Tags

So I'm not a big fan of tags generally unless they meet two criteria: 1) easy and/or 2) It sounds fun to me. So basically I don't like them, except when I do. The first time I was tagged, it met criteria two but definitely not criteria one, but I really liked it... so I did it. I have been tagged recently by newer blogging friends and my first tag responded to some of those. So here is a link that responds to that first (and since others) tag. In fact, this is one of my favorite posts that I've written because my sense of humor comes out and some of my quirkiness, which usually doesn't come out unless you've known me for a while... and spent a lot of time with me recently. Anyway, please feel free to read the above link, and leave a comment here or there and I'll feel like you know me a little better.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. I was tagged recently by my sis-in-law, Heather. And this one definitely meets criteria one... so of course it gets done. So here you go:

Oh, and I realized another thing about tags... I don't always follow the rules. So the tag is to pick the fourth folder in your pics section and the fourth picture.

So this is the fourth folder from the end of my pics and the fourth picture. This is a picture of some fruit (lemon, lime, and apple) and two special rocks that I have found over the years. The black one was found, I believe on the beach somewhere in Washington (I can't remember if it was at Banks/Roosevelt Lake in E. WA or on the coast/sound). But it was with my best friend Taylor. The other rock is from the 2nd year of the hike with my brothers and my dad up at Lake Dorothy. They are both very cylindrical, though more of an oval than a true sphere. Anyway, they're remarkable rocks and they served as an analogy for my Marriage and Family Therapy Final Paper/Project/Presentation. I related the rocks to [okay this tag is starting to no longer resemble criteria 1, but is starting to fulfill criteria 2, funny!] my experience in life and in my Master's program in terms of being shaped and molded by the situations that I had the opportunity to be in and the trials I had been through. I also, throughout the paper, had many of the verses to Hymn #85, "How Firm a Foundation" so these two things served as a template/analogy for my experience in my program. Anyway, it's a pic that Mary took of the rocks with the fruit for some contrast or something. So there you go.

Oh yeah, and I don't tag other people, but feel free to do the tag if you want to, it is kind of fun!

Blogging for One Year

Today marks the one year anniversary of me blogging.... which is something that I like WAY more then I would ever have imagined and more than most people know. I would love to be a professional blogger... it would be really cool, but the things I'm interested in blogging about would not interest the general public (except sports). Anyway, I've done well over 150 posts in that one year, which means I post, on average, about once every 2.25 days or so. I would like to do it more, but I don't have time to post about a lot of the quirky things that I learn about or read about... maybe in the future. For now, I'm content with my status as a "family" blogger and I love how it connects me to other people. I'm very grateful for my sister encouraging me to start a blog and being such a faithful supporter (read: commenter). A long time ago she commented that she loves blogs because she gets to know me in a way that she may not get to know me otherwise, and I totally agree. So here's to ONE YEAR of BLOGGING! Hooray... many more to come!

It hasn't even been a week . . . (posted by Mary)

We gave Jane some more homemade rice cereal last night. She seemed to enjoy it quite a bit and not so much came back out. Although, I made it quite a bit thicker this time so I think it stuck like super glue to her tongue. Apparently, Sarah thought it was time to move on to other things. When we were getting the kids packed into the car to head home from church - I simultaneously saw Jane vigirously sucking on something with a look of pure delight on her darling face and Sarah holding a half eaten package of smarties. It didn't take too long to put those two images together :) It is a bit more complicated and frustrating at times having a five year old constantly trying to get in on the "take care of baby Jane" action - (like when Sarah decided to transport Jane in a Bumpo seat and I came upon the scene just in time to see Jane tumble out head first onto the linolium floor) but it is also so fun and rewarding to see Sarah's love and concern for her little sis. I am so grateful for each of our children. There are times when I think that there is simply no way I am really me - a mom of 3 kids. And then there are the times when they drive me crazy - and I don't want to be me - a mom of 3 kids. But, in reality, my life is wonderful and if I didn't have any one of them there would be such a void. I love my kiddos!!

Great Question!?

Sarah asked Mary this yesterday: "Mom, if a Daddy says 'Yes' and a Mommy says 'No', who is right?"

Wow, this next decade plus should be a lot of fun!... but thankfully I know the answer to that question (I'll leave that last statement deliberately open-ended and let you make all the assumptions about me you want :*P )

Jane's 1st Solids and a Little Update

Last Friday night Jane had her first taste of "solid" food (besides the occasional miniscule stuff I hook her up with). Why do they call this kind of food "solids" - the stuff is mush at best. They should call it the first food that isn't out of a bottle or a breast. Anyway, it was homemade rice cereal and she seemed to really like it. I love it how their tongue, mouth, and whole body communicates that they want a bite... it's pretty hilarious!


She's over 5 months old now and rolling as a means of travel. She smiles readily and adorably but she's not a huge laugher. She's on more of a sleeping schedule and sleeping in her crib in the room that she shares with Sarah (which Sarah really likes) and she's getting up once per night. Things always change though and that is just how she's been for the last week or so. I'm sure it'll be different soon. She's talking/cooing a lot more and really enjoys being around Sarah and Nathan when they're playing. Nathan is being more attentive to her and actually noticing her existence in a positive way, though he's soon going to find out how interested she is going to be in anything he has once she starts cruising around more. That'll be interesting. There have already been a few instances when Jane has made her way over to Nathan's cars or train track and we hear "Stop it, stop it, STOP IT" from the other room - ahhh good times.

Jane is also very enamored by movies! If she's nursing or doing anything else, if she hears a movie or show on she diverts her attention to the TV or Computer. I promise that we don't set her up in front of the TV in the Bumbo, we just did it cause it makes a cute picture.

Visit from the Stimmel's

So, as I mentioned previously, the Stimmel's dropped by for a brief visit on their way back to Portland from SLC. Taylor has been my best friend since early in my childhood and his family now lives right in front of my parents and they share a driveway. It was a quickly planned visit, but it was so much fun! They got here around 8 pm on Tues and left the next morning aroun 11 am. We let Nathan and Sarah stay up later and play with them and then we didn't send Sarah to school the next day and I went into work late. The kids had so much fun together and you wouldn't know that they've hardly ever played with each other. Taylor and Leah just moved back to the mainland after Taylor finished his Bachelor's at BYU-Hawaii. He started Chiropractic school the day after they got back to Portland. Anyway, we got our kids down around 10 and then we stayed up until 2 AM. I haven't stayed up that long in a while and the time just flew and Mary and I loved all of our great conversations and the personal meaning they held for each of us. It was a therapeutic conversation for me. I wish they could've stayed here longer, but we certainly made the most out of the time we had with them! We hope to find more reasons to be able to meet up with them in the future... but at least Leah blogs a lot!

Here is a pic of the Stimmel's. Such a cute little family and their kids are adorable!
Jane and Paysen really enjoyed looking and making noises at each other. They're only a few weeks apart. Paysen has an adorable little laugh!
Growing up, I would almost always sleep over at Taylor's house and Taylor's wonderful Mom would almost always make us French Toast in the morning for breakfast. It was heaven. When we were able to make it work for them to visit us and when I found out they'd be here for breakfast, I had to make French Toast for Taylor and his family. I really enjoyed that!

Here is a picture of Adi, Sarah and Nathan. Adi loved wearing Sarah's robe and they had a lot of fun together. Sarah, and the rest of us, were very sad to see them go! I know that they took more pics so look for them (soon?) on Leah's blog.

Praying Mantis

A few weeks ago we caught a Praying Mantis. Those things are sweet. It looked like it was pregnant as it had such a large abdomen (we later found out it was just full). It's a good size one too. Anyway, as is our typical routine when we catch something in the yard, we kept it for a day and then let it go. We caught it in the lavender bushes we have in front of our house and that's where we released it. It's been in the same general bush for the last couple of weeks and the kids enjoy checking on it when we come and go. It's probably the closest thing that we've had for a pet (sad, I know). One cute thing that Sarah said when we had caught the Praying Mantis and were looking at it: "Do you think a bug knows it's a bug?" Great question and pretty cute!


A couple of days after my cousin posted about a leaf-bug Mary caught one that was hanging out on our rear sliding door. It was so cool because we had never really seen one and then my cousin posted about it and then we caught one. Cool. Again, we had it for a day and then let it go in the backyard. (We thought we took pics but couldn't find 'em so we stole this one from my cousin)
Then, just a couple of days ago when Mary was coming in the house as usual they checked on our Praying Mantis who had recently caught a nourishing snack: a Leaf Bug. The gory pic is above (but you have to look close to see that it's eating and to see the victim with all the green around!) and if you pay enough attention you can see that he's in the process of devouring the thing... head first of course. We promise we didn't feed the Leaf Bug to the Praying Mantis... but it was a pretty funny coincidence. Be careful it's a bug eat bug world out there!

Blogging Blessings

I know that there are many blessings for writing a blog. I really enjoy blogging and wish I had more time to do it both for documentation purposes and cause I enjoy writing about quirky/fun things and stuff. I'd like to create my own personal blog but I don't really have the time to do that right now. Anyway, one of the biggest blessings of having a blog is connecting with and staying connected with people that you otherwise may not remain connected to. Such is the case with my friend Tymon. He served in the Elder's Quorum Presidency with me shortly after my mission and was a housemate with my cousin Jimmy. We've kept in contact over the last year or so via our blogs and it's been great. When the tragedy of the passing of his son happened last week, I was extremely saddened, yet grateful that blogs (and obviously his and his wife's) allow us to remain connected with others so we can learn and grow from their experiences. It was a blessing for me to learn of his family's tragedy and be reminded of the tenuousness of life and the importance to treasure each moment as a parent. It has been a point of re-evaluation for Mary and I as parents, and for that blessing I am grateful.

Along those same lines, my best friend Taylor has a blog that his wife, Leah writes and they posted real quick last week that they were headed to Utah. So when I saw that I called him up and we were able to host them for a night on their way back to Portland. If it hadn't been for the blog, we may not have connected as their decision to go to Utah was a very last second decision. We had a wonderful time with them, which I'll post about later, that was made possible by these great blogs. Anyway, I'm grateful for this way to connect and remain connected to other people that have spent various amounts of time in my life or Mary's life or both and that through this medium we can continue to have an impact on one another. It's great!

Sibling Hikes/Excursions

This is the fourth year that Mary and I have done our own hikes/excursions with our siblings (Mary with her siblings, me with my bro's and my dad). Mary's info is down below mine.
This year for our hike we went to the Alpine Wilderness Area in the Cascades, which is where we spent most of our time as Scouts. We had never done this hike before but Mary and her siblings did this hike their first year and we had planned to do it two years ago but they had fire in the area that year. This was the first year that Robb was able to go, and it was fun to have him. Jordan and my Dad and I have gone every year and we had Braden two years ago with us. Next year we hope to have everybody (including Chris). We camped at Hyas Lake and visited Little Hyas Lake as well as Tuck Lake. It is right near Deception Pass and Hyas Lake is just below Cathedral Rock. Mary and I and the kids drove over to Robb and Heather's on Wed evening and then Robb and I got up early and met my Dad and Jordan in Cle Elum, WA and headed up to the trailhead.

We had, as usual, a great time. This was the best weather we've ever had and that made it that much better (last year we had snow in September and two years ago it rained most of the time... and Braden had some explosive trots). We enjoyed playing "Greed" (a fun dice-game learned from Mary's family) and just chatting and being outdoors. One of our main criteria for selecting a site is that we want to be able to have a fire, which is a must and we enjoyed having one this year.

Some highlights:
-No one had the trots
-It didn't snow
-It didn't rain
-It wasn't cold
-Robb got bit by a mouse... in his tent (AWESOME - and it would only happen to Robb if you know our family! - I love you Robb!)
-Being far enough away from my Dad to not hear him snoring.
-Beautiful location
-The rotating "chair hierarchy" based upon your place (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th) in the last game of dice - that made the game a little more competitive.
-Trying to catch the chipmunk

Anyway, we had an absolute blast and look forward to doing it next year. Here are some pics:

Here we are at our camp before we headed out on our day trip up to Tuck Lake. It was a great day-trip!
I always wish that most of the pictures that are taken are more close-up. This picture is an exception... and I'm sure you'll agree. Jordan's the tan one, I'm the short one. We did actually go "swimming" (we didn't actually swim, but we did all fully submerge in water above our heads, even if it was very brief for Robb and I).
We had one chipmunk that was everywhere in the camp and into anything it could possibly get into... except our bucket. We had him on several occasions but the bucket would over tip and he would scamper out. We were disappointed that we never actually got him.
As the pic above of Robb, me and Jordan attests, this really was a brutal climb, more steep then any other hike that I've been on. I understood why everyone that we passed coming down had hiking poles as it seemed like almost a safety necessity that we were lacking while coming down.

Here we are way up above Hyas Lake and that's Cathedral Rock right above us in the background. We are less than 1/4 mile from Tuck Lake at this point and are looking forward to lunch and an extended break. This provided a nice lookout.
Here we are at Tuck Lake for lunch on Friday. Although we were ambitious and wanted to go to the upper lake (Robin Lakes), our legs and stamina were telling us otherwise. After all, wisdom is the better part of valor, right!

I'm hoping that the pic above and the pic below can be merged to include all of us together (Rebecca?)... or at least we tried to set it up that way. We couldn't get the timer thing on the camera to work (Operator Error?).

Here we are next to the Roslyn Cafe, where we ate lunch on the way home. It's always nice to eat at a decent restaurant after a good couple of days in the wilderness. I'm sure the other customers don't always appreciate our ora, but we enjoy ourselves. My Dad always loved the show Northern Exposure which was filmed in Roslyn, so it was fun to drive through the town and to eat lunch there.


Every year for Mary's gathering either she or her sister has been pregnant and the other one that is not pregnant has had a nursing infant with them. And, believe it or not, this is the first year that they didn't go hiking! When one is carrying a baby and the other is pregnant, you can imagine that Mary's brothers have had to carry A LOT of the weight when they would hike... and that's certainly been the case. They're real troopers! This year they went to McCall over Labor Day weekend and enjoyed their time up there playing games and talking and enjoying the beauty of McCall. Here are some pics of their time up in McCall:

Mary with her younger brother Kris with Jane. Thanks for making the drive Kris!
Mary with her older brother Michael... thanks for making the flight, then the drive!
Kris working diligently on the fire they had in the firepit we built this summer. Why is he building a fire you might ask? For Foil-Dinners...yummi!
Here's Michael multi-tasking: talking on the phone to his "girlfriend" and putting together some foil-dinner goodness.
Here's Michael on the phone again - but hiding it. Mary & Kris gave him 5 minute time limits which he pretty much kept - except in the wee hours of night. This is one drawback of not being in the wilderness - technology.

The Confession of a Clean Freak (obviously posted by Mary)

I think that it is Woman nature to look at all the PERFECT and AMAZING women about us and feel so very lacking. I know that I do this to myself- and I would love to meet a woman who doesn't - then I can envy her for yet another thing! (I say this for a bit of humor, yet I know that there is some truth to it)



I am having one of those days where I am racking up a never ending to do list by the minute -somewhere in the part of my brain that likes to hold such joyous information and has the uncanny ability to re-register it over and over so I cannot stop thinking about everything that I have not yet gotten to. Why can't it go to that part of my brain that lets information like my kids birthdays and my current zip code fade away into thin air???



Anway - back on topic. But first . . . why do I use this symbol "-" so often? Is it because I know next to nothing about grammar? Alright, alright, I will get back on topic.



I had to stop for a minute to make the kiddos lunch and I took a look at my surroundings. It was a mess even though it was clean (mostly) 2 hours ago. As many of you know, I like to be clean and organized - it is important to me and I definitely make an effort of it. I prompt the kids a couple times a day to clean up and I usually run thru the house to pick up items too. I do the same thing when I know someone is coming over - I don't know why it matters to me, but it does. I also know that over time (ie when more kids join our family) it will probably have to become even less important in order to maintain my sense of sanity.



This for anyone who has come over to my house (when I knew you were coming) and has thought "Oh look! mary is so clean and organized. My house is a wreck."






Of course this is just one confession - but that never ending list is starting to bug me again. It brings me some comfort to consider that other women may be just as normal and imperfect as I am - even when it come to their strengths.

Kiddos Pics

So here are just some random pics of our cute kids. Sarah and Nathan play very well together, generally, and Nathan copies just about anything that Sarah says in her "excited" voice. Sarah adores Jane and Nathan is beginning to clue into the fact that he has a little sister and is starting to show her more attention. Sarah loves to show Jane attention and to hold her, which is great, though her interest in this seems to increase particularly when it's time to go to bed, or clean up, naturally. Jane rolls over all the time and seems to enjoy spending time on her tummy when there's people to watch around her. When she's fed and well-rested, it's adorable to watch her on her tummy with her head high tracking Sarah and Nathan as they play around her. She's also starting to reach out to things and twist around on her tummy. Here are some pics:

Sarah loves to hold Jane this way and Jane generally likes it as well. Sarah doesn't like to do this when Jane spits up or slobbers. They're pretty cute to watch like this, especially if Jane's happy.

Sarah absolutely loves to color and draw. Here she is teaching Jane the ropes. And anything that Sarah does, Nathan likes to mimic!

Sarah goes to school now everyday, which has been an adjustment for Nathan. He looks pretty bored in this picture looking at a book by himself, but he's actually adjusted quite well. Mary says that often this is her most productive time of the day as Nathan is frequently very willing to play quietly by himself while Sarah is gone (we love that about both Sarah and Nathan). This isn't always the case of course, but it's great when it happens. He's always very excited to pick up Sarah though when it's time.

Air Force Air Show

Every year the Mountain Home Air Force Base hosts an Air-Show. Last year we didn't go (I can't remember why) but this year we kind of decided to head out there and take advantage of it. We were really glad that we went. When a town of 12,000 people draws 60,000 people in a two-day span... it must be an event worth seeing. Going to it is free and the Thunderbirds come and participate, which is always really exciting. The weather was gorgeous and it was a lot of fun. The Thunderbirds were so exhilirating to watch, we were just at awe of their sheer power, speed and precision. The kids got bored of their act pretty quick, but I could have watched them for quite a while. We also ran into the Angerbauer's, so we hung out with them and were provided with details of some of the planes that you could go into that were parked from both Mark and their boy Tyler (always full of knowledge!). It was a great time. With the really hot sun and the crowd being out on the runway, shade was at a premium, so everyone was gathered underneath the different planes that were parked for tours and we were fortunate to find a good spot.

Here they are screaming over head... it was hard to catch a good pic of these with our camera, but this works.
This one was cool because he was going really slow and keeping his plane at a vertical slant while not ascending but continuing to go parallel to the ground. It was noisy and looked really cool.
Here are Sarah, Nathan and I in front of some big plane. The kids were exhausted at the end of the show and we still had a long walk, then a short bus ride, then a long walk to find our car. That part of the show was not very fun. Plus there was the long waits in the car lines to get out of the parking lot (think decent-size town Firework show)... it took forever and the kids were hot, dusty and tired... good combo.
While we were exiting the Air Force Base, Nathan, who was eating raisins, started putting up a stink about his nose... yep, that's where he had lodged a raisin. We pulled over and Mary couldn't get to it with her finger, so we had to make sure Nathan didn't play with it during our 15-minute drive home (The AFB is about 15 mins outside of the town of Mt Home). We were able to keep him occupied until we got home. Did we get it out? Yep... evidence below:
It was a screaming fit to pin him down so we could remove the raisin with tweezers. But we were successful without a Doc visit. I remember that I crammed a huckleberry up my nose when I was younger.

LIfe is Precious

I don't post from work on this blog... typically. I just don't know what else to do right now. This morning, I was looking at who had blogged recently and saw that my friend's 15-month old son, Evan, passed away yesterday morning and that both he (Tymon) and his wife (Bridget) had blogged about it to inform people. I'm just sitting here at work balling and wishing I was a better parent and took advantage of each precious moment with my 3 little ones that I love so much but don't always appreciate from moment-to-moment. As a parent, you realize on some level that something like this could happen to one of your kids, but you obviously can't live in a constant state of worry and fear and protectiveness and you have to live with the belief that this won't happen to you (a good and generally healthy defense mechanism). Even though I know that my family (and, fortunately, my friend's) is an eternal one due to the nature of our marriage in the Seattle Temple, a loss like this would be extremely devastating. I work with trauma of all kinds on a daily basis at work, so I know that life goes on but is typically never really the same. I know that such would be the case for me.

While I can't quote it off-hand, I often remember Neal A. Maxwell discussing trials and difficulties and talking about how it often feels that these experiences carve out spaces in our souls. He went on to say that that new space often makes greater room for added love, compassion and empathy for others. I know that Tymon and Bridget will have an added measure of love to show to their three other children (soon to be four as Bridget is expecting their first daughter) in the long-run as they move through this loss of their little Evan.

Any prayers or thoughts in their behalf would obviously be greatly appreciated. I know I'll hug my little ones a little longer and have a little more meaning when I tell them of my love for them tonight. God be with you Bridget, Tymon, Graeden, Elliott, and Jett (as well as Jovana).

Sarah's First Day of Kindergarten

It's still crazy to me that we have a Kindergartner! Sarah absolutely loves it and looks forward to it each day. She's in the AM half of the class and I think we have to wake her up about 15 minutes earlier then she would like. It's a bit of a scramble every morning to get Sarah off to school by 8:30, but it seems to be going well. Mary is enjoying her more focused time with Nathan, and he seems to be benefitting (read: talking somewhat coherently and a little bit more) from the added attention and tutoring. Sarah's teacher, Mrs. Murphy, seems really great with the kids and has over 20 yrs experience teaching. Sarah, who's not used to using Mr. or Mrs. with people, will often refer to her as "Murphy", which I always laugh about. Mary has discouraged me from telling Sarah to refer to her as "Murph" or "Murph-Dog", which I've been able to restrain myself from. We're happy with things so far and Sarah seems to really enjoy it. The routine board has been helpful for Sarah taking responsibility of getting ready each day on her own(though it's certainly been far from perfect!).

Sarah's very conscientious about her manners at school (at least we taught her something... even if it isn't always applied in the privacy of her home... neither are some of our parenting beliefs :*). Anyway, she will often come home and tell something to Mary about another student at school, ie: "Mom, there's a boy in my class named Nathan, just like my brother Nathan" or "Tayah was there today, Mom" (a friend from church). Mary will often then ask "did you talk to them" or something along those lines. Sarah will tersely reply: "No Mom! That would be interrupting!" Oh yeah, what was Mom thinking! It's pretty cute. Anyway, just the beginning of a long road for us and her!

Become a Follower

I know, it doesn't sound that great or that inspirational. Yea! Be A Follower! Kind of lame, I know.
But this is different! Blogger now has this new feature that is pretty cool and allows you to see who actually is a "follower" of your actual blog. If your name/blog appears on my bloglist to the right then I have already done my work to become a follower on your blog. All you have to do is add the widget/gadget which is accessible under your "Layout" icon and then you just select the "add a gadget" icon and then you click the "Followers" icon and... viola, you're a follower. Join the club. I like how blogger is helping this thing to do some of the cool social networking stuff, but not all of the other stuff from those sites that I find somewhat lame.