Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2008!

Our little family headed out to Utah for the holidays. 6 weeks is a long time to be away from home, but we love our family and love being with them.

Joren turned 1!

We had a really fun little party for him at my parents house. Since his favorite thing to do in the world is take a bath we had a bathtub/swimming party. My cute mom bought a carpet remnant and put it in the garage under the swimming pool. We heated the garage and the pool water and had a swimming party for the cousins. I made this little bathtub cake and Joren was SO cute when he saw it because when he realized what it was he got really excited and clapped his hands. I love this kid! He loved swimming and loved all his new bath toys. He is so fun right now. He is learning to immitate sounds and is almost completly walking on his own. (close). He loves his brother and they are so cute together. He loves to be tickeled. He is very brave. He loves to climb on things. He gets so excited when he climbs the stairs and loves to wander off on his own and explore things. His first words were dad and mom followed by Jesus and all done. (my mom and I swear he said Jesus clear as day while we were looking at paintings of him at the museum.) He played peek a boo with me today in the car and was so proud of himself. He kept covering his eyes and peeking at me for about 5 minutes. It was such a sweet moment. He's also a very adept sword fighter. (you have to be at our house)
I have been thinking about all of my friends these past few weeks since I almost always send out Christmas cards and at this time of year, I love to gather up all the names and addresses of the many people that I love and think about the memories we have made and send out a little note of love. ... and this year I made the lists and the plans, and then never got around to sending the cards. My mom is a great example. I'm still trying to grow up to be like her. She sent out a giant stack of cards this year. One was to an 85 year old lady that she hasn't talked to in 25 years, but she has sent and received a card from her every year for all of these years. The lady's name is Harriet, and she helped and befriended my mom when she was a young mother in a new place. We got a card today from a family that lived down the street from us in Denver when I was in high school. The boys in the family were 5 and 7 when we moved away and in their picture we just got they are now grown men. Somehow my mom made a special enough place in their heart that for all these years they have sent her a Christmas card. I love getting Christmas cards. It seems like it's almost an old fashioned sentiment these days. Most of my friends have email and I could email a picture and an update and I do like the Christmas wishes/cards that I get through email, but I also love to have a picture of my friends to hang on my wall. The pictures I got last year are still up in my house. (If I was at home I would take a picture and post it.) And that's why I feel especially bad that I did not get my cards done this year. I think about my high school friends, my college friends, my work friends, my early marriage Provo friends, Missouri friends, Michigan friends and family friends and anyone else I have missed and well.. don't you just sometimes want to send out a great big "thanks for being in my life, that was such a great time, you really made a difference, you've made me who I am now, and Merry Merry Christmas, I hope you know how loved you are" kind of message to everyone you love? Well, it's pretty impossible to send that out to everyone who has touched my life, but if you're reading this you probably know you're someone I love.. so Merry Christmas to you, and sorry you didn't get a card! I'll be more like my awesome mom next year.

Paul did a great job on the Turkey this year. (as usual)

We hope you all have a WONDERFUL holiday! Merry Christmas!

100 Gallon salt water aquarium!

After being in Missouri for two weeks painting I arrived home at 7:00AM after an all night car drive and what was the first thing I saw? My hubby, but 20 lbs less of him! Yes, that's right people, he went on the atkins diet a week before I went to Missouri and in 3 weeks he dropped 20 lbs. I just stood there and stared for 10 minutes with my mouth open. He looks so good and I love it!
He also decided lately that he needed a new hobby and decided enough was enough, he was finally going to go for the 100 gallon salt water aquarium that he has been dreaming about for a long time. It's expensive but when he found an amazing deal from a super cool friend of his in the surgery dept. (Props out to our man Rob for hooking us up. You ROCK!) he decided to go for it. Salt water aquariums are no easy hobby and not cheap either, but when it's up and going you get to watch this whole amazing ecosystem right inside your house.
The corals that we have been researching are so awesome. We love the fish but even more we love the coral. I think of it as sort of an underwater garden or flower arrangement. (I don't think any die hards would like hearing me say that ;) It's like we are now in this whole new guy realm that I never knew existed. Of course there are lots of women who like salt water aquariums too, but I don't know any of them. I just love this new hobby because it is so beautiful, so tranquil and serene and such an awesome learning experience too. Not to mention, it's a hobby that we can both enjoy!
I told Paul he should start an aquarium blog for us. I even named it "Reef Relief" but he's not into it. I want to document our progress so you'll probably get some aquarium shots interspersed in here now.

The bow front tank came with this utilitarian table which works great but is pretty ugly.
We decided to paint it and let it be until we can make something gorgeous. Now that I know what a pain it is going to be to move it, we are going to have the base ready to go when we move next. Red seemed like a good choice. I like how the tank looks on our blue wall. I think our new base will be walnut. Since this is not a blog written by the scientist of the family you will get all kinds of talk about how pretty it is and none of how it works which is way more important and would be way more helpful, but oh well. I don't talk the talk yet.

This is how it looked the first day it had water in it. The sand had not settled and the live rock we had was all just set in there to keep it alive.
We spend the next few days aquascaping. We arranged and REarranged and RE arranged them until we felt they were just right for our new little coral friends to make homes.

We made a cool bride and two caves and lots of fun holes for hiding.
This is what it looked like when the sand settled. I think it's already very pretty. I think we even adjusted it quite a bit more after this shot and new it's perfect. ;)
For our initial investment we bought: (this part was at a great deal)
72 gallon bow front
20 gallon sump
30 gallon sump
2 corralias
2 overflow boxes
1 red prism hang on protein skimmer
1 little giant external pump
20 lbs rock
60 lbs live sand
30 lbs live rock
60 lbs lace rock
After I thought we had purchased everything except the livestock and fish we had to buy a LOT more important things I wasnt' expecting like:
6 x 54 W THO Nova extreme light system
MR1 in sump protein skimmer
30 gallon refugium and the glass and silicone to make it into three seperate compartments
water distiller
light for refugium
20 lbs more live sand for refugium
pvc pipe, hose clamps, silicone, primer for new pump
18 hermit crabs

The red stand looks pretty cool doesn't it. for now at least. (This was before the new beautiful black light set came in.
These photos show Paul learning some of his new skills. He now knows how to build things out of PVC pipe which he used to install this new pump he bought. He can now build waterproof stuff with silicone. (very technical language mel)


Our first week cycling the tank we got a huge diatomb bloom that lasted about 3-4 days. That means that we got brown algae everywhere but it quickly died and now we have a big green algae bloom which is happening because we don't have distilled water in there and I guess Michigan tap water is good for growing this not so appealing algae. It's not ugly, it just takes over everything and is not the best for coral. We got some hermit crabs to eat the algae but they are not keeping up. we will have to get distilled water to fix this.

It's good to let a tank cycle for at least a month while everything settles before you add livestock. We are excited because it will be just in time for Christmas. It makes buying for each other really easy since all we want is coral. Cool huh? I never knew I'd be a salt water tank girl, but I love it.
Knowing a lot more about coral and fish is going to make our scuba diving trip a lot more fun! (This isn't planned yet, I'm just dreaming...)

Eirik at 2 years 8 m.

It’s been a long time since I wrote an update about my boys.

I have a bunch of notes here to share of funny things Eirik has said in the past few months.

The biggest news is that Eirik is potty trained. He did it basically by himself without much premeditation on my part. I just said, “let’s try it today and we did.” The first day he had 4 accidents and didn’t make it to the toilet once. The second day he had three accidents and more successful potty trips and the third day he didn’t have any accidents and didn’t want to wear a diaper to bed. (That’s where we are right now.) I guess I’m premature to say he is potty trained, but I think he’s pretty confident now and won’t go back to diapers now. That’s exciting! Yeah!

Eirik was playing legos and singing the transformers song as he worked. Suddenly he said to me, “Mom, have you ever heard of eating eyes?” He was singing to himself, “more than EATS the eye.” He was so confused.

“Ha ha, I forgot the pixie dust!”

Eirik got to spend a day with his friend Preston last week and when he got home he pretended that I was Janese and he was Preston all day long. He loves to play pretend and I am always some character in these complicated role playing games he creates. Well, he didn’t forget all day long. If I called him Eirik he said, “no mom, I’m Preston.”

Then he asked me to put my hair in a ponytail like Janese and when I said that my hair was too short he cried and said, “I don’t like short hair!”

The next day he told me that my face looked old. Hmmm…

Then he asked me what that nipple thing on my face was. Hmmm, that must be a zit. Nice.

The Rose Gardens in Oregon

Holding his whip threateningly, “It’s not fair and it’s not funny” “What’s not fair Eirik?”

“My cows are not funny Wendy!” (not out of context.) You figure it out.

One day he told me that his penis’s name was Maid Marrian. Another day it was Wendy.

He’s on a new super hero kick. I guess this happens to all boys. I was again, naïve mother, caught off guard about how boyish boys are. He said one day, “I become a superhero and rescue people.” And from then on it has been the new life theme. Actually it’s just a continuation of the “sir knight” theme except that now he can fly and shoot lasers from his eyes.

One day we went to the park. The slides were wet and Eirik said, “I have an idea. I will say here by myself while you go home to get a rag to dry off the slide. I stay here and relax and pretend about daddy, you go.”

“Maid Mariane (me) I just picked a flower for you, but it just died.”

“I have to go to work at the hostibal.”

“Don’t worry mom, Daddy is a good sheriff now and he will take care of you when I am gone and show you pictures of me.”

I offered Eirik a Carmel Ghiradelli brownie. (the very best kind) and he said, “no thanks mom. I don’t like that kind. I think it has snails in it.”

Eirik and I painted a prayer rock for him to put on his pillow in the morning and at the side of his bed at night. One day he came running in to my room in the morning and said, “I just woke up and bumped my toe on my prayer rock and said, “ha ha, I forgot to say my prayers.” So I said a prayer mommy!” I love it.

At the end of one of Eirik’s time out one day, he had just stopped crying when I came in to get him out and he said to me, “mommy I just said a prayer and said to Heavenly Father, “I’m so sorry for making such a big mistake. Will you forgive me?” He learned that in nursery. What good leaders he has.

When I was painting in Missouri I took Eirik to see what I had painted in the under the sea room and when he walked in he said, “Oh mom, It’s beautiful!” It totally made it all worth it. I love that he, as a 2 year old can appreciate my art. How fulfilling! At the end of our long trip I said, “Eirik, what was your favorite part of the trip?” He said, “the sea turtle and the whale from your paintings!” Wow. That’s too sweet!

After our long vacation we saw Benjamin for the first time. He came over to play and had been here for about ½ hour. Eirik suddenly said, “Benjamin I need a big hug.” Ben was a little tentative but then gave in and they had a big hug. Eirik ran to me and said, “I told Benjamin that I needed a big hug and he gave me one!” Good friends.

Eirik loves his brother and is so good about being quiet when he is sleeping and leaving him alone when he is nursing. He is so nice to him. One day he wanted to sleep next to Joren so I let him sleep in the crib. It was so cute to see them next to each other snuggling. I moved him after a few hours so they wouldn’t suffocate each other, but I loved to see their sweet sleeping faces next to each other.

I’ve told Eirik that we don’t say “Oh my gosh” because it just doesn’t sound right coming out of a 2 year old mouth to me. He still says it a lot and one day he said, “can I say Oh my gosh, because I think it’s a fun word.” Then of course he said it over and over and over again laughing. He also started saying hate.

He’s also been extra SPIRITED lately. That means that he doesn’t want that sandwich because it has a different shaped top piece of bread or that that sucker is green not blue, or I wanted to do it myself, or he will only use his favorite blue fork or only a certain kind of sippy cup. If you move something and he can’t find it or he can’t reach something or he can’t get something out or get’s even a little bit frustrated he has a total meltdown. So sensitive! Meltdowns all day long. I know it’s just 2 year old behavior and I have been blessed lately to be aware of how fleeting this time is. What a privilege it is to get woken up every morning at 5:30 AM and be demanded all day long to do things by a little squirt like this. Oh how I love him.

Painting in Missouri

While we were in OR I got a call from my friend Leah from MO who asked me to come paint a bunch of murals in a new church. (see the complete story and the rest of the murals on my art blog: www.melodyaa.blogspot.com or click on "A peek in the kettle" link on the right.)

The boys and I spent two weeks there and I mostly painted my heart out while my boys were very well cared for by our good friends. We did get a few moments of brief fun in though. We drove to this great new pumpkin farm south of town and got a few pictures and a jump in the blow up Thomas the Train. (I hate those things because they always smell like stinky feet, but Eirik love them. ug) The place was great, as was the company.



I don't remember what Eirik was saying here, but it was something that totally cracked me up. It was probably something like, "I know mom, we can go up in space and make friends with the aliens. It will be so much fun mom!"
I was so glad we got to go to the pumpkin farm since it was the only chance I had to see a bunch of my good friends. How sad to visit our old home and work so much that I didn't get to see our friends much. Well, I hope they all forgive me. I needed to get my kids home as quickly as possible. We ended up leaving before I was done painting because they had had enough of road tripping and we needed a break. But before we made the drive home we got to stay overnight with Katherine and Bobby. What a treat. I felt very spoiled to get the "Domestic Goddess" treatment with this awesome pumpkin penne pasta and homemade rolls, not to mention the great scones and other homemade bread she brought to help me keep painting. Katherine also did me the honor of bragging about me on her blog. I never thought I would be on the front page of a newspaper! Only in Kirksville!



Patty and Alana also came to visit me at the church while I was painting! Thanks ladies. You are such good friends! I miss you all!
Leah and Jo, how can I repay you for such an awesome opportunity! You were such great hosts and friends!
I was a bit worried about the 12 hour drive home with 2 babies, but it turned out great since I left at 7pM and drove straight through until 7AM. I've never had a Red Bull before and yikes! I was shaking like a leaf. It was awesome! :) I didn't yawn once. Plus I was so excited to get home. After almost 7 weeks away.. home sounds pretty good.

Utah

We have been home for from our trip for one week now, and yesterday it hit me that we are back to real life again and I have to say that as much as I love our life here in MI, vacation is more fun. (sorry MI friends, you know I love you, but vacation rocks.) I got a bit of the blues realizing that we get up in the morning, Paul leaves for the whole day and it's just the three of us to hang out together and (again; no offense to my awesome kids) they are fun, but I had even more fun when we shared a house with lots of people that we love.
We got to stop in Utah to see family on our way to and from Oregon. It was only a few days but it was like a big glass of cold water in the desert. I just love these people. I'm glad we will get to spend a bunch of time with them in Dec.


I love this shot of Kristen and her little chip. So pretty!

My mom arranged a trip to a goat and horse farm run by one of her friends. Eirik wanted to see horses of course. We got to milk a goat and try the milk. It was actually very good. I guess goat's milk is much better for the human body than cows milk. The goats were pretty cute too. Joren loved hanging out in the hay and Eirik pretty much complained the whole time because he liked the neighbor's black horse and not the brown horse we came to visit. What a picky child!






My bros Dave and Daniel got a rad new motorcycles and they let Paul ride them. Paul turned into a man obsessed. Those few moments rekindled Paul's true love. For the two weeks I was in MO all Paul did was research motorcycles. He found all the best gear, the best deals, looked into safety classes and licenses and emailed me all the links. Thanks brothers because even though Paul was sexy before, now he is super sexy.


Is Davy wearing blue socks? Yeah, he's cool. That's a mark of character if you didn't know.

This was the best shot I got. 5 of us look pretty unprepared, but everyone else looks good. Sorry mom and dad and Paul.. he he he
My boys and their adorable cousins! What a fun time. The red heads together at last. :)
We had a fun dinner on the porch. My mom made roast. Is there a trend here?

And we got to celebrate Davy's birthday! Happy B-day brother!
We thought his new cute girlfriend was pretty adorable. Hey Becca!

My bro Dave took one look at our ghetto setup and died laughing. Yes, we are that cheap. We didn't buy the equipment to play our IPOD through our car speakers so we scotch taped the computer speakers to the headrest. There are a few problems with this, the biggest one being that only the person driving can hear the music. So Davy hooked us up with the cassette tape with cord that hooks into the IPOD. What a sweetie. Plus he totally hooked us up with some great new tunes for the road. The scotch tape came in handy on more than one occasion on this trip. The other most memorable one was when I scotch taped my sunglasses to my glasses. (No picture available of this atrocity, however if you wish to laugh at me, be my guest.) I long for the day of lasik. ahhh... that will be great.
We also learned on this trip that those chargers that plug into your cig lighter are awesome for road trips. We kept our IPOD, phones, and comp all charged the whole way. What a deal. (Thanks Anona for the lend)