Two Little Dancers

Before we moved to Idaho we had never really heard of clogging. Well, I'm sure I had probably heard of it but wasn't at all familiar with it. Then we attended the Cherry Festival here in our new town and discovered that in our area clogging is the CRAZE. If you're like I was and don't know much about clogging, it can be described as "power tap". It is so much fun to watch! After watching the Gem Cloggers perform for 4 straight days at the Cherry Festival, our girls were hooked. For the next two months their feet tippety-tapped to their own tunes until they started taking lessons that started up in the Fall. They have loved being involved in clogging and were able to perform a few different times this year. Last week was their Spring Recital, which is a big to-do around here. The community really supports this activity and the auditorium was packed. The girls each got to perform a few different numbers and they both did great. Their next performance will be at the Cherry Festival and they are so excited to get to dance at the place they first fell in love with it.

Little Wonders...

It often surprises adults which things in life kids find fascinating. When was the last time you took a moment to examine a blade of grass and ponder it's existence? One fun thing about having kids is that they notice all those little things we have long taken for granted. They lend us a fresh set of eyes to view the world through and suddenly we remember the wonder we felt as children as we made life's little discoveries. Remember when you traveled at night and thought the moon was following you? Lauren recently observed this phenomenon and it shocked me that this was something I hadn't noticed since I was a little girl and discovered it myself. I'm grateful to my children for waking up these eyes of mine and helping them see the little wonders in life I have come to overlook.

Sisters

New Links!

Can you believe this is my third post within the last 24 hours? What's gotten into me?

Actually I just wanted to point out that I'm finally getting around to adding some links to my blog:

Anthology- My sister-in-law Meggan's blog. Meggan is great. Very straight forward and lots of fun. I love to read about her life in Southern CA. I especially like to see pictures of my cute little nieces and nephew.

Tales of Love- This blog is by Meggan's seven year old daughter Bree. She thought of that catchy title all by herself.

Every Day a Story- The author of this blog is Missy, Meggan's sister. Hers is the first blog I ever read and I quickly became addicted. I loved reading about her pregnancy and now her experiences as a first time mom.

Tater Tot Casserole- My friend Nikki just started this blog. Nikki is a homeschooling mother of six children. I have no idea how she does it. She is also a voracious reader and holds a book club in her home that I attend every month. She is super smart and every time she makes a comment in church classes I think, "Wow, how profound".

All Recipes- I love this cooking website! You can type in whatever your looking for and you will get numerous recipes for that entry. Each recipe is rated and people have given reviews on them. It makes it easy to find really tasty recipes.

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman- So, so funny! This blog is about a (hilarious) city girl who married a cattle rancher. She details life on their ranch and be forewarned, some posts are not for the faint of heart. I love all the great photos on her site and I admire her motto of "keepin' it real". I like that she presents the good, bad and ugly in her life.

[rm] Overexposed: A Photo Blog- This is who I want to be when I grow up. As far as photography goes anyway. I like the lifestyle photography that she does. I especially love that she photographed her son's having a pillow fight after she cut open the feather pillows!

R-r-r-r-ibbet!

One thing we love about spring is that it is frog season. At night we love to open up our windows and let them sing us to sleep. During the day the kids have a ball catching them in our neighborhood drainage pond.
My handsome, quick, fearless frog catcher.
Most of the frogs are found by over turning rocks.
Isn't he a cutie? Think he will turn into a prince if we give him a little kiss?
"Please, please, let us out!!!"

Don't worry, at the end of the day all froggies are safely returned to their home sweet home.

WhooHoo!!!

Yesterday I purchased my new prized possession, a 10.2 mega pixel digital SLR camera! I've been putting a lot of thought into it and have decided that I would like to get into professional photography. I've always been very passionate about photography and now I've decided to really pursue it. My first step was to purchase an appropriate camera. Next I will begin taking classes/workshops. I'm looking into two different places that offer classes and I haven't yet decided which one I'm going to go with. If I go with one I will start in May, if I go with the other, I will start in June. I am REALLY excited.

A Second Chance

For the past two weeks Lauren has been begging me to take her to the park. She had it all planned out. We would first buy food from a drive through restaurant, since she doesn't care for brown bag sandwiches. We would then head for the park where we would enjoy our little picnic lunch. Then we would have a great time playing on the playground together. As much as I like to make her happy, I found myself repetitively telling her no, not today. I just didn't want to go to the park. Then I began to think about it and realized that in her whole life I can only remember taking her to the park less than a handful of times. What kind of mother am I? This realization forced me to examine my reasons for park aversion. At the time Austin and Amanda were born, many other woman I knew were also having babies. This naturally led to many play dates at the park with these toddlers and their mothers. What sounds like a fun afternoon in the park really wasn't that fun for me. First of all, little tiny kids climbing massive playground structures just plain scares me. I spent most of the time following my kids around because I was so worried they would plunge to their death if I weren't there to catch them. The day I saw my tiny dare devil daughter dangling (how's that for alliteration) from some monkey bars I nearly had a heart attack. When I was able to relax a bit and settle on the grass with the other moms I would usually find them involved in a full blown gossip-fest. There was also the catty competition over which mom was thinner, whose son was smarter, who's little girl was most petite, and whose husband made the most money. Finally I'd had enough and my park days became a thing of the past. Now I have this third child wanting to go to the park with her mommy. Yesterday I finally gave in. We picked up slices of pizza at Pizza Hut Express and headed to our city park to enjoy a little picnic. Immediately two adorable little girls ran over with handfuls of squirmy worms and invited Lauren to come play with them. It was a warm beautiful day and I enjoyed reading my book while Lauren played. I realized that at age six she wasn't going to kill herself having fun on the playground. After she was through playing with the kids I pushed Lauren on the swings, gave her monkey bar lessons and played a few rounds of tic-tac-toe. Before we left a cute little bushy tailed squirrel came up to visit and Lauren fed him crumbs from her pizza crust. I have to admit that we had a very pleasant afternoon in the park and I'm glad that Lauren forced me to give it a second chance. We might even go back sometime.

Random...

It appears by the look on Amanda's face that Lauren is desperately in need of deodorant! Just kidding. They will probably kill me for posting this picture but it made me laugh so hard I just had to share it. We were actually sitting in our truck waiting for Aaron to get done giving a bid and I just started randomly snapping nonsensical pictures. I nearly laughed myself silly over this one. Now that I'm actually posting this, I'm not sure you guys will think it's all that hilarious but for some reason it really tickled my funny bone.

Austin's Room

A few posts ago I wrote about the kids switching bedrooms and how we spontaneouly decided to paint a couple of walls in Austin's room green. Well, the next day I went online and discovered that this giant wall mural from Pottery barn Teen that I have been wanting for a year and a half had gone on sale from $199 to only $39. I couldn't believe it. Needless to say, I had to have it. I love Austin's room now. It is so "Earthy" and has such a calm feel.

Pretty Little Princess

Date Night

I love date night. Here we are fourteen years into our marriage and I still get excited about going out with my man. We have always tried to go out once a week, just the two of us. Sometimes we don't manage it EVERY week but at least we try. Most of the time we go out to dinner and see a movie. Not too creative, I know, but it works for us. Every once in a great while we break out and do something different. Mostly we just enjoy the togetherness and the opportunity to catch up with each other. I strongly believe that date night has helped keep us "in love" instead of becoming just a pair of cohabiting parents. This weekend we had the opportunity to go out with another couple but Aaron declined the invitation. Later as we headed out on our own Aaron told me he was glad we didn't go with them because "I really wanted you all to myself tonight". AAHHH...what can be greater than hearing something like that from the one you love?

Confession...

A few days ago a woman in my ward, whom I don't know very well, called and asked if I could babysit her daughter one day this week. Out of pure selfishness I came up with an excuse and got out of it. I've never been very comfortable babysitting other people's children, but I COULD have done it, I guess. Since then I have felt very guilty that I didn't put my discomfort aside and help her out. Then tonight I picked up my manual to read The Relief Society lesson I am teaching on Sunday and saw that the lesson is titled, "Selfless Service". Of Course. Come Sunday I will be eating a huge slice of humble pie.

Bold but Cheerful!

After painting Austin's room, I felt inspired. I decided to finally be brave and paint my kitchen red. I've been wanting to do this for a year but kept putting it off. I recruited Aaron to help me and he turned out to be a life saver. Normally he refuses to pick up a paint brush but this time he helped me tape everything off and did all the brushing along the edges for me (not only once but for all three coats of paint we had to apply). He also did most of the cleanup and all of the touch up. To top it all off, he didn't even complain about it. I can't even describe how happy this made me. After the painting was done, we decided to buy a kitchen valance and matching curtains for the dining room. Miracle of miracles, Aaron still didn't complain when it came to hanging them! Hanging curtains is second on his list of things he hates to do. Second to painting, which holds the number one slot.
To me, paint and curtains says, "We're home" and makes me feel settled. The more I make this house a "home" the happier I will be to stay here.
All in all, Aaron and I had a lot of fun doing this project together and we are pretty happy with how it turned out. We are looking forward to more "home" projects in the future, although I don't think I'll ask Aaron to help with more painting any time soon. That would be pressing my luck!

Busy Day!

It's 11:23 pm and I am exhausted. This afternoon as the kids and I were eating lunch, Austin and Amanda decided that they would like to trade rooms. Austin wanted a room with more space and Amanda wanted more room in her closet. Why not? Let's do it! We jumped right in and began moving Amanda's furniture out into the hall and Austin's furniture into her room. Then we got the brilliant idea that maybe we should do some painting in Austin's new room before we put it all back together. We spontaneously ran to our little hardware store and purchased a gallon of forest green paint called "campsite". We went home and Austin and I painted two walls in his room. Painting the whole room such a bold color might have been a bit much but two walls was perfect. The contrast with his light pine furniture looks great. After getting the painting done we reassembled Austin's room, moved Amanda into her new room and swapped out all the junk in the closets. It amazed me at how efficient we were and how much we got done in the amount of time we did it. I LOVE having older kids that can tackle a project like this and be such a huge help. We had a great day and the kids love their new rooms.

Mean, Mean Mom

This afternoon Amanda asked me if she could go to her friend's church for a Good Friday celebration. I told her no, that I wasn't comfortable with that and she got REALLY mad at me, to put it lightly. I felt really bad because she thought I was just being mean to her but that wasn't it at all. And I didn't say no out of religious snobbery because that wasn't it either. When I was a kid I had an intense desire to learn about religion and would often ask friends if I could go to their churches with them. Unfortunately, I had some pretty scary and uncomfortable experiences by doing this. Experiences that I don't want my daughter to have. I know, having been to so many different churches, that she would be totally unprepared for what she may encounter. I'm not saying other churches are bad. I appreciate any church that loves God and teaches their people to live good lives. I just know that they sometimes go about it in a way that could be quite overwhelming for a child who has grown up L.D.S. I know Amanda saw me as a MEAN mom today but I hope someday she'll understand that it is because I am a CARING mom that I have to sometimes make decisions that make her upset.

My Budding Cameraman

A few days ago Austin dug out our old camcorder. I'm ashamed to say that it got boxed up long ago and only finds it's way out every once in a great while. I remember being so excited when we first became the proud owners of our own camcorder. However, after a couple of years of frantically trying to catch every special moment on film, I began to feel like I was so busy documenting those moments, I wasn't getting to truly experience them. After that I didn't get it out so much. Now it has found it's way into new hands that are making use of it. Austin and his buddies have been taking it out into the neighborhood and taping their antics. They've taped daring feats, practical jokes and downright silliness. It's been fun to watch them get a kick out of seeing themselves on film. I warned Austin not to tape people who don't want to be filmed because it is an invasion of privacy and also, the moment he catches me on film without makeup is the day it disappears. Until then, it's all good!

Giving Up Our Dream...For Now Anyway.

Today we made the decision to take our house off the market. For those of you who didn't know, we've had it for sale since October. We've been dreaming of having a home a little more out in the country with room for a little hobby farm (chickens, a horse etc). We still would really like to have that someday, but I don't think now is the right time. The home we are in right now is much more affordable and with our business here still being pretty new it's probably better not to stress ourselves out more with a bigger house payment. On one hand it kind of kills me to postpone our dream but on the other hand I like the house we are in and I'm looking forward to doing a little more decorating here (some paint, curtain, etc). Today I heard a snippet of a Sheryl Crow song that says something about "not having what you want, but wanting what you've got". That's what I've decided to do, just be really happy about what I do have and make the most of it.

Feeling A Bit Blue...

For some reason I have a new-found infatuation with the color blue. This is a first because I have never been a blue person. My mom likes blue. My brother loves blue. But me? Greens, reds and golds any day. That was until HGTV came along. When we finally caved in and decided to get cable, Lauren and I became addicted to decorating shows. I was appalled whenever we would see a designer paint a room blue. I would gasp and say, "Oh my gosh, why would they paint the room THAT color?" Lauren would wholeheartedly agree. Then something began to change inside me. I began to notice blue everywhere I went. And I began to like it! I'm becoming drawn to it. It has actually made it's way into my new blog design! Well, I guess I am now officially out of the closet...(solemnly) My name is Kasey, and I like the color blue.

I'm Back!

I can't believe it has been so long since my last blog entry. I don't know what got into me. I will try to get back to posting more regularly.

Last weekend we took an overnight trip and went all the way to...Boise. I know that seems ridiculous because it's only forty five minutes away. We stayed the night at the hotel we stayed in when we first visited Idaho. The hotel is decorated in a "lodge" theme which we love. Very cozy. They serve fresh baked cookies and milk in the evening and a great continental breakfast in the morning. But most important of all, it has a nice heated indoor pool and jacuzzi. It was fun to hang out, relax and swim. We got lots of shopping done in Boise that we've been needing to do but kept putting off because of the long drive. We also visited the Old Idaho State Penitentiary. It was built in the 1860's and then added to over time. Of course, it's not in use today but you can take self-guided tours there and learn about the criminal history of Idaho. It's really a bit creepy.

Event of the Day

Yesterday afternoon Lauren and I were at the Library and witnessesd a little bit of drama. Through the double glass doors we could see a baby (about 2 years old) crossing the street wearing nothing but a diaper (it was chilly yesterday) and there was no parent to be found. It was shocking to see this little boy all alone and have no idea where he came from or who he belonged to. A couple of ladies brought him into the library, found a sweatshirt for him to wear and the librarian called the police. Not long after the police showed up, the boy's frantic mother came running down the street and scooped him up into her arms. If I had seen this take place a few years ago, before I was a mother myself, my thoughts would have been solely, "What kind of mother lets her baby wander away like that? He could have been hit by a car! He had no clothes on and it was cold outside! His poor little feet didn't even have shoes on! Some people just shouldn't be parents!". Though I have to admit that these thoughts did initially pop into my head they were quickly replaced by the feelings of horror his mother must be feeling. What can be more terrifying than not knowing where your child has disappeared to? It is impossible to keep your eye on your child every second. A friend of mine has a child that would just leave the house and take off into the neighborhood as soon as her back was turned. She tried locking the doors but he figured out how to unlock them. I'm hoping something like that is what happened yesterday and it wasn't just the result of neglectful parenting.

A Night at the Cinema

Tonight Aaron came home and suggested that he and I go see a movie. We are entering the busy season with work now so we have to squeeze in a date night whenever a window of time opens up. We went to our theater here in Emmett which is an experience in itself. It is REALLY old and hasn't been updated in oh, several decades or so. It only shows one movie once a day so it makes it really easy to decide what you are going to see. Tonight they were showing Ghostrider. No, it was not good! I would complain about the money we wasted on seeing this movie but it only costs about four or five dollars to get in and 75 cents for a candy bar. Considering that a trip to the movies in Boise costs about 30 bucks (tickets, popcorn, candy) plus gas, seeing a bad movie at the Emmett Frontier Cinema is not too much to complain about.

Blah Week for Blogging

Obviously, this has been a bad week for blogging. The week itself wasn't necessarily bad, just boring. Nothing much happened worth writing about. The only significant thing that happened was that for 5 days straight I managed to work out for half an hour in the morning and run a mile and a half in the evening. I'm working on that healthier living goal I made on my birthday. I really hope I can keep it up. Amanda bought an "ipod shuffle" this week and was nice enough to let me use it when I went running. Boy does the time go by faster when you have music to listen to!

Grand View of Emmett

I remember the first time we drove in to Emmett. We were cruising through the gently rolling hills, admiring the occasional farms that you see as you leave Boise and head out into the country. Suddenly the hills closed in tightly against the road and we drove through a short "canyon". Unexpectedly, the canyon ended and we found ourselves on the top of a hill overlooking the valley of Emmett. It absolutely took our breath away. It was then and there that we knew that we'd found our new home. This is the view we get to see every time we leave and return home (click on the pictures for a closer look). I love to look out and see the farmland and a few of the last remaining orchards.
This view is what you see just to the right of the view above. Last summer we did a lot of swimming in the water canal you see snaking through the middle of this photo.
The mountain you see in the background is called "the Butte" and it is beautiful covered in snow. On the right you can see the road that takes us down "freezeout hill" into the valley. The purpose of this post is really to remind myself of the wonder I felt seeing it for the first time. I hope to never forget that.

A Bit of Prevention

One downfall to living in our area is that there is apparently quite a bit of methamphetamine drugs floating around. A good thing though is that our community tries to do a lot to make people aware of this fact. Last week they held a meeting to discuss a new form of meth that is being pushed at grade school children. It is strawberry flavored and made to look like the little Valentine heart candies with the little sayings on them. Doesn't that just make you sick! We weren't able to attend that meeting but over 300 people did, which I think is an impressive turnout. Our local theater agreed to play the movie they showed that night, free of charge, every Thursday night until nobody comes anymore. I took the kids to see it tonight and it definitely left a deep impression on them. It was very powerful , very blunt, and a bit disturbing. Austin especially seemed effected by it, probably because he understood the most. We talked a lot afterward and I explained to him that although watching this movie made him feel a bit "icky", the knowledge it gave him would help protect him. Now he knows the facts and nobody will be able to convince him that it's harmless. He knows now that meth will put holes in your brain the first time you try it and that 95% of people become addicted at first use. There's nothing appealing about it when you know that! This is one aspect of parenthood that I don't really care for. I don't like having to teach my kids about the evils in the world. I wish they didn't have to know about drugs and child molesters and kidnappers and all those unpleasant things. I've learned though that as much as you want to, you shouldn't hide these things from your children. These threats are everywhere, even in Tiny Town, USA. By knowing about them they can become educated on how to keep themselves safe.

Birth Announcement!

Shortly after we bought Lauren's guinea pig, Violet, we discovered that she was expecting piglets! All of the ones we already had are females so we know she was already pregnant when we bought her. We've been watching her grow fatter and fatter these past few weeks and yesterday we thought she wouldn't fit through the doorway of her house if she got much bigger! This morning I peeked into her house to check on her and was surprised to see she was not alone. She had two tiny little babies sometime during the night. They are absolutely adorable! Everyone seems partial to the little brown one whose hair is wavy instead of smooth.They are already running around the cage and following Violet around. If we pick them up Violet shrieks until we give them back. We would like to keep them both but I think they may both be little boys. It's kind of hard to tell right now.

Heading Off to Explore...

I've decided to just start posting some of the pictures I've taken when I really don't have much to say. I'll start with these.

So Sad...

Yesterday was a tragic day for our little town. Five kids ages 12-15 died when their car slid off an icy road into a 20 ft. deep pond. The water was 38 degrees and it was two hours before rescuers pulled them out. Somehow at least a few were still alive when they were found but by 2:30pm they had all died. Pretty sad, huh? It gets worse. Three of the kids were from one family and the other two were from another. The family who lost the set of three also lost a two year old a couple years ago. I can't imagine enduring the excruciating pain of losing one child, let alone two or three. These kids are from two LDS families who live in Sweet, one of our tiny outlying towns. They were driving in to Emmett for school when it happened. I've seen these kids around town and at community events although I didn't know them personally. I'm hoping we can all say a prayer or two for these families. I'm sure they could use as much comfort as they can get. Here is a link to an article in the Idaho Statesman about the accident if you'd like to know more. http://www.idahostatesman.com/273/story/73387.html

This Week...

Not much has been going on this past week. The kids were off school all week due to Presidents Day, two teacher in-services and two days of parent/teacher conferences. Austin and Amanda took turns going to work with Aaron all week. They love to go with him and spend one-on-one time with him. Aaron loves it too. He enjoys seeing how different each kid is when they're on their own rather than in their pecking order. Lauren thinks going to work is "boring" but she does sometimes like to hang out at the shop with him.

We had our parent/teacher conferences on Wednesday and they went really well. Lauren is expected to be at a "level 8" in reading but she's at "level 14"! Not bad. Her teacher also says she has perfect penmanship, which is a first in our family. Amanda is doing great, she received almost all "oustandings" on her report card. Austin had a little bit of a rocky start in the beginning of the year but now has almost all A's and is on the honor roll. I'm so proud of them for working hard and having the desire to do well.

Another Year Older...

Today is my birthday. According to my kids I am 32 years old now. I think I stopped counting at around 25 but for some reason my kids keep track and remind me every year of how old I really am. Actually, I'm not too bothered by my increasing age. So far I am enjoying my thirties much more than my twenties. With my kids being older I have less stress and more fun in my life. I just recently realized that I can now begin to focus on some personal goals of my own (something I kind of put aside when the kids were little). Here are some of the things I am planning for my thirty second year of life:

1) This year I will finally get around to taking a photography class or two. I've talked about it long enough. It's time to actually do it.

2) Working on this blog has reminded me how much I used to love to write. I've been thinking that this year I might try to write some articles to submit to either Ensign magazine or a parenting magazine. I don't know that I have what it takes to get them published but I will be just as happy that I tried.

3) I really want to focus more on healthy living. I want to eat healthy and exercise regularly. Not because I want to show off a great body but because I want this body to last me a long time. There are a lot of things I want to do later in life and I really don't want those things limited by bad health.

4) I am really looking forward to the end of July. That is when I will get to spend 4 days in San Antonio, Texas with my 5 buddies from high school (Rachel, Jodi, Mandy, Leah and Thorey). I believe there is a feeling among us that we are kindred spirits and that we will always belong to each other. We are now spread out through four different states but our hearts are always with each other. It will be a blast to all be in to same place at once!

I think thirty two is going to be great. Here's to another year!

Lauren Lost a Tooth!

The long awaited day has finally arrived. Lauren has been enviously watching all her friends at school lose their teeth, wondering when her turn will finally come. A week or so ago we noticed that her bottom tooth was really loosening up and since then she's been eagerly helping it on it's way out. Last night after I tucked her in to bed she worked on it some more and she was so excited when it actually came out. The only disappointing part was that everyone else was asleep so she had no one to tell!

Love My Puppies

These are my precious pooches, Opie and Sadie. Opie is the one on my lap. Apparently, we forgot to tell him that he's a little big to be a lap dog. He is such a big teddy bear who pretty much demands love and attention but also loves to give it. He has many idiosyncrasies that make him very unique and entertaining. Sadie is a great dog too. She's extremely smart and loves to chase anything you throw for her. She has a love for water and will jump into the river even in the middle of winter (Opie prefers not to get his footsies wet). They were outside dogs until winter rolled around and poor Opie was just shivering and shaking in his dog house. I would go out and tuck him in at night, piling blankets on top of him, but he still didn't seem to stay warm. Finally we realized we were going to have to bring them in or Opie would freeze to death. They have done great as indoor dogs and it is fun having them be more a part of the family.

Amanda's Program

Friday afternoon Amanda had her third grade musical program. Each third grade class performed a song and/or dance representing a different cultural group and they all wore tie-dyed shirts . Amanda's class performed "Follow the Drinking Gourd" which was a song the slaves in America used to sing. The kids got to make a maraca-like instrument with an actual gourd and they used these during their song. The whole program was really good and each class did really great with their presentations. One thing that bothered me though was that they held it at 2:00 in the afternoon. The kids put a lot of effort into this program and then they held it at a time when so many of their parents couldn't come. Who's idea was that?

Motherhood

I feel so blessed that I have been able to be a stay-at-home-mom since the day Austin came into the world. Being a SAHM has been great and there is nothing I would have rather been doing during these past 11 years of my life. Motherhood has always been rewarding but definitely hasn't always been easy. I remember when all 3 kids were little and Aaron worked ALL the time. There were more than a few occassions I thought I would lose my mind. There were even more occassions when I felt I had no idea what I was doing and questioned why I had thought I could be successful as a mother. Those were tough days but the good news is...we survived them. We have moved past those crazy, chaotic years into much more relaxing ones. As I watch the way my kids live their lives I am beginning to think that MAYBE, inspite of all my blundering, I actually did something right. Two weeks ago Austin was playing at his friend's house and accidently broke an irrigation pipe. He came home very upset because he knew he needed to tell his friend's dad what had happened and facing this man was pretty scary for him. I was so proud of him when he went over there that evening to make things right. About a week later Aaron and I went out on a date and the kids stayed home with a babysitter. They were all watching "Willie Wonka" when nine o'clock rolled around and the kids suddenly turned the TV off to go to bed. The sitter told them she was sure it would be okay if they stayed up until the movie was over but they insisted that they go to bed then, because I had told them to be in bed at 9pm. This absolutely shocked the sitter who usually has to wrestle kids into going to bed. Two days ago Austin's teacher who is quite a grumpy woman, unfairly blamed him for something he didn't do. In his frustration, he said something to her with a bit of an attitude. The next morning he apologized to her, knowing that what he had said was disrespectful. She told him cheerfully that he was 100% forgiven and she was unusually nice the rest of the day. I know I sound like a prideful bragging mother but the truth is, these kids seem to be turning out pretty good. I love that they have integrity. I love that they are willing to do what's right even when it's uncomfortable. I love that they have compassion for others. There are so many things that I love and admire about them. My point in all of this is really not to pat myself on the back for a job well done. Honestly, it is more of a sigh of relief. What a RELIEF it is that they seem to be on their way to becoming good, responsible, people with a strong desire to do what is right. Now, if we can only make it through the teen years....

New Look

Well, I decided it was time for a blog makeover. I am so proud of myself for coming up with this new look (although, all I did was tweak a template). Thank you Meggan for getting me started. Hopefully it will inspire me to write more often.

Lauren's New Baby...

I should have updated earlier that Lauren finally found a guinea pig. I think we found her right after my "guinea pig quest" post. She's very sweet and Lauren named her Violet. Unfortunately, Amanda's guinea pig is a bit of a stinker and keeps picking on Violet. If Violet tries to enter the dome they like to hide out in, Magic chases her right back out. Last night before I went to bed I went in to check on Lauren (will I do this forever?) and discovered there were only two little balls of fluff in the cage. Violet was gone. I was a little baffled until I realized Lauren was fast asleep with the light on and her books still spread across her bed. I lifted the covers a bit and there was Violet underneath, snuggled right up against Lauren. Lauren had fallen asleep before she could put her back and turn off the light. I'm sure Violet would have been perfectly happy to continue snoozing there but with the way Lauren sleeps, she would have never survived the night.

Our Weekend

A couple of months ago Aaron astonished me when he built a fire and burned nearly every CD he owned. Anyone who knows Aaron knows this is a big deal. Music has always been important to him and he probably had about 200 CDs. He decided he didn't want the negative influence his music had on him in his life anymore. Since then he has listened exclusively to country music. One of the country musicians he really likes is George Strait. I was really excited when I heard George Strait was going to be performing in Boise and for Aaron's Christmas present I surprised him with two tickets to the concert. We went to that concert on Friday night and it was a lot of fun. Aaron says that George Strait sounds even better live than he does on the CDs. It was nice to go to a concert where obscenities weren't screamed from the stage in between songs.

Yesterday my friend Sonja called and invited Aaron and I to go horseback riding with her. Sonja is my friend I took riding lessons from and she is so much fun to be with. Aaron hadn't been on a horse since he was fourteen but he did great. We rode up into the hills behind Sonja's house and it was amazing. We saw lots of deer, bunnies, quail and a pheasant. There are these great rock formations up there that are incredible. There was something so peaceful and soothing about being out there on the horses in that great scenery. We were quite startled when Aaron' cell phone rang and it was the kids calling to see when we'd be home. Aaron said, "Man, I almost forgot we had kids!"

My Generous Girl

For two weeks now we have been on a quest for a guinea pig. Austin and Amanda each have one and they decided they wanted to buy Lauren one for her birthday. We have been checking every Petsmart, Petco, and private pet shop in the Boise area and have yet to find one. I take that back. Tonight we did find a little white female but just before we bought her we noticed a spot on the side of her face that was kind of bald and icky. When we asked the salesperson about it, he took a look and then said he would have to send her to the vet before he could sell her. Great. Lauren was pretty bummed. Luckily she has a fantastic, generous older sister who told her that if she didn't find a guinea pig, she would share hers with her. Amanda LOVES her little black guinea pig, Magic, and Lauren was very touched that Amanda offered to share with her. Amanda is so giving, generous and thoughtful. She will pretty much give you anything she has or do anything for you. She is such a good example to me of being charitable and I admire these qualities in her so much. We are so blessed to have her in our family.

Lauren Turns 6 !!!

How can it be possible that my baby is already turning 6 years old? I'm not sure where time went but yesterday we celebrated Lauren's birthday with her first "friend" birthday party. In the past we have always celebrated with family but this year she had a real party with friends from school. The party went great and one girl was even overheard saying, "This is the best party I've ever been to!" I think that was due to our neighbor coming over and giving all of the girls Barbie dolls to take home. She just retired from working for Mattel toy company and has tons of toys that she gives to the kids. I think the party was a little bit stressful for Lauren because of her shy nature. I could tell it was hard for her to open presents in front of the crowd. She absolutely refused to smile for any of the pictures, except for the one below that I took when she opened up the radio Aaron and I got her. She accidently let that one slip. When it came time to sing Happy Birthday she looked like she wanted to hide and she then she decided she didn't want to blow out her candles. Luckily she has a big brother that helped her out with that. The party was a bit of a growing experience for her but overall she had fun and enjoyed having her friends over.

Finding Peace In the Quiet Moments...

A Quick Trip

It's been about a week now since I last posted anything. I keep waiting for something interesting to happen to write about but this week has been pretty uneventful. Tomorrow morning Aaron is flying down to California to pick up a work truck we still have there. He will get in about noon, get the truck checked out, have dinner with his family and be headed for Idaho by about 8pm. Quick trip! I am extremely jealous that he will get to eat at La Casita while he's there. What I would do to have some good mexican food! He has promised to bring me back a container of their salsa as a consolation gift. I am praying that he makes it all the way here without any problems. The truck he will be driving is an older truck and I question it's reliability. I keep imagining him breaking down in the middle of a snowstorm in one of those long stretches of nothingness. That would not be good. He feels confident though that he won't run into any problems. Let's hope he's right.

Back to the Grind

Well, today we returned to "real" life. The kids went back to school and Aaron went back to work. Aaron took time off after Christmas and we had lots of fun play time. We went to the movies twice and saw "Eragon" and "Night In the Museum". We went bowling and Lauren beat us all - again. One day we drove up to McCall where there is about a foot and a half of snow and went snow tubing at the Activity Barn. There were four runs you could tube down and at least three of them sent you flying downhill at about 40 mph. This was a bit intense for the girls and they didn't enjoy it quite as much as the rest of us. Lauren would only go down if Aaron held onto her tube and dragged his feet to slow her down. All in all we had a great Christmas vacation and had lots of fun as a family.

Our Christmas

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. They seem to come so quickly now, they're hard to keep up with. I usually start my Christmas shopping quite early to avoid last minute shopper's anxiety, but all of a sudden it was Thanksgiving and I hadn't even THOUGHT about shopping yet. I am usually completely finished by then! We all really enjoyed our Christmas-even Aaron who woke everyone up at 5:30 am to open presents! He wasn't at all his usual "bah-humbug" self this year. The kids were happy with all the fun gifts they recieved but seemed especially excited that they got the cowboy boots they've been begging for. Looks like my family is goin' country!

Snow For Christmas - Well, Almost...

We were so excited yesterday when we looked out the window and saw great big snowflakes fluttering down! We've always wanted to have a white Christmas and this year we actually got it, so be it a few days early. We got about 3-4 inches yesterday and during the night and I heard we may be getting some more tomorrow. Austin and Amanda have had a ball playing in the snow and on a little frozen pond in the neighborhood with their friends. Lauren went out briefly yesterday but after a spill on the ice she decided to stay in where it's safe and warm.
Lauren feeds Sadie and Opie snowballs

Adaptation

Yesterday afternoon we loaded our dogs up into the truck and headed out to the river. They love to run and explore and we enjoy walking along the pathway, looking at the scenery. It was a beautiful sunny day and a brisk 29 degrees. That's right, 29 degrees, and we were out going for a walk. Halfway through, our noses and ears got a bit cold but we weren't freezing to death. I don't quite understand it myself because in California I would still be wearing a sweatshirt when it was 70 degrees out. Now 35-40 degrees feels decent. I guess it's true that people adapt to their surroundings!

My Hard Workin' Man

For the past few weeks Aaron has been working up in Donnelly for the world renowned Tamarck Ski Resort. Last week he completed 2,400 feet of the first phase. This was quite an accomplishment for several reasons. First of all, the temperatures he was working in ranged from -2 to about 22 degrees and he was building this fence in about 18 inches of snow. Snow fell almost daily while he was there. Much of the fence went into areas he couldn't get to by truck so he had to hand carry all the material and equipment up hill through the snow and ice. These factors did not deter him and he busted it out in record time. The other contractors in the area got a big kick out of watching the crazy fence guy putting up this fence in the freezing weather all by himself. A couple of them would actually come over in their trucks to sit and watch him on their lunch break. Aaron thought it was pretty funny that he could actually see steam coming off of his body while he was working! Aaron was very happy with the way the job turned out and his customer was quite impressed with his work.

Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!

One of the fun things we do every Christmas is bake lots of goodies to take to friends, family and neighbors. By WE, I mean the kids and I. Aaron's usually working so much, he misses out. This year he surprised me by asking, "So, when are we baking cookies?". So last night we tackled a batch of gingerbread men. Decorating the cookies seemed to be tougher than he expected and Aaron cracked me up when he said he's much better with a welder than a tube of frosting. In the end they all turned out very cute and we had lots of fun in the process.

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree.....

Buying a Christmas tree was a new experience for us this year. Instead of picking up a tree at Home Depot or a tree lot set up on a corner, people in our area go up to the forrest and actually chop down their own tree! Yes, this is actually legal. You pay $10 for a permit, they hand you a map and off you go to find your tree. Yesterday on the way home from work (he's been working in the mountains in below zero temperatures) Aaron pulled off the road and scouted out our tree. It was a bit of a challenge finding just the right one because most of the trees are gigantic and don't fit well in your living room. After about an hour he found the perfect tree and he was so proud of it when he brought it home. That night we decorated it very simply and I think it turned out to be beautiful.

Snapping Photos

This morning I had a quick photo shoot with the kids before school to get a picture I can send out in my Christmas cards. It was probably about 30 degrees, maybe a little less and I only got a couple taken before their little noses and cheeks started to turn red. I really like this picture I snapped of Amanda. She's such a beautiful kid with a sparkling personality to match.

Let There Be Lights!

Our first Holiday tradition of the year is decorating our house with Christmas lights. Aaron and Austin have been doing this together since Austin was very little. They usually do it on Thanksgiving afternoon but this year they put them up a day late. Someday Austin would like to have our whole house and yard lit up "Christmas Vacation" style. That day will probably come when he's decorating his OWN house.

Thanksgiving Pies

We really enjoyed our first Idaho Thanksgiving. Of course it was small and quiet but we enjoyed spending time as a family. Aaron has been working like crazy lately so it was nice to have him home today. It was quite different being away from all the family but we enjoyed talking to them on the phone and they were all in our thoughts. We started a new family tradition of pie making! This was the first time I've ever tried making pies from scratch and aside from the small fire in my oven and the smoke alarm going off it went pretty well. Making pies made me think of my Grandma Marriott. She was famous for her apple pies and seemed to whip them out without any effort. That "effortlessness" must come with practice. It was fun trying something new though and the kids had lots of fun being involved in the Thanksgiving preparations.

My Innovative Child!

Today Lauren came to me with a little deflated balloon and asked me to blow it up for her. It was one of those water balloon ones that are nearly impossible to blow up. I gave it a try and then said "Sorry Lauren, I can't do it." The next thing I know, there is Lauren with a bicycle pump, blowing up this little red balloon! I couldn't believe she thought of that! What a clever child.

Halloween Fun

What is trick-or-treating like in Idaho? One word...BBBRRRR!