Is anyone else feeling it?

I feel like all this snow is a big fat mini test (Does that makes sense?). A test to see how well we are prepared for an emergency. From this crazy snow storm I have learned...

I need to stalk up on pillar candles. Our electricity has been off twice now. Not for long periods of time. Nothing serious, but enough to let me know I need more light.

I need D batteries for my fireplace.

Our ward is awesome. I can't tell you how many calls we've had making sure we were all good.

I'm thankful for a tough truck. Very handy.

Cell phones rule as long as they are charged. Thank goodness for car chargers.

Pray more often.

Read scriptures more often.

I love my stinking kids to death. An extra week of no school will certainly put that to test. I loved it.

Do not do last minute Christmas shopping online. Shipping is not guaranteed during a snow storm.

Food storage. Food storage. Food storage.

I like snow better than rain!



Sid beating Boston down the hill. I guess it was a tad flat for the board. So Boston says anyway.

Happy snow day everyone

This is going to be a long list

I'm thankful for...

My mom. She's a dang saint, I swear.

All the amazing people that visit my Dad to read to him or help with his speech therapy or
just give my Mom some free time.

I'm thankful for that one time Tom came over and sifted my contact
out of my sink drain with a pair of nylons.

I'm thankful for Nick helping us out with our Jeep.

Indoor volleyball that keeps my kids busy.

homemade cranberry orange sorbet.

18 more months.

Joyce because she truly loves my kids.

Boston because he is trying hard to keep the
lines of communication open even though that has always been very hard for him.

Mason because he is still helping me to get past my dislike of hugs.

Sidney because she always reminds us of FHE and prayer time.

Sunny skies.

one very warm pair of black Ugg boots

hilarious friends. The ones I see all the time and the ones I don't see too often.

My husband's closed mouth smile.

Incredibly frank discussions.

my stapling and question asking skills. ( Elise, what was that last skill again? I forgot.)

long phone conversations with my sisters.

dirt.

Heavenly Father.

President Thomas S Monson.

The holy ghost.

My family's health.

Singular. Helps keep Mason and Sid's asthma under control.

President Dalton.

good music.

Should I keep going. I don't want to bore you to death. I'm feeling very grateful these days. I think you get the idea. I'll stop here.

Every Wednesday at 5:00 Sid goes to dance. Every Wednesday at 4:45 I say "Sid come put on your leotard." Every Wednesday at approximately 4:45 and a half Mason says " LEOTARD" in a silly, embarrassed voice and then giggles.

Sid doesn't have dance tomorrow. She will miss dancing, sweating, friends, tired legs and I will miss Mason's giggle.

Let's talk turkey

I think maybe it's Oregon's fault. It could be Jamie Oliver's fault. My heritage may have something to do with it. I'm not really sure. All I know is that I have a dream of raising a tiny little baby turkey (a poult). Bring it up right. Feed it amazingly well and then EAT IT for Thanksgiving.

I put partial blame on Oregon for spoiling me with easy access to all things fresh and natural. I'll admit it, I caught a slight case of granolaitis. (Do you know that when we first learned we were moving to OR my hilarious brother in law, David, gave me a box of granola bars so I would feel right at home? I just remembered that. Funny!)

A portion of the blame must go to my favorite chef ever, Jamie Oliver. I think that in general people eat too much meat. I'm not a veg head but I don't think we realize how many animals are slaughtered just to fill our grocery store shelves. I love the idea of having to see what must die in order for us to eat it. I think that would severely reduce my meat intake. This is where Mr. Oliver fits in. He has dead animal photos splayed all over his cook books. While it took me awhile to get used to that ( or not gag), I like it. It makes me think.

My heritage certainly plays a role. I did spend more than a usual amount of time in a slaughter house. My family raised beef cattle. I'm sorry to say this but I loved that slaughter house. For one thing it was freezing and when you live in Phoenix anywhere that's called freezing is also called heaven. It also had a fabulously salty, meaty, cold smell. Best of all, it had a massive, heavy, red gate-like back door that we entered from the back alley. I mean c'mon, how cool is that?
I also consider myself a farm girl so naturally I want to raise a turkey.

My turkey will not have a name. I will try my dangdist to kill it myself (with help, of course). The plucking may still be an issue.

Good day, no pics.

I got to go with Mason's class to the children's theater today. They were performing Gossamer. I wasn't in love with the play but I loved being at the play. I can sit through any old crappy performance. That includes all types of entertainment. Unless it is crude. Hate that.
Anyway, it was fun to see what the kids reacted to.

I also got to visit the apple and the nut farm today. Have I mentioned how much I love the farms in Oregon? Oh, and bonus, Mason and Sid actually wanted to come with. Bos was still at school.


This is Mason at the apple barn last spring. How's that for tying in a photo?

sentimental heart

I drug my children to the pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago. The boys are too cool for school now so they don't want to do anything baby-ish like pumpkin patches, you follow? They should just trust me. I know how to show the kiddos a good time.

While at the patch they talked me into (that's what I tell people anyway) getting a slightly larger pumpkin than we usually get. I was thinking at the time that it was going to be our last Halloween in Oregon so it would be okay to get a little carried away in the spirit of Fall. I still feel that is perfectly reasonable. Forklift Shmorklift! It was 181 lbs of nothin'.

We had fun emptying the guts out yesterday. side note, notice Boston and Chris are not around they claim to gag on anything slimy. Suckers.

I'll post final carving stage in a few days.

This Just In

And by "this" I mean very relieving, long time prayed for and stressed over, and short time fasted for news.

The Cameron family will be staying in Oregon for another 18 months. You never know what will happen but I'm putting this out there anyway. 18 Months Tops!

You'd think I would have learned my lesson.

Chris and I have been praying and such trying to figure exactly what is right for our fam. I was already emotionally living in Logan and having a bit of trouble seeing that that was meant for later.

My final answer came today and I'm so relieved it did. Now I can say with clarity....

Chris put in two years of his time going to school to better provide for his family, now it is my turn. Luckily I'm a Woman and only have to put in 18 Months.

Wish me luck getting through the gray days.

Yeah, I'm doing just fine

Things have been going well. I've been crazy busy, but good busy. Fulfilling busy, If you know what I mean. As I'm getting older I'm noticing I tend to stress a tad more than before. So i'll admit there has been a bit of stress.

BUT, guess what. Things are going alright. ( I mean that in a content way not a sarcastic way, just so you know.)
You want to know how I know that things are gonna get even better?

Well I'll tell ya...
These past few days, all, and I do mean all, my screw on lids have screwed on perfectly! My peanut butter, my body scrub, my olive oil, my sunscreen, everything. Isn't that fantastic? That never happens. Does it?

Utard

So I hear Logan has a really good skatepark.


And some sweet mountains.

I'm about 95% percent sure I'm gonna move there.
There is tons more to write on this subject but I'm super busy packing and cleaning up my house.
WooHoo!

Happy First Day Of School

Boston was rubbing it in last night. He got to sleep in and Mas & Sid had to get up early. Just as I suspected, he did not sleep in. He was really excited for school to start this year. That still amazes me! He hated school until 5th grade.

Mason awoke early this morning. He is our household alarm. Always the first one up. He was not looking forward to school this year so I was pleasantly surprised when he announced " I'm kind of nervous and happy. I think I have pre-game jitters". I told him I always felt that way too.

Sid was up early. Thank Heavens! She's a sleeper. She was all smiles this morning and she even let me do her hair.

Now I have a whole day ahead of me. Hmmm. How should I fill it?

The Northwest rules!

This past week our family has lived like spoiled little boogers. Except for some scary hotels here and there.
We got to go to Orcas Island and party. Then we got to go do some hard core dunin' Bro (that was for you Megs). Here's some pics.


This cracks me up. I know the photo is fuzzy but it is just so accurate. Sid was yelling "slow down" the entire time she was on that silly sled. She was barely moving.


Bos kept taking off too fast. I never got a good picture of him. He was rockin' it though.


Sid and Lincoln.


Mas the stud muffin!


This shot freaks me out a little. Sid looks way too fourteen.


Is this not the cutest face you've ever seen?


Oop, here it is again in Black & white. I like this better.


Zach and my kids. We forced them to climb those poles like 50 times!


Bos was totally playing that up. I think Sid made it up that rope in 3 seconds.

Happy Cameron Service Day!

Do you have a garage that needs cleaning? A room that needs painted? A garden in need of weeding? Any help what-so-ever with anything what-so-ever?
My family has decided to try something different this Saturday (yes that's tomorrow 8-16-2008). We would like to fill all the daylight hours with service. We need your help. If you need anything or know anyone else that needs anything, please let me know. This is super late notice but I just barely thought of it, sorry. Leave me a comment of what is needed and I'll contact you in the morning. Thanks!!
Now don't go all lam-o either. This wont work unless you guys comment. You don't want to leave me with nothing to do tomorrow do you?

Our Annual Event

Guess what we did yesterday!

My new favorite book!

I've been a fan of Jamie Oliver for a few years. I've checked out his cook books from the library and made a few dishes here and there. At Christmastime my cool Mom gave me a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble and so the adventure begins(actually it took me a few months to finally convince myself I could buy the book even though it was not on sale). Fine so mid- June the adventure began. I know it's silly to love a cook book so much but I want to try almost everything in it. I've made 15 recipes so far. Some are better than others but all are delicious! Tonight I'm making two more. Gnocchi with mushrooms and sage (gnocchi from scratch) and for dessert Eton mess (meringue with strawberries and vanilla cream).

I think I've written before about how much I love to cook dinner. I don't. I'm having a lot of fun trying out all these recipes though. The book is only about 400 pages so it shouldn't take me long to whip ( get it, whip?) through it.
Check out Jamie Oliver's site for more fabulousness.

Why you want to kill me?

Granted it was very late when I watched this but it is so stinkin' funny! Concentrate on the little chnch noise that the joker dude keeps using and how intense the Batman guy stays throughout the whole dumb skit. If all else falls and this still does not make you laugh just try again at 2 am. That should do it.

Road Trip

We just got back from our Seattle trip. Since we decided to scrap our East Coast trip we thought we would take the kids to see the Red Sox play when they came to Seattle. It was really cool to see the game. All 12 innings! We certainly got our money's worth. We were all rooting for the Sox but I tell you what, it was awesome watching Ichiro (Mariner's player for you non-baseballers) play. We sat center field and were so close to where Ichiro caught a home run ball over the fence. It looks so easy on TV, not so much in real life. We also got to see the left fielder( I think it was J.D. Drew) for the Sox totally dominate. He could have played the entire field. Actually, I think he did. OK sorry, that's enough baseball.

The following day we hit the Explore Music Project. It's a super cool music museum. Jimmy Hendrix history is a big part of it all and we could not tear Mason away. I knew he was a classic rock fan but sheesh. He could have stayed in the J. H. video room all day.


Right outside the museum are some carnival rides. An insider told us that this was probably the last year they would remain so we took full advantage. That rocking viking ship is a doosy!



After we made it back to the hotel,
He

took these

swimming. While I attempted to go shopping. I eventually found the store I was looking for but I only had time for that one. And I'm not telling what store because they have very limited clearance and I want it all.

We had a great trip. Luckily Chris knows a family of locals that were cool enough to hang out with us and tell us about all the hip stuff to do. Thanks guys!

Hey Everybody....

I got a new car!!

Chris has been looking at cars for awhile. Let's just say I was bored with every little car detail (sorry Chris) until we decided to buy an old car and fix it up. So here is my new baby. A 1970 Jeep Wagoneer. What do ya think?

I have a ton of fun things to blog about but I haven't been in the writing mood lately. I don't want to be like the ungrateful lepers though so I'll write. I'm just warning you now it wont be witty.








When my brother Tom and his family came to visit us a couple weeks ago we went to the Children's Museum. It was really fun. Even my kids who usually claim "too old" for this kind of thing had a great time. Really, I think Tom might have had the most fun. He was way into everything. The little guy is Karsten. He obviously is just the most photogenic of us all. We really were all there though.



This is Brecken in the fountain in the Pearl District. I love this photo and I love this fountain. So fun.


front row. Chris, Mason, Me, Boston, Chrispy, Natalie, Brecken(chewing on frog head), Megan, Catcher(wishing he was chewing on frog head), Reuben
Back row. Tom, Karsten, Katie, Sid




These last two are from fourth of July at Cannon Beach. Wait I mean Short Sands. Oh no, it was Seaside. Hold on, I remember it was really Gearhart. Oh yeah we were at all of them because we are so lame and never make real plans. The group photo is all the group in Canon. I think we were all together for.... about long enough to take the photo. Then we scrammed.
We lit off fireworks (thanks to Tom who was the only one willing to drive to Washington for the stash) on the beach at Gearhart it was beautiful but too cold for the pansy AZ folk. I love the 4th on the beach. I don't think it can get any better. I even loved getting both our minivans stuck in the sand when we tried to leave. Thank you to all the incredibly annoying (I'm mean helpful) drunk people that helped us get unstuck. And just so you know we did have more powerful fireworks than the little boat guy pictured above. He was just the best photo.


This is Mason being incredibly pouty at my favorite lunch spot in the country. (by country, I mean the outskirts of town not the USA). I call it The South Store. I'm not sure if that is the real name or not. Mason swears he hates that place. After refusing to order anything he ate half of my food and more. I'm sure he'd say it was disgusting. I'm pretty sure I noticed his gag reflex kick in with every bite of deliciousness. Any who, I love this photo of him. When Mason is his normal goofball self he will not let me get photos of him. He always sticks out his tongue or does the biggest, cheesiest grin possible. Today since he was mad he didn't care to make the goofy face. I guess he sure showed me.

It's all over

Baseball season is officially over for the Cameron family. I love baseball season. I love watching my boys put there hearts into the game every night. (Seriously every night). I love cheering their teams on. I love hanging out with all the other spastic parents. I love sunflower seeds. Dill pickle flavor is by far the best! I love the car ride home with the boys hearing all about every single play. I just love baseball.

Now let me say, I'm so glad we are done. I'm ready to eat dinner at the table again. I'm ready to not be loading the car full of crap every evening. I'm ready for my boys to have some free time. And I'm ready just to chill on my porch in this gorgeous Oregon weather.

To all things opposition and balance in all things.

test

Here is something to keep you busy while I'm away just a bit longer. Tell me what you see.
No, seriously. Enlarge the photo and tell me what you see in the tiles.

Boston is the hippest kid in Hipville.

Boston was ordained a deacon today. It was so cool to see Bos take such a big step in his life. Weird. I'm having kind of a hard time trying to describe why this was so cool to me. I guess I'm just glad he thinks this is something important and worthwhile. He was really looking forward to this. He really got into working on his Faith in God and preparing to receive the priesthood. Also along with turning twelve came his first time at mutual and tonight he went to his first fireside. I have a lot of mixed feelings thinking back on those times in my life but one thing I can't help but remember is how much my testimony grew. I'm really excited for Boston to experience everything that comes with being in the young mens program and believe you me he is too.

I of course forgot my camera today so here are some silly face shots of B man. He really is in his zone while playing catch. Click on the pic to get the full experience.

forgive and forget

One of the things I love most about my family is how great of friends my boys are. They definitely have their moments though. This was pretty much cracking me up today.

Mason walks in the house. He kind of slams the door and is yelling out at the same time " I'm gonna do whatever I want!" He was talking to Boston who was just outside that door.

A couple seconds later Boston walks in the house.
Mason says to Boston " Hey, you want to go play basketball."
Boston answers "I thought you said you weren't going to play with me anymore."
Mason adds "I only meant for the next ten seconds."

Then they both ran upstairs to play ball.

C'mon

So this is my fave, The Format. I found out a few weeks ago that they decided to stop making records. No, I did not cry for hours and I did not post a comment on their myspace and I did not fold up the posters on my walls and tuck them solemnly away, but it is a big fat bummer! I love this performance. I think I just want to BE either one of those dudes with their crazy talent and messy hair even though they do cheat and use seen and been as rhyming words.

And five bucks to whoever can tell me what kind of shoes the singer is wearing. No, no wait just one buck.




Brian thanks for the help. I actually tried that a million times with no results. Then Chris came to my $#@%$# rescue with one touch of the keys.

What's the bright idea?

I would like you all to notice how nice Boston looks in his baseball uniform. Classic, crisp blue&white uniform. This was before the game actually started.



I would like you to now take a second look.


Why white? Answer me that will ya?
I ♥ stain stick!