We had a fabulous....

Sour Cherry pie, kite fly, bikes ridin' by, light up the sky, fourth of July! And I loved every minute of it.

Hi Mom,
I've been thinking a lot about you today. I was thinking about you this morning wanting to call. I'm waiting till later in the day when I know you are not so busy. Then I was thinking about you in relief society when we were encouraged to tell stories about our mothers but I couldn't really raise my hand at the end of class and say "oh yeah well my mom has done all of those things and more" now could I? (except the goat thing. Those in the ward know what I'm taking about). I was also thinking about how you can do absolutely everything even though you always humbly say you can't. But you have proven to all of your kids that you can by your example, so stop trying to tell us that you are not all that amazing. You really are!

I've seen you raise ten kids while dancing through it.
I've seen you plant amazing gardens.
I've seen you attend church meetings like nothing else mattered.
I've seen you sew gowns princesses would die for.
I've seen you be heartbroken and love us anyway.
I've seen you prepare the best meals on earth.
I've seen you laughing your guts out.
I've seen you pirouette across the entire family room and then throw a leap in just for fun.
I've seen you serve tirelessly even when you are completely exhausted.
I've seen you make meat out of something that was NOT meat.
I've seen you love every single grandkid you've got. How many is that now?
I've seen you talking with Heavenly Father daily.
I've seen you make family&the gospel the absolute first priority in your life.
I've seen you helping with talent shows, fashion shows, roadshows, school board meetings, pack meetings, relief society meetings, weddings, funerals, baptisms, birthday parties, home ec projects, carpools, temple work, primary, football games, college tuition, mission farewells, charity balls, geography bees, violin recitals, piano practice, photography sessions, art exhibits, lost puppies, mowing the lawn, corralling runaway horses, broken bones, filling cupboards, setting up tents,
(oh my word, what did I get myself in to?) musical numbers, boyfriend/girlfriend troubles, softball practice, testimonies, graduations, house cleaning, tickle fights, decorating cookies, feeding fallen birds, scraped knees, making lemonade, water fights, and a billion trillion more.

Thank you Mom for giving me such an awesome example to follow. You truly can do it all.




I just thought this photo was hilarious.

This morning when I was giving our chicken a rub down I felt happy.

Why is it that when I am doing the simplest domestic things that I feel truly happy and fulfilled?

And what was it that I let creep in my brain that keeps telling me that is not the way it's supposed to be?

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.