Tuesday Update

• Our walk through with the social worker was today at 1:15. It went perfectly. I cleaned like crazy for a couple hours before she showed up.
• Our tree is decorated. I hate it. I don't regret shooting all our Christmas ornaments last year with Matthew using his bb gun, but I do dislike what the tree looks like right now. I'm searching for new ornaments that I will love.
• I  made Anna's Christmas stocking today. It's super cute. I made it instead of cleaning house. That is why I was in a mad rush right up until the worker showed up.
• Playing the pedals on the organ is not getting easier. (As I practice. I'm not brave enough to try during church...yet.)

questions or comments I have for some of my readers that I never remember to ask them when I'm on their blogs or facebook accounts.

Kate, how did the primary program go?

Ben and Liz, yes, Anna came to our family so we could be related in a few years. Anna already know she wants to be married in the temple. We can work out the logistics later. We still have some time.

Angie, thank you for the email and the song recommendation. I love that one and you are right, I love it even more right now.

Dear reader who never comments. Will you please comment so I know you are a reader. It's okay if we aren't friends. I stalk other people too.

Good night people, I'm going to eat pie and then go to sleep. It's only 7:19 pm. I am lame. I have friends in Kansas who are still up.

You threw off my groove.

Watch from 1:55-2:10 please...or you may watch the whole thing but take special note to those specific 15 seconds.

My groove has been thrown off.  Big Time. and I want a theme song.

Life has taken some amazing turns this month. It started out uneventful. We attended band concerts, parent teacher conferences and gone to the park a few times. (I consider going to the park with the same regard I use when speaking of band concerts and parent teacher conferences. I don't heart the park. At. All.) We've make cotton candy for the holiday bazaar at the school to earn money for the science club and we made it again at the church for the primary carnival. EIGHT people in our family had birthdays this month. I hosted the book club in my home and we've had some friends over for dinner. I'm still playing the organ in Sacrament Meeting but Ken got a new calling. Ward Mission Leader take 5. That's right people, it's his 5th run. (Insert evil laugh here.) All uneventful.

Going to bed on a Friday night after a full day of house cleaning, book club hosting and having friends over for dinner only to wake up to a call from my friend Becky--amazingly life altering.

We were gone for 5 days. We left in a rush after Ken went to the leadership broadcast at the church. While we were gone we met with the social worker and talked about home studies, walk threws and other boring but mandatory things. I told her I could just call my neighbor and have her let them in. I didn't even need to clean first, unless it's a against the rules to have one bedroom that looks like a hoarder lives there.  Another time, another post. Anyway, no walk through was necessary, we were able to come home.

We were home for FOUR days before I vacuumed again. Have I vacuumed since? Umm, that would be a big fat no. Laundry is piling up. School has been non existent. My explanation for that is winter weather and Nicole's had the flu, but still, we could have done something. My shower is happening later and later, there seem to be toys in every room in my house and I've have made a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

My friend Kelly described Anna as 'Just what I never knew I needed.' It's SO TRUE. It is awesome having 3 children. I thought since Nicole and Matthew were so much older that #3 wouldn't be as hard as everyone has told me. Maybe it hasn't been as hard as could be, but I still doubled my capacity by 50%.  It is hard. I'm repeatedly thankful she is 4 and done with bottles, diapers and all the comes with infants. I love 4 year olds. One 4 year old specifically.

I have been in contact with the social worker from Yakima County and one here in Thurston. They are going to do the walk threw of my house tomorrow. No big deal right? Don't even call, just come over. NOT ANYMORE! I'm freaking out. Now my whole house looks like a hoarder moved in. I will be cleaning all day today...if I can pull myself together.

Maybe I will take before and after pictures and somehow count this as a value experience for my personal progress.

Thanksgiving 2010

We left for my brother's house on Thursday morning at 10am. We just needed to make 1 quick stop by my sister's house on the way to drop off some music. The roads were clear and the drive was going by quickly.

Then I took their exit and the roads to my sister's home were not so good. There was snow floor and it was a little bit slick, but nothing I couldn't handle. When I turned onto the last road before her street they got a lot worse. I slowed down to about 25 MPH and still had to keep slowing. When we crossed the freeway overpass it was pure ice. We got off the over pass and I tapped my breaks to slow down so we didn't miss her street and the car was not stopping. I continued tapping the breaks and continued sliding. We missed her street and we weren't slowing down. I said a verbal prayer for help stopping the car as we were sliding down the hill and just before the road hit an even steeper grade our car came to a stop. It was clearly divine intervention.

I turned the car around and started back up the hill we just slid down and could not get enough traction to get up the hill. They say when you are moving a little bit, do not stop the car because you won't be able to get it going again. I was not moving a little bit. Tired were spinning and the car was fishtailing. I put the car in park, pulled the e-break and let Ken take over.

By this time, I was emotionally done. I can handle a lot of things, but car trouble and bad road conditions leaves me crying in the corner and seriously wanting a blanket. I was scared. When I got out of the car so Ken could drive it up the hill, I walked to my sister's street. I would not have been a comfort to my children, so I did not get back in the car. (I know this was probably not a comfort to my children either, but in my state of mind, I couldn't see that was the fact at the time. I know, I just earned another degree of crazy to my resume.)

I called my sister and told her we were stuck. She and her husband came in their truck to help us. A stranger came along and helped Ken push the car up the hill to Wendi's street and Matthew steered and gave the car gas. (The best day of his life if you ask him.) They got the car to her street, then Wendi, Larry, Matthew and I pushed it while Ken gave it gas, so we could get it onto the road. We drove to Wendi's house, I used to restroom and cried and prayed, and then we invited ourselves to Wendi's for Thanksgiving.  I called Ryan and let him know what happened and told him we weren't going to make it to his house.

We were disappointed but I didn't feel comfortable trying to get back to the freeway. I also knew we had 6 hours of above freezing weather ahead of us that day and that alone would improve conditions on the roads. My assumption was correct. The drive home was easy.

So we had an unexpected change of plans but we still got to spend time with family  We also got to eat with Wendi's mother in law, Linda. I've loved her since I met her when I was 14.  Larry's brother, Aaron and his family were there too. It was a fun day, filled with good eats and a lot of laughs.

Here are some pictures from the day.

We watched Toy Story 3. I had never seen it before and it was cute.

Zachary was really good with Anna. He played with her and helped her find things to do. It was fun to watch. She told us at bedtime that he's a good uncle. We're still working on cousins, brothers, uncles etc.

Devon doesn't like his picture taken. Here's his foot.

Nicole likes pie with her whoop cream.

 Ken and Devon's hand. I actually did get a picture of Devon's face but he clearly didn't want me to have it.

 Anna and McKenzie. McKenzie is one of Larry's brother's daughter. Anna loved playing with another 4 year old girl.

 She also loved the pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving and a little more...

Happy Thanksgiving! This is the first time in 6 years that we will be spending Thanksgiving with family. We will be going to Pt. Hadlock, about 2 1/2 hours from here, to eat dinner with my brother, Ryan and his famdango. I'm excited to see them and a little sad that we won;t be eating with the Carltons and the Drapers...our holiday buddies in Kansas. I love them!

In other news...

• I still don't have batteries for my camera. My rechargeable have dropped off the face of the earth which means Matthew probably put them in the xbox controllers...again.
• We saw the Forgotten Carols last night. It was a very touching show.
• I am adjusting well to having 3 children. Anna is doing GREAT. To many of you who have more than that it's probably a walk in the park, but I've had 2 for many years now so 3 is taking some time.
• I have forgotten to blog a few times this week. See previous bullet.
• We got a few inches of snow on Monday night so they canceled school on Tuesday and Wednesday. That being said, Matthew went to school in November 8 times. Nicole went 6.  For the whole month.
• Nicole has a nasty flu bug.
• I'm excited for black Friday. I LOVE being the crowd at 5 in the morning. It makes me happy. It's also the only day each year that we go out to breakfast. The kids are excited about that part.

I think that is all for now. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Travel safely. Eat a lots of food. Take a long nap. and happy shopping tomorrow!

While we were gone:

*Ken turned 35 on the 15th.
*My mom would have turned 63 on the 16th.
*My kids missed a week of school. (and they are still hoping for a snow day tomorrow.)
*I ran 2 minutes straight on a treadmill barefoot. I'll start my 'running' again tomorrow as long as the roads are clear.
*My testimony of personal revelation was strengthened 100 fold.

Two quotes from Anna:

I need to take a bath because my toes are dirty.
I have a big tongue.

One quote from Matthew:
Now you can't call Nicole your best girl because you have two girls. But I'm still the best boy.

One quote from Nicole:
Having a little sister is even better than I thought!

That being said, it's a little after 9 and it feels like it's midnight. I'm going to bed! My goal for this week is to find my rechargeable batteries. I don't have any for my camera and it's dead.

The Long Story

Ken and I want more children.  We never had any intention of stopping at two. Or three counting our baby Robert. Year after year we hoped it would be the year I would be able to get pregnant but it has now been almost 9 years since Robert was born and passed away and we haven't been able to have another baby, even with several rounds of fertility treatments.

Ken has be pressuring me suggesting that we do foster care for a few years now. I have always had serious reservations. (I don't really enjoy other people's children and I was never sure I'd be able to love someone else's baby that way I love my own.) 

Our first inquiry was less than 2 years after Robert died, when we were living in Grandview, WA. The application freaked me out and we never turned it in.

When we lived in Troutdale I had a dream. The four of us were having a little family party and I looked out our front doorway and there was a little girl standing in the doorway. She wanted to come to the party but wasn't invited. She just stood there and watched and I was too tongue tied to invite her in. She was old enough to speak fairly clearly but was not the age of my children who were in 1st and 2nd grade at the time.

After I had that dream I was certain it would finally be the year I got pregnant. It wasn't. Ken told me he got the inpression that it meant she would have to have to come into our family through a different route if she was going to 'invited to our party.' Then he suggested again that we look into foster care or adoption.

I ignored him for two more years.

I finally caved agreed to take the classes as long as I could choose when we started allowing extra children into our home.

We started foster care classes while we lived in Kansas and dropped out. I was having too much anxiety over it.

After we dropped out, Ken didn't drop the topic. He randomly added the subject into casual conversation, leaving me with a desire to pummel him on a regular basis.  I had convinced myself that the number two was perfect. As it was, we were set to empty nesters before we were 40. AWESOME! haha.

Fast forward a little while and we decided to move back to Washington. Ken left 2 months ahead of the kids and me.  One thing I didn't miss was the foster care/adoption conversations. The silence didn't last the whole 2 months. Ken started bring it up again on the phone. I think I only hung up on him once. I did agree to pray about it though.

As I prayed I told Heavenly Father I would do whatever it was that he wanted me to do and I also expressed all of my reluctancy about the whole subject.  My final request was that if I was supposed to be involved in foster care and adoption that the thoughts would come to me at random enough times I would know it was from Him and not Ken.  I had thoughts a lot. I ignored them.

Once we were here in WA and settled, Ken started pushing again. I hadn't told him about the thoughts I  kept having. Finally, sometimes this summer I was driving home from the store with my kids in the back seat and I was feeling frustrated about then arguing and the thought came to me as clear as a regular speaking voice, 'Look into foster care.'

Okie Dokie. That was random enough I guess. At least it got my attention. the next day as I was saying my prayers, I told Heavenly Father that I am going to be obediant. I repented for ignoring His promptings and asked what the next step was. When I finished I asked Ken for a priesthood blessing. I told him I needed specifics because I was really nervous about the whole topic.

He gave me a blessing and it was so specific I hoped he would stop. He described a little girl, all her 'problems or issues' and went into more detail about a perfect stranger than I felt comfortable with. When it was over I told him I'd do foster care. He ordered the info packet that day.

A short time after that I was talking to my friend, Becky and I told her about that blessing. I felt like I should tell her the whole thing and after we talked about that, our conversations easily moved away from it.

Ken and I started the foster classes. We went to orientation together. I went to one class with Nicole and I HATED it. The next day I didn't go to class because Ken had something going on and I didn't want to go alone. After that, we just never worked out the dates that we would go back and I never brought it up. I didn't want anything to do with those classes.

Last Saturday, our home phone rang at 7 in the morning. This struck me as odd for a couple reasons.  #1, only 1 person has our home number., my dad and he never calls us on the home phone. When it stopped ringing, I called him to see if he tried to call our home and he didn't. While we were on the phone, the home phone rang again. Ken got out of bed and answered the phone and it was my friend Becky. She lost my cell number and called information to get our home number. Good thing Ken answered.

She told me the about Anna's history and what was going on in her life at the moment.  It's not a pretty story and definitely not one that needs to be published on the internet. The important part is that life in her adoptive home was not going well at all and the family was done trying. That's where we came in. DSHS asked Becky is they would take her. Becky and her husband Scott have 6 children and didn't feel that it was right for them to adopt Anna, even if they wanted to. But she said as she was praying that Ken and I came to her mind. I immediately said we'd take her but she had to talk to Anna's mom and see what they thought.

We were requested to come for a visit as soon as we could by the adopted mom, so we left that evening. What started out as an overnight visit turned into 5 days of anxiety, stress and emotions ranging from the highest highs to the lowest lows.

We met her adoptive parents, the social worker and many people in the area that are in Scott and Becky's ward that know Anna. We heard good stories about her as well as bad ones. We saw raging tantrums (not by children) and pure Christlike actions.

Anna's adopted parents turned over their rights to Ken and me on Wednesday evening. Thursday morning we met the social worker on Thursday morning and we were able to ask any questions we had. That afternoon at 3pm there was a meeting at DSHS about Anna's family. One of the decisions that had to be made was whether Anna could go home with us that night or if we needed to clear it through superior court first.

After waiting for 2 1/2 of the longest hours of my life we got the verdict that Anna was gree to come home us. Under no circumstances would they let her go back into the care of her adoptive parents and we were free to higher an attorney and persue adoption.

So, we left E. WA. 10 minutes after that phone call was over and brought our new family of 5 home. I may be leaving things out. Feel free to ask me questions and I'll fill in any blanks that I may have left out.

Sorry for the typos.  I'm not proofing this. I'm tired and want to get it posted. Below are some pictures of our sweet Anna Rebekah.  We love her!

Reader's Digest Version

Long Story Short...(Long Story coming soon.)

We have become legal guardians to a 4 year old little girl, named Anna that we are hoping to adopt. Our trip to Eastern Washington was to meet her, get her adoptive parents to sign over their rights to us and then wait and wait and wait for DSHS to give us the green light to bring her home.  We got said green light last night at 5:30 and we were in our car on the way home by 5:45. It has been an amazingly stressful week with some of the highest highs I've had in my life and some lows that left me wanting to throw up and cry my eyes out.

I am now starting to find a good attorney so we can expedite the adoption process. We need this little girl in our family forever. 

I am VERY thankful and overwhelmed. Scared to have a little one in the home again and thankful that she is not in diapers or drinking bottles. I'm not sure I could have handled that. Photos and the Long Story will be along shortly.

Until then, here is the first 'funny' she said to me:
I am stronger than crabs!

ummm, ok. haha!

I'll be back

We are going on a trip to Eastern Washington that began the planning process about an hour ago. We'll be gone for a few days...or maybe two days I'm not really sure at this time. I won't be updating my blog while I'm there, so I'll see you in a few days. Until then,

 I'm SO thankful for the power of prayer, personal revelation AND prompting from the Holy Ghost. I'm SO HAPPY!!

I need a birthday calendar!

I just found out that I missed a birthday yesterday. I didn't know we had a duplicate birthday! It's embarassing too, because the little guy is SIX YEARS OLD!

Happy Birthday to my AWESOME nephew NOLAHN!

Here's a picture for your viewing pleasure. He's the leader of this group. (In this picture anyhow)

Today

 SuRPriSe!

 Today is Rick's birthday!

 Happy birthday to my brother in law, Rick. He is 30!! 

Can you tell he and Ken are brothers?

Just a little?

These photos were taken at Disneyland on January 2, 2009.

The best vacation gloves ever! Great vacation too.

Yesterday

I forgot to mention...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEVON!!

My nephew is 14 years old and amazingly AWESOME!

My picture I have chosen to display for his birthday is of rootbeer floats.  the only time  I've ever eaten/drank (?) two rootbeer floats in one sitting was when I was hanging out with Devon.

Every blog needs a quote from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What is your favorite memory? Where you surrounded by people you love? How do you feel when it crosses your mind?

Thinking back on my childhood, our family went on a few road trips and vacations. My favorite trip of all time was when we drove from the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State to Provo, Utah. I had never been to Utah and I was really excited. We went to Temple Square, watched Legacy in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and shopped at the BYU Bookstore. I saw more temples on the trip than I’d ever seen in all my life up to that point.

If you were to ask what my favorite part of that 6 day trip, I wouldn’t have to think long to tell you the answer. The memories that bring back to most emotion for me were created while sitting in the back seat of an old green Ford Galaxy 500 with 6 of my siblings. That’s right, 7 children in the backseat. Who needed seatbelts when we had a large back window and that many laps?

While we drove we listened to music on mix tape created by Ryan. Our favorite song was Piano Man by Billy Joel. Dad got tired of that song by the time we hit Twin Falls, Idaho so we quoted movie lines. Garen quoted lines from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for about 300 miles. The quote repeated the most often: You dirty rat. You killed my brother. Every time he said it, sounding like Michaelangelo imitating James Cagney, we all laughed. We were amazed at his skill to sound exactly like the movie. It came to a point where my parents were tired of hearing TMNT quotes and told us to choose something else. We didn’t. Finally Dad said, ‘If you say that quote one more time I’m stopping the car.’ We asked him what quote he was referring to and he repeated You dirty rat. You killed my brother. We all laughed, and then Garen responded, ‘Ok Dad. I won’t say you dirty rat. You killed my brother, again. More laughing commenced and he didn’t stop the car.

Memories are a funny thing. You go on adventures that you are certain will make a lifelong impression and then learn later the best part of the trip was being stuck in the car for 12 hours with those you love the most.

There are many wondering places to visit in this world. If you think about it, I’m sure you could come up with places you have been that mean a great deal to you. Are they important to you because you purchased something while you were there or attended business training? Or are they important because you spent time with someone dear to you?

The great thing about making memories is you don’t have to go very far or spend any money to create something that lasts a lifetime. Make a tent in your living room and invite your friends over. Sleep on your deck. Go to a warehouse store and have a ‘photo shoot’ with someone you are close to.

It doesn’t matter where you go or what you do when you get there. The memory is created by being there with the ones you love. To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘Life is a journey, not a destination.’ Learn to enjoy the journey.

Today I am thankful for road trips

and the priceless memories that accompany them.

Dear Gina,

Get off the floor and put some clothes on so you can go to the library. You have a blog to update and you'll need to be wearing more than socks to be admitted into the library.  There are small children there!  Good Grief Girl!

And now for today's math problem:

(provo library)

 +

(Gina)

=

Go Blog! DO IT!



My Oh My!

Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus died Wednesday of a heart attack at his home in Bellevue, WA, according to a spokesman for the team. Niehaus, 75, had been the team's voice since the Mariners' inception in 1977.

I like change!

I'm feeling the need to rearrange my blog. The change I'm thinking about is making one long blog list as opposed to a list for each state I have blogs to stalk.  I've created a poll over on the right hand column for you to help me decide what to do. Please vote!  gracias

Also, stay tuned for more polls in future. I like them.

ps, if you have any suggestions for me, (about blogging or how to make this blog more user friendly (for my 4 readers)) please feel free to comment on this here post.

Obligatory Thankful Post #2, same topic as the first.

I walked 6 minutes, ran 1 (at a snail's pace), then repeated again. A total of 2 minutes of snail crawling. Guess what? I DIDN'T DIE! I didn't even lose my breath this time.  HOORAY!

Does anyone know why  my calf hurts?

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

Have you ever met 2 people that were so similar in mannerisms and sense of humor that it was scary? It's even worse that they  know it and feed off of each other.

Meet Ken and Eric. They meet the above description.

 

When told to do something funny, they both grab their ties. One day they dressed exactly the same. Marsha said it was excruciating. We told them they didn't really look alike and Eric replied, 'Exept for the fact they are both VERY good looking. Hmmm (Say it the way Nanny McPhee does.)

 Now meet Marsha. She's an angel saint that works with them. Every. Day.  I heart Marsha!

I'm thankful for Ken. I like his friends. I love Marsha. (She's his friend too.)

Hola Fencer! (You know who you are!)

Thanks for reading my blog. I hear I give you up the minute news. Who needs the news when you have my blog?  Here's a picture for your viewing pleasure.

PS, Become a follower! (Or prepare to die!) Right over there.-------->
gracias.
that is all.

Anti Thankful

Finding something each day to be thankful for is not as easy as one would think. Although I had a great day, I'm drawing a blank about what to post tonight.  So, I'm going to be a rebel and share one thing that drives me CRAZY!

Remnant. Say that word. There is NOT a second 'E' in the word remnant. Do NOT say it remEnant. I HATE THAT!

that is all.

The Big Little Dipper

Ken was just telling Nicole and me about a nurse that was Virginia Mason Hospital last night. He found out she was from Manhattan (KS).  I asked him how he knew that and he said he was just talking to her. He wasn't able to find out her birthday or her favorite cereal, yet he knew where she grew up. (They are dating.)

He told us she was from Manhattan and Nicole asked "New York or Kansas?" He said Kansas, the Big Little Dipper. I corrected him, 'You mean the Little Big Apple?'

HAHAHA!! Funny to us. Funny also that Manhattan, KS (did you know that town existed?) is nicknamed the Little Big Apple. It is NOTHING like NYC - I'm sure of it.

Go Wildcats.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry--in a non blasphemous way.

Tonight we had friends over for dinner.  We've been meaning to have them over for about 4 months and it finally happened tonight. It was so fun we've decided to do it again tomorrow for Family Home Evening and then some games. 

For dinner I made an awesome meatloaf. It was delicious.

I am thankful for friends and yummy meatloaf.

I also like leaves that change colors in the fall. I took this photo on my cell phone through a dirty windshield on a street in my neighborhood...not too shabby! I LOVE WHERE I LIVE!

Obligatory Thankful Post

Today I am thankful that I didn't die when I ran for one minute straight. That's right people. One. Minute.

I'm lame.

To my favorite Newton, who's not just fruit and cake

Once upon a time my little brother, Garen, and I had a paper route.  It wasn't your typical 'we're kids so we deliver papers on our bicycles after school' route. No. It was a 'we're in high school and junior high and we don't have enough on our plates, so we'll work a middle of the night auto route that keeps us out of the house from 11pm to 4am 6 days a week' kind of route. It was horrible and awesome all at the same time. We filled many of the Seattle Post Intelligencer (The P.I.) paper machines in Silverdale, WA and then delivered to about 125 houses/apartments in neighborhoods along Silverdale Way and Ridgetop. Here are some of the best parts about having this paper route.

• We got paid pretty well.
• We often got to eat a middle of the night meal with our brother, Ryan, who was the night auditor at Silverdale on the Bay Hotel.
• We listened to the radio as loud as we wanted in the car.
• We could talk about anything and everything.
• It was a time in our life when we were working like adults (that have peaked by getting their own paper route) and being carefree like children.
• I don't know of any other time when Garen and I were so close.

Often times I would say things to him and my ending comment would be, 'got it cookie?' After a short time he got clever and his reply would be, 'I'm not a cookie. I'm a newton...fruit and cake.' Now. If we weren't kids and didn't have the naivety that came along with being kids, I probably would have made fun of him for announcing that he was fruit and cake, but alas...it was a simpler time and I was uncorrupt. 

Since those days, 15 years ago (!) I have often thought about them with great memories. Some of the BIG memories that stick out to me that will probably mean nothing to you, but would put Garen and I back in our Dad's Buick Somerset Regal (best. car. ever) delivering the P.I. are:

• Hearing 'Sold' by John Michael Montgomery
• Hearing 'What Mattered Most' by Ty Herndon

Her eyes are blue, her hair is long

In '64 she was born in Baton Rouge
Her favorite song is "In My Life"
I memorized her every move
I knew her books, her car, her cloths
But I paid no attention to what mattered most

• Hearing 'Angels Among Us' by Alabama --they had remixed this song to had commentary about the Oklahoma City Bombing that had just happened.
• I worked at Silverdale on the Bay for about eight months, but when I see that hotel, I think of all time we spent in the foyer with Ryan and Dale, watching movies and eating free restaurant food at 2 in the morning.
• When I drive through Old Town Silverdale and pass the bar by the Arco. I can still see that old lady with long dirty blonde hair we met onthe paper route. Our interactions were - hi - here you go - have a good night - be safe out there - but I liked them.
• Malcolm, the old guy that distributed the papers, was really nice to Garen and me because we were kids. He had minty breath. (probably to hide cigarette and alcohol smells)
• There was a crazy gas attendant that worked at the Chevron on Kitsap Way.
• Many nights we would get home about 90 minutes before I had to be to seminary, so we would buy stuff to cook breakfast when we got home. The first time I ever smelled burnt bacon was when Garen cooked it...maybe I was helping. hahaha

Garen and I don't talk very often on the telephone. We both have our own lives and they are busy. But, everytime I drove through Newton, KS I called or texted. When I beat my Dad at Othello, he needed to know. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we call when it's important, and I'm glad.

I bet you're wondering why I'm telling you all of this.

TODAY GAREN IS 30 YEARS OLD!!

That's right people, he's an old man. In honor of his 30th birthday, I have found 2 photos for your viewing pleasure.

Happy birthday Newton!

When Garen joined the Coast Guard his wife was pregnant. We soon found out they were having a boy. I had been watching the movie 'Melody Time' a lot with my kids during this time and I love the cartoon Little Toot. It was while watching this movie that I decided since Garen was a coasty, I would need to call his son Little Toot. Sadly, I've only met Hayden a handful of times, so the nickname couldn't stick, but here's a picture of Little Toot.

Adventures with boys...part deux

Last night Matthew spent the night at his friends house so that means they move the party over to our house for the next night. (Have I mentioned that I love 4 day weekends?!!) Here are only a few of the things I have seen in the last six hours since Matthew and Jacob got here.

The barricaded Matthew's door and the hallway, except for little peep holes, so they could shoot nerf (nerd) guns at each other.

*take notice of all the lincoln logs in the lincoln log bin. We try to be organized!

 Matthew built me a table to hold scriptures.

 He's still working out some kinks.

 They built a fortress in the front room using twenty-four storage bins.

 Then they covered it with blankets and called it a fort.

They have since expanded their fort by lowering the walls. They've padded the ground with blankets and old couch cushions and they're 'exersicing.'

On another note, that is kind of related...the boys were calling each other 'dude' a lot. Ken interjected and asked them if they knew what a dude is?  Do YOU know what a dude is? Ken told them a dude is a mole on a camel's rear end. According the http://www.dictionary.com/, Ken is a liar. 

Dude
–noun


1. a man excessively concerned with his clothes, grooming, and manners.

2. Slang . fellow; chap.

3. a person reared in a large city.

4. Western U.S. an urban Easterner who vacations on a ranch.
 
*I just told the boys Ken was wrong and then explained it's a guy worried about his clothes and appearance. Jacob replied, 'That's even worse!'
 
Today I have to be thankful for little boys. Especially little boys who think they are big! They are hilarious and inventive and a little smelly.

Red Robin Birthday Song

Happy happy birthday. Today's your special day. Happy happy birthday. We're glad you came our way. Happy happy birthday. May all your dreams come truuuuueeeeeeee. Happy happy birthday, from Red Robin to you. Hey! (I typed hay first.)

Happy Birthday to my Brother in Law, LARRY!!

This is my mom's car. It died in May. My dad gave it to the fire department. They broke it. The guy in the back seat, center front is my brother in law, Larry. He's awesome...and 40 today. I love you Larry!

Holy Pictures Batman--at the park

Today I am thankful for beautiful weather and no school. We were able to go to a park close to our home with some good friends. Here are 18 pictures for your viewing pleasure. My most favorite favorite picture is the very last one. I my opinion, it's totally worth the wait!

Matthew and Jake on pogo sticks. They were getting about 18 inches in the air. It was pretty awesome.

 Matthew jumping.

 Nicole scooting.

 Nicole riding a bike.

 Nicole and Jessy just sitting around.

 Tyler on a bike.

 Next we 'played' tennis. I use the term played very loosely. We actually swung the rackets and chased the balls. A. Lot. Be sure you notice how often the ball was not where it was supposed to be when the rackets were swinging.

 This is Nicole honest to truth 'pose' while she waits for the ball to make it to her side.

 Next the boys got tired of running for tennis balls so they decided to climb the fence.

 And now, for my MOST FAVORITE picture of the day....I LOVE IT!

I'm also thankful for children who like to have their pictures taken. It was a super fun day!