Fall Time 2008

Leaves are our new middle names. We breathe leaves, we sleep on leaves, we eat leaves, we dream of leaves. This is just one of the 20 or so piles of leaves we heft up to the top of the hill and unload. The key is to get the leaves off the ground before it rains, otherwise they are twice as heavy. We have over 45 large mature trees on our property to collect leaves from. Scott wants to buy a leaf picker uper, but I say let the kids learn to work, and also get some exercise.

Izaak looks so cool in this picture. He uses the wagon to pick up sticks, and haul to the burning pile.

Adryann and Evalily jump together on the trampoline. I get very nervous to have Evalily on because the hill is slanted and Evalily bounces to the downside edge. Adryann keeps a tight grip on her.

2 Cub Scout boys, so cute. It is easy to see how I can love them so much. Aaryn is a Weeblos now and Izaak is a Bear.

Dad reads a book to Adryann as the sun is setting in the evening. Life is very peaceful, and relaxing for us in Iowa.

Izaak has a new jack-o-lantern smile, so cute as always. He has been robbing the toothfairy blind. So nights he stays awake until 10pm working on pulling a tooth out, then comes out to show us.

Evalily stands by a newly planted peach tree, almost twice as tall as her.

Halloween Times 2008

Aaryn is so excited for his candy. He has already eaten a few pieces, and spends the rest of the time sorting the candy into groups. Evalily loves to use the step ladder and reach up into the candy drawer to pick out a candy. Izaak and Adryann hide candy in their room, for desperate times I guess.

3 trick or treaters ready for the night fun. Evalily insisted on walking most of the way, trying to keep up with the big kids. The older kids got tired of waiting for her, so we had to carry her some of the way. Adryann was a witch, A nice witch. Izaak was going to be Dark Vadar, but changed to a vampire at the last minute because he could not see out of the mask. Evalily was a poodle, but everyone thought she was a lamb. Aaryn was a pirate.

Fall is our favorite time of the year. You can actually go outside and play with out getting suffocated with the heat. Those are the 2 pumpkins we grew in our garden, adn all the other squashes. We love to collect rocks, and the big red one was found outside of Arches. It is a very old rock, and weighs more then it looks like it would weigh.

An Average Industrious Day

My day today was a whirlwind, and finally I have a chance to record the day's events. Not that it is that spectacular or monumental, just an average day. Keep in mind tomorrow's schedule is worse.
6:45am: Evalily climbs in bed with me. 10 more minutes of sleep, please. Oh well. Throw on a Tshirt and shorts. Gather up laundry from 4 rooms, sort and load darks in to washing machine.
7am: Tell Adryann that she has to go to school, even though she is crying to stay home. Pack premade lunches in to lunch bags. Give other orders: Get your socks on, where's your backpack?, Flush the toilet, Make your beds, comb your hair, etc. You think that after a while the kids would get the routine down pat.
7:05am Tell Aaryn thank you for setting the table. (He sets the cold cereal out, to insure that there is no oatmeal that day) Gather the family for morning prayer.
7:10am Eat and read Bible scripture book. Comb Adryann's hair and style it while she is eating. Eat my breakfast.
7:20am : Drink your milk up, brush your teeth.
7: 25am: Find coats because it is raining, Locate homework, Back packs on, kisses and hugs.
7:30am: Kids run to the bus
7:35 am: Clean up the self-feed Evalily. Clean table and floor. Run water in the cereal dishes, so that they are not crusty for evening washing. Change and dress Evalily. Comb my hair, and put on deodorant.
7:50 Rotate laundry, Leave for YMCA
8:00 Run 3 miles, find out an exercise buddy of mine died last week.
8:45 Drop off Ben's mission letter at the PO, go to the store to get some soccer treats for tonight's game. Wrestle Evalily at store, getting into commodities. Give Evalily a banana.
9:15 come home, Unload car groceries, and put away. Rotate laundry, fold first batch. Rid bedroom of piles of too small baby clothes. Empty garbage's.
9:30 Read to Evalily for 30 minutes, sing songs, and play horsey with her.
10: Check caller id on phone for 3 sales calls, organize church bag, and take out stale cheerios, change Scott's winter shirts for summer shirts in closet.
11: Make lunch for Evalily and self: PBJ, cottage cheese, yogurt, celery, apple, milk.
11:30 Give Evalily her nap. Crunch time. Clean the bathrooms, dust bedroom, rotate laundry, fold a load. Sort and organize summer and winter clothes for kids. Condense piles and sizes. Go through boxes in storage room.
12:30 Cut out baby quilt due on Sat., and part of another quilt. Begin sewing.
3:00: Start making double batch of cookie dough for Adryann's FHE treat, missionary dessert and lunches. fold last load of clothes and put some piles away.
3:30 Kids get off the bus. Kisses and hugs. Go through backpacks, and get homework assignments out, and lunch bags. Adryann makes 6 doz. PB cookies with my help. Help Izaak and Aaryn with homework. Have kids put folded clothes away.
4:30 : Get Izaak to set the table and have him help make dinner: Open faced franks with melted cheese, chili, broccoli and carrots, and milk. Peel extra carrots for lunches. Tell Adryann to get her uniform on for soccer.
5:15 begin eating dinner.
5:25 Scott gets home and he eats. Make soccer rotation schedule.
5:40 leave for soccer
6:00 coach soccer game. (while I am gone, Scott helps the boys do the dinner dishes, and cleans up toys in basement)
7:00 FHE, sing songs, pray, go over calendar, lesson, activity (Duck duck goose, and uno), and treat.
8:00 PJ and brush teeth, read chapter of Little House on the Prarrie to kids.
8:30 Kids to bed. Make lunches for next day. Make Walmart shopping list. Gather library books for going to the library tomorrow, make notes for bus riding tomorrow,
9:30 relax on computer, check the world news, check emails and reply, facebook and write on blog.
10: work on quilts
12 brush teeth, say prayers, go to bed

I forgot to check the mail. Usually we have evening scripture study from the BOM, but not on Monday nights.

I swore my life wouldn't be this way, but it is. This is the only way I can survive. Schedules and daily personal goals. That is why I love relaxing in Oregon, there is no need for all this crisis. I have 3 dinners this week to do: One for the missionaries, one for a community group (60 people), and one ward/community potluck dinner (200 possible people). 4 nights of soccer, one night of dance, one night of cub scouts, plus all the dinners listed above. Next week is not looking any better.

The Arch That is No More

Arches National Park

Here is Wall Arch, in its final stance. Only weeks later it collasped in the night. It was shocking news to us as though we lost a dear old friend. My children scampered beneath her bridge, cooling in the shade. Aaryn scaled her height, conquering fears. Her arms stretch so long, and she gave in to the battling force of gravity. We mourn her loss.

Evalily kicks her old mule, saying faster, faster. She wonders what in the heck are we doing out in this 108 degree weather. She is ready to spend the rest of the vacation touring inside of an air conditioned car. She had a difficult time cooling her body down, despite us wetting her down with water, and giving her sips of water every ten minutes. Her and Adryann's face were crimson.

Aaryn, Izaak and I were able to enter The Fiery Furnace, with a park ranger. Izaak was the youngest to venture in the fingers of hell. Scott teased him prior to entry that he would meet the Devil in there. The guide also warned that once you past the gate there is no turning back, you are committed for the tour. Izaak turned ghostly pale, and I asked him if he was okay. He said he didnt know. So 3 hours of climbing rock walls, jumping over cervises, trugging through sand, scaling ledges, and pancaking through cracks, we made it fairing none the worse.

Delicate Arch is majestic and splendid. It was worth the grueling hike, up slickrock and not a sparse of shade for even a cricket. We started a 5pm, in 100 degree of weather, each kid fully loaded with water bottles. We entered the Delicate zone near 7pm, as the sun was setting. We never imagined that it could ever be so gigantic. How it got there... perhaps the dinosaurs have taken the secret to their grave.

Evalily's Memoirs

Evalily thoughts about the trip:

So these chickens eat blades of grass when I press grass through the chicken wire. This is cool, OUCH. Don't peck me!! Well, it didn't hurt too bad, just shocked me, I guess I will try again. Hey, what do you know Penny the Pony rips the grass from my hand, and chops away. So what is wrong with the cats and dog? I am offering them a delicate blades of grass and they are turning their head with uninterestness. I guess I will have to keep trying, they are bound to try it soon.

Penny the Pony endures another summer of escorting kids in endless circles around the manicured yard. Evalily is among these expeditioners. Gripping the saddle horn in a life or death grip, giggling in between the pony's gaits. Parents circle miles along side the pony. Bloody screams exit her body as she realizes her turn as a rodeo star must come to an end, allowing a fellow cousin an 8 second chance in the saddle. While waiting she spies sleeping Sadie (the 3 legged dog) who looks like a miniature horse Evalily can mount. "Why wont this horse go, I know I have kicked him enough?"

Green for Oregon

Green for Oregon:

I love how the garbage is not very visible and Oregonians are conscientious of not littering. It is ingrained in our heads. Unfathomable to see garbage in or near water. Iowans seem to think water areas are places to dump their unwanted possessions: dressers, refrigerators, animal carcasses, beer boxes, etc. There is plenty of open fields and ditches for these items, yet there seems to be a magnet to dump in the water. Not less then a mile from our house a creek runs into town, and people love to pollute, by throwing objects off the bridge. Yet the creek is not strong enough to move their possessions, so that is the items final resting place. Water in Oregon is life sustaining for us humans and the wildlife we apperciate. Water is a destination of beauty.

Here We Go Again

I didn't realize I started this 1 year ago, same time same place. Still in Iowa. Whoever grows up saying, boy I really want to live in Iowa when I get older. Not much to do here. People go to the malls on the weekend, cause they cant stand to go outside and be suffocated with the humidity. Iowans have an easy time gaining a gut. I still force the kids outside to play, and they come in dripping wet. Hence the mecca to Oregon in July. Scott can reap the seeds he sows, as he is alone during most of July. House projects get completed while we are gone though, so it is all good. Scott brings me back to Iowa from Oregon, strapped in the car and kicking. It seems as though we know I-80 like the palm of our own hand. There is never a motel in Wyoming at midnight, when you are exhausted, only the ones rundown, listing $130, per night. Cursing Scott misstakenly slams his foot into the toliet bowl to escape the sudden blistering water change of the shower. Driving into flat Nebraska is monotonously long and straight. After experiences like this, home is beginning to sound better and better.