Who drives to Texas? Part 4

These are the pictures from yesterday:




Our second stop at Panera. The soup! The bread! The Mac and Cheese! The pastries! (note the soft cast/sling on our boy....ugh.)

Panera was in Joplin, Missouri, where a huge tornado hit. We asked a lady at panera where we could go to see the major damage and she said "go down to main street. It's decimated. That's where my house was." :(

It was crazy and a sobering experience for our family to see the destruction.

This is the next picture:



Lots of cousin love! We ended up in Tahlequah, Oklahoma at Ryan's sister's house. I LOVE hearing the sounds of cousins playing and laughing. We talked our faces off with Brooke and Spencer. Yay for hanging out with far-off family!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Who drives to Texas? Part 3

No driving yesterday! We stopped at my friend Carie's house and just had the best day...until we had to take Seth to the emergency room. But I'll get to that.

After a lovely run with Carie, we headed to Liberty Jail, a place with historical and spiritual significance for our church. It was neat to be there:





We stopped for lunch at Panera. (Don't have one in Spokane and holy cow! We stopped there AGAIN today for lunch.)

We headed to downtown Kansas City and went to Kaleidoscope (a Hallmark owned children's art museum). We had so much (free!) fun:

Gabe using their wall kaleidoscope maker:



Lots of art to make:




The adults dropped kids at home and left for dinner at Jack Stack (cuh-razy good barbecue) and the famous chocolate bag for dessert (picture on my regular camera--but that thing was a. A work of art and b. so so so yummy).

We got home to news that Seth had jumped off a ledge and hurt his arm. We weren't too concerned till we heard him whimpering at 12:30 in the morning. One middle-of-the-night ER run later, the radiologist confirmed it was a bad sprain. Phew. We tend towards broken arms around here and we were scared. Ryan reports MAJOR charming of the nurses on Seth's part:



He is now complaining, as we drive to Oklahoma, that is itches. I hope it itches so much he NEVER jumps from at 5 foot ledge again.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Who drives to Texas? Part 2

Yesterday was Mount Rushmore day. It was sub-zero and snowy but brilliantly sunny. After a quick stop at a local church meeting, we headed up the mountain.



My family of groomed sight-see-ers were suitably impressed/excited and there was a neat feeling there.

We headed back to the car to drive to Kansas City, but made sure to detour at Wall Drug (because how can you pass 153 billboards and NOT check it out?):




Some of the photo ops:






If you know Seth, you know this kind of personal space invading is NOT just for wooden figures:


It was a long 11 more hours, but we made it to KC. Remind me to detail our extensive car trip activity preparation. Here they are in one of there more sedate moments:




The next 10 days only has a few 4-5 hour car rides, so we are looking forward to our driving break!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Who drives to Texas? Part 1

So Ryan's family is having a reunion in Texas for Thanksgiving. And we are driving there. Because we want to.



Yesterday was Day 1. We left at 4:00 am and the roads were nasty (due to the fact that the first major snowstorm of the year happened the day before). We made it through okay and drove through it all the way through the entire state of Montana. It's a long state.

We tried to stop at Big Hole battlefield (outside of Billings, MT) but the rangers there were NOT interested in doing anything with any visitors 30 minutes before closing time. Lame. Here's our picture in front of the battlefield:



And in the visitors center, where these lucky kids had their history major mom give them all the details of native American/US government relations and the ensuing battle at Big Hole (somebody had to...)



We rolled into Rapid City, SD after 16 hours in the lovely blue van. We dealt with the last excruciating hour by having Ryan tell us HILARIOUS stories about his siblings.

In going back and re-reading what I've written, I realize that the day sounds miserable. Guess what? It wasn't. It was great. Good kids, pumped up parents, lots of activities and a fun destination= awesome.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

ROCKtober!!!

I was trying to make this recap extra exciting with my title.  Did it work?

We’ve had the loveliest, warm, sunny fall (almost makes up for the CRAPPY early summer) and one day, I actually stopped in the MIDDLE OF MY LIST (!), and played in the leaves with Faith:

We continued our yearly tradition of heading up to Greenbluff (a community of farmers that put on fun fall fastivities) between soccer games one Saturday.

We ate:

The big kids did the corn maze:

The little kids did the hay maze (notice Faith’s favorite pose for the camera. ???):

but we didn’t have to spend a million dollars for pumpkins because…

this year we grew 9 in our OWN BACKYARD:

I made this lovely pizza, which is totally random to include in my October wrap-up but I make a BUNCH of yummy things that disappear in about 1/5 the time it takes me to make them, so I’m including this for posterity:

I also participated in a makeover/image consulting class for 6 weeks this fall and LOVED it.  I just felt like as I move from young mom to not-young mom,  I wanted to direction in how to look good with what I’ve been given. 

Ali (from Biggest Loser fame) was the keynote speaker at our event.  Here she is in the dressing room:

And here is one of my “After” shots:

I know, I look completely different.  Just kidding.  In this picture, I just look like my mom and her sisters.  Am I right, Abbie?  Erin?  Bekah?

We also watched conference:

(I keep changing my favorite talks as I read and study them.  The one about families and bearing children.  No wait, the time management one.  No, I know, the Forget Not one.  So lucky to have prophets and apostles that give us inspiration and direction.)

We also did the regular:

Dental checkups (is Faith not hilarious in this picture?)

And participated in swim meets (I realize my Super Swimmer probably deserves a decent towel, but he’ll lose it anyway, so rags it is.)

 

Wasn’t that SO ROCKING?  No?  Well, I’m pretty wiped by the end of each day, so I don’t what your problem is….

5 kids at Halloween=Major Busy

(Halloween just gets more involved and crazier every year.  But I kind of like it, because, unlike Christmas, I’m not feeling like I should be having this major spiritual experience for my family.  In December, I resent the crazy.  In October, I think it’s fun to just enjoy the silliness of costumes, parties, candy, decorations, etc.)

Here’s the total for the month:

5 pumpkins carved (3 at 6:00 am this morning while I was running.  Thanks, Ryan!)

 

8 Halloween parties attended (1 birthday, 2 school, 1 church, 1 work, 1 neighborhood,1 mom’s luncheon, 1 adult dance party!)

 

1 Darth Vader costume for Ryan, made from a Gabe’s size 8 cast-off costume.

3 different costumes on Jessica (1 wonder twin, 1 witch, 1 Jaclyn Smith/Charlies Angels)

5 childrens’ costumes (1 crayon, 1 Tom Brady, 1 Cleopatra, 1 Frankenstein and 1 butterfly)

2 plates of treats on our doorstep via the Boo Ghost

4 dishes prepared for the annual Halloween dinner (dinner in a pumpkin, glazed carrots, orange jello, breadstick bones and blood)

1,004,640 sugar grams consumed

7 family members exhausted but content after a month of family fun!

Growing Pains

So Faith is getting older and I’m really, very sad about it. (She turns 3 next week.  Boo.)

I’m so sad about it that I’ve seriously contemplated having another baby.  Which is saying a lot because I have been So Done With Having More Kids for at least 2 years now.  I’m NOT having another baby because I remember that being pregnant is hard and losing the weight is hard and nursing is hard and teaching a baby how to sleep is hard.  And then my friend talked about how she doesn’t like the feeding kids baby food stage and I remembered I don’t like that stage either.  And then I watched Parenthood and Christina just brought home her new baby and I remembered that leaky, sleepy, crying, hormonal, chubby, confused stage and I don’t want to do that anymore.

So I’m not having another baby.  Because you can’t just keep having babies because you are sad that your current “baby” is turning 3.  You have to have a Last One, right?!  And at some point just come to terms that your house will be baby-less at some point.

And that you have to figure out how to say goodbye to:

1.The lisping.

2. The sweet, yummy, perfect lips and cheeks.

3. The 36 inch person who thinks they know all of the stuff and are the boss of the house.

4. The buddy that, no matter how frustrating at time, also fills you with joy and laughter.

5.  The running and hugging and yelling when you walk in the door.

6.  The extreme expression of likes, dislikes, excitement (“Mom, I’m des so decited that my burtday is almost coming!”), happiness, etc. 

7-438.  Other really awesome things about having babies and toddler and pre-schoolers in your home.

So, I honestly am sitting down and reading to Faith a little more often than I used to.  I’m turning off the radio and listening to her hilariousness while we run errands.  I’m stopping and putting her on the counter by me and looking into her eyes and watching her face while she talks.  I’m climbing in her bed after we are done with the routine and smashing her a little while longer before I head to my other kids/book/TV show. 

And I’m really trying to remember this quote:

(Except I’m actually crying right now, so I have to keep working on this one.)

All I have to say is having little kids is a joy and I am fortunate to have gotten to have one in my life for 12 years now and I will miss having a 2 year old because it’s (mostly) fun.

Quick Quote

 

Seth, upon observing Jane's tears one day, came up to me and asked:

"Mom...did Jane just have her first broken heart?"

Huh?  Where does he come up with this stuff?

This morning

This morning I woke up at 6:10, checked the weather (36 degrees!) and began to pull out my cold weather running gear.

Ryan and I discussed routes and let Gabe know (awake for his Saturday morning tv watching) to make sure faith went potty when she woke up.

We headed out, anticipating the first sunny day since Monday and anxious to get out and enjoy it. We began to run, talking about a city council issue, Steve Jobs, the great book I'm reading to my kids, the value of general required classes in college. I love talking to him, with no interruptions. He's so smart and balanced and good at expressing himself. Plus he's interested in my opinion.

We ran around our local lake, up hills, through trees, around marshes and next to cute, remote, 1950s looking lakehouses. It was foggy at first and then the morning sun peeked through the fog and lit up the lake and trees. Kind of indescribably beautiful.

By mile 9, I was tired and so we put our headphones in--he finished up "The Help" on his audiobook and I put on my running playlist. As the music played and we ran back into town in the sunshine, I welled up with joy of it all.




Running with a strong body, beautiful scenery, quiet and conversation, a good husband--
I just kept thinking: "THIS is happiness. THIS is joy. I am blessed".



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

September Recap

(Anyone else in complete denial that it is somehow OCTOBER already?)

It has been so hard to get to the computer to blog lately, that all I seem to be able to do (out of guilt) is document pure family history stuff.  Maybe I’ll feel caught up after this and can blog about waaay more fascinating stuff that doesn’t include 29 pictures of my kids and my life.

Onto my kids and my life:

Ryan and Jessica--

The big news for us this month was our marathon.  I had talked Ryan into training for it 6 months ago and I ran some long runs with him and some with my friend Laura,

who was also training.  We really enjoyed having this same goal together.

It was a good, though REALLY HARD, experience.  The weather could NOT have been crappier.  Seriously, I have never run in weather that bad-- Thunder and lightening, hail and torrential rain from miles 8-14. 

Some of us got the time we were hoping for (3:50:56):

And some of us just ran a race without killing ourselves:

Ryan’s sister Betsy and my sister Bekah drove 1-3 hours to see us finish.  Bekah even ran with me and we had a great visit with them after the marathon.

As for future marathons…I’m ready for #3.  For Ryan?  Let’s just say the jury is still out.

 

Emma--

Our stake did a Temple Walk for the Young Women Labor Day weekend.  They left from our stake center and walked to the Spokane temple.  It was 12.5 miles and Emma did every one.  It took about 3 1/2 hours.  I walked the first hour with her and there was such a sweet feeling there. 

She is also ON TOP of school this year.  The first year of middle school really threw Emma for a loop and she struggled with turning stuff in and staying focused in class.  She seems to have really learned a few things and has a 95% or better in ALL of her classes 1 month into school.  I asked her what she’s changed and she said “I just tell myself you can do whatever you want after your work is done and you’ll have more fun because you won’t be worried about school”.  Wise words!

 

Gabe--

This is my Do Everything, Super Motivated by Goals child.  He got his Arrow of Light with the usual fanfare that our stake puts on:   (not super politically correct) American Indians, colored smoke, drums, actual arrows, a bridge to pass over, tears of the eagle stones.  It’s pretty fun for the boys.  Gabe was the only kid his Den leader (who has been doing Webelos for 4 years) has ever seen get EVERY possible activity badge and arrow point.  Love that kid.

He’s really enjoying middle school. He likes his advanced classes and says that he has more friends in middle school than in elementary school.  Here he is with his Theme Island project:

Gabe’s also become completely obsessed with anything football.  Completely NOT following in his father’s footsteps, he reads the sports page religiously each morning, TiVos NFL games and has plans to play football next fall.  Let’s hope those twigs he calls limbs fatten up a little before then.

Jane--

Nothing major to report about Jane.  She is doing soccer, piano and really enjoys her teacher, Mr Stallings (our family’s 4th year with him).  She put together this poster for a farm animal project:

Seth--

Seth continues to be Seth.  He’s been begging to read personal scriptures with me in the morning, so we’ve started that and I’m impressed with what a good reader he is.  He's also doing soccer and while completely clueless about the game, he actually is pretty coordinated.  His favorite birthday gift was an asked-for slushy maker and so we’ve done those a few times after dinner much to his delight. 

Ryan took the kids on a little date a few weekends ago.  They got slurpees

skipped rocks by the river

and got beaned in the head, not once, but TWICE, by their oldest sister with a rock that didn’t get skipped too effectively. 

There was much blood on Seth’s part and worried/sorry tears by Emma and complete incredulity by Ryan that it would happen 2 times in 3 minutes. 

 

Faith--

Faith wins the award for BEST POTTY-TRAINER!!  I knew that when she decided it would be easy and it was.  She was having no accidents and wearing panties at naptime by Day #4!  So exciting.  Here she is displaying the reward panties sent by Grandma Nut:

She is the best, funniest, most talkative companion for me all morning long.  We do everything together and I love it.

Except when she goes to playgroup (last week at my house):

(I love that, too, first time in 12 years that I’ve had a guaranteed kid-free block of time!)

She got her cast off mid-September

and celebrated by dropping a huge rock on her foot that had her limping for a few days.  

The Whole Family--

Ryan and I have 2 very consistent personality traits:  He is VERY frugal and I am VERY rigid in my scheduling and following the plan.  So that is why our Labor Day excursion was so unexpected and so fun.

We literally decided at noon on Sunday to have an overnighter in Sandpoint Idaho and were gone as soon as church got over at 4:00.  We NEVER do stuff like that.  The kids couldn’t believe it and kept saying “thank you!” and “this is so fun!”

We stayed in the little bungalows we’d stayed in for our couples weekend in June:

took walks:

had picnics:

swam in the most beautiful location:

 

played long involved board games:

and went canoeing:

It’s good to remember that there are some SUPER good memories that you can create when you leave the budget and schedule at home, once in a while.

 

This all seems so rosy and perfect (except for the injuries).  It’s not.  It’s just what you get when you only post a few times a month.  I’ll try really hard to post something whiny soon. =)