Lander does the dishes

Thanks buddy!

Jake goes to the dentist

See this sweet boy? He has been so good lately & tons of fun to have around! So it was today after my sweet little 8 year old had to get a cavity filled that I told him we would go buy ice cream to make a treat after dinner because he was so brave.

...

When we got to the store he asked if he could get something else.

Seriously.
And this is what I had to prepare for (gulp) dinner last night.

The man at the meat counter said that it wasn't hard to prepare. "You just skin it, like chicken. It's really easy." Yeah, right. After an hour of trying to skin the slimy thing, it was finally ready to cook.

Talk about an experience.

I am pretty adventurous, but there are some things in this world that just aren't right. Skinning an octopus is one of them.

another reality check

Sometimes I wish the reality checks would just stop!

It seems like every week I hear about another family member or friend who is suffering from a severe illness, death, disease, or heartache. Today, my 15 year old neighbor (who was also my home health patient) passed on to the next life. I feel very somber as I think about what his family is going through. My heart aches for their loss.

This young man, lived a good life & fought a good fight. His passing has helped me pause to consider my blessings & give thanks for each day that I have to spend with my family, and for the chance to learn & grow.

Here are the words of Rick Warren, as he helped his wife fight cancer:

"We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's
not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in
Christ likeness....

"We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for
possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by
pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to
be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?"

So the question I want to pose to each of us is: What are we each living for?

I found...

....another CRUSTY sock today. Honestly. Will it ever end?

Just Keepin' It Real--Part 4

Okay, so I just couldn't resist posting this picture. Lander was trying to show me how I should lift weights. It was hilarious. The sad part is that I probably make that same face!

Just Keepin' It Real--Part 3

Years of piano lessons & I feel like I can hardly play. Plus, I really want a new piano. It's already picked out; an ebony, tiny little baby grand. It's totally gorgeous! I feel like I need to be able to justify the expense and I have decided to honor my parents' sacrifice & get practicing on my little keyboard. (I probably should've dusted, but then that wouldn't be real now would it?) My skills are slowly returning, and I have found an added bonus. My creativity really improves after my practice sessions which is really helping my book come along. Who would've guessed?

A Day in Our Life

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7:10 am: hit snooze (is it possible to be exhausted after 9 hours of sleep?)

7:20 am: (okay, okay! I'm up.) go wake up kids. find Lander coloring in the bathroom.

7:30 am: finally drag Jake out of bed (it seems like I'm not the only one who didn't get enough sleep last night)

7:40 am: breakfast & scriptures

7:47 am: Hurry! Hurry! The bus is coming! (Jake: "Mom, why do you always yell?", Mom: "This isn't yelling, want to hear yelling?" :))

7:50 am: phone starts ringing...and ringing...and ringing (good thing I am good at multi-tasking)

8:40 am: dentist calls, canceling today's appointments. disconnect phone, jump in shower

8:55 am: (whoops, didn't turn off cell phone.) answer another frantic call.

9:00 am: visiting teachers show up (who would've thought they'd actually be on time?--dang it!)

10:15 am: visiting teachers leave. fix lunch for Lander. (wouldn't want him to starve)

10:30 am: start working on book.

10:32 am: phone rings.

10:40 am: phone rings.

10:42 am: "Mom, I'm bleeding"

10:53 am: phone rings. disconnect phone again.

11:00 am: Lander braves frigid wind to wait for bus. watch Lander so stranger doesn't steal him.

11:22 am: bus arrives.

11:25 am: phone rings. (are you serious???)

11:49 am: back to writing.

12:25 pm: realize I didn't get breakfast (no wonder I feel faint)

12:37 pm: back to writing. (if I hurry, I might get a cat nap in)

2:42 pm: "Mom! We're home!" (crap, it's that time already? I guess I don't get a nap, but I did get 1800 words written, woohoo!)

3:02 pm: boys' friends arrive

3:35 pm: scouts? we have scouts?

3:40 pm: quickly sew on scout patch (that should've been sewn on 3 weeks ago)

4:10 pm: just kidding, no scouts

4:15 pm: "Can we play with moon sand?"

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things on my to-do list that didn't get done...yet:

clean up moon sand

vacuum

mop

make bread

go for walk

make dinner

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things that weren't on my to-do list that got done today:

talked to 4 friends that I haven't spoken to in ages

found out that Josherboy will get home early (double woohoo!)

...well, that about sums it up!...

Just Keepin' It Real--Part 2

This is what I found in Lander's backpack--crispy old socks that he took off during school after jumping in puddles. I have found these everywhere, in the garage, in the closet, even in his dresser. Gross. And then he asks me where his socks are.

Happy Birthday Alan!

We celebrated Alan's 26th birthday on Tuesday night. It was a lot of fun! Heather treated us to beef enchiladas & Spanish rice followed with a chocolate cake. Yummy!

Heather lights all 26 candles, but not before most of them melted. That's okay. We fed the waxy peices to Josh & Alan. They didn't mind.

Just Keepin' It Real--Part 1 (aka Confessions of a Siesta-aholic)

I have never been an exercise guru. I try to be active, but you won't catch me with a gym membership. The thought of sweating it out around a bunch of strangers makes me start to panic. I have noticed that over the past couple of years that age, "trying to be active" and, quite possibly, my love of siestas have caught up with me. I am soft. I am flabby. I have CCL! What is the world coming to?

I started lifting weights a few months ago, nothing major, just 2 or 3 times a week, 30 minutes or so. I am starting to feel a difference. I no longer wave in the breeze with Relief Society arms, but I am still such a wimp. You can see the picture of my bench press. I am up to a whopping 60 pounds. (Wow, did I just admit that?) Muscles and me just don't seem to jive. Maybe I should just go for the long and lean....except I'm not long, and as for lean...well, it's a good thought anyway.

Just Keepin' It Real

I realized that a lot of my posts are about the fun things we do, places we go, vacations, etc & my blog needs a bit of a reality check. So over the next few weeks, I will do my "Just Keepin' It Real" posts. Little bits from our lives in an effort to, well, keep things real. And here it goes...

Old Town Cartagena

Josh will have to add names to places later...but in the meantime, here are a few pictures of the old town & fort in Cartagena.

Josh & Dan

feeding the local wildlife

scuba diving

The boys headed out for a little scuba adventure (and consequently, Josh's hyperventilation attack) off the coast of Cartagena. They made 2 dives, one though a sunken ship, and it only cost $70! Josh said the water was crystal clear.

Dan the Man

Cartagena, Colombia

Josh spent last week in Cartagena, Colombia visiting our friends. He didn't bring me a crocodile, but I did get an emerald out of the deal, my compensation for not being able to go. Woohoo!

He made a quick stop over in Bogota where he was able to visit his aunt & uncle, Tom & Colleen C. (Tom is the MTC President in Bogota), but he forgot to get a picture!

Josh, Em, & DanDan & Em's NeighborhoodLDS Church Catholic Church

HELP!!!

"I want my mommy!" Just kidding. Baby Travis was just ready for his nap while his mommy & daddy are on a, ahem, "date", and I couldn't resist getting a crying picture. Now he is sound asleep in my arms. What a sweetie!

only in Rexburg

...does a conversation go something like this:

"Mom! It's hot as summer out here!" Jake shouts as he strips down to his t-shirt.

It is breezy and 45 degrees outside, but the snow is gone & strangely enough, I am starting to sweat too. So we all tie our jackets around our waists, because we definitely wouldn't want to get overheated, and continue our walk/scooter ride. After all, who would want to waste such a beautiful day?

Quote of the Day

"Mom, you really are fun. I thought it was just Dad that was fun."
-Jake, age 8

a few firsts

Here are a few of our "firsts" that happened during this past week:

* Lander eats a marble
* Dixie finds -- & is forced to retrieve -- the marble
* Jake reads his first no-picture novel, 340 pages!

* Josh hyperventilates -- and no it wasn't because of Dixie

* Dixie is introduced to Da Pineapple Grill's "Eleena's Speciality", a tantalizing sushi roll that is literally good enough to kill over

* Josh, sadly, watches an iguana killing

* Jake gives an oral book report -- on Tigers

* Lander & Jake get a paying job, filling bird feeders for Grams

seriously troubled

HELP!

Something is seriously wrong with me. (Ha, ha, don't think I didn't hear those comments from my beloved siblings). But I am serious! I close my eyes & all I can think about is getting away--somewhere like the Cook Islands, or St. John, or ...where ever, some place that I can get away from the crowds & enjoy another culture. As long as it is somewhere warm. With turquoise water. Were I can put my toes in the sand....sigh...Oh, great. There I go again.

So, I started looking back at old pictures. Daydreaming, because with today's economy I don't dare do anything else. But I can't snap out of it.

Atata Island, Tonga, 2006: Kaley F., Dixie, Kristi B.

I have a lot to be grateful for & really don't want any reminders. But I still wish I could just lay my head back & shout "Calgon take me away!"

...and the snow flies again

I just took this picture from my upstairs office window. It doesn't do the weather justice. Snow flakes are flying everywhere. Imagine the trees in the background swaying dangerously, and the wind is actually shaking my house! I was getting so excited because our grass has begun to emerge from hiding thanks to two 40 degree days & a little rainstorm. I had planned on going for a walk today to celebrate the warm weather...oh, never mind.

miracles DO happen!

Jake & Lander found a caterpillar last September & put it in this jar. A few days later it made a web-like cocoon, where it has stayed ever since, sitting on my counter because the boys were sure it would make a butterfly. I was sure that it was dead. This morning Lander noticed a hole in the cocoon & we found that our little moth wasn't dead after all. Crazy!

Trevor

Our first babysitter when we moved here was a 13 year old boy named Trevor. I had never, & still have never, met his equal; cute enough to make the girls faint away, hard working, athletic, and just solid goodness to the core.

My boys loved him. They watched him pass the sacrament & tried to imitate him. They begged us to go on dates so he could come babysit.

I loved him to come babysit because he somehow managed to play hours of games with the kids while leaving my house so much cleaner than I ever left it.

(October 2005: Lander, Tayla, Tori, Trevor, Jake)

Trevor grew up and his sister, Tayla, took his place as the "favorite" babysitter, so we didn't cross paths as often, but we still watched from the sidelines as he continued to grow into an even more amazing young man.

Yesterday, he slid off the icy road, hitting a telephone pole, effectively ending this life in a few short seconds. Trevor was only 18.

It seems silly that I am so upset about someone that I haven't really associated much with in the past few years, but I just can't crying since I stopped in to visit the family. I know he is in a better place. I have great faith about The Plan, but it is just so sad to watch his family suffer. This is the second tragic death of a child that his parents have had to endure, and it breaks my heart to think of what they must be going through right now.

my fAvoRIte worker

Josh has been busy in the garage lately, trying to get his tools & our space more organized. Love it. Can't wait 'till it's done! Here is his workbench that he built a few days ago:

yoo hoo??

In honor of our overseas visitor today... ...how the heck are ya?

Tooth Fairy in Fiji?

I thought I should probably elaborate a bit about the Tooth Fairy in Fiji thing.


Several years ago, after I had just returned from a trip to Fiji, Jake & Lander were looking at my photos. They found a picture of a Hindu temple & asked me if that was the Tooth Fairy's home.


My answer was instantaneous. "Of course it's her home!"


How could I resist?


Ever since, Fiji has been her home, and each of the boys' friends have been educated about that fact. So, just in case you haven't seen it, here is a picture of the Tooth Fairy's home:

8 in 8

Jake lost his 8th tooth last night.

I started thinking about how he has lost his teeth. It has been an adventure with each one!

He had the I'm too afraid to pull it out, until it got so loose that it fell into the toilet by accident tooth. Then, of course, he had the "Let me feel how loose your tooth is," before dad quickly pulled it out tooth. He had the "Hey, look what's in my apple!" tooth. Then he had the tooth that was so loose he couldn't eat breakfast because he wanted it to fall out at school tooth, but then he lost it later that day at his friends house, only to find it weeks later. And last night he ran into my room with the it's midnight and I decided to wiggle my tooth until it fell out surprise tooth.

The nice part about it all is that the Tooth Fairy has been very understanding. She has flown from Fiji each time he lost a tooth to leave him a gold dollar. She even accepted a few notes in lieu of the tooth when the tooth couldn't be found.

Thank you Tooth Fairy!

We Miss YOU!

Little Tillamook, we MISS you! When are you coming to visit us?

(Jake, Sydney, Lander, Baby Travis, Jenna in background)

a Valentines to remember

Sorry. No photos. But, I had to mention our memorable Valentine's day in Driggs with Grams. Things just kept going awry. I am not sure what was with that day!

First we found Gram's flowers, a gift from Shauna, frozen on the front porch.

Then, Gram's accidentally pushed the "Clean" cycle on her oven instead of "Bake". Our yummy dinner that she had slaved over was cooked at more than 500 degrees for an hour before we noticed the strange smell.

And, oh, the smell! The house was filled with that oven cleaning smell. Even yummier!

And last, but not least, we found out that Brad got married, but didn't tell any of his kids!

What a bizarre day!

he DID it!

Lander was very worried because he hadn't figured out how to tie his shoes (in other words, he refused to practice). He was convinced that he was going to have to repeat kindergarten. But, yesterday while I helped in his class, he just decided to try & passed off his last kindergarten requirement. Good job buddy!

silly girl

My niece, Jenna, is such a silly little thing. Whether it was waking me up at the crack of dawn, spouting out cute sentences, or coming up with new clothing creations, she kept us really entertained during her visit a week ago.

Here is Jenna (with her big sister, Sydney, restraining her so that she would stay still for the picture) wearing her newest "belt":