Warning: this blog may contain political opinions...

So, Brandon and I have gone and done it. We have decided to share our political views and worldly opinions with others. But we have decided to keep it kind-of separate from our family blog. At the bottom right of this blog, we have added a link to our favorite political candidates, links to our religious connections and a link to our new blog, where we feel free to say exactly what we think. We feel it right to warn you, if you think that knowing our views of the world and politics and religion and so on would change your love for us as family or friends, just stick to this site and don't scroll down too far. If I have intrigued you far too much just now, go ahead and pop down to give it a look-see. We have just started the other blog so there is not much to see yet. But I sure have a lot of stuff going on in my head right now. I thought that would be a good place to put it.
It is funny how politics and religion seem to be two big NO-No's when it comes to talking to people, especially family. But people are entitled to their own opinions. That is why the voting system works. You can't count every one's opinion. So you take the opinion that is expressed the most. It is not always the most popular opinion or position. Sometimes the minority is just much better at getting their opinion heard and the majority think that there are so many of them, they don't have to state their opinion, because enough others are bound to have said it. I hope that none of you will take your opinions for granted. Whatever it is, it matters. Especially right now. Of course, I hope that you would all agree with my opinion, as it is the right one. HA HA! I would state for the record that I am both Republican and Mormon. I have the right and the privelidge to make these choices, just as everyone else does. It is fun to debate others with different views, while secretly trying to make them come over to your side. But in the end, we are all entitled to our own opinions, and Brandon and I have decided not to be afraid of ours. Hope you'll still love me in the morning. -P-

Frog Blog 4 - The Final Chapter!

The frogs are gone. What a fun journey it was to have them in our home. I decided last weekend that we would have to get rid of the frogs soon or they would all die of starvation. We just couldn't keep up with their eating. We found that at Petco they sold flightless fruit flies. So we had bought some of those, but with 25 little hungry frogs, they just don't last long. We decided that we could head straight out to the cabin after school on Wednesday, because it was early release and the kids got out of school at 1:35. Brandon could not take off of work, so I asked my friend April if she and her two children would like to come with. She said yes, despite the fact that rain was predicted. Well, for the first time in a long time, the weatherman was dead on. Rain, it did. Lots! So here we are, out at the river; mud, rocks and baby frogs everywhere that we stepped. Anna was trying to catch them all and put them in the grass to be safe. Abby, who is almost 3, just wanted to "hold" them. Well, baby frogs are really fragile. It's a good thing that frogs lay a lot of eggs, since there are predators as loving as three year olds around. We found out that Abby has the same misconception as Anna does about rain boots. They are not for collecting water in, but rather keeping it out. After hiding under the shelter of the trees for a little while, the rain let up enough for us to find a good spot for our frogs. One of our frogs became especially large, so we were able to name him. Anna had named the first tadpole out of the water, Nemo. Since this one was the biggest, it had to have been the first, so it must have been Nemo. ( She's pretty good at reasoning. ) We were able to name one other frog, as he looked a little different from the others. His name was Cyclops. Yep, poor guys only had one eye, although it was not in the middle of his head. After the frogs were all out of the jar, we headed back up to the cabin to make S'mores, in the oven. The kids ran around and played, then we headed back home. Such a wonderful experience.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Welcome Autumn!

In honor of the change of season, we have changed our blog colors. It is a little unfortunate that our neighbors just cut down there oak tree as we will miss out on jumping into a pile of leaves. We will not miss raking the leaves and cleaning the gutters however. We can always go to the Grandparents house and jump in their leaves.

I had a wonderful birthday weekend. The tradition in our family is to make your birthday last as long as you can. Mine started on Thursday, but I think my last official party will be on Saturday for a Kirkwood September birthday party. There are several of us on that side that have September birthdays. This birthday party will be mixed with a Welcome to the family shower for my new nephew Tanner. We get to meet him soon! That will be the best present.

My sister did give me a pretty good laugh as a present. I had said in a e-mail that I needed new shoes. On Saturday, my sister's family and my parents were over for a party. We were opening presents and my niece, Emily, was really excited to have me open theirs. When I opened the wrapping I saw that it was a shoe box and Emily said "Guess what's inside?" I said "Shoes" jokingly, because people don't really buy shoes as a gift. It's almost like buying someone underpants. I opened it and it was shoes. Then I noticed they were really old, worn out shoes. I am sure my shock showed on my face, because everyone started laughing. Emily told me to keep looking and their was a gift card underneath it. My sister was just tired of giving a gift card inside the birthday card and wanted to have a wrapped gift. We all had a really good laugh.

Thanks to everyone who helped make my birthday so great. Anna gave me a card she drew with a picture of me & her (see below) and Riley made me a card that said "Happy Birthday to you. You live in a zoo. You look like a monkey and you smell like one too." I'm not sure that I look like a monkey, but I know I live in a zoo! -P-

My number is 32... What's yours?

Today is my 32 birthday. I have had a lot of people ask me if I feel old. It kind of stumps me. Am I old? Well, to anyone younger than 32, apparently yes, I am old. But you get to people in their 60s and 70s; well they wish that they were 32. My husband asked me last night if it has hit me yet and I find myself wondering if I should be waiting for a brick to fall. I won't be much older tomorrow than I am today, just a different number. I guess what I am saying is that I am one of the lucky ones that are truly not bothered by my number. I can't change it. I could lie about it, but then it would resent me for not liking it. I could hide it beneath some make-up or pretend that I didn't know it. But it would still be mine. The good thing is you get a new one every year, but it will always be bigger. (Unless you are my father-in-law. His started going backwards at 50. How lucky for him. I think he is almost 46!) It is, however, just a number. I think that what really counts is your perspective. Think about it. If your number was not your age, but rather the number of friends you had? Well, you would want a higher number. Some people think there is a perfect number and they just want to keep that one. Think of all the fun stuff you could miss out on if you stuck with just one number. And which one would it be? 25 was good for me, but then I would be stuck without my children. 40 might be good, but then I would be stuck WITH my children. If I never get past 50, I won't ever be claimed by the most special name "Grandma." I have been so blessed in my life with good friends and a family that doesn't make me cry (most days). Every bit of that has been collected in my number 31. I hope that as the days come, I will be blessed with a bigger number so that I can add to it. 32 will only hold so much. We'll never know when our number's up. But I do know that I intend to wear my number out. I am going to fill it so full that in about a year it will need to be replaced. We'll have a going away party for it. Cake and ice cream, the whole sha-bang! It is something to celebrate. After all, I'll never see that number again. So my birthday wish today is that all of you will take a good look at your number. Have you been cherishing it? Or have you just been taking it along with you, hiding it where you can? Every second of our numbers count. Whether we like it or not, we get to fill it with what we choose. I hope that all your numbers are as full of blessings and good memories as mine have been. Goodbye 31, Hello 32! -P-

P.S. Click on the song "Older". It's fun

Summertime Blues

Okay so I don't miss the boring days of summer where you just don't know what to do. But I sure do miss the fun things that we got to do during our summer. I finished our slideshow of all of our summer events. It is not for the faint of heart as it lasts about 5 minutes. There are more than 100 pictures! All these pictures that had no real place to go. Pictures, you are free! Hope you enjoy. -P-

Make a Smilebox slideshow

While the boys were away...

While the boys were away on Saturday Anna, Evan and I had some fun of our own. Anna and I had a girly party while Evan was napping. Then, when he woke up, we got out the camera and started making faces. I would call out some emotion and Evan or Anna would make that face. I didn't catch them all, but I made a slide show out of some of them. Sometimes, we have some fun moments that make me forget how hard this job really is. -P-
(Oh, you have to click the remote on the slideshow everytime you want to change the pics)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Football Saturday

Okay, So Pam let me put an update to our blog. So here goes...



Saturday was Football day. Riley had his first game for his flag football team. It is an interesting story. For weeks I kept asking him if he wanted to play flag football. He kept telling me that he did not like football. So, we were all set to sign him up for YMCA soccer. However, last week after watching football on TV, he and I went out in the backyard and started playing catch with the football. Soon catch turned into a game of one-on-one. We had a great time. Afterwards, he came to me and asked if it was too late to sign up for football. He told me that he now loves football. It was a complete reversal. So, on Monday I went down to the YMCA and signed him up. He was so excited. The team had been practicing since August 17. However, they were still accepting players. His first practice was Thursday and his first game was Saturday. He seemed to fit right in with his team. In fact, he caught two passes in the game and nearly scored a touchdown. He was the only person on his team to actually catch a pass. He had a lot of fun. What a difference a week makes!

After his game, I had the opportunity to take Riley to his first UW Husky football game. Although the game was a complete flop, a 55-14 loss to Oklahoma, we had a great time. We drove up to the game with my Dad, who also had tickets and met with my brother, Jeff. Riley had a blast. It was great to share the experience with him. Thanks for the tickets Dad. It was a fun day!!

More grows in the garden...

An Old Spanish proverb says "More grows in the garden than the gardener sows." This year Anna and Riley have really gotten into gardening with me. They've helped me dig the earth and plant the seeds. They've helped me keep the ground moist for the seeds to sprout and protected the plants from "The evil weed monsters" and "The slimy slug bugs". Then we begin harvesting and that is everyone's favorite part. Early in the season we start to get our blueberries and strawberries. The kids loved moving the leaves of the strawberry plants around to find the sweet little red berries that hardly make it inside. Now, though, we are finally beginning to harvest the things that take awhile. We planted carrots of every color, shape and size this year. Red, yellow and purple, round as a ball or as small as a finger. That is their favorite. We have harvested our broccoli many times, but we let some go to seed for next year. If you have never smelled a broccoli flower, you should try it sometime. It smells nothing like broccoli, believe me. More like the sweet sent of honeysuckle mixed with lilies. We have more zucchini than our friends can bare (Here, have some zucchini bread!) Our tomatoes are just becoming ripe and even though the children say Yuck to them, they can't get enough of the spaghetti sauce that they turn into, cooked up with our onions and green peppers! We are so blessed to have enough space and sunshine in our yard to grow such a variety of foods. We even grow our own pumpkins to carve. We planted things so late this year that we thought we wouldn't get any pumpkins, but just this morning, we found two huge ones that we must have missed! More has grown in my garden this year than I ever planted. There may not be a seed for love, but it certainly grows well in my heart towards these beautiful children that Heavenly Father has lent me for awhile.

"Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own." Charles Dickens

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Dinner and a Bookstore?

We decided to spend our Friday night date with our kids. I know what you are thinking, but we owed them one. We were supposed to go out for dinner on Wednesday to celebrate the first day of school, but our lovely little Evan decided to get sick and we didn't think paying $50 for dinner out would be great if we had to endure his screaming humiliation in the middle of a restaurant. So we had pizza and a movie on Wednesday and postponed dinner until Friday. The kids chose Red Robin (YUM!) and we all had a great time.

Anna kept wanting me to pick the strawberries out of my lemonade for her to eat. Evan saw this and said "Me, too!" I offered him a strawberry, but he said "NO" and pointed to the lemon that comes on the side of the glass, you know, so you know it's lemonade.
Anyways, we gave it to him.

He thanked us kindly and gave it back.

So after dinner we weren't quite ready to go home, but didn't want to go anywhere expensive either. I thought "Border Books!" We have never taken our kids to the bookstore before. For me that was a terrible realization. Some of you may know I have a fond love of bookstores. Libraries, too. When I grow up I want to be an author, and sometimes I get overwhelmed walking into a bookstore just thinking about all of the people who contribute these stories to our lives. Fact or fiction, doesn't matter. It just overwhelms me. So there we were, introducing my children to something that I love, and guess what, they loved it too. Anna ran off with Daddy and Evan. They found what they wanted in the bargain section. I found a children's book written by Mary Higgins Clark, my favorite mystery author. Of course I got it so that I can introduce my children to her, too. Riley couldn't find any chapter books in the bargain section, so he and I ran off to the children's section. He was so excited by all of the choices. He just couldn't decide. We were probably at the bookstore for about an hour and ended up coming away spending only $25. Not a bad price to pay to watch your children's imaginations take flight. -P-

Back to School!

Another one of those big moments that I thought I was ready for. I was wrong. I am not ready to have two kids in school. Anna is so excited about getting to be a "Big Girl", but I'm not so excited. It means she is growing up. They are all growing up way too quickly. These milestones are just coming at us from the left and the right. If we're not watching, they'll fly by and leave us wondering were they went. We put together a small slideshow of the last two days. I'm not sure when I'll stop crying, but when I do, I'll post a slideshow of our summer. I'm sure that will make me cry, too. Frankly, there isn't much that doesn't make me cry. In an effort to make some of you cry too (MOM), before you open the slideshow, scroll down and click on the song "You're gonna miss this" in our song player (it's the last song) and then look at the pictures. I especially love the last verse of this song. Thanks for sharing this moment with us. -P-

Make a Smilebox scrapbook