Jane went Missing today . . .

It is always somewhat frightning when you have neglected your children and the older ones come to you wondering where the baby is.

Just this past week, my friend's daughter went missing and was found inside a unplugged refrigerator that was stored in their backyard in 100+ degree weather. She was dispondent and was rushed by ambulance to the emergency room. Thankfully, she turned out fine but not without some lasting trauma for her mom and a little heightened sensitivity for me.

Consequently, when Sarah and Nathan asked me where there baby sister was after I had been closeted in the other side of the house for some time. My mind leaped several rational steps to an internal debate of exactly what medical treatment she might need. I started to get that sick, deserate mommy feeling and I ordered Sarah and Nathan to search in about 7 places immediately (I think they may have heard 1 or 2, or possible none depending on how interested they were).

I started whipping open doors and yelling her name. Nathan and Sarah must have forgotten their assignments because they decided to follow me around instead and yell along with me. Hey, you have got to take advantage of the times when you can yell as loud as you can and mommy won't say a word.

We rounded the corner and simultaneously froze our feet and vocals at this sight:

She looks just like Snow White who fell after taking a bite of the

lethal apple (plastic cupcake in this case).

All is well . . . just another case of a worn out little girl and a neglectful mommy. Actually, in my defense, I steam cleaned her room's carpet and was holding out to put her down until it dried a little.

I adore my little Jane and couldn't imagine life without her.

The Date Passed with Little Recognition Besides My Own

My oldest daughter, Sarah, is now closer to her own High School graduation then I am to mine. This significant calendar event passed quietly several weeks ago, without fanfare but with an awareness that I mostly kept to myself. Sarah, who will be going into 1st grade in the Fall, will likely graduate in just under 12 years. Me, on the other hand, graduated just over 12 years ago. Kind of crazy! And, sorry if I ruined anyone's day/week/month.

This Story Must Be Told

Both Sarah and Nathan are good little sleepers (Hallelujah!). But when Sarah goes to bed and wakes up within the first few hours after going to sleep, she's a little delirious and "out of it" and trying to communicate with her verbally is a futile effort. This is especially the case when she has to go to the bathroom. She'll go in the bathroom and just cry, like she hasn't figured out why she's in there even though she needs to be there... or something like that. We usually just need to get her on the toilet and then get her back to bed and all is well and she doesn't remember a thing about it in the morning.

Anyway, so the other night, it was about 11 and I was finishing up brushing my teeth and I heard Sarah come out of her room and new she would need to use the restroom. She came in (yes, we only have one bathroom!) and said, very lucidly, that she needed to go "potty". So I told her I would give her some privacy and exited the bathroom, while leaving it a smidgeon cracked so that I could make sure she didn't need any help. I watched her curiously as she pulled the stool (a similar one is pictured below) out and put it right below the sink, pulled down her panties, sat down on the stool and proceeded to go "potty"... right on the stool. I opened the door and said "Sarah, what are you doing, that is the stool!" I totally startled her and likely fully woke her from her daze.

I told her to go on the toilet and then I started laughing and went in to our room telling Mary what had just happened. Mary asked if she had finished going to the bathroom and I realized that she probably hadn't and so we assisted her onto the toilet and then cleaned up the mess that she had made of the stool and the floor. And, conveniently, in the morning, she didn't remember a thing! At least there are blogs to make experiences like this timeless!

Jane's 1st Birthday

Jane turned one at the end of April and we celebrated it with my parents and my brother and his wife and Jane's cousin who were in route to Seattle from Utah. It seems like I've hardly updated anyone on how Jane is doing. She's very small for her age... 5th percentile in weight I think. So to see her full on walking around and jabbering a bit and starting to say "Hi" to people doesn't seem to fit her stature. But she's absolutely adorable. Her brother and sister love her and get so excited when she wakes up from a nap or in the morning (YES, she's finally sleeping through the night and longer in the morning then her siblings), it's especially cute to see little Nathan say "JANE" and run and give her a hug and kiss.

Jane got a cute outfit from Mary's parents and she looks really cute in it. She's actually wearing it tonight and I think it's one of my favorite outfits on her.

Jane got this cute "My first Doll" from my folks and she really loves hugging it and has sometimes given it a "kiss".

The 1st Birthday Cake is always my favorite part, and frankly I have higher expectations then I should for this event. Most kids approach it timidly, which was Jane's experience. But once we got her an adult fork (she's always preferred adult spoons to kid spoons when being fed) she dove in a little more heartily.

But once her foot made contact with the cake, she was much less interested and it was pretty funny to see how she would suspend her foot in the air and announce her displeasure with the whole cake experience. Then it was on to bath time with her cousin, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

We're so happy to have you in our growing family Jane. You have brought us a lot of joy and it is so fun to watch you grow and learn and follow your siblings around. We love you!

Easter '09

For Easter we did our traditional stuff. On Saturday we dyed eggs and had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard for plastic eggs with candy in them. The kids really enjoyed both of these activities and Nathan held his own this year in the egg hunt and just needed a little help.




Nathan and Sarah wanted pictures with two of the eggs that they dyed. They were really sad when we ate them for lunch on Sunday.

They enjoyed helping each other on the egg hunt and it was sweet to see how excited they both were for each other's finds.

Sunday morning we went to church and enjoyed a great service. I spoke for a little bit as I was released from my calling in the Bishopric (I'm now serving in the Young Men's organization... for the first time! Fun!) After church we delivered some goodies to some friends down the street and then when we were walking back home there was a lady walking her ponies down the street of our neighborhood (yes, I'm in Idaho). The kids enjoyed seeing them but didn't feel like getting too close.

The kids always get a basket with candy, a chocolate easter bunny, something fun and something spiritual. They enjoyed their treats for a number of days and enjoy their spiritual things at church on Sunday during Sacrament meeting each week. After the baskets, we had a special family testimony meetings where we each shared our testimonies about the Gospel and the impact of Christ and His teachings on us. It's a nice tradition and the kids (mostly Sarah) seem to enjoy it.

I usually get up early on Sunday mornings for meetings but since it was Easter and I was getting released we just had one meeting briefly before sacrament meeting. I woke up extra early (because my back hurt and sleeping was futile) and read the portion of Christ's resurrection from each of the four Gospel's and then read Elder Bruce R. McConkie's concluding talk in General Conference titled "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane" from 1985, which is an amazing talk. Anyway, it was a great morning and I am so thankful for the Resurrection of my Lord and Savior and for the living effects of the Atonement that He wrought for everyone.

Green Eggs for the Hamm's

We had an enjoyable St. Patrick's Day this year. We enjoy making green food and talking about how lucky we are.

For dinner, we made Fritatta and added a good amount of food coloring. It turned out to have quiet a neon-green looking color. The kids were excited to eat this and they actually really enjoy this meal, one of the all-around family favorites. We also had cucumbers, grapes and a lemon-lime soda with extra limes in the drink. Jane even joined in on the fun and ate some avocado.

In the Grand Scheme of Things...

... this really is not that big of a deal at all. But it felt like it was, for some reason. Okay, well, it didn't really feel like a big deal, but it occupied my thoughts for a part of the day as I was anxious about the outcome while Mary was gone. While on our way to UT for Mary's bro's wedding and to visit friends and stuff about 6 weeks ago, I realized that we would pass 100,000 miles on our car while on the trip. I really wanted to actually notice this as it happened, it was something I calculated and payed some attention to while we were out and about. Anyway, Friday after the wedding came around and I realized that it would likely happen on our way back home the next day. But then I realized that Mary and her sister were going to go our for some girl time before Jenny had to go to the airport, when I realized this, I realized that it would be a close call if Mary made it back to the house before passing 100,000 miles on the car. While she was gone, this "concern" actually occupied some of my mental space. I periodically would look out the window to see if she was home and inwardly hoped that she wouldn't take any detours. When she got home, I went outside and checked the odometer. Here's the pic:

Now, seriously, could I have gotten any closer to actually seeing the odometer read 100,000! The last zero and the .9 are both tauntingly disappearing out of the picture in what can only be described as a staunch effort to mock me and my effort to make the car that has thanklessly served me for the past 4+ years do so again. I am suspicious that Mary did an extra turn around the block just before pulling in the driveway, but I can't confirm that. Anyway, I actually think the picture and the angst the situation caused me make for a much better story then if I had been driving through Bountiful and said, "Oh look, 100,000 miles exactly... cool; Mary take a picture... [digital sounding 'click']"

Kris and Chelsea's Wedding

Kris and Chelsea (Mary's brother and his bride) were married and sealed to one another on March 5th in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple for our church. I got to be his escort and witness for the wedding, which was a neat opportunity for me. I enjoyed spending some solo time with Kris as he got ready for his sealing and afterward as his bride finished getting ready after the sealing to leave the temple. They both looked so great. The night before, we had a gathering at her folks house and had some good grub and got to meet her family for the first time, which was fun. Chelsea has some fun sibs and sibs-in-law. Kris and Chelsea got married in the morning. The sealer who performed their marriage did an excellent job and it was a beautiful sealing ordinance. Below are some pics outside the temple.

Here they are as they emerge from the temple... what a beautiful couple!

Here is a pic of all the family just celebrating. I tried to get more pics from Chelsea's FB account but they would publish on here as really small. I'm sure there's a way to avoid that, but I don't know it.

Jane and I, what a cute li'l girl!

When we woke up the morning of the wedding and were in a hurry, this is what we found on the ground outside our friends' home. Fortunately, as you can tell from the pics above, the snow didn't last and the sun was out and shiny. It was still pretty cold and windy though!

It was a really long and busy day. After the wedding and pics we went to Kris' apartment and spent some down time with the kids while Mary, her folks, and sibs got ready for the luncheon for some of the family and friends that we hosted. Mary and her sister did an amazing job planning and preparing for this event and, with some much needed help, it turned out wonderful. I'm going to let Mary post about that.

Draper Temple Open House and More

We were in Utah for 9 days at the end of February and the beginning of March. We had so much fun while we were there and spent a good mixture of time doing fun things, relaxing a little bit and being really busy. We were there because Mary's brother, Kristopher, got married in the Mt. Timpanogas temple on March 5th. While we were in Utah, we stayed with our good friends, the Bergeson's, with whom we had visited for a week in '07 as well. They were so accomodating as we treated their place a little like a hotel for a few days while we were busy with family stuff and the wedding. We so enjoyed spending the evenings with them and playing games and chatting later into the night. It was awesome that we were able to spend some good time with Adam, who is in his orthopedic residency at U of U. He actually had both weekends off and Monday and Tuesday, which is definitely a rarity for him and we/I was grateful that we got to enjoy some time with him around as well as Kari and the kids. THANK YOU SO MUCH BERGESON'S!

Anyway, on the Monday of that week we traveled down to Draper for the Draper Temple open house, which was so nice. It was great to be in this house of the Lord, particularly with our family, and to be able to see the unique aspects of each building while also feeling God's presence in His Holy House. The kids loved the little bus-ride that we took from a local meetinghouse to the temple... Nathan especially enjoyed he and I playing a version of "corners" with each other on the ride back. I so love being in the temple with my family! Sarah was a trooper for the pictures as it was pretty cold and windy.




We also went to Red Robin for lunch after the Temple open house. This is a place that the kids really enjoy. Nathan was pretty scared of "Red" when he first saw him and didn't want to cooperate with a picture as he was a little leary of this character. I don't think he understood that it was a person in a costume. He warmed up eventually.

Later that evening, we had dinner with my H.S. friend Angie, and her husband, David, and their son, Parker. We enjoyed dinner, Family Night, and catching up before heading home after a long day. It was nice to reconnect with Angie and to get to know David better. We appreciated their hospitality.

Not My First Choice, But Close

[Of all the family-related posts I should be doing... I'm choosing to do this one... go figure!]

I haven't always loved peanut butter, for reasons that will soon be obvious. My two earliest memories of peanut butter are 1st: the gross, oily yellow Adams peanut butter tubs that you had to stir every time you opened it and, let's face it, it didn't taste very good; and 2nd: a neighbor lady and family friend (I know my sis and parents would remember their names) who would have a stored container of peanut butter mixed with jelly to make the PBJ-sandwich-making combo easier. This grossed me out and I never really enjoyed the food option until JIF Extra Crunchy came into the house. This is when my love for PB blossomed into a snack-staple. My mom soon introduced me to PB toast with Jelly sprinkled on top. It is still a favorite pre-bed-time snack. I remember in my voracious appetite years in my teens when as soon as I would get home from school/practice I would make two PBJ sandwiches on delicious wonderbread and devour them on my way out the door. I still think there are few simpler things that taste better.

Mary buys JIF too... except it's the creamy kind. Seriously, why would you get peanut butter without the actual crunchy goodness of the peanuts?! It's a transition that I'm struggling with. We have a large tub in the pantry of the JIF Extra Crunchy and I'm looking forward to breaking that out soon. But, right now, we just have the Creamy available and, let's be realistic, the night-time piece of toast just isn't nearly as good as it was/will be.

Oh, and no, I never liked PBJ sandwiches for lunch at school. It always seemed like the soakage of the jelly into the bread was inevitable.

Happy Valentines Day '09

You know you're a parent on Valentines Day when your first kiss of the day is your son catching you off-guard by licking your face while he pretends to be a dog, which was the case this morning. You also know your a parent on Valentines Day when your day begins like this:

[Jane's cry is heard over the monitor and the time of 6:10 AM is noted]

Mary dutifully gets up to nurse Jane and, as she's leaving, states: "Sarah's light is on in her room and Nathan is at his door and I think he has a poopy diaper"

Jeff: "grooooaaan.... alright" [thinking: maybe I can get them to come cuddle with me for a while... after changing Nathan's diaper, Sarah comes out of her room and, after much work and the offer of a balloon for them, they agree to "cuddle" (read: bounce on and crawl repeatedly over dad while he continues in his delusional belief that this is actually like sleeping in)]

Jeff: "Happy Valentines Day you two, you are so special, we love you so much!"

Sarah [very excited]: "Today is Valentines Day?!" [confused because she celebrated it yesterday at school]

Nathan: "Happy Birthday to you Daddy!"

Jeff: "Thank you Nathan, it's actually 'Happy Valentines Day'"

Nathan: "Oh... Happy Birthday to you, Sarah!"

Sarah and Nathan [many times]: "Dad, it's time for breakfast"

Jeff: "let's wait 'til Mommy is done nursing and then she'll come in and cuddle with us and we have a special surprise to tell you about" [I knew that would hook Sarah, who could hook Nathan and delay the exit from my bed]

[Eventually, Mommy joins us and rescues Dad from getting trampled]

Sarah [as soon as Mommy enters the vicinity]: "What's the surprise?"

Jeff: "Oma and Opa are coming here today and visiting us for a couple of days"

Sarah and Nathan: "Yay!"

Anyway, they eventually drag us out of bed and I made some yummy pink pancakes for them and used a cookie cut-out to make some heart shapes. Sarah was pretty skeptical about the color, but I reassured her they would taste the same. Sarah likes her pancakes pure and undiluted (one time I made her chocolate chip pancakes and she wouldn't eat them... Geesh!)

Mary and I enjoyed going to a Valentines Dinner last night at church for couples and then talking with each other about some of Mary's past suitors (always an enjoyable conversation, with lot's of laughs... you should ask her about them sometime). Today we get to meet Oma and Opa in Boise and then they will take the kids home and Mary and I will get to go out together and run some errands without kids.
Here is the card that Sarah made for us. This is our family (sans Jane) "Jumping on the trampoline" of course. Pretty cute! Oh, and Sarah is currently stating that she doesn't like the "h" at the end of her name so she had to add that afterward.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day today. We love our family.

I'm Three

If there are any questions about that, consult my olives, or my shirt, but not the picture at the bottom.


Nathan loves olives and he loves to stick them on his fingers and eat them off one at a time. That's the only way he likes olives, actually.
He also likes to play in this baby saucer play thingy, but typically he is head-first.

Superbowl "Snack"

So, I'm not really big into the Superbowl or NFL football, though anyone that knows me knows that I'm a big sports nut. Anyway, on one of the sports blogs that I frequent I found this picture and directions to making this ultimate Superbowl Snack. This is high-caloric culinary creativity at it's finest, according to my unprofessional opinion. What do you think about this? Look very closely: guacomole, 58 twinkies, slim-jims (goal posts), salsa, nacho cheese, sour cream, bacon, chips, chex mix, cheetos, sausages, etc. This is sweeeeeet! If I ever host a big football party (doubtful), I hope I can remember and recreate this!

Ingredients:

The Field:
1 Pound of Guacamole
15 Oz. Queso Dip For The Steelers End Zone
15 Oz. Salsa For The Cardinals End Zone
2 Oz. Sour Cream for the Field Lines

The Players:
15 Vienna Sausages
Helmets - 3 Oz. Sharp Cheddar Cheese

The Goal Posts:
1 Slim Jim for Each Goal Post
1 Oz. Monterey Jack Cheddar To Anchor (each)

The Stands:
58 Twinkies
1 Pound of Bacon
1 Bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos
1 Bag of Cheetos
1 Bag of Corn Tortilla Chips
1 Bag of Chex Mix

TOTAL CALORIES: 24,375
TOTAL GRAMS OF FAT: 1,285
TOTAL COST: $86.47

The PROCESS

STEP 1 - Ingredients

Buy the ingredients listed above

STEP 2 - The Field:
Take one pound of guacamole and smear it on the center of a baking tray, leaving a section on either end for the end zones

STEP 3 - The End Zones
It's important here to fill one end zone with one filling, and one end zone with another, so that neither team receives home field deliciousness. We chose salsa for the Cardinals, and Queso dip for the Steelers

STEP 4 - Yard Lines
Take sour cream and put it into a turkey baster, then squeeze gently to make the yard lines across the field

STEP 5 - The Players and goal posts
Vienna sausages make delicious players, and tiny cheese wedge helmets help keep them from getting concussions. Two different types of cheese helps to distinguish the teams. The goal posts are made from Slim Jim's, that we cut up, then stuck together with tooth picks. Monterey Jack cheese was used as an anchor to keep them standing, with a tooth pick linking the two together. At no point was it necessary to "snap in to" any of these slim jims. Cutting worked better

FIELD REVIEW
Now that the field is finished, you can begin constructing the stadium around it, which you will also eat. It's important to lay down some paper towels, so that no food comes in contact with your disgusting table top. (Because if you're a person who makes this, you definitely have a disgusting table top)

STEP 6 - The Stadium
The twinkie is nature's brick. You can make your stadium as large as you want, depending on how many twinkies you have at your disposal. We had 58. And probably could have used 90. Use tooth picks to secure the twinkies to one another. This outer stadium wall will provide a delicious dessert when the contents of the stadium have been eaten.

STEP 7 - The Bacon Wall
The bacon wall is the most important part of the stadium, because it keeps the throngs of screaming fans, in this case chips, from falling on the field, in this case the guacamole and salsa. Insert tooth picks into the first row of twinkies, and then weave the bacon in and out of them, so that it forms a pliable wall.

STEP 8: The Fans/Chips
Without the fans, there would be no game. It's no different in your snack stadium, so select four different kinds of snacks to fill the stands. Be sure to use pieces of bacon to separate your crowd into sections.

STEP 9 - The Frenzy
Enjoy!

A New Job?

I probably scared a lot of people with the title of that post, maybe even my wife! I'm not changing my job, but if I could I think this would be my first choice:

http://www.islandreefjob.com/

They are currently accepting applications.

Nathan's Birthday '09

Nathan celebrated his birthday this week. Mary's brother Kris, and his fiance', Chelsea, came up from Utah to visit us before they get married in about 6 weeks, so we celebrated Nathan's birthday today along with some other friends of ours that Nathan adores. Last year this time we were in McCall with my parents and some other relatives enjoying lot's of snow. Today when we woke up there was about 3 inches of snow and it rapidly became 6-8 inches in the next few hours. I ended up going to my regular church meetings from 6:45 until about 10:30 and church was canceled due to the weather. Anyway, just before I left this morning, Nathan woke up so I got to give him a big hug and wish him a happy birthday. I like it when I get to be one of the first ones to have that nice little moment where I get to wish him a happy birthday, and it's so cute because he said "Happy Birthday - you too, Dad!"

One of the family traditions that we grew up with was getting to have our very own "sugar cereal" and so I picked up some cereal for Nathan (Albertson's version of Lucky Charms because it had a dinosaur on it's box-front). Reportedly, Nathan pretty much just ate the marshmallows and shared his goods with Sarah as well.

Here is the amazing Ice Cream Cake that Mary made. This is also a tradition thoroughly enjoyed by all and this was definitely Mary's best job at decorating one by far (maybe only the second one she's really tried to decorate). I honestly think that Nathan was a little confused about what this was because it didn't look at all like a cake and his own Thomas the Tank Engine was on his "cake". After he blew out the candles (with assistance from Dad because the only way that Nathan has learned to blow out of his mouth intentionally is by blowing in a way that flips up the front of his hair, which isn't very effective when you're trying to blow candles out), he had fun moving Thomas back and forth on the little train track. But once I cut up the cake, and put it in a bowl in front of him, he quickly realized it was legit and dug in.

What a cute little guy! Since he's started talking more we've been trying to teach him more words. About 1-2 months ago I wanted him to be able to answer the standard questions (name, age, etc.). Rather than confuse the kid, I just started teaching him to say he was three instead of two since his birthday wasn't too far away. So he's got that down.
Nathan got a lot of wonderful presents. In addition to the other pics below, he received his own Book of Mormon, PJ's, and a movie from Oma and Opa. He got a Pirate Ship flip book from my sister's family, a train and a train book from Kris and Chelsea and a whole bunch more Thomas the Tank Engine characters from Mary, Sarah, Jane and I. He was thrilled about all of the stuff and enjoyed meticulously tearing the wrapping paper off of the boxes.

Nathan got a great little Pre-Kindergarten learning kit/Hooked on Phonics set from Nanu and Bumpa and the kids are excited to dig into it and read some of the books and watch the DVD's. Nathan's excited because Sarah is so excited about it.

My grandma is amazing. She has a whole bunch of great grandkids and she still sends them cards that arrive either on the day of the person's birthday or the day before if it's on a holiday or Sunday. This was no exception! And she even sent $5.

It was a great day! We love our little Nathan so much and are so glad that he is in our family. We realize how much of a blessing it is to have these precious little souls with us and to enjoy these special moments and events with them. Happy Birthday Nathan!