D.C.

Alright…it’s about time I posted a little about the REST of our D.C. trip. Heather’s wedding was easily the highpoint and purpose of the trip, but we made sure to have plenty of time for sightseeing. Daniel will be in Washington, D.C., again next year for the National Boy Scout Jamboree, but for the girls, this may be their one and only trip. We left Evie home with friends and cousins so we could really focus on the history. Wow, we sure missed her like crazy, but it was SO much easier not having a stroller in tow.

 

Don’t you just love the way Anna poses?

We decided to take the kids on a Duck tour of D.C. This amphibious vehicle took us all over Downtown D.C., as well as for a ride down the Potomac. The tour guide was hilarious, and we learned a lot of history at the same time! We even came home with souvenir quackers.

 

Being the National Treasure nuts that we are, we definitely had to hit the National Archives. Here are Anna and Heidi with the Declaration of Independence. Nope, don’t think there’s ANY way to steal this baby!

Next on the National Treasure list was Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home.

  

In the movie, National Treasure 2, Nicolas Cage kidnaps the president at the President’s birthday party at Mount Vernon. Well, did I mention we’re National Treasure nuts? So doing the National Treasure 2 tour was a MUST. (including the trip into the tunnels under the mansion)

      

It’s no wonder George Washington didn’t want to leave Mount Vernon. It’s BEAUTIFUL! Situated right on the Potomac River on 4,200 acres. Here we are at George’s gravesite.

    

We had to hit the Smithsonian museums, of course. Dorothy’s sparkly shoes and C-3PO were favorites there.

   

Danny’s favorite (I think) was the Air & Space Museum with the Space Shuttle Enterprise (left) and the actual Enola Gay (right). Sobering to think what it did in WWII.

     

We also did a Capitol tour, a White House tour, visited the Library of Congress (another National Treasure must!), the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. Phew! It was a crazy, fun trip!

 

Heather & Koko’s Wedding

We went to Washington, D.C. for Heather & Koko’s wedding on August 1st. Heather was absolutely gorgeous on her wedding day, and we had a blast learning about and experiencing Samoan culture. They really know how to party!

   

Danny, my little photographer, shot this beautiful picture. Not bad! Anna was often found fixing the hair of her cousin, Brynn.

 

Heather with all of her brothers, Andy, Jason, Vaughn, Craig, Sean

  

I thought the boys were so cute in  their Aloha shirts. I was a little afraid Danny might pass out wearing pink, though!  Heidi was Heather’s  “Junior Bridesmaid.” Alice fixed up her dress to make it extra special. Heidi felt like a princess in her special dress!

 

Anna loved getting to hold Heather’s dress up at the temple. What an honor! Doesn’t Heather look beautiful surrounded by all of these pretty girls?

 

 

 

[Vaughn: And although there were plenty of wizards behind the curtain, here are three who made it happen for the beautiful bride. Several very late nights and real adventures, including one all-nighter, a 2am hunt for a new iron, getting lost in DC driving home at 4am while being followed by creeps, and lots & lots of sewing projects! Tara, Corina, & Connie (top to bottom above) were absolutely amazing!]

My Little Seamstress

When Heidi and her friend, Katrina, couldn’t attend Activity Days due to a conflict, we decided to have our own “Activity Days”. First project: Sewing! Great-Grandma Nordmark gave Heidi a piece of fabric, and she and Katrina poured over patterns to find the perfect thing to make….a birthday dress for Katrina’s sister, Tali. These girls even put in a zipper!

 

Isn’t it darling?!

10 Reasons I love Getaways…

1. We have SO much fun together! 2. Time to talk 3. Time to PLAY 4. Exploring new places 5. Smooches 6. Lots of Ice Cream 7. Time to get silly!! 8. Time to plan 9. Quiet times to THINK 10. Unstringing the bow, so to speak Vaughn and I recently went to Seattle, Orcas Island, and Vancouver, B.C. We had a magnificent time together. After a week with company (as many as 17 people in the house for 5 days!!) we were excited to have some time to ourselves.

 

  

 

 

Birthdays, Runs, Mother’s Day, & Coons

Here’s a little sampling from the last month or two of life in our neck of the woods:

Wicked Fun: As part of Heidi’s birthday present, she was promised a night out on the town with Mom & Dad to go see the musical Wicked. She had the time of her life and is now trying not to do too many “flip-flips”.

Gettin’ Older: Anna turned 8 years old, was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and generally had a fantastic birthday. We’ll post a little more soon, but here’s a little preview of her enjoying her big present and of her treat during her birthday date with Mom:

Just Bein’ Cute: Evie’s had no problem holding her position as the cutest youngest sister of the family. And she continues to be sweet as ever. Just today she decided to be a frog and hopped all around the house for Mother’s Day.

 

Track & Field: Besides the great strides Daniel has made over the last couple of years with his piano playing, he has been trying his hand at a few other things from time to time. This Spring, he’s been giving it a go with Track & Field and having a blast. He’s enjoyed shot-put, the 100m, the 400m relay, long jumping, high jumping, and TurboJav.

Hagg Lake Run: Corina has made a good habit of getting herself out of bed by 5:30am many mornings, pulling on the running shoes, and getting some exercise in with a couple of dedicated friends. This last weekend she and a couple of them headed out to Hagg Lake, did the hilly 10.4 mile circuit around it (in the rain), and lived to tell the tale. What sports!

Mother’s Day: According to our family tradition, Corina got her meals of choice today made by Dad and the kids. This year it was hot waffles with fresh strawberries for breakfast and sweet pork tacos for dinner. (Dad actually stewed the latter in the crock pot for the last 18 hours—miracle!) And, of course, Mom was  banned from any meal preparation or clean-up anywhere in the house for the whole day. Each of the kids had a little something they had planned for a gift for mom, but the highlight was a beautiful new piece of art for our living room depicting the Portland Oregon LDS Temple where Mom & Dad were sealed (wondering what a temple is?). We commissioned the art from a friend of ours, Megan McMurdie, and are absolutely thrilled at how it turned out. Corina decided this has been her best Mother’s day ever.

What about Dad? (& Coons?) Well, Vaughn’s been busy holding on to a frantic schedule between work, home, and his current church calling as Scoutmaster. He even managed to sneak in an hour-and-a-half late-night drive up into the coast range the other night to (charitably) “move” a raccoon he live-trapped on the back porch to a new home in Oregon wilderness. (see below for a clip from his last catered meal) Thankfully it wasn’t a neighborhood skunk that wound up in the trap, but unfortunately it turned out it wasn’t the only raccoon—one more has now shown up to take its turn at our cats’ food dish on the back porch each night. Guess that means another trip into the woods is in order soon!

Got Air?

We recently returned from another beautiful weekend on the Central Oregon Coast. I kid you not…Every time we go there between October and April the weather is *gorgeous!* No wind. Absolutely Perfect! We brought cousin Kyle along to even things out and keep Daniel company.

     

I told Kyle he needed to toughen Danny up, and he took me seriously! There’s never a dull moment with Kyle around!

   

Overlooking Devils Punchbowl and Gull Rock

RRAARRRRRR!

No trip to the beach would be complete without a visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

The BIG 36!!

 

Happy Birthday, Vaughn, you son of a gun, you! Looking *great* for 36! Must be all that broccoli I keep feeding you that keeps you so youthful :)

Danny & Heidi had a great time making the Chess game cake. Daniel was the official blind strategist…

 

Anna made a puzzle for Vaughn out of the Betty Crocker cake mix box. charming…

 

We had Vaughn’s favorite, Chicken Tikka Masala, for dinner with Alice and Mark over, too. Yum! We all love you SO much, Vaughn!!

Christmas Traditions

All satire aside (actually, it was more a ploy to give plausible deniability) , we love this time of year when the world celebrates the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Like all families, we have our set of family traditions we come back to every year. Over the years they’ve evolved a bit, but we definitely prefer to do things a little different than many—generally emphasizing the sacred side of Christmas and de-emphasizing the commercial side of Christmas, including Santa. That doesn’t mean we don’t have plenty of wrapping paper strewn about the house by Christmas afternoon, however.

For example, on Christmas Eve we always visit Corina’s parents, where Papa reads the Christmas story from the New Testament and from the Book of Mormon, while Grandma plays Christmas carols on the piano. That night back at home, all our children sleep together in the same room.

When they wake  on Christmas morning (but not too early), they all line up outside our door and softly sing Christmas carols until Mom and Dad suddenly open the door fully dressed and ready to go. We then all head downstairs where a massive web of strings crisscross the entire interior of the house. Our children find a stick and one end their own string in their stockings, which they then wind up, following it wherever it goes, until they find their present at  the end of the string. 

After opening their “string” presents, we stop with the presents and have a big family breakfast: scrambled cheesy eggs, bacon, sausage, freshly made cinnamon rolls, & orange juice. Over breakfast we exchange what we call charity gifts. Each person in the family comes up with acts of loving service they will give to each other in the coming year (prepared well in advance of Christmas Day). For example, last year I gave Anna the gift of reading a story to her every day, Daniel got one head-to-head game with Dad every month, Heidi got a date with Dad to the Mall, Evie got the gift of tickle chases, and Corina got the gift of one night a month of a warm, uninterrupted bubble bath while Dad handles the whole bedtime routine. After breakfast we open the remaining presents and visit with grandparents as they drop by. In the evening we usually have a Christmas dinner at my mom’s.

There are lots of other little traditions we enjoy—more later. What sorts of family traditions do you enjoy?

Santa Claus Blues

Don’t get me wrong—I love this time of year. I love the traditions, the music, the lights, the smells, the decorations, seeing family and friends… I love it all—almost all of it, anyway. There’s this whole matter of Santa Claus and presents. To the kids, it’s all excitement and anticipation. You know: the wish list, the visit to see Santa (or letter sent in the mail), and then Christmas Eve when he comes down the chimney while everyone’s sleeping and leaves presents under the Christmas tree.

Quite the fairy tale, unfortunately. If the kids only knew what a bear it’s become for parents to arrange for the whole Santa experience through North Pole Enterprises (NPE), it might lose a little of it’s charm. Thankfully the kids can just enjoy it knowing no better.

It just gets a little hard to justify sticking with paying for the whole Santa experience when it suddenly costs so much more and given all the downsides. So, in the spirit of Christmas lists, here’s my current list of Santa Claus gripes:

• Over the past 4 years alone, the rates for the Standard Santa Visit package have climbed over 23% in total. Unbelievable. Compare that with the US Consumer Price Index over the last four years—not even close. Sorry, but that’s just not the sort of annual rate of increase that our parents used to see. Maybe our Federal Government could provide some Santa-related relief in addition to all the attention they give to high energy prices! Let’s demand that Christmas be affordable again!
• When I was a kid  in family of four, my parents used to be able to do fine with the “2+ children” package, which included one main “big” present and a couple of smaller ones for each child. It was a flat rate, no matter how many more kids you had. (and NPE wasn’t very picky about checking legal status of “kids in the family”, so we used to sneak a needy friend into the family on occasion) These days, it’s a per-child charge, and fewer presents are included in the base package. Makes it hard when you have several kids, like we do, to find the right Santa package combination and keep it affordable.
• Okay, this is one of my bigger gripes: Taxes. Even when we were first married, the state and federal tax code allowed for a standard deduction of costs associated with any and all Santa packages, regardless of size. These days a more greedy federal government only allows deduction of up to a maximum of $320 total per family or $120 per child, whichever is less. You would think that North Pole Enterprises would spend a little more effort on behalf of an entire continent of parents lobbying in Washington, D.C., to get this changed back. Isn’t this supposed to be part of the American dream?
• The Post-Christmas Santa Payment plan rates offered by North Pole Enterprises for most of the Santa packages are no longer reasonable like they once were. It used to be that their interest rates were much better than credit card rates, but now with them up in the 18% APR range, I imagine most parents would rather use the year-round payment plan or just charge it to the card.
• Even the Year-round Santa Payment plan where you have a standard amount deducted from your paycheck isn’t quite what it used to be—it’s no longer a pre-tax as of July 2008. This should be your reminder to write your US Representative, if you haven’t already!
• The pork. Does North Pole Enterprises really need leer jets painted like candy canes for their present distribution system? Why can’t they just use FedEx and existing shippers? (There ought to be a discount for the kind of volume NPE does!) I know these modern “sleighs” are supposed to be necessary to preserve the traditional image of Santa flying through the sky with a load of presents, but isn’t this a little excessive? Maybe Santa could trim costs if they were to abandon their expensive distribution model.
• Letters to Santa sent by US Mail are no longer accepted, only email & web requests. It just doesn’t feel right to get a boilerplate email message back instead of handwritten letters like when I was a kid. Does this bug you, too?
• On the home front, it still just irks me that I have to provide NPE a key to our home for this one quick delivery each year. (Consider yourself lucky if you still have a chimney large enough to allow your Santa Representative to climb down it—no one around here does!) Couldn’t NPE just text me when the Santa Representative arrives so I can let him in? (Certainly shouldn’t call and wake the kids, though!)
• On the privacy side, I’m still bothered that NPE maintains their “Naughty and Nice” list using Social Security Numbers instead of full name and date of birth. With as much identity theft as there is these days, I shouldn’t have to worry about their SSNs getting lost by NPE.
• Ever since North Pole Industries went out of business and North Pole Enterprises outsourced and automated their present manufacturing and wrapping, it’s lost that old magic touch. For example, what used to be clearly hand-wrapped with hand-made bows now looks machine wrapped with bows from the local dollar store. Tacky!
• This might seem trivial, it bugs me that Santa Representatives no longer take care of cookies and milk left out for them by our kids unless the cookies are 1) store-bought and 2) still packaged, and 3) the milk is in an unopened container. As a dad, it means I now get stuck having to eat the cookies and drink the milk, something I enjoy, but which can get me in trouble if the kids ever notice the lack of crumbs. (Santa leaves crumbs, but Dad just can’t stand leaving a mess in the living room!)

So with all those gripes, what are the chances that Santa and North Pole Enterprises will really change much? Probably not very good. That’s the way it gets with any monopoly, whether it’s Santa or Google. Maybe I should still hold out chance that there might someday be a competing Santa from somewhere other than Northwest Territories, Canada. Maybe there could be a South Pole Enterprises that serves North America? Probably just wishful thinking. But, hey, ‘tis the season for wishing, right?

Hope you like ‘em…

I thought I’d share some of our recent family pictures.

We couldn’t have asked for a nicer Fall day. You’d never guess that Vaughn had flown in from Poland late the night before!

  

Man, I am CA-RAZY  about this guy!

Daniel                                              Heidi                                      Anna          

   Evie                                       Heidi & Anna                                 Mom & Evie

Fluffy Pink “Stuff”

You know that fluffy pink stuff that everyone loves with Thanksgiving dinner, the kind with cool whip, cottage cheese, etc? Well Evie thinks it’s good to eat, but *much* better to paint with!

  

    

Best Buds… or Partners in Crime

This is Eve and Adam…I mean Evie and Jacob.  And they were not ashamed.

 

Evie and Jacob really are the best of friends. There’s never a dull moment with Jacob around…

 

 

Guess who’s 2??

Evie!

 

She’s afraid of the fire…

 

Yum!

 

Evie got to go on a birthday date with Mom and Dad. Actually, she comes on most of our dates while Danny babysits the others. (The perks of being the youngest) She’s such a joy that we absolutely love taking her anywhere!

Funny kids

Anna cracks me up. She absolutely cracks me up!! She can make me laugh like nobody else. She’s got such a free spirit. Last Sunday, as I was in the middle of teaching her primary class, she stood up and announced, “Hold on just a minute, I’ve got to do my wind-mills.” In case you don’t know what windmills are, they are a stretching exercise, where your arms do circles from way above your head down to your toes. This may not sound very funny, but Anna does them at lightning speed! It was hilarious to watch! I invited the entire class to join with Anna in a little aerobics workout to get out the wiggles. Who knows…maybe she’ll be an aerobics instructor someday…  Then, when I thought she was done, she said, “Wait a minute, everyone…you see, sometimes when I sit for too long, my hips start to hurt so I have to do my hip circles now.” In front of everyone, she stood up and proceeded to do BIG circles with her hips. What a girl!

Evie loves her big brother SO much. She’s nick-named him Danny-O. She occasionally calls Anna “Anna-Yo” and Heidi “Heidi-Ho”, but it’s always “Danny-O”. Anyway, Evie has a favorite board book of Greg Olson paintings. Whenever we look at the picture of Christ with the sheep, she insists it is Jesus and the dinosaurs! Evie seems to find pictures of Jesus everywhere…I had a piano songbook of Yanni out for a while, and she would clutch it and carry it around, telling me it was Jesus.  What did we ever laugh about before we had kids??

Boo!

Ha ha ha….I got a real kick out of this. Scares me a little, though, with the election just around the corner…

 

Well here we all are, just before heading out for trick-or-treating (with Grandparents and cousins, too). Evie is dressed as Cinderella, Anna is Little Orphan Annie (my costume from when I was a kid), Heidi is an elegant Snow Queen, and Daniel is Darth Vader. Don’t ask what I am. A hippie disco queen maybe?

One of our favorite Halloween traditions is to start the “spooking” in our neighborhood. We brought rice crispy treat owls and White Chocolate & Candy Corn Popcorn to 10 families in the neighborhood. Thanks to one of our all-time favorite family books, Bullies in the Headlights, the girls knew exactly how to dress for the occasion! They make the cutest bandits, don’t they?