Sarah & Jane!

I just love these two kids. Sarah is getting so big and is growing up so fast. She is maturing and learning so much right now... it's hard to keep up. Jane is at that magical age that I absolutely adore and (for the most part) can't get enough of. Whenever it's bedtime and we're singing Sarah her bedtime song, Jane will always insist on laying in Sarah's bed, right next to her, under the covers. This is usually adorable, but sometimes there is the (understandable, at times) complaining from Sarah ("You're on my hair", "OUCH", "Jane just hit me", etc.). But usually they enjoy these few moments each night where they get to cuddle or where they both get their backs-scratched while I sing them a song (that's daddy multi-tasking!). I love bedtime for many reasons, but it seems that our kids can be the sweetest when they are tired and just enjoying the process of being put in bed. Anyway, we caught some fun times with these girls before bed time one night recently. Enjoy!

Sarah's Dance Class '09-'10

Sarah participated in a dance class that was put together and ran by some of our friends. The class was held every Monday afternoon and Sarah really enjoyed and looked forward to these classes. She had her dance recital in late March on a Saturday afternoon. We invited some of our friends to come and watch the performance. Our Bishop and his wife were there, of course.


Afterward, they had a little potluck dinner. We got Sarah some roses which she really enjoyed. She was very articulate in her dancing. She loved practicing at home and would often be found in her room playing her dance CD for her brother and sister while trying to teach them the dances. She would get frustrated when they wouldn't get it. She is such a fun big sis! We look forward to this starting next year again. Her, teacher, Emily J. did such a good job and has such a passion for both dancing and kids, we are lucky to have her in our ward! Thanks Emily! A couple of weeks after the class ended, Sarah remarked how much she missed going to dance class on Monday afternoons.



This is the group of girls that Sarah danced with. These are all girls that Sarah enjoys spending time with outside of dance. Two have since moved :( That is Emily J with them. This was their dance number to the song "Good Ship Lollipop"



This is Sarah's group after the recital posing for pics

Camping at the Sand Dunes 3/5 - 3/6/10

Camping at the Sand Dunes 3/5 - 3/6/10



So we had an unseasonably warm week in early March and I was a little over excited about Spring and Summer coming, so I started to think about camping. As I watched the weather (with most of the attention being paid to the daily High's) it looked like it was shaping up for a gorgeous weekend. So I decided to go camping early in the week.

We decided to use a site that had electricity and water along with a firepit and little shelter for a picnic table. I had told the kids earlier in the week that we would try to go camping this weekend and they were really excited. Sarah wrote the following little note for me on Thurs: "Dear Daddy I hop we have a fun time together tomorow going camping at the sand doons I hop we have a grate time of corse you now that. to Jeff from Sarah Hamm." What a sweet girl! Nathan was also very excited and looking forward to camping. They were counting down the days all week. Their excitement and anticipation alone would have been worth the trip! They helped me pack some of the camping stuff on Thurs evening and asked over and over why I had to go to work on Friday, because they wanted to camp “all day”. I got home from work early on Friday and we finished packing all the great food that Mary had put together for us and we were on our way. We got out to the camping spot at the Sand Dunes around 5 pm and we set up camp. The kids had a fun time helping me and playing around the campsite. We then went and registered our campsite at the pay-station and the kids found “firewood” (really just small sticks and twigs) as we walked around the campgrounds. A neighborly camper pointed out that there was a horned owl in his nest in a nearby tree so we went over and looked at it, the kids thought that was cool and I answered their questions about what it eats and how it catches it’s food. We discovered that there was no water at the campsite so we had to drive to nearby Bruneau to get some water from a gas station there. The kids enjoyed seeing some deer in the fields as we drove. We got a fire going when we returned and the kids enjoyed helping with the fire. We then cooked hot dogs over the fire and the kids enjoyed eating those and some chips. After eating dinner we just sat around the fire and talked (about owls, fires, camping, etc.). We then made Jiffy-pop popcorn and Sarah and Nathan were quite impressed at how it grew as it was cooked and popped. They enjoyed the popcorn. They were both really excited about eating roasted marshmallows and Nathan, especially, had talked about this all week. However, when they were actually cooked he only had one. Sarah had a couple and then they wanted to go in the tent as it was dark, the fire wasn’t really providing much warmth and it was getting much cooler. They wanted to put on their jammies and get in their sleeping bags. So we went in the tent and we had brought a little fan/heater and that came in handy and took some of the edge off of the cold during the night. We kept it on all night! We played around in the tent a little bit and got them ready for bed. We brought two books to read: The Bernstein Bears “Bear Scouts” and Mercer Mayer’s “My Dad and Me” camping trip book. The kids enjoyed these stories. We then read the Book of Mormon and then we talked for a while. Before they went to sleep, I had them come out of the tent briefly and look at the stars. Unfortunately the Observatory here was closed. After I left I just walked around the camp a bit and cleaned up our stuff and then I joined them in bed. It’s so fun to sleep between your kids while camping. I had enough light to see their sweet little faces sleeping comfortably (and I hoped that they were warm enough with a sleeping bag and blankets). They both slept well – better then me I think… I never sleep good when camping/hiking.



In the morning it was cold and windy as the sun started to come up. They were both tired of being in the tent and wanted to get outside, but I knew they would be very cold as there was frost on the windshield and due to how windy it was. Thankfully, Mary had sent us with some doughnuts so we didn’t have to make pancakes right away for breakfast. So we got in the car and drove about 25 mins to Bruneau Canyon, which is amazing and very deep. It was still windy and cool, but the sun was up which provided some warmth. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks over the fence at the lookout and trying to listen to hear it hit the ground or canyon face below. We probably spent about 45 minutes there and then traveled back. This worked out good because even though it was windy, the sun made the campsite much warmer. I made pancakes on an electric griddle, but it was still so cold and windy that by the time that they ate them they were very cold pancakes and they ate very little, and I didn’t blame them. The syrup was cold and the pancakes were cold. Luckily they had eaten the doughnuts. To get something else in their stomachs we decided to cook the last couple hot dogs, so they had hot dogs and doughnuts for breakfast – what a healthy breakfast!



After “breakfast” we went in the tent and got them dressed for the day and packed up some of our stuff in the tent. Then we got ready to go to the actual Sand Dunes to play. Here’s a funny story. So, apparently on Friday morning while Mary was shopping for stuff for us to go camping at a local grocery store (Paul’s) the kids were telling everybody that they were going camping with their daddy to the sand dunes. When they were checking out of the store, the cashier told Sarah and Nathan to “be careful, last time I was there I saw a rattle snake!” This apparently stuck with Nathan.



When we parked at the bottom of one of the dunes, he refused to come out because he was scared of rattle snakes. I assured him that we wouldn’t see any this time of year and that I would stay with him. He would have none of it! He chose to stay in the car, but it was close enough where he could see us from the car go up and down the dunes. So he stayed behind in the car. Sarah and I walked to the end of the dune and then climbed up it’s spine, rather then hike straight up. The sand was cold on our feet underneath. We got to the top and Sarah enjoyed repeatedly jumping down [“like a bunny – hop hop”] the dune and then climbing back up. She also said that she felt like she was walking on the moon… she seemed to really enjoy this.




After about 30-45 minutes of us playing on the dunes (I jumped down them several times with her as well). I went down to check on Nathan. He was fairly distraught and it looked like he had been crying/upset for a little while. Poor kid! He still did not want to come out and go on the dunes, he just wanted to go back to the campsite. So we went back there when Sarah was done playing on the dunes.


We finished cleaning up our campsite and had a snack. We put the fire out with our remaining water. In the midst of cleaning up the camp, Sarah had apparently been talking to Nathan about how fun the dunes were and that she didn’t see any snakes. She had been so sweet and gently encouraging him to go on the dunes. What a great big sister she is for her little brother (and sisters!). She is so kind and sweet and is such a great example to her siblings. So after we had cleaned everything up, Nathan said he wanted to go back to the dunes. This time we picked a smaller dune that wouldn’t be difficult for Nathan to walk up. He was insistent that I hold his hand while we walked to and then up the smaller sand dune. Sarah ran ahead and we caught up to her at the top. Nathan didn’t want to do any jumping off of the backside of the dune, but enjoyed watching Sarah and I do it (Sarah had to hold his hand while I jumped down). We really praised him for being brave even though he was worried about rattle snakes.



We then drove home. The kids had a great time! I was really glad that we had decided to go even if they were pretty cold at times. It is so fun to see them so happy and excited about things like campfires, tents, sticks, bugs, animals, stars, marshmallows, hot dogs, sleeping bags, etc. Time and money well-spent!


*on a side note, I didn't find the camera in my bag until after our trip to Bruneau Canyon in the morning :(

Molly Svea Hamm

Molly joined our growing family on 4/30/2010 at 12:47 pm (just didn't want to join us on her older sister's birthday!). She weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches in length. Mary had her 40 week (exactly) appointment earlier in the day and she was 5 cm's dilated, though she hadn't really had any contractions or anything that would signify active labor. But given that we were only in the hospital for 12 mins before Jane was born, our Doc told Mary that she wasn't going to be sleeping in her own bed tonight. So I worked that day, we went out to dinner together and we checked into the hospital at 6 pm that evening. Because Mary wasn't in active labor, we did some walking for the first couple of hours. Because she had tested + for Strep B she had to be on an antibiotic every four hours. After her second round of antibiotic (started at about 10 pm) she was still just dilated to a 6 or 7 and her dilation was a little off-center, or something. Our doc recommended that Mary spend 10-15 mins on her hands and knees to assist with proper alignment and hoping that it would get things moving along. Up to this point Mary had had some contractions but nothing that she couldn't walk/talk through. Anyway, the hands and knees thing worked. Mary got up from that and began to have some more regular contractions and around 12:15 they started picking up speed and it was clear that things were moving forward progressively.

I was in a reflective mood at this point, watching my wife labor amazingly well and seeming almost in complete control of her body and this labor process. I was so proud of her and impressed at her ability to be so focused and in control. What a contrast from our first one! After our first one I was wishing that I could be back in the old days when the dad's weren't allowed in the room. But this time, I was wishing that I could do more to help her and to feel engaged in this process. I tried to be supportive verbally for her and was informed at one point that it was helpful and at another point that I needed to stop. She knows what she does and doesn't want during the transition point of the labor and delivery process. Anyway, I absolutely loved watching her and I had a good 30 mins of marveling at the amazingness of my wife and her remarkable awareness of her body. She got on the bed to push when she felt that "these are pushing contractions". She pushed through one contraction and on the second one little Molly joined this world and our family. What a beautiful little girl.

I went home around 7:15 am to spell our friend who had put our kids to bed and spent the night at our home. The kids were excited to hear about this little girl joining our family. I made waffles for the kids for breakfast and got them ready for the day. I then took them over to a friends house for a few hours and went to check on Mary. [It is very nice to live about 4 mins from the hospital]. We spent the next few hours together and then I went home and got the kids and brought them home to get them some lunch. We then went to the hospital so some very excited kiddos could see their new little sister.
Here is Sarah holding little Molly. She has been such an excited big sister and wants to hold her and spend time with her a lot. She has been a big helper and I'm sure she will continue to be.

Here is Sarah holding Molly with Nathan. Nathan is pretty excited about his sister and interested in her but not all engaged in wanting to hold her or be all that involved with her yet.
Jane, on the other hand, cannot get enough of her. The picture above is a perfect depiction of their current relationship. The best way to describe it is regularly concerted effort to be pawing or touching her sister in some way. If you don't know where she is, she is probably standing innocently next to a now rocking swing. She is constantly touching her face and head. She loves to point out her eyes, ears, mouth and nose. She's a doll and so excited about her younger sister. See below.


The name was a little bit of a dilemma and much more difficult to decide. Our three other children had names long before they joined our family. This one we just couldn't come to any agreement. Eventually, I kind of won out. We each liked all of our name ideas for this little girl but couldn't decide. I have really liked the name Molly for the last 4-5 years and that is what I really wanted to name her, plus it seemed right to me. I absolutely love her middle name, Svea. I don't really know how to explain by type how it is pronounced, but this is my best guess at a pronunciation: suh (like duh) - vay - uh . The 'suh' sound is really short and may not be completely sounded out. It's a Swedish name, like Sven, if that helps. I don't really know if that makes sense but that's okay. Anyway, we love our little girl and are trying to come to grips with the fact that we are the parents of four children. in our family. and they are ours. and we are responsible for them. four kids. ours.

We'll see how this adjustment and transition goes. Welcome to our family Molly Svea! We love you!

Easter 2010

We are so grateful to celebrate Easter and it is a meaningful and fun tradition in our family. We do the fun stuff on Saturday and the more spiritual stuff together on Sunday. For our spiritual aspect we often read or talk about Christ's resurrection and the significance of this in our lives and in the gospel plan. The kids always have so many specific questions and it is fun to talk about these things.

Below are pictures and brief explanations of some of our Easter traditions.



One of our Easter traditions is to color eggs. The kids seem to enjoy doing it even if the colors don't turn out exactly the way that they were hoping. However, the kids, especially Sarah, are distraught when we start wanting to eat them. They don't like to see their eggs eaten and they don't like the hard-boiled yolks. They get over it.





Easter Egg Hunt! We do the egg hunt (with plastic eggs containing candy) at least as a family and that's what we did this year. The kids enjoy finding the eggs and we enjoy hiding them. Sarah (and Nathan to a lesser extent) were good about letting Jane find some too - often with Mom or Dad's help. The kids very much enjoy the contents of the Easter eggs as well!



For Easter the kids get a basket that they have to find hidden in the house somewhere. They get some kind of a spiritual gift and then some candy and a simple fun gift (like a coloring book or stuffed animal). This year, all of the kids got frogs as they were given to us from a lady in the ward. Nathan particularly enjoyed his and named him Poxy. Sarah and Jane's have kind of been lost in the shuffle (or for good?) of some of their other stuffed animals.

Update 8/2009 - 3-2010

So, it's been forever since I have blogged... I just got out of the habit and haven't gotten back into it. Occasionally, I have had twinges of guilt, knowing that this was something I wanted to consistently do, if only for a record of our family happenings for future reflection. Anyway, I'll try to update peeps as much as possible, but I apologize up front that there won't be any pics. That would multiply the amount of time this would take and then I'd be stuck again... this would become a draft and maybe never be finished.

August 2009: I think that sometime in this month we found out we were pregnant. Now we are about four weeks away from our fourth kid (3rd girl). We are unsure on names at this point. We went to McCall and spent about a week with my family up there... it was a relaxing and enjoyable time. One of the things that I enjoyed the most was the time that I spent each morning with Sarah and Nathan. Our kids, compared to my nieces and nephews, get up early (around 7 am, if not before), so I knew that we needed to figure something out each morning because I didn't want our kids waking up others. So, once the kids woke up (the two oldest at least), typically simultaneously, I would take them outside, get them a warm jacket and we'd go do something fun. We would head out with full sippy cups and a little snack (sometimes picked up a doughnut, which the kids loved). We went to the river that flows into the upper Payette lake and had fun throwing rocks in the river/stream and watching sticks float down it. Some of the mornings we just had a fire outside of the cabin in the little fire-pit and had breakfast on the picnic table. One morning we waited a bit and then went fishing with the other older cousins with my brother Robb, and my Dad. This was a lot of fun! One morning we went down to the Payette River below Payette Lake (McCall) and threw rocks in the river and tried to see who could make the biggest splash. This was a fun time as well. One morning we just walked down to Davis Beach and swung on the little bench swing down there and watched the lake come alive with boats. This was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it and it made a positive time out of a typically difficult time where I would have normally been shushing the kids endlessly to keep them quiet. Overall, we had a great time in McCall and it's so fun just to hang out on the beach with the family. Our kids have so much fun with their cousins and the beach just provides almost endless play for the kiddos. Great times. I turned 31 in August.
I was called to serve as the YM's President in our ward, which was/is overwhelming but enjoyable.

September 2009: We took a road-trip home to W. WA and visited Mary's parents in Leavenworth and then visited with my parents in Bothell for a few days. Then I went with my brothers and dad for our annual men's hike to Hyas Lake up outside of Roslyn. This was a fun year as it was the first year that I had all of my brothers with us. We had a great time! I think it was this month that Mary started Homeschooling Sarah. This was a big step but it is going wonderfully. Sarah is thriving in this environment and is learning to love learning, which is one of the main reasons we chose this route for Sarah's education.

October 2009: I was laid off on October 8th, which was devastating! Fortunately, I was only out of work for one month and returned to work on Nov. 9th with my previous job. This was a difficult and stressful month job-searching, soul-searching and being grateful for blessings and preparation. We felt fortunate that in 2008 we had set a goal to have a year-supply of food and clothing, which we were able to do. This significantly took the edge off of some of the difficulty, though we never really had to use that. With my little severance and using the vacation I had accrued, we were able to bridge the time that I was laid off. But it was definitely a time of uncertainty for us. I applied for probably 50-60 jobs in my field and probably only heard back from 5 or so, and I didn't have a single interview. It was discouraging, but a good wake-up call. We learned a lot of things in this brief period of time.

November 2009: Mary and I celebrated our 8th anniversary by going out to Bruneau Canyon to see the sunset and then out to dinner here locally. A week later, Mary's parents and his brother and his wife came to visit us for Thanksgiving. This was a really fun weekend! We enjoyed great food and enjoyed staying up talking and playing card and dice games. Thanksgiving morning my Father-in-law and brother-in-law went with me to play football (the annual Turkey Bowl) at a local park with people from our ward. I think people suspect me of bringing ringers every year, as last year my brother and dad joined us. My brother-in-law, Kris, scored the winning touchdown for our team... it was a lot of fun. We always appreciate it when family goes out of their way to join us for Holidays or just visits us.

December 2009: We enjoyed preparing for the Christmas season. Things were crazy at work trying to get everything done for the month before we left for the last 8 days or so for Christmas. Before that, though, me and some of Mary's friends (most of the work was done by the latter! Thanks Rachelle and Kristin!) pulled off a great surprise birthday party for Mary's 30th b-day. This was a lot of fun, and was completely unexpected by Mary due to the craziness of this month and getting ready to leave to Washington for Christmas. On the morning of the 23rd, we woke the kids up and told them that we had to get ready because we were leaving to go on an airplane to go to Washington for Christmas. This was a complete surprise to the kids and they were so excited! This was the first airplane ride for these kids and they did great. They loved being able to go on an airplane and they did great! This was also a surprise (I can't believe we actually pulled this off!) for my mom. She was completely caught off-guard when she came out of the house to find us there as we said "SURPRISE". She was literally speechless with her hands over her mouth. We had a great time in Washington for Christmas and enjoyed seeing extended family and spending a lot of time with our immediate family. We were also able to see some friends as well. We spent the Saturday after Christmas with Mary's family in Tacoma at her sister's house. This was a lot of fun and the kids got some fun home-made gifts from Nanu and Bumpa. This trip went by too quickly, but was such a great time. We enjoyed it immensely!

January 2010: We went to Utah toward the end of January for a job interview that didn't pan out. We enjoyed spending a lot of time with our friends, the Bergeson's (who hosted us wondefully on extremely short notice!) and also spending some time with Mary's brother and his wife. We had a great quick trip and the kids had fun with their friends and Aunt and Uncle. Nathan turned four the next week. What a cute kid! I think it was this month that we found out that we are having a girl (we had a failed attempt in December).

February 2010: We enjoyed celebrating Valentines Day with our family. Sarah really enjoys making signs, posters, notes for people, and she has continued to do this. She regularly asks when the next holiday is, so she can start to make some decorations. Don't really remember much else about this month.

March 2010: Mary and I celebrated 100 months of being married. This was kind of cool and it's something that I/we like to do each month. I think this continued when we had Sarah as you always say how old kids are in months until they turn like two or something. So, I decided to start keeping track of this. Occasionally, Mary will remember before I do, but this is fairly rare. Typically, I send an email or make a call home telling her "Happy __ Month Anniversary", she laughs at me, then thanks me and we go on with our normal conversation. I actually surprised Mary this month by setting up a sitter so we could go out to dinner together. It was fun. On 3/5-6, I took Sarah and Nathan for our first camping trip of the year. It had been unseasonably warm and it was supposed to be a nice weekend, so I decided to head out with them. We went to the Bruneau Sand Dunes. While it was nice when the sun was out, it got cold quick. Fortunately, I had brought a space heater. It stayed on all night in our tent. The kids had a blast, even though they were cold at times. They had fun roasting hot dogs over the fire for dinner and then marshmallows for dessert. We drove out to Bruneau Canyon on Sat morning cause the kids were bored of being in the tent and it was too cold to be outside of it. So we drove the 20 mins or so to the canyon. The kids had fun throwing rocks and sticks over the ledges and listening for it to hit the bottom/side of the canyon. The kids ate doughnuts on the way out there for breakfast. When we got back we had a little fire while I did some cleaning up. We then went to the Dunes. Here’s a funny story. So, apparently on Friday morning while Mary was shopping for stuff for us to go camping at a local grocery store (Paul’s) the kids were telling everybody that they were going camping with their daddy to the sand dunes. When they were checking out of the store, the cashier told Sarah and Nathan to “be careful, last time I was there I saw a rattle snake!” This apparently stuck with Nathan. When we parked at the bottom of one of the dunes, he refused to come out because he was scared of rattle snakes. I assured him that we wouldn’t see any this time of year and that I would stay with him. He would have none of it! He chose to stay in the car, but it was close enough where he could see us from the car go up and down the dunes. So he stayed behind in the car. Sarah and I walked to the end of the dune and then climbed up it’s spine, rather then hike straight up. The sand was cold on our feet underneath. We got to the top and Sarah enjoyed repeatedly jumping down “like a bunny – hop hop” the dune and then climbing back up. She also said that she felt like she was walking on the moon… she seemed to really enjoy this. After about 30-45 minutes of us playing on the dunes (I jumped down them several times with her as well). I went down to check on Nathan. He was fairly distraught and it looked like he had been crying/upset for a little while. Poor kid! He still did not want to come out and go on the dunes, he just wanted to go back to the campsite. So we went back there when Sarah was done playing on the dunes. Anyway, so when we went back to the dunes later after mostly packing up the camp, Nathan agreed to join us, but didn't really get into the spirit of playing on the dunes. He was mostly content with just holding mine or Sarah's hand while we played in the sand. He didn't see a rattlesnake! On 3/20, Sarah had her first Dance Recital for the class that she has been in for the last couple of months. It was so cute! UW was playing that night in the Big Dance and it completely conflicted with Sarah's recital. I remember kind of wishing as we left for the recital that I could keep watching the game instead. I was pleased to find out that I really enjoyed myself. It was so great to see how happy Sarah was and how proud she was of herself during her different dances. I genuinely wanted to be there, and I was inwardly pleased by that. Whew! I really do love my kids! The following weekend we built a 6-foot wooden fence in our backyard. This was no small task, but we pretty much completed it between Thurs evening and Saturday night. Mary is such a hard worker as she was working right along with me at 8 months pregnant. I was exhausted by the time Saturday rolled around, I'm sure Mary was that much more tired! It sure looks great though!

I think that catches me up. This is a thin description of our last six months plus. Hopefully I'll be better in the coming months.

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.