blog anymore. My kids are gone. I used to have funny stories, things they said and pictures to post but now it's just me. All day. And it's not like I lead a glamorous life. Five days a week my life consists of:
-getting up
-getting the kids up
-getting them ready and off to school
-getting myself ready and off to the gym
-working out
-lunch
-shower
-doing stuff around the house
-waiting for the kids to get home
-dinner
-getting the kids ready for bed
-watching The Office and Roseanne
-lights out at 10:30

Are you still awake? Thrilling isn't it? There has to be something worth writing about doesn't there? Let me think real hard.

OK. Here goes.

Between August 2009 and December 22, 2009 I lost 18 1/2 pounds. I still have a bit to go but am so proud of what I have accomplished so far.

I went jean shopping yesterday and the girl in the Gap dressing room called me petite. Ummm I don't think I have ever been called petite. Ever.

I love my friends. I don't have a lot of friends but I absolutely love my close friends. I love that I can be who I am with them. No false pretenses. We just sort of fit together. Good and bad. We each bring something to the table and I love that.

I haven't scrap booked in a year. It's a shame because I have so much to do but I'm just not feeling it. I'm hoping the feeling will come back soon.

Austin has graduated out of the kids section and is now into young men's. Oy vey.

New Year

2010-01-07T08:48:00.002-07:00

I've pondered many times what to write for my first post of the new year. I've been out of the blogging loop for so long I've wondered if it's something I want to keep doing. In the past I could not wait to log on in the morning and write the happenings, although usually quite mundane, of my days and weeks. Over the years it has started to feel like a chore. Something else I have to do in my day. But then I go back and read memories. Thoughts. All the mundane things that I do day in and day out and I remember why I blog. Not only for me but for my kids. My family. And all my friends who love the ho hum of life. So they can read my thoughts and relive memories that they will have forgotten in years to come. All that to say my mind is made up...here's to a new year of blogging!