Nate & Hailee's Blog

It's Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:40:00.003-07:00

This is the first time ever that I have had Halloween photos posted on the blog ON HALLOWEEN! It's also the first post in forever and ever, but here they are, all dressed up and ready to go.

Luke as Obi Wan Kenobi

Lucy, the Bride

Jane, the Pirate

Happy Halloween Everybody!

Back to School

2011-08-17T20:38:00.003-07:00

School is back in session! The summer seemed really short, but we fit a lot into it. Lucy is excited to stay at school all day this year. My big 1st grader! Jane is in 4th grade - relieved to be back in the routine of school.

I think I'm jealous of Jane's new school bag. We found this at Disneyland and knew it was perfect. She likes to embrace her inner nerd.

Why couldn't shoes have been this cool when I was a kid? Shoes with hot pink soles and lights? Black sequin sneakers? Totally rad.

And they're off! More to come on the fun things we've been to busy to blog about this summer!

"This is so fun..." (Repost)

2011-07-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

Anniversary Cruise

2010-11-09T11:29:00.006-07:00

This week, a year ago, Nate and I went on a Cruise to celebrate 10 years of marriage. It was always on my to-do list to get some photos up, but I'm a procrastinator. Self-diagnosed. I think there may be like a 1 year statute of limitations on blog posts, so before it's too late, here's the cruise.

Our friends Ryan and Michelle were going to be celebrating their 10th anniversary too, so we met up in LA and did the 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo. I resisted cruising for a long time because I thought it was for old people. I am not ashamed to say that I WAS WRONG. This vacation was the most relaxing, rejuvenating vacations that we have ever been on.

The first night onboard, we ate at our pre-selected dining time, at our assigned table. We really enjoyed the food, especially the desserts. However, the only other people seated at our table were a couple of little old ladies. They were as nice as could be, and hilarious, but their difficulty hearing the conversation made communication awkward. We abandoned the assigned dining idea and went for the any-time dining option for the rest of the cruise.

Docked at Puerto Vallarta

Wish the clothes matched the rest of this shot, but we just gone done swinging through the Jungle. If you are ever in Puerto Vallarta, you must do the zip line tour with Los Verranos Canopy Tours. It was crazy fun zipping down 14 different zip lines, through the trees, back and forth over the river. Below, you can see one of the Super Mexicans (their words, not mine) towing me to the end of the zip line after I stalled out.

One of the 2 formal nights onboard.

We took one of these open cab/golf cart things to the Golden Zone in Mazatlan. It was hard to tell what was 'Golden' about it. Maybe we just didn't find the best parts of Mazatlan, but I didn't love it.

We did find a beach at Mazatlan, but there were too many locals pitching their goods and services, so we stayed poolside at the nearest resort pool.

The tender boat that carried us from the ship to the marina in Cabo.

We took a water taxi out to Lover's Beach. From there we did some snorkeling (awesome!) and soaked up some sand. Can't decide if I liked this day better or the zip line day.

Lover's Beach is only accessible by boat. It is at the very end of the Baja Peninsula. This side is on the Sea of Cortez. A quick walk between those rocks brings you to the other shore, which is on the Pacific Ocean.

This shot of Nate and Ryan shows one of the water taxis as well as one of the tender boats from the ship and the ship itself.

The boat driver took us a little beyond the beach to Land's End, at the very tip of the peninsula. He said he's driven through the hole in the rock before, but I was happy to take his word for it.

If I look a little uneasy in this photo, it's because the boat was rocking violently while the driver had his hands on my camera, rather than the boat wheel.

I wish I had video of the really bumpy last day at sea, when the swimming pools sloshed out over the sides and once jumped right out of the "cold pool" into the hot tub all over Michelle. Probably funnier for me than for her.

Nate and I are already thinking about where to cruise to next. It's so cool that you get to visit lots of different places, and return everyday to the comfort of the ship. I will say that the first full day after getting off the ship was at times downright unpleasant. I never had trouble with sickness on the ship, but the sensation of rocking while standing on dry land is creepy. Hands down, best vacation ever. I hope to have many more to compete for that title.

Halloween and Stuff

2010-11-07T17:27:00.008-07:00

I'm ashamed to admit that even though I was raised by a mother who sewed halloween costumes for me every year, I have never sewed a single halloween costume until this year. Jane wanted to be a super hero. She designed this Super Jane costume and I did my best to make it so. Doesn't she look SUPER?

Lucy is always easy at halloween because she usually prefers to select an outfit from her own dress-up box. She chose Ariel, which is actually too small, but if she didn't know it, I wasn't going to tell her. She did get a new red wig. I didn't love the way the wig looked. Neither did she. She only wore it for photos.

Luke did not want to be a pirate. Aunt Shea brought him this awesome Captain Jack Sparrow costume from Disneyland, but he was really grumpy about it. He wouldn't even wear the red bandana that goes under the hat to cover his hair. His dad hid a music player in the costume that played music from the movie. Hilarious!

Claire was good-natured about her ladybug costume, even though it was pretty warm that night.

Jake is Obi Wan Kenobi.

I dressed up as a dead movie star. Once we got to the trunk-or-treat at the church, I kinda regretted my costume choice. Nobody wanted to talk to me with all that makeup on my face! Jane took some photos for me.

Here are some other shots that I took of everyone just doing what they do. All the craziness that goes on lately means I don't get the camera out as often as I should. I don't want a big empty spot in the photo album from this time in our lives (yeah right, I don't have any albums, but it's on the to-do list).

Playing School

Lucy is my "little mommy". She will do anything I ask to help take care of the baby.

Third Day of School

2010-08-11T10:11:00.005-07:00

I'm a couple days behind, but school did start on Monday, and here's how the school kids looked.

I'm not sure who was happier, them or me! It's been rough on everybody being stuck at home during the summer. Jane is excited about her 3rd grade teacher, who seems to be a lot of fun. On the Friday before school started, the mail carrier delivered a beach ball to our door that had been mailed by Janes's teacher, fully inflated, like a post card - with a stamp and the address written right on the ball. It said, "Jane, we are going to have a ball in 3rd grade. See you on Monday!"

Jake and Lucy are in the same kindergarten class. It's only 1/2 day kindergarten, which they seem to like. I miss the days of free all day kindergarten... At least they seem to be getting along with one another and making new friends. I'm grateful for a schedule that doesn't include all the kids all the time. Yay for school!

Me on the last day of summer break. I'm so done.

Enjoying a big rain storm

Luke finds someone he can relate to at Old Navy.

Claire plays referee to Jake and Lucy

A nice game of Sorry in a tiny tent.

Cousins Visit!

2010-07-09T15:55:00.007-07:00

All of the Utah cousins came down for a visit at the beginning of June. It was great to watch the kids get reacquainted with each other after a long time apart. My sister Allison has 4 kids and my sister Sommer also has 4, so my kids were in Heaven with so many cousins to play with.

Allison's family stayed at my house for the week. It was my first time EVER having out of town visitors at our house. I really liked the nights, after the younger kids went to bed and having breakfast with everybody in the morning.

We had a really weird cold front move in while they were here, which was extremely nice, but it spoiled the kids' fun on the day we went to the splash pad at the park. They all stayed wrapped up in towels. Sorry, no photos of that.

I did get some photos of our lunch with Granny at Pedro's in Glendale.

Gavin dealing with stretchy cheese

Granny eating by the little girls

Gavin and Amelia sharing a knuckle bump? Mom and Katelyn looking awkward.

Luke and his cheese crisp

Gillain and Jane

Allison, Henry and Elliot

Lucy doesn't like having her picture taken so she always acts like a dork. She's like her mom. Except I don't act like a dork on purpose. It's inherent.

After lunch we took Granny home and then treated the kids (ok, and the moms) to a visit at our favorite candy shop, Smeeks, in central Phoenix.

Allison considers Elliot's candy selection

Jane and Lily play with a wind-up toy.

These glasses are part of a disguise basket that is there for kids to play with.

Lucy is thrilled to be here, as you can see.

Mom with Reese and her gum ball.

Psshooo! Psshooo! Psshooo!

Time to plunk down a bunch of money for not that much treats, but it's the experience, right? At least there's free gum.

The rest of the week was filled up with playing at Grandma's, a birthday party for Henry, an adult date to Kona Grill and Gelato Spot in Scottsdale, and lots of chaos. We also passed around the stomach flu all week. I wish we could get together more often, so we don't have to cram everything into one week, but I'm glad we had the chance to get together!

New Temple and Roper Lake

2010-04-24T22:12:00.008-07:00

The Gila Valley Temple in Thatcher, AZ began giving its open house this weekend. We took the kids over to see it and to camp at nearby Roper Lake. The tour guides and hosts at the temple were obviously so proud of their new temple and were happy to show it off. It made me excited for when we will get to show off our own new temple near our home.

Roper Lake was serene and quiet. I think because it's so flat there and Mount Graham towers next to it, the area has a strange peaceful atmosphere. It was really windy when we were there. We got to go with some of our friends from the ward.

Michael and Michelle's family

Fishing, but not catching

Sometimes Lucy takes pictures

Luke tags along with Maxnmyles

Snowy Mt. Graham is in the background

My Blog Nags Me

2010-04-09T21:53:00.006-07:00

Blog: You should say something.

Me: I don't know what to say.

B: It's been 2 months since you posted anything.

M: No it hasn't.

Oh I do see that. Hmm.

Well I wouldn't know what to start with, it's like not talking to someone for a long time and then calling them up to tell them something little and dumb.

B: Well you really should say SOMETHING. What makes you think anybody even checks anymore. There's never anything new.

M: I write the blog for me. I don't need anyone to check my blog.

B: Yes you do.

M: OK fine I do. But I don't even have any new pictures to post. Everyone knows that nobody likes to read a blog with no pictures.

B: What do you mean? What about all those pictures you took at Disneyland?

M: Oh yeah. Well I haven't even taken them off the camera yet.

B: Yeah you did.

M: Oh right, I did.

I forgot.

Maybe I could just post one good one and that could be like the "ice breaker" post and I could blog about something regular and dumb after that.

B: Good. That would at least be SOMETHING!

You could write about the garden. Write about how the kids actually did a good job of helping get the weeds out of the garden so it could be planted. And how they each picked something that they wanted to plant in the garden and that Luke picked bananas. And how Lucy loved her strawberry plant way too much and it nearly died, and how Jane chose to plant four watermelon plants and named each one and how Jingleheimer is still clinging to life, but John, Jacob and Schmitt died almost immediately.

M: Huh. That's kind of not bad. What else?

B: You could write just a little about Disneyland.

M: That's boring. Everyone has been to Disneyland.

B: But not everyone gets in free. For 3 Days!

M: Yeah, that was pretty lucky. It sure is nice having a sister-in-law who works there. And it was pretty fun showing Disneyland to Luke and Lucy for the first time. Luke about freaked when he saw Buzz and Woody, and I love how seriously he took his driving on Autopia. And who knew Lucy was a roller coaster lover? I couldn't believe she loved Space Mountain. She wouldn't even go on Splash Mountain.

B: There was that so bad?

M: No.

B: Will you be better about updating your blog from now on?

M: Yes

B: Promise?

M: Well...

No.

Can I be done now?

B: Where's the photo?

M: Oh yeah. Here.

click it big. It's cute.

Photos of My Own Kids

2010-02-09T12:57:00.005-07:00

I'm always photographing other people's kids, but I hardly ever take the time to get mine dressed up and cute for some photos. I was testing a new location and my only test subjects were Luke and Lucy. I figured as long as they had to be in the pictures, they might as well look nice. You like? Me too!

Rootbeer makes a good photo prop/distraction

He's not mad, just silly

Making Lemonade

2010-01-12T16:12:00.002-07:00

You know what they say about life, and what to do when it gives you lemons - or a kid who is adamantly against potty training.

I was looking in the fridge for a tempting beverage to give to Luke so that I could flood his system and thereby provide plenty of opportunities for using the toilet today. I spied a big bag of lemons that I had bought on sale and decided to make lots of lemonade. Luke loves it, and needless to say, the bathroom has been busy today, but so has my washing machine.

Anyway, you know what they say about potty training. Practice makes piles of laundry.

Okay I made that up.

Christmas

2010-01-12T11:26:00.010-07:00

Here are some photos from Christmas. We spent most of the day at Nate's parents' house where we had exchanged gifts and had lots of food.

Luke opens a tee ball set

Jake and Lucy open matching paint sets

Playing with toys in their Christmas hats.

Tired Kristene

Lucy is so happy with her new bike from Santa

Allison and Nathan's family came down from Utah after Christmas. We had so much fun at our After-Christmas party when all the kids exchanged gifts. We had Sommer and Jeremy on the computer too using Skype so they could see everyone who opened gifts from them. In my memories of that day, it's like they were there! I love technology.

Grandma and Grandpa gave all the kids hiking sticks with their name engraved on it for Christmas. It's a thing between Grandpa and the kids to have hiking sticks when they go camping, so they liked them. We all went on a hike up Waterfall Trail at the White Tanks while Allison's family was here. It was fun to seen Jane enjoying her cousin Gillian so much. Luke and Lucy especially love having Henry and Elliot here too.

Grandpa, Henry, Nate, Luke

Lily and Grandma

A slippery climb just to see a tiny pool of water where the waterfall wasn't falling. All the kids wanted a turn, so of course Luke had to go up there too.

Pals Jane and Gillian

Katelyn was there

Allison was there too. I think I was there, but I'm not sure because there are no photos of me.

Henry and Lucy follow the rule of holding hands to cross the street

A bunch of kids

Luke and his aunt Allison saying their goodbyes.

You want a Christmas card? Here's your Christmas Card!

2010-01-12T10:44:00.003-07:00

Christmas seems far behind us now, but I didn't ever get a chance to blog about it. Christmas was a good finish to a long year. It's nice to have the familiar traditions, music, food and family to make everyone happy and comfortable.

Anticipation

Hey, my sister made me a jewelry box for Christmas!

Hey, me too!

The Year in Review. Here are a few notable events from our year.

*We moved all the way across the neighborhood.

*Nate got a Blackberry.

*Hailee returned to photography with her first wedding and several more booked.

*Our dog, Bindi, died suddenly after 9 years of being awesome.

*Hailee and the kids grew a garden which actually produced for the first time ever.

*We went camping in Colorado and had an amazing time.

*The kids enjoyed swimming all summer at our old house before it was sold in September.

*Nate went back to school for his MBA.

*Jane turned 8 and got baptized.

*Lucy started "Home School" (her words) in lieu of preschool.

*Luke kept us all entertained with his excellent vocabulary and enthusiastic personality.

What a year it's been. I'm happy to be staring a new year right in the face and making plans for a bigger and better year. What's your year look like?

Halloween and a Birthday

2009-11-03T20:29:00.003-07:00

The kids dressed up two nights in a row, first for our ward trunk-or-treat, and then for actual Halloween. After all the festivities were over and they had collected two bucketfuls of candy, guess how many pictures I had taken of them. Zero. After my parents dropped by for a pre-bedtime visit, I dragged out the camera and got them to stand still for a couple shots. I love Luke's expression in these. It's indicative of his attitude the whole time. As soon as he realized what was going on with the whole trick-or-treating thing, he started doing a little happy dance and shouting, "More, more!" every time someone dropped a piece of candy in his bucket. He ran 90% of the time we were trick-or-treating, only because the other 10% of the time he was falling down. I wasn't smart enough to get any video of him either.

Lucy turned 5 today! She has become quite the conversationalist lately, so we've been talking about it for weeks. She woke up smiling and proud that today was finally HER day. She just went go bed, smiling with satisfaction. Apparently today was everything she hoped it would be. At 5, Lucy is positive and optimistic. She likes to help wash dishes and empty the dishwasher. Whenever I ask her to "set up the table", (her words) she always responds with a bright "sure!" She is becoming interested in reading and wishes she could do it by herself. She is learning letter sounds with me during our "preschool" at home everyday and loves to say "that's easy" every time I give her instructions for a new page. She's funny and pretty and is getting quite tall - a cute little lady!

Parenting Success

2009-11-03T19:35:00.003-07:00

As parents, we sometimes wonder if what we're trying to teach our kids is sinking in. But every once in a while, we catch a glimpse of something we've taught being reflected back to us, and we realize that we're doing something right. Recently, we had such a moment with Luke. Watch the video...

No, It Doesn't Make Me Feel Old

2009-09-29T19:43:00.005-07:00

This is pretty late, but I still wanted to post about Jane's big important birthday! We have an 8 year-old in the house! Jane's birthday was a couple weeks ago, but she's been counting down for months. Her desktop wallpaper says "It's great to be 8!" She makes her own wallpapers with Photoshop. I should post some of them here because they're kinda cool. Anyway, I would have to agree that in many ways, it is great having an 8 year-old in the house. Lately, on the weekends, Jane has been getting up with the younger 2 kids and helping them get breakfast while I stay in bed a little longer. Two weeks ago, on Sunday, I walked out of my room and was greeted by 3 kids who were all fed and dressed for church. Shoes too! Jane knows how to make brownies all by herself and she can handle some pretty big chores (if properly motivated). It's nice to be able to rely on her for some real help instead of the kind of ~~hindering~~ helping that Lucy does when I let her cook or clean with me.

For her birthday, we gave Jane a shrink-art jewelry book from Klutz Press that comes with instructions and supplies to make real jewelry from shrinky dinks plastic. I'd have to say it's the best $25 I ever spent on a kid. She has been making jewelry for herself, Lucy, her friends at school and even earrings for me non-stop. Here she is with her favorite butterfly necklace.

For her birthday party, she got to go on a girls' night with her cousin and my sisters and mom. We went out to eat and then painted pottery together. As you can see, Jane painted a fish.

She requested a new dress for her baptism day and I was happy to oblige. She was so much more excited for her baptism than I remember being when I was 8. It was really nice to see so many friends and family all gathered to support Jane on her big day.

And just to illustrate what a thoughtful young lady Jane is growing up to be, I thought I would post this lovely sign that Jane made for Lucy. I hope you enjoy the bloody scab that is dangling from Lucy's knee in the middle of the picture.

Young Women Handout

2009-09-11T13:56:00.004-07:00

Lesson 35: Living Righteously amid Pressures

I use a lot of other people's handout ideas for my lessons, so I thought I would share one of my own.

This is sized to fit on a package of Orbit gum. Get it? Chews? Click Here for a whole sheet of these to print off.

I'm related to Adam (by marriage)

2009-08-24T20:34:00.005-07:00

Nate and I were looking around on new.familysearch.org last night. We like to click on a family member's name and then click on that person's parents and that persons parents and that persons parents until there is no more information on that particular family line, just to see how far back we can go. We started with Nate's grandpa, Albert Bowler, and clicked his father, then his father's father and so on. While we were clicking, and getting back into the 1400s, we talked about how we're sure someone somewhere has traced their roots to Adam. The father's fathers kept on coming and soon we were seeing like 300 AD. The names had already changed from Old English to Jewish names and we were shocked that this family line had made it through the medieval times, indicating royalty because records of peasants were not kept during that time. The word "King" appeared in front of several of the names. Suddenly we saw Joseph of Arimathea, born 80 BC. He is the one who donated his own tomb for the burial of Jesus Christ. We kept on clicking, past Noah, right on through, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham and then finally, Adam (first man) and Eve (first woman). That's exactly how their names are listed.

We couldn't click any more past that.

A self portrait from several months ago. Lucy made me add the crown. Fitting I'd say.

Texting...

2009-08-17T09:13:00.004-07:00

Periodically throughout the day I will text Hailee to see how she's doing and just say hello. The way that I do this is the same every time.

My text always is this:

"How's it."

That's it. That's all that needs to be said. What's replied back is great and I thought I would share a few of the replies:

"How's it." (yes that is a valid reply)

"Luke pee-peed in the potty."

"At my mother's."

"Lunch."

"Feedin kids."

"Cleaning kids"

"Going to swim"

"Good"

"Starting a load of laundry. It's awesome."

I guess to the casual observer this may seem quite boring. But how is it any different than Twitter or Facebook. At least this way it's my wife and not some random person.

Colorado Trip

2009-08-05T22:39:00.005-07:00

Fun Valley sure was fun this year! What I had forgotten about it is that most of the people who visit there are from Texas (I don't know why that is) so we end up picking up a little Texas drawl and folksy tendency to talk to everyone we see. Nate overheard an exchange that went something like this

"Hah, how ya'll doin?"

"I'm fahn, how're you?"

"Well, I reckon."

Nate tells it better. Anyway, the people that run the place are all retirees, and they're happy to help and talk all you want. After a week, I start to get used to everybody and it's fun when we go back how we recognize a lot of them again. So until next time...

Goodbye lady at the snack shack with the drawn-on eyebrows and the tiny mouth.

I'll miss you guy with the handlebar mustache who sits in a booth at the arcade, making change.

See ya next time, neatly dressed gentleman who runs the golf shack.

Bye jovial guy who drives the trolley around all day with his dog Snickers... or Schnookums...or something.

Bye other guy who drives the trolley sometimes and can't hear us yell "stop!" when we want to get off.

Goodbye Lady with the droopy cheeks and pink lipstick who sells the tickets to do all the fun stuff.

It's important to me to get a lot of photos of our trips because I can barely remember this place, or any other place we went to when I was a kid. I think there were about 550 on the camera. Here's a few for you.

Jane and Lucy flagging down the trolley

Waiting to go fishin' at the stocked pond.

Jane caught the biggest and Lucy caught the most.

Luke just wanted to hold one.

This was right after the rain stopped and before I cooked dinner. Late afternoon after the rain was a fun time to come back out and play.

Luke, cleaning up everyone's breakfast bowls.

Inside the tiny log cabin playhouse

Nate and Jane tubing down the river

The Fam

This boy loves trucks. Nuff said.

Mini golf. It's fun for about the first 3 holes until people start stacking up behind us and the kids aren't paying any attention anymore, but won't let us call it quits.

Eulogy

2009-07-01T22:27:00.004-07:00

I’m swimming.

I look up, and all I see is the blue of water all around me. Then her substantial black body and her four black dog legs are swimming overhead. Like a dolphin playing near a ship, I twist slowly to avoid her churning feet, and watch her sail on. Moments later, I am sitting at the edge of the pool, soaking up the sight of my family playing in the water, in the sun. She comes to sit beside me and I reach out to pat her back. I listen to the slap, slap, slapping sound of my hand on her fur, still heavy with water. These are some of the last moments with her that I would have, because later that night, she would die, passing from this life to the next while we slept.

Since we aren’t having a funeral for Bindi, and her body already rests somewhere in the desert, under a tree, where Nate says she can be in the shade, I felt I needed to memorialize her somehow.

On the day Bindi joined our family, she was young, but not a baby, kind of like us. We were still newlyweds and went to get her within hours of learning that she was looking for a home. We introduced her to our backyard and imagined she would like it there, but after 4 days and nights of crying and standing with her nose pressed to the back door, she got her way and became an inside dog. She was an instant member of the family, accompanying us on snow trips, trips to the pool, and even one crazy middle-of-the-night drive to the beach, and camping. Camping with Bindi was something to look forward to. She was her best self when she was camping. She loved having her family outside with her all the time, and she loved chewing pinecones and exploring the forest. We had to put a glow stick on her collar at night because she blended in with the darkness.

I’ve said before that if Bindi could talk, I know she would make me laugh. She had a funny, cheerful personality. She knew when to be serious too. She learned all the rules and obeyed them (mostly). We never could convince her not to jump up when people came to the house to visit. She didn’t jump onto them, just up high in front of them, the better to see their face. She had a loving nature and welcomed all people and dogs to our home.

My ears miss her. She was really pretty loud as far as dogs go, and not because of barking (although I was proud the first time I heard her big, deep bark). Her panting could be heard by people on the other end of the phone. She also had some sinus thing or apnea that made her snore loudly in her sleep, but she could be silenced with a firm SSSHHH! Whenever she put her nose to the ground and went around sniffing, the same apnea thing caused her to make a chugging sound, like a train. And lately, she always let out a long groan as she lowered her body to the ground to lay down – probably because of sore hips. All these sounds became a part of our home and our lives, and it feels quiet, even with the three kids running around.

Seems like a lot to say about a smelly, hairy dog. It’s OK if you think I’m weird. I think I’m weird. I didn’t think I would love an animal this way, but I did. I do.

Bindi May 5 2000 - June 30 2009

Freeday

2009-06-26T23:14:00.003-07:00

Jane and I sometimes talk about how we wish there was a day called Freeday. A day where you could relax and play, or if you had to, you could use it to catch up on stuff you can't do during the other seven days of the week. It would probably fall somewhere around the weekend - Thursday, Friday, Freeday, Saturday - or maybe it would be a floating day that you just insert anywhere you feel you could use an extra day. Today it felt like we got our wish. It was one of our lucky Fridays that we get during the summer when Nate works four 10 hour days and then his office is closed on Friday. We all did some jobs in the morning (as I suppose one would still have to do on an average Freeday), then we got to lazy around the house. I was at the computer, Nate was on the couch with the remote, the kids were in the basement (ahh), and there was nothing else we felt like doing at the moment. When there was a knock at the door, everyone rushed to welcome our guest, Chuck. Chuck is our friends' new puppy who came for a sleepover while his family is out of town. After introducing him to our own doggie and getting him settled in the backyard, we had lunch and stuck Luke in bed for a nap, then we picked up right where we left off with our various diversions. At 3:00 we went swimming at our old house. It was the perfect day to swim. The sun was hot and the water was cool, but not cold. We showed Chuck how to swim and we all paddled around the pool until the clock said it was time to go home. We brought home Sonic burgers and drinks for dinner, then Nate put on some Michael Jackson music (in honor of the late, great) and we danced. Later, the kids and I played outside with the two dogs until the sun went to bed.

Not all of Nate's Friday's off are like this. We probably should have been doing more, and we'll have to make up for it tomorrow (which isn't how Freeday is supposed to be), but it's one of those days that I'll remember.

Jane is getting a few pointers from Dad on her dancing. This is to help her avoid dancing in the style of Elaine Benes of TV's Seinfeld.

Bindi and Chuck walk around side by side and kiss all day. He's too young for her, though.

Slushes

2009-06-18T09:59:00.005-07:00

The kids and I have gotten Sonic slushes several times this summer. I'm hooked on the Cherry Lime slush. Jane favors lemon-berry, while Luke and Lucy like the fake grape and watermelon flavors. I'm pretty sure that each kid at different times has used the straw to break up the slush for better drinkability, only to end up poking the straw straight through the styrofoam cup. Why do they all have to do it? Don't they learn from watching their sibling cry and moan over having their dribbling cup snatched away by mom and hurried to the nearest trash receptacle? If they can't learn from each others' experiences, does that mean I will have to teach them each separately all of the same things? Will I have to explain to Lucy and then to Luke, just as I have to Jane about sharing and hitting, about why we don't pray to Santa, why we're not democrats, how the toilet works, electricity, fireworks, thunderstorms? One day I became overwhelmed, thinking about all the things I want to teach them. Isn't it my job to make sure they know everything I know? I started making lists in my head of skills I should pass on like crocheting, photography, sewing, writing, singing...

Then I stopped worrying. I thought about all those things and realized that those are not things I learned from my mother. I picked up most of those things from books or by practicing, just because they were things I wanted to be good at. My mother did teach me how to cook, how to french braid hair, and probably all of the homemaking skills that I have. She also taught me to invite the weird, smelly girl to my birthday party because how would I feel if I was the one who got left out? Then when I was the one who got left out, she taught me that girls can be mean and that the fact that I was the target of their treachery didn't necessarily mean anything was wrong with me. She taught me about Jesus Christ, and about prayer and recognizing the answers when they came. She taught me about faith and obedience, integrity, forgiveness... Now that, I can teach. Those are things that I still work on every day, so it's easy to teach my children as I go along. As long as I teach them how to be good human beings, whatever skills and talents they pick up on their own are just bonus features. And if they end up poking a few holes in styrofoam cups, I guess they'll learn about that on their own too.

Summertime Blues

2009-06-15T09:14:00.009-07:00

Isn't summer supposed to be relaxing? We haven't had much time to unwind yet this summer. We moved 2 weeks before Jane finished school, so between unpacking, taking photos, entertaining kids and maintaining 2 houses, I'm still waiting for things to slow down.

Speaking of two houses...Since we have an offer on the house we recently moved from, we have to make sure we keep the weeds and the pool under control.

Like this.

I also have a garden that's still growing over there, so I water it and pick the vegetables every few days.

Before

After!

Last Saturday, Nate and I each had been in and out of the house a few times doing a few jobs. As I was leaving the house with the kids, I hit the button to shut the garage, but it only went down about 2 feet and then froze. "Aw Craaap". I said. I hit it again, and it went down 2 more feet and froze. I got out of the car thinking Great, Nate's gonna be mad that there is yet another thing to fix at this house we don't even live in. I checked the sensors to see if they were aligned. I waved my hand in front of one of them, and the garage went up! That's never happened before. Must be something wrong with the sensors. I ran back and forth between the button on the wall and the button in my car, stepping over the invisible line made by the sensors a few times. But the stupid thing just wouldn't go all the way down. Just as I was getting ready to disengage the opener from the door and close it by hand, I hear "Beep!" That's the pathetic little horn on Nate's truck. He's parked behind my car, just out of sight LAUGHING HIS BUTT OFF with his finger on his garage remote. Hilarious Nate. I laughed/cried/punched his arm a little bit because it was pretty funny/embarrassing/really mean. Then I didn't give him the drink I had that he wanted.

I'm not in the mood to be teased due to my latest project (see below).

I hope to blog more often now, simply because every time I check my blog feeds and see that someone has gifted me with something new to read, I feel guilty because I don't pay anybody back with a post of my own. Hope everyone is having a happy summer!

Halfaday

2009-04-16T22:23:00.008-07:00

While I was packing to move today, I found a book about face painting that came with some face paints. Since Jane had early release today and usually spends all day asking for something to do, I thought I would let her play with it. I knew she would like it, but man! She was all over it like honey on a hot biscuit! She stood in the bathroom all afternoon and painted and repainted her face. Lucy had several makeovers, and Luke did too. If only I had known... I have bought her so many crafty things that require me to stay right there and help, if only to contain the mess. This turned out to be one activity that required no help or supervision from me plus she actually entertained the younger ones, and all it cost me in the end was a minute of wiping down the bathroom (and whatever the paints cost me about 12 years ago).

I already felt like Nice Mommy for that little bit of fun. Then when they came running in and told me the ice cream truck was coming up the street (Luke was chanting "Ice.Cream.Ice.Cream."), I remembered the money they got from Grandma's Easter eggs. They each had a 1 dollar coin pressed into their palms when the truck rolled up. It was their first ice cream truck encounter. Luke loved his green push-up which he thought was a drink. Lucy chose a cherry italian ice with a gumball at the bottom. Jane got a fudge bar. What?! A fudge bar? I have those in our freezer all the time. At least the girl knows what she likes. Thanks Grandma for the dollars!

Oh, and Luke ate poop today. He came up to me saying "unh, unh, uhn" with his mouth hanging slack and handed me what was unmistakably a little marble turd from his own diaper. It had a bite out of it. Boys are awesome.

This is what happened yesterday when I picked up the phone to talk to Nate for a minute. I was mad at first, but then I told him good job for stacking them so high! Talented son of mine.

Baby!

2009-03-09T08:39:00.004-07:00

Katelyn and Brian's little girl was born on Saturday night! Her name is Lily Jill. Nate and I got to meet her yesterday. Here's a few pics.

Easy Care

2009-03-06T16:54:00.006-07:00

While I was washing some dishes today, Luke came and asked me for something. I have no idea what he was asking for because I was distracted by how disgusting he looked. His hair was full of some sticky substance and it was standing up in every direction. His face had at least three layers of different goop encircling his mouth and his hands looked like he was wearing dirt gloves (to be fair, he had, in fact, been digging in the dirt). So I put the dishes down and thought to myself I'll wash that one instead. I laid him down on the counter and stuck his head under the running water. I just used the dish soap that was right there to lather his head, then I rinsed and patted his head dry with a paper towel. Using the same paper towel, I cleaned up his face and hands, then styled his hair with my fingers, put him down on the floor and patted his butt. Two minute makeover complete! I'm sure others before me have figured out how easy it is to take care of boys, but I'm used to girls with the bathing and the blow drying and the brushing. I would take more boys for many reasons, but this just adds another big one to the list.

This wasn't from today. Same boy, different mess.

Hailee Needs Stuff Too

2009-02-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

A Special Space

To find a Forever Home

A Horse

To stop hitting

Free music downloads

LadySports Full Wrestling videos

A newspaper for Paul Johnston headlining all actions and thoughts between Hailee and Paul.

Timberland Tall Boots

A Labrador Retriever

52 Perfect Days

Nate Needs ...

2009-02-24T09:41:00.003-07:00

Go to google and google " (Your name ) needs" and write down the first 10 things:

1. Nate needs help.

2. Nate needs a haircut.

3. Nate needs explosive thermal detonating muffins to fight evil. (I swear that was in there. I can't make this stuff up.)

4. Nate needs your votes.

5. Needs to Make More Plays to Earn His Salary. (Huh?)

6. Nate needs an assistant.

7. Nate needs a permanent home.

8. Nate needs a strong human pack leader who will teach him boundaries.

9. Nate needs a job.

10. Nate needs a car.

Try it. It's pretty funny.

Shower!

2009-02-22T22:25:00.008-07:00

This post is mainly for Allison and Sommer who couldn't make it to Katelyn's baby shower. It's also for me because I think everything turned out so cute!

Pretty food and cotton candy (made by my Dad).

Appliqued onesies double as party decorations

Grandma Jackson, Aunt Jennifer and Camryn sharing treats.

Don't look at Katelyn's expression. Look at the sweater. I made it!

Katelyn set rules about the position from which I was allowed to take photos. I broke a rule.

Katelyn likes the dress sent all the way from Utah.

My New Blog

2009-02-22T21:42:00.002-07:00

Good News! I have started a new blog for my photography and for a 365 day photo challenge! Please subscribe to the blog so I'll feel the pressure to keep it updated! Those of you who know our prior blogging record may be sceptical about my ability to post every day, but give me the benefit of the doubt and head on over to see my first post! I'm hoping that the excessive use of exclamation points will add to the excitement and entice you to check back often! Go here!

http://haileephotos.blogspot.com

25 things...

2009-02-12T10:24:00.005-07:00

1. I use to play the Violin. I was just ok at it. Keep in mind though that when your kids start playing the violin there is what sounds like “nails on a chalkboard” screeching for about a year.

2. I have more guns than I would like to admit. (7…I think)

3. I watch My Fair Lady when it comes on TV. (I would never intentionally put such a girly movie on but if I am channel surfing I’ll stop and watch).

4. I dunked a basketball…once. I have witnesses. It was awesome.

5. I have been mugged. (I was 13 and was puking behind a building at the State Fair and some guy tried to take my hat. He didn’t get it)

6. My parents got arrested in a Russian airport and I got them out by telling the police they were stupid Americans. Yes I guess I called my mother stupid, but it got her out of jail. Two things I thought I would never do: call my mother stupid and get my mother out of jail.

7. I have never kissed anyone besides my wife.

8. I love using public transportation. In fact, I got the best grades I ever had when I rode the bus.

9. I fell asleep and missed my transfer on the bus and went all the way to the MAYO clinic (It was far). The bus driver kicked me off the bus and said he was on break (I was the only one on). I got back on after his break and was about 2 hours late getting home.

10. Some people probably know this but I married my best friend’s girlfriend. To me that’s not the funny part. The funny part is, 10 years later, we are still best friends. He was even the Best Man at my wedding. ("The Better Man")

11. I love the beach but I cannot stand being sandy. It gets everywhere! Nooks and crannies that you didn’t know you had! It stays in your ears for weeks!

12. I can’t stand cockroaches. Big ones. I once had one fly and hit me in the forehead and other time I looked down in the shower and one had crawled all the way up to my knee. Nasty.

13. I have watched the same SportsCenter 4 times in a row. (They replay them on a loop in the morning) Da na na… Da na na

14. My first year at GCC I took Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday classes so I could go to BYU on the weekends. I flew for free. (One of the classes was co-ed volleyball. What a great class.) One time I didn’t spend a dime thanks to a fellow blogger finding me a ride and the girls at Helaman feeding us. I guess it would have been a totally free weekend but my dad wouldn’t come and pick me up from the airport so I had to shell out $17 bucks for a Super Shuttle. I am still mad about that one.

15. I sing Sweet Child O Mine loudly every time it comes on.

16. I once caught a huge 6 lb. 18" bass with my bare hands at Canyon Lake. I felt like a bear catching salmon. I smacked it out of the water and onto the shore. *Grrrrrr*

17. I wore bifocals from the age of 4 to about 12. They were coke bottles. Really thick, really nerdy.

18. I like Coke better than Pepsi but Diet Pepsi better than Diet Coke but Dr. Pepper is all I really drink.

19. I was Pre-Med for about a year and then I realized I didn't want to go to that much school. I also realize that this is not unique to me. I think everybody is pre-"something" and realizes that it's too much school and does something else.

20. My first car was brand new (15 miles on it but I put 12 of them on during the test drive) and it was completely paid for. So much for that. That will never happen again.

21. I know Excel better than anyone I know. Here’s a tip. If you have to add a bunch of cells up, try Alt and the “=”. See what happens.

22. I love the Suns. I love to watch basketball. I am really good at it too (Watching it). I suck at playing it.

23. I once changed the oil in both of my cars in under 30 minutes. Which reminds me, I think I am overdue to change them now.

24. I want a blackberry, really bad. Is that wrong?

25. This list was brutal. I can’t believe I did it. In high school or college I would have probably done only 15 or 20 and hope for a “B”. I guess when you work full time, married with kids at home a “B” is ok. Right?

BTW - Tag Hailee you're it.

Don't Adjust Your Screen

2009-02-08T21:58:00.007-07:00

Your eyes are not deceiving you. Yes, it's a new post from our long-silent blog! After the super busy rush of family photo shoots that happened well into December, I spent the rest of the month avoiding my camera altogether and soaking up the Christmas activities with my kids. It has taken me a long time to get Christmas decorations put away and catch up on many many things that have been put off for too long. But I was obliged to dust off my camera last week when I photographed my little sister's growing belly and I was reminded of the fun photos that have been sitting in my camera. Click to see them big!

My family has always liked the light parade that happens at the beginning of December, but other obligations usually prevent us from going. This year, we all decided we definitely wanted to go. There was much shirking of prior commitments, but everyone made it and we had a splendid time sipping hot cocoa and eating donuts while we watched the glittering lights.

I was pleased to host our family Christmas party, which actually happened a few days after Christmas so we could include Allison's family who drove down for an extended visit. It had been almost a year since we had seen my sister! That's really hard to get used to when I spent every day of my life with her growing up (and every night putting my legs on her when we shared a bed), and we lived only a few minutes away from each other since then. Seeing her just made the missing worse. *sniff*

Sommer's kids stole the show with their Chinmunks and their rendition of Jingle Bells.

Lots of presents were opened, and all the kids got to play together again.

I blog in my head all the time. Sometimes I even take pictures with the idea of blogging about them, but at the end of the day, I'm usually a tired mommy and it's much easier to just get in bed and eat something chocolatey. I should consider blogging in the morning...

Beautiful People

2008-12-10T15:51:00.008-07:00

Nate's parents came by on their way to an office party. Nate thought they looked nice (I thought they smelled nice), so I took a photo. How nice!

Nate was nice enough to stand in for a test shot while I was setting up my lighting. I was nice enough to post it here so you could take a guess at what he ate for dinner. Click to see it nice and big.

Just to be fair...

This is me getting tired of Nate taking test shots of me. Nice.
There are so many more interesting/beautiful things I could post about, but for some reason, this is what I came up with.

SUMO!!!

2008-11-28T19:21:00.003-07:00

Our friends Ryan and Michelle are in town and today they invited us over to their parents' house. They had Sumo suits!!! That's Ryan in the red and Nate in the blue. (Sorry for the quality. It was taken with my phone.)

Reasons Not to Iron

2008-11-19T21:07:00.002-07:00

As if anyone needs a reason not to iron. I have never felt like I even know how to iron, let alone the fact that I just don't like doing it. But today, I was a good little wifey and decided to repair some clothes and iron some other ones. I set up the ironing board in the living room, where I had a partial view of Luke and Lucy watching TV in the other room. Everything seemed nice and quiet until I decided to go look in on them. As I walked in the room, Lucy held up something small and exclaimed, "Look what Lukey did!" with an accusatory tone in her voice. It didn't take me long to realize that it was a key from the laptop that had been left out on the couch! After I pulled my hands away from the sides of my face, I examined the (newish) computer and found that Luke had pried off a bunch of keys - 6 and 2 halfs to be exact. I was sweating and freaking out while I looked closely at the keys to see if any little parts had snapped off. After I got the hang of how they should go back on, I turned and looked at Luke, who already knew he was in big trouble. He got his poor dimpled little hand spanked and he had to listen to a stern scolding.

Is it wrong to take pictures of my kid while I'm lecturing him?

Now Nate is reading this on his laptop and looking to see if he can tell which keys were severed. He's lucky he wasn't here to see the laptop with bare spots where keys should be.

By the way, dear. I ironed your purple dress shirt so you can wear it with your Suns ties on game day. Gotta support the team. Go suns.

Kids in Costumes

2008-10-30T22:42:00.009-07:00

It's a day early, but I had time to do this earlier in the week, so here's the Halloween photos. I thought Luke would HATE his doggie costume, but he loved it. He was so happy just walking, walking, walking everywhere in it. Lucy picked an old Sleeping Beauty dress from her dress-up drawer (lucky for me) and Jane likes her bride costume because it's LONG.

Wednesday Review

2008-10-30T21:02:00.005-07:00

Yesterday was a Big, Big day for me. Normal days for me typically have a lot of A.D.D. moments where I get sidetracked from one project after another and it's hard to get anything done. Sometimes I just get stuck in a time warp where hours are sucked out of my day before I'm returned to the normal space-time continuum. But not yesterday. Here is a review of my day.

1. Read Scriptures, Made 3 breakfasts and one lunch, scooted Jane out the door to School.

2. Shower!

3. Paid some bills, wrote a note to a Visiting Teaching sister, mailed it.

4. Loved on Luke for a while.

5. Cleaned my Dirty kitchen.

6. Walmart trip for some grocery basics and some Halloween Essentials.

7. Lunch!

8. Dirtied my Clean Kitchen while making chili for ward Halloween party.

9. Simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer.

10. Charged camera battery, erase memory card, collect photo gear.

11. Made a ti leaf lei for my Halloween costume.

12. Gathered costumes and accessories for kids.

13. Went to do a photo shoot for a nice family.

14. Went to ward Halloween Party. Trunk or Treat!

15. Kids in bed. Yeah!

16. I voted (early)!

17. Worked on editing photos of another Nice Family until yesterday turned into today.

Today I did a lot of nothing.

I did a little more work on photos, but mostly I wasted time online. Then I made this:

Spaghetti and Eyeballs. Spooky.

Enjoy Luke enjoying spaghetti.

"When in the Course of human events..."

2008-10-26T19:57:00.005-07:00

Ok. Other bloggers have been putting their $.02 in the political arena and I don't necessarily agree with any of them. Here's something very neutral.

We all get interested when we see that someone has a new entry to their blog. Take the time to read this one. This is where it all started. I wish more Americans would read this. Take note of words like "God", "Creator", and "Supreme Judge". I think it stands on its own.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

I Love Christopher Columbus

2008-10-17T23:34:00.008-07:00

Nate and I took the kids out to California last weekend to celebrate Christopher Columbus Day. Yeah, it's pretty much our favorite holiday. We really went to visit our friends, Ryan and Michelle and to take some family photos for them. Jane and their daughter, Emily, are BFFs. I had to grab this sad, sad picture off their blog of the two of them when it was time for us to go home. Compare it to how happy they were when we first got there and you'll know that they really will be Best Friends Forever...and ever.

Now, Ryan and Michelle, here's a sneak peek of what I'm working on for you guys. More to come soon!

Busy Busy!

2008-10-17T23:17:00.004-07:00

You may have noticed that my blog posts have become fewer and shorter. I've been busy working on my photography! If I'm not actually editing the photos from a job I've done, I'm usually learning as much as I can about new and better ways of doing it. I did my first commercial job last week for a cookware company. They had a popular Mexican TV host endorsing the cookware, so everyone there was really excited to be working with him. I had to learn some new lighting techniques and buy some new equipment in just a couple of days, but the shoot went well and I learned a TON. Mostly about what NOT to do, but still...

It's been a challenge for me while I'm trying to adapt to being a stay-at-home mom and a work-at-home mom. One of the young women from our ward was asking me a few questions for a school project and she asked me if my chosen career made it easy to keep up with my kids. "Easy?" I repeated. "No, not easy. But definitely do-able." I'm still learning how to balance both parts of my life, but I'm so grateful that I am able to do both.

Crying Shame

2008-10-16T19:25:00.003-07:00

When we went to Walmart the other day, Lucy had a pair of pink sunglasses on. As we were getting out of the car, she pushed them up onto her head and asked if she could wear them into the store. She looked so cute with them on, so I let her bring them. I must have forgotten my rule of never, ever, ever bringing anything into the store. The whole time we were shopping, I would look at her and say now where are your glasses? We went looking for them and found them three different times. Finally, as we were leaving the store, I looked and she didn't have them. I did remember where she had set them down just moments before, but when we went back they were gone. So Lucy got her first lesson about being on the losing end of that old familiar phrase. Finders keepers, losers....well just look at her.

Fluff 'n' Fold

2008-10-16T19:17:00.006-07:00

I know you're not supposed to let your kid play in the dryer, but what are the chances that the dryer would suddenly turn on with me standing right there and the door open. I almost made him get out, but I couldn't resist the little "Hee-hee-hee" that came from the dryer every time I threw another handful of wet clothes in there.

"A Toofer"

2008-10-05T15:43:00.004-07:00

After Priesthood session we loaded up in the family truckster and headed for our neighborhood pizza place (they really have awesome pizza but they also have the best honey hot wings in the world). Jane has been wiggling her two front teeth for awhile now but they never really were getting loose enough to come out. She started wiggling one of them alot and even showing off as to how far she could get it to wiggle. It seemed like it was still in there so we all just kept eating our pizza. All of sudden she says, "I got it!" And there it was... one front tooth. She bled a good amount but didn't care a bit. We teased her about how silly she looked but she loved it.

Later on that night she kept working at the other one and we had know idea she was doing it. Apparently she was just sitting on her bed grunting and working at the tooth and yanked the 2nd one out!!!

As if looking at her with out any of her front teeth isn't funny enough, she talks funny now too. As we were getting ready for conference this morning, I could hear her singing songs over and over again. It was because she liked how she sounded with her new dental work.

She made sure to hang on to these ones so she wouldn't have to leave the Tooth Fairy a note as why she was requesting money but had no tooth to show for it.

Suns season is starting...

2008-10-02T13:06:00.004-07:00

Most people that know me know that I am an avid Suns Fan. This year the excitement is building because the team has added some very good pieces and they will be good. Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shaquille O'Neal are no doubt the stars. Add Matt Barnes, Grant Hill, Boris Diaw, "Ryan's sister" Lopez, Leandro Barbosa, Goran Dragic, Raja Bell, and a couple of other young players and you have yourself a pretty decent team.

This blog post is meant to start to get you excited for the new season. Which logo do you like the best? Do you like the new? Are you old school?

1.

2.

3.

4.

Bowler Bucks

2008-09-07T08:16:00.003-07:00

One aspect of our Colorado trip that we had to mention was Bowler Bucks. Knowing that we had a 10 hour drive we knew we had to create some incentive for being good on the trip. Hailee's parents had done this on some of their trips when she was little so we decided to try. Let me tell you it worked great. For every hour that you are good you get one Bowler Buck. We also had a "store" that would open up when we stopped (Gas stations, potty breaks, etc.) The store was filled with chapsticks, tootsie pops, little purses, sunglasses, card games, ring pops, notepad and pens (pretty much anything that I could get at the dollar store). Different things were worth different amounts. Like I said it worked great and the kids loved it.

I think there was only one time that someone didn't get paid but I will let you guess who didn't get their Bowler Buck. (And no it wasn't me)

Stomping Shadows

2008-09-04T16:37:00.002-07:00

I posted this on a photography forum today as part of a monthly photography contest. The theme for the month is "Me and My Shadow". I took Lucy outside and told her to jump really high and stomp on her shadow. She did it! This photo cracks me up.

Colorado Trip Continued....

2008-09-02T20:21:00.008-07:00

Colorado: Days 1 & 2

2008-08-24T20:38:00.016-07:00

Yes we know this is long overdue but better late than never right?!!!

Days 1 & 2 of our Colorado trip was not even in Colorado at all. We actually split the 10 hour drive up into 2 legs and stopped in Chinle for the night. I had been there many times before and been down in Canyon De Chelly hiking. Hailee had never been and thought it would be a fun hike so we did it.

The kids looking down into the Canyon.

This is what they are looking at. This is called the White House. If you hike down you can't go into them but you can go right up to it. It's pretty cool.

Getting started...

As you start the hike there's a tunnel cut out of the rock. Notice our t-shirts. Hailee and the girls made them before the trip.

Luke liked the backpack and on the way up even fell asleep in it!

He's a great hiker.

Family photo op.

After that we hopped in the car and were off to Fun Valley!!

More to come later!

So...

2008-08-12T23:23:00.004-07:00

As you can see, it's been a while since I've posted anything and here's why.

I have a new web site! Click it! Tell your friends!

New Camera

2008-07-13T20:19:00.004-07:00

So you've probably seen the blank screen post from the previous camera for awhile now so here's some from the new camera.

I've been trying my luck at photography and using Hailee's new camera. Here's some recent ones.

Luke at the splash park.

"Why am I always fenced in?"

Jane

Lucy swimming up to visit Uncle Brian.

Well? How'd I do?

Ok...

2008-07-13T19:50:00.003-07:00

It's been awhile... Here goes.

This past weekend Sommer's kids were over and needed something to keep Gavin occupied. Let me rephrase that. I needed something constructive to keep Gavin occupied. Gavin has no problem keeping himself occupied. So what did I do? I put him to work.

I told him earlier in the day that he was going to change my oil in my truck.

Taking the oil out.

Oil on the oil filter.

. . .

Now we have to get under the hood.

Oil back in.

He did good.

Gavin also learned a four letter word that we don't like... CAN'T. He wasn't allowed to say that word anymore. He CAN do an oil change.

Last Goodbye

2008-06-11T09:25:00.011-07:00

My camera bit the dust recently. This was it's last dying image. I'm really going to miss that camera because it's so little and I kept it in my purse all the time, so I could capture anything, anywhere. It also had a sneaky little feature that took 2 pictures in a row - one with flash and one without - so I never had to think about my lighting. I could just pick the best picture and throw out the other one. It's a lazy thing for a semi-retired professional photographer to do, but I wish all cameras would do that.

I took the kids to the splash pad near our house last week. I'm not the kind of nice mommy who frequently takes her kids to the park - I hate the park - but our summer schedule has it written in permanent marker on Tuesday (did I really put that there?) so we went. I have to say, the water keeps the area cool and the fence around the place keeps my mind at ease, so I didn't mind it at all!

Here's Jane enjoying the splash pad with her usual exuberance.

Here's Lucy enjoying the splash pad with her usual spectator aloofness.

A little unsure...

He's getting into it. Yes, he has shoes and socks on. His marshmallow fat feet don't fit in very many kinds of shoes, so I don't have sandals for him.

He can't ignore the big jug of soda in mom's hand for very long. It was right after this that I put the camera into my shoulder bag with a water bottle with a lid that was loose. Bye-bye camera.

But wait...

what's this?

Nate went out and bought...

This!

I'm so happy.

Things Kids Do

2008-05-30T21:42:00.008-07:00

Here are some random photos of what the kids have been up to lately.

Luke with his bruise that is almost constantly there - the badge of any walker with a learners permit.

Jane made this lego house. It's complete with a sofa, a bed and a big screen TV on the inside. She ran out of legos before the house got a roof.

Clean hair. Rare.

Lucy makes it a point to see the inside of the restroom of every public place we visit.

Lukey see, Lukey do. He loves to copy his sisters.

One Year Wiser

2008-05-30T21:04:00.005-07:00

So yesterday was my birthday - 31! I kind of liked turning 30 last year, but now I feel like I look every bit 31 and I'm not interested in seeing how 32 I look next year. Seriously though, I don't really care how old I look. I do think we should take the phrase "Another year wiser" to heart and just go by that, like a points system. Instead of the question "How old are you?" We would ask, "How wise are you? Oh, 31? Wow, that's great! I'm only 25. I wish I was as wise as you."

The kids, of course, love a birthday, so they gave me some cute picture frames with photos of themselves that Nate helped them with. They tried hard all day to be good and told me Happy Birthday about every 10 minutes. Jane took this birthday photo of me. Then Nate came home at lunch time with a babysitter and took me away for the rest of the afternoon. After the kids were in bed, Nate brought me Chinese food and we ate it in front of the TV while we watched the 2 hour L O S T finale. The best birthday activity ever. I guess your opinion of what makes for an exciting birthday evening changes with age - er, wisdom.

New Episodes

2008-05-30T20:30:00.009-07:00

This blogger hasn't necessarily been on strike, but the Union (family) has kept me busy lately. Plus I've still been painting kitchen cabinets. The cabinets are done and the walls got some color too.

Before

After

Now that school is over, Jane is driving me crazy with the "Mom, what can I do"? and the "Mom where are we going today"? The girl just requires way more stimulation than she can provide herself, so it's my job to make sure she has enough to do. I have come up with a detailed schedule telling her what she should be doing nearly every hour of every day. I'm pretty sure this will help me avoid those grating questions, but I'm also fairly certain that she won't stick to it. Now she will know what she's supposed to be doing, but she will sit on the couch and play Mario Kart wii instead.

Jane's Graduation *snort*

Jane with her teacher, Mrs. Musselman

My Knees Are Great

2008-05-02T22:03:00.008-07:00

I heard Lucy singing her version of the second verse of "I Am a Child of God" to herself. Does she wonder why she sings about her knees in primary? Probably seems normal since they also sing about her head, shoulders, knees and toes.

I haven't had much to blog about lately since every moment of free time has been spent painting my cabinets. I didn't appreciate the fact that my kitchen has lots and lots of cabinets until I had to coat each side of each door with paint 3 times. We did get away last weekend to go to our ward campout. It's the first ward campout we have ever been on. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was actually pretty fun! It was really low key without a bunch of lame structured activities. We were glad for the trial run with the trailer to make sure it's ready for our big trip to southern Colorado this summer. ☻

Luke is Turning 1 ♥

2008-04-18T08:38:00.007-07:00

Luke's birthday is on Sunday, and we have been asked what he would like for his birthday. After observing his play habits, I have come up with a list. For his birthday, Luke would like:

-Remote Control
-Cell Phone
-Silverware basket from dishwasher, full of only knives
-Refrigerator
-Electric Shaver
-Rocks - any kind, they all taste about the same.
-Set of pots and pans - He prefers glass lids
-DVD player - It doesn't have to work so long as the DVD tray slides in and out.
-Doggie dish full of water (Lucy added that one)

Jane Bloomed!

2008-04-13T10:26:00.006-07:00

Ever since Jane got the book Leo the Late Bloomer in December, she has perceived herself as a late bloomer because she hadn't lost any teeth yet. Well, she finally got a loose tooth last week and worked on it diligently for about 3 days. After school on Thursday, she told me she thought it was almost ready, but she wanted to have a snack - a popsicle - first. After a few minutes outside, she came running in and showed me the gap in her mouth and said, "Mom, it's gone!" I asked her if she pulled it out, and she said, "No, it's GONE!" We looked around the backyard, but I'm convinced it went down the hatch with her popsicle. She panicked when she thought of the tooth fairy, so I told her to write a note. I didn't get a chance to read it until the toothfairy retreived it from under her pillow later that night. It's definitely a keeper. Click it to get a better view.

Reflections of Christ

2008-04-09T15:33:00.004-07:00

Nate and I had the opportunity to view the Reflections of Christ photography exhibit that was on display at the Mesa Temple visitors center recently. The very first photo I looked at took me by surprise. I guess I wasn't planning to feel the spirit as strongly. Each photo shows a moment in the life of Christ in such thoughtful detail, and the music that played in the background, which was produced by an old friend, Jason Barney, enhanced the experience. I'm grateful to the photographer, Mark Mabry and all others for their insightful and inspired work. It's not quite the same as being there, but you can view a slideshow of the photographs here. I hope that the music and images eventually become available for purchase in some form.

Jane is Terrific

2008-04-04T10:16:00.005-07:00

Jane was chosen to be the Terrific Kid at school this week. That means she gets to bring Terrific Teddy home with her and write a page in Teddy's book about all the things they did together. Teddy has been to the homes of EVERY child in Jane's class, so we encouraged her to make Teddy his own bed, rather than sleep with her. Jane also got other perks this week like having a book made by the kids in her class about the things they like about Jane. She got to bring a Show and Tell item every day and she got to have photos of her family displayed on the bulletin board at school. Mom gets to bring a treat in for her class on Friday. Unfortunately, after Mom and Jane spent several hours cutting out heart shaped brownies and decorating them, Hailee remembered that the school doesn't allow homemade treats to be brought into the classroom. They have to come from the store. So now the brownies are in the freezer, waiting to be served some other time to people who don't mind the possibility of being poisoned because of our questionable kitchen practices. Now where's that dog? I need her to get in here and clean these dishes!

Chef Jane

2008-04-04T09:48:00.005-07:00

Jane has a new cookbook that Hailee ordered for her. She likes to pick something that she wants to cook so Mom can get the ingredients for her when she goes to the store. Then she reads the recipe and follows the directions while Mom helps her with the cooking part. She hasn't always been willing to help with the cooking, so this is a good way for her to learn her way around the kitchen. Jane likes her cookbook and Mom likes Jane's new attitude about helping in the kitchen.

Monster Burgers

wii is back

2008-04-04T08:51:00.006-07:00

Our wii console has been in the shop for the last couple weeks. After getting it back broken the first time, everyone has been anxious to have it back. Hailee thought it was fun to see these three playing together.

Growing Boy

2008-04-02T10:23:00.005-07:00

Our little boy is growing much too fast. He turns 1 this month! Lukey-Boy - as he is often called - has been having fun trying new things like playing outside with his sisters and walking. What are we going to do when he's not a baby any more? We have had so much fun with this little boy in our family. Jane still thanks Heavenly Father for Luke (and nobody else) in her prayers. It's easy to see why.

From the Archives

2008-04-02T10:01:00.006-07:00

I was looking through some of our old pictures and saw this one of Lucy. She's our mischievous child. I only have a few pictures of some of the terrible things she's done because most of them are too distressing to stop and take pictures. Two days ago, she opened a new jug of laundry detergent and spilled a BUNCH of it on the laundry room floor. Luke patted and splashed in it while Lucy wiped it all over the place in an attempt to clean it up. No pictures of that. It was "2x Concentrated." I found out that means "really hard to clean up." Anyway, this photo of my little white haired granny was taken after she had found a big jar of vaseline in her room (we used it for diaper rash). She went around her room and up and down the hall scooping blobs of it out and flinging them on the carpet. Her sun dress was so covered in vaseline that it looked wet. Her hair looked the same way, so I put her in the tub and shampooed like crazy. After drying her hair, it looked exactly the same as before! For future reference, the way to get vaseline out of hair is to rub cornstarch into it while it's dry. The cornstarch binds to the vaseline and can then be shampooed out. It works, but it takes a few tries. The sun dress hit the trash. The carpet still bears the scars.

More Easter Pictures

2008-03-26T15:57:00.011-07:00

Here's the girls in their Easter outfits. The boys didn't have anything cool to wear. Hailee sewed her own Easter dress this year.

Coloring Eggs!

Great Grandma Jackson with Luke.

Lucy is proud of the Easter eggs she found at Grandma's house.

Nate and Jane are on Spring Break this week, so we went hiking this morning. Luke was a great hiker. He fell asleep for the last half!

Easters

2008-03-24T20:17:00.006-07:00

Well we woke up to see that the Easter Bunny brought baskets of candy and had hidden some eggs (Just in the nick (sp.?) of time btw. It was early on a Sunday morning c'mon.)

Luke finally got the hang of it.

(Sorry for the blur. The camera was out of batteries and wouldn't focus. It was early on a Sunday for the camera too.)

I think we subscribe to the theory already mentioned by a fellow blogger about holiday candy. Eat it 'til it's gone or until your body doesn't want any more!

NBA Debut

2008-01-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

I was soooo nervous. Everybody (Suns people) told be to shoot long because it looks shorter than it is. For now I will say for my NBA career I am 50% from 3-point range.

More comments to follow.

Well...

2007-10-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's been a busy week. I don't think I remember having so much crammed in one week. Having Monday off was nice. In fact, a fellow blogger gave us the idea to go ice blocking (actual ice) at the park. Jane was pretty skeptical at first and was really disappointed that we weren't going to spend the whole time on the slides, etc. I was pretty skeptical myself having only done this when I was in high school and remembering that it never worked all that well the first time you went down. To my surprise (and Jane and Lucy) I cruised down the hill the first time and confirmed my status as the "coolest dad ever". Jane was hooked. Lucy was more interested in watching than actually sliding down.

I also did something that I have been wanting to for a long, long time. I went on a ride a long with our favorite cop. That was one of the coolest things I've done in awhile. Here's a summary of our night:

Tended to a couple accidents

Responded to a house alarm (false alarm)

Went to some psycho old lady's house and told her there was nothing we could do (actually we left before she finished her life story)

Pulled over some pimped out SUV driver for watching TV

Took a guy convicted of DUI off the road for driving with a suspended license and took him to jail (btw we had his car towed and someone locked the keys in the car... with it running. They towed it anyways.)

Backed up another officer busting 2 illegal immigrants for drugs and driving on suspended license. (Oh, and on that one as the officers were holding the 2 guys, I pulled out my trusty surefire (flashlight), went down the street and found the baggy of cocaine that they tossed out of their car before the other officer could pull them over)

Not the most exciting night but pretty eventful if you ask me. More eventful than I was expecting. I am beginning to believe that it is the coolest job ever. Thanks favorite cop.

Are you afraid of the dark?

2007-10-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

Over the last few nights Lucy has been extremely scared of going to bed. She continues to want to prolong the nightly routine. Not to just stay up but because she has been just scared when she goes to bed. We know this is just a phase and we need to comfort as much as we can without perpetuating that there is a need to be afraid. Tonight, as we got closer to bedtime, Lucy was again getting more and more anxious about going to bed. In the midst of Lucy's apprehension, Hailee asked her what she was so afraid of. Without skipping a beat she walks over to the light switch, flicks the light off and says, "That!"

Perseverance

2007-09-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

You can get through any obstacle if you apply yourself.

мир тесен

2007-09-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

Pronounced meer tyessin. In russian, that's how you say "It's a small world". Directly translated it means "the world is crowded".

I went to the mall today on my lunch break to pick up a suit (BTW - the first suit I have bought since my mission). I fully expected to run in and run out. I went in and Hailee was there with here sister getting a Cinnabon (mmm... those are good). Then my aunt was just across the food court at Johnny Rockets and I stopped to talk to her. My quick trip to the mall was turning to a family reunion. On my way down the mall I yet again ran into someone I knew (a fellow blogger) and the first thing she says to me is "I'm glad to see that you are blogging!" Not a "Hello", not a "How's it going?", "I'm glad to see you are blogging". We chatted for awhile and then after our good-byes, the last thing she says to me is, "Keep blogging!"

мир тесен.

Not only did I run into all these people at the mall but I think thanks to Ryan and Michelle, blogging has made the world that much smaller. And they're working on it being more crowded. Literally!

Hijacked

2007-09-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

I have officially hijacked the blog and have taken over. Haven't had time to do all that I want but here's some. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Here's three-thousand.

Went to S.D.

Went camping and Lucy sat on a cactus and we played washers.

More to come...

Taking Over

2007-09-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

After constant ridiculing and being "banished", I have been convinced take over this blog.

Who Is Nate?

4 JOBS I HAVE HAD:

1- The BK. I think everyone that sees this blog will remember this. Especially the "Whopper no tomato guy" that comes through and expects to pay only for his whopper and get a large drink, fries, and anything the guy working at the drive thru (me) will give him.
2- Cleaning Parking lots- A backpack blower strapped to my back and getting dirty in orifaces that I didn't even know that I had. Start at 10:00 pm and get off work at noon. Ugh.
3- Uhaul - Nothing but sheer hatred for that job. I won't even rent a truck from them if it's free.
4- Finance Analyst for a school district (lovin' it, for now.)

MOVIES I COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:

1- It seems kind of redundant in itself but.... Groundhog day.
2- Back to the Future (any of them but the 1st one always the best)
3- Shawshank Redemption I think the only reason I could watch this one over and over is that it is on cable over and over.
4- Any Indiana Jones. Did you hear Harrison Ford is making a 4th one?
5- Fletch "Are ya' using the whole fist doc?"

FAVORITE T.V. SHOWS:

1- Lost. If you haven't seen it. I let you borrow the DVD's. It's that good.
2- Seinfeld. I too never saw a single episode of a new one. I probably have every episode memorized.
3- Sportscenter
4- Suns Games.

FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1- Suns Basketball. Sorry for the repeat but it has to be done. This will soon consume my life again starting the end of October. Anybody want tickets?
2- Camping in our popup.
3- Hanging out in the pool with the kids
4- Getting that call "you wanna play?"

PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1- West of Phoenix
2- Russia
3- Phoenix
4- Northwest of Phoenix

PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:

1- San Diego
2- San Diego
3- Camping on the beach in San Diego
4- Home (I am actually at home I just like being here)

WEB SITES I CHECK DAILY:
1- Ryan's Blog
2- ESPN
3- Suns.com
4- Azcentral.com

Can I now be "unbanished"?

House Hobby

2007-01-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

I sometimes wish that I had a different hobby. Most people pick a hobby and they get to go ahead and pursue it because the cost is often reasonable. Photography, scrapbooking, firearms, woodworking... Then there's my inexplicable interest in homes - mid-century modern homes no less - the single most expensive purchase most people ever make. It's not like I can just collect homes. All I can do is read about them, draw them and plan for the perfect mid-century ranch house that I may or may not have some time in the future.

Here is a house that I drew using a consumer grade home design program. For now, I call it Courtyard House because it was designed with the kitchen and eating area as the central focus of the house with a huge glass wall overlooking a private front courtyard. Click any image for a larger view.

The front elevation. Imagine it with a gate next to the screen wall to fully enclose the courtyard.

The software I was using doesn't have a 6 foot screen wall and gate to enclose the front yard. I added a screen wall with Photoshop in the image above. Also, the landscape options are limited, so just imagine a serene patio area with a fountain.

The entry with sliding closet doors on the left and the garage and powder room doors on the right.

The kitchen is designed to feel like a stage with a u-shaped central area and a wall of pantry cabinets on the back wall with the appliances.

The kitchen overlooks a large dining room with an open view to the outdoors. Plenty of room for artwork and a sideboard on either side.

The Living Room has a lower ceiling height to delineate from the kitchen and make it feel more cozy.

Click the Floorplan for a larger view.

Dirty Jobs

2006-12-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

Being a mom has to be one of the most disgusting jobs there is. Mike Rowe talks about poo like it's no big deal because he sees a lot of it. I still think I've been in more poo than he could shake a stick at, and that' s only the beginning. If Discovery channel wanted to air an episode of a really dirty job, it would go something like this...

*Mike Rowe on his hands and knees, cleaning up the mess that results when your 5 year old busts into your bedroom at 2 am and says "Mom, my tummy HURRLLLAAAHH." A bucket of water and a rag seem pointless when looking at at least 5 different puddles with visible mandarin orange pulp and spaghetti Os mingling with the hair in the carpet that shouldn't be there except that the maid - also known as mom - rarely vacuums upstairs (or downstairs).

*Mike makes some snappy joke about poo while he cleans doggie diarrhea from the carpet in an unused bedroom that the dog decided to use as a bathroom one night when she was sick and didn't bother asking to be let out. He would need to be pregnant and gagging as he scooped the stuff into a bucket and gazed hopelessly around the room, seriously considering just walking away, locking the room up and never using it again.

*A particularly comical scene would be when Mike would have to strip naked in the kitchen because a baby has just barfed all over both him and herself, then go cry in the bathtub with the baby because it is the third time this has happened today.

*Have Mike steam clean the carpet, then have a 2 year old dump a 44 oz soda on it before it's even dry. Also, the same 2 year old should pour toilet bowl cleaner with bleach on the same carpet. It would be funny to watch Mike frantically scrubbing to try to get the bleach out of the carpet before it starts to change colors. Then he would be seen pushing a bean bag chair over the spot where he wasn't quick enough.

*They could have Mike crawling around on the kitchen floor, picking up roly poly maggots, fat and yellow after they escape from the trash that had flies (and apparently fly eggs) in it. It would be fun to watch him as he discovers that the disgusting creatures had made their way into a pile of towels that were waiting by the washer and then has to pluck their fat little bodies from deep within the strands of terry cloth while trying not to squish them between his fingers. He would then continue to pick up stray maggots here and there throughout the day and then dream of maggots at night.

*Finally, Mike could do a scene where he has to pull about 30 fat, juicy ticks off of the dog. The best part would be when he mistakenly thinks that a good way to dispose of the ticks is to step on them and he gets bug guts and dog blood spattered on his face and hair. Then, after all that work, 3 days later he has to do it all over again because the ticks are back, more numerous than ever and they are piled up in between each and every one of the dogs toes. And he's pregnant.

During all of his scenes, Mike Rowe should smell like something gross, such as baby puke or poo and there should be something sticky in his hair. And there should be someone asking him for a drink or a snack the whole time.

Friends in Great Places

2006-11-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

This past week Nate has been in sports overload. Tuesday flying to LaLa land for a Suns Lakers game and driving back Friday for a Suns Clippers game (both of which the Suns lost). Even though we didn't get to go to the Clippers game, I don't think he will be going again soon as it may be a sign of bad luck to go to a Suns game in LA. We did however get to hang out with Ryan and Michelle at their house this weekend. The kids love playing together in fact Jane never stops talking about Emily. We had a great time.

(Are you happy now? You know who you are.)

Posers

2006-08-18T22:43:00.000-07:00

Jane and Lucy like to pose for pictures and then run to look at them on the digital camera. I usually only get one shot of any given photo op because they don't stay there long enough for another one. They are already on their way over to see the results! It's scary how much these kids are growing. It's hard (thankfully) to remember Jane as a barfing infant or when Lucy was "sleep training" so that she would nap for longer than 23 minutes at a time.

Look What I Did!

2006-08-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I revert back to about 5 years old, like when I needed my mother to "watch me go down the slide". I am shocked at the results I have gotten from crocheting since I learned how last Christmastime. See how cool these hat and booties are! It was easy. I actually learned how to crochet the modern way - from the internet. Which got me thinking about all of the things (both useful and utterly useless) that I have learned from the internet. I have not put all of these things to practical use, but nevertheless I know how to do them should the need arise.

21 Things I Have Learned How to Do from the Internet

1. How to crochet
2. How to hang drywall
3. How to make real Italian tomato sauce
4. How to install sheet vinyl flooring
5. How to teach my dog to behave
6. How to lay a pavestone walkway (with or without a concrete slab)
7. How to build a drystacked stone retainer wall
8. How to make homemade bread
9. How to order, pour and finish concrete
10. How to lay a ceramic tile floor
11. How to select and install a wood floor
12. How to patch drywall
13. How to make candy suckers
14. How to pronounce Richard Neutra (It's NOY-tra)
15. The works of furniture designers Harry Bertoia, Charles and Ray Eames, and George Nelson
16. Different types of furniture joinery
17. How to create my own typeface
18. How to hang grasscloth wallpaper
19. How to grill corn on the cob
20. How to perform a breast augmentation
21. How to install cable railing

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. There's lots more. My sisters think I'm really smart. My secret is that I will read ANYTHING. I guess one might say that I waste a lot of time reading stuff on the internet, but you know I'm the girl you'll want to have around if you decide to get a boob job.

Responsibility

2006-08-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

Two Parties

2006-08-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

Katelyn's bridal shower was here at our house yesterday. I wanted to be the one to throw her a shower because I am so happy that she is getting married - and to someone I like. I'm happy that she has come around to the person I knew she always was underneath all the bad attitude and bad choices.

After the shower, I had to hurry over to the public pool for a ward party that I was in charge of. Nate had the kids over at his parents' for the day and they were still on their way back, so I went by myself. I don't realize how lame I am by myself until I don't have my husband with me. How did I ever bring myself to socialize with people before I was married? I stood there with a plate in my hand like a dummy. I eventually went and sat next to a sister that I know (wish we were better friends, but she's older than me and I don't know if she's into it) and stayed there until it was time to go. Fun activity though. Lot's of people. Fun was had by all. Bishop jumped in from the diving board. That was FELT by all.

Cool Down

2006-08-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

Jane went to bed with a card from Emily under her pillow. Lucy went to bed with a photo of Mommy and Grandma in her hand. At least they are in bed.

Over the weekend, we took our pop up trailer camping near Show Low at a place called Fool Hollow lake. It rained most of the first day, so we stayed inside and played cards and ate junk. It's nice to have the add-a-room that zips onto the awning because the girls can run in and out of the trailer to play outside, even when it's raining. It also allows us to keep the dog outside of the trailer. Camping with the trailer has been so much better than tent camping. Hooray trailer! We tried fishing, but we didn't manage to catch anything. Jane practiced casting by herself. Each time, she would rate the cast by giving her dad a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Hopefully we will have other opportunities to fish before it gets cold. We still haven't caught anything and we went fishing at least 5 times toward the end of last year.

The Beginning

2006-08-06T20:57:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here smashing ants which, for some reason, are running across the computer desk, trying to decide how to begin. Whenever I write in my journal, I always feel like I'm writing to someone, even though it's unlikely anyone will read it in my lifetime. Here, I have a place to write things that are meant to be read. I think if I leave all the dead ants here on the desk, the un-dead ones will see them and stay away.

There are lot's of things I could say, but there will be plenty of other posts. This photo of Lucy after having eaten paint just about sums up my life right now.