And we called her Miranda...

November

2010-12-01T22:33:00.002-07:00

October

2010-11-02T22:31:00.001-06:00

Maddie loves to wear pants with drawstrings. She says is a striped zebra and the drawstring is her tail! She doesn't like it when she she can't find any clothes in the drawer with stripes. She's being doing this for months.

Yellowstone in the Fall

2010-10-06T20:46:00.001-06:00

We were hooked up with the use of a large lodge in Island Park, near Yellowstone. We invited a bunch of our friends and went at the end of September.

There were five different families that went, and afterwards we all shared our photos. Most of the following were not taken by me! But I must say, Jenn's camera and photos inspired us to take it up a notch on our pending camera purchase.

There are over 80 photos posted below--just couldn't resist! [At least I didn't post all 450!]

Reunion Lodge

Day One of Yellowstone: South Loop

And then a buffalo walks through the site! Like he owned the place! We had only been in the park about an hour and a half at this point, but I could have gone home after this...it was just so amazing and cool. Scary, but awesome to be only thirty or forty feet away from him. He didn't seem to pay much attention to us, thankfully!

And then Carson, who was in the very back seat next to me, tossed his cookies. The only spare clothes around were some of Maddie's pink ones, and we all had a lot of jokes about it the rest of the trip! He took it like a man!

Day Two in Yellowstone--North Loop. Only one carload of us went this time.

First Day of Preschool

2010-09-07T17:41:00.003-06:00

Talking to Dad as he's driving home from Maryland. Go Broncos!

Something You Just Don't See Everyday

2010-09-06T22:52:00.001-06:00

Driving home we saw this fun-looking group a few blocks away from our house. Maddie said "Ponys, Mom!!!" We saw them in a place we couldn't easily stop so we went on home, but you can bet I was laughing the whole way.
After parking the car we sat on the front step, hoping against hope that this girl would walk her dogs past our house. Wouldn't you know it, luck was on our side that day! [I would claim it was for Maddie, but we all know I was just as excited as she was to get another look.]
When I knowingly asked if she was bringing her dogs home from the fair, she said, no, she just did it for fun. She had entered them in some beauty contest, but they didn't win. Bet they would have if Maddie or I had been judge.
Questions that crossed my mind as I watched them walk away: Do these poodles think much about what they look like? What do the two black dogs think of it? Are they all just color blind anyway, and don't really care? How far has this girl walked today, and how many people will have stopped her in the end?

Trek

2010-08-15T17:45:00.000-06:00

Me and Ray, sopping wet and freezing, somewhere near Sixth Crossing. Remembering Ann and all her various contributions to my pioneer attire, some handmade, some from the Philippines, some both.

Today marks just over a week since our return from our handcart trek. Wow--what an experience that was!

I was on the planning committee to take the youth of our stake on a trek to Martin's Cove, Wyoming (which also included the Sixth Crossing and Rocky Ridge, if you're familiar with that area). We worked on this for months, and it was so strange to have it all be over with after only five days. With all our meetings, thought, prayer and toil, it seemed like it should be more like a two-week event at least!

Young Isaac Wardle, was freezing and starving in Martin's Cove in November of 1856. He thought he was at his end. One of the rescuers asked him to go chop down a tree for firewood before he sat down. Isaac didn't want to and eventually had to be physically forced to go do it. Once done, he was sent back twice to chop down more trees. The process ended up invigorating him and saved his life. These are believed to be two of the three tree stumps that still remain.

At statues of the Sacred Crossing of the Sweetwater.

The young men after they carried all the women across the Sweetwater.

Beautiful, isn't it? At least at this time of year.

For the record, this was actually my fourth (4th) trek--all of which have occurred within the last 13 years of my life (interestingly, none in my youth! Californians don't do treks as much, I think.) So it wasn't too big of a shock to live like a pioneer for a week for me.

What was a shock was doing it at age 39, as opposed to being younger the last three times. I have a healthy, new respect for aging--especially if you're a pioneer. It basically stinks. (Well, both literally and figuratively!) There were plenty of people older than me on this trek, and I looked at them and wonder how they did it?? I think I am just really, really, muy out of shape. Apparently walking two miles on my treadmill almost every day for the last two months wasn't quite the preparation I was thinking it would be. I cannot imagine if I hadn't even done that--how much worse shape I would have been in!

My previous treks all entailed walking a long way, but this one was 30 miles in three days. The most intense by far. And did I mention I'm 39?! I know, it really isn't that old, but boy did I feel like it this time around.

Our last day was a 15 mile walk, and those last three miles were passed by sheer willpower alone. My feet felt like they were on fire, and if I was ever forced to stop for any reason, I would simply buckle to the ground. Tortuous. And to think, the pioneers had to get up again and do that day after day. Oh, the faith.

Want to know how hard the wind was blowing at one point? Just look at the flags on the handcart--normally they hang down.

After the storm.

Trying to just hold on and move forward, the difficult task that it was, brought to mind a quote I love by Jeffrey R. Holland that really applies to people doing difficult things (treks or otherwise). Just last week in Sunday School we talked about the story about Elisha guiding the king of Israel in the war with Syria. I love when Elisha says to his servant: "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them."

What a great reminder, that no matter how overwhelmed you might feel in any situation, if you are striving to do what is good and right, the Lord and His hosts will be there with you, helping you.

But here is Holland's quote: “In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil, and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike—and they will—you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see, riding at reckless speed to come to our protection (see 2 Kings 6:16-17). They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham’s seed.”

That is so inpiring to me.

There I am in the Harmonica Choir, preparing to perform.

Me and the rest of us playing "Come, Come Ye Saints". Incidentally, did you know that it was "My Day" and Flying Pie Pizza the week before the trek? Yep, it was. Maddie and I went in (she plays too), played a few diddies on our harmonicas and got to make free pizzas! Awesome. I've been wanting it to be "My Day" ever since moving here 10 years ago. Finally!

This is the kid who I overheard saying, "I love hats! They are so awesome! What would I do in Wyoming without my hat??" Yeah, it was pretty hot and sunny at this point of the afternoon.

Following are some photos of a few mud bogs we went through. Good times.

So highlights of our trek for me would include:

*Ray agreeing to go and actually enjoying it!
*Driving out to Wyoming with Ray and Sue Johnson instead of on a bus.
*The Spirit I felt in those historic locations.
*Our reenactment of the Sacred Crossing of the Sweetwater.
*Coming to understand that Wyoming, despite its never-ending plains and sagebrush, is incredibly beautiful. At least in August.
*Gaining a respect for Wyoming weather. As we had heard, storms come on quickly and powerfully. Next time I will plan accordingly. We were hit by several major thunderstorms which wreaked havoc on our campground. Think: tornado!
*Getting to know the members of our stake and enjoying working with them
*Crossing through some huge mud bogs with the handcarts.
*Talking with Ray about how great it would be to serve a mission out there when we're older. Ray was sold when he watched one of the missionaries walk 50 yards from his house to the river to fish!

I know from personal experience that often when people go on treks and are excited to share about it...others often don't share that same enthusiasm. I completely undertand. If I had not been a part of the planning of this trek and been there myself, I might possibly be bored. So if you are still reading this, bless you. And if not, I totally get it.

But I would like to share something powerful that I got out of this, something beyond just the highlights. Studying the lives and experiences of the pioneers as we have, I have gained much from their faith. With some of them it feels as if I have come to know them. Francis Webster, a member of the Martin Handcart Company in 1856, and someone who I love, said something that I find life changing.

The setting was in a Sunday School class in Cedar City, many years after the famous trek of 1856. Some sharp criticism of the church and its leaders was being indulged in for permitting any company of converts to venture across the Plains with no more supplies or protection than a hand cart caravan afforded.

Francis Webster, an old man by that time, sat in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget. His face was white with emotion yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

He said in substance, "I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved.

"Mistake to send the Hand Cart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that Company and my wife was in it... We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that Company utter a word of criticism? ...Every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.

"I have pulled my hand cart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said I can go only that far and there I must give up for I cannot pull the load through it. I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were there.

"Was I sorry that I chose to come by hand cart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Hand Cart Company."

His words strike a chord with me every time I read them--the beauty of thinking about how we do come better acquainted with God in our extremities. The things we endure--trials, troubles, afflictions, illness, sorrow, death--all the yucky, horrible, sad stuff--they are all a part of the price we pay to come to know God. There is purpose, somehow, to it all.

So in that light, hard things really aren't as bad as they might seem. The good that comes from the difficult (whether our choice or not), particularly in the way they bring us closer to the Lord, makes it worth it. It makes it a small price to pay, when you really think about it.

So what price will I pay? How about you?

Look Who's Three

2010-05-16T23:00:00.002-06:00

This post is a long-overdue response to Megan S's request for me to post recent pics of Maddie. I've been a little busy and haven't captured my sweet girl's growth over the months.

I left out as many pictures as I could for this post, but sorry--there's a lot! It's just that 1)she's way too cute, and 2)this is for posterity's sake after all. So I gotta. Please enjoy. (I sure have!)

December 22 -- We created a friend out back. He stayed for weeks. December 25 -- Look what Grandpa Ed and Grandma Norma gave Maddie for Christmas! Go Broncos! January 15 -- True to my word, we began potty training on January 1st. It has been as rough as I expected (but no doubt it was probably that rough BECAUSE I expected it to be). Accidents seem to be increasing in frequency, so exactly last Wednesday, out of sheer desperation, I started the "Potty Pill Program". I hate the concept of buying a kid with candy, but boy is it working. WHY did I fight it?? My favorite part of the rules (and the reason I think this program actually works) is that she gets one potty pill (M&M or jelly bean) every time she goes in the potty. But if she goes in her pants, me or Ray get TWO potty pills. She hasn't had an accident yet on this new program! She's always been sort of territorial with her food. I guess I finally found her Achilles heel...and should have tried this much sooner. February 4 -- Maddie has the best curls which makes for a fantastic pony tail(s). February 11 -- Maddie in my pioneer-wear. I am currently helping to plan yet ANOTHER handcart trek. This time for the stake. I am also the tambourinist in the trek band (so cool) AND Maddie and I are learning the harmonica. Let me say that is one of the LEAST annoying instruments I've ever heard a kid playing. She sounded good from the first time she blew in it. Looking for a fun, non-annoying instrument to get a kid? Get a harmonica. I promise, you won't regret it. February 17 -- So pinkish. February 22 -- And yellowish. February 28 -- Could be the best bed-head I've ever seen. March 20 -- Maddie with her friend Andrew. Andrew's mom Kara and little brother Matthew. March 22 -- Maddie and friend William. William's mom gave birth to a new baby brother, so we got to have a sleepover. They were so cute together, brushing their teeth, etc. March 24 -- Love these pics. Love her outfit. Love her personality! April 2 -- Making Italian Braid Cookies with Emmy and Susan Filkins. I was enchanted until we had to frost the cookies that we had just spent all that time braiding! Totally hides the beautiful art! But still fun. April 4 -- Easter Check out the cool, completely edible Easter bonnet that Gwen made. April 13 -- Playgroup Birthday Party for April birthdays April 22 -- Maddie's actual 3rd Birthday. Played with her friend, Lizzie, in the morning. And ate good stuff at Dairy Queen in the evening with Mom. Dad was out of town. May 6 -- Representation of the plethora of vehicles Maddie can choose from to ride. She's Daddy's Girl for sure. May 8 -- Helping Dad out in the shop. May 10 -- I just love her boots. That's all. That and the downed vehicles on the far side of the deck!

Mother's Weekend

2010-05-12T15:30:00.000-06:00

[Ray and Maddie on Christmas Day, 2009]

Ray. He's great. He came home Friday after work and said, "Instead of Mother's Day, how about having Mother's Weekend instead? Why limit it to just one day?"

??? (Whoah--where did that come from? But um, OK!)

So from Friday night on Ray put his ideas and opinions on the shelf and I made the decisions. We could do whatever I wanted for the most part and dictate what Ray did with his free time. Problem is, I often freeze up when such freedom comes to me. I SO can't think on the spot, and I even had a whole weekend to do so!

And sometimes I can be just too practical. Why did I feel like I had to keep getting things done? I wished I had taken him up on his spontaneous idea to go camping that night. I wished I had thought to have him take me on a shopping spree. Why didn't I ask to have 5 hours straight--off--away--by myself?! I don't know for sure.

I still teamed with him in the cooking and in caring for our child, etc. But I just gotta say how great it was that I got the whole weekend and not just the day to be guilt-free and have and do whatever I wanted. It's sure nice to feel spoiled sometimes, and get to brag about it. Lucky me!

Happy Day

2010-02-02T01:36:00.001-07:00

I've stayed up so late that I have welcomed in Groundhog's Day. Wonder what he'll see this year? And long live that movie, too. Classic.

But that's not what this post is about.

Today was so Happy because some friends of my brothers welcomed home two beautiful children from Haiti. For over two years, Jody and Judie have been going to an orphanage there to visit the two children they were planning to adopt--8 year-old Cynsha and her 9 year-old brother Hendrick. The family has been learning Creole for the past year and a half, as the kids know little English.

From what I understand, Jody and Judie had completed and complied with all necessary paperwork and anything else that was required on their part. So they were just waiting to wrap up the final steps of the process that were slow due to bureaucratic policies. They weren't sure when they were ever going to get their children home, but they had hope.

Amazingly their miracle came...in the form of a massive, devastating earthquake. It's incredible to me that amidst the powerful and terrible destruction of a country such as this, such beauty can come. And does. God moves in mysterious ways. And oh how He has blessed these two children and this family.

While not direct friends of Jody and Judie, I was way too excited for them to not go to the airport. OK, sure, I'm just a little jealous too! But mostly just excited for them all.

The family had four children, three boys and a girl. The girl is so excited to have a sister, and they are less than a year apart. There is a 10 year-old boy in the family who is so excited to have a brother now who is close to his age as well.

Jody and Judie already have such a strong bond with the kids and is amazing to see. Judie is the one in the photo above in hot pink.

My video footage of the family. Hear Jody speaking Creole like a native (or so it sounded to me!) Awesome.

Jody started a blog about their experience five days ago, so check it out here if you want to read more about their story. Amazing miracles occurred.

And here's the news article to read about it. You can click on the left to see the video coverage. Somehow Maddie and I ended up there, which I wasn't wanting to happen! (Well, at least not me anyway. It's fun to see Maddie.) But anyway, who cares. What a Happy, Happy Day!!!

Santa Who?

2009-12-23T23:25:00.000-07:00

I've never given much thought to Santa Claus. I mean, he's nice enough, I guess, but I just personally don't get into the guy. Growing up, my mom would always have one gift for us from Santa on Christmas, but we all knew it was from her. I don't remember believing in Santa OR learning that he was not real. I don't even have any Christmas decor depicting Santa.

So you can imagine my surprise when Madeline really took to the guy this year. I don't know where she learned so much about him, but suddenly she's pointing to Santa here and Santa there. And, sure enough, he's EVERYWHERE! I had been wondering a few months ago if we should do the whole Santa thing with Maddie, but had been leaning towards not. Until now. I guess Maddie made the decision for me.

Her latest thing has been learning the song "Santa Claus is Coming To Town". So when I received the gift of the Andrea Bocelli "White Christmas" CD a few weeks ago, Maddie made me repeat that song over and over again. I'll admit the song has grown on me, but especially when Maddie sings along with it, or on her own.

Following are three (very cute) renditions of the song by Maddie, in five-day increments.

This first clip is 2:21 long.

This one's short--:39. Please note where she acts out the "sleeping" part at :20. Also note the "Santa Claus is coming by"--she made it rhyme when she shortened the song. Clever!

This one's 2:41. I have to explain that Maddie insisted I film her singing this song along with Andrea on the CD. I really just wanted her to eat her breakfast. So when you hear me insisting, know that I was not trying to do a Jonbenet sort of thing--it really was her idea.

Favorite parts are at :47 when she excuses herself, and 2:18 when she finally gets her yogurt back and then proceeds to fold her arms to wait for the prayer. I love that this is caught on video, because it could be the first time she's wanted to eat but patiently folded her arms instead! I love it.

Also, I didn't get through the entire song, but at the end Andrea asks the children's chorus "Who's coming?" and then they sing "Santa Claus...". Maddie lately says, "Mommy, who's coming?" and waits for me to sing "Santa Claus...". So cute.

I'll take this occasion to admit that I have stooped to using Maddie's new-found knowledge against her. About three times now I've found myself saying things like, "Maddie, you'd better not cry: Santa Claus is coming to town!" or "Maddie, he's going to find out who's naughty or nice...!" Bribery. Works every time, too.

One time, soon after she first learned the song, out of the blue Maddie said "Mama, I'm not bad." And of course I freak out inside, saying "Of course you're not bad, Maddie", all the while thinking "Where did she get THAT??!!" And then a week later it clicked..."He knows if you've been bad or good..." Sheesh.

Who's Who & What's What

2009-11-01T00:30:00.000-06:00

Did anyone else have a Who's Who in their Junior High Yearbook? You know--like Best Hair, Best Smile, Best Personality, Biggest Flirts? I did. (I'm just now wondering, as I look back on my 8th Grade Year, who it was that decided Who was Who, and what they based it upon?)

I just got back from a trip to the Bay Area, and in honor of the Monte Vista 20 Year Reunion--the main purpose of the trip--and Memory Lane, I will document my trip in Who's Who and What's What.

Best Addition to our trip: Aunt Caroline. She decided to come right before we left and joined up with us in Reno.

Cutest Passenger: Madeline

Biggest Sport: My Mom, travelling when she wasn't feeling the best. So glad she came!

Best Co-Driver:Wendy. OK, she was the only co-driver. But still!

Best Eyes: Maddie and Maria

Best Photo Sequence of Cutest Passenger:

(This last pic is really to die for.)

Best Beach Picture: Muir Beach

Runner up Best Beach Pic.

Best Oldest Friends I saw:Valerie and Joanna. (Just don't look at this pic of me! Yuck. I had to antique it to help it.)

Best Instant Friends:Maria and Maddie

Most Fun Cousin who joined us for the day:Romney (black shirt)

Funniest & Scariest Memory:
1125 Nielson Street. Albany. Visiting the house my mom and aunt grew up in from ages 0-10, and being taken on a tour of the inside by the current residents. We saw every room!Driving up Marin Street to the top of the Berkeley hills. And I mean, The Top. So scary. Here we are at 15 The Crescent. (Don't try to leave out the "The". I've tried.) Again, we toured.

Best Joiner of Reunion Festivities at my coaxing:Sheri (middle). So glad she came.

Best Part of the Reunion:
Being responsible for gathering this many Stone Valley School alumni at the reunion and getting a picture. Who cares about high school? For me, the best part was seeing all these people who I went to school with from 2nd--8th grade!!! They are the ones I remember and love the most.

Most Adaptable: Greenbomb family. (Pictured here: Celia and Pam. Read funny story behind this pic I stole here.) We tried and tried to find a time to visit these folks, but kept changing things on them. They agreed to us coming by for a bit one afternoon. AND even served us the dessert they were going to give us that night, right then at 3:45! It was so yummy too! Thank you, Pam!

Best Hostesses:
Anne, Kim and Maria

Best Smile:Carma Gaggero (far right)

Zaniest Uncle Visited: Uncle Gus

Just Because

2009-10-13T15:00:00.000-06:00

Ever want to post on your blog, but don't feel like writing that day? Check your "Drafts" file...you just might find an unpublished post there! For some reason I wrote this a year and a half ago and never published it. Shame on me! I made a few edits, and here you go.

I have such a great husband. He's gone for a week to North Carolina, and since I'm missing him, I thought I would blog about him. I met Ray at the point in my life when I had finally given up on dating or meeting anyone. We were actually set up by his mom, which is pretty cool! He has a smart mom!

Ray is smart too. In fact, he graduated from high school when he was 14 years old!

Ray is very giving. He lets me have my way the majority of the time.

Ray is an incredible father. He adores his "little girl", and its obvious that she feels exactly the same way. They are so fun to watch together. Just as long as he doesn't try to tell her "no"! :)

Ray loves cars: reading about them, talking about, figuring out what's wrong with them, pointing them out and identifying them. Seriously, he'll see a car approaching from the other direction about a half mile away and can tell me the year and make--especially with the older cars. He would love to buy me my dream car, if only I had one! Sadly, he couldn't have married someone less interested in cars! But because of Ray, I have a much better appreciation for, and knowledge of, cars.

Ray is very responsible and dedicated. In the seven years that we've been married he's taken maybe three sick days off from work. Maybe. Could be two.

Ray has the wonderful ability to balance me out. Sometimes when I get really upset or anxious, he has the natural ability to just relax and help me find whatever I lost or figure out a solution to whatever my dilemma may be. Last month the diamond in my wedding ring got caught and fell out of while doing laundry. I looked for it in a panic, gently shaking each piece of clothing whilst staring warily at the thousands of holes on the inside of the washer. It was the first time I ever wished for a bigger diamond--one that couldn't fall through! I couldn't find it, so I finally told Ray. He came down and calmly looked through each article (no shaking) and spyed the little rock tucked under a fold of my t-shirt.

I've always been amazed at Ray's ability to pick out the perfect card. You might not think that's a talent, but it is. He somehow always seems to find the card that goes right along with our lives at the moment. And the card either always makes me either laugh or cry (the good kind). Always!

I love Ray.

Clueless (me)

2009-09-15T16:58:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, as I began to make dinner Maddie decided it was time to pull over her little chair to the kitchen sink so she could play in the water. Seeing that this would never do, and feeling justified because Maddie had not watched TV much lately, I asked her if she would like to watch a show.

"Tubbies!!!" she screamed and off we went to start it.

A few minutes later, Maddie came into the kitchen. "Where Tubbies go, Mommy?" And she looked genuinely confused. Well, so was I. I could still hear the music and sounds of the show in the background, so I was pretty sure they were right there on TV where we had left them. But she asked again.

"Where did the Tubbies go?" I asked as I began wondering if we had some sort of stuffed-Tubbie-character that I had forgotten about. But no. So I told her I didn't know.

Not a second after Maddie asked me yet again where all the Tubbies had gone, I heard the robotic lady's voice in the background on TV ask "Where have all the Teletubbies gone?" Then Maddie screamed euphorically and ran back to the TV, as they apparently had been found.

How fun that was for me to be drawn into her play like that. I was so impressed, because I'm pretty sure she was pretending about not knowing where they'd gone. This was not her first time watching this video, after all.

About 10 minutes later Maddie invited me to come watch her show with her. I told her I would in a bit, as soon as I got dinner simmering--but before I could make it in there Ray came home. Maddie then invited him to come watch Tubbies with her, which he promptly did.

The experts say you're supposed to watch TV with your kids if you must allow them watch it at all. So glad that Ray is covering that task for the both of us, and knows what our child is watching.

What Goes Around...

2009-08-18T22:43:00.000-06:00

Unrelated photo of my mom with her five kiddos. I thought our unplanned matchability was uncanny!

I was talking to my mom the other day, can't remember about what. Anyway, she started to tell me about how to do something or other, and I said, "I know, Mom. I Goog**d it." And then I made this stupid little joke about how we don't need our parents anymore...we have Goog**. To which we both laughed. It was a JOKE, folks!

Yesterday I took Maddie to the park and while there a bee stung her on the finger! How dare it! I don't care if she was attempting to pick it up!!! Anyway, as I was carrying her home my mom called. After she told my why she called, I told her Maddie had just gotten stung, and what was it I was supposed to do for bee stings again?

She asked my dad, who said something about pure clay. Only my dad keeps something like "pure clay" lying around the house. So I asked her what else...and my mom said she didn't know for sure--"just look it up on the internet"!

Uuuuh...OK!!!

Don't think I don't realize that I brought that upon myself!

------------------------

Maddie is fine, is apparently not allergic to bee stings (thank goodness!), and only one bee lost its life in connection to this post.

A First

2009-07-27T15:55:00.000-06:00

After a few years of wondering, yesterday was my big chance. I accompanied the congregation on the organ during Sacrament Meeting at church. It was so fun! I was just subbing, but would readily do it in the future if asked. What a cool thing. I sent sweet thoughts to friends who have accompanied in the past (that's you, Ann and Suzi!) and feel like I'm in your club now. The organ players club.

You might think I didn't know how to play the organ! Well, I don't!
A few weeks ago our current ward organist, Jenn, invited anyone interested to come have a lesson. So I went on Thursday night and she showed me the ropes, and while there she asked if I would sub for her on Sunday! I felt a bit duped, thinking I had just come for a lesson, but she explained that she had someone else lined up to sub but they were no longer able to. And she had asked about four others already who couldn't do it. So I hesitantly accepted.

Here's the secret. I learned that our Church has a deal with an organ company that sets it so that at the push of a few buttons, you can play the organ pretty much like a piano (but it still sounds like the organ)! So you don't have to worry about foot pedals or anything. You just push the Bass Coupler button and a few others and VOILA! It's AWESOME! It's such a beautiful, powerful and versatile instrument, and now even rookies like me can play, much to the chagrin of real organ players no doubt! But we all start somewhere, right??

With my new "skill", I wonder if I might someday play this organ! There's always hope! Ha ha.

Cousinlicious

2009-07-24T16:45:00.001-06:00

The much awaited event that happens annually is the Was' fam reunion. Four of the five of us kids and our parents live locally, so we eagerly await the visit of our other brother, Ben, his wife Tasha, and their three kids, who come from the other side of the Rockies. We are always overjoyed to be graced with their presence each summer, and we fill up every spare moment of the week with something or other.

Tennis-playing was big, especially now that Ben has practically gone pro! Getting together to eat and talk is a standard.

We always celebrate the kids who have summer birthdays.

Here are Sophie, Maddie and Rachel enjoying dinner. We go to a different house or location for dinner every night.

Kids outnumber adults now, so they are required to form lines, lest we get overwhelmed.

The adults-only dinner at Rotella's was nice, and it only took 2 babysitters for all the kids!

Next year we plan to start having a Girl's Night Out as well on one of the nights. Not sure why we didn't think of that this year!

Good times.

Sticker Power

2009-07-15T14:15:00.003-06:00

Life Is Good

2009-07-15T14:05:00.001-06:00

We went to Ray's friend Jason's wedding this past weekend in McCall. It was held right on Payette Lake and we had ourselves a good time.

This rainbow was more vibrant than any I have seen in awhile.

Blurry, but cute.

Here's Maddie really enjoying herself!

Our happy little family.

Mills

2009-07-08T08:15:00.000-06:00

Her name is Camilla. She commonly goes by "Millie". My aunts re-nicknamed her "Milla". And I call her "Mills". She says we can call her whatever we want, and that's what we all do.

She's my niece (Ray's sister's daughter) who came to stay for two weeks, and basically became my family's mascot. Everybody loves her, and she loves everybody. She is wild and crazy and fun. She went back to St. George, and a light seemed to go out here. We all miss her and can't wait until she comes back next summer.

She became good friends with my nephews (on my side) Graye and Sam. As you can see.

She did Maddie's hair all cute and stuff. Then Maddie tried to do her doll's hair the same way.

Maddie, Ray and I love her tons. Come back, Mills! Come back!

How Can You NOT?

2009-07-06T14:20:00.000-06:00

How can you NOT plant a garden? It's so fun to live off your own land, and it's not that hard to do, and it's organic! I've only been gardening for about 4 years, but it has been rewarding.

Take strawberries, for instance. You only have to plant some once and then they multiply for you. If you are thinking about planting some, choose the ever-bearing so you'll get fruit all summer long. I didn't do that and wish I had.

Behold one of the harvests I reaped this year. There's nothing like walking out into your backyard and going to pick a snack. Here's the backyard snacking schedule I look forward to each year:

April & May: Sugar Snap Peas
May & June: Strawberries
June & July: Raspberries
July through October: Tomatoes

That's not counting all the other great veggies I like to plant: lettuce, onions, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, etc. This year I am growing chamomile (see below), and while I don't plan to make tea with it, I do enjoy the flowers whose petals fold down rather than up at night. It's so cute to me for some reason.

If you run out of sunny spots in your yard in which to plant, get creative. Ray cut this hole into our deck, filled it with dirt for me, and VOILA! It now contains a bunch of tomato plants. I overplanted, because I am a new gardener and never really know which ones will make it. Besides, Maddie walks around and eats all the tomatoes she can find--whether or not they're ripe. So we need lots.

[In case you wondered about our deck, it is old and decaying, and we have been thinking about ripping it out for several years now. For now, though, it beats building another garden box! Next year I'm going to have Ray cut out another garden strip in the deck for me! This year we hope to get a little sandbox area cut out for Maddie in the deck as well. :)]

Behind The Bamboo Screens

2009-06-15T15:30:00.001-06:00

Our upstairs privacy screen

Six weeks ago we welcomed some new house guests to live in our basement. In telling my friends about it, I at first started the subject by saying that we have some "basement dwellers". But after one friend replied, "Oh no--carpenter ants?" and another--"Rats?", I finally just started saying that we had the missionaries living in our basement!

We were a bit hesitant, for a number of reasons, to have the missionaries live here. But upon hearing that they could get no one else to house them, we tentatively agreed to give it a try and see how it went. Apparently this mission saves $15,000/month by having members house the missionaries instead of renting apartments.

Our downstairs privacy screen

With the help of the above-pictured privacy screen we have basically divided off the basement and have given them a little over half of it. There is a very small kitchenette downstairs that they use, so the only thing we really share is the laundry room. It has actually turned out to be OK and not as terrible as I had pictured. They do have to enter the house through our back kitchen door, but otherwise we don't see them much with the help of the privacy screens. They are very nice elders, conscientious, and have been considerate of the fact that they are living in our home. We feel like they have been a blessing to our household.

I did laugh when I heard, about two weeks ago, that the stake president was concerned about them living here due to our relatively young age. Um, hello! What do you think I was saying the whole time that tentative plans were being made for them to live here: aren't we too young??? The bishop and the mission president didn't think so, so now they are trying to find somewhere else for them to live. We will miss them when they go--whenever that is. I'll bet it takes them awhile to find them a home.

The elder on the right is being transferred, so we'll see who our next "basement dweller" will be tomorrow.

Baby Bouncies

2009-05-29T21:15:00.000-06:00

On Memorial Day our family got the idea to play a game of Kickball. The full feeling of nostalgia did not come over me until I heard Spencer call this out on the first serve of the game: "Ollie, do you want baby bouncies?" Then, of course, I could not stop laughing the rest of the game. How is it that I once found that phrase so normal and commonplace?!

Apparently kickball has made a comeback with those of us who once enjoyed it so thoroughly on the playground. Check out this great article on kickball and other sports of yore (dodgeball, whiffle ball, four square).

Next I need to Google the bars, because I would like to know if kids are still doing these tricks: Cherry Drop, Lemon Drop, and Dead Man's Drop. I was so good at those. I'll never forget mastering the Dead Man's Drop from the high bar! What a feeling!

Ch. Baby bouncies! That is just too cute.

My 15 Minutes of Fame

2009-05-28T22:05:00.001-06:00

I am happy to say that at this point in my life I don't have many regrets. I mean, heck, I do a lot of things wrong, but as far as the major things I've done in my life, I'm pretty happy about it.

Except one thing. I regret being SO SHY in my youth. My shyness held me back from doing a lot of things.

While watching the pilot show "Glee" last week, I got to thinking...and wishing I had done more in high school, specifically in trying to be in plays and/or musicals and other similar types of things. It just seems so fun to me. Thanks to Celia, who talked me into trying out to be in the high school choir, I do have the choir experience and joy under my belt. Did anyone else watch "Glee" and think this too--that you wished you had been in the Glee Club?

How funny that only eight days later my Big Chance came along. My friends, Ed and Norma, gave me some spare tickets to the Off Broadway musical "Putnam County Spelling Bee", and so three friends and I went last night.

Let me say first off that if there was a such a thing as a rating for a musical, this one would have been an 'R'. Just a word to the wise. And boy were there agendas and sub-agendas written into the script of this show! Whoah. But I digress. Back to my fame.

So when we entered in the lobby there was a booth that said something about "Do you like to spell?" and "Be a part of the show!" Well--both applied naturally, so I went and inquired. After talking to the girl I decided it probably wasn't for me.

After our group meandered about a bit, we were heading to our seats when this guy came up to us and asked us if we wouldn't like to be a part of the show, as guest spellers in the spelling bee? We all declined, but I think the guy could read the semi-longingness in my eyes for a bit of spelling and stage time, so he pushed it. He also made it seem like he really needed people. (Later I found out that they had about 20 interested applicants!) In the end, I relented, signed up, and was chosen (and notified, before the show began) to be one of the four guest participants. It's weird how I knew they were going to pick me and wasn't surprised at all when my name was called. My time had come.

They took the four of us to this room and coached us on what was going to happen and what we were supposed to do (go up when they called us, follow the cue of the actors, ask for a definition of the word we were to spell, ask them to use it in a sentence, have fun--basically be an audience member and contestant, but up on the stage).

It was at that point that I began to feel some alarm, wondering what had I done, and how was I going to get through it?? After she flew through the instructions, I asked our acquainter that if we happened to spell our words correctly, then we might possibly be on stage for the entire performance? "Yes. And don't intentionally misspell a simple word like 'dog'. We've seen that and its not funny!" Gulp. Then they sent us to our seats to wait for the show to begin. About five minutes into it they were going to call us up from the audience.

When I walked into the center, I was relieved to see that it was only about half full. But there were still A LOT of people in there. I just Googled it and the Morrison Center has a seating capacity of 2000. So that means I was on stage last night in front of about a thousand people. And let me tell you, I just was not prepared for it at all. Wanting to do something like that while you're watching someone on TV is a whole lot different than the real thing, I learned.

They called our four names from the audience (one of us was an eight year-old girl) and we all went up there and got mixed in with the six actors that were fellow Bee participants. And then we spent some time up there. They called up some of the actors to the microphone to spell, then some of us, and so on. I was placed, of course, on the front row of bleachers between two actors, and sat there wishing I had chosen to shave my legs that morning!

So then they called my name, and my one slip-on shoe sort of fell off my foot as I approached the microphone, due to the fact that even my feet were sweating. Oh geez. I recovered it pretty well though. So then he asked me to spell "jihad". I did my part, spelled it correctly and was sent back to my seat on the bleachers. I just felt so awkward the whole time.

At one point the actors were singing a song and they had the three of us remaining audience-member-contestants hold hands and jump up and down while the actors spun around us in a circle! After that they had us sit back down on the bleachers and whispered to us to hold on because they were going to spin the bleachers around.

I tried to smile, enjoy myself, and look natural the whole time, but I was dying to get off that stage. The next time they called me up to spell the word "zuzu" (I actually don't know the correct spelling--or if that's even a real word), which I intentionally spelled "zoozoo" figuring that HAD to be wrong. They dinged me and sent me off the stage with a juice box in hand, and my time was up. I went back to my seat in the audience.

I still can't believe I did it. My friends said it made the show a whole lot more enjoyable for them, having someone they knew up there, so that was something to feel good about. But the moral of the story is this: I have no desire, interest, or ability to be on stage or perform in front of people in any way. And if I ever get that Bee in my bonnet again (pun intended), I hope and pray that I will remember this post. And that's what my 15 minutes of fame taught me. Thank you very much.

"Happy Two You"

2009-04-22T23:45:00.000-06:00

The title to this post is Madeline's version of the Happy Birthday song. We have a lot of spring birthdays among our friends and family, so she has really gotten to know this song and sings it all the time around the house. Today, finally, it was sung for her.

As one of her gifts, I decided that I would allow her to do every she possibly wanted today (within reason). Maddie always wants to do so much that on an average day we really just can't fit it all in. Well, today we did a lot, and we had fun.

This was the first birthday we got to celebrate with Maddie as her parents, and it felt good. We will see her birth mother this weekend, and we had a big family celebration on Sunday (see video clips at the end), but today it was just the three of us.

When Ray got home from work we decided to pick up some food and picnic at a park.

And here she waits in anticipation for the balloons we then went and got for her at the dollar store.

I opted for the cute green balloon with flowers, so of course Ray had to get her a second one of his choosing! I think so far she has played with them equally!

Chillin like a villian once we got back home. It was a fun and low-key day, which I loved!

Maddie blowing out her candles.

Just some of her 38?ish cousins celebrating with her.

Happy

2009-04-16T23:00:00.001-06:00

36 years ago. Age 2.

Now. Age 38.

I had a happy birthday yesterday. (This picture is actually from my mom's birthday a few weeks previous, but I couldn't be looking happier, so I used it. Leave it to me to explain everything.) Anyway, though it is difficult to be only two years away from the big 4-0, I'm trying to look at the bright side. I mean, hey, look at all the wisdom that comes with age!! (Yeah.)

Anyway, I was happy because of all the well-wishers. If you want to feel popular and loved, join Facebook and enter your birthday. I don't know how many Happy Birthdays I got via fb, but I felt remembered and loved! I don't think I've wished one person Happy Birthday on fb yet, so I need to get on that!
I was happy when my friend, Tracy, called me up the night before and asked if she could watch Maddie for me on my birthday for as long as I wanted. (Tracy really gets it.) Incidentally, I was sad when Maddie woke up with a runny nose because, a) she was sick :( and b) I could no longer take her to Tracy's, lest her baby get our germs! But in the end, we ended having a lot of fun playing of course. As always!

I was happy when my beloved came home early from work (a rare occurence) and brought me this beautiful bouquet.

I was happy when Melissa (top middle) still wanted to watch Maddie in the afternoon, even with the runny nose.

I was happy again when Ray took me to see a movie. I wasn't happy when my choice of films turned out not-so-great. Ray had predicted it (how does he always know??), but it was my birthday after all...my (lousy) choice.

I was so happy when we went to try this new Brazilian restaurant, Tucanos. It was so good. It actually made up for the movie and then some. It's fun and different, you've got CHOICES, and it's just plain tasty.

And now a word about tulips. They make me so happy. How fortunate I am that I was born right around the time that they bloom every year. It's like nature's birthday gift to me every April. They are such a beautiful, noble and still flower. Clean, simple lines. Short-living, but while they live they really pack a punch to my soul. They are a gift from God to the world, these flowers.

Rustic Artisan Bread

2009-04-01T15:50:00.002-06:00

It's time to post about one of my most favorite things in the world, aside from Ray and Madeline, and that is BREAD. Do you ever buy the Pugliese Bread from the Costco bakery and other stores? I do, and its the best. It's large crumbed and crusty, and makes fabulous toast.

Anyway, about six months ago I was given a recipe for this bread, and here's the best part: there is absolutely NO KNEADING INVOLVED! Nor a bread machine. Simply a bowl, a wooden spoon, and a heavy, lidded pot (dutch oven, casserole dish, etc.) That and four ingredients. That's right--I said FOUR INGREDIENTS, as opposed to about 10 ingredients in the Costco bread.

Lo and behold, the recipe. And trust me, the first time you make and try this bread, you'll wonder where it's been all your life! And if you're alarmed about all the words and photos, don't be. It's me, not the bread.

Put the following in a bowl (I heard that taller bowls work better for yeast doughs, so you can see I use a 6" tall bowl. I'm sure any will work though):

•3 Cups Flour
•1/2 Teaspoon Instant Yeast (I use bread machine yeast and it works fine. DO NOT USE Active Dry Yeast. My friend tried it and it didn’t work.)
•1 1/4 Teaspoons Salt

Whisk ingredients together.

•Add 1 1/2 Cups Water (Does not need to be warm. I use cool tap water.)

Mix together with wooden spoon, then if you wish (I can be obsessive) use rubber spatula to pull remaining dough bits off sides of bowl.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise. You can choose how long you want your bread to rise--anywhere from 11-16 hours. It's very flexible, this bread, but I usually do 12-14 hours.

Here is the dough after 12 hours. Risen up the bowl halfway-ish. Very bubbly and sticky. Just as it should be.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and briefly bring it together to form a ball shape. It will be wet and loose.

Cover the dough and let rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 450 degrees with covered pot inside.

Once oven is ready, uncover your dough. Should like like this.

Carefully pull out hot, empty pan, uncover and flip loaf into hot pan, cover and return to oven. No need to grease pan.

My pan is a round, covered, pyrex pan that measures 9.5" across the top, is about 4 inches tall with the lid on, and the loaf fits perfectly. But just use whatever you've got--it'll probably work. Just make sure the top of the pan lip does not curve inward, or you will have a tough time removing the baked loaf from the pan. Learned this by sad experience!

Bake for 30 minutes and then remove lid.

Continue baking bread for another 15 minutes, uncovered, then remove from oven.

Remove loaf from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Don't try to cut it too quickly. It smells so good that you'll want to, and then you'll get a mushed slice of bread. I force myself to wait at least 30 minutes. It will still be warm.

Its great with butter and honey or homemade raspberry jam.

And here's all that usually remains after a meal.

Enjoy!

***One last thing. You may be thinking what a great way this is to use wheat you might have stored. Its true. This bread works with whole wheat flour, cause I've tried it. The problem is, once you've tried it with all white flour, its just not quite as good with any percentage of whole wheat flour. A real bummer. So I would recommend trying it first with whole wheat flour. That way you'll remain unbiased.

The way I've tried to make this bread a little healthier (at times) is by adding wheat germ. Makes it just a bit chewier, but the good taste is still there. Let me know if you come up with any other good healthy variations.***

Cute

2009-03-13T15:15:00.000-06:00

Maddie has been doing such cute things lately. I wanted to share two of them.

Whenever she wants something and I oblige, she happily says "Weccome!", to which I always respond with a "Thank You!" Hey, the girl's got manners--doesn't really matter the order, right?

A few weeks ago she started simple sentences. She started with "Hold. Baby." (referring to herself--this is when she wants to be picked up.) A few days later she progressed to "Hold da baby." which is all said quite quickly and blends together.

So fun.

Great Book

2009-03-13T15:10:00.000-06:00

Have you read this?? In case this pic is too small, its called The Peacegiver, written by James L. Ferrell. If you haven't read it, you should. I've been told by numerous people over the last few years to read it and that I would like it. Its the best book I've read in a long time.

Its a quick read (I think I read it in about two sittings). The author brings up some new ways of looking at familiar concepts. I think the subtitle on the cover sums the book up the best: 'How Christ offers to heal our hearts and homes'. I also like how its a story--not a reference book. Check it out.

These Days

2009-03-11T16:50:00.000-06:00

...I am finally starting to be able to breathe while teaching the Gospel Doctrine class at church! Whoah--talk about scary. Talk about perspiration (not so much now, but those first few weeks! Man oh manny.) Consider following in the footsteps of a former member of the Stake Presidency and our previous Bishop--both excellent teachers--and you'll really get what I am dealing with here! So, what, you thought they only called gospel scholars to this position? Nope. But don't try to become one once they've called you--you'll only feel guilty that you're not studying the lesson! (Other causes of guilt include blogging, TV, and well, anything really that isn't part of preparing the lesson.)

And did you know?? There's this whole world of "couponing" out there that I never even knew existed. There are people out there who make an art of this activity. All I know is a few weeks ago, my friend, Amy, called me up and asked if I wanted to go get some free Progresso soup with her at Albertsons? Well, can any of us turn down 'free'? Especially from overpriced-Albertsons?? I thought not. Driving home with my free soup, I realized I was becoming hooked.

I'm learning there's an art to this business of saving money, and while I'm not going completely hog wild with it, I appreciate the tips I'm receiving. I have four people's blogs posted here on my right sidebar, each of which send multiple tips daily on what deals are out there. So really, I'm letting them do all the work, and I am reaping the rewards in the things I am interested in.

And then there's sugar. Yeah--I'm trying to quit. The refined kind, that is. It was when, last week, I had several incidents in a row of ODing on sweets and soon thereafter came across an article on sugar addiction, I knew something had to change. At that point I also had the desire to change as well, which helps 'cause I don't have that desire often. Wish me luck. So far, sugarless gum is helping. And I'm actually eating fruit again!

Alright--one more thing that I realize is a bit 'weirdo'. I've also quit milk. I eat cheese and yogurt, and have milk in cooking, but I cannot, for the life of me, drink a glass of the stuff. I stumbled across some literature that totally put me off milk. If you're wanting to quit milk, let me know and I can forward you the link to the article. Yuck. And Silk is so not as bad as I thought it might be. I've also heard Almond Breeze (almond milk) is not bad either.

Do you think I am extreme? You might be right.

Hold On To Your Seat...

2009-03-07T16:10:00.003-07:00

If you are my family member or friend who talks to me occasionally or daily, you may know that I have had a little "problem". I just wasn't quite making it on my 600 minute/month cell phone plan, and I have had to cut more than a few people off on the phone because of it.

Ray and I never felt the need for a land line when we were both working outside the home. Now that I'm working in the home, an extra bill doesn't feel like what we've needed either. Add to that Ray's dislike of signing yet another contract with a cell company to get a better plan, and I've really been in a quandry.

I love keeping up with old friends, but I've never loved spending hours on the phone (long live blogging and Facebook! Keeping up has never been easier!). Long phone calls are good to analyze events or for friend-therapy sessions, but otherwise I don't generally thinking of myself as a "phone gabber".

But when you take into account that it is my number on the ward/stake list, as well as doctors and dentists phone calls, blah blah blah, I really have had to watch closely to make sure I stayed to my minutes. I really could be quite rude and abrupt in that last week of the billing cycle. I even went so far once as to accept the offer of my dear friend, Ann, to utilize her cell phone for a week or so, since she didn't use her cell phone that often!

BUT, NO MORE!!!! Call me all you want, and I will do the same. My cell phone company just offered me their "Customer Loyalty" plan and for only $3 more a month, I now get unlimited calling, anytime!!! I feel like I've come of age, and am a whole and normal person once again. Seriously, having to watch your minutes is so yesterday, isn't it??

Special Guests

2009-02-22T22:00:00.006-07:00

A few months ago in church they announced that if anyone was interested in hosting athletes for the Special Olympics we could call and sign up to do this. Well, with two unused bedrooms in our basement, both containing beds, along with the joy we feel when people come to stay with us, how could we not?? We ended up having three Italian women come stay with us a few weeks ago--two athletes (Alpine skiers) and their coach. It was so neat. Absolutely one of greatest experiences we've had.

There were 42 athletes that came from Italy to participate in the Games and they all stayed with various members in our stake for the first two nights that they were here. Until the Opening Ceremonies the athletes stayed with host families; afterwards they stayed in hotels. We had a day to plan for entertaining our guests, so most of us planned our activities together. We understood they would want to spend as much time together as a group, so we did just that. We drove them around town and showed them some sites.

I was surprised when some of them said they wanted to have pizza for lunch. I'm not sure how well they like it. What I haven't mentioned was that they spoke pretty much zero English, and of course we spoke no Italian. So, without the help even of a dictionary, we did a lot of charades and drawing to communicate during our time together. Freetranslation.com did come through for us with a few words/phrases when were at home. Having studied French, American Sign Language, and Spanish in the past, I found myself resorting to one of those languages whenever we tried to communicate. Every now and then they would get was I was saying, I think. They definitely got it when I said "Mi casa es su casa", so that was good.

One of my favorite memories is of whenever Carla (the coach, and the main spokesperson for the three) and I would really want to tell the other something. We would just start talking in our own language, and get about three or four sentences into it before we saw the look on the other's face: a blank stare of confusion. Then we would start laughing hysterically at the hilarity of the situation. It wouldn't be that funny if it only happened once or twice. But this happened to both of us about 10 times. I guess we just had hope that understanding would come if we just spoke in our own language long enough. It was such an adventure.

Here is the three of us with the three of them. Carla, the coach is on the left, then Giulia in the middle, and Maria Teresa is on the right.

Ray's company is the official mover of the Broncos, so he has connections. He arranged for the group to have a tour of the stadium and then go on the blue turf. Maddie loved the turf.

Look at Maddie by the number 50. Couldn't get enough of that turf! Below are a few video clips of that part of our day.

Later they saw a few museums in town, and that evening we had a dinner for all the Italians and host families. It was a lot of fun. The whole next week the group competed in the games. But the following weekend, after the closing ceremonies, 10 Italians remained--not being able to get onto a flight home until the following Monday. So that Saturday some of us got back together to tour them around. That evening we had them to someone's home for dinner.

One of the Italians, Micaela (above), wanted to make pizza for us. We were excited about that, so we brought all the ingredients for her. After making the dough, she said the pizza was not going to be good because the ingredients were not the same as she is used to. Turns out she was right--not so good. Edible for sure...but just not right. We completely appreciated her efforts, though! Fortunately we had other stuff to eat along with it.
Carla and Maria Teresa

Another good memory with this group was what happened after dinner. There was one interepreter among us, so we were able to ask questions to each other. But otherwise for most of the time, the Italians chatted amongst themselves and so did the Americans. During this after-dinner chatter, out of the blue the Italians spontaneoulsly broke out into song. It sounded like some folk song that they all knew well. It was the coolest thing. So when they finished their song, we broke out into "You are my Sunshine." This continued for awhile, each group singing to the other. Other songs we sang were "That's Amore", "Fried Ham" and also "She'll be coming round the mountain." With that last one the Italians knew some of it and sang along with us. That was the neatest experience...I felt like I was in another time and place as we sang back and forth to each other. I will never forget that night.
As I drove seven of them back to their hotel that night in the Suburban, we found more common ground with Andrea Bocelli, and of course broke into more singing of his songs together. Thanks, Candace, for that CD so many years ago! Wished that I'd remembered that I knew some of his songs earlier--could have been quoting those phrases to the Italians!! I might've been saying a whole lot of I love you's, but hey--I would have been communicatin! At least I knew when to say "Con te partiro!"

"Dinos"

2009-01-27T13:50:00.002-07:00

That's what Maddie calls them. Have you seen these things?? Normally, I don't think twice about dinosaurs in any form. But our friend won tickets on the radio for "Walking With Dinosaurs", so we went and I must admit I'm glad we did! The creators did an incredible job with these dinosaurs. They are huge and so life-like. They actually move just like you'd imagine they would if they were alive--not jerky or anything. You can't really see it, but I outlined the dino on the picture in yellow, and the paleontologist in pink to distinguish size differences.

And I loved their set. The flowers and plants that surrounded the stage were just blow ups that went up then down, as the passing of time was depicted. I loved their bright colors.

Not the best pics, but you get an idea of the stage and the size when compared to the paleontologist (who also narrates). Very cool. If your friend wins tickets, you should go too!

Since Madeline got in free, and Ray was not able to go, we brought Ethan along. I was impressed with how much he knew about dinosaurs. I thought he was only into superheros. Turns out I was wrong.

Following are two video clips for further illustration. The first one's about 40 seconds, and the second is about 3 minutes. Watch these and be amazed that Maddie wasn't scared by any of it! Not by their LOUD, ferocious roaring or anything. She's quite the brave little one!

Our Little Clotheshorse

2009-01-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

I was just going to post a few pictures of Madeline with all the different hats and things that she puts on her head. But as I went through my pictures I remembered that she just loves changing her daily wear in general. This is such a fun age. I never know what I'm going to turn around to find--she is constantly bedecking herself! These pictures were all taken in December. Have a look.

In case you can't tell, she has a shirt and two pairs of pants pulled onto her right leg--over her green pants. And she was making plans with that shirt and a pair of pants in each hand.

Bowl on head.

One day after church.

Once her head is covered, she makes sure her baby's head is also covered.

I came in once to get her up from her nap, and found her like this, with her pants on her head.

Same day as above, but again pantless and with a new hat on her head. [Incidentally, that's not a cigarette in her mouth. Its a clothespin. Which, by the way, are dangerous and cause pinching. :( Never let your kid play with them.]

OK, this one is not technically about clothing. But one day she walked around with her play cell phone up to her ear for about 30 minutes. Straight! There was no break there. I thought I'd spare you, but I do have about 10 pics documenting this event.

Christmas morning. She had to have a bow on her head, and would not let go of the Teddy Grahams from her stocking for anything.

Later on Christmas morning, with her new hat, gloves and slippers. All from the 25c sale, mind you. More on that later.

She finally got to Daddy's ties. I've been wondering when she would find those.

I think these two pictures portray my favorite finding. Four of my headbands on her head, along with a Baby Bloom. Isn't it great how she has two put on from the back? Its all very outer space-like.

Christmas Eve Delights

2008-12-26T22:26:00.006-07:00

It was a fun and funny Christmas Eve this year. Following is a slideshow.

It was fun to see Maddie eating dinner at the "Kids' Table". A first for her.

Gotta love her shirt! Can't read it? It says, "Dear Santa: Define Good." It so applies!!

It was funny to watch her try to put Max to sleep.

Here are the cousins, preparing to act out the nativity. Pool sticks for shepherd's crooks. Awesome.

The cutest of the shepherds.

Littlest shepherd throwing tantrum because Mary wouldn't let her take the Baby Jesus from the manger. She must have known that Baby was special, because the "sub" she was handed was not acceptable.

After the Nativity re-enactment, it is common for our family to then have a talent show and/or singalong. Ethan was the first act--doing magic tricks.

And one of the final acts was Rachel dancing with Oliver accompanying. It was one of those moments in life where you can't believe how lucky you were that you decided to film it. I love how both babies try to steal the show! (I sure hope I can figure out how to get this to upload!) Here is the YouTube link for now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9i9FP0p1nY

Mad TV

2008-12-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

That's what I like to call this.

The best $99 I've spent on a baby accessory.

Madeline is the world's lightest sleeper. I can't go in to check on her without arousing the little busy-body. I can't quietly reassure myself that no, she really wasn't choking after all. Or, did she ever even fall asleep?? You know, those questions we parents have. If I enter her room after she's been put down for a nap, but before she's actually had one, or if she's already asleep, its all over. She'll want to get up right then, even if she's only slept for a few minutes! I'm telling you, she doesn't stop. (We'll not talk about how the neighbor girl is "really no longer interested" in babysitting her. -Sigh- Maddie. Doesn't. Stop. Ever. I know, I know, she's just doing her job!)

But anyway, its so fun to watch her while she sleeps or afterwards when she wakes up and plays in her crib, via the monitor. My friend tells me that now I'll be able to check up on her this way for at least another 8 years. Instead of a Nanny Cam, its a Kid Cam. Awesome.

So where was this, my intrusive, spying device, the other day when Maddie took it upon herself to "change" her poopy diaper herself, while still in her crib? Where was it when she then smeared the poop ALLL OOOOVER her crib, and its contents?? In a room upstairs, far away from me. This Kid Cam only works if you check it every 2 minutes instead of every 15 or so, like I'd been doing.

Moral of the story, if you have a little person that needs extra tracking, suck it up and invest in the $180 Kid Cam that has the portable monitor. That way you can easily take it to the basement with you. Can you believe it costs that much more?? So pricey, but I imagine its worth every penny.

[Babies R Us, you can pay me later for this free advertisement.]
Here she is with her tights on her head, post-church. This is a preview for the next post, which will be entitled "Head Gear".

St. George

2008-12-14T09:15:00.001-07:00

This is late, but I wanted to post some pics from our Thanksgiving holiday in St. George. It was fun to stay with Paul and Michelle (Ray's sister), and their family. It was also great to see Ray's youngest sister, Jessica, who is also down there attending Dixie College. Maddie loved seeing her aunts, uncle and cousins, and I believe the feeling was mutual. Besides all the great chats with everybody, highlights of the trip for me were:

-Seeing all that red rock.
-Visiting an amazing, state-of-the-art park nearby. It was a bit too old for Maddie but so neato! (The pics below don't do it justice.)
-Discovering the joy of Bajio's, my new favorite fresh-mex locale. Get the taco salad with their spicy ranch. Sooo good!
-Having Thanksgiving on Wednesday evening instead of Thursday. This was Michelle's great idea to have a free day (Thurs) to sit around, eat leftovers, and have the cooking part of it be a distant memory! I hope to do this in years to come. (Incidentally, in telling my other family about this idea, they all say, "So what do you do on Friday, then?" Shop and sleep, of course. And eat more leftovers.
-Actually enjoying (not just tolerating) pumpkin pie for the first time in my life. Obviously I'm getting old. But long live Marie Callendar! (Or is she dead?? Well, she lives on somewhere else anyway!)
-Playing the Wii for the first time.
-Watching Flood, a film made on the Santa Clara river overflowing down there a few years ago. The flood took out 18 homes, some of which were about 2 blocks away from Paul and Michelle's house!
-Laughing the loudest during Kung Fu Panda, after trying so hard to get us all to NOT watch it! There's nothing like having extremely low expectations of a movie, eh?

Here are some pics of everybody.

All Dolled Up

2008-12-13T19:30:00.001-07:00

Maddie is fascinated by watching me put on mascara. Here are some shots after I caught her trying to do the same with a marker! The photos don't show it but she has it on her upper lids as well. Actually, upon a second look, she didn't do half-bad for being 19 months-old. Its nice to see her manual dexterity and fine-motor skill development coming along!

Hair Today...

2008-12-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

I'm one of those people who puts off going to the hair salon as long as I possibly can. But once I decide to cut my hair, I usually need it done immediately. [And just in case you somehow missed them, note my ends in the photo above. "Yikes" would be the best response here--maybe even "Holy Cow!"]

So I cut my hair myself. It turned out OK, but wasn't short enough. So I went into a place in the mall that took me immediately. The girl did a terrible job (after me making several objections to what she was doing/had done, she still couldn't get it right.) So my neighbor tried to fix it. Then my sister-in-law tried to improve it...twice!

Well, long story short--in sheer desperation I ended up at Great Clips on a Saturday morning. Crissy there did a great job. She also gave me some great tips for the next time I or Melissa try to cut hair on our own!

Gone Tomorrow!

I don't love the front, but am happy with the back. Its about 15 inches too short by Ray's standards, but I feel FREE!

Backpack Baby

2008-12-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

We're pretty into backpacks these days. Madeline seems to prefer them over the stroller, and it hasn't been too bad on my back. She'll usually take me by the finger and lead me over to the backpack when she wants a ride. I usually comply. This is us off to the post office one day.

Below are some pics with her own backpack. She's sticking out her belly in the first one, but still! What a belly!

Caught

2008-11-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

Look what I found Ray doing the day after his knee surgery?! I only wish I'd gotten a shot of the microwave before he started cleaning it. Yikes! I like when Ray stays at home during the day. I believe this was actually his second time in our six years of marriage!

Yes, Deere

2008-11-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

One of the things Ray and I never acquired when we were newly wed was a set of dishes. I just never found the right ones (though I didn't look that hard) and Ray had some left from his bachelor days. He leaned toward using his "perfectly good" dishes, and since we had already had an argument about an $8 cheese plane I'd come home with, I just went with it.

Pictured here is what was once our $8 source of strife, which we chuckle about now.

But back to the plates. Everytime I load/unload the dishwasher, or pull one of these puppies out of the cupboard, I cringe. They rub me wrong in every way. And while I know they're functional and mostly do what they're supposed to (hold our food), they don't help me with my inner aesthetics in any way. They cause me grief on a daily basis. I'm convinced they make my food taste worse. Is that possible, because I believe it is!?

Can you see why? These plates had no business being made for several reasons. Turquoise and pink? The designs? Just my opinion...

The other night we had some new friends coming to dinner, and I just couldn't bring myself to set out these plates. But paper plates didn't seem right either. So I broke my silence and complained about our plates. Ray said, "I have some plates we can use out in the garage!" In he walks with these, a set of John Deere dishes that he got on clearance at Fred Meyer about 4 years ago. I was always under the impression that he was going to give them away to a farmer friend of his.

I begrudgingly unpacked the box of dishes and decided that these plates were better than the 80's ugliness that smoldered in the cupboard. So we set these plates out. After trying them out, we actually like the size, weight and build of them. So we will use these as our plates for the time being. The three year-old son of our friends was particularly delighted with our table settings, so we have that to be happy about.

Am I being petty?

The Best Recipe

2008-11-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

One of my most favorite wedding gifts was from my friends Janell and Steve. Its a cookbook called The Best Recipe written by the editors of Cooks Illustrated Magazine. They're also the folks that do the TV show "America's Test Kitchen".

I love this book. It doesn't have a bunch of glossy food photos, so I think it doesn't draw people to it like other cookbooks do, but trust me--you don't need those. These guys tell you what the best recipe is for whatever you're wanting to cook and why. They try making a recipe a whole bunch of different ways in their test kitchen, and from those tell you why the recipe they printed is indeed the best. They explain that they tried making something with sour cream, but it turned out too dense. So when they tried using yogurt with some additional butter--it turned out perfectly. I love knowing the alternative to something without having to try it myself. I love how they bring the science of cooking in without going over your head. Bless you writers of this book. It really is fascinating to read.

I have proudly converted three known people to this cookbook. My most recent convert, Amy, borrowed mine for longer than she planned (much to my chagrin--apparently I use it more often than I realized) because she said she couldn't stop reading it. She finally returned it when I called her up and asked her to read a particular recipe to me over the phone. She read the recipe to me, but then the book showed up at my house about 10 minutes later. Relief.

Amy called me while she was standing in line at Costco today. "Courtney! The BOOK is HERE! Its only $21.95!!" That's a good deal, folks. I'm going to buy one tomorrow for somebody, and I would suggest you do the same. She asked, and I guess our Costco has 40 in stock, but have no more coming. So hurry!

Don't Say Don't

2008-11-08T22:25:00.001-07:00

Maddie and Tito

The joke's on me. I'm learning that you sure talk a lot as a mom, and as it turns out--even I've stopped listening to what I say!

I have been so dead-set against saying "no" to my daughter, worried she'll pick it up and scream it all the time. So instead of just telling her what we would like her to do in an attempt to redirect her, it seems I've taken up the old "We DON'T...(wah wah waaah wah wah)" (The adults in the old Peanuts cartoons are flashing before my mind.) Well, guess what Madeline has picked up?

The other day Maddie said "dooooon't" to me about something or other, and without realizing it, I said, "Maddie, don't say don't!" Ray was standing nearby and mimicked me in a funny voice, "Don't say don't!" I asked him if that was what I had just said, he said yes, and then we couldn't stop laughing for a looooooooong time.

I mean, really long. I'm laughing again as I write this! Oh, the joy.

Everyday is Halloween

2008-11-01T16:40:00.001-06:00

That Ministry song has been going through my mind these past few days. Partly because of Celia' funny post, which took me back to the day. But mostly since Maddie had not one, but three costumes for Halloween!!! Behold the cuteness and joy!
She went first as a witch to our playgroup on Tuesday. She was the only one who wasn't in a costume that was fluffy, padded and super-cute, but I was OK with that. Its true--I
didn't want to spend a bunch of money on a costume she couldn't guarantee me she would wear! She's become quite opinionated since turning 18 months-old! And, no, the witch hat did not stay on long.

I then learned that the hooded costumes are the way to go--she's still not able to figure out how to get hoods off. We borrowed this one from Melissa, so that felt good on my pocketbook!

So she was a giraffe for the friends Halloween party.

This is Maddie's half brother, Kennyen, and birth mom, Crystal. They joined us for the trunk or treat at our church. Check OUT that awesome pea pod stem that is a hat!

Her other half-brother, Anthony, is on the left, then Kenny, Kennyen's dad, and Ethan, her cousin, is on the right. Crystal had this, the final and cutest, costume of the holiday in her closet. A bee.

The bee costume was so fitting. She was all over the place last night. I'm not sure why the bee-makers opted out of yellow stripes on the back! She was much harder to see when she was running the other way, which was most of the time.

The kids came over afterwards to trade candy. Maddie was in bed by this point, so I took it upon myself to trade her candy for her--making sure I got rid of all of her tart and sour candy, as well as the coconutty chocolate bars. I'm sure she wouldn't like those. Hee hee. She didn't get one candy corn, which I found sad! :( I loved how organized Sam, our nephew, was with his candy! Don't quite know what he dressed up as. He's almost 11, so he's close to getting too old for this holiday.

Our Babe, Wendy

2008-10-24T00:01:00.001-06:00

No, we don't have a new baby--besides sweet Madeline!

And when she reads this, no, Wendy, I'm not referring to you as my "Baby Sister" (something I was very fond of doing until just a few years ago...much to her chagrin.)

What I am trying to say is that she is just such a babe!!! As in the 80's term! AND its her BIRTHDAY!!! You should go to her blog and wish her a happy one.

See? A babe!

I couldn't resist including this one. It totally makes me laugh. For Wendy, I will comment on the photo (she does this too. A lot! :)

Here we are with our cuter than cute mom last Mother's Day, getting pedi's. One thing of note to me was that the pedicurist had never been told to look around the entire frame in the camera lense before cliking the button. Otherwise Wendy's head wouldn't have been cut off. Now that I think about it, though, look how nicely she has framed her work--our painted toes! Awesome! OK--never mind the heads!

The other noteworthy thing is the funky shadows that outline our shapes. It makes us look like we are cutouts. Still, a cute picture nonetheless.

But back to Wendy. There is much I could say about her, but I will just say that I am very glad she's my sister! You should consider me very lucky, because I do!

Happy Birthday, Wendy!

Our Big Day

2008-10-22T21:30:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, October 18th, we three went to the temple to be sealed together as a family forever. For us this was equally (if not more) exciting as the day we adopted Madeline! It was beautiful and unforgettable.

Heading inside the temple.

Afterwards with our immediate family that was able to be there with us. I prefer close-up shots, but how could I crop out the beautiful fall leaves in the background?!

She was so done at this point! This picture does not do her true feelings justice. Little did she know that we had a big party/lunch planned at our house for right after, and she would not get a nap for another almost 3 hours! Thankfully she perked up once we got home.

What a great day!

What if...?

2008-10-14T22:40:00.003-06:00

That's how it all started. One was wanting the $1.99 plastic bag holder thingie from IKEA. What if we should make the 5-hour drive down sometime? What if we went without our kids? We would have to get husbands to agree...would they? And on the idea went.

What started as an idea of a little one-day getaway turned into a fabulously fun weekend. Our husbands all amazingly agreed to take on the kids alone. And we had a sisterhood-bonding weekend that was soooo nice--footless (er...footloose is what I meant!) and fancy-free.
Maddie wasn't taking "no" for an answer. She wanted to go with the girls!

Us in front of IKEA. We ate both breakfast and lunch there. The food in the cafe is as cheap as the merchandise!

Ah, yes. I couldn't leave until we took a photo in front of our inspiration for the trip in the first place--the plastic grocery bag holders.

And here's a better view, with Jill too (Melissa's mom). This little contraption can hold quite a few bags.

OK, so we told our husbands we were going down to the Women's Conference and were going to shop IKEA while we were there. The fact that it was pretty much the other way around doesn't really matter, does it?

Actually, the conference was great. President Uchtdorf said something very memorable: "In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance". His whole talk was excellent, and so was all the music.

We look forward to getting away again. It might be an annual, or maybe semi-annual, event. It was well worth it. And we watched the latest "Sense and Sensibility". Have you seen it? Its good.

Adoption Bliss

2008-10-01T21:15:00.004-06:00

Ah, this is the life. I doubt our emotional celebration is going to end anytime soon, so just beware! Sometimes I can't believe its real and we've actually ADOPTED her!! There's no changing it!!! Nobody can come in and alter what's been done. Nobody, nobody, nobody. I really thought it would be less shocking than it has been. She's been with us a year, so you would think things wouldn't be much different. And they're not, in some ways. But in other ways they just are!! Its so fun and so miraculous and so exciting and so, so, so utterly joyful.

Every so often since the adoption I'll talk to Madeline about the fact that we adopted her. I'll say in a really excited voice, "Maddie, we adopted you and now we get to keep you forever!!!" Then I'll talk more about it, and about how it makes me feel. I usually clap my hands excitedly, and its so fun to see how she's really starting to get it. She gets excited too and starts clapping her hands. I know she's at least understanding the word because now even if I just say in a fairly calm tone that we adopted her, she lights up and claps her hands! So while it may not all connect for her now, at least she's learning to associate adoption with joy and excitement.

Have I mentioned before that Madeline is a total Daddy's Girl? She is so smitten with, and connected to, Ray. (And who can blame her?) They're like peas in a pod. Here are some cute pics of her wearing his socks, which she refused to take off!

Here's a rare one: Madeline being still. I love this thoughtful pose. I also love how so often she opts to wear hats.

What a joy she is in our lives! We love you, Maddie!!

Drumroll, please...

2008-09-17T22:30:00.003-06:00

Our miracle has happened. I've waited 13 years since the time I proclaimed that I felt ready to be a mother, and now the time has finally come. Yesterday, after almost six years of marriage, we adopted our first child! We have named her Madeline. She is almost 17 months-old, and is the joy of our lives.

Ray and I decided to become foster parents of infants while we waited to be chosen by a birth mom to adopt a baby of our own. "Amelia", as I have been calling her on this blog (but whose original name is actually "Annalise") was our second foster baby who came to us when she was almost 5 months-old. We fell in love with her immediately. She was, and is, the most laid back, bright, fun and funny baby! She makes friends quickly and easily with almost anybody. She loves to interact with people. [The other day while walking into the grocery store she called "Hi" across the parking lot to some people loading groceries into their car. She said it loudly, making sure they could hear her.]

Two months into her stay with us, I ran into Annalise's birth mother at a doctor's office. While we waited we got to talking, and she told me she didn't think she would be able to keep Annalise. I excitedly told her that we would adopt her if she wanted us to. Her face lit up and she said she did, so she called the case worker that day to terminate her parental rights. We discovered that if she chose to terminate her rights while her child was in foster care, the state would be the one to determine where Annalise would go--and they do everything they can do get children with blood relatives.

The birth mom wanted Annalise to come to us, so she opted out of terminating her rights and went ahead and did all she needed to get her back into her custody, so that she could then give her to us to adopt.

So much has happened between that day at the doctor's office in November and now that I could not relate it all. But let me say this much: it has been an emotional roller coaster, and there were many times that we didn't think the adoption would ever happen. This has been the longest summer for us in ways, but to be able to look back now and see where this road has led us is incredible.

This will be an open adoption, which means that we will be maintaining contact with the birth mom and Madeline's half siblings. The details of how this will happen exactly have not been laid out. At first I thought that was a problem, but now I see how good that is. We are not tied to any particular action, and we can just see how things work out.

Sometimes we feel like they could make a movie out of our past year, it has been so dramatic at times. Wendy has aptly named it our "Baby Mama Drama"! But the important thing is that we made it, and I can't believe I really am a real mother now. Not just a foster mom or a caretaker. The law has made it so that its as if I actually gave birth to Madeline. The birth mom's name is not going to be anywhere on the birth certificate, and it won't say "Amended" on it or anything! How amazing.

If you want a quick read on what it can be like to adopt a child, check out this book: "Secrets of an Adoptive Mother" by Jana Wolff. While she didn't go into great depth, she did address many of the feelings I've had as an adoptive mom. Following is a quote from her that I felt was expressed beautifully:

In the quiet moments, I am struck not by the miracle of birth but by the miracle of adoption. That a legal proceeding can bring complete strangers together, try to meet the needs of all the parties, and ultimately form a family, is really quite profound. The particular match between child and adoptive parents is oftentimes arbitrary, and yet, we don’t like to think of love that way.

Though we are obviously not strangers to Madeline or her birth mom, it is nonetheless a miracle in our lives that after a mere signature and some questions from the judge, we are suddenly and completely a family. So amazing. We will be forever grateful to her birth mom for making the sacrifices necessary so that Madeline could come to our family.

So why did we change her name? Annalise is a pretty name, but it didn't work for a few reasons (which I will not go into as its a bit of a sore subject). Madeline is one of the very few names Ray and I could agree on. I did worry about how that could affect a child to have their name changed, but then I thought about how people get nick-named all the time in their childhood and I stopped worrying. Incidentally, Madeline is the other name her birth mom was thinking about naming her in the hospital, which was a cool surprise!

The best part was coming home from the courthouse and realizing we needed to have our picture taken as a family. So we went down to the JC Penney portrait studio--first professional portraits ever in our marriage! Ray is not fond of having his picture taken, so I jumped at the chance, and we had a great time!
Us with Madeline's birth mother on September 3rd. We "kidnapped" her and took her to lunch beforehand, so we could be certain she arrived at the courthouse at the designated time!Yesterday evening at the family celebration.

The decor we came home to last night after the celebration! Dear, dear Tracy!

This and That

2008-09-09T23:00:00.000-06:00

September 3rd has come and gone, and so has our court date. The day had some good things about it, but "Amelia" still is not ours officially. The good thing is that all biological parental rights have been terminated, so the tough part is over. Now we have to wait 13 days to go back and finalize the adoption. OK, I guess we really should be counting our blessings--it could be a 6 month wait or some crazy long time like that.

So September 16th is our new BIG day. Incidentally, that is also El Grito de Delores in Mexico, the "cry of independence", or their Independance Day from the Spanish. I find that symbolic for us as well: both for Ray and I, as well as for Amelia. Freedom to just be her mom and dad for real and for good, and freedom for her to be our daughter. Oh, the thought of that. If you only knew how joyful that makes us feel. Only seven days to go...

This past weekend we went with our friends to stay in their cabin near Sun Valley. We had a great time, especially Amelia, who had not one, not two, but six adoring adults to focus their attention on her. Admittedly, it was a nice break for me!

Here she is warming her hands by the fire. We taught her to rub them together, put them out and say "ahhh":

A beautiful lake nearby where Amelia got to see and touch her first fish:

Here's the fun group below. We really did have fun. When the other two women and I went to town for a little shopping, I found I kept calling them "Ladies". Not that they're not ladies, but it was just funny. I really enjoy hanging out with the older folks. There is a lot to learn from them, and they are just fun.Napping with "Grandpa" Ed, who probably is Amelia's most ardent admirer, besides her daddy:

Check out that balanced meal! Does she eat much of it, you ask? No, no doubt because I am still learning to give her just a little bit at a time so as not to overwhem her. But thankfully I can count on her to down the avocados, tomatoes and cheese:

What's Up?

2008-08-24T22:25:00.000-06:00

I know, I know. WHAT is going on with Amelia and the adoption?? Well, we finally have a court hearing set for September 3rd, which is so exciting!!!

I have hestitated to share the great news because things are so up and down in this situation. Too much (and some too personal) to share on the public blog. Just know that her birth mom has indicated some hesitation in the current plan. Not a lot, but enough to get us worried. Its been so much of an emotional rollercoaster. I'm not going to go into the details, but anyway, just know that we are currently set to become Amelia's legal parents on 9/3, if things go like we hope they do. Please send prayers and thoughts our way--or more importantly: Amelia's mom's way. Sorry if this post is mysterious, but at least you have a date to look forward to now!

I'll end this post on a happy "love of the garden hose" note. Forget the fancy cool kid sprinklers that shoot balls up into the air. Forget even the blow-up wading pools. For now, just give her a hose with water coming out and Amelia is set for the day! Between hoses and ice (pronounced "ieeeeeeee"), that's all that is needed to make her happy.

This one's funny! I think she has some grass stuck on her hand:

We just love her.

Crazy Eyes

2008-08-19T13:50:00.001-06:00

When asked, Amelia does "Crazy Eyes". It gives us all a real chuckle. She lowers her chin and looks at you out from under furrowed eyebrows. Kind of the "what you talkin' 'bout, Willis?" look. Then she smiles really big.

In North Carolina, she would do it for waiters at restaurants and they would go get their co-workers and bring them back so they could see her do it too. So hilarious.

The photos above sort of capture it, but its nothing like seeing it in person. She usually furrows and lowers a lot more than what is captured in the first picture. Not sure why we haven't tried to film her doing it yet. We'd better before she moves on to a new trick!

We also like putting these Baby Blooms (get them here!) in her hair, so that we don't have to correct people by saying that she's a girl. I can't tell you how many times people say how cute he is, even when she's wearing pink!

Sweet Baby Ray

2008-08-18T23:00:00.000-06:00

Happy 36th Birthday!

From camera shy...
...to all-out fun.
That's my babe, Ray. Thanks for making the last six years the best of my life!! You are one of a kind, and you are all mine.

Love, Me

North Carolina

2008-08-14T13:15:00.002-06:00

We went to North Carolina last week for Tamara (Ray's sister) and David's wedding. The truck pictured was sitting on the side of the road, looking so picture-worthy. I don't know a thing about it, but Ray could probably tell you the year, make and model, along with a few other details. Too bad he doesn't blog. ;)

It was a lot of fun to see most of Ray's family. Only 3 of the 15 children were not present. That's the largest gathering since our wedding, 6 years ago, when ALL 15 were actually there.

Tamara and David are really into cool cars--I believe they own 7--and so had a car-themed wedding. There were model cars in all the decor and even on top of the wedding cake in place of the traditional bride and groom figurines. It was fun. They also served great food catered by Fatz, a restaurant found back east.

Here is the wedding party:

Alex and Jennifer, two of Debi's children with Grandma Loneta:

Two of Ray's sisters, Michelle and Elizabeth:

12 of the 15 children of Ben and Loneta, in order by age. And just to prove that I do have everyone's names and age-order down, they are: Jessica, (Austin missing), John, Tamara (would be here if she weren't the beautiful bride in the middle), Cathy, (Anna missing), Danny, (Martha missing), Ray (my hunk), Elizabeth, Michelle, Becky, Debi, Jim, Ben. Amazing, huh? No multiple births, and none were adopted (though they do like to joke about that with a few!)

The Three Musketeers:

I love this one: the immediate family all laughing at someone's joke! This picture is so fitting because this family is so fun. They are always teasing each other and/or thinking of witty and clever jokes. Good times!

Everyone and the spouses who could come:

Again, it was so nice to be with everyone, even though our time was short. Loneta, I haven't forgotten that I need to send you these photos, and I will!

Our little family:

Hair

2008-07-26T15:19:00.005-06:00

This post is for those NOT faint of heart. That is a warning for the last photo, specifically. If you have a major problem seeing hair that is not attached to ones head, don't scroll down.

These first two pics are of three of my nieces and nephews. [Incidentally, I wish there was a word, like "sibling" for "brothers and sisters", that worked for nieces and nephews. Do you know what I mean?] Anyway, they are: Jared (2), Ethan (5) and Rachel (4). Jared and Rachel stayed at our house for some of the time while their parents were on a cruise. Rachel doesn't like getting her hair done, so she looked footloose and fancy free on some of the days. She did let me do her hair a few times. But isn't she cute, even with the messy 'do?

Then there was the incident with my hair and the scissors. No, one of the kids did not get to my hair with them. I did, actually! We went to our ward hydrotube party and I had put my hair in a ponytail, then braided that. I used those new plastic hair elastics that are see-through and stay in really well. Too well, I've learned. The bottom one came out OK, but the one that held up the ponytail was stuck. Ray was already asleep, so I didn't want to wake him. I first tried a knife, and when that didn't work turned to the scissors. And we all know how I do with scissors (see this post)

Not being able to see what I was doing, I did my best to only cut the elastic. When I heard the crunch of hair in the scissors, I didn't panic. I mean, I do have layers in my hair anyway. Note in the photo below: the clump of hair on the left is the first that fell out--no big deal. The middle clump fell out as I was getting into the shower, and the messy mass on the right is the stuff that came out as I was washing my hair. (Talk about freaky!)

I went to bed with wet hair, wondering about the damage I had done and if I was going to need to go get it fixed today. But, HOORAY, the short hair is mainly at the nape of my neck, so it will probably only show when I wear a ponytail!

Note to self: never use those super-tight plastic hair elastics if you are going swimming! They don't come out!

The Waiting Game

2008-07-19T18:30:00.000-06:00

I have not given an update on our hopeful adoption of Amelia. Incidentally, I have continued to call her by her assumed name, Amelia, on this blog because of the possibility that we might change her name. I'm just trying to keep it simple.

But back to the adoption. In short, we are still waiting. I'm not even sure of all the details, but we are waiting for them to track down the biological father (who we think still lives locally, but they weren't sure of his current address.) We are waiting for him to be found and hope that he will choose to sign away his parental rights. He does know of Amelia's existence, which is a good thing in our minds. We have no idea how much longer this process will take. It continues to be a huge trial of our faith, and we are hoping that the trial grows short quickly! But we're hanging on.

Amelia loves her reflection. Here are some pictures of her enjoying it--taken while I was enjoying her very big belly! She is so much fun.

A Fun Visit

2008-07-18T22:30:00.000-06:00

Ben and Tasha and their kids just came and spent a week with our family who all live in the area. We had a great time with them. Much to Ray's chagrin we went ahead and took another family photo, just because it was so novel to be all together again. (Nevermind that we were just together in Reno in May. And took a picture then. But we didn't have a sign for Chase in that photo!)

Ben and Tasha own and run a cool online vinyl lettering business. Check it out here: http://wordsanywhere.com/

We did a lot of fun things together, but of course the best part was the late-night talks. As often happens with those talks, random subjects were covered. For example, I learned that Ben and I fall asleep exactly the same. We both start by lying on our back, then turn onto the right side--facing our spouse--for awhile, and then finally end up on the left side to fall asleep!

I also won't quickly forget the story Ben told of a time when he was a flower delivery guy in the Bay Area, long ago. He was waiting to pull out into traffic from a side street when a man opened the passenger door of Ben's delivery truck, got in and said, "Take me to Baht [translate: BART]. Must get home. Very sick." So Ben went ahead and took him. To this day he is not sure if the guy thought he was a cab driver or what, though he did not pay Ben upon arrival at the BART station. Sooo funny.

We love you guys and can't wait until you live closer!!

I'm No Green Thumb

2008-07-16T22:55:00.000-06:00

Its only been in the past five years that I have become interested in growing things--ever since we bought our home. Ray built a 5'x5' box so I could experiment with growing our own vegetables. Here's the sun shining through my zucchini:

We also inherited a great raspberry patch that keeps growing bigger every year.

I know raspberries have been labeled weeds, but they are my favorite weed ever. Each year in late June or early July, these succulent little berries grace a large area along my back fence, and I feel strangely akin to them somehow. They have brought me such joy. Before this I was never really drawn to the raspberry. I would usually order the strawberry or blueberry menu items. But once I tasted the great freezer jam that came from my backyard harvest, I've never been the same.

See below, the arrow is pointing to the little cone that is left once you pick a raspberry. Its easy to know when a raspberry is ripe enough to be picked: it has fallen slightly so you can see the base of the cone just a little bit. But then take care--it will practically fall off as you pick it!

Look below at how a clump of raspberries grows. Only one or two ripen at a time. So I go out and pick them every other day. You're not forced to harvest them all at once. How considerate!

At the beginning:

At the end:

We also have Concord grapes growing along the back fence (another gift left from the previous owners.) Unfortunately they have such hard seeds that they are not so enjoyable. I'd actually like to pull them out, but Ray wants them to stay for now. They are pretty anyway, as shown below, but I don't like how they crowd out my raspberries, and block their sun.

Behold my very small garden. When the prophet said to plant a garden, did he specify how big? Hope not!

A Word of Caution

2008-05-30T16:35:00.001-06:00

I've always thought babies try doing new things once or twice and then think about it, then try again later until they finally get something. And then as they master whatever it is they might be learning, they eventually get faster or better or more comfortable. Right??Not "Amelia". The only thing she appears to be cautious about so far is about what we might be trying to put in her mouth (food, medecine, teething gel).
She's not cautious when approaching animals, namely dogs. She crawls right up to them at parks. The other day she chased our poor friends' dog, Sandy, around the living room until Sandy didn't know WHAT to do and finally had to be sent into her kennel.
She's not cautious when learning to walk. She doesn't just take a step or two and then pause. She takes as many as she can and goes as far as she can go before falling to the ground.

And finally, she's not cautious about learning to drink from a cup. Tonight in the bathtub she was downing glasses of bathwater (oh, yum; and is she getting too much salt in her diet?) with a little shot-type cup as well as a 46 oz. Target cup. It made no difference to her that she was completely gagging on it while it also went down her nose and into her eyes--she was having a blast!

She's a little daredevil! And just so totally cute!

Family Reunion

2008-05-28T22:26:00.003-06:00

We just returned from a family reunion with my mom's brother's and sisters and their families. We reunite every three years. This year it was held in Reno, Nevada, which is sort of the center point of where everybody lives. We stayed at the University of Nevada in the dorms. It was nice to have the entire building and cafeteria to just ourselves. It helped us feel pretty safe, not to mention the security system of just getting in the buildings. Actually we were REALLY safe. It reminded me of my time working in the youth detention in SLC. Too many doors to unlock or get through can be cumbersome, but that's OK.

We were together for two days and spent most of our time eating. The all-you-can-eat style dining catered particularly towards the kids, but we adults definitely overate too! It brought back some great memories of living in DT. We also played relay games, visited, went to a great park nearby, and honored my Uncle Joe who passed away last October. All in all it was a great time, and I'm looking forward to seeing everybody again in three years.

Here are some pictures. No permission has been asked, so if you are family and see your picture here but would like it removed, please let me know!

The first four are of "Amelia" and Edana, who are three weeks apart. None of us could get over how similar they looked--surprising, of course, because Amelia is not a blood relative! Amelia is the one wearing the strawberry.

We Are...

2008-05-04T22:02:00.006-06:00

No, I did not finally become a Fertyl Mertyl: we still have the apparent Fertile Hurdle. BUT we are expecting now to adopt "Amelia"! She is officially out of foster care (which is why I can show her face now). Her mom has custody again, but she is allowing Amelia to remain with us. We are beyond excited and are hoping that it will all work out. We won't know for another month or two, but we can't keep quiet about this.

When we started foster parenting we never dreamt the opportunity to adopt a baby would come this way instead of through the adoption agency with which we are registered. Someday I will relate the whole wonderful story of how we got to this point with Amelia, which started to get good back in November. Its a pretty neat story. But for now, please join in our excitement! We hope it all works out. We will be praying for the judge to execute wise judgement!

I will conclude with some pics of the little star, who has just discovered a love for sunglasses!

Mmwaahahaaa...

2008-05-01T21:42:00.000-06:00

Just because I can now! Please enjoy a few recent pics of "Amelia".

You've got to admit that she really is the world's cutest one year-old!

Happy Birthday, Amelia!

2008-04-23T14:19:00.000-06:00

Amelia turned 1 on Tuesday! It was very exciting and there was much celebration in our family. We held a party at Chuck E. Cheese's (not my first choice of places to hang out, but was a suitable neutral location) with Amelia's birth mom and family and our family. It turned out pretty well. We also took her to the zoo! Here are some pics--sorry I have to blur her sweet face!

She was quite the brave one riding the monster truck. There wasn't an ounce of fear in her little body as she rode, often holding on with only one hand. My nervousness was enough for both of us. The girl's a little dare devil!

On a more philosophical note, I've been wondering why we sigh with relief when babies finally turn 1.

Is it because they can now drink cow's milk?

Last month at our playgroup I saw one of the moms feeding cow's milk to her 9 month-old. "Yes," she said, "I've started her early", looking semi-guilty. (She's the same mom who told us at yesterday's group, with the same sort-of-guilty shrug, that she also shares her Frappacinos with her baby!)

Is it because babies can now eat honey?

A few weeks ago someone told me that their relative, in line with our mothers and grandmothers, still dips her babies' pacifiers in honey before giving it to them, long BEFORE they are 1!

Did I pass judgement on these mothers? At first, yes, because the two above-named rules are such ingrained no-no's for me. And while I draw the line at Frappacinos, are there other ways that are OK and work? Yes. Moms have been raising babies for thousands of years, and while we can't ignore experiences and studies of others, amidst all of that we need to eventually pave our own way. Don't we?

The longer I parent, the more it becomes clear. The rules that you read about or think most people follow are not necessarily "rules". People do what they want, how they want in raising their kids. We should take what we hear that has worked and then try other things for ourselves (within reason) to become our own style of parent, whatever that may be.

That's what I think, anyway.

One last thing. I went in to check on Amelia before going to bed a few weeks ago. It warmed my heart to see her lift her sleeping head groggily and pat the mattress all around her, in search for her binky! As I helped her out, I was amazed to realize that this is a trait that comes with us--and not something we learn. Who'dve thunk!?

On My Honor...

2008-04-17T16:52:00.000-06:00

This one's for all you den leaders who think the boys aren't really picking up.

I was taking out the trash yesterday afternoon in the breezeway between the garage and the shop, unseen. As they were walking home from school, I overheard two siblings from my ward talking. The older brother (age 11) said to his little sister (age 7):

"I shouldn't have done that. I'm a cub scout! I shouldn't have DONE that!"

I was dying to lean over my fence and ask what he shouldn't have done, but I didn't. I have been chuckling with joy ever since.

Megan

2008-04-04T18:25:00.000-06:00

This is my friend Megan. At one point I supervised her at Head Start. Megan loves kids and is great with them. She is one of the best preschool teachers I've ever met, and I've met a lot of them! Megan is going to leave her job as a preschool teacher this June to be a missionary to urban children at Beechpoint Christian Camp near Chicago. She has done this for six summers, but will now work there full-time. Below is a picture of her with the girls (ages 8-14) that she has worked with in the past. Aren't they beautiful?
I will miss Megan when she goes. She is a bright light in my life. She is one of the most expressive, loving people I know. She also loves and cares for the foster children that have come to our home, and is continually affirming to me that foster parenting is a great thing to do. Megan sends notes in the mail just because, and actually brings blank note cards for me to write in so she can take them to people who miss me at work! Who does that?? Megan, that's who. She truly is one of the best people I know.

On another note, Megan and I love to chew gum when we get together, so we have given each other gum in the past. The photo below shows her most recent offering--the best one either of us has done!! What I want to know is who will bring me gallon-sized bags of gumballs once Megan leaves?? No one--that's who!I love you, Megan! My jaw really kills from trying every flavor today, but I love you!! :)

Blog-iatus

2008-03-21T00:10:00.000-06:00

Do you sometimes get bloggers block? I did. For quite awhile. I haven't posted anything for 8 weeks, for no good reason. Maybe I just haven't felt like I've had anything clever to talk about. Or maybe its because my sign on user name and password are both way too long. Or maybe its because I really just want to post about "Amelia", but can't freely. Who knows. Here's what I've been up to...

First, we still have Amelia with us. On Saturday she will be 11 months-old, so that will mean that we have had her for six months. We have a justifiable hope that we won't have to say goodbye to her for awhile (YEAAAAAA for us!!!!!!!!), but more on that in May. No sooner.

It has been so fun to watch Amelia hit the various developmental milestones that babies reach. She got her two bottom teeth in December, and her two top teeth were not far behind. Just kidding. Those are actually two pieces of rice that landed there just like that, so I luckily was able to capture it. Ray's mouth dropped open when he came home and I showed him this photo, explaining that Amelia's two top teeth grew in over night! It was funny!

Amelia has also gotten very proficient at crawling in this past month, and has just started crawling to other rooms where we are not. There goes the old strategy. I've learned that you don't get too comfortable in parenting. Nothing stays the same. When you finally get into a good pattern (napping, feeding, you name it--where you feel like you can read them and they you) suddenly the baby says "No way. Now I want it this way...!" Wow. Who knew? These are things I didn't hear about before. If I heard, I didn't listen. Dang it! :)

Here she is discovering her shadow.

I "spraypainted" her face out in these next photos with Paint in order to show off her cute outfit with boots and ears. Forget the outfit though--what a total cutie pie. She's always smiling or laughing. She is so enthusiastic about whatever we're doing. She is thoroughly delighted with every visitor we have, any age, and is a total people-person.

Here is an irresistable one of her with the binky in upside down. I don't know why but it never fails to make me laugh, especially when she turns it upside down intentionally.
Here's the new "rig" (as they call them here in ID) that I drive. Its one of Ray's dream vehicles, and he drove it for the last month, but now I "get" to drive it because I drive about 1/10 the miles that he does each day. Gas conservation. Lucky me. No, its actually really nice, but I am such a fan of the smaller vehicles. Ones where you don't have to plan in advance where you'll park or how you'll get out of the parking space. Ones that also conserve fuel. You know? I guess I am just grateful I have something to drive.

This past month we also said goodbye to an old friend: Ray's '56 Corvette. I've always liked this one of his collection of cars, but nothing lasts forever, does it? Here are some pictures of it:

Some guy in Virginia is driving it right now!

In August I read an Ensign article about Family Search Indexing (here's the link).
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=22af44584a204110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1

I wanted to sign up to do it then, but finally did only this month. Its basically data entry of old census records and the like. You see the actual record on your computer and then type the info in. Its easy--except when you can't read the old fashioned handwriting. But it does feel nice to feel like I'm doing something to help with family history, since I basically slack on it in most other ways.

Here is the link if you want to check it out. http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/index.jsp

I'm going on my third week of being sick. Poor Amelia had it and passed it to me. Now I get it when I hear parents moan about how hard it is to be sick when you have little ones to take care of. Its so hard!!! Anyway, I feel pretty miserable and am surprised at how long its hanging on. So my parting words are these: Take care of yourself because you don't what want I have!!

Farewell...

2008-01-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

President Gordon B. Hinckley

You will be missed!

You Can't Be Serious!

2008-01-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

Just when you wonder if you've heard it all...

They're PAYING high school students to STUDY!!!

Enjoy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080125/ap_on_re_us/paid_to_study

I'm IT

2008-01-08T22:45:00.000-07:00

I mean, I've been tagged. Again. Wendy, this one's for you.

10 years ago (Jan 1998):
I actually consulted my journal on this one, and to be honest--I'll be fine if my posterity NEVER reads it. I seemed so...silly then. Anyway, I was living in Salt Lake City, rooming with my brother, Ben, and working two jobs: Family Advocate for Head Start and in the evenings at a sheet music store. One nice thing about keeping journals is being able to read back and be so grateful for who you are NOW! (Or who you're NOT anymore, as the case may be.)

5 things on my to-do list today (or tomorrow):
1. Feed "Amelia", the pseudonym for our cute foster baby. She's 8 1/2 months old.
2. Play and read with Amelia
3. Play "Bouncing Balls" on Yahoo Games during Amelia's naptime. :) I've been needing to play games lately, so that's my fix when there's no one around to play with me!
4. Send Amelia to a visit with her mom
5. Go to mutual.

Snacks I enjoy:
1. Leftover garlic bread from dinner.
2. Popcorn--any kind.
3. Swedish Fish
4. Avocado in any form
5. Lemon Bars
6. Homemade caramel (let me know if you need the recipe. Its easy.)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Move into a newer home--one with a Master Bath and with a more open floor plan
2. Make sure this home has land and maybe a few horses and a river nearby for Ray, the fishing fanatic
3. Go new places, starting with Ireland, Holland and Africa, and ending with somewhere south of the border
4. Fly family and friends in regularly to visit, since so few will pay to come to Idaho
5. Use my money/power to improve the foster care system

3 of my bad habits:
1. "Bouncing Balls" game, these past three days
2. Watching "24" if it ever comes back again
3. Neglecting to practice the piano and speak Spanish. Kind of makes learning those things a waste, don't you think?

5 places I have lived:
1. Morelia, Mexico (only for a month, but still)
2. New Zealand
3. Hollywood, CA
4. Beverly Hills 90210
5. Boise, ID

5 jobs I have had:

Where haven't I worked? Here are some of the more memorable...

1. Chinchilla caretaker for our neighbors who raised them when they travelled. Around age 11. They actually gave me one. It died after having a baby. Come to think of it, there were always a few "casualties" when the Roddes' would get back in town. They are delicate little rodents, but it may have also been the start of what could be called "poor pet caretaking". Not sure.
2. Activity Leader at Little Hills Picnic Ranch. Celia, remember when you worked there too? Wasn't it only for a few weeks?
3. Server at Pier 54 in Provo
4. Photo Developer at the BYU Bookstore.
5. Ice Cream Scooper at Leatherby's in Provo

5 things people don't know about me:
1. I once called a radio station to find out who sang this one song and the DJ said, "You're caller #10! Congratulations--you just won tickets to...(some concert)!" I said, "Oh. Well I just want to know who sings...(some song). I was on the air, live. I was also on a pay phone outside Longs Drugs store. I never picked up the concert tickets.

2. At age 16, I was in the Sun Valley Mall when a plane crashed into it on a foggy December 23rd night. Me, Celia or Kim??, Dane and Todd were there Christmas shopping. We were in the back of a record store when this kid came running back, trying to hide in the back storage room. He said he thought he heard a gun shot. I looked out towards the mall and saw a mass of people running towards the outside doors of the mall. It was a moment in my life that I think could be aptly described as "surreal". When we got to the front of the record store I looked down towards the center of the mall and could only see black smoke. We realized we had been where the plane crashed only five minutes earlier.

3. I was almost strangled to death in 1999. I worked at the SLC Youth Detention Center. I was taking a 12 year-old (yes, she was not even half my age) delinquent into the "strip search room". (Yea, I know what you're thinking: Yikes! Thankfully no cavity searches.) Before I knew it, she had her shoe lace around my neck and I couldn't breathe! I couldn't pull it off. As the door to the room had almost swung shut I got my toe in the door. When I finally somehow managed a blood-curdling scream (as described by my co-workers later) Kurt came hurtling in and tackled Angel (her actual name) to the ground. Turns out Angel had nothing against me personally--she was just trying to make her offense worse so she could go to the more severe, long-term youth detention center elsewhere where her girlfriend was likely going to be sent.

4. I love bread of all kinds. My favorite is Pugliese--an "artisan" bread. Its so chewy and crusty and holey. I could almost live off it.

5. If/when I find a song I like, I can listen to it over and over. Thankfully, I usually only do that when I'm by myself.

When I started this blog, it was mostly to show off cute foster babies. It was a bummer when I since learned that I can't post a picture of them at all. Takes all the fun out of it. Anyway, since I don't like publishing posts without a photo, here's one of my mom and dad. They're sporting the shirts I found for them last March in the Alamo Thrifty's. So funny!

Good Game

2007-12-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

I do. Our family grew up playing games and I still love them. I remember as a youth asking my mom to play a game with me because none of my four siblings would, and she would agree as long as it was Scrabble. I would always sigh, wishing she would go for Monopoly or Life, but would then agree to Scrabble. I was so desperate for "the game." Now I am thankful to my mom's more narrow interest in the game arena, because playing Scrabble has helped me learn my words. Though these skills come in handy for really no other reason than to take people on in Scrabble, I'm learning words just the same.

We were always impressed when Wendy's friend, Robyn B., would come over and kill us all in Scrabble. They were REALLY good in that family.

Ray has been my latest victim. When I met him, I learned that his family was big into Scrabble. That's when I knew I was in--I would even play with them without Ray! They are all really good too. They play "open dictionary" style in order to learn words, which is nice, though it does make for a long game. Nonetheless, Ray and I have adopted the "open dictionary" style ourselves.

Ray is better at the game than I would like him to be, and beats me more than half the time. That's OK--it doesn't make me want to quit playing. I've found that staying home and caring for these foster babies has increased my interest for more mind-taxing activities in the evenings. Besides that, its cold and dark outside. Thankfully Ray has been willing to humor me.

Here is the start of our game board tonight. It made for a tougher game later on because we had nowhere to build on!

And later...note our "2-letter words" cheat sheet at the bottom of the photo.

The finished board. Ray won, of course.

Go to this link if you need word lists for your Scrabble playing. Lists like: words with J, X and Z, 3-letter words, words containing 66% or more vowels, Q words without U, etc. They're very helpful!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/adam.bozon/scrabblelists.htm

Killing Elephant

2007-12-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

November 2006: I found myself needing something small and helpless to care for. Enter Milo. She stood out among the other birds in the cage at the D&B, and I had to have her. I thought she was a male, but turns out I was wrong. Isn't she a beaut?

In the wild, parakeets flock together by the thousands, so Milo got lonely. She would just sit there on the perch all day long, barely moving. Even two parakeets together are lonely, but at least they're not completely alone. So in March I couldn't stand seeing such a lonely thing, so got her a she-friend, whose name is "Ele" (short for "Elephant", named by nephew Ethan.) Milo was beside herself with joy. Here they are together.

Last week I almost killed Ele. I thought I'd wait to write about it just in case she actually did die, but she's still alive.

Long story short: I clipped their wings (you have to do it every few months or so if you don't want them flying around the house). I thought while I had them there I would go ahead and clip their toenails. If they get too long they get their feet caught on things. Don't clip their toenails too short, or you might hit a vein and they will bleed. I hit Ele's vein but she only bled a little and it appeared to stop--so I didn't think much of it. Until I came home a few hours later and found bird blood all over the perches in their cage. Aaaaah!!!!

I ran and googled for help. They said use corn starch or flour. They also said that a bird can die after losing just a few drops of blood. Ele had lost much more than that. That's when I started to panic. She wouldn't stay still to let the cornstarch work--she just kept bleeding.

I took her to the vet (first time in my life--taking a pet there!) who said she wasn't sure, but it looked like not just her nail but part of her toe had been cut off too!!! Aaaaaah!!! That's right around when I started to cry. She had me come in the back while she worked on Ele, because "birds often die when they are in trauma like this, and I need you to be here to witness it. For vet liability issues." Aaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!! "I killed my parakeet."--that's all I could think, and the tears ran down. But I knew I had not clipped that much off--I'm very careful when doing that.

About 5 traumatic minutes later Tana, the vet, got the toe cleaned she said that actually it did look like just the nail had been cut after all. She applied "bloodstop" and the bleeding immediately stopped. She sent some bloodstop along with me and wished me luck. I'll admit I was grateful that she didn't charge me anything. The whole way home I wondered if Ele would die because of all she'd been through. So far so good. She's still chirping as annoyingly and loudly when "Amelia" is attempting to nap.

Here they are after a bird bath, looking like wet dogs!

McCall, Idaho

2007-12-06T00:55:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of it? It is beautiful. McCall is located two hours north of Boise by Payette Lake. We try to get up there several times a year. Ray had some work he needed to do there so I tagged along with him and stayed two nights. We got to bring "Amelia" (the same foster baby we have had for 10 weeks) along with us and it was so fun! It snowed about 18-20" while we were there. Here are some pics from our hotel room.

Ray had to work early in the morning moving equipment in a bank so they could re-carpet, and then move it all back late that evening. So we had all day to find ways to spend the time. I iceskated at the rink overlooking the lake while Ray held Amelia. I didn't fall once, though I only made it around the rink about 8 times before my legs started to wobble from pure fatigue!! How sad that I am such a wimp. Notice the lake in the background.

All of our cutest pictures taken that day were of Amelia. I wish I could post them--she was so happy and smiling! Maybe someday...

For today, here she is pictured wearing her snowsuit by the lake and touching snow for the first time.

And here she is wearing her beret in the ice rink. She has some cute hats!

WinCo

2007-11-29T00:51:00.000-07:00

You probably won't like the name (I didn't.) You probably won't like the looks (I didn't.) You proably won't like the loooong aisles (I didn't.) But once you shop there, you will like it. WinCo is one of the best parts about Idaho. Serious.Cheap prices, and bulk bins that never end, with even cheaper prices. WinCo's signature brand, "Flavorite", is decent as well. All in all, its the place to shop. They just opened a new location in our area, so everyone's especially excited.

Look: you can even buy your pet food in bulk! (OK--that grosses me out to have at the food store, but for some I'm sure its a convenience.)

I took a friend from Utah who was visiting to WinCo, and she couldn't get over how low the prices are. And while it may be a warehouse-type store, it doesn't have that warehouse feel that the one by Leatherby's did in Provo. BYU Grads: what was the name of that one grocery store? I forgot!

This is where I discovered my favorite Vinta Crackers--for the low low price of $1.98!
Long live WinCo!

BF

2007-11-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

Black Friday. Check out Wendy's blog to find out why we go (this was out second annual outing). One thing that Wendy didn't mention is that it is a great time to find things you've been needing for your home at excellent prices. I am somewhat of a cheapskate and really only like to spend money on deals. So while others are there merely for Christmas presents, I am out there for home items that I've been needing. My best purchase was a Chicago Cutlery knife set for $40, originally $90! Cutting has never been so nice.

This is outside Target. You probably can't see the news van in the background, but its there.
Look: the mists of darkness that BF is, actually captured on film!

Look at our great front row spot at the mall! Its happened two years in a row now.Anyway, here's my favorite story from that morning. We eventually found ourselves at Mervyns--our fifth store that morning. I found the Christmas present for my sister in law that I had gone there for and proceeded to the jewelry counter. That's where I always try to buy things in those types of stores, as there is never a wait. It doesn't have to be jewelry for them to ring it up.The girl behind the counter was calling "71? 71?" really loudly. So I asked her where to get a number. She pointed behind me and asked me what number it was. I told her "78" and she said, "OK--there must be people that have these other numbers." No one responded to 71, so she began calling 72. I looked around me and saw only 2 customers at the counter, both of whom do not appear to be ready to purchase. She then called out 73 and waited a little less time. Then 74 and waited even less time, but she still waited. I told her I liked her style as she sped up her calling out of numbers. Then 75, 76 and 77 while we both looked around, waiting for someone to run up saying that that was their number. Nobody came. Finally, she called out "78" (not loudly, but she still called it out! :) and I stepped forward with my clothing purchase and handed it to her. She said, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but do you have a jewelry purchase as well?" When I said "no", she said she couldn't ring up my purchase. I began laughing out loud as I went to find a different register, wondering in the meantime what that girl was going to do with her free time behind the jewelry counter!

After coming home from that early-morning adventure, do you think I slept? Nope--I raked the backyard! Just look at the piles!

Uh...Whoops!

2007-11-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's Ray (pictured holding two very cute babies on his lap!)

Sometimes he has to drive huge trucks like these. He does just fine.

Here's me.

Sometimes I have to drive a huge Suburban like this. Sometimes I do just fine.

Once there was a trash can tall, tall, tall.

Then I got behind the wheel of the Suburban, now that tall trash can is oh so small!

The scariest part is I didn't even feel or hear it when I hit it, rolled over it, and dragged the trash can for almost 50 yards. I was just beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with the Suburban when I saw a man a few houses down waving his arms wildly. "OK", I thought, "I must have a flat and he's noticed it."

When I got out and walked around the back of the car, I noticed this random gray trash can, crushed and still wobbling, in the street. "That's weird", I thought. "I wonder what that's doing there?" It still did not dawn on me, so I continued to inspect the tires. When the nice man finally got to my car, I glanced back down the street and noted trash (mainly Amelia's and Peter's diapers) strewn along the street all the way back to my house. I looked back at the now still trash can, and it all became clear.

Roger (the nice man) attempted to re-shape my trash can, to no avail, and then said he would pick the trash up. I told him that I would do it but he insisted, being the gentleman that he was. So I climbed back into the Suburban, feeling bewildered yet grateful, and headed on my way.

That is how my Monday started. Apparently it was a theme throughout the day, because this is what I knocked over later that morning. (With my foot this time, not the car.)

Hymns of Thanksgiving

2007-11-11T22:51:00.000-07:00

I like singing in choirs. Ever since Concert Choir at MVHS, in the days of Mr. Koliha, I discovered how much I love this sport. At some point it became a little dream of mine to sing with the MoTab.

Well, I don't sing in the MoTab, nor will I ever. BUT I am getting a chance to sing with a 280-voice community choir in our area. Its just for one show called Hymns of Thanksgiving, done around here every Thanksgiving. And guess what? We're singing many of the beautiful arrangements of Mack Wilberg (the MoTab conductor's famous arranger), so my joy is complete.

Here is a pic from last year. Looks like I will even get to wear a top similar to the snazzy ones they wear in the Tabernacle Choir! If you're in town on November 18th, come see the show!

Twins? No, Thanks!

2007-11-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd say "No" to twins, but now I am. Ray and I (well, mostly Ray) have often talked about how fun it would be to have or adopt twins at some point if the opportunity presented itself. This week we've had a taste of what twins would be like, and now would likely run from the idea!

When foster parents go out of town on vacation they often can't or don't want to take the infants they are caring for with them. So the children go to "Respite Foster Care". When I went to North Carolina in October, a nice foster mom named Linda took care of "Amelia". So when the Department called me to see if I would take a 4 month-old for a week, I thought I would give back and say "yes". I thought we would gain experience, and I also wanted to see if I could do it--totally assuming that indeed I could, difficult though it would be. I can't.

I haven't left the house much this week. I haven't done much of anything, except take care of Amelia and "Peter". Both babies sleep through the night under normal circumstances, but this week I have been up with them anywhere between 3 and 9 times a night. I'm exhausted! AND Ray had to go out of town two days this week. Needless to say, I am counting the hours (4 more at the time of this post) until Peter gets picked up.

The saving graces this week were: both Amelia and Peter are awfully cute; my mom, sister and friend Tracy each brought us dinner this week (and how NICE it was that they didn't ask, they just did it!); my sister came and took one of the babies for me for 5 hours one day! Ah, yes. These thoughtful, gracious acts seriously saved my sanity and I am feel very indebted to them!

In summary, no more respite foster care for me!

A Brief Spotlight

2007-10-31T23:00:00.000-06:00

So sue me. I love candy corn. I also love their cousins, pumpkin cremes. I thought Amelia would never fall asleep last night. When she finally did, I left her and Ray snoozing and went to Winco for the beloved candy that I must eat at this time every year. I had such a sudden hankering for it. Imagine my surprise when I got to the bulk bins and found NO candy corn anywhere. Only their sisters, harvest corn, which for some reason does not appeal to me (candy corn with the brown bottom, not yellow.) They always taste a little stale, and not unlike fake chocolate. So I scraped the bottom of the barrel to get the remainder of the pumpkin cremes, sadly check the pre-bagged candy aisle to make sure there was not candy corn there, and went to pay. Can you believe the entire stock of candy corn in that store was gone?? It tells me one thing and one thing only: while so many joke about candy corn as not being worthy to be an A-list candy, more people like it than will dare admit it.

Are you one of them?

Ode To Wendy On Her Birthday

2007-10-24T15:35:00.000-06:00

In true Greenbaum fashion, here is an ode to my little sister, Wendy, on her Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Wendy!!!

First, let's honor her with some photos.

Then (age 4, I think):

Then (age 6, I think. Wow--from blonde to brunette in 2 years!):

Now (blue sweater):

Wendy, Wendy, you're my sis.

How many years 'til you're 36?

Four more, four more, that's how many,

But by then I will be 40!

Wendy is a sweet, little dear.

She makes friends both far and near.

She would never hurt a fly.

Only spiders...they must die!

Salmon, garlic spaghetti, and a salad,

All these things are good on my palate.

Wendy sure can cook this meal.

Call her, visit her, she's the real deal!

I love you, Wendy!

Carolina Blue

2007-10-19T01:35:00.000-06:00

I just got back from North Carolina. They say that its famous for its blue skies, so you see in the photo. It is blue! Probably because of the billions of trees! I spent the last week with my in-laws seeing the sites. I had a great time! I traveled out there with Ray's sister Michelle and we stayed with Ray's parents who live near Lincolnton/Lake Norman, 45 minutes north of Charlotte.

Michelle, Ray's mom Loneta, and I drove two hours to Asheville to see the Biltmore Estate. It was beautiful and much bigger than I had even imagined. No pics allowed inside, but here are some outside, including one with a view behind the estate.

I couldn't understand why Loneta seemed to be rushing through the tour of the house. Once we got down to the gardens and greenhouse, I saw why. Between the two, the gardens / greenhouse were my favorite! So amazingly beautiful.

And my favorite flower that day...the Chinese Lantern:

Here is the walkway down, with luffa gourds hanging down. I was tempted to pick one (there were so many!) to make a luffa for the shower.

From Asheville we went north to Tennessee. Loneta had tracked down some distant cousins of Ray's dad (Ben) and a part of the family was going up to see the old farm of their fourth great grandfather. Here are the family members who came...
Note Ian's 3 watches!! :) He's the same funny nephew who said, upon arriving at the old cemetary: "Mom, I'm going to go find a headstone that says, 'I'm gonna get you for this!' " :)

And here are the distant relatives. This is Ruth (Ben's cousin) and Wilma, her mom. They own a 200-acre plot of land in the Blue Ridge mountain area, with the ancestral farm being on the property. In the south, family is family, no matter how distantly related. So Ruth and Wilma showed us fine southern hospitality, and I refrained from saying "What?" too often, with their accents as thick as they were! The coolest part was that it felt like we'd known them for years. They really did feel like family!

We took a train ride through part of the property, and it was beautiful. On our way home, we stopped at the Mennonite farm and bought some good food they sell in their store. Here is the Spiced Peach Jam that I bought. It is soooo good! If you saw the movie, "Holes", you'll appreciate the jam. Not too spicy. Tasted like pie filling. Mmmm. (Did you know Mmm is an accepted word to play in Scrabble? Its true. And with no vowel and all.)

Sorry, I have no pics of the fried food. They sure know how to fry food down there! And if you were wondering, "Amelia" went to respite foster care while we were gone. She's back with us now, and I'm glad! I missed her!

Look No More

2007-10-09T10:13:00.000-06:00

After speaking with my licensing worker, we have decided that for their privacy, it is best that no even a glimpse of the child should be posted. So, sadly, no more peeks for you. Sorry!