First day of preschool

Carter started preschool this morning.  He was so excited and had a great time.  The first day was a Mommy-and-Me class and he starts on his own Thursday.  As a result, we recently had a conversation in our home that went something like this: 

 "Gee Mom, what are you going to do now that all of your boys are in school?" (Justin)

                

"She'll probably sit around all day watchin' T.V. and snackin' on chocolate chips..."  (Jamon)

Okay, family....first of all, preschool is 2 1/2 hours 2 days a week.  I'd hardly call that a ton of free time!  Nevertheless, I'd like to defend the role of office managers ( I mean mothers) everywhere and say this to Jamon......

Gee, I dunno.  I guess I'll wash dishes, vacumm, do laundry, clean toilets, mow the yard, grocery shop, make dinner, shedule all of YOUR appointments, take you to and from football, help you with homework...what else?  Oh yeah, that part time job I have and I guess I should also include help run the primary!  That's a good start.  I know this makes me sound a little bitter.  I know Jamon didn't mean any harm.  I just thought I'd throw that out there in case he ever wonders what it is I do all day.  I think he checks this blog every now and then. 

 I love you, Jamon and gladly accept all of this responsibilty.  And, congrats to you Carter!  Preschool is such a big deal in a little tiger's life!!!

We interrupt this marriage to bring you football season..

I saw that cute little quote on a sign in a craft store but I'd like to expand it a little further to say "We interrupt this FAMILY to bring you football season."  I can really relate to this!  With Jamon practicing four nights a week and the broncos season opener just a week away, I feel like everything is put on hold for football.  You should've been here the day the season tickets arrived!  Our stake is doing it's "Fill the Temple" week and we were supposed to go tomorrow afternoon.  Justin will just go alone because one of us needs to be here to get Jamon to and from practice.  Our ward campout is this weekend and we were all set to go until we found out Jamon has Jamboree Saturday morning down at Bronco stadium.  They play a scrimmage and get their team photo taken on the turf.  So, maybe some of us will go camping, or no one will.  I don't know.  All I know is that for the next 4 months this family will be highly interrupted!  

Grandma Rocks!

So, this is going to sound bad and a little selfish, but here goes anyway....

We spent the weekend in Eastern Idaho with Justin's parents.  We had them all to ourselves and we LOVED every minute of it!  This is a rare occurance and I think it's only happened two or three times in 12 years of marriage.  Because Justin is 1 of 6 kids, usually when we go home there are one, two, or even three other siblings home as well.  Now, don't get me wrong, we usually plan it that way on purpose because it's so fun to see everyone and be together.  However, with 6 kids, 5 spouses, and 14 grandkids, there is very little one-on-one time with grandparents.  It's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of trying to control chaos.  Stress of feeding a crowd that big, babies crying, or fighting, or making messes, or even just trying to figure out where everyone is going to sleep is often the focus of attention.  So, this weekend was perfect because the boys got all the time and attention that is sometimes just really nice not to have to share.  Camdon especially enjoyed riding up in the cab of the pickup alone with his grandparents.  He and grandpa picked huckleberries together for nearly three hours and had a great time!  Blair and Carolyn are so full of wisdom and love and I'm so grateful for the opportunities the boys have to get to see that.  It's hard to notice when the house is so full.  On the way home from the trip, Carter yelled "Grandma Rocks!"  I guess he enjoyed his one-on-one time, too!  Anyway, here are a few pics from the weekend and as usual, you can check out Justin's flickr to see all of them.  I rode grandpa's horse and I think there's a shot of that on there!  

Swear Words...

From the time the boys were little, we've talked about "bad" words.  Now, obviously, some bad words are just bad.  We don't use swear words in our house, but we don't use certain other words either.  The boys have grown up thinking words like "stupid" and "shut-up" are bad words.  Now, obviously they aren't , I just didn't want them thinking it was okay to talk to each other that way. This was all well and good until they started school.   Out in the real world, people use those words.  So they'd come home and say, "our bus driver said a bad word!"  Or, "our teacher swears".  I realized I'd created a mess, so I had to back peddle a little and explain that they weren't BAD words, they were just bad words at our house.  This seemed to work for a while until I got caught saying something was stupid!  Then I retracted my retraction and said that they weren't BAD words, they were just words you can use when you have the ability to use them wisely.  So, anyway, as a result, my kids will very often ask if it's okay to say something. I have clearly confused them!    So, tonight Justin and Carter were watching the olympics together and beach volleyball was the event.  Carter turns to Justin and asks:  "Dad, is it okay to say those girls are hot?"  To which Justin replies, "probably not, Carter, you're just a baby".  OH, BROTHER........

Ordinary Justin...Cool Justin...

Justin splurged on some perscription sunglasses and they are not at all what I expected him to pick out.  I laughed out loud when I went to the eye doctor to pick them up.  They're pretty hip!  Anyway, Jamon is obsessed with his new "cool" dad.  He thinks it's really fun to ride through the neighborhood, top off the jeep, radio blasting, riding alongside his dad with his cool shades on.  A few weeks ago, during church, Jamon drew this two-sided portrait of Justin.  It might be hard to tell from the picture, but one side is "ordinary dad" and the other is "cool dad".  I think it is so sweet how much Jamon worships his dad and I wanted to remember the funny picture.    

Our Oregon Coast Trip

This could easily be the longest blog ever, because I'm bursting with stories, memories, and pictures about our trip to the coast.  We spent a week with my parents in Seaside, Or.  Seaside was where our condo was, but we drove up the northern and central coast all week checking out the sites.  If it was to be done on the Oregon Coast...we did it! 

We got lucky the first two days with sunshine and relatively warm temps.  We spent one day on the beach building castles, picnicing, playing frisbee & kickball, and playing in the waves.  The water is freezing so we could only go up to our mid-thighs, but it was still very fun.  The next warm day was perfect for driving up to Astoria and touring the sites there.  The area is so rich in history!  We stopped at Forst Clatsop and learned all about the camp where Lewis and Clark wintered before heading back.  It was a very interactive tour, and Jamon really got into it as you'll see from the pictures.  We saw a rifle demo using black powder....  very cool for Camdon! We didn't get to climb the Astoria column, because it was closed for renovation, but we crossed the 4.5 mile bridge over into Washington and climbed to a lighthouse instead. 

 On my birthday we drove down to Newport.  It would've been great because Newport is such a fun fishing town, but I was so SICK that day.  I spent most of our time there touring the restrooms of Newport!  However, we did manage to squeeze in the Riply's Believe It or Not Museum, the wax museum, and the Undersea Gardens.  This is a boat that you go on and when you're on the lower level of the boat, a diver picks up the creatures and brings them right to the window for a really good look.

On the way back  from Newport we stopped at Cape Kiwanda.  This would've been my favorite beach of all, had I not been so sick.  There are huge rocks for the waves to crash against and a BIG sanddune for the kids to climb up.  The Cape Kiwanda Lighthouse is there as well.  

We also spent a day on Cannon Beach, but we weren't so lucky with the weather that day.  It was freezing out there!  We saw people in winter coats and realized we should just call it a day.  It was too windy to fly the kites we brought!  So instead, we drove a little farther to Tillamook for a tour of the Cheese Factory.  It was fun sampling cheese and of course...the ice cream! 

Our last day on the beach was still pretty cold, so we hung out in the condo playing games and swimming in the pool and hot tub.  The wind died down enough that night for a campfire on the beach and a little smore makin'.  

Anyway, it was such a great week and I've posted some of my favorite shots, but if you want to see more, click on the link to Justin's Flickr account and you can see all the action!

Pie Anyone?

We are growing strawberries and rhubarb in our garden.  Justin loves to do the "harvesting"  and every year, the first thing we make is a strawberry-rhubarb pie.  This pie was the best one so far.  Justin took a picture of it...most likely because he was so proud of his lattice crust.  Right in the middle of it all, I had to go upstairs to deal with a potty emergency.  So, Justin said he'd take over and I came back down to this beautiful crust.  The pie looked great and tasted even better!  Good job, Justin!