find joy in the journey

homecoming

As I've mentioned before, our trip to CA last week was primarily for the purpose of welcoming my brother Denver home from his mission.  He has spent the last 2 years in Sao Paulo Brazil sharing the gospel, baptizing, getting attacked by dogs, by knives, taking his "worm" medication, living in some interesting conditions, and most importantly discovering a change in himself.

For those of you who were reading my blog back in March 2006 you may remember this letter.  Click on the link -- you'll get a good laugh.  And no, he never had to purchase a leotard for his mission.

Here are some pictures from the airport. 

I made t-shirts for my family to wear.  "Bem-vindo!" on the front, which means "Welcome" in Portuguese.  And one of Denver's famous quotes on the back.

I think the smiles in this photo says it all.

Later that day I was able to go with my parents, Denver, & Mason to the stake center so that Denver could be released by a member of the stake presidency.  I was surprised that the stake counselor wanted all of the family in there, but it was definitely special to share that meeting together.  I kept glancing over at Denver and he looked somehow out of place - I'm not sure he knew what to do with himself!  But as whole, his re-entry seems to be going just fine.  Each night we watched a movie to help him catch-up and he has been fully immersed into Rock Band. 

Also, he gave a wonderful talk in sacrament meeting.  We're glad to have him home now, although the kids are struggling with the gaping hole left in their prayers by having to eliminate "bless Uncle Denver on his mission."  Luckily they only have to wait 9 months or so to fill it with Uncle Mason.

Welcome home Denver!  Welcome home!

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a sealing

My uncle John (my mom's brother) his wife Libby and their two adorable girls Ashlee and Mikayla were sealed in the Oakland Temple the next day.  So many family members came from Utah, Idaho, and Michigan to be there for this momentous occasion.

a priesthood ordination

After church on Sunday Mason was ordained to be an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood.  When did all my brothers get so old and grown up?!  He was also presented with a plaque for completing his Eagle Scout.  A Court of Honor is planned in the near future. 

and if I haven't mentioned already

my 26 year old brother Sam was called to be in the bishopbric in his ward about a month ago.  Like I said, when did all my brothers get so old and grown up?!!

     

the rolling hills

I'm not sure why, but I love this scene.

the old country road, the golden rolling hills, the barbed wire fences . . . . I guess it does remind me of the foothills near my hometown.  Always the backdrop to our everyday.  But now

these images, this winding road gives me the feeling of anticipation.  Knowing that there is something, someone, special just a few miles away.  

And what a special week it has been.  A missionary homecoming, a temple sealing, a priesthood ordination, and time with family.  Lots of good stuff.

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As we left at 6am this morning the red sun followed us in a smoky haze.

Saturday evening there was a lightning storm that sparked fires all over the area.  My dad was called in with his bulldozer and spent the next several days making fire breaks or sitting at the fire station (he's still there now) & taking shifts with his brother Brian so he could still spend time with us.  On Sunday, I believe, he said that there were 400 fires burning in the state.  And we could see & smell it.  Each day the visibility decreased more and more. 

Less than 10 miles away from my parents place we came across this on our way out

Holy smokes!  A little sad to see, but those golden hills will be back next year.

And as we traveled north this was our constant view

That is not fog, or haze, or smog.  It's pure smoke.  We did not once see the sun or blue skies until we reached Shasta -- over 300 miles.  Just crazy!

a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n roll

oh, man . . . Scott is going to curse me for even mentioning the word "country" in a post about him.

 As you can see, there was a little bit of a country theme around our house on Father's Day.  Scott's original plans to spend the day  watching the U.S. Open were foiled when Tiger finished in 1st place on Saturday.  But he was relieved & excited to find out that TBS (or some other cable channel) was featuring an all day Clint Eastwood marathon.  That meant he got to watch some of his favorite movies including:  Hang 'em High, The Magnificent Seven, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. 

As for a little bit rock 'n roll . . . . The kids gave Scott a purple lighting skin for his Guitar Hero Les Paul.  I narrowed it down to 3 choices and Payton picked out the purple lightning.  We also gave him a set of drumsticks and a practice pad to start him towards his dream of playing the drums (he's been talking about this for years).  So who knows, a drum set may be in our future.

Yee-haw!  Or, as Anna says, "All aboard!"  She doesn't quite have her dress-up characters straight -- the cowboy is a new one. 

  

voting status

  vote for Payton HERE.  (scroll down to read more of the story).  He is number 9

On wednesday they said the voting was open for one week . . . .

Last time I checked Payton was in 3rd place.  17%, 16%, and 15%   It's a tight race!

And I hope that no one thinks I'm pimping out my child or that I'm a big ol' nuissance . . . . I just think a free photo session would be so cool!

welcome to summer!

Conner had his last day of 1st grade on Friday!  I think he had a good day.  He was definitely ecstatic when he came running down the hill to meet me for the last time.  In his hand he carried his Golden Ticket to 2nd grade.  At one point it got misplaced in the house and you could see the fear in his eyes, totally believing that he couldn't go to 2nd grade without it!

Throughout the day Conner sang and demonstrated on air guitar the anthem for the day (even for the principal):

{insert:  "School's Out for Summer" by Alice Cooper}

For his teacher's gift . . . I just have to say wow.  This year he has fallen in love with The Magic Treehousebooks.  He now has 2 boxed sets and he stays up late every night reading them (even though he's not supposed to).  His teacher began reading these books to the class towards the beginning of the year and Conner was hooked right away.  The weekend before the last week of school (make sense?) he decided that he was going to write his own Magic Treehouse book.  Day after day he would retreat to some quiet corner of the house and just write.  And write and write.  The stories, ideas, and sentence structure (especially the dialog) were just amazing to me.  After a day or two we decided that his finished book would be a great gift for Ms. C, especially because she introduced him to the books.  By Thursday he had written 8 chapters of "Antarctica Before Snack-Time" and we put it into a portfolio to present to Ms. C.  I think she really liked it.  If nothing else, Conner felt really proud of himself - as evidenced by the huge grin on his face when he walked away from her desk.

Here is an excerpt from Antarctica Before Snack-Time, chapter 4 - Snow Bellies

Annie climbed down the rope ladder.  Jack followed.  When they reached the bottom they saw some penguins sliding on the ice.  "Why are they doing that?" asked Annie.  "I'll look in the book," said Jack.  He flipped through the book until he found a picture of penguins sliding on their bellies.  He read outloud: "Penguins don't waddle on the ice.  They slide on their bellies."  Jack looked up.  He saw that Annie was sliding on her belly.  "Look at me!" she shouted.  Jack thought that looked fun.  So he joined her.

One of my favorite parts of the book are the chapter titles.  Chapter 3 is titled, "Brrrr".  And chapter 8 is titled, "Still Brrrr."  For a summer project I think he's going to work on illustrations for each chapter and then we'll put it together in a Blurb book.

At the beginning of the year I mentioned that this was Conner's first year in a new charter school.  It was interesting to jump into this without having much prior knowledge about how they operate and not being able to hear opinions & experiences from parents who have been there/done that.  But we went in with an open mind and it ended up being a really good experience.  Conner has received all the academic push he needs and then some.  One of the things we really enjoy is that they let the children progress in reading, math, etc. at their own pace.  If the kids are breezing through the material, they let them go as far as they can (with regular testing & assessment to keep everyone on track).  Conner's reading group was only 10-12 lessons away (they do 1 or 2 a day) from completing the 2nd grade material.  His teacher says he should be able to start in the 3rd grade books in the fall.  His math group spent their time in the 2nd grade classroom and I think they were well into 3rd grade material.  Another thing I enjoy is the small school atmosphere (only 100 students this year) -- being a small town girl myself, the idea of big schools just makes me nervous!  To sum it up, it's been a good year and it will be so fun/weird/convenient/exciting to have Payton there next year as a kindergartner.  Acckk!!  I showed him the classroom on Friday and he seems excited about having a desk, "because we don't have desks in pre-school."

last day of school activities:

• welcoming summer with a bang (one of these 3 children is suffering from post-nap grumpiness disorder.  I'll let you guess which one).

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

• ice cream for snack time

• take the entire family to see Kung Fu Panda.  I'm sure that Conner is now armed with enough ninja & kung fu moves to get him through the summer.

payton needs your vote!

A few weeks ago I entered all of my kids into a Fresh Face contest that was offered by a photographer.  Basically, the winner gets a free photo session and an 11x14 portrait.  (click on "Fresh Face" to read more of the details).

Anyways, Payton is one of the 10 finalists!!!!  I shouldn't be too surprised, though, because well . . . look at this face!

So I neeeed your help.  Go to this website

http://mppblog.typepad.com/mpp/2008/06/fresh-faces-finalists.html

and vote for #9

It looks like voting is open for one week.

Tell your mom, sister, cousin, neighbor, piano teacher, mail-man . . . . .

Payton will give you a big thank-you!  And maybe even a kiss on the cheek.  But most likely he'll perform his chicken or cuckoo-bird impersonation for you.

oh, what do you do in the summertime?

Summer is still on my brain.  Even though it's rainy & 56 degrees outside.

Yesterday we received this summer sundae surprise package in the mail from Scott's employer

6 pints of Ben & Jerry's, caramel, hot fudge & raspberry sauces, nuts, sprinkles, & an ice cream scoop.  Now this gets me in the mood for warmer days.  Yum!

For me, the arrival of summer brings with it feelings of change & renewal & re-energizing.  Kinda like the resolutions we set at the beginning of the year, I see the coming of summer as a chance for a fresh start.  So my mind has been stirring these last few weeks, trying to think of what I want to accomplish this summer, what fun things I want to do with the kids, how we can occupy our time, and just all around have a great time.  A couple friends have recently reminded me of some of the summer organization tips I shared last year (apparently I have a short-term memory).  There were the popsicle jobs (which we did), and the summer fun poster which was a big hit.  We will definitely be doing that again.

So in preparation for summer's arrival (which I hope really does come soon) I wanted to make a list of the things we already have planned to do this summer, the things I want to do, and the silly little things we'll do to fill in the empty spaces of our day.

on the calendar

• trip to CA -- my brother Denver is returning home from his mission to Brazil!  It will be fun to see him, other family members, and we know that CA will not deny us in the sunshine department.
• trip to ID -- Scott's parents have a new house and the new temple will be holding it's open house while we are there.  Anna will get her wish to go inside the temple!  That's even better than visiting Cinderella's castle.
• Phantom of the Opera -- woo-hoo!  This will be my 4th time (San Fran, San Fran, SLC) and Scott's 3rd (San Fran, SLC).  It's just so wonderful, it never gets old.

things I want to do

• swimming lessons -- the kids are taking lessons right now, but I'm sure we will enroll them for 1 or 2 more sessions over the summer
• swim -- I'm thinking that I'll also get a family pass to the pool so we can visit whenever we want all summer long
• beach -- I need to go to the beach!  And our trip to CA/Disneyland was proof enough that our kids love the beach too.
• strawberry picking -- I really want to take the kids to a u-pick strawberry patch.  I've never done it before though, so I welcome any tips you might have.  I'd also like to make freezer jam -- also a newbie to that one, and welcoming your tips!
• hike/walk -- I think it would be so fun to honor & remember the pioneers and take the kids for a good long walk/hike on Pioneer Day.  I can just picture us singing "pioneer children sang as they walked & walked & walked & walked . . " 

to accomplish

• chores -- this is going to happen this summer.  The kids are going to learn how to do chores, it will become a part of their everyday routine, and it will continue into next school year.  (Do you think if I just repeat these statements over & over again it will happen?)
• piano -- Conner will start piano lessons very soon!  And practicing will become a part of his (and mine) daily routine.
• training wheels -- Conner's training wheels are coming off this summer.  Actually, they are already off and Scott is in charge of the torturous process of teaching him to ride his bike.
• potty training -- I'm in charge of the torturous process of potty-training Anna this summer.

for fun

• zoo -- our membership runs out soon, so I'm sure we'll get a few more trips in.
• park -- probably a weekly activity (if not more).
• ice cream -- we love going to the little ice cream shop to enjoy a soft serve cone on a hot day.
• crafts -- Paige helped me stock up on some craft projects from Oriental Trading Company.  They will make for great activities on the inevitable rainy days that surprise us during the summer.
• scrapbooks -- I purchased a 6x6 scrapbook album for each of the kids.  My "plan" is to take one day a week and have them scrapbook their favorite acitivity from the previous week.  I take tons of pictures during the summer so I figure that we can sit down at the computer, have them each pick out one picture, print it out, and with my over-flowing stash of un-loved scrapbook supplies they can just go to town and do whatever they want.  I'm actually really excited about this one.  My kids love crafting so I think it should be a big hit.  We shall see.
• run through the sprinkler -- we have purchased the same sprinkler from Wal-mart 3 years in a row.  It gets enough wear & tear that by the end of the summer we just have to throw it away.
• try different popsicle concoctions in my new popsicle molds
• eat popsicles until they come out our ears

At the end of the summer I'll have to look back at this list and see how much we really did accomplish!

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and for those still wondering about the egg carton . . . . . I only discovered the purpose of the egg carton myself on thursday morning.  I signed up for another class at BPS called A Baker's Dozen.  And in the pre-class assignment we were told to decorate an egg carton.  Okay . . . So I did.  The class started on Thursday and basically for the first couple days I get an e-mail telling me to gather a few specific supplies (all pretty basic) and put them into one of the egg holes.  For example:  26 buttons, or 4 strands of ribbon, or 6 flowers &  6 brads. 

Then she also tells us to put specific photos into numbered envelopes (like today:  4 personality photos of someone you love & a piece of coordinating patterned paper).  All of this is done blindly -- we don't know where the products are going to end up or how it's all going to come together.  But we have been told that by the end of the month we will have 13 completed layouts.  And hey, considering that the total number of layouts I have made in the last year comes to less than 13, I'm all for this.  Get 'er done.

And if anybody else needs some motivation to just scrapbook for pete's sake, registration is open until June 11th.  So far, it's been a low-stress experience, which I like.

kabob marinade

this is my faaaavorite marinade for making kabobs.  Love it!

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp ground ginger

Add onions, zucchini, green peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, chicken, steak, kielbasa sausage (yum) . . . . whatever your little heart desires.   

We made these last night and, oh my, they were so good.  Even Scott was raving about them. 

*a funny story . . . . yesterday morning I was chopping up the veggies and some steak.  Payton & Anna were in and out of the kitchen and for the most part they are just a blur to me because I'm in the zone and well, because they are running and moving around so fast.  So I'm standing at the kitchen sink washing some things when I vaguely recollect Anna saying "I want to taste that" and out of the corner of my eye I see her reach up to the counter and grab something.  It wasn't until a couple seconds later that it registers in my head that she put something in her mouth.  And after another second I realize that it was a big chunk of raw meat!  I shrieked at her and she just stares at me with her mouth full and her lips closed.  I practically had to force the meat out of her mouth.  And then she ran upstairs screaming and crying, which is the norm nowadays. 

peanut

I've decided my new nickname for Payton is peanut.  Or P-nut, however you want to imagine the spelling.  It just works perfectly, considering I already call him a nut half the time.  We were in the car the other day and I called him "sweetheart".  {Backing up, I'm not a big nickname person and I'm not even sure this one will come out of my mouth more than once a week.}  So when I called him sweetheart I turned around and asked, "is it okay if I call you sweetheart?"  I just wanted to make sure he was comfortable with that.  Nothing's worse than having a nickname/term of endearment given to you and then having to cringe each time you hear the words.  He said yes, then went on to say, "or you can call me peanut or pickle."  And that's the end of the story.

So Mr. Peanut (hey I like that one!) likes to take pictures with my camera.  I do give him permission once in a while to snap a picture or two or seven.  But once in a while I'll upload pictures to my computer and find a few surprises.  Like today.  I half knew that he had taken these pictures . . . . like this one of me because I was looking at the camera:

  lovely.  Now this is keepin' it real.  Look out for those popsicle molds -- they may be reappearing in another post.

He also captured this very real scene:  Conner, enjoying his snack, and crouched ever so close to the edge of the kitchen tile floor so that he can watch his afternoon show.  I'm guessing Clifford.

The kids were watching The Neverending Story II.  I don't know why.  It's a horrible movie (as in boring, bad actors, terrible story line, etc.).  the only reason we have it is because on the flip side of the DVD is the original Neverending Story which is so awesome!  (says my 10-year old self).  But there's something about this picture that is very creepy.  Do you see it?  Falkor's eyes are bright red!  I don't think they look like that in the movie.  And that snarly grin on his face . . . . it appears that this luck dragon has moved to the dark side.

And finally this    a cute duplo block eye, staring at me.

Here's one that I took of Mr. Peanut last week.  Doesn't the idea of running through a sprinkler sound so energizing and refreshing? It would, if maybe the temperature were somewhere in the 80's or the 70's.  But no, we're sitting at a cool 58 degrees today.  June 4th.  Yes, it is June.  And the forecast for the rest of the week gives little hope of even approaching 70.   Ahhh, such is life in the northwest.

And on a completely different subject.  You know the old adage that says you should do or experience something new each day?  I'm sure there's a quote by someone important or famous somewhere.  Well, today I did something I never imagined I would do. 

I decorated an egg carton.  And the inside too.

details may, or may not follow.

keepin' it real

I'm so excited for this tag!  Several of my friends have done it already and I've read their entries and just thought it was so cool.  So thanks to Nicole, here's my version. 

I was asked to take pictures of the following 10 things.  But there was a catch -- no prepping, primping, or picking up.  The point is to see how these things/items/people exist in real life.  Take your camera and just go for it.

{I read Nicole's e-mail for the tag invite just before church and didn't have time for the assignment.  But as soon as we got home I went to work!}

1.  my fridge- nothing too exciting here.  Though, as I'm looking at it I'm wondering why we have 3 used gallons of milk (there are 2-skim and 2- 2% jugs in the fridge).  hmm.

2.  a closet-- it's my closet.  It's small, but it does the job.  The stuff thrown on the top shelf is in desperate need of some organization. 

One special or unique thing about my closet is the hangers.  Almost all of our hangers were covered in yarn by my Grandma Margaret.  I remember watching her sit in her chair with two balls of yarn in her hands, 2 wire hangers tied together with rubber-bands & held between her legs, while she did this criss-cross looping action.  She made hundreds (possibly thousands) of these hangers and gave them to everybody for years and years.  I once heard grandma say that her doctor told her it was good exercise for her hands/wrists and it helped with her arthritis.  I love these hangers.  Not only are they nostalgic for me, but the clothes don't ever fall off!

3.  kitchen sink-- wow, it's clean!  And there aren't any dishes sitting in the left-hand sink waiting to be washed by hand (which is usually the case). 

 

4.  toilet - our master bathroom toilet.  Um, ya.  I don't know what else to say.

5.  my favorite shoes -- Patent leather, black piping, buckle detail . . . so cute.  I got these in April and have since received many compliments on them.

6.  my favorite room -- the scrapbook/guest room.  This room is just off of the family room and I pop in and out of here several times a day.  I love that it's so close to the action of family life, yet provides a quiet retreat when I need it. 

To the right is the guest bed, which has a trundle underneath.  When our parents come we pull it out and make a comfy king-size bed.  Sitting on the bed right now is a vinyl project I'm working on for my dad (half-way done!).  And the curtains and pillows were made with fabric from IKEA.

Then, to the left we have the scrapbook/computer desk extraordinaire!  Wow, this looks pretty overwhelming (and there's a whole other shelf that I couldn't get in the shot).  I guess I don't usually stand back and look at it like this.  Eventually, I'd like to replace some of the see-through drawers/containers with solid white boxes (similar to the photo boxes on the far left).  Make it a little more visually pleasing.

 

I'm sitting in that computer chair right now!

7.  what my kids are doing right now -- the boys are getting changed out of their church clothes.  What a good boy, Conner has already hung his clothes back in the closet.

Anna is digging through the church diaper bag.  And looking a little cross-eyed? 

 

8.  laundry pile -- Not too bad.  I did all the laundry on Friday and one load on Saturday.  I love my laundry room too!  We installed this shelving from The Container Store and it is wonderful -- it gives me a place to hang the ironing.  The laundry basketsare also from TCS - white for whites, pink for colors, and black for darks. 

9.  self-portrait -- in the mirror after church.  See the black box sitting on the counter-top?  It's hair-cut day for all the boys.  As soon as I finish blogging.

 

10.  dream vacation -- something like this.

   

tag:  mom, heidi, becca, lisa, & katie