In The Dark

We got a live Christmas tree this year. It's the first time I've had a real tree since I was a teenager. We went to a U-cut farm, and Damon sawed the tree down, and got it bound to put on the car while the kids and I looked at 3 of the ugliest turkeys I've ever seen. They were very territorial (we were separated from them by a fence), which made it fun for the kids because we got a lot of cock-a-doodle-doos out of them. Devin could have stayed with the turkeys all day long and been happy. We won't go to that farm again next year. It was more expensive than we thought. I'm all for live trees, but I'll go for a cheap live tree. The kids love having the tree in the house. They will plug the tree lights in each morning and they both go around the house turning all the house lights off, regardless of whether I am working in the room or not. I've started threatening them with time outs because they won't leave the lights on. And we have this cute little line of miniature pines that line the side of our yard that we put lights on. I love the way it looks when I drive in after it's dark. . . . And, yes, that is snow on the ground. Yeah!

Festivia

Ok, so I hosted Thanksgiving at my house this year for the first time EVER. My sweet sister Deborah hosted all the holidays at her house last year, and asked me if this year I would host one of them. So one thing you should know about me, is I am not fancy at all. I didn't buy china when I got married (mostly because I was (am) totally oblivious to customs like these). And I like having people over, but I don't have anything nice to host a fancy dinner. Yesterday, the day before Thanksiving, I ran to the dollar store and bought some goblets for sparkling cider, 4 table runners, three of which I cut up and sewed into matching napkins, and copied Brooklyn's Thanksgiving table craft from preschool and made some cool candleholders for the placesettings. Needless to say, I am a domestic goddess, and this should be a craft blog, LOL.

Travel Log - Tag

One thing Damon and I both Love is to travel. We've traveled alot when we were DINKs (Duel Income No Kids). Now that we have two beautiful children and one income, we don't. But we dream that one day we will again. So I compiled a list of all the places I've visited, and driving through doesn't count. Enjoy. And if you wish, write a similar list on your blog, I would love to see where everyone has been.

Domestic

Arizona; Pheonix, tempe

New York, Manhattan

Massachusetts, Boston

Utah :)

Nevada, Las Vegas

Washington, Seattle :)

Texas; San Antonio, Dallas

Hawaii, Maui

California; Los Angeles, San Diego, San Fransisco

Colorado; Fort Collins, Colorado Springs

Oregon; Cottage Grove, Portland

Florida; Miami, The Keys

Idaho, McCall

International

Australia, Melbourne

Mongolia; Ulanbatar, Darxhan

China, Beijing

England, London

France, Paris

Italy; Rome, Venice, Florence

Germany; Frieberg

Bahamas

Devin's 2!

Ok, so I don't think I mentioned this last year, but we personally know 3 boys who were born on the same day as Devin. (Happy Birthday Roshan). Damon's best friend growing up and his wife had a son the same day we did, and one of my sister's friends also had a son the same day we did. And to add another coincidence to the mix, when we moved to Washington, we moved into the same ward as the family my sister knows. So last year and this year we have had combined birthday parties for the boys. Alas we have yet to meet Roshan due to the fact that we haven't visited Texas in way too long. I digress. Devin's birthday party was totally fun. He didn't understand, but he did pick up on the fact that he was entitled to more oreos than normal. I think I cut him off at 7, but he kept finding them and eating them. He isn't interested in cake or ice cream, seriously, what's wrong with the kid? But he loves oreos, so I put some on top of the cakes, and made homemade oreos, which are delicious, but we had some crisco that went bad once, and I used it in a recipe, and now I can taste crisco whenever I bake with it and I don't like it! You can see in the pictures that Brooklyn "helped" Devin open his presents. My sister got the boys super cute matching shirts that have planes on them that light up. Devin loved it, he kept saying "airplane". And I have to say he looks very handsome in navy. Happy Birthday Kid. We love you.

Eye on the ball

Saturday was our 6th Anniversary. Yea! Damon has planned a lot of dates for us this year, so I told him I would be in charge of planning for our anniversary. It wasn't anything big, or romantic, but Damon has been wanting me to go to a driving range with him for a while. So I planned the babysitting and we were off. It was actually pretty fun, and I have to say I was OK. Damon was a good coach. But about halfway through my bucket-0-balls, I took my swing and then turned to watch Damon take his swing while my body was still twisted the opposite direction, and wrenched my neck bad. I couldn't hit any more balls after that. Then we just went to dinner and a movie, but we did get to check out a super-huge shopping area that I've never been to, and it is only about 1/2 an hour away from us. Happy Anniversary Damon!

I've fallen in love

It was very unexpected. I have fallen in love with the Northwest. The most I was hoping for was that I wouldn't cry myself to sleep at night because I missed my family so much (need I say I did that exact thing a few times on my mission). But we are all in different places now and raising our own families. And my sisters and I have already sworn to each other that when we are old and widows we will live together again and make our kids crazy, and make our grandkids come visit us. But back to Seattle. I really love it. I'm sure my sister Deborah and I will continue to complain about the rain when it returns, but there is so much to do and see, and I haven't even seen or done half of it. And there is so much natural beauty up here. And the people are so nice. Not just the church members, so many people in the little town I live in are extremely nice. So while I do miss my family and friends in Utah incredibly, and am sad that I am missing so much of your lives, I am happy for this time here. And to our loved ones in Texas who we haven't visited in years and years, if you read my blog, please know that we plan trips to Texas at least twice a year, but the plans always get abandoned in the end due to cost. Please forgive us.

And as a note: I've added a "I read Nie Nie" widget on my sidebar. This is an incredible blog. This woman and her husband were in a private plan crash recently and her sister is caring for their 4 children while they make their slow recovery. They are reposting Nie Nie's blog entries. And they are incredible. Her blog is warm and funny and definitely worth the read. I wish health and a quick recovery for her and her husband.

Brooklyn's first day of Preschool

Yea, Brooklyn had her first day of preschool today. I almost feel like I got naptime back because I put Devin down for a nap when I get home from taking her. But my freetime, at least today, was filled with cleaning my house because I asked a neighbor to come sit with Devin when I went to pick Brooklyn up so I wouldn't have to wake him. And the house has to be clean for the neighbor, hee hee! So much for free time.

Anywho, updates are: Brooklyn pushed a stool over square onto Devin's big toe a couple weeks ago. The toe immedialtely turned purple, and then bled for a few days. Alas, he lost the nail a few days ago. Gross. Poor kid.
And we went boating with some friends in the ward last Saturday. I didn't get out of the boat. The kids were whimpering and huddled on my lap, but maybe I'm just using that as an excuse. :)

Mystery Boy

So Damon committed me to going camping one last time for the summer. But the deal was the whole thing was going to be a surprise for me. I didn't know when, where, anything. Which was fine, because Damon said he would plan and pack everything, including meals. Yea! I'm in. He even called my work and asked off the days for me, which I thought was a little weird, but whatever. So last Thursday we headed out. And 12 hours later we arrived at our destination, IDAHO. Seriously, my statement was: We could have driven one more hour and been at my family's house in Provo. After that whenever I referred to our 12 hour drive, Damon would say, "It was an 8 hour drive with 4, 1 hour stops. Which was probably true. :) Devin threw up in his car seat on the way down. Poor kid, he inherited his Dad and Grandma's extremely sensitive gag reflex. He wasn't sick the rest of the trip, but he had just had a big lunch of chicken nuggets, fries, and chocolate milk. Yummy. So we cleaned that up and were once again on our way. We got where we were going, MCCall, ID at 10:00 that night. Set up our tent in the dark. But we were in the RV camping, and were told we had to move to the tent camping the next morning at 8:00 to secure a good spot, so the next morning we took down the tent, drove to the other end of the lake, and set up the tent again. Exhausted yet? I was. The good news was we drove out of a rainy day in Western Washington to a sunny day in Idaho. So we went to play on a sandy spot along the lake, which I loved. And the kids loved it. We are still not good at making sand castles. But I'm sure one day we will be great. Damon was acting weird though. He went to the bathroom and was gone for a long time, which isn't that unusual. Then he came back for about 5 minutes and then started to leave again without a word. I asked him where he was going and he said "to get water." I told him I had water, so he changed his answer to going to the bathroom. Whatever! I decided to sun myself. But as I lay on the beach, I saw our good friends, Heather and Micah Howard sneak up and hide behind a tree with their little baby, Megan. They didn't know I saw them, so I ran to the other side of the tree and scared them instead. There's the big surprise, the Howards were joining us for the weekend. Yea! We had a really good time. Saturday we rented canoes for 4 hours, rowed up a river, had lunch and rowed back. Brooklyn sat on my lap the first half of the ride, as she was still scared of the water from the last trip we took down a river. But for the second half, she jumped in with Heather and Micah and had a good time. Devin was then sitting by himself in the bottom of our canoe on the ride back and fell asleep holdong onto the center bar, how cute is that! We tried to lay him down so he would be more comfortable, but he wasn't having it. That night it started to rain on us as we were playing games around the camp fire. We went to bed, and it rained all through the night, and didn't let up the next day. It was so cold. We played games in our tent for a while, but eventually agreed to get a hotel room for the night. Heather and I played at a playground with the kids while Damon Micah packed up camp. Once again we were really cold. But the hotel felt totally luxurious. Sleeping in a bed, taking a hot shower, who could ask for more. Oh, and we went to a steak house for dinner. :). The next morning I took the kids to the indoor pool while Damon packed us up. What a good system we have! They loved the jacuzzi. I let them wade and kick their feet in it. Devin would have been happy there all day. Brooklyn, however fell face first into the water. I cut up my leg a little getting to her. Man, that girl and water, I need to get her in some swim lessons, soon! I don't know if she slipped or jumped. She was watching an older girl jump into the pool, so she was mimicking the girl holding her nose to jump in. But it looked more like Brooklyn leaned over the edge and then fell. But she was fine. Then we had lunch with the Howards and parted ways. We loved hanging out with you. Like Heather said, it doesn't feel like we only see each other now and then, 'cause we just pick up where we left off. You guys are adventurous, and fun. Thanks for meeting us!




So when Damon and I were dating, my roomates nicknamed him "mystery boy" because he would often disappear without a word. He doesn't do that any more. He has found a more productive use for his secrecy. He will often plan surprise dates for me, and he does a great job. Thanks hon, I had a blast!

Brooklyn counts, in spanish

She says her middle name first, and she leaves out siete, but still.

The Latest

I watched my 11 year old nephew, Connor, for a week and a few days while his family was traveling and such. I didn't quite know how to entertain an 11 year old. We only have toys for a preschooler and toddler. But I recently bought a "50 science things to make and do" oversized flashcard box. So I let him look through those and decide on a few he wanted to make. One of the experiments he chose was a foaming monster. He knows a family in our ward, so we had a couple of their kids over. It was great because they decorated their monsters first with colored paper, which took at least 45 minutes :). Then we put vinegar, dish soap, food coloring, and baking soda in and wacthed it foam. I helped Brooklyn make one so she had fun also.

We've been having warm, warm weather. On the news they said not to go outside, as it could reach 90 degrees :). Damon just scoffed when I told him, as he is from Dallas. We enjoyed the sun by going on a spur of the moment camping trip. Damon called me at work in the morning and told me the Jensens had invited us to go camping for two nights. I said, "sure, I don't care what we do this weekend, as long as I'm in the sun." Deb and Marc have a camper trailer that they keep stocked with nonperishable food. So she said meals were taken care of, just to bring milk and bread. We added doritos, soda, and some fruit, which in the end the Jensens really appreciated. We spent Saturday playing on the bank of a cool river. For some reason I could not muster any energy, so I volunteered to stay in camp while Devin took a nap, and get in a few zzz's myself. Unfortunately, Devin only slept half an hour, so we got up, and met up with the rest of the gang. The jensens bought a few more inner tube flaoties. One person would drive and the rest of us floated lazily down the river. We took Brooklyn with us once, and we had a little mishap. She had a life jacket on, and was riding on Damon's back as he lay on a full bed floater. But we ran into a tree that started to tip Damon, so he threw Brooklyn off his back so he could hold her up. But the current was still pulling him and his float was overturning. He told me to take Brooklyn, which I was able to do and hold her on my lap. Scared Brooklyn pretty bad. She did not have as much fun after that. She cried and kept telling us to "watch out," after that. Earlier in the day she had been playing by the bank in one of the inner tubes and had tipped over and went face first into the water. Hopefully she's not scarred for life. I'll have to get her into some swim lessons some day. Poor Girl. Sorry I don't have any pictures. The only one I have is of Brooklyn falling asleep eating dinner tonight. We got home, cleaned up and went to church. Damon fixed chicken nuggets for her for dinner around 5:00, and she couldn't eat them she was so tired. Damon came to get me to show me her sleeping on the kitchen counter. She protested when we told her to go take a nap, but fell asleep again trying to dip her nugget. I think we wore the kids out.

And an Update: I had a request to see a better picture of Brooklyn's haricut. I don't know if this is a better picture. But I get compliments on her haircut all the time, and from stangers, so I must have done a good job, but maybe it is just Brooklyn's beautiful, thick hair that makes the cut.

I hate to get political, but . . .

So last week, Exxon Mobil reported it's quarterly profits at 11.7 billion. That is 11.7 billion in PROFITS in three months. They broke the record for quarterly profits of any U.S. company ever. They broke the world record. The top 6 big oil companies reported a joint earning of just over 50 billion in quarterly profits. Gas prices have stabilized and even dropped a little. But I think there is and has been some serious price gouging going on, and I think it is time the government stepped in. Actually, I'm curious as to why they haven't already. The only reason I can think is that the top officials are getting money off all this also. I read in an article that both McCain and Obama recieved big money from oil companies for their campaigns. 8 years ago when Bush took office, gas was less than $2.00 a gallon. Can you imagine paying that now? I think Americans have stood by and watched gas prices rise because we think we're somehow being patriotic. If we don't have loved ones in the military, the truth is we are untouched by the war in Iraq. It doesn't affect our personal lives the way it does Iraqis. So we feel duty bound to pay the high cost of continually rising gas prices and not complain too loudly about it. But the truth is, with Exxon Mobil reporting that much profits, we are not paying for a war at the pump, we are making a few oil men rich. I mean, it all seems a little crooked to me. And the economy is floundering because of it. The cost of living is increasing exponentially. Local police and fire forces have had to make severe staff cuts becasue they can't meet their budgets. I can't totally blame the housing crisis on big oil, or the fact that unemployment is up and every day I hear of companies going out of business and millions of americans losing their jobs, but I'm sure it contributes. And I want something done about it. No more excuses.

Disclaimer: I'm not as well researched on this subject as I'm sure I should be if I'm going to rant like this. But I had to get it off my chest. I hope I haven't offended anyone.

FYI: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/?q=exxon+profits&submit=Search&id=11881780&FORM=AE&os=0&gs=1&p=1&adunitid=939&propertyid=3501

It's official

We have now lived in the Seattle area for a year. Not in our house for a year yet, but the kids and I drove out of Utah last year on July 5th. And time is going so fast, I can't believe it. For the 4th this year we went camping for the three day weekend with the Jensens. I don't have any pics, as I (yet again) forgot my camera and had to rely on Marc and Deb to take pictures for us, so I'll have to wait for those. We went to the church site they use for the girls camps up here. It's a pretty cool place. They have this huge waterslide that you ride innertubes down. We camped there last year also, but I forgot my swimsuit then so I didn't get to go. I didn't make that mistake this year, and it was totally worth it. We canooed and tried to get the kids to sit on a horse that either Damon or I would have led around a little pasture. We had no luck with that. Devin would at least pet the horse, Brooklyn wouldn't even do that much. Maybe next time. And I cut Brooklyn's hair short for the summer. Poor girl, she would just be sweating around her hair line, and our house doesn't have air conditioning. She looks more like her birth mom with short hair than I've ever seen. I should have found a professional to cut it, but I got antsy and cut it myself. It looks ok, but I can see it's really uneven.

Boogyin'

Brooklyn and Devin are dancing to the Dixie Chicks while I'm jamming out making dinner. Previous to this they were holding hands to form a circle and dancing, it was so funny. This one is pretty funny too though. You hear me in the middle of the recording telling them to do it again. I apologize for my voice. Do I really sound like that? A voice coach told me once that if I learned to speak correctly, the sound I hear in my head of my own voice when I speak would sound just like when I hear my recorded voice. Does that make sense? Basically we all need to speak more nasally if we want to speak "correctly."

Sunny Summer Days in The Northwest

It's Sunny! and Beautiful! Funny how quickly I forget the rain, and just relish how beautiful the Northwest is now that summer has finally arrived. We got out the kiddie pool this week and set it up on the back deck. I had to empty it and put it away the same day because Devin would jump in it every chance he got regardless of what he was wearing. They would want to come in, so I would bring them in, dry them off, and get them dressed; and the next time the screen door opened, Devin would run out and jump in the pool. We had a lot of wet clothes that day. :)

Yeah Me! I ran my first 10K!

My time was 56.42. That is less than 10 minute miles! Damon ran it in 48.16. He skunked me, but that meant he was free to take the pictures at the finish line. The real rockstar is my friend Heather, who I ran with most of the way. She is 12 weeks along, carrying her 5th baby, and she ran the 10K today. Hats off to her. Then we went home and took naps. :)

Actually today is the town's birthday celebration, "Maple Valley Days". Damon and I came home after the run, hurried and showered, and left again with the kids to catch the town parade. We just made it to the end of the parade, but we were on our bikes (Damon was pulling the kids in the bike trailor) and they let us ride our bikes up the length of the parade while it was still going on so the kids could see it. It's pretty cool living in a small town. There weren't any huge floats or anything, but there were horses, and the kids liked that.

Then we came home for lunch, Damon and I were both starving, and really tired. And everybody took a nap.

Our trip to Utah

My younger sister, Liz delivered a beautiful, little boy 6 weeks ago. We went to Utah two weeks ago to visit the little guy. He is tiny. I think he was 5.5 lbs when he was born, but now he weighs 7 lbs. We had a good time and enjoyed the sunshine. I was able to run the Provo river trail and go for a bike ride with my dad. The man is a machine. He is 71 years old and bikes around 100 miles a month. We got hit with a hail storm while we were riding, but we took refuge in a bread store. The hail and rain stopped after about 10 minutes, and we were able to continue. We also went bowling with the kids and some of their cousins, and to the Bean Museum on BYU campus with my mom. The last picture is Devin and Brooklyn in the car at the beginning of our trip home. It seemed like we were driving into the sunset for about 2 hours. We loved seeing Grandma Bethers, my folks, and all the cousins and aunts. Thanks for the good times guys!

I'm running a 10K!

I saw the notice on the sacrament meeting program: my stake is sponsoring a 5/10K walk/run next month, and I am totally going to run it. I haven't been working out since my winter of sickness, but this has been great motivation to get me working out regularly again. I ran 4 miles on Saturday, and I am still proud of myself. I don't think I have ever run that far. Damon is going to run the 10K with me. I had to talk him into it, let's just say he owes me. I am glad he is running too. I've never run a group run before, not even a 5K, mostly because they usually cost money, and I'm too cheap to pay $40 to run 3 miles. Hello, that's why I started running, because it's free. Anyway, Yea me for running a 10K. Who knows what will be next, maybe a half marathon. ya, right.

Tid Bits, i.e. Ramblings

I love the way spices look when they are added all at once in recipes. The cool brown and greens. (See recipe at bottom).

I've discovered that here in the Northwest, I can't leave tomatoes in their grocery bag on the counter overnight. They will mold like I've never seen. With fuzz that was at least an inch long. Granted I did have the humidifier running in the kitchen that day because Brooklyn was sick, but still.

The pretty consistent cloud cover we have here has affected Damon much more than it has me, and we totally thought it would be the other way around. The other day he said, "The sun was just out, and now it's gone again." My reply: "Oh, didn't you know? We live in Seattle."

We are only a family of four, and though we have been that number for over a year and a half now, I'm still surprised every week by how much laundry we generate.

We bought electric toothbrushes after our last dental appointments. They are the best thing I have done for my teeth since I started flossing regularly. Seriously, they are the best.

This is one of my favorite recipes, I got it from my sister Deborah, and like I said earlier, I really like how all the spices look when I put them in.

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 C butter

1 1/4 C sugar

2 eggs

2 C pumpkin (you can buy this in cans in the baking aisle)

1/2 t vanilla

2 C flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t ginger

1/4 t ground cloves

1/4 t nutmeg

Cream up to the vanilla, mix dry ingredients separately and add to dry ingredients. Muffins bake at 375 for 20-25 min. 50-60 minutes for loaves. I use mini loaf pans. Mmm, yummy! Think of me when you make this, and, Enjoy!

Mother's Day

Damon took me rock climbing for mother's day. It was awesome. I have some of my own gear, shoes and harness, but it has been a LONG TIME since we have been rock climbing. I don't think we have really been since before we were married. We went to an indoor gym, which I have also never done. The girl at the front counter said we had to show that we could belay by ourselves without any help or we wouldn't be able to rope in, we would just have to boulder (climb about 10 feet up without any rope). Neither of us could tie ourselves in, as I said, it has been a while. Obviously they wanted us to pay for lessons, so I asked how much we could pay to have her teach us. She didn't charge us, but she did teach us, and she was a good teacher. I knew the lingo "On belay . . . Belay on." So she knew I had some experience. And then we climbed around for an hour and a half. I loved it. Damon was a good sport, he doesn't enjoy it the way I do. They mark certain climbs with tape, and you are only supposed to use those holds to make the route more challenging. Damon and I took turns climbing, and he kept saying he wasn't going to stick to the route, he was just going to use any hold that was available. But in the end he stuck to the marked routes. We all had a good time. Then we went to a sushi restaurant, which is Damon's favorite. Sorry I don't have any pictures of us climbing. I thought about taking the camera, but didn't.

Out and About

My sister Rebecca is no longer in Seattle with us. Sniff! Things did not work out with them moving up here. But we got out the weekend before we had to say goodbye and went to the Pike's Place Market, an indoor and open air market with lots of fun things to see, including this gum wall. All the little colorful dots are people's chewed up gum. I have to admit we were looking for it this time, but we didn't have to look too hard. The first time Damon and I found it, we totally stumbled onto it. It's pretty cool, like a work of art. The market tried to discourage it, but the locals won't be deterred. Cool in a gross kind of way, I wouldn't let my kids touch it. But still. Later we got lunch at a shop that makes thier own yummy cheese on site. We ate our lunch and got to watch the cheese churn in a couple of large vats. Then Damon had to stop by Iver's for some clam chowder. Then we went to the outdoor sculpture park. And Brooklyn got the ride the bus. We took the free downtown shuttle. She always talks about riding the bus. She saw some school kids get off their school bus once, and has wanted to ride one ever since. Overall, it was a pretty nice day.

On a bright, sunny Saturday we took a couple neighbor kids and went to the zoo. (Our annual passes from the Hogle Zoo in SLC work for this zoo also!) Mostly the animals were out, but just laying in the sun, who can blame them. But these two brown bears were all action. They walked down to their water, which is right next to the viewing glass and were wrestling and playing around in the water for a long time. A huge crowd gathered, and there were a lot of oohs and aahs coming from the building. Pretty cool.

The Good, The Bad, and the Unfortunate

At times I vacillate between angry/uptight and forgetful, it's a bad combination. I lost my wallet at Target last week. I was missing it for a couple of days and thought it could be one of three places: my schedule for the last day I had it was, doctor appointment for Devin, return a frame to Target, and work in the afternoon (another story in itself, Damon picked up the kids from my work when he got home. The plan was we would switch cars, but I accidentally gave him both sets of car keys, and didn't have a way to get home). Back to the missing wallet: I called work and asked if my wallet was in the lost and found. They said no. So I called Target and asked about it there. Lo and behold it was in their lost and found. Damon said, "That really worries me." I know, me too. I lost a diaper bag once that had all my ID in it, and at leat $100 worth of coupons and stuff. I have a tendency to sit things down and forget where I sat them, like wallets in grocery store aisles, I left this wallet in the cart I think. I used to not carry a wallet, I would just carry the cards I needed for the particular outing. My reasoning was that if I lost something, at least I wouldn't lose EVERYTHING. Turned out it was a bad theory, I could never find anything, license or credit card when I needed it. But the wallet is recovered, and I'll try to be more careful. It's kind of endearing, right, this absentmindedness? Or just annoying? I asked Damon which he preferred, the uptight me or the absentminded me. He pleaded the 5th, and continues to remain silent on the subject.

My Birthday

My birthday was actually last weekend. Damon and I took a nice weekend off. I surprised him by arranging for my sister to take the kids for the weekend. I told Damon my sisters wanted to take me to dinner Friday night for my birthday. But instead, I dropped the kids off and went back home to meet him. On the way to drop the kids off, Devin threw up in the back seat. But Marc (my sister's husband), nice man that he is, said, "Bring them up anyway, we've dealt with sick kids before." So Damon and I got a few movies in, did some shopping, stayed in a hotel downtown, and got to see a little of Seattle (from our car because it was cold that morning). Then we went back to the Jensen's and I made them Sunday dinner as a thank you. It was a great retreat, and again, thanks to the Jensens and Becki for watching the kids.

We love Craig's List

Here's the story: Damon found a 42" flat Panel LCD on Craig's list for . . . wait for it . . . FREE! Seriously this is no piece of junk. Just some rich Seattleite who wanted to upgrade. He had had the thing for two months and decided it was the wrong size. The best joke so far: A guy from the ward said to Damon, "well, you must be living right." Damon, with a big smirk on his face just said, "Nope." We all had a laugh.

Check out my Slide Show!

Just a little slide show to of a few of the latest events at our house. The first pictures are Brooklyn's 3rd Birthday, followed by Damon skiing, notice the beautiful mountain behind him, and a few pics of our Easter egg hunt at the Jensen's home. We miss you and love you all.

Happy Easter

I love dying Easter eggs. The eggs above are dyed with silk ties and onion skins. You wrap the eggs in the silk ties and then in a cut up sheet and boil them. It is so fun to unwrap the eggs after they have cooled and see what designs the prints transferred.

My sister told me how the date of the Easter holiday is determined: It is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring. We had all three right in a row this year, this is the earliest Easter has been in 200 years.

Saturday we went to my sister's house for an egg hunt and a birthday get together for my nephew, and then Sunday we went to the Taits for a nice dinner with their family who were in town.

Big Sniffers

Tonight we were asking Devin to show us where his nose is, “Devin, where’s your nose?” Brooklyn promptly showed us where her nose is and then told Damon and me that we have big noses.

Damon isn’t usually home in time for dinner, so the kids and I eat together, and I ask in our prayer that, “daddy will make it home safely.” Lately when Damon walks in the door, Brooklyn welcomes him with: “Daddy, you’re home safely!”

How cute is that?

Hmmm!

Damon bought a pool table on Craig's list (complete with laundry basket underneath, hee hee). And I have an unexplained aversion to it (the table and laundry). It could be that it takes up more room than I want it to, and two people max can watch TV comfortably now. Or that Damon wants me to keep the kids off and away from it, when I would rather they looked at it as a big jungle gym, which they do. Or perhaps that Damon is so good at pool, and I stink. You have to give him credit for trying to get me to like it, he bought me my very own pool cue. But regardless of my feelings it is here to stay, so when you all come visit me, the boys can play pool now and we'll leave and let them watch the kids. I have a bad attitude, I should like it, I know.

On Second Thought

Remember how I said I wasn't a disaster in the kitchen. Wait 'til you hear these stories. I was making a sauce, and the last step said to add corn starch, so I did. I put a little in some liquid, and it started to foam up, and I thought, hmm, that's never happened before. I added it to the sauce and the whole thing foamed, a lot. I looked at the container I had used, and I had added baking powder instead of Corn Starch. I threw the whole thing away and fed the kids ramen for dinner. Then . . . I'm at a church activity this week (the RS birthday dinner) and the lady in charge asked me to come early and help out in the kitchen. We set up an assembly line to put the meals together. I had moved a crockpot to where I was working, and I was peacefully serving up broccoli. Someone even came in and mentioned, "It smells like something is burning in here." I still didn't clue in. But after a few minutes, I picked up the crockpot to move it, and I had set it on a burner that was on, and melted the plastic feet to the burner. Fun Huh? Dinner at my place anyone?

Cheesy at the gym

So I was running on the treadmill this week (yea me!). And each machine has a T.V. attached, so I was watching music videos on M.T.V. (a secret indulgence of mine, I really like music videos). Some videos are super cheesy. In one of them the guy was playing his guitar on a stage with a million lamps set up, and food was exploding throughout the rest of the video. I was imaging the director saying, "OK, we're going to put a bunch of lamps on the stage . . . OK, cue the milk exploding. But they played Ingrid Michaelson's The Way I Am, and I loved it, I even got a little misty eyed, running on the treadmill at the gym, hello! But he takes her the way she is! And I love the two little girls clapping their hands. They are so happy for her. Enjoy!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jJOzdLwvTHA&feature=related

Pictures!

We finally got family pictures taken, for the first time ever. Actually we got them taken in November, but I just now got the digital files to post. They were taken in our back yard, which was really cool. I didn't know anyone up here to get photographer recommendations from. I did ask for one recommendation from a friend, but I tried that photograhper twice, and they never got back to me. So I was on my own. I found this guy online, and he was having a 30 year anniversary sale and everything was half price. Awesome! Brooklyn would not let him take her picture (notice the props in the pictures we had to use to get her to sit still). The poor guy was chasing her around our back yard for and hour and a half. We tried everything. He even asked me, "Has she ever been photographed professionally?" I said "no". But I swear it was just a phase, she wouldn't let anyone take her picture then, and now she will totally ham it up for the camera. Anyway, Yea, now we have family pictures!

Tag, I'll bite

This is my first Tag


A. The rules are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player answers about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people, posts their names, and then goes to their blog to let them know they've been tagged.


5 things I was doing 10 years ago


1. Getting ready to go on my mission. I left in April, I went into the MTC the day after my last final. And although I'm trying to cool it a little, I still seem to run my life this way. I was in charge of scheduling our flights back from Europe 3 years ago, and I booked the flights so tight that we were running the WHOLE way, and we still missed two connections. It was really embarrassing when they had to do an on spot search through my luggage and found my dirty undies (G's).

2. Trying to get in all the dating I could before the mission. I think it worked. There were a lot of boys at my farewell, and two of them were in the MTC with me.

3. Attending the Y.

4. Living with my folks to save money.

5. Working at Office Max in the Copy Center.


5 things on my to-do list Today


1. Laundry.

2. Find a dentist for our family.

3. Train Brooklyn to stay in her room at bed time. (So far we've been lazy parenting and just locking her door, she usually plays in her room for a while before falling asleep.)

4. Do physical therapy with Devin. He is caught up, but we still have to work on the bending and twisting at his trunk.

5. Take the garbage to the curb. Tomorrow is garbage Day!


5 snacks I enjoy


1. Doritos, I'll eat the whole bag if I'm not careful. Damon loves them as well. I asked him not to buy them any more (due to the above mentioned habit), and he accused me of trying to change his eating. I tried to convince him this was really for me, and not for him.

2. Oreos - another weekness.

3. Kettle corn, Damon converted me.

4. Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, again Damon converted me. This is the yummiest when you eat actual oreos and the ice cream together, yum.

5. And of course chips and salsa. They run though my veins, I swear.


5 things I would do if I were a billionaire.


1. Freakin' relax about the bills.

2. Pay of all debts, and all those of my loved ones.

3. Travel, of course, I haven't been able to feed that addiction in a while.

4. Charity and Research, wouldn't that be great?

5. Invest, I have to say it, Damon has brain washed me.


3 bad habits


1. I can't stay focused on one task, it's like I've become too good at multi-tasking. Thus, I can't get anything done.

2. Getting uptight if we're late. I'm working on that one, because I'm married to Damon, and he is ALWAYS late.

3. Picking at Stuff also. Damon and both of the kids hate it. Damon said he is going to create a ball that just has stuff I can pick at. I imagine it would be something like catnip for women. I wouldn't be able to stop until it was all unraveled.


5 jobs I've had


1. DMT publishing. I loved it, I designed the book covers, and such.

2. Bear West Environmental Company. I was a part time secretary, and mostly I just surved the web.

3. Nomen Global. I taught English as a Second language, but I only taught one semester, because I forgot to give them my upcoming semester schedule, so they didn't give me any classes on the schedule. Oops.

4. Mstar.net. Liz Hutchins got me this job/internship. It paid more than the job I have now.

5. Office Max. Fun and Interesting. Got my start in the copy business.


5 things people probably don't know about me


1. I love to make lists, because I love to cross things off them when I get them done. Does this say anything about me?

2. I think books are sexy. I love the way they look on a shelf, especially fiction, because that's what I read, and they have the best cover art.

3. Damon and I made out on a park bench in Italy.

4. I smell books. Actually, I open them and smell their pages. A habit I picked up at DMT because you can tell if it was printed on a press or a copier.

5. I always, always read the publisher's page in any book I read, even children's books. They are very interesting.


The truth is I only know 3 people who blog. And I only tonight discovered that Terra blogs, so I tag Terra and Chantal.

Valentine's Day Treats

I made Damon some chocolate covered brownies for Valentines Day. The guy loves brownies. I've included the picture of what the instructions showed the finished product was supposed to look like, and how mine turned out. Not too bad, just bad enough to laugh at. I covered half of the brownies in white chocolate, and half in regular chocolate. Then I was supposed to drizzle the opposite color over them (see picture). My drizzling was more like clumping. I put the best ones in front in the picture. So I'm not a total disaster in the kitchen, right? I can make dinner, but for some reason baked goods give me a hard time. You know the saying "made with love from Sally's kitchen" (or whoever). My little joke is that when it comes to cookies especially the saying changes to "made with stress from Rachel's kitchen". Seriously it is stressful for me to make cookies, they rarely turn out right. Oh well, maybe the oven's temperature is just set too high.

We've been sick, but we still have a cute photo.

I was sitting on the couch reading to Brooklyn, but my voice was totally gone and reading aloud was starting to hurt my throat. So I told Brooklyn I had to stop reading because I had lost my voice. She got up, followed me into the kitchen, and told me she would help me look for it. How cute is that?

I've been sick most of this winter. I'll spare you the details, the latest stories, trust me, would just be too much information. So now I'll just continue to shoot salt water up my nose like the doctors have told me to because I have a sinus infection. Seriously, I never knew about this practice until about a year ago. Using a medicine dropper to shoot salt water up you or your children's noses? What is this? TMI? Sorry.