Our Little Microcosm

Plans & Questionable Sanity

2011-06-22T22:39:00.001-07:00

14,000 miles. 225 hours of driving. 37 states & 1 Canadian province. 7 weeks. 6 people. 1 van & 1 pop-up tent trailer.

It all starts in 3 days. Counter-clockwise around the US!

Living on the Edge

2010-05-02T21:37:00.001-07:00

Our kids like to live on the edge a little from time to time. Especially when their Arizona cousins visit and leave scorpion suckers as a gift. They weren’t too keen on the idea of licking one at first, but give it a couple of months and no candy in the house, and they’re suddenly quite appealing!

We thoroughly enjoyed having their Arizona cousins here for the weekend. As always, we wish we all were closer!

Family Reunion (Mar-2010)

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D.C.

2009-10-20T21:49:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-15T10:59:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-23T23:40:00.001-07:00

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…

2009-07-08T23:33:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-10T22:11:00.001-07:00

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?

2009-02-25T15:01:00.001-08:00

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!!

2009-02-02T10:46:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-17T13:43:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-16T16:38:00.001-08:00

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…

2008-11-25T10:47:00.001-08:00

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”

2008-11-25T10:17:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-25T09:59:00.001-08:00

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??

2008-11-10T14:37:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-09T20:41:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-11-02T18:58:00.001-08:00

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?

I wish I were a Cub Scout!

2008-10-15T21:57:00.001-07:00

Daniel recently turned 11, and with that, "crossed-over" from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. The end of a very fun era, and the beginning of something new. Even Anna, several years ago, asked when she gets to be in Cub Scouts. They have so much fun! Day camp, weekly activities, Pinewood Derby, Raingutter Regatta, Space Derby, etc. The girls really get jipped! Who wants to bet Danny passes me up this year?

Because there was a large number of Cubs crossing over, they brought in the "Order of the Arrow", a special group of trained Boy Scouts who put on an *amazing* show for us.

Here's Danny making the big leap from Cubs to Boy Scouts.

Just as this very moment, Evie, who was situated on my hip as I stood next to the other parents, peed all over me. And I mean ALL over me. Ahh, the joys of Motherhood! Now I'll never forget Daniel's crossing over!

Who Me??

Another Must in Portland This Weekend: The Polish Festival

2008-09-24T16:04:00.001-07:00

Among our many family traditions we've stuck to over the years is attendance at an event coming up again this weekend, Sept. 27th-28th: the annual Polish Festival here in Portland, Oregon, always held the last weekend in September. (Admission is FREE!) For two days they have continuous dance & music performances from many different groups, lots of booths with various wares for sale (sweets, jewelry, books, clothes, & other handmade goods), but the best part of all is the food. Or, as Heidi reminded me this morning, "it's our family's best meal of the year!" While we certainly have many, many great home-cooked meals all year long thanks to Corina's amazing talents, getting to fill up on all the best in fresh Polish cuisine is everyone's favorite. They have it all at the festival: fresh true kiełbasa (not fake American "Polish sausage"), hearty bigos, filling placki ziemniaczane (potato pancakes), scrumptious pierogi, fresh soft rolls, and sometimes even barszcz. These days they regularly get over 20,000 visitors across the festival weekend.

Check it out and see you there if you're around here!

Back to school...

2008-09-11T23:40:00.001-07:00

I wouldn't be a good Mom if I didn't post pictures of my kids on their first day back at school, would I? Danny's in 6th grade (yikes...middle school!) and Anna is in 2nd grade. Gotta love Anna's new haircut. It's a spunky cut for a spunky girl!

Heidi is sure growing up fast. Fourth grade already for her. And Evie, well, obviously she's not in school yet, but she thought she needed her picture taken, too! Whose shoes did she borrow this time, anyway?

Not-So-Fiery Re-entry Back to School

2008-09-01T23:31:00.001-07:00

The more we hear from others, the more it sounds like many parents are just about at their rope's end and ready for the kids to be back in school & out of their hair. Not so here. As a family (including Mom & Dad) we're all going to really miss summer, but the kids are still excited about starting the new school year, too. For Daniel this is especially true--he starts middle school this year, which is a new thing altogether.

With school starting again, that, of course, means our entire family's schedule changes pretty significantly--back to a much more structured version. We've tried to limit the number of activities after school to the minimum, but even then it still winds up being pretty busy--even without any kids doing sports. But after a marathon hour-long Family Council, we got our weekday schedule down to the following morning & evening schedules (purposefully not entirely readable):

From these, we decided to move away from our traditional individual job charts they had in the past (listed all their jobs each day so they could check them off) to a daily schedule with their "do job" times. It wound up being necessary, thanks to the bottlenecks at the piano & shower and the now-different bus schedules. The things that don't change on our weekdays from year to year are always: Family Home Evening on Monday nights, and family breakfasts & dinners together.

The real trick is to try to keep enough unstructured time in our schedule for family activities and one-on-one attention with the kids. We've been pretty keenly aware of the need to be cautious about not overscheduling the family, per Elder Dalin H. Oak's talk, Good, Better, Best, in October 2007.

Even with all the careful forethought, I'm sure we'll be adjusting and massaging things a bit in the coming weeks!

High Desert Hijinks: Camping, Hiking & Paddling in the Volcano

2008-08-30T00:45:00.001-07:00

What a camping trip we had last week! While Corina took her sister up on an offer to be flown to California (with Evie on her lap) to do 4+ days of cathartic (=no kids) interior painting, Daniel, Heidi, Anna, and I joined my dad and step-mom for several days of camping at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. along the northeast shore of East Lake. We had never been there before, and what an amazing place it was! There really was something for everyone.

(Here I'll point out that if you want the really cool 3D view of where we were, our exact hikes, one of our paddles across the lake, and pictures placed where we took them, make sure you have Google Earth installed and pull up our East Lake Camping Trip 2008 layer, otherwise you get the flat map at the bottom.)

So right after arriving at noon on Thursday, we set up camp and the kids headed to the lake shore 100 yards away to look for pumice (which floats), obsidian, and other cool igneous rocks. Grandma and Grandpa had some friends along, Libbi & Larry, who also had grandchildren there. It didn't take long before they were all at a small side lake catching frogs together--what fun!

By 5pm, the kids were restless to see Grandpa's 21-foot double kayak make its first voyage in the lake, so down it came off the RV and into the smaller lake. Anna got the first chance, then Heidi, and finally Daniel.

But the little lake was too shallow to really paddle hard, so Daniel and Grandpa headed out into East Lake for a short little trip with the setting sun in the background.

That evening the winds calmed down some, and we all enjoyed a nice dinner at the grill while chasing ground squirrels away from our picnic table. The stars that night were like few nights we'd ever seen: the Milky Way was as bright as a cloud in the sky and the stars numbered far more than are allowed in city limits.

The next morning, Libbi and Grandma Laurence wanted to go for a hike to the top of nearby Paulina Peak, one that would be a little much for the girls, so just Daniel and I tagged along. It was two miles and 1500 feet elevation gain to reach the peak, but what a view! At almost 8,000 feet, you could see Fort Rock, Mt. Bachelor, the Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Hood.

After returning and having some lunch, Daniel and Grandpa went for long paddle all the way across East Lake and back, about three miles total. Then Daniel was allowed to do some paddling along the shore in the one-man kayak while under Grandma's supervision. As he got started, Anna and I paddled away for yet another cross-lake trip. Anna was a great sport and stuck to it for the whole three miles. The big prize was stopping at the pumice slide on the far side and finding some very large pieces--she could barely contain herself!

Upon arriving back at camp, we found Daniel had been paddling the single kayak mercilessly for over an hour and, as expected, then collapsed, snoring, in one of the hammocks. After dinner, Libbi and Larry sponsored a big campfire in their site, and everyone had a great time making Brown Bears and talking until after dark.

The next morning it was time for another hike, but this time with everyone. It was seven miles & 1000 feet in elevation gain up to Cinder Hill above our camp site. It took a little moleskin for Heidi and 1/2 mile of Anna's riding on my shoulders to make it, but make it we all did!

Before heading home, while Grandpa was out taking Heidi on her turn paddling across East Lake, Daniel, Anna, and I went on the shortest and possibly coolest hike in the area--a 3/4 mile hike up onto Big Obsidian Flow. Talk about hiking in another world--I've never seen anything like it anywhere!

All in all, the kids decided on their own that this was the coolest camping trip they had ever been on! That, of course, means we'll certainly have to do it again. Corina's already a little jealous she missed it all!

Map of Our Adventures
(click here for it in Google Earth)

Shows our camp site, our major hikes,
one paddle, and the location of a few of our pictures.

Happy 11th Birthday, Danny!

2008-08-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

Eleven years ago I gave birth to this cute little boy. Mellow, sweet, full of love, musical, bright, creative. That's my boy. But... "babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow"...

...and turn into very handsome young men! Here he is receiving a gift from Heidi, a book by John Bytheway, "You're Gonna Make it Through Junior High" (and pretending to be annoyed by her over-exuberant hug). Danny also received a unicycle from Mom and Dad. Hopefully we'll have a video up soon of him showing his stuff!

Family Night Geocaching Adventure

2008-08-10T23:23:00.001-07:00

A week and a half ago for the first time in eleven years, we bought a new GPS receiver. (Our old one disappeared somewhere in the move from our last home.) Things sure have changed a lot in that many years! Besides using the new one for hiking/backpacking, cycling, and geotagging digital photos, we knew we could have a lot of fun with it as a family doing some geocaching. (See Geocaching.com for details on this high tech treasure hunting sport, if you're not familiar with it.)

So to kick it off, we thought we'd do a little geocaching for our Family Home Evening (FHE) last Monday. Because we like to stick to having a lesson as part of our time together on Monday nights, we decided to get a little creative by "creating" two of our own--non-public ones just for us. I downloaded a .GPX file from Geocaching.com for some cache (any cache), opened it up in a text editor (like Notepad), and edited the XML to change the title, description, location, etc. to be what I wanted. After copying the file onto our GPS receiver, it suddenly showed up on the map as a nearby geocache! (even though nobody else online would obviously ever be able to see it)

So, with an activity focused on treasure hunting, we figured it would be appropriate to start with a scripture on the topic. So the first geocache itself was a container with a Book of Mormon inside. Then using the geocache clues (see photo at right), the kids then looked up 3 Nephi 13:19-21 (from the Savior's Sermon at the Temple), and we had a great discussion about it in the larger sense. Couldn't have been a better scripture for the occasion.

From there it was off to an "actual" geocache in a nearby field, where the girls traded trinkets for a--brace yourself--teddy bear pin! (What a find!) And for our final geocache of the evening, the kids went on the hunt for another nearby one curiously titled "Yummy Surprise". After lots of searching and rereading of the clues, they eventually discovered a cache full of candy bars stashed under some leafy branches on the ground in our own backyard! Once again, it was another "private" geocache manufactured by Dad and geared to serve as our FHE treat.

It was sure lots of fun, and our kids are now hooked on this new family hobby. And as parents, we're happy to have another good, wholesome outdoor activity we can do together just about anywhere! It's a very important part of developing a loving, strong family.

New Grass Excitement Comes to Portland's West Side

2008-08-10T16:29:00.001-07:00

We're still a bit shocked that it's happening and baffled at how it could possibly be free, but one of our favorite bands is coming to play at Shute Park in Hillsboro, Oregon, this Thursday, August 14th at 7:00pm: Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band! It's definitely worth the money, even at their normal concerts where it costs a few to get in, but when it's free, it's an absolute No-Miss Must.These guys are incredible.

Never heard of them before? We hadn't either until a few years ago when we came across them through a series of good, clean, fun local concerts organized by Jim Band Music. These guys are anything but small time local guys, though--they're signed on with Capitol Records Nashville and have been quite a hit in the country music world, although they don't quite belong. [Disclaimer: we're not country music fans at all, although bluegrass can be fun.] Their style is mostly acoustic with elements of bluegrass, reggae, rock, jazz, and rap. Sound strange? It's a blast--take a listen to some of what they've got on YouTube. And they're fantastic on stage--one of the best groups out there. Seeing them live is worth juggling a busy schedule around for. And for us personally, it's great that we can bring the entire family along and never have to wonder about anything questionable, either.

So if you happen to be reading this and are far distant from anyplace close to Hillsboro, check out their web site and try pulling down a few of their tunes from Zune Marketplace or iTunes.

And if your kids happen to get the Corn Dog Song stuck in their cute little heads, don't blame us!

Say What?!?

2008-08-09T07:34:00.001-07:00

Evie has come up with some really funny words. We've all started to use them recently....

Hot dog=Dot Dog

Ketchup=Jop Jop

Dirty Diaper=Toot Toot (Hi Mommy, I toot toot!)

Popcorn=Pop Pop

Bubbles=Pop Pops

Otter Pop=Pop

Swim suit=Suit Suit

Jacob (her favorite cousin & best friend)=Ga Ga

Blanket=Nigh Nigh

A regular conversation with Evie:

"Evie, come here, sweetie, let's get your Suit Suit on so you can swim and do Pop Pops with Ga Ga. Then we'll have Dot Dogs and Jop Jop for lunch. Oh, what's that, you did Toot Toots? Alright, let's change your diaper and then we'll make pop pop and have a pop!!

Papa's Beach House

2008-07-27T23:32:00.001-07:00

We just got back from a week at "Papa's Beach House" on the Central Oregon coast, and thought I'd share a few pics. It's technically Grandma and Papa's beach house, but that's what the grandkids named it probably 10 years ago, and it stuck. My sister, Cindy, and her family also came, so the cousins had tons of fun together.

Heidi's got some serious spin here! This is the pool where my kids have learned 99.5% of their swimming skills. (The other .5% would be lessons)

Danny, Anna, Vaughn, Evie, & Heidi enjoying a sunny swim.

This was an especially great trip because Papa and Grandma came for the weekend. When Papa comes to "Papa's Beach House" we all have a blast because he *loves* to play. Here's a pic of Papa and his girls out on the beach (back: Sarah, Anna, Papa, front: Emily, Heidi, Grace, Claire)

One of the kids favorite things to do with Papa is make popcorn! Papa gets them all singing "I looked out the window and what did I see...Popcorn popping ....." as the popcorn pops. Looks like Evie's crying for more A&W root beer!

Yummalicious Chocolate Mint Cookies

2008-07-27T23:30:00.001-07:00

I *promise* I'll only post recipes on my blog if they are truly, one-of-a-kind, life-changing recipes. And, well, this one fits the bill. I tried it Friday on a whim (just opened up Mrs. Fields book) and went for it. This went straight to the top of my cookie list! In fact, everyone I've shared the cookies with so far has asked for the recipe! (except the Mormon missionaries) I just went to snag a picture of one, but, it seems we may have a mouse in the house (or a hungry husband!) Here it is:

1 cup butter (I use 1/2 butter, 1/2 margarine)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp. pure mint extract
2 2/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups mint chocolate chips (I used 1 cup green mint chips and 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars, then add eggs and mint extract. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder). Add to creamed mixture. Toss in the chocolate & mint chips and
blend just until combined. Bake for ~12 minutes.

Bicycle Parade

2008-06-30T00:46:00.001-07:00

This is going to be the best Summer ever! Call me crazy, but this is what we've been up to. Everyday, my kids and I hop on our bikes (with Evie in the trailer) and ride a mile over to my sister's place. We pick up her 4 kids and add them to our 'bicycle parade' (as a surprised onlooker called us). Then we cruise on over to the neighborhood outdoor swimming pool for lessons. We hang out at the playground, eat a picnic lunch, play tennis, and then head back just in time for naps. The funny thing is, if it were just me taking my kids to swim lessons, there would be all sorts of balking and complaining. But, since we're going with cousins, we have tons of fun, and I don't think I've heard even a single complaint! Thanks, Juj, for letting me borrow your kids!

Happy 12th Anniversary!!

2008-06-29T23:11:00.001-07:00

Saturday, Vaughn and I celebrated 12 wonderful years together! Grandma watched the kids while we did something we've never done before (although I've dreamed about for years). We borrowed a tandem bike and rode a 12-mile loop through Portland. The entire route was along the beautiful Willamette river, crossing two bridges. It was quite the experience, and, with the amount of coordination it took, we thought it was perfectly appropriate for celebrating marriage. Vaughn got very good at warning me of every approaching bump, as well as coordinating each start and stop. It was kind of like we were doing synchronized cycling!

Here's the view from where I was at...I couldn't see where we were going at all! I totally had to trust that Vaughn was watching where he was going.

What a stud!

Fashionable and delicious

2008-06-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

Betcha didn't know jewelry could taste good, did you? That's my creative Anna. She can make earrings out of pretzels!

Happy Hikers

2008-06-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

I don't understand it, but when my kids are hiking together, they are happy! It must be the magical combination of the beauty of nature (Oregon, at least), physical exertion, and sweat, that makes them the most wonderful kids to be with. OK, they're wonderful all of the time, just extra good when they're hiking!

Evie absolutely *loves* being in the "pack-pack"!

Anna, Heidi & Danny from the top of Multnomah Falls.

Nordstrom

2008-06-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

Danny had the privilege of playing 40 minutes of "easy-listening" music at Nordstrom during one of their big sales. He was a little nervous, but you'd never know it...that kid somehow plays better under pressure!

We rode the Max downtown with Grandma and Papa, and lots of cousins. A fun family outing.

The kids got comfortable amongst the shoes, and had a little fun shopping when they were distracted from the music.

Papa treated everyone to dinner afterwards, overlooking the ice rink at Lloyd Center.

Days in the Life

2008-06-02T21:55:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, Corina's sister, Julie, and her family moved into our neighborhood. Our kids have had a great time having their cousins so close and wind up spending some of just about every day with them. That’s especially been the case over the last three weeks, since Julie gave birth to twin cousins. Their family has been overwhelmed trying to figure out how to make it all work, and our family has gotten the chance to help out in an lot of ways. (that's Heidi holding one of her new cousins) For example, Corina pulled off a baby shower for the twins where we had 50 ladies squeeze into our basement for the evening. And because their dad was a little busy helping mom, the two older cousins got to come with us on the annual Father & Son campout, where we hiked to the top of Beacon rock, an 860 foot tall monolith in the Columbia Gorge.

Evie is talking more than ever now. Two of her many new words are “car” and “keys”, which she combines whenever she sees Daddy’s car keys. And when the door is open, she just can’t resist trying the steering wheel!

Last Monday (Memorial Day), we went to downtown Portland and let Heidi show us all the things downtown she had learned about in school. (Needed an excuse to get out of the house.) We got a family picture by the 36’ high Portlandia statue. Later, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Newberry’s for a barbeque family dinner, which was fantastic.

On Saturday, we had lots of projects to do around the house, including a group of three garden boxes that Daniel and I planned and built on the side of our house. Each is eight feet long, a couple feet wide, and one foot deep. Once we haul in three cubic yards of gardening soil on Wednesday, together they’ll give us 77 square feet of gardening space. Corina and the girls are especially excited—they’ve already planned out what they’re going to grow in each different part and laid out the seeds.

Tonight was the Spring Recital for all of Corina’s students--we had about 30 people jammed into our living room for it. Even though only Anna is still taking piano lessons from Corina, Daniel and Heidi were invited to perform as guests. It was a lot of fun, but we’re excited to be done with the stress of getting the house ready for it.

Kisses, anyone?

2008-05-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

Evie found an orange marker, and thought she'd do what Mommy does. She put on 'lipstick'!

Bad hair day

2008-02-19T22:32:00.000-08:00

Before Mommy fixes Evie's hair....

and after! What a transformation!

Hula Hips

2008-01-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

You gotta watch this girl...she's a wild woman with a hoop! After purchasing her new hula hoop, she had a good-sized crowd watching with amazement! Not bad for 6 and 3/4!

The Old Church

2007-10-26T00:44:00.000-07:00

I was invited to perform an organ piece on the historic organ at "The Old Church" in Portland for the annual American Mothers Convention. The organ, built in 1883, is a tracker-action pipe organ, with a flat pedal-board (as opposed to concave & radiating). My teacher, Jeannine Jordan, helped me pick the perfect piece to showcase the organ's stops. The video is from a rehearsal, and is just one section of the piece. It was such a thrill to play on real pipes!