The Dahle Daily

Extreme Alaska

2012-01-16T15:53:00.001-08:00

Since Christmas, we’ve only had the full three hour block of Church once. Here’s our stake’s policy for extreme cold temps: if it’s between 30 below and 40 below, you only have two hour church, consisting of sacrament meeting and Relief Society/Priesthood; if it’s 40 below or colder, you only have sacrament meeting and you are encouraged to use wisdom in making the decision about leaving your house. Yesterday we just had sacrament meeting. About half of the people left their cars running, including us. Yes, we just left our car idling in the parking lot for an hour and a half. It seems so weird to me. Xander was pretty worried that we would run out of gas by doing that, but Aaron was more concerned about the car not starting after sitting at 40 below for an hour and a half, even if it was plugged in. When I said something about the waste of gas, Aaron said it was merely using gas, not wasting gas, all in the name of protecting our car from various parts freezing and cracking and costing us loads of money.

I must say, his concerns were valid. Just the day before, Aaron was stuck in Fairbanks where it was 45 below (and yes, these are just straight temps, wind chill not factored in) and although the car was plugged in and we winterized our car by installing heaters on everything that can be heated, the Beast would not start. Apparently it didn’t like sitting outside in longterm parking at the airport for 3 days. Gratefully, he was blessed with an angel of mercy who gave a jumpstart, and gratefully, the Beast came to life with the jumpstart which means the gas hadn’t frozen yet. Phew. And hooray for our heated garage so this is not normally an issue!

We came up to the Last Frontier for adventure, and I guess this is the adventure of surviving an Alaskan winter!

We watched a show on Netflix called Extreme Alaska about Denali National Park. The tidbit I found the most fascinating was the one animal that can survive living in a glacier. It’s called the ice worm, and it thrives at below zero temps. In fact, it actually melts if it ever gets to 40 degrees. To that little worm, 40 above is extreme heat! Pretty wild! Alaska is definitely extreme, but hey, so is my husband. It’s a match made in heaven.

A Very Merry Christmas

2011-12-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas felt absolutely perfect this year. Just full of that unique joy and peace and excitement and love and fun that is Christmas. I was a little dubious Christmas Eve morning, when my mom called to ask for a recipe and I teared up thinking about how EVERYBODY (except Morgan and wife) were together there in Colorado and we were missing out completely. But as any grown woman does, I dried my tears and got busy cleaning and baking and preparing for our own Christmas Eve Celebration. As I’ve mentioned, I love my traditions, so I invited two families over to our Christmas Eve dinner and program--that way I get to be in charge, and I feel in my element.

Although it seemed that the Ruiz family was doomed not to make it, with lost keys (which they found over an hour later in the dumpster!) and a car that wouldn’t start once they finally did find the keys, the evening bounced back once they arrived and the party really started. Since I babysit their kids, it wasn’t too hard to get them prepped in advance for the Nativity program. For weeks they had been excited about their roles, and whenever we sang a Christmas carol that mentioned an angel or a shepherd, they would say, “Alex, that’s you,” or “Elodie—the angel, you’re the angel!” And little three-year-old Lanna would have to add that she and Hazel were going to be the sheep! Xander was at school for most of this excitement, but Joseph doesn’t actually have any lines to memorize, so xander seemed willing to fill the role. Until it came time to put on the costume. I don’t know if he took issue with the fact that it resembled a dress or just wasn’t in the mood to be in front of a crowd, but he was not feeling the role of Joseph. At all. After a little conversation about how silly it would look if I had to play Joseph with my big belly and reminding him that sometimes, we do things not because we want to but because it makes other people happy, namely me, the show went on. Luckily, the donkey was hilarious and helped Xander snap out of his funk and into the giggles pretty quickly. That and Hazel the sheep who just wanted to grab the “Baby!” (her favorite and best-enunciated word) right out of his manger, causing Joseph and Mary to switch seamlessly from their role as adoring new parents to vigilant manger guards. Everyone had a great time with it and I don’t think I was the only one who felt the resounding peace and joy as we read the real story of Christmas from the scriptures.

After regaining our strength by heavily sampling the treat platter, it was chime time. Ah, it felt like home. Did I mention how much I appreciated Aaron’s Christmas present this year? I love seeing the excitement on the chimers faces as the tune is really coming together and we finish the song and they just want to do it again! Christmas music is the best!

We ended the night by reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and leaving Santa his plate of cookies before saying goodbye to our friends and tucking the little ones all snug in their beds. I just love how excited our kids get! For me, the anticipation of Christmas morning is about as much fun as the real thing!

I think that’s why the Christmas morning breakfast in the bedroom before discovering the stockings and presents is a must for me. It draws out the anticipation of the morning! This year, we enjoyed Alaskan-grown, Alaskan-made reindeer sausage in addition to our usual fare of orange rolls and hash brown breakfast bake. Do you think eating reindeer for Christmas is festively fitting or atrociously appalling? Xander and Elodie were obviously savoring every bite!

The anticipation of lining up on the stairs…

I am so glad that Xander hasn’t grown out of his excitement. His reaction was perfect—“Ahh! Toy Story Train Lego Set—this is what I wanted all year!”

Elodie’s gratitude and excitement were equally endearing. Man, is there anything better than watching your kids enjoy Christmas morning so thoroughly?

Hazel enjoyed her cell phone from Santa and opening presents, too, but not as much as she enjoyed the contents of Xander’s stocking that he left on the floor! I loved watching Xander and Elodie open the presents they had gotten for each other. “Wow, a tank, I love it!” “I thought you would like it!” “Elodie, you are the best sister. I really wanted this!!” “It’s beautiful, Xander! I wanted a ring just like this!” And so on. Aw, absolutely adorable. In every way, it was just what Christmas morning should be.

Then we all put on our Christmas best and headed to Church. A young man who had just returned from a mission to South Africa spoke, and then we had a wonderful Christmas program. Perhaps it felt especially wonderful because I was up singing with the choir while Gine Kirk juggled Hazel and the other two! The chapel was packed, and as I looked out over the crowd, I just felt such love for the wonderful members of the branch up here. After sacrament meeting was over, it was like no one wanted to leave yet, even though we were only having the one hour of Church (and it had gone over by at least a half an hour). Everyone just milled around, exchanging Christmas greetings and presents and cards and treats. I felt so at home and so loved. Aaron’s home teaching companion, who is about to leave on a mission, has been like an uncle to the kids and brought each of them the perfect present. I think he gave Xander his 7th Lego set of the day, and he was no less grateful than with the first. He had that Toy Story Army guy jeep built before our dinner guests even arrived. The Davis family, with their 6 children, 4 of them Lego-loving boys, spent the afternoon with us. The kids played and played and we munched appetizers and prepped dinner and chatted and everyone enjoyed a perfect Christmas afternoon. We are so grateful for the friends we’ve made in Alaska and for this, the most wonderful time of year.

Chime TIme

2011-12-27T00:21:00.001-08:00

I love Christmas traditions. More specifically, I love our family’s Christmas traditions—a lovely blend of Dahle and Fillmore traditions, a bit heavy on the Fillmore. It’s not just ‘cause I’m the pushy one, my family really did have some pretty awesome Christmas traditions growing up. Many years ago, I don’t really remember when, my Uncle Steve sent our family pretty much the best Christmas present ever—a set of homemade chimes. 18 pieces of metal pipe cut to just the right lengths to become a musical instrument. Everyone comes together on Christmas Eve, grabs a butter knife and a chime, and follows along to turn the cryptic number sequences into Christmas carols. Aaron first experienced it Christmas 2004 and has loved it as much as I do ever since. It’s just simple good times. Chime time. This year, we would be off on our own for the Christmas celebrations. Away from my family, away from the chimes. So back in November, I left Aaron a rather non-subtle note on his pillow, with printed directions on chime-making from Uncle Steve himself and a note that said, “Hint, hint: This is all I want for Christmas this year.” (I found earlier in our marriage that subtlety doesn’t work very well on my dear husband.) For Aaron and me, the whole project of making Chime time happen turned out to be one of the highlights of Christmas Season 2011. We had been hoping not to have to make a run to Fairbanks for supplies in the winter, but getting the materials for chime-making was a good enough reason to make the trek, so we headed up one Saturday. Home we came with very sturdy steel electrical conduit, a pipe-cutter, and hundreds of dollars of Sam’s Club and Walmart stock-up stuff to make the trip even more worth it.

Aaron was so excited that he got to work that very night, despite the long day in Fairbanks and the long drive home. Per Uncle Steve’s wonderfully specific instructions, he cut that first pipe to 13 and 19/32 inches, drilled a hole in it, strung a string through, and hit that baby with a butter knife. It was supposed to be an A. But using our keyboard and our untrained ears, we determined that it was about a B. For experimental purposes, he cut what was supposed to be Chime Number 2, an A#, and it came out as something close to a C. Both chimes sounded a touch off, but with our untrained ears, we couldn’t quite tell if it was slightly sharp or slightly flat. We knew just enough to know that we were going to need some help with tuning and calculating new lengths since Uncle Steve’s electrical conduit must have been a bit different than the kind we found up here in Alaska. We surfed around a bit and came across two excellent websites. We couldn’t have completed the chimes project without them! On the first, I found a beautiful formula for calculating chime length based on one reference note and a table of note frequencies. I simply copied the frequencies table into Excel, put in the formula just like Milan taught me, and POOF, I had the lengths we needed for our specific pipe type. Being the math nerd that I am, it was SO SO fun for me to take the square root of the reference frequency times the squared reference length divided by the desired frequency and find the desired length in millimeters which are so much easier to measure than 29/32nds of an inch. Aaron found an online tuner, which could determine the frequency of sounds it received through our computer’s microphone (on our webcam, thanks again, Milan!). It told you exactly how many “cents” sharp or flat you were of the note, which allowed Aaron to grind that B, which had gratefully been slightly flat, into near perfection. Aaron cut the next chime based on our calculations and we celebrated when the online tuner showed that the formula worked! We went to bed tired and very happy with our first night of chime production.

Aaron spent the next 3 weeks measuring and cutting and grinding and fine-tuning in whatever spare time he could find. When he wasn’t on call or at Church meetings or taking Xander to hockey, he was my chime factory. I love that guy!!

It was definitely a labor of love, and I felt the love! Our excitement built as we saw the chime sets grow. We were having so much fun with the project that we decided to make a set for Milan and Rachael since we had their family for Christmas this year. Aaron was so overflowing with excitement about the chimes project that he couldn’t help but show it off when we Skyped with my family one Sunday. I was afraid that would ruin the surprise, but Aaron thought it would just increase their anticipation and excitement wondering, what if they make one for us? At least it did confirm our suspicions that Milan would like a set, since he admitted that he is a chimes fan himself.

Every time I saw Aaron slaving over those chimes, his face covered in metal shards, I just got that holiday feelin’.

Besides the calculations, tuning support, and eye protection purchasing, my main job was to sew the chimes case. I was having no luck with finding durable Christmasy fabric around here, so I dropped the Christmasy requirement and just went with durable. And free! I was excited when I found this random thing in my material bin. It was the fabric from a broken patio table umbrella that Aaron had scavenged years ago. Not the most attractive shade, but sturdy.

What a sense of accomplishment we both felt looking at the finished product!

We painted some packing paper to turn it into wrapping paper and packaged it all up to ship it on down to Colorado. I was doubly happy when I got it to fit in a flat rate box, making it less than $15 to ship the 17-pound package instead of $48! I left the post office with a smile on my face and a great feeling of DONE! We were happy to hear that a little over a week later, the package had arrived at its destination. We set up a time for them to open it via Skype so we could see their reaction. And we wanted to see the condition of the package because they told us there was a note on it that said it had been retaped in Denver. Hmmm. That was the first red flag. The second was when we were skyping happily and saw Milan lift up the package so easily. We commented on how heavy it was—17 pounds—and Milan said it didn’t feel heavy at all. Uh oh. So as Milan was taking out the plethora of pictures and cards and notes and pipe cleaner creations that the kids had made for their beloved Uncle Milan and Aunt Rachael, Aaron was sweating bullets wondering if the chimes he slaved over had made the journey safely. Then Milan pulled out the remnants of the wrapping paper, in which the chimes had formerly been wrapped. Oh no. Milan, What else is in the box? Just some broken shards of toffee, scattered around the bottom. No big heavy bag of chimes that looks kinda like this?

He moved the webcam to show us the pathetic contents of the box. One set of chimes MIA. Aaron freaked out internally a bit before reminding us of what President Uchtdorf had said in the recent Christmas devotional—that when you think Christmas is ruined, remember, Christmas is not that fragile. Apparently, if there’s one thing the Grinch hates, it’s all that noise, noise, noise, NOISE from those blasted chimes! So we sang Dabudore and began hoping and praying for a Christmas miracle. Oh post office, please find those missing chimes!

As for us here in Alaska, we had a wonderful time with our chimes. The Christmas Eve program was complete! I was impressed that both Xander and Elodie can chime without assistance this year! I was so proud when neither of them wanted to stop chiming after we had done every song in our new huge chimes book, which was at least 8 songs! May the Chime Time tradition continue through generations to come! Aaron, thanks for the best Christmas present ever!

Note: If anyone would like the specific instructions on how to make your own set of chimes, let me know and I’ll email them to you, including the Excel spreadsheet! We added our tips to Uncle Steve’s wonderful directions so they should work for anyone!

What did I do today?

2011-12-15T00:15:00.001-08:00

You mean besides make 2 batches of toffee, take four kiddos to library story time, bake 7 loaves of cinnamon swirl bread and 2 loaves of regular bread, whip up some Shepherd’s pie for dinner, check math homework and take advantage of the opportunity to introduce the concept of multiplication, get Xander geared up for hockey, throw together one pan of magic cookie bars, watch the original Miracle on 34th Street, stir up a batch of Mexican wedding cakes, sing peaceful Christmas songs to tuck exhausted kiddos in bed, dip a sheet of buckeyes, and cover snowflake Ritz in mint-chocolate? Not much in the way of housework, that’s for sure. You can imagine what my kitchen looks like, but I think I’ll save that till morning! Ahhh, I love Christmas. I promise you I know that Christmas is not ALL about the treats…

Talkin’ ‘Bout the Weather

2011-12-05T11:34:00.001-08:00

This is the highway right by us. In Alaska, it seems like every route is the scenic route. I saw a view almost identical to this one last week (although I was not the one to capture it; some other local did and it was the photo of the day on our local web news).

The sun rises at about 10:00am these days and sets just before 3:00pm. But being so far north, it takes the sun an hour to rise and set, so we have daylight from about 9:00am to 4:00pm. It’s really not too bad, and in less than three weeks, the days will start getting longer again. Although the dark mornings do kind of mess with my brain. Getting out of my cozy bed has never taken more will power! Saturday morning, I heard Hazel wake up and I peeked my eyes open; it felt like it was really early, maybe 5 or 6. I thought, “maybe if I change her diaper and give her a bottle, she’ll go back to sleep.” Then I looked at the clock. It was 8:52! Nah, I don’t think I’ll try to get Hazel to go back to sleep—she’d been in bed over 13 hours! Wow, nice weekend sleep-in for me! Thank you, Hazel, for also being affected by the darkness!

In the last 2 weeks, we’ve had a day where we set a new record for the coldest that day has ever been and now yesterday, a record for the warmest December 4th has ever been. I think meteorology is really interesting—in Junior High, I wanted to be a weather woman when I grew up. Instead, I settled for taking one Meteorology class in college when I needed a brain break from all of the humanities classes required for my major. So I think it’s kind of cool to look at what the actual temps were for the previous day and to see that the record high was set in 2011.

Sunday morning, we heard some really fierce winds when we woke up. The data says the gusts were up to 72 mph! So when I saw that the temp was 50 degrees in the morning before the sun rose, I remembered the Chinook wind phenomenon I read about on Wikipedia back in March when we were scoping out Delta Junction. “There are usually several days in the winter when the temperature is in the range of -40° (C or F) when a wind (known as a Chinook wind) begins to blow. A few minutes later, the temperature climbs to above +32 °F. When the wind stops, the temperature returns to its colder value.” With that in mind, it was pretty interesting to look over the hourly data and see that when the winds were gusting from the south yesterday morning, it was in the 40s and 50s. Around noon the direction and intensity of the wind started to change, to go back to normal, and the temperature started to drop again—10 degrees in one hour.

This interesting phenomenon made for some nasty roads. Snow packed roads have great traction when the temps are near zero and colder. But when the temps climb to the freezing point and above, that packed snow starts to melt, and it gets pretty slippery. The Stake President asked all the units to inform members of the icy, dangerous road conditions and to advise people not to come in to church if they felt the roads were too bad. So church wasn’t cancelled, but attendance was officially optional! It was a bit tricky just to drive out of our garage because the snow had melted off of our roof and plopped in a big hill around our house. But the BEAST made it without having to shovel through the hill. We determined that the roads were passable, with Aaron’s experience and the Beast’s beastliness, as well as a good measure of caution. On our way to church, it was crazy to see how the beautiful white winter wonderland I’d seen the night before driving home at 9pm was now interrupted by ugly brown patches of grass and dirty puddles. The roads were slippery, but in most places, they were more wet than icy. The worst part of the whole drive was the church parking lot, which was just a thick sheet of wet ice. Elodie took 2 steps on her own, slipped, and had to endure the trauma of a wet dress. During Church, the temps dropped again and it started to drizzle, then sleet, and then snow. A lot. Throughout the night, it accumulated to 5 or 6 inches. The beautiful winter wonderland is back; those brown patches and puddles didn’t even last a day! As for the roads, underneath the pristine blanket of snow, that wet sheen and puddles refroze into sheets of ice, making the roads even more treacherous this morning. In all of the weather talk we engaged in yesterday, none of the locals seemed to think that a balmy 50 degree day was a good thing. Their experience told them it meant nastier roads the rest of the winter. But it was kind of nice to go outside without bundling to the hilt! Ah, the adventure of the Chinook!

Introducing…

2011-11-29T17:42:00.001-08:00

My new hockey man!

Xander is starting his first team sport. He has his tough guy gear and is excited to get on the ice tomorrow! We’re starting to feel like real Alaskans!

You Know It’s Cold When…

2011-11-29T17:25:00.001-08:00

You open the dryer and feel an icy draft. I had never thought about it, but it makes sense—that duct is connected directly to outside.

Your microwave feels like the refrigerator. And when you cook on the stove below it, frost forms around the vents on the underside. (This only happens when we have a fire going—something to do with the pull of air.)

You have to go get your son from the bus stop, which is at the main road just after the neighbor’s house, not far at all. You bundle up to the hilt—long underwear, winter clothes, wool socks, snow pants, two coats, hat, scarf, snorkel parka hood—the works. You step out and think, wow, I bundled up well, I’m feeling nice and warm! And by the time you get halfway to the bus stop, you’re freezing! (It was 27 below at the time.)

You’ve got THIS forming inside your doors and windows, despite Arctic-rated double-pane windows.

When you turn the heat up from 60 to 70 in the morning, it takes 3 hours and it’s still not quite 68 degrees in your house.

Xander doesn’t have outside recess for over a week. They stay inside if it’s below 20 below, and his recess is right after lunch, the warmest part of the day.

Steam is billowing off of the partially frozen river. It is quite an impressive phenomenon to behold.

Your heating oil bill is bigger than your grocery bill (and your grocery bill is three times what it was in Colorado—ouch).

You get all excited when you see that it’s supposed to get up to 22 degrees tomorrow! Woohoo! That’s over 50 degrees warmer than last week; let’s go out and play!

School is cancelled. OK, that hasn’t happened yet, luckily! But when it does, then I’ll really know it’s cold. They cancel school when it’s colder than 55 below. Whoa!

Our Pattern Continues

2011-11-18T11:03:00.001-08:00

A Darling Baby Boy

A Beautiful Baby Girl

A Darling Baby Boy

A Beautiful Baby Girl

Hmmm, what comes next???

Yep, you guessed it! Thanks to the generosity of Aaron’s wonderful coworkers at the clinic, our whole family got to go up to Fairbanks for an ultrasound yesterday. Xander and Elodie were so mesmerized—they could actually see their little brother moving around in there! “Mom, he just moved, could you feel that?” Yep, another BOY--we are all so excited. Especially Xander—he’s been feeling a bit outnumbered around here!

A Poofy Halloween

2011-10-31T22:21:00.000-07:00

My kids are so tough. Real Alaskans already, I’d say. Yes, it was only 7 degrees while we were trick-or-treating. And yes, Xander had managed to lose one glove in the car on the way to Ft. Greeley where we took advantage of the fact that they don’t have 2-acre yards. And Elodie completely forgot her mittens at home somehow. But we heard not one single word of complaint about cold. Even when we asked if their hands were chilly, they bravely replied, “no, I’m fine.” Besides the under-protected hands, they were pretty decked out in snow gear.

We managed to squeeze Xander’s Dash costume on top of all of his snow gear, resulting in a very poofy superhero. He decided he was Mr. Incredible rather than Dash since he was so “muscular.” Plus, when he watched The Incredibles in his costume Friday afternoon after his school Halloween party and before the church festivities, we noticed that Mirage calls Mr. Incredible, “The Fat One.” So he was the fat Mr. Incredible.

Elodie was a poofy princess. We tried to get that dress on over the coat, but the sleeves were too narrow for the bulk! She was a little disappointed to totally cover her dress with a coat, so she left her coat unzipped (she had a couple layers underneath) and was warm enough, according to her. I tell ya what, either she’s brave about cold or really motivated by looking good and sugar. Or maybe that whole theory about keeping your head and feet warm really is true. She had a hat and a hood on her head and wool socks and good snow boots on her feet.

And Hazel was a poofy, pooped pig. She almost fell asleep in Dad’s arms. I was glad that I had my long underwear, wool socks, and snuggly, ear-covering fleece hat on. Aaron was wishing I had remembered to grab gloves for him before we picked him up from work!

At least he had the sweet, thoughtful generosity of his daughter to warm him up. Right after receiving treats at one house, Elodie noticed that she’d gotten some of Mom and Dad’s favorites—immediately, she handed Dad a Reese’s cup and me a Kit Kat. Such a sweetie!

Hazel thought that the candy sorting was pretty fun, even though we guided her to playing with those things that she couldn’t open. I did let her have half of a whopper on the drive home. That seemed to improve her past-bedtime mood quite a bit! The kids had a blast and Aaron and I enjoyed watching the kids revel in the fun that is Halloween.

Halfway

2011-10-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can’t believe we’re already to the halfway point. I still don’t quite believe that baby #5 is really coming. Number 5 is a really important one; I’m M5, after all.

Since my darling sister in law posted her profile at 20 weeks, I thought I would, too, for comparison. But sorry, brothers, no girth measurement this time around.

Hopefully, by the time March rolls around, I’ll actually believe this is real. Was I really that dependent on the visual confirmation of an ultrasound to let the reality sink in? Maybe so. This old-fashioned pregnancy experience is a new one for me. Yes, I could drive 2 hours each way and pay out of pocket for an ultrasound, but my handsome healthcare provider and I agree that it’s not necessary. Nice, but not necessary. We’ll see how long I can hold out!

A White Birthday

2011-10-12T10:48:00.001-07:00

"I'm dreaming of a white birthday! Just like the ones I used to know!"

I used to have a fall birthday. Always did. But apparently, up here, my birthday is the first day of winter! At least this year! Yesterday we had some light snow that kinda tried to accumulate. We even made snowflakes during table time to celebrate the first snow. But the accumulation never got past a very light dusting when we went to bed. This morning, I woke up to a beautiful white birthday!

Here's Elodie with her preschool buds, Alex and Lanna. When I was thinking of what I wanted to do for Elodie for preschool in this last year she has before kindergarten, I decided I really wanted to keep her home and teach her myself. She's already a pretty good little reader so she obviously didn't need to go learn her letters, numbers, and colors, but I knew she needed kids her age to play with to hone those social skills. And to help mom, because when Xander went to school last year, she really missed her play buddy and mom often got to fill in.

I thought it would be perfect if I could find a couple other kids her age to join with her for "preschool" at our house. Having more kids helps motivate me to stay on a good schedule and actually do academic and crafty activities on a consistent basis. I started praying for the opportunity to come about. Lo and behold, a lady that Aaron works with told me that her babysitter arrangement had just fallen through for the school year. I met her kids and we decided that this would work out. She has a 9-year-old, a 4 1/2-year-old, and a 3-year-old. The oldest was being home schooled, which was kind of interesting since her mom had gone back to work, but I agreed to try it out. I helped her get caught up with math and writing, but felt like I couldn't afford to invest the time I would need to do a really good job of it, so we talked about it and just this week, she started back at public school. Now she comes home on the bus with Xander and I think the whole arrangement is better for all of us!

So that answers the question of what is going to keep us busy through the long Alaskan winter! Last night, as I was going to a Relief Society Meeting at 7:oo, it was already starting to get dark. (Today: Sunrise 8:22 am, Sunset 6:37 pm.) Yep, winter has begun! As I look out the window, the snow is still coming down and I feel a very strong urge to turn on some Christmas music. Melayna wouldn't fight the urge. Should I?

Happy Fall Y'all!

2011-10-12T10:12:00.001-07:00

The first signs of fall were in the air around the middle of August. Patches of gold started to appear in the trees and the ground cover started to turn a beautiful, fiery red. I realized why the gorgeous fuschia flower that grows everywhere around here is called "Fireweed." The mornings had a certain fall chill, as well. I wasn't quite ready to say good-bye to "warmer" weather, but if you can't change it, embrace it, right? So we made sugar cookies spelling out "Happy Fall Y'all" to give to the neighbors and declared that even if the rest of the US was still basking in the summer sun, in Alaska, it was fall. Mid-August was also when school started, nearly completing that end-of-summer feel. The only thing that didn't quite feel like fall was that the sun still didn't set until about 10:00, and it wasn't really dark until about 11:00.

I took this picture of our backyard on September 8, when fall colors were pretty much at their peak.

By the first official day of fall, September 23, this is what our backyard looked like.

Although it kinda looked like fall was over, we still invited some friends over and had a Fun Fall Festival.

I couldn't remember the last time I had bobbed for apples, so I figured it was high time. Aaron was a bit hesitant about the pathology of a bunch of kids slobbering in a tub of water one after the other, but when I washed each apple, the tub, and put in fresh water, he was willing to get in on the fun, too.

And who wouldn't love eating a donut on a string right before dinner?

I really wanted to make a stuffed pumpkin for dinner like we did back in Colorado when we had a thriving pumpkin patch, but I didn't realize how hard it would be to get a hold of a pumpkin in rural Alaska. Instead, we had stuffed spaghetti squash for dinner, followed by apple pie ala mode. Quite autumnal. Whether it was a celebration of the beginning or the end of fall, we had a great time!

Bou Stew

2011-10-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

Another way Aaron has been hoping to prepare for winter was by filling the deep freeze with wild game. Unfortunately, since we are not yet official residents, the tag for hunting a moose or caribou would be $500 on top of a $100+ hunting license, as opposed to a resident's $25 yearly hunting license and FREE tags. So I obviously had to kabash any hunting trips this season. But the executive secretary of the branch presidency, of which Aaron is the 2nd counselor, happens to hunt more caribou than their family can eat. He offered to give a caribou to anyone who would cut it up and eat it. So a couple weekends ago, Aaron got a call that Scott had a caribou ready for him if he wanted to go pick it up. Off Xander and Aaron went, happily anticipating a winter of delicious meat. They returned after a few minutes with an entire caribou carcass wrapped in a tarp in the back of the Beast. Xander declared that the drive back smelled terrible. Why do you think Aaron is pushing to get a pick-up so bad? :)

Aaron spent the next several hours butchering. It happened to be almost 60 degrees outside that day (much warmer than it had been in a while or has been since), so Aaron declared that it had to get in the freezer ASAP so as to not waste any of it. Thus, I was enlisted to put it in all in ziploc bags. Ugh. I literally dreamt about countertops covered in raw meat all night. Be grateful that I didn't take any pictures of the carcass or the process! I wish I hadn't seen it!! But, we got the job done and now have enough caribou to enjoy throughout the winter. We are very grateful since food is SO much more expensive around here.

We enjoyed a nice pot of Bou Stew on Sunday and have Caribou fajitas on the menu for later this week. Bou Chili and Bou Tacos were pretty tasty, too. I'm looking forward to trying some Thai Bou recipes, too. I bet Chinese Bou 'n' Broccoli will be as good as the Elk and Broccoli we enjoyed last winter. It'll be a tasty and filling winter. And I hear that eating meat keeps you warmer. Maybe that's why a certain vegetarian sister of mine is always so cold... :)

Hazel is One!

2011-10-06T23:45:00.001-07:00

Hazel's first birthday party was just perfect. We invited some people over to stand in for grandparents and aunt/uncle/cousins, which definitely helped boost the fun level. You can't really ask a one-year-old what she wants for her birthday dinner, but potatoes and milk seem to be her favorites, so I made a creamy potato/broccoli/cauliflower soup and she loved it. Of course, what she was really looking forward to was the cake. When she saw her cake on the counter throughout the day, she would both sign "more" and say, "ma!" and occasionally really try to sweeten it up by rubbing a "please" on her chest. So when it was finally time to eat it, and we put the teddy bear's head on her tray, she was so excited she was bouncing around! She is so adorable!Xander and Elodie thoroughly enjoyed watching Hazel have her way with her cake.

Her face dive was their favorite part. You can enjoy watching it, too, right here! As you can see, Hazel LOVED the attention!

Almost Ready for Winter

2011-09-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

TWC says it's supposed to snow this week. The trees have been bare for a week or two now, and you can feel that snow is in the air...soon. When we went to Anchorage last week, we made sure to stop and pick up 25 pounds of hot cocoa mix. And I picked up some nice XL purple girls' snow pants with suspenders that should work with a growing belly. I'm hoping that the men's military parka I just bought will fit over my belly the whole winter, too. Any of you who have seen me pregnant know I get pretty HUGE. It may not be ultra feminine, but I don't think there's much of a market for adorable maternity parkas, so we're going with super warm and not gonna break the bank. Elodie tells me she's a tough Alaska girl when I remind her to put a jacket on to go outside and she doesn't want to. I guess her mom should look like a tough Alaskan woman. Ya think I'll look as tough as this guy?

We've got the cocoa, the coats, the face masks, the wool socks. We're ready. Bring it on!

Update: We've had a couple of VERY BRIEF snow flurries, but no accumulation yet (as of Oct. 10). I am pleasantly surprised that Colorado got snow before us! Who would have thought?

We are even more ready for winter now. My parka came in the mail. While I do get huge when I'm pregnant, this parka is mega huge, and I probably could have gone with the men's size small rather than medium, but at least I will not be limited in the number of layers I can wear under the parka! I got pretty HOT just in the couple minutes it took to try on the parka and take pictures! I think it's a keeper! (And I'm pretty sure I look tougher than that guy, even with Girls' purple snow pants on.)

Aaron bought some wood from someone who was moving and got it all chopped up, with the help of his new friend the chainsaw. Then he got some free wood that I'm sure he'll chop up soon, being the man of action that he is. We have some stacked outside, but since we have a two-car garage and only one car, it seemed like a good idea to keep a bunch of the wood nice and dry and ready in the garage. Won't that be nice to not have to go all the way out into the weather to make a fire? Someday, when we again enjoy the luxury of being a two-car family, we won't have this luxury! At least not for such a big stash!

The Epic Roadtrip

2011-09-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

We have always loved roadtrips. A few years ago, we took a mega road trip from Colorado to North Carolina and down to Alabama and Texas, seeing all the family and friends we could squeeze in along the way. Our total for that trip was 63 hours of driving time. This road trip up to Alaska would be almost 60 hours one way. That's what Aaron calls "epic."

Our first two days felt like a pretty normal road trip--driving all day and stopping to enjoy the hospitality of family. Monday we went into new roadtrip territory--leaving the country.

Monday, June 20

220 miles, 5 hours

After stopping at one of our old favorite stores, WinCo, to buy some roadtrip and camping food, and then stopping in the last town in the US to find a thrift store where we could get Aaron a couple shirts to wear to work since we had accidentally packed them all in the moving truck, we decided that a good goal for the day would be to just get through Canadian customs, drive past Vancouver, and find a lovely spot to camp.

Getting through customs proved to be quite an ordeal. Since my husband is a hunter with very strong protective instincts we'll just say, he could not fathom camping in the Canadian wilderness without some form of protection from bears. Of course he declared this at customs, which apparently made them concerned that he was stashing other things in there, so they did a full search of the vehicle. Meaning they take everything out and you have to pack it all back in.

At least the kids got a break from the car while we tried to get them to sit respectably in the customs waiting area with only the Canadian News to divert their attention. We couldn't even use the bathroom without express permission from the officer handling our family, and since he was busy, we got to wait.

Once in Canada, we soon discovered that it is absolutely gorgeous. Yes, Washington was lovely, too, but things seemed to get more stunning as we drove further north. I was really impressed with the city of Vancouver. It is a HUGE city that just had a really cool feel. Something about it reminded me of the city of Luzern, Switzerland. I liked it a lot. Note to self: when we have more time and money, go back and take a vacation in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Our trusty roadtrip guide, the Milepost, described the awesome scenic route called the Sea to Sky highway. The views were stunning, with mountains jutting right out of the sea.

These sea to sky views also reminded me of some places in the Alps.
We saw an awesome campsite right on the water, but it was full. Just a mile or two up the road, there was another campsite. It was definitely dinnertime and we were ready to get our campstove cooking and set up camp for the night.
This campground was on the other side of the road, so it drew the mountain climbing bunch rather than the seafaring crowd. This mountain face, Stawamus Chief, is apparently the second largest granite monolith in the world. It seemed to be some sort of granola mecca. I don't know if I've ever seen so many dreadlocks in one place. The surrounding view was awesome, but the campsites were basically a gravel spot for your car another spot about the same size for your tent, right next to the next campers. Not much place for the kids to roam free, but luckily Xander and Elodie were great at exploring close by. I just had to hold Hazel until she was ready for bed.
We fired up our sweet propane stove and whipped up some cheesy rice with broccoli and cauliflower in no time. Delicious food, gorgeous view, the best people in the world--needless to say, we all had a great time! Aaron set up the tent for him and Xander and Elodie. We decided it would help more people sleep if I just slept in the car with Hazel.

Tuesday, June 21

300 miles, 7 hours

A little past William's Lake, we were ready to cook some dinner and enjoy the evening. We found a quaint little country campsite behind a mom and pop general store where there was plenty of grass for the kids to run around. I've never been a huge fan of hot dogs, so I whipped up some spinach soup concoction that Aaron affectionately called "Skunk Soup." Yes, I did throw in the rest of the road trip carrot sticks that had been sitting in a cooler since we left Denver (my father passed on his complete inability to waste food, even if it may be on the verge of rotten), but I was very careful not to put in the "skunky" ones, as Aaron dubbed them when he unexpectedly bit into one earlier that day on the road. Skunk Soup was actually pretty tasty, but with a name like that, Xander and Elodie weren't too keen on trying it, so the rest of the fam enjoyed their fire-roasted dogs and left all the nutrients for me to enjoy!

Hazel LOVED the chance to stretch.
She was ecstatic to have room to roll.
Wednesday, June 22

600 miles, 13 hours

We didn't really mean to drive so far on Wednesday. We made it to Prince George around lunchtime and found an awesome park. The town had a great, family-friendly feel. I found myself really falling in love with British Columbia! The kids would have liked to stay at that park the rest of the day, but we managed to get them back in the confines of the car. They are really amazing travelers. After two nights of camping, it seemed like we had earned a shower and a night in a real bed. Plus, our Milepost warned that there were a lot of bears in the area, and Aaron didn't particularly want to risk camping with bears on the prowl. So when we got to Hazelton and a cluster of towns at the junction, we started looking for a Bed and Breakfast. After two nights of sleeping in the car with Hazel (trying to sleep, that is), I was really hoping for a place with an adjoining room or somewhere we could tuck Hazel where I was not in her line of sight. We discovered that our trusty Milepost didn't list every B&B, so we were just trying to keep our eyes peeled. We passed one--it was too late to make the turn, so we blew past. Not wanting to turn back, we decided we'd wait for the next. Whoops, we passed another one, I think. But there were still some more towns coming soon, according to the book, and we were all still feeling good, so we kept driving. Those towns had no B&B's, so we kept going, hoping to find just the perfect place. We got onto the Cassiar Highway, which turns out to be the most isolated stretch of road we encountered our whole trip. Mile after mile after mile there were gorgeous mountain views and amazing forests and not a sign of civilization beyond the paved road. No lodging for us. At nearly 10:00, we came to the Bell 2 Lodge. Not the quaint B&B I had been hoping for, but a very nice-looking, new lodge with lots of cute little cabins. It did not look cheap, but since it was the only lodging we'd seen in 2 hours, we didn't have much room for bargain hunting. There was only one room left, and they were about to close for the night. The lady said she thought there was another place about 1 1/2 further down the road. So yes, they could charge us whatever they wanted. And we paid it, grateful for a safe, comfortable place to sleep!

Once again, Hazel was so excited to have room to MOVE!
The lodge was really nice and the beds were super comfy. While there was only one room (it was a 4-plex cabin type thing), the bathroom was large enough for Hazel to sleep in, so we got a pretty good night's rest. The fact that it was still broad daylight when we arrived at nearly 10:00 sure helped make the extended drive that day very doable. And the blackout curtains did their job nicely.
Thursday, June 23

460 miles, 11 hours

Not too far from Bell 2 Lodge, we saw this little guy. When we stopped to get a picture, he came right up to our car. I guess Elodie wanted a better view, so she started rolling down her window. Aaron kinda freaked out 'cause the bear was right by her window and started to try to put its nose in the car. Aaron got her window up in a flash and took away her roll-down power. Then the bear mosied around to the back and tried to climb on the tailgate hitch haul thing, so Aaron decided it was time to drive outta there.
For lunch, we stopped by a beautiful river and cooked up the most delicious Ramen noodles and leftover hot dogs ever. We must have been really hungry. Or maybe it had just been too long since our last hot meal. Breakfast was not included at the lodge, and I couldn't bring myself to spend $40 on breakfast after what we'd just dumped on lodging, so we shook up some powdered milk and had cold cereal for breakfast. And with the late arrival the night before, we had eaten roadtrip munchies for dinner.
I wanted to cook up some tasty tortilla soup, but it started raining right after we stopped to cook. Too hungry to be deterred, we opted for the much faster Ramen noodles. Ramen has never tasted better. And gratefully, it was just a quick mountain thunderstorm, so it was over before the food was ready. Again, what a gorgeous, peaceful setting. These leisurely meal breaks were some of the highlights of our trip.
Later that day, after making it to a new territory, the Yukon, and a new Highway, the Alaska Highway, Xander got to learn what a Totem Pole is.
In all of our days on the road, we had not yet stopped at any type of restaurant to eat. After seeing the bear, Aaron had determined that he did not want to cook dinner at the same place we camped, and we had already stopped to cook lunch, so it seemed like the perfect time to go out for dinner. Here's the classy joint we ended up with--Wolf It Down. Yes, that is the name of the restaurant. The food was overpriced and mediocre. Aaron and I agreed that the Ramen noodles at lunch tasted better. Ah well.
The day had been long and the night short, so in no time, Xander was asleep and Elodie ahd to go to the bathroom.
This was the next rest stop, complete with portapotty and informative signs about the native peoples of the area. of course the view in person was far more spectacular than my pathetic photography can capture.
The bear had made Aaron hesitant about camping in a tent that night, and the price of lodging made me hesitant about that option, so Aaron had the bright idea that we could lay down the seats in the Beast and all camp in the car. What fun! Well, if we were going to sleep in the car, there was no sense in stopping. The kids would be sleeping in the car either way. It was still daylight and we were still feeling chipper, so why stop? At around 11:00, we found a campsite and pulled in. Aaron rearranged the car and we all tried to sleep. Xander and Elodie thought it was pretty fun at first. Too fun. How are you supposed to just fall asleep when it's still light and you're all squished in there like a party? It was really hard for everyone to be quiet enough for Hazel to fall asleep. And it was super hot and stuffy with all of us breathing and the sun shining in, but the cloud of mosquitos outside prevented us from opening the windows. Did I mention that it was a little squishy? Somehow, Elodie fell asleep and said she slept great, but Aaron, Xander and I kept rolling into each other. And hazel kept waking up, of course. By 5:00 in the morning, we were done trying to sleep. There was nothing to do but get back on the road. We had planned 8 days to make the epic drive so we could take it easy and just enjoy it, but we somehow accidentally kept doing 11 hour days.

Friday, June 24

450 miles, 10 1/2 hours

Our stop at Kluane Lake was the highlight of the day. We stopped for lunch and cooked ourselves up a nice pot of spaghetti with green beans on the side. I tell you what, with the help of that camp kitchen set-up you see above, we ate well on this trip!
Fearless Xander did not care that this gigantic lake is in the Yukon and thus FREEZING. He had a lovely little wade.
The kids totally loved the beach time. While we were enjoying our leisurely lunch break, a tour bus from Alaska stopped there and we got to chat with a bunch of retired couples who were on a sea and land tour of Alaska, doing a tour bus loop from Anchorage, up to Fairbanks, down through the Yukon and back to Alaska at Skagway, and then on a cruise ship back up to Anchorage. Something like that anyway. It sounded pretty cool. And they got to enjoy our darling children and our unusual antics of cooking spaghetti on the side of the road.
Since we had gotten such an early start on the day and those summer days are so very long, Aaron just couldn't wait to get into Alaska itself. We danced and sang around this sign. It felt like victory! Alaska or bust? We'll take Alaska, thanks. No busting for us! Oh yeah!
We could have made it to Delta Junction that night, but we had no where to stay there since we had told our landlords we'd meet them early Saturday afternoon, not late Friday night. I kinda wanted to get our family a cleaned up a bit before making our first impression on our new landlords, and we definitely needed a good night's rest after the car camping attempt, so we found a B&B in Tok (where Aaron will sometimes be filling in the gaps at the clinic, about 2 hours from Delta) that had a 2 bedroom cabin available. Xander and Elodie got to sleep in the loft room, which they found pretty cool. And Hazel had the family room all to herself for the night. We had a bed and a door so Hazel couldn't see me. Wow. It was luxurious. And since it was a B&B, we had an amazing home-cooked breakfast of blueberry pancakes and eggs and reindeer sausage and fruit. Fantastic. Cheap? Not so much. But it's all relative--at least it was less than Bell 2 Lodge!
Saturday, June 25

100 miles, 2 hours
Yes, it was the end of June and this river was just thawing! Welcome to Alaska, right?

May I just add that my amazing husband drove the ENTIRE way. I just got to sit back and enjoy the ride. And entertain three darling children. :)

Reflection

2011-09-07T21:23:00.001-07:00

You know how usually when you're studying the scriptures and words of the living prophets, you think, "Oh, I really need to work on that. I need to be more patient. Persuasion, gentleness, love unfeigned, that's what I need. A soft answer turneth away wrath. I oughtta try that more." You know the feeling, right?

Well, every once in a while, it's kinda nice to feel like, "yeah, I think I'm doing everything I possibly can in that regard." Like when you're sitting there, pregnant with your fifth child and your oldest is barely six and you read these words of Elder Ezra Taft Benson: "The first commandment given to man was to multiply and replenish the earth with children. That commandment has never been altered, modified, or cancelled. The Lord did not say to multiply and replenish the earth if it is convenient, or if you are wealthy, or if you have gotten all your schooling, or when there is peace on earth, or until you have four children. The Bible says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord:...Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.' (Psalms 127:3,5)."

There's an awesome family in our branch here who has 9 delightful children, ranging in age from on a mission to still in nursery. You can just tell what great friends their kids are. I look at their family and think, "Wow, how fun! How wonderful to be blessed with so many kids all in one house. I hope we're blessed to have a great big family like we both grew up in." As the mother of this family said in a talk in church a couple weeks ago, "I always wanted to have a big family. I feel like I've won the lottery." Isn't that a great attitude? I just love her priorities. They certainly have their quiver full of kids and seem as happy as the Psalmist indicates a man would be. I currently feel so blessed to have the opportunity to welcome another precious child into our home!

Goodbyes!

2011-09-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

Bye, Katy! We'll miss you! Living with you at Melayna's was a neverending party!We loved living close to family! It was so fun to celebrate Xander's birthday (a bit early) with Meredith and Patrick (and his mom who is always a pleasure to see) and Kendall (Xander's special cousin buddy) and Berkeley and Emery and Melayna and Grandma and Grandpa and Milan and Rachael in Meredith's backyard. Xander said he wanted ice cream cones instead of a cake, so we just made it into a "cake" by flipping a bucket of ice cream onto a plate and putting candles in it. Super simple and super fun.
Stopping in Utah to see Mirien's family and return her awesome boys was loads of fun. We'll miss being only 8 hours from them. Elodie adores playing with Corrinne.
Gotta love Uncle Mitchell!
We got to spend Father's Day with Ben's family and Nancy's family in Washington. I just love getting a bunch of cousins together. This is the stuff memories are made of!

Goodbye, lower 48! We'll miss seeing all of you as frequently as we used to!

Nauvoo

2011-09-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

Marliese had a great idea this year--to gather up everybody who could make it and spend a few days in the historic city of Nauvoo. She found a great house for us all to stay in and we spent three days seeing the sites and shows. One of my favorite parts was the carriage ride through the country around Nauvoo--the guide told inspiring stories about the prophet Joseph and the early saints who spent a few peaceful years in the beautiful city. Going to the rebuilt Nauvoo temple was also a special experience--it was wonderful to sit and ponder the symbolism and the sacrifice. All around, it was a perfect trip! I am so glad we got to spend the time with Marliese's family, Mirien's awesome sons, Melayna, Milan and Rachael, and my parents before we headed off to the last frontier!

Our first stop on the way from Des Moines, Iowa to Nauvoo, Illinois was the Carthage Jail where the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum were martyred. When we were just minutes away from the town of Carthage, we experienced a tender mercy of the Lord. Aaron got an email (aren't smartphones great?) announcing that he had passed the Board Exam he had taken exactly one week before! This news was just what he needed to completely relax and enjoy the vacation. The timing was beautiful. What an amazing feeling to have nothing hanging over his head!!

"Here comes the ox cart, oh how slow!" Xander, Elodie, and Tessa were pretty thrilled because they got to sit up front and "drive."

There were plenty of chances to remember how easy we have it these days. Running water instead of running for water--beautiful! Notice how sleepy Elodie is in the background. Sightseeing is tiring business!

The view of the Mississippi River from the temple.

What a great group of people!

Hazel was a great sport through it all, catching a nap on the go whenever she could!

I love these kids!

I love this big kid, too! Spending time together at Marliese's was lots of fun, too! Thanks for the memories, guys!

Back in Business

2011-08-24T22:53:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Alaska exactly two months ago today. Two months of being disconnected from the outside world, with only occasional, momentary snatches of what's going on out there. And now, finally, we have DSL at home!!!! When our first 5 or 6 phone calls to Alaska Communications got us nowhere, Aaron reminded me that it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, so we squeaked. We were told that there was nothing they could do, our area was simply in a DSL freeze; they were not ALLOWED to sell us DSL. Comcast? They don't service Alaska. Other local companies? Only offer dial-up. Satellite internet? Costs almost $800 to install and usage is limited so you can't even watch Netflix instant stuff. We squeaked some more. And prayed desperately because I actually do not prefer isolation, I discovered. One blessed day, I called and actually talked to someone who was willing to check with the manager, who said that since someone had JUST cancelled their DSL service right here in our little town, we could nab that "spot" and get hooked up. They said it would be slow speed DSL, 1mb I believe she said, but anything was better than dial-up or it's more expensive but just as slow cousin, MiFi (in our remote area, that is). I could hardly believe my ears and felt both grateful and reserved. I had been told "yes" before only to have it squashed by a resounding "no." Last Thursday the technician did his thing and we got a home phone and the capacity for DSL, and today we got the ACS specific modem that actually made my dreams a reality. And to our surprise, it doesn't feel slow at all. We were even able to stream a little Tangled from Netflix. We could hardly believe our eyes!

If I weren't so tired, I'd begin my real blogging spree--our epic drive up here, the gorgeous scenery, Nauvoo, haircut, Hazel learning to crawl, pull up on furniture, cutting her first tooth, learning her first signs, Xander's first day of first grade, my random pontifications that I've been dying to share. But there will be another night, another naptime. Stay tuned. I've missed you!

Simple Pleasures

2011-07-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

Who knew a trip to the post office would be so fun? We just had to run in to mail the garage door opener to the new owners of our old house. (Yes, we SOLD our house and it officially closed July 25th, after being on the market since last August! Whew!) Outside, there were some lovely mud puddles in the gravel driveway, and Elodie was sporting her new rain boots that we scored from garage-saleing over the weekend and Xander had just gotten a new little boat at library story time, so we really couldn't help but spend some time splashing around. The boat did not float, but Xander didn't seem to mind--he had fun just throwing rocks and making huge splashes. He was even able to skip some rocks in these giant Alaskan-sized puddles. It has been raining for about 2 days, after all. While we were playing, the sun came out and it was one of those moments of simple pleasure that made me wonder, "how could it get any better than this?"

Well, Hazel started to realize that she was being ripped off because I wouldn't put her down to let her splash in the mud puddles and taste the rocks, so she and I started chasing Xander around to distract her from her woes. As Xander ran over to the edge of the forest (forest is pretty much everywhere in Delta Junction), he shouted, "Ooooh, strawberries!" We've had lots of fun discovering and picking wild strawberries around here, so Elodie ran up to get in on the berry picking action. Then Xander said, "No, raspberries!" And he was right. These were the first wild raspberries we've discovered, and it was actually quite a jackpot. After we picked all the ripe ones off of the first little bush, we meandered a bit deeper into the forest and kept finding more and more. We spent the next half hour eating and collecting raspberries in Hazel's bottle that I found in the car.

There were actually enough raspberries that Xander and Elodie were able to save some to bring home. Elodie thought of the yogurt we have brewing here at home and got pretty excited about having fresh wild raspberries with homemade yogurt for breakfast. Xander and Elodie both declared that it was the best, BEST day! Does it get any better than this?

Internet Dependence

2011-07-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

When we moved to rural Montana in the winter and "finally" got internet after a week, I said to myself that it really didn't matter how small the town or how removed I was from my family--with the internet, I have the whole world at my fingertips, right?

So you can imagine my dismay when after talking with Alaska Communications Services at least 6 times in the last 2 weeks, I was informed that although our house is all set up for DSL and the previous occupants had it, they are not allowed to sell it to us because demand exceeds supply in our little town; they oversold and it is affecting the speed of DSL for those lucky enough to have gotten in on it. No soup for you! They have a device that lets your PC get Wireless Internet like smart phones have, but they said that in our particular area, that would probably be about as slow as dial-up. So there's satellite internet we could get, but the equipment and installation cost is $775. Are you kidding me? Thus, we are continuing to limp along with Aaron's smart phone and the library.

Oh, how I miss internet at home. Blogging after the kids go to bed, or at least while Hazel is taking a nap and not crawling all over my lap here at the library. Apparently, it's making me feel rather disconnected from my family. I had a dream the other night that I was visiting my sister Marliese and she had had a little baby boy. I was shocked--"you never told me you had a baby?!" "Yeah I did, he was born last November. We named him Mitchell." "No, seriously, I never heard a thing about it." I'm just saying, that better not happen!!

I want to skype and blog and do all those things to minimize the miles. The fact that this feels like such a trial for me makes me realize just how internet dependent I've become. Kinda pathetic, huh? Millions of people have led perfectly happy lives without it. I guess I'm just supposed to enjoy the simplicity of life up here and the quality time with our nuclear family. Maybe I'll be able to be a much better mom without that distraction. Maybe it'll be refreshing to be kinda disconnected. Maybe?

We're Alaskans!

2011-06-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to Delta Junction, Alaska. The drive through Canada was absolutely beautiful. The mountains and lakes and forests provided nonstop gorgeous scenery. So much so that after a couple days, I'd point out a beautiful mountain lake and the kids would say, "Yep," instead of, "Wow! That is so beauuutiful!"

The house we're renting is perfect for us. The kids LOVE the yard with all the space, a jungle gym, a play house, and a fort. They went outside Monday morning after breakfast and were pretty much outside until we had to enforce broad daylight bedtime at 9:30. The light is kind of messing with my mind. I already have the tendency to get my second wind after the kids go to bed, and when it's sunny outside at 11:00pm, it is pretty hard for me to convince myself that I'm tired.

Our truck hasn't arrived yet--it got to Anchorage by Monday, but they said they only swing through Delta on Fridays. SO they'll drop the trailer on Friday and pick it up the next Friday. That is definitely not what the company originally told us, but it'll work for us. We are excited to get our beds and kitchenware and computer all of our other stuff so we can really start to feel at home here. I'm eager for that settled feeling. And when we get our computer and settle on a slow-speed internet option, I'll even be able to add pictures to better document our adventures. I can't really upload family pics to the library computer. So, more to come. Until then, we miss all of you and hope that the internet will help make the thousands of miles not feel quite as distant!

Decided

2011-05-13T19:09:00.000-07:00

While we were in Kotzebue, experiencing its unique extremes, we made our decision. I've just been so busy working out the details that the decision entails that I haven't had the time to blog about our decision. So what did we decide? (Drumroll, please.) We decided to go for adventure instead of the familiar, driving-distance-to-family comfort of Wyoming or Montana. For years, Aaron had geared me up for an Alaskan stint before settling down. We decided to stay the course and make that adventure happen instead of wimping out at the last minute, knowing that Aaron would regret it if the opportunity had been right in front of us and we turned it down. We decided to go experience what Alaska has to offer. But not in Kotzebue.

Gratefully, we had received another offer in Alaska, and compared to Kotzebue, it seemed to have everything going for it. It's on the road system, meaning you can drive to the temple; it pays more; you can still get great loan repayment; a gallon of milk costs only $5 instead of $11; it has a small-town, country feel rather than a cramped, city-in-the-middle-of-nowhere feel; it is a small, family practice rather than a bureaucracy-laden, large medical facility; you can live in a house with a huge yard rather than in an apartment, and it costs the same amount; at Church, just the primary is bigger than the entire Kotzebue branch; you can drive to Denali National Park, the Kenai peninsula, and lots of other cool places to really experience what Alaska has to offer; and while we're talking about roads, you can get a moving truck, which means we can bring up all of our stuff and actually feel settled rather than leaving a bunch of stuff in storage and just making do for a few years; it gets up to the 70s and occasionally the 80s in the summer, so there's a season that deserves to be called summer; you can grow a garden; speaking of growing, it's no tundra--trees grow everywhere, it's basically in the middle of a gorgeous forest; two huge rivers meet there and it is dotted with lots of little lakes; and in the winter, night doesn't last for 20 days straight, just for 20+ hours straight. What is this Alaskan dreamland called? Delta Junction, Alaska, a town of about 3000 people that is situated 2 hours southeast of Fairbanks, 7 hours northeast of Anchorage, and 4 hours east of the Yukon Territory, Canada.

I've been working endlessly on the details of a move of such magnitude and the paperwork of getting a medical license and securing loan repayment. I finally feel kind of on top of it, so I figured I could spare a minute to share our good news with the world. We are really getting excited about the opportunity. Especially since our connection in Delta Junction (my brother's wife's dad's aunt and uncle, I believe it is) got the inside scoop on a big house for rent with a huge yard that includes a small greenhouse and backs to a forest. Having a place to move in to up there is really helping me feel like we're going to be able to call this place home. Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam!

This is going to be one awesome adventure! Who wants to come visit?

Math Monday 4

2011-05-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

You call it "War," we call it "Greater than Wins." Just use the classic card game of "War" to reinforce the developing sense of greater than/ less than. We play it with rook cards (no King/Queen/Jack cards to confuse little kids) and we chant "greater than wins" as we all flip over our card at the same time. Use math terms as you play and now it's a math game! Questions like, "Who wins this one?" "Are you sure that's greater?" or "How do you know?' go a long way, as usual.

Eight is Great

2011-04-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

Eight years ago today was a pretty big day in the whole scheme of things--a new eternal family began. That's pretty huge to begin something that doesn't have to end. And I'd say after these eight years that this adventure called family life is beyond great. I've told Aaron many times that he should give good husband lessons. He is just so unbelievably good to me. It makes me think of some sweet, wise words spoken by Aaron's Dad. We were down in Texas celebrating their 50th anniversary and I heard someone ask him, "Wow, 50 years, how did you do it?" He replied humbly, "well, it wasn't hard, being married to her." That's how I feel about Aaron; it isn't hard being married to him.

Well, I was going to do something all cute and sappy and list eight of the reasons I love him, but then Hazel woke up screaming. Followed by Xander, who had a fever, and then Elodie, who heard the crying and figured she should join in. They are all sleeping snug in their beds again. But now I'm not feeling it, so no sappy list tonight. Just a simple, "Happy Anniversary, honey!"

Ode to Kotzebue

2011-04-26T10:57:00.001-07:00

Shortly after we'd gotten home from our Arctic Adventure, I was just doing dishes and found myself singing an impromptu song about Kotzebue. I was just kind of making it up as I went along, so I decided to write it down and extend it to capture our Kotzebue experience!

Oh, Kotzebue!

(sung to the tune of "O, Tannenbaum," which is "Oh, Christmas Tree" for you English-speakers out there)

Oh, Kotzebue, oh, Kotzebue,
There’s no place that’s quite like you.

The tundra may not have real trees,

But who needs these with blueberries?

Oh, Kotzebue, oh, Kotzebue,

She made this Kuspuk just for you.

Oh, Kotzebue, oh, Kotzebue,

They say no roads connect to you.

With boats and planes and snow machines

And don’t forget your sled dog teams

You get to where you need to go,

No matter how deep is the snow.

Oh, Kotzebue, oh, Kotzebue,

There’s no place that’s quite like you.

In villages the Inupiaq

Eat caribou and meat that’s black.

Oh, Kotzebue, oh, Kotzebue,

Muktuk and fish are snack foods, too.

Oh, Kotzebue, oh, Kotzebue,

Yes Arctic is the name for you.

You’re not just white in winter moons.

No, icy snow lasts up through June.

Oh, Kotzebue, oh, Kotzebue,

The frozen ocean is your view.

Math Monday 3

2011-04-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

So Many Ways to Make a Dollar

Age: 5 & up (depending on the challenge you give, even adults could be challenged by these)

Concept/ Skills: Money, Interval Counting, Place Value (foundation), Organizing your Thinking, Flexibility in Thinking, Reasoning & Logic (foundation of proofs), Problem-Solving

Materials: a big pile of various coins

Object: To figure out lots of different ways to make one dollar.

How to play: For a 5-7 year old, simply dump out a bunch of money and ask them, "How many ways do you think you can make a dollar?" Tell him to show each way and leave them all laid out so you can look at them. If the kid pretty good at working on this independently, but you want to up the motivation a bit, you could say, "How many different ways can you make a dollar in 10 minutes?" Then at the end of the time, you can lather on the praise when they have found SO MANY different ways to make a dollar. Or if they answer your original question by saying, "I think I can make a dollar in 12 different ways." Then ask, "how long do you think it'll take you to do that?" "OK, I'll time you to see how long it takes you to come up with 12 ways."

For an older kid who's more familiar with counting money, you can ask the more challenging question, "how can you make a dollar using exactly __ coins?" If you think they really need a challenge, ask them one you don't know the answer to and let them really think through it! Remind them to keep track of what they tried so they'll be able to tell you about the process. Older kids don't even need the actual coins, they can just use paper. Even if they do use coins to figure it out, you might want them to keep track on paper.

How to maximize the math learning going on: Let's say you're doing this with a 5-year-old. You ask the big question, "How many ways do you think you can make a dollar?" and they tell you one way. Xander's first response was the simplest, "A Sacajawea dollar!" Ask, "is that the only way to make a dollar?" He replied, "No, we could do 100 pennies." "OK, let's show all the ways we can make a dollar right here on the floor." He is kind of new to counting money, so I found I had to ask him leading questions like, "How many dimes do you think it would take to make a dollar?" And then, "How can you check to see if that guess is right?" I also needed to guide him to organize the money in rows to make checking your counting easier. We grouped the pennies by 10s, each cluster arranged in a 2x5 array. Doing this together helps him to develop the skill of organizing his thinking and his work, which will help him solve math problems more efficiently. Looking for patterns is a big part of math, and it's hard to see those patterns if you leave everything in a jumbled pile. I also found that while Xander is great at counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, switching gears in the middle is really challenging for him. It takes practice to actually think about what it means to count by numbers instead of just rattling them off like he memorized. Counting money is really good for this. And learning that concept of one thing (like a dime) being worth more than 1 is great for the developing sense of place value.

Let's say your doing this with a 7-year-old (or maybe older--you'll get the feel for where she is as you discuss it). You gave her 10 minutes to see how many ways she could come up with. When the time is up, ask her to show you her ways and tell you how she came up with them. "Do you think you found every way possible? How do you know? Can you think of a more efficient way to find every single way possible?" Those thought provoking questions really increase the challenge level of the problem. At that point, if they seem ready for it and haven't come up with it on their own, you could suggest creating a table with all of the different coins along one axis and using tally marks to keep track. Point out simple things like, "There is only one way to make a dollar with 4 quarters, so you could mark it like this. But if I try 3 quarters, I could first do the 2 dimes and 1 nickel way. (Mark it.) Then I could mark 3 quarters again (mark it) and use the other coins to make $0.25 in a different way. Is there a different way to do it that still uses 2 dimes?"

Let's say you asked an even older kid to make a dollar using exactly 5 coins. After working on it for a few minutes, he says, "it's not possible." This is one of the best opportunities to stretch his capacity to reason and prepare him for more formal proofs to come. "Can you prove that this is not possible?" If you can prove that it can't be done, then you'll be done with the problem. Make sure you write it down in a way that I can follow what you were thinking." If you ask one that turned out to be too easy for him and he solves it super fast, ask him, "do you think you can come up with a number of coins with which it is not possible to make a dollar?" You can actually do these kind of problems verbally on a road trip or something. If you come up with a challenging math problem for them to think about every time they complain, "Mom, there's nothing to do," they're bound to learn something. (Even if they just learn not to complain to mom about boredom, which is a valuable thing in its own right!)

I just love to get kids thinking! We surely wouldn't want our kids brains to turn to mush, now would we? Or our own, for that matter!

Math Monday 2

2011-04-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

Finger Flash

This is a quick and easy activity. I got it from a book my mom loaned me, called Teaching Number in the Classroom. All you need is your fingers, so you can do it while you're waiting in line at the grocery store, waiting in the car, or anywhere else.

Age: 3-6, depending on the conversation you have with it

Concept/ Skills: Odds & Evens, Addition Fact Fluency up to 10, Flexibility (more than one right way to do it), Subitizing, Mental Math with Fives and Doubles

How to Play: "I'm going to say a number, then as quick as a flash, use your fingers to show me that number." The kid flashes fingers at you and you lather on the compliments when they get it right and fast. That's all there is to it.

How to maximize the math learning: Let's say you called out 8, and they flash 5 and 3. You say something like, "That's right, 5 fingers and 3 more fingers makes 8 fingers all together. 5+3=8. Can you show me another way to make 8?" Give them a chance to figure out the 4 and 4 way, the doubles representation. "Hey, look at that, what do you notice about your hands?" "They're both 4s. They match." "Yeah, the left hand team and the right hand team are even now--they both have the same number of fingers up. That's why we call 8 an even number; 'cause you can split it into 2 even teams (or 2 equal groups)." Do an odd number next to show the contrast. There are all kinds of good thinking and mental math strategies that can start to bud in this simple game. Here’s a conversation I had with Elodie when we played this today.

Me: Show me 9!

Elodie started quietly counting up on her fingers, then she stopped and just showed me 9 fingers.

Me: That’s right! How did you figure that out?

Elodie: Well, this is 10 (shows me 10 fingers) and it goes, “9, 10” so 10 is more than 9, so this is 9.

Me: Wow! That was a really smart way to think about it! Good strategy! 9 is one less than 10, so you knew you could hold up one less finger than all 10.

That is really simple, but it is good mental math. It is a more efficient strategy than counting up, and becoming a good mathematician is all about developing increasingly efficient strategies for thinking and solving problems. I was very proud of my little budding mathematician! When you start to hear how your little mathematician is thinking, I’m sure you’ll be impressed, too!

Hazel's First Food

2011-04-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Maniilaq Health Center did a rather nice job of wining and dining us (minus the wining of course). We met the med staff at the Bayside Restaurant for dinner Monday evening. The food was great and the people were fun and we were having a lovely time. Except for one thing: it was past Hazel's bedtime (9:30 in the time zone she's used to) and she was done being the perfectly cooperative, patient, flexible baby she'd been all day. Aaron and I were taking turns with her, and it was going OK, but towards the end of dinner, she was frazzled and we were desperate to entertain her long enough to get dessert. I mean, we have priorities. The plants you see behind me here distracted her nicely for a couple of minutes, but when she started tasting them and tugging on them, I decided it would be better if she didn't kill the only living plant I had seen in Kotzebue, and Hazel was pretty mad to say the least when I delicately extricated its leaves from her grasp. I looked around in desperation for something new and novel to hold her attention. Aha--an onion ring.

Instantly, the fussing stopped. She loved it. Cool texture. New to look at.

As babies do, she stuffed it in her mouth. Wow! Check out these eyes and her tongue just going at it to get more of that salty fried taste.

Her first real food. She did try bland old rice cereal the beginning of March, but it wasn't going so well so I backed off. I'm afraid we ruined her in one fell swoop. If she won't eat that bland rice cereal when I try again this week, I'll know why. Maybe if I batter and fry it... Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

This was some pretty good entertainment for the whole table. When she sucked it enough that a soggy chunk of the fried batter started coming off, we were all a little concerned about how she'd react when I had to take it away. Amazingly, she didn't mind at all when we traded it for a napkin she could shred. Phew. We could finish our dessert. I had an ice cream sundae. It seemed fitting in my icy surroundings. Although it did make me a bit chillier as we walked back to our hotel right after.

Kotzebue Culture

2011-04-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 28

I loved the NANA Museum of the Arctic. Berry picking season sounds awesome--I'd love to be here in late summer just for that! I am glad the people here are striving to preserve the values and skills of their native culture--they are impressive and just plain good. But the current culture, which has emerged in Kotzebue as modern conveniences and government aid have been incorporated, lacks the beauty and the character-building sense of community that seemed to exist in the past. In too many instances, resourcefulness, creativity, and physical labor have been replaced with entitlement, addiction, and slothfulness. How sad to lose the traditional Inupiaq values and language. My generation doesn't speak the language, but with the help of the elders and the school, the kids now are learning. And at the museum, they have resources to pass down some really cool skills. Like this book I found that my dad would love--A Guide to Edible Plants of the Tundra--wow. Imagine just surviving off of the land up there, with no food flown in--impressive.

Speaking of food flown in, we also visited the 2 grocery stores in town today. Milk was $11 a gallon at the cheaper store. The selection was actually better than I feared, you just have to pay for it. Cuties were $7.88 a pound, not a box.

Potatoes were $13.99 for 10 pounds, at the cheaper store. Are you serious? Potatoes are supposed to be dirt cheap. Not in the Arctic tundra. A delicious-looking 2-lb bag of fresh snap peas cost $14.95. Even non-perishable items like cereal were plenty expensive.

At least apples were on sale for $1.98 a pound, which is only twice the cost of sale prices up here in Montana, and maybe three times the cost of sale prices in Colorado. Somewhat reasonable. People shared their ways of keeping their grocery bill down. You can order a box of farm fresh produce online and everyone picks it up at a local church, which keeps shipping costs down. People also fly to or through Anchorage quite a bit. While they're there, they head to Costco and stock up. Alaska Air lets you check 4 carry-ons per person for free for in-state flights, so you can get it home without shipping costs. I guess you can make it work, but being as frugal as I am, I would seriously struggle to let myself buy luxuries like green peppers and snap peas.

Could I really see my family living here? People who live here tend to describe it as a struggle. You make do. It's an adventure. The real bush experience. Day-to-day life with little kids? I dunno, it just doesn't strike me as the most family-friendly location on earth. Most of the providers we talked to at the hospital either came within the last year or so or are planning on leaving in the next year or so. I could do it for a couple years, but do we need to, honey?

Math Monday

2011-04-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

My sister, the one who convinced me to start a blog back in the day, used to run a "weekly feature" that I thought was kinda fun. It was based on her hobby/pre-motherhood professional life, and it was a way for her to spread what she believed in: promoting health and happiness through better nutrition. Well, today as I was having preschool time with Elodie, I was winging it as I generally do, and I came up with this little game. It worked so well, I thought I would share it. And so, readers, my new weekly feature, Math Monday, is born. As a former (and future) public school math teacher, I like promoting intellectual health and happiness through better mathematical understanding. Feel free to share this link with anyone you know who teaches preschool co-ops or is looking for games to prevent their children's minds from turning to mush over the summer.

Has this conversation ever occurred with your child? "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10." "Ummm, 16." If so, then this game is in your kid's ZPD, Zone of Proximal Development. That's teacher talk for something your kid can't quite do yet but is ready to learn. All you need is a deck of Rook cards (or hand-made number cards with the numbers you want to work on). I call the game "In Between?" for obvious reasons. It only takes a few minutes to play, but it's amazing how a few minutes of your undivided attention can make a kid feel so special. Enjoy!

In Between?

Concept: Greater than/ Less than (great for 3-5 year olds, but fun for older siblings, too)

Players: 2 or more

Materials: Rook Cards

Object: To collect the most cards by getting a third card that goes in between the first two.

How to play: Mix the cards well. Place the full stack of cards in the middle of all the players. The first person takes 2 cards and lays them in front of herself. She puts the lower card to the left and the higher card to the right. She then draws the next card in the stack. If it is in between the first two, she gets to keep all three. If it is less than the lowest or greater than the highest, she puts all three in the discard pile next to the draw stack. If the first two cards are either next to each other or an exact match, then obviously no whole number is in between, so she has to discard those (either before drawing the third card or after, depending on how long it takes her to realize that nothing will fit in between). Then the next player takes a turn. Play continues until the whole stack has been used. The lucky player with the most cards wins!

How to maximize the math learning going on: Most importantly, let the kid take his time to think through it himself. Let’s say he drew 4 and 11. He then turns the next card in the stack over, let’s say it’s a 9, and asks himself, ”Is 9 in between 4 and 11?” When he figures it out, ask him, “How did you know?” and help him put words to the strategy he used to figure it out. For example, if he says, “I counted up and figured it out,” you could say, “Oh, very smart, you used a counting strategy and found out that 9 comes after 4, but it’s still before 11. Good thinking!” If he says, “I just knew that 9 was bigger than 4 but not as big as 11,” you can compliment him specifically saying, “Wow, good mental math. You’re developing a really good sense of what numbers are bigger and smaller. I can tell your math brain is turned on!” If he can’t express how he figured it out, ask questions and help him come up with a way to explain his thinking. If he says the number is in between, but that's not correct, you can still ask, "How did you figure that out?" and keep questioning to help him discover his own mistake. This is a very powerful skill in math--self-checking. When it’s your turn, think aloud to model how you solve problems. “OK, I need to compare these two numbers. I know that 6 is less than 8, so I’ll put the 6 to the left of the 8 (I actually make them face the right way for Elodie, rather than for myself) with a little space between them. Hey, I noticed that there’s only one number that is between 6 and 8—7! So if I don’t get a 7, I won’t get to keep these cards!” Have fun learning math together!

The Kotzebue Branch

2011-04-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 27

Church was wonderful. It just seemed especially Spirit-filled and worshipful. The numbers were few, but the Spirit was not at all diminished; if anything, it was increased, to make up for the lack of numbers! What a powerful affirmation that this is the true and living Church upon the Earth.

There were 15 locals there and 8 visitors, including us. They don't usually get visitors; kinda funny that they got so many in one week. Three of them were the stake presidency who flew in from Anchorage with us the night before for branch conference. The other 2 were the branch president's parents who came to visit since they just got back from a mission to Scotland. They didn't have a primary--the oldest kid was only 4, so he just had to repeat nursery. And they had 3 young men, but no young women. Kinda like our ward back in Sidney!

Church was only 2 hours long since they don't have the numbers to keep every auxiliary running. It was totally back to basics, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The branch president was so good at focusing on people. He just radiated the pure love of Christ. After sacrament meeting, the adults and young men had Sunday School while the little kids had nursery, supervised by the branch president that week. And the church building was really cool. It was a big gym with a cool-looking wood-beamed ceiling and classrooms and a kitchen and a stage around the gym. Sacrament meeting was held on the stage, closed off by a nice curtain. No hallways, just doors opening into the gym. I've never seen a church building quite like it. Unique just like the town.

I could picture myself being a part of the Kotzebue branch... We would definitely need to make friends and invite them to church so my kids wouldn't be alone in primary! What an adventure!

(Disclaimer: I did not take this picture, I found it online and borrowed it. When we were there, snow completely covered the ground. You definitely could not see things like pavement! This must've been taken much later in the spring.)

Arctic Adventurers

2011-04-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday Night, March 26

Our first night in Kotzebue (we flew in at about 8pm)

This is what I would have blogged if we were connected to the rest of the world via the world wide web. Don't worry, the WORLD WIDE web has made it to Kotzebue, just not to our hotel. I had to use a notebook and pen. Weird.

WHOA! I am in the Arctic Circle. I just ate surprisingly delicious Schechwan Vegetables, Potstickers, and Orange Chicken (at the Empress Restaurant) as I watched the sun begin to set over the frozen Bering Sea. Beautiful. And surreal.

And the short walk (2 buildings down) back to the Nullagvik Hotel (which you can apparently just call The Hotel because it's the only one in town to speak of)? Completely FREEZING! Like leave my hat, coat, and boots on for five minutes after coming inside freezing. Like, Arctic freezing. Like, what am I thinking taking my baby out in this?!?!?! freezing.

And now it's 10:00, it's not totally dark yet, and I'm being serenaded "I've Got Friends in Low Places" by a group of guys through these thin hotel walls. Karaoke anyone? Looks like "We will Rock You" is coming up next.

Could I really see myself living here? Calling it home, even for a little while? Whoa. The Arctic Circle. My mind is blown.

Decisions, decisions!

2011-03-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well things are happening on the job search front and we're pretty excited about it all! Aaron got his first job offer last week, in a town called Delta Junction, Alaska. He visited that town a year and a half ago and he really likes it. My favorite thing about that town? It is connected, by roads, to other places! And after a couple of telephone interviews, Aaron was invited for some in person interviews/ site visits. He got more invitations than we could squeeze in, actually. This week, we're leaving to check out two places: a tiny town called Medicine Bow, WY, not too far from my family in Denver (about 3 1/2 hours) and Kotzebue, AK, yes, the one in the Arctic Circle. Aaron convinced me not to knock it 'til I tried it. Culbertson, the little town where Aaron is now doing his final rotation, may have a position for him, but it's up in the air. As much as we are all loving this area, we don't feel like we should just wait around for possibilities and let definite offers pass us by. So when we fly back into Denver, we're going to spend the evening in the temple and hopefully decide where we'll be spending the next few years of our lives! We know the Lord will guide us in the future as He has the past. It'll feel so good to decide and move from the job searching mode into the move planning mode.

Siblings

2011-03-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

Just being the goofy kids I know and love, a couple Sunday's ago. The beauty of it is, even if mom and dad don't think they're funny, they think each other are hilarious. Last night after I tucked them in, I heard them laughing uproariously about I-can-only-imagine what. I walked up to their closed door to eavesdrop and heard Xander whisper: "Shhhh, Elodie! We almost got in big trouble." I'm so glad they get to share a room.

This afternoon, Xander and Elodie were playing "Mom & Dad." Xander was the son. Named Christopher. Elodie was the mom, as usual. Named Chelsea. She first told me she was 19, but when I suggested that was a bit young for a mom, she threw out 38. Sounds good. As Xander was carrying around his big black clothes bin loaded with additional essential items, he informed me: "I'm carrying this because I'm 18 and I'm going to college to study foot fungus." Good thing he thought to pack a Nerf gun and the purple laptop. He was set. His mom, Chelsea, was very helpful with packing him up and getting him all ready to go. Although she did disagree with Christopher about who got to drive on their way to college, but I guess those power struggles are

normal between a mom and her barely adult son. Chelsea let her son know she was still the mom and he would not be driving, even if he was the one who grabbed the keys from Hazel, who was playing contentedly in her exersaucer. See? Cute, huh? (Her big brother recently learned to make paper boats, which can be shaped nicely into hats. This one from his daily math worksheet was just the right size for Hazel.)

I was making dinner and enjoying the entertainment. Foot fungus was the first thing that popped into your mind as something to study, huh? I love it! Aw, what would my kids do without each other? On one of Xander's school papers he brought home last week, he had written, "I like to play with my sister." Aren't siblings the best.

Speaking of siblings, today was a big first on the sisterhood front. It was the first day that Hazel and Elodie shared clothes. Sure, pretty much all of Hazel's clothes are hand-me-downs from Elodie. But today is the first time Elodie tried wearing something of Hazel's. Hazel was wearing these little jeans this morning before a nice up-the-back incident if you know what I mean. This afternoon, the jeans were just lying on the floor. Elodie tried them on and loved them. She said she looked "just like a mom" in them. Which to her is a very good thing. Unlike being cute. She is "tired of being called cute. Hazel is cute."

Yeah, they are size 3 months. But they almost look like they were meant to fit that snug! Elodie said they were comfortable, too, and wore them the rest of the evening. Oh, the memories. I loved sharing clothes with my sisters. I remember feeling proud the first time I was finally big enough for Marliese to ask to borrow a shirt from me. It felt like such a compliment. Like I actually had something cute enough for my super cool big sister to wear.

And come on, check out what my kids are wearing. Like it's summer around here or something! I will say, 40 degrees never felt warmer to me either. It's pretty amazing how quickly one can acclimate and become completely nuts!

Dream Big

2011-03-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

El: Did you wanna be a Mom when you growed up?

Me: Yep, I did.

El: I wanna be a princess when I grow up.

Me: How do you do that?

El: You just study, and that's all.

This feels Arctic, that IS Arctic

2011-02-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

What town is closer to Siberia, Greenland, Russia, Canada, and the North Pole than it is to our families? Kotzebue, Alaska, with a new and improved medical facility that is looking for another Physician Assistant. Who is interested in this position? Yes, my adventurous husband. He had a telephone interview this week and they want to fly us up there for a site visit.

What do I think of this possibility? I'm still trying to figure that out. Obviously, being so far from family is a down side. Some of you have promised you'd come visit if we moved to Alaska because you've always wanted to see it, but you may have been thinking of the Denali side of Alaska rather than the Arctic tundra side, which is Kotzebue's official location and climate. There are some tourist attractions there, like the NANA Museum of the Arctic, where they have great "exhibits that depict many facets of life in one of the harshest climates in the world." (Interesting side note, though--speaking of harsh climates, I just checked the very reliable weather.com, and it is currently 40 degrees warmer in Kotzebue than it is here! So I guess I can handle it. I still took the kids out to playgroup today, like it's completely normal to go out looking for fun in 1 degree weather.)

Another adventure of living in the arctic circle: on June 2, the sun rises in Kotzebue and doesn't set until August 8! That's 37 days! (Don't believe everything you read on the internet. I actually read that on some site that I now can't find, initially not mentally calculating that claim. Hmmmm. More reliable sources say 20 days of daylight, from June 11 to June 30.) That would be pretty cool. Wild, but cool. And I have never seen the Northern Lights. I'm pretty sure we'd be far enough north to enjoy them on a regular basis. I am a little intimidated by the fact that there are no roads to Kotzebue. In Kotzebue, yes. Into Kotzebue, no. Which makes relocation more than a bit of a challenge. We can ship everything, it is a port city. But how would we get our car there? If we get it there, will we be able to bring it back? We've been trying to keep up with our goal of going to the temple at least monthly up here in Montana, where it's a 4 hour drive. Can we afford to fly to the temple in Anchorage that often? Even half that often? Xander will love the fact that to go anywhere, we'd have to fly. He laments the fact that he hasn't been on a plane since before he can remember--a week before he turned 2, to be precise; once we had to pay for a plane ticket, we became a 100% road trip family. We love road trips. I would miss that freedom. Back to church stuff, they do have a branch in Kotzebue, which is reassuring. I'm sure we'd have plenty of chances to serve. And there's no better way of staying warm than that.

It would definitely be a new cultural experience. The population of Kotzebue is just over 3000, about 75% of which are Eskimos, "among whom subsistence activities are an integral part of the lifestyle," according to the Maniilaq Association (it's the Maniilaq Health Center that is interested in hiring Aaron). They also say that the big thing in the summer is setting up the North Tent City Fish Camp to dry and smoke the season's catch. That would be pretty cool to see, if I didn't happen to be allergic to fish. Will the natives think I'm some kind of freak of nature--allergic to fish?!

From a professional standpoint, they do have a team of Physicians and midlevels who are willing to train a new graduate. I'm sure he would get great experience and learn a ton. And in an area that under-served, loan repayment would be a shoo-in. He would have to travel by bush-plane to outlying Inupiaq villages 4 days a month to serve the satellite clinics, but he just sees that as part of the adventure. Plus, the pay sounds pretty good. Although, who knows what the cost of living will be like, since I imagine they have to import every food except fish (see above).

Aaron is wondering where I put my sense of adventure. I have been telling him for a couple of years that I am totally willing to love living in Alaska for a stint. That it would be a fun family adventure! And I thought I had been gearing myself up for extremely remote tundra, since I reasoned that the gorgeous parts of the state wouldn't be so medically under-served. Why does the definite possibility feel so much more daunting than the vague plans?

Beyond Cold

2011-02-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

We've been inside all day, which happens quite a bit around here. Elodie looked outside and saw that the snow had cleared up and the sun had come out. She decided she wanted to go outside to tromp through the snow. It is 9 degrees right now (and weather.com says it feels like 6 below, how do they calculate that anyways?). I didn't especially want to brave the cold, I mean, I'm not like my sister and her husband who live in Iowa and run around barefoot in the snow just for fun. :) But I couldn't just let my petite little girl get stuck in a snowbank somewhere, so we both bundled up and headed out. Lucky for Elodie, Hazel was napping. I stepped out in full gear--snow pants, coat, hat, gloves, neck-and-ears tube-thingy, the works--and immediately had cold eye balls. That's the only thing that was exposed. I figured Elodie wouldn't last long. "Aren't you cold, Elodie?" "No, I'm good." After a pretty extensive tromp up snow banks, under the deck, around the house, through the fluffy snow field, and under the car port to make beautiful snow angels, I made up an excuse about how I needed to check on Hazel (so I could warm up for a second). Still, Elodie insisted that she wasn't cold so she waited for me outside. Hazel was still asleep so I went back out with Elodie. Whoosh--cold eyeballs! After tromping up a snow bank and sliding down, I noticed that Elodie's cheeks had white circles with a ring of red around them. Ummm, are you sure you're not cold, Elodie? If she was, she was having too much fun to admit it. I told her I thought it was too cold for her cheeks to be safe and she wasn't not swayed. "How about we go inside and have a cup of hot chocolate?" That did the trick nicely. In the past, Elodie has not been one who is tough about the cold. But I guess she's a real Montanan now! I was impressed. And the red-rimmed white circles faded quickly, so I guess no harm done! Yikes!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-18T15:26:00.001-08:00

Our Valentine's Day tradition is cheese fondue for dinner and chocolate fondue for dessert. YUM!And I really think a family Valentine's dance oughtta become a tradition! Priceless!

It was my first Valentine's Day of having a kid with a school Valentine's party. (Oh, the memories of winning the Limbo contest at my 3rd grade Valentine's party! Why do I remember that?) I decided that the valentine exchange would be more meaningful if Xander made his personal. We kept it pretty simple with red, purple, and white paper, scissors, and tape. I asked Xander to write one or two nice things to each kid in his class. And he decided to draw a picture for each kid, too, because he loves to draw. Xander and Elodie had a lot of fun with the project, and I loved seeing the things he wrote! It gave me a glimpse into how my five-year-old perceives his friends. He chose who to write to first and marked off their names on the list.

I wasn't too surprised that he wrote to all the boys first (well, except for one because he was apparently having a hard time thinking of something nice to say to the token "troublemaker" kid--it was a great teaching moment). I think my favorite one said: "You are funy. You are nise and not meen."

But I was surprised about what he wrote to the first girl he picked: "I think you are prity." And to the next two girls? "You are byutifl." I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised--now that i think of it, I remember him telling his friend Marian at her 3rd birthday party a couple years ago that she looked beauuuuutiful in her dress. And he frequently tells me and Elodie that we look beautiful. What a sweetie he is! (Would he be embarrassed if he knew I was writing this? He is just starting to show signs of embarrassment about that kind of stuff. Oh well, some day after the embarrassment phase he'll get a kick out of this.)

One mom at library story time commented that she liked Xander's valentine to her son, which said, "You are cool. Thanks for being my friend." Her son put it up on his door. That just warmed my heart and made me commit to making this a Valentine's tradition, too! So you can write off Valentine's Day as a worthless, gushy, commercialized, pointless holiday if you want. But we enjoyed the celebration of love, friendship, and chocolate!

My Girls

2011-02-18T14:30:00.001-08:00

May I present my 4-year-old and 4-month-old girly girls. I think these pictures can speak for themselves.

Just Plain Four

2011-02-02T19:03:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun making this cake, even if it does have a lot in common with the tower in Pisa! When Elodie saw her cake this morning, I got just the reaction I'd hoped for: "It's BEAUTIFUL!" It's impossible to recreate the Elodie intonation in that phrase--I just love it! She is such a fun, sweet, spunky, imaginative, playful, smart, personality-filled little girl. But don't call her little. Or cute, because to her, cute implies little. She is now FOUR, after all. She's been saying she was 3 1/2 for so long that she tried to get away with saying she was now 4 1/2, but I set her straight. So when people asked how old she was today, she told them, "just plain four."

Elodie proclaimed today "the best birthday ever!" At breakfast, she declared herself the queen with Hazel as the princess. She told me I could be the servant and Dad and Xander could be the guards. Her wish was pretty much my command today. She ate Nutella for breakfast, watched Eloise, Veggie Tales, AND Frog Princess, wouldn't let us leave the house without a birthday girl crown with the right number and placement of jewels, had lunch at the restaurant of her choice (I tried to convince her to go for Chinese, but she liked the sound of "Sunny's"), visited Dad's clinic where she got plenty of birthday girl attention wearing her crown, got ice cream at McDonalds, and finally sat down to her birthday dinner of butterfly pasta with pink sauce and cheesy broccoli and cauliflower. With the strawberry something juice of her choice. And then there was her requested castle cake, of course, followed by numerous "beautiful!" presents. With her aunt and cousin over to make it a real celebration, she couldn't have asked for more. She told me last week, "On my birthday, I get to make all the decisions." Seemed fair to me. I just hope she steps gracefully down from her throne tomorrow!

Whiteout

2011-01-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

If you think Montana's No Fun, you haven't tried Montana's Snow Fun!

Our first weekend here, we went sledding with Uncle Bill, Chelsea, and Jordan. Aunt Melody was nice enough to take baby duty so I could get in on the fun, too. OK, Uncle Bill didn't actually sled per se, but he did drag us around for a pretty wild ride behind his 4-wheeler (to avoid the trudge-up-the-hill piece of sledding--we didn't want to risk getting any exercise).

Xander and Elodie declared it the most fun EVER. (They do that a lot. They're really good at living in the moment.) Aaron and I couldn't get enough of their hysterical laughter as Uncle Bill towed them around and around the loop. It was priceless.

Aaron has been enjoying the luxury of not working on Saturdays. (It's been YEARS since he actually had real weekends. Having to be at work at 6:30 Saturday mornings kinda put a damper on Friday night. But no more.) Xander's been enjoying it, too. A couple weeks ago in family counsel, Xander informed us that one thing we could do to make our family better was for Dad to build a snow fort with him on Saturday. He looked forward to it all week. And this tunnel-like fort with its two entrances did not disappoint. (Although he was a little disappointed today when he discovered that the wind had completely erased their fort. I tell you what, the wind sure does blow up here!)

Xander has gotten to be a pro at putting on his snow gear--he does it 5 times a day! Wearing full snow gear on the bus and at recess is a must.
Elodie doesn't venture out as much as her fearless brother who seems to not even notice the cold. She's pretty happy to hang out with me and Hazel where it's warm.
But today, it was actually above freezing! Elodie joined Xander outside when the bus dropped him off and they had fun sliding down the snow drifts and just tromping around in the deep stuff.
I generally prefer to stay inside and enjoy the views. This is what we see through the huge windows by the kitchen table--aahhhh, the tranquil life.
I must say I am impressed with how well the county maintains our dirt road. I see the trucks out there plowing almost daily. And they have some serious snow plows out here! They look nothing like the ones you see on the streets of Denver.

Winter is definitely winter up here and we are loving it!

I love it here!

2011-01-28T19:58:00.000-08:00

This is where we are so blessed to live right now.We walked into the house, having just left "the room," and I saw this beautiful, spacious, open kitchen and great room--WOW!
My favorite past time is keeping myself warm by cooking and baking the day away right here in this beautiful kitchen. I think I've already used over 15 pounds of flour. I wish I could say that I've baked more cookies, brownies, muffins, and breads than we can eat. But it seems we have no problem with the eating it part.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to our extremely generous nephew! I don't know if we'll ever be able to repay him for this, but it sure inspires us to "pay it forward!" Or as it says in one of my favorite hymns, "Because I have been given much, I too must give."

When in Montana, eat like a Montanan

2011-01-19T12:24:00.000-08:00

What's for dinner? In the last week or so, we've had:

Pheasant Noodle Soup

Elk Pot Pie

Stromboli with Elk Italian Sausage

Roast Beast and Gravy with Mashed Potatoes

Chili con Wild Carne

Minestrone with Elk Garlic Sausage

Pepper-Cheese Elk Steak Sandwiches

Feeling adventurous? Drop in anytime for dinner. We've got Pheasant Enchiladas and Cabbage Casserole with Elk Meatballs coming up on the menu!

Those of you who know my vegetarian tendencies may be shocked. But those of you who know my frugal tendencies won't. Aaron's brother who lives up here is the Great White Hunter; he got a HUGE elk this season and told us we were welcome to as much as we could eat. Thanks, Bill! When you're trying to keep your grocery budget down in a small town where groceries are pricier, you can't beat free! And don't knock it 'til you try it--it's all gotten rave reviews from this crowd!

Alexander the Academically Adaptable

2011-01-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

Xander is now attending the third public school of his short academic career. He started out at Yale Elementary School with Ms. Parker. She was a wonderful teacher—she was great at challenging Xander while still letting him just be a kid.

His reading and math buddy, Brenner, had become his best buddy and Xander was sad to leave.

And I was sad to no longer be able to say proudly that I had a son attending Yale (not to mention a son on a mission--don't I sound old?). J I also loved the diversity in his class, where no one seemed to be a minority or majority.

But Melayna’s neighborhood school offered something tantalizing that Aurora public had just gotten rid of: half-day kindergarten. I let Xander choose. “Should I stay or should I go now?” After impressing his parents by putting the question to the Lord in a very mature prayer, he chose Timberline Elementary. He quickly made a new best buddy, Matthew, who was both a school and a church friend, making him doubly cool. Mrs. Gedde was great at making school fun. They didn’t have time for “Specials” since they were only half day, but she more than made up for it with lots of fun kindergarten projects like painting and cutting and pasting. You know how Xander loves his projects! With Thanksgiving and Christmas in there, Xander only went to Timberline for 4 ½ weeks.

Then it was on to Montana.

E: Can I type my name? PLEEEEEEEASE?!

M: OK, go ahead.

Elodie

E: Mom, there’s tons of Xanders on there! Why does it say that?

M: Because I’m writing about Xander’s school.

E: Oh. Can I type my name again? It’ll be so exciting!

M: I guess.

elodie

E: Now can you put a red line on there?

(I do that by pushing the space bar—it’s underlined in red because spell check thinks I spelled it wrong. Xander too. That’s probably what made all the Xanders stand out to her in here.)

E: Write something about me, not just Xander.

M: What do you want me to write about you?

E: Say, “Elodie stays home with Hazel. And that she loves Hazel.”

(Oh yeah, that's why I usually blog after the kids are in bed!)

OK, back to Montana. Elodie’s letting me type again while she does my hair. On Tuesday we went to the Sidney District Administration office, which is just the front office of Central Elementary School in Sidney. They told us that we’re in Fairview DISTRICT, not in Sidney District. I was shocked that little Fairview (population about 800, I think) has it’s own school district. But Sidney said they’d love to have us come there, and that it really didn’t matter to them if we were outside their boundaries, they just wouldn’t be able to send a bus to our door like they would if we were in district. But they really wanted to have us, so they said they’d try to work something out for us transportation-wise and give us a call back. Well, we thought the convenience of a school bus coming right to our house sounded pretty good, and if we were supposed to be in Fairview, why not check it out and make our choice? So we headed over to Fairview School. The whole Fairview DISTRICT is just one school, K-12, so the admissions are just taken care of at the school office there. After trying to locate our country road on a map, Fairview told us that we were in Sidney District, but that they’d love to have us at Fairview. We felt like Xander was being recruited! When we told them that Sidney insisted we were in Fairview Schools, they took another look and said, “Well, maybe you are then.” I asked if they had a bus that went out that far, and they said they’d just add us to Paul’s route. (In the city, they tell you that you’ll be on Bus #708. In the country, they say, “Oh, that’s Paul’s bus!”) Aaron and I looked at each other and decided right there to just go with Fairview. I mean, hey, Aaron went to that very school from Kindergarten to 12^th grade! You can’t compete with that kind of nostalgia. Sorry, Sidney. It was quite nostalgic for him to be back. Aaron even ran into his old 5^th grade teacher. And one of his classmates that he’d gone to school with his whole life was the secretary who was taking care of everything for us. “Xander will start tomorrow, right?” I reminded her that I didn’t have Xander’s birth certificate or immunization record with me, and I wasn’t sure how immediately his last school would fax his records. They didn’t care at all about silly little details like that. If we said that his name was Xander and that he was 5 years old, that was good enough for them. They’d take care of the rest. The lack of bureaucracy was refreshing! (It took three trips to the Cherry Creek Schools Admissions Office, one with Melayna accompanying me in person, multiple proof of address documents, a trip to my bank, and a stack of paperwork to get Xander registered at Timberline!) Before we knew it the whole family was on a tour of the school, meeting his new teacher, Mrs. Holst, and checking out the huge mountain of snow on the playground. (Where they have recess as long as it’s 0 degrees or above. So you’d better wear your full snow suit to school every day because chances are, you’re going outside! In Colorado, they have indoor recess if it’s below 20 degrees. And they just watch a movie. Out here, they get to run around in the “old gym” when it’s indoor recess. I love it! Guess what? Xander has already had indoor recess twice, meaning the high those days didn’t even reach zero. Yikes!)

Later that evening when we were at Bill and Melody’s house celebrating Dexter’s birthday, we were telling them that Xander would be starting at Fairview school the next day. Their youngest son, Jordan, still goes there. He’s the star of the varsity football team. And both Jordan and Chelsea remembered Paul well--he’d been their bus driver for years. This Paul fellow was supposed to be giving us a call to let us know when he’d be by to get Xander in the morning, but we hadn’t heard from him yet. Aaron’s cell phone reception is pretty patchy out here, so we weren’t sure if we’d actually get that call. Bill thought we oughtta just call him right up. Before we knew it, Chelsea had the phone book out and was on the phone telling Paul that her little cousin was now on his bus route. After Bill described to him just how far out we live, Paul said he’d be there around 7:05. Melody suggested that I ride the bus with Xander on his first day. That never would have occurred to me—I don’t think they let moms do that in the city. It sounded like a great idea to Xander, so I climbed aboard Wednesday morning. Xander is the first one on the bus. By far. This Paul definitely had to go out of his way to get us. And guess what we saw right as we were driving back down our country road to the Highway? A Sidney School Bus. Yep, we’re definitely supposed to be in Sidney District, but Paul didn’t seem to care and we think it’s fun that Xander is going to Dad’s old school, so too late now! After about 15 or 20 minutes, a couple of high school girls got on. The sun was just coming up, and the drive was really quite beautiful. On one road, there were six deer running down the road, right in front of the bus. Paul slowed way down and followed them until they finally leapt off of the road into the trees. We wound around some more and a few chatty elementary school girls got on, filling me in on all of the goings on at Fairview School. This little first-grader told me impressively, “There are TWO kindergarten classes!” Her tone of voice indicated that this was quite a novelty at Fairview school—having two teachers in the same grade! She said there’s only one first grade teacher, and there are 16 kids in her class. There are 14 in each of the kindergarten classes. Sounds like quite a boom in comparison! As we were chatting, we felt the bus slip and slide a bit. Paul had gone a couple miles down this particular snow-packed dirt road, and its condition was getting worse. “I’m not sure if I can get through this road today. I’m going to go check it out.” So Paul climbed off of the bus and walked out ahead down the road a hundred yards or so to the crest of the hill. When he got back on the bus, he declared that he couldn’t make it, but he also had nowhere to turn around right there. So he began backing up. He backed down the road for a mile or so before he got to an oil well where an area big enough for a bus to turn around was cleared. Then he got on his CB to tell the school that he couldn’t make it to these kids and would they please call them to let them know. Riding the bus was quite an adventure, definitely a worthwhile country experience! I’m so glad Melody thought of it! It’s kind of a long bus ride for him, about 50 minutes each way, but I guess that’s just part of the experience.

When he got home from school that first day, he told us he’d already made some friends. I’m so grateful that he’s an adaptable guy! Adjusting has been no big deal to him. (He was even invited to a birthday party at the Sidney gymnastics center that first week. People here are SO NICE. We all had a great time at the party—the kid’s mom let Elodie stay, so I hung out there, too, and got to meet the moms of Xander’s classmates.) He loves Mrs. Holst and she’s been great at trying to find just the right reading level to stretch Xander without discouraging him. They have Specials twice a day and three recesses, as well as daily snack time and resting time on mats a couple times a week. It is very kindergarteny and fun and Xander says school was, “Great!” everyday. His only complaint? “I wish school was half day.” Not that he doesn’t like it while he’s at school, he just loves having blocks of time to play with his Legos and do as he pleases. School is once again cramping his style. J His bus ride is so long that he doesn’t get home until just after 4:00. Plus, he has to wake up way earlier than before (6:30 instead of 7:30 or 8:00—Yale didn’t start until 9:35) so after dinner it’s pretty much right into the bedtime routine. He really only has an hour of Lego time. Sorry, bud, those leisurely preschool days are behind you! Although when we go back to Colorado in May for Aaron's two weeks of wrap-up seminars and graduation, I don't think it's worth it to re-register Xander in school there for the last few weeks of school. So he'll get to knock off early and enjoy an extra long summer before embarking on his next elementary school adventure who knows where!

Unsettled

2011-01-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

For almost 4 years, we were quite settled. We lived in our own house and had great friends, nice neighbors, and a terrific ward.

In the summer we started looking ahead to Aaron’s graduation in May 2011 and the relocation that would entail. We decided to try to sell our house. In this market, we figured we’d need it to have some time on the market. As my sisters helped us pack up clutter and stage our house, things began to feel a smidge less settled. The slide, basketball hoop, play kitchen, and toy basket had to vanish from the family room. When the kids were looking for their toys, they started to ask accusingly, “Is it in storage or did you sell it?” A new baby was on her way, yet we were disassembling the crib and changing table and tucking the baby tub, pack ’n’ play, and all things baby into the crawl space. Getting unready for a new baby was a bit unsettling, going completely against any nesting instinct.

Well, the house didn’t sell, apparently because we have power lines behind it. (So sorry, we’ll have those moved for you.) Just before Halloween, some friends from our ward called to see if we’d be willing to rent the house instead. We said that we didn’t really want to be landlords. Then we prayed about it and felt like the opportunity was a blessing. So we called them back and said, “only kidding, we’d love to rent it to your friends who want to move in tomorrow! But can you give us a week?” So we madly got a storage unit and began shoving heaps of stuff into it in a rather hurried and harried way. We sold and gave away nearly all of our furniture. I needed it to go fast so I listed it for super cheap on Craigslist. Only minutes after I clicked “Post” I had a phone call, and less than an hour later, a lady had come and cleaned out our entire family room and living room. We had only made the decision to move out a day before and I was already standing in a completely empty room. That’s when it finally sunk in: we were actually moving. Leaving our friends and family behind. Leaving our house. It was our first house, and we (OK, mostly Aaron) had worked so hard to really make it ours! I realized how much I was going to miss it! What a great 4 years we’d enjoyed there. I stood in our barren front room and just started to cry.

Before I knew it, our week was over and we were moving in to Melayna’s unfinished basement. Living with Melayna was pretty much a nonstop party. The only disadvantage was sleep deprivation, really. It was great to spend the entire Christmas season with her and Katy. You might think that November 6 isn’t the Christmas season yet, but at Melayna’s house, it’s in full swing! We had the tree up and decorated before we’d even been there a week! We pretty much took over her house; she is so generous and made us feel as at home as we could possibly be. For the first couple weeks, we kept going to our old ward that I LOVE because I was the primary chorister and the Primary Program was November 21. Then we were in Texas for Church the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and at my parents’ ward the day after Christmas to hear Ashley play the cello, so we only popped in to Melayna’s ward for 3 Sundays. I felt like a visitor even though we really were official, records and all. All of this gave us a bit of a transient, unsettled feeling. Not to mention the living-with-your-storage feeling we had going on down in that basement! We officially have too much stuff!

Our time with Melayna flew by. Before we knew it, it was time to head north to Montana for Aaron’s 4-month rural rotation. Even as we drove out New Year’s Day, we still didn’t quite know where we were going to be living up here. The hospital had told us they had a free apartment available to us. Well free sounded pretty good, so we were planning on making it work, even though they warned us that it was small. An email a week before we were heading out provided some details that made me wonder if it was so doable. They had called it a "small apartment," but from the description, I could tell it was really just a hotel room. No bedroom, no kitchen. I began to wonder, “How can I live like that with 3 kids through a Montana winter? How will I feed my family on a daily basis? My only real hobby is cooking. What will I do all the time without a kitchen?” It sounded crazy and my family tried to convince me to just stay in Colorado and let Aaron have the Montana adventure by himself. But back in November, we had fasted and prayed about our Montana living situation, and as we continued to pray about it, I felt peace. I knew it would work out, even if I didn’t yet know how. I felt reassured that we wouldn’t all have to squish into “the room” for the entire 4 months. So off we went. We (OK, Aaron) stuffed everything we could fit into the back of the Excursion and drove north. It was 10:30 at night and we were still a couple hours from Sidney (Montana, not Australia), so we decided to stop at a lovely EconoLodge in Miles City. Just after we’d gotten the kids settled into their beds, Aaron got a text from his nephew (the one who lives in Sidney but spends his winters in California with his bees) saying that the random South African dude who was living in his house wasn’t coming back, so his house was available and we were welcome to use it for the winter. We felt so completely grateful that we couldn’t (and still can’t) quite express it. Isn’t having the support of a loving extended family the best? We love our family!

Sunday we went to Church in Miles City, Montana, where we were visitors once again. As were hanging up our coats, I heard someone call out exuberantly, “Aaron Dahle!” It was a guy Aaron had grown up with in the Sidney ward. He and his wife invited us over for dinner after Church and made us feel right at home. Aaron felt especially at home to be back in Montana where the men think like he does. Survival! I guess you can take a man out of Montana but you can’t take Montana out of a man.

After a lovely afternoon with them, we made the rest of the drive to Sidney. We decided to stay the night in “the room.” It was everything we were afraid it would be. One room with a full-sized bed, a recliner, a small microwave, a fridge the size of an average microwave, and a small bathroom with a standing shower. We used the little microwave to heat up some canned soup we'd gotten Saturday night in preparation for Sunday. We may or may not have forgotten spoons in that preparation.

I sat on the bed at 8:30 silently reading while the kids were supposed to be falling asleep. The bedside lamp seemed to be keeping the kids awake. So I tried reading with a flashlight. Then Hazel woke up just as the kids were finally drifting off. I tried to quiet her before the kids woke up, but it didn’t work. So I retucked them in bed before feeding Hazel in the dark, since my balancing-a-flashlight-to-allow-me-to-keep-reading-while-nursing skills are not quite up to par. As I sat in the dark room, I felt so relieved to know that I didn't have to try to cheerfully make this set up work for the five us us all winter!

We moved into Christopher’s house on Monday morning and have settled in quite nicely. When we walked in and saw the beautiful, spacious kitchen connected to a big open great room, I felt like it would be pretty easy to feel at home here! What could be better than baking the frigid winter away in a newly remodeled kitchen?

We are only going to be here for four months, and we have no idea where we’re going after May, but somehow, we’re feeling more settled than we have in a long time.

Merry Christmas to me!

2010-12-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

Hazel gave me my favorite Christmas present of the year: she truly slept through the night for the first time! On Christmas Eve I fed her at 8:30ish while I was muddling through "The Night Before Christmas" for the children who were nestled all snug in the beds. (Once upon a time I had that memorized. Hmmm.) Christmas morning, Hazel didn't wake me up until 5:45! If only I had gone to bed when she did I would have felt like a million bucks! (But thanks to Elder Mazzagardi, I am working on my night owl tendencies and someday soon I'll arise from my bed at 5:45 and feel my body and mind invigorated. It can be done!) As a bonus, Hazel was still tired after I fed her, so I tucked her back in bed and slept some more until Aaron woke me up at 7:45, declaring that he was too excited to sleep. For the record, Xander and Elodie slept just fine for another half hour! I guess Aaron is still a kid at heart--I think his favorite Christmas present was the two-pack of Nerf guns Xander got for "him." I love my boys!

Back to Hazel. It seems the sleeping through the night gift wasn't a fluke! She's done it every night since then! As Babywise calls it, we got the "gift of nighttime sleep." Sunday night I somehow got to bed early (for me, 11:00 is early) and enjoyed an unbelievable 8 hours in a row. Wow, it was beautiful!

Speaking of beautiful, my kids are, but we're a bit unsettled now and I can't find my camera cord, so hang tight for pictures.

The Whole Story

2010-10-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

If the words contractions and dilated make you squeamish, then this is not the post for you. (In other words, "little" brothers and other like-minded souls, consider yourselves warned!)

So really this story begins over five years ago, when I was getting some great birthing advice from one of my big sisters, Meredith. She had already been among the women I trust who recommended the HypnoBirthing class (although she'd never taken it since there were no instructors in her area), and then just a day or two before Xander was born, we were chatting and she was giving me even more excellent advice based on the recent natural birth of her second child. It was all great, from recommending a mirror to motivate to relaxing during contractions with a hot shower, but I think the best bit of wisdom she imparted was to wait as long as possible to go to the hospital because it makes labor seem a whole lot shorter and easier when you're not confined by all the, well, hospitalness. So we've done that each time, and have only been at the hospital for a couple hours when each baby was born. Well, we just took that "wait as long as possible to go to the hospital" bit to a new level this time, and boy was it an adventure!

Three weeks ago, it was a get-things-done kind of Tuesday. Aaron had the day off and was madly logging everything from his September rotation into Typhon before the deadline. I went to Xander's school to volunteer in his class, as usual on Tuesdays. While IO ws there, his teacher asked me if I had the sense that it was going to be soon, and I said, "Yeah, kinda, but I'm not too sure." Pretty noncommittal. When I got home, I convinced Aaron to head into the crawl space to pull out the stuff I needed to pack my hospital bag. I decided to pack the overnight bags for the kids while I was at it, not because I thought I was in labor (though I was having the occasional contration like I had been for a few weeks), but just because I was 39 1/2 weeks along and it seemed like it was high time. We had some lunch and I read Elodie her stories before her quiet time/nap. By mid afternoon, my contractions were getting a bit more frequent and regular, but they were still so mild, I didn't really think too much of them. But I did decide that just in case it turned into the real thing, it would be good to get the house clean in case we had a showing while we were in the hospital. As I was vacuuming, I occasionally had to pause for a contraction to breathe deeply, but they were still pretty mild. Aaron noticed and glanced up from his computer screen to give me some soothing words of hypnobirthing encouragement. We were starting to wonder if this might be the day, but "who knows?" we both thought. The mild contractions were coming probably around every 5 minutes, but I was still feeling good so I went about my normal activities and drove to pick up Xander from school to take him to music class. There was no parking at his school parking lot, so I had to park at the park parking lot down the street and walk on over, having mild contractions along the way. I saw Xander's teacher again, and she told me that since I was a bit late, she had been wondering aloud with Xander if maybe I was in the hospital having the baby. I assured her that it was just the lack of parking and slow pregnant waddle that made me late. I dropped Xander and his friend off at music class and went home to make some saucy edamame stir-fry over brown rice for dinner. Yeah, I had contracitons during dinner, but they were mild enough that I still had an appetite. As we were reading family scriptures before bed, the contractions were getting a bit more substantial. Aaron noticed and asked the kids to give me a break because I was doing the hard work of getting the baby to come out. But Aaron had taken over the job of getting the house clean, so I assured him that I could still take care of story time. I just had to make a deal with Xander that if I tapped him on the shoulder, it meant he needed to read that page, whether it was his turn or my turn. He read way more than half of the stories that night as I breathed through the more-freqent contractions. We told the kids that if they woke up in the morning and Grandma was there instead of us, they would know that the baby had come. But the contractions were still so mild, I figured it probably wouldn't turn into the real thing until the morning. I was so tired. I really just wanted to sleep. So I had my local PA student check me (he had his OB/Gyn rotation in August) and he said I was barely dilated. The last thing I wanted was to go to the hospital too early, so I decided to see if I could just sleep through these contractions so I'd have the energy for the big event the next morning. I was pretty sure at that point that these contrations were going somewhere, I just didn't know how soon. I sat in bed and read my scriptures like usual before bed. My dad called at around 9:30 to have me look up a phone number for him, so I went downstairs and got what he needed. When I got off the phone, I asked Aaron if he could tell that I'd had a couple of contractions while I was talking to my dad. When Aaron said he couldn't tell, I figured that if they were mild enough to talk through wihtout anyone noticing, going to the hosspital was a long way off. Aaron finished the rest of the house cleaning and started to fold laundry while I read The Mockingjay to him as we'd previously planned, but we hadn't planned on the frequent deep breathing breaks, so that didn't last too long. When he was ALMOST done folding the laundry, he noticed that I needed his undivided attention, and sat by me to begin the real HypnoBirthing. I got all super comfy in my bed and he did the full relaxation thing with reassurances and encouragement through the contractions. I really got into the zone and murmured to him that if he ever thought it was time for us to go to the hospital, I'd just leave that decision up to him because I really didn't know and just wanted to stay there and sleep. Well, the contractions had gotten intense enough that I wasn't able to sleep through them, even though I was super relaxed. Aaron is amazing and was totally in tune with me. Around 11:00, he said he thought we should head to the hospital. I remember thinking, "That's fine. We'll probably be there longer than we have with any of the other births, but that's fine, whatever." So Aaron called my mom and she was there in about 20 minutes. We gathered our stuff up and headed out. We realized we'd forgotten my purse, which I really wanted sicne it had the phone number of the midwife I like best and she had told me I could call her to come in even if she wasn't the one on call because she is super nice like that. So we went back home and got it. My mom said she looked at the clock as we left for the second time and it was 11:40. I must admit that the ride to the hospital was anything but comfortable. It was getting pretty difficult to relax while sitting up and bumping around, but Aaron kept his soothing voice turned up to high and did a pretty good job of keeping me in the zone. But when we got to the hospital and the security guard said he wasn't allowed to just leave the car in the closed valet parking area, but that he had to park while some dude from the ER wheeled me up to the 4th floor, I was not too calm about it. In fact, I felt pretty agitated. Aaron assured me that he'd hurry, and off we went. I got to 4th floor triage right at midnight and tried to answer the nurse's questions between contractions, but that's what Aaron is for, and he wasn't up there yet. I started signing release forms and what not when Aaron arrived impressively fast and took over that process. I asked them if I could please just skip triage and get settled in a delivery room, but they kinda laughed it off and said they'd be quick. I think at that point my body knew that this baby was coming soon, but my mind hadn't quite wrapped itself around that so I wasn't able to put it into words and be super convincing. I was too in the zone for things like that. They made me switch wheelchairs so the ER guy could have his back, and then they finally took me into a triage room. The nurse asked me the standard question, "How would you rate your pain?" I remember hearing someone say rather forcefully, "Don't say that word!" Aaron tells me that I was the one who said that, and that it sounded a bit rude. Sorry, like I said, I was in the birthing zone. Aaron had to smooth things over with the nurse and explain that we do HypnoBirthing and we avoid the term, "pain." Then the nurse asked me to get up on the bed. I ignored her request while I breathed through a contraction and then I looked at that narrow little bed and again asked if I could please just go straight to a delivery room. No deal. I told them about how weird I was feeling. Like really weird. My left eye was twitching and my left hand was numb and crazy tingly. I didn't know what was wrong with me! (Looking back, I think that was my body's response to being ready to push but not in a position to do so. Holding that baby in was making my eye and hand completely spazz out. That's my theory.) And I felt like I really had to go to the bathroom, like a number 2. (That's another helpful thing Meredith told me about back before Xander was born. How right she was.) The nurse asked me if I wanted to step into the bathroom before I climbed into the bed, but I told her I'd better not. (I remembered that feeling with Xander's delievery, but that nurse was onto me and said it might be the baby's head and didn't let me go to the bathroom before checking me again. At which point I was complete.) I guess I didn't seem like a woman who was in the final stages of labor, because it didn't seem to occur to this nurse that the bathroom might not be the place for me! Anyhow, Aaron helped me up onto the bed and I lay on my side, which was gratefully way more comforable than sitting upright in the wheelchair. The nurse seemed in no hurry to actually check me, and was just getting the bands for the monitors around my giant belly and calling up to the midwife to come check me. Apparently the midwife was doing something and would be down in a couple minutes. I tried to hurry things along and got the nurse to just check me herself instead of waiting for the midwife. She said that I was fully dilated with a bulging water sac. To which I replied that I felt like I wanted to push. She said something that I think no nurse, midwife, or doctor should ever say to a woman in labor, "Don't push yet!" Lucky for me, I have an Aaron, who said, "You can push if you want to." I heard the nurse open the door and shout into the hallway, "I need some help in here, we're having a baby!" I pushed, and my water broke. The nurse called out, "We have mec!" Aaron says that my water didn't just break, it exploded, hitting the opposite wall (which wasn't that far away since triage rooms are tiny), splashing his jeans, the nurse, my new purse that my friends gave me for my birthday, my shorts on the counter, everything. With greenish meconium-laced amniotic fluid. Aaron says he and the nurse looked at each other, stunned, for just a moment before getting back to business. I pushed again and the baby's head crowned. I looked at Aaron and saw that he was still wearing the backpack. We had just gotten there, how was I already pushing? It was surreal. Another push, and her head was out. It was so fast I hardly felt it. How can you not feel a head coming out? Unreal. Fourth push, her body slid out. I heard her screaming and saw her tiny little body and but still couldn't quite beleive it. What, the baby is here already?!? How can that be? We just got here! It was 12:13. Only 13 minutes after we got to the 4th floor. Triage rooms are not fully equipped for birthing. They don't have warmed baby blankets and baby warmers for one thing, so they handed our little baby girl to me while she was still wet so I could warm her with skin-to-skin contact. I was still wearing the shirt I came to the hosptial in, so I yanked that off as they handed her to me. She was wet and squirmy and screaming and totally amazing. Some baby-care nurses came in and took her from me to finish drying her off and warming her up, and I could her her scremaing, but still I kept asking, "Is she OK? Is she healthy?" oh, it was such a relief to hear her cry and and to hear the nurses' affirmations that she was totally healthy! WOW! Aaron said it was the most exciting birth he's ever seen, with the explosive "shrom" and the speed and intensity of it all. The triage nurse got to catch the baby. The on-floor resident came in just after the baby arrrived, and the midwife made it down a few minutes after that. She took care of delivering the placenta , so she didn't totally miss out on the action.

I got back into a wheelchair, they handed me our sweet little girl, and we headed up to get settled in a recovery room. It was so fun to call my mom while it was still 12 something and tell her the news. Crazy that we were saying good-bye to her the second time just 33 minutes before Hazel arrived! Let me tell you, folks, HypnoBirthing works. Maybe a little too well!

(Whoa, that was long! Well, I said it was the whole story, right? Now I'm curious. How many of you actually made it to the end of my overly-detailed story? Comment if you're reading this so I can satisfy my curiosity!)

Baby Girl Bliss

2010-10-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

Now doesn't this look like a happy bunch? We are all so completely overjoyed at the speedy arrival of our newest little daughter. Hazel Gwendolyn Dahle was born at 12:13 am on October 6, just 13 minutes after our arrival at the hospital! I asked the triage nurses if I could please skip the triage part and just get settled in a delivery room right away, but they assured me that they'd be fast and led me into a triage room anyways. Well, Hazel was faster, so the triage nurse got to do the midwife's job that night! It was quite an adventure! Aaron says that it's the most exciting birth he's ever seen, and he's seen more births than your average dad. For me, the best part was hearing her nice healthy SCREAM right when she came out. Ahhhh, music to my ears. Well, I'm hearing that music again right now, so I'll sign off!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

2010-09-23T20:38:00.001-07:00

We had a lovely time making and eating an apple pie together to celebrate the first day of fall. It was extra fun to use apples that we'd collected from Grandpa's apple tree and the nifty Pampered Chef peeler-corer-slicer that Aaron scored at the thrift store this week. Xander and Elodie loved cranking the handle and watching it work its magic. And eating the long curliques of apple skin was pretty fun, too. Then we got to enjoy the smell of baking pie with a nice fresh fall breeze coming in the windows. Warm apple pie ala mode with caramel sauce--it was a great way to ring in a new season!

Xander has gotten pretty excited over seeing little patches of yellow leaves in the trees, and I have gotten pretty excited over the occasional nip in the air. But when I announced that today was the first official day of fall, it was Elodie who reminded me of the best part about this fall--a new baby! I've been telling her that the baby is going to come in the fall, around Mom's birthday. When I told her it was fall, she made the connection right away. So we are especially glad to welcome a new season and anticipate the nearness of welcoming a new little girl into our family!

A Mom's Best Friend

2010-08-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

One summer morning as the kids were getting dressed, I heard some commotion coming from upstairs so I headed up to find out what was going on.

I saw Xander first, who informed me, without waiting to be asked, "Elodie is immodest!" Sure enough, when I followed the ensuing screams of defiance to Elodie's bedroom, I saw her in her princess sundress with no shirt underneath. Immediately, I remembered an article in a recent Friend magazine called "Modest at Any Age" and asked Elodie if she wanted to come downstairs and read a story with me. This was obviously not what she was expecting me to say to her. Her defiance left, and she came with me willingly. I had recently read the story to her, so we just looked at the picture and talked about the story together. Then I turned to the Modesty Checklist that followed. I explained to her that the prophets have taught us how we can be modest to show that we respect the bodies Heavenly Father gave us. We went through each point to check if what she was wearing was modest. Does it cover your shoulders? No. Does it cover your stomach? Yes. Does it come down to your knees? Yes. Is the neckline high enough? No. And down through the list. When we got to the end, I asked her what she wanted to do. Without hesitation, she said, "Put a shirt on underneath so I can be modest." Elodie is not the type who easily takes suggestions from me regarding clothes (or many other things--she's more the strong-willed type than the compliant type). But with the help of my Friend, she was able to see the decision objectively and make her own decision. Here she is after successfully making that difficult decision for herself.

I was so grateful for that resource and for the focus on standards and absolutes in this ambiguous world. Many of you reading this post may think that it really doesn't matter how "modestly" an innocent little 3-year-old dresses. It's irrelevant because she's just a little girl! And perhaps that's true. I wore tank tops and short shorts to keep cool in the summer when I was a little kid, and I turned out just fine. But as I had kids, I started wondering, "at what age does it start mattering that my daughter dresses modestly and understands what it means to respect herself and her body?" (Or son, of course, but let's face it, this world prizes immodest dress in women way more than in men.) I thought about how I perceived modesty as a teenager. I thought that I dressed modestly because my clothes were more modest than everybody else at school. Sure, I wore sleeveless shirts, but I didn't wear strappy tank tops like so many did. No, my skirts didn't always come quite to the knee, but they were so long compared to the booty shorts most girls wore! I subscribed to relative modesty. It wasn't until I hit the clearcut standards of the BYU honor code that I reshaped my thinking about modesty. And when I did, I was converted to it and could hardly believe how recently I had seen the matter so differently. When I was preparing for a mission and got to go to the temple, I was grateful that I was already converted to the standards of modesty that temple worthiness entails.

And so I've discussed this modesty issue with my sisters and my friends and even my mom, and we do have different views on it. But as I look at the options, I can't imagine it being any easier to wait to teach my children the standards of modesty. When will she be more receptive than when she is 2 or 3 years old? Will it be easier to teach her the standards of modesty when she develops curves and the boys are flocking and Mom and Dad realize that her dress is sending the wrong message? Or when she is packing for BYU and we tell her that most of her wardrobe won't work? Or when she is about to make sacred covenants in the temple in preparation for a mission or marriage? I just can't imagine it being easier to let it go when they're young and then expect it at some indeterminable future point. So I decided from the time I had my first baby that tank tops were out. That the adorable sleeveless dresses would look just as adorable with a shirt underneath. That shorts, skirts, and dresses had been officially grown out of when they no longer reach the knees. It just seemed easier to me to be clearcut from the beginning.

Then I saw this story in the Friend, "Modest at Any Age," validating my decision. I felt grateful for the increased focus on standards in this relative world. Maybe it didn't really matter back when I was a kid, but I get the sense that it does now. As the world gets fuzzier and fuzzier, we need to get clearer and clearer. These are principles that can best be taught in the home, by example, by consistent adherence, by clear expectations, and by direct instruction with the help of great resources like The Friend and For the Strength of Youth.

This simple experience with Elodie gave me a great sense of confidence and reassurance that as a Mom, I have all of the support I need to teach my children correct principles and let them govern themselves. What a great feeling!

Top Ten Ways to Tell that Xander is Growing Up

2010-08-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

#10 Xander can tie his own shoes.

The school shoes we got for him have laces. I told him we could get them if he would work on learning to tie his own shoes. So I've been practicing with him. But then Dad taught him the "bunny ear" method, and he did it for the first time Sunday before Church. Wow, that's independence.

#9 "I can read myself a bedtime story; isn't that awesome?"

This is what Xander said to me when he was supposed to be getting PJs on and brushing his teeth and I was trying hurry him up. I told him at his current pace, we may not have time for a bedtime story, and this was his reply. My hurry tactic may be ruined, but it is awesome to have a reader!

#8 Xander can send a text message.

Well, with a little help from Aunt Melayna. She let him text a little birthday wish to Aunt Rachael, who assures us that she was able to decipher his spelling just fine.

#7 Xander can build his Lego helicopter by following the instruction book--all 30-some steps.

Can I just say that I LOVE the inventors of Legos? One summer day, before this school routine started, Xander played Legos ALL morning--for 4 hours straight. After lunch, swimming, and some down time with a movie, he was back to the Legos for a couple more hours. Now THAT is a good toy.

#6 Xander can make up jokes that have a punchline to "get." (Sometimes. He does still find nonsense and bathroom humor hilarious. Although, come to think of it, so do my brothers.)

I pointed out a pick-up truck that had a screen painting of horses on the back window of the cab and Xander came right back with: "That truck must have a lot of horsepower."

#5 Xander can write things like "new Sunday shoes" on mom's shopping list.

After at least a month of being forced to wear too-small shoes every Sunday because I forgot about that minor detail until Sunday morning rolled around each week, he happened to notice a shopping list on the table and added the item to my list, getting the job done nicely!

#4 Xander gets to eat lunch at school in the cafeteria.

I was prepping Xander for the fact that he'll probably be changing schools in the middle of this kindergarten year, and chances are, it will be to half- day instead of full-day. I'm pretty excited about that, actually. But he said: "That's bad because then I won't get to eat my lunch at school!" (Since the newness of school has kinda worn off and Xander has noticed more how it infringes on his playtime, he has decided that he really would prefer half-day over full-day, even if it means no lunch at school. We’ll see what the future brings!)

#3 Xander is starting to make choices based on how they might affect others.

On the way to Church, I was munching some peanuts and Xander asked for some. Then he said, “no, I don’t want any, because I’m going to see Cooper, and he might be allergic to me.” I thought that was very good of him to think far ahead enough and outside of himself enough to make a better decision.

# 2 Xander is learning to spell some important words, like “Spider-Man,” correctly (rather than just phonetically).

Just this week, the kindergarteners were given the homework of writing a “story” at home every day. At school, they are supposed to write true stories about themselves. To spice things up a bit, I told him that at home, he could write about whatever he felt like. So, not surprisingly, he decided to write a story about Spider-Man saving a girl from a burning building. A couple weeks ago, Elodie found some books about Spider-Man in the easy reader section at the library and picked them out for Xander. He thinks they’re some of the coolest books ever and has read them several times. So after he worked on getting all of the details of his picture right, with the fire orange and blue and webs coming from Spider-Man’s hands and everything, he began to write. As he sounded out Spider-Man, he asked me if he should put a line (meaning a dash or hyphen) after “spi,” and I told him, “no, just write it all together.” Then he asked if he should put it after “spider” before “man” and I told him the same thing, “just write it all as one word, you only need a dash if you can’t fit it all on the same line.” So he listened to me. But after he got ready for bed, he dug the Spider-Man book out of the stack and showed me that there really is a “line” in it, and that I was wrong. Wow, my whole life, I’ve been spelling it Spiderman. But according to this official book, I’ve been wrong. And Xander noticed and remembered and then proved me wrong! I was so proud of him! They say that the best way to become a good speller is to read a lot. I guess for the really important words, it’s already starting to sink in for Xander! Of course in today’s story, he spelled stinky “stingkey,” showing that he obviously needs to read more books about stinky things!

#1 Xander can ride a two-wheeler bike!

On Friday, July 16, Xander was begging me to help him learn to ride a two-wheeler by holding onto his back and running aorund like crazy trying to keep up. I opted out, claiming that it was just too awkward with my huge belly, and deferred him to his dad when he got home, even though I knew Aaron was on call until 9 or 10 that evening. Well, it was Xander's lucky day. They let Dad off early at the hospital and told him to come back at 6:00 for his evening call. So in this one hour window that Dad had, he took Xander off down the path on his two-wheeler. When I went outside to call them in for dinner after 30 minutes or so, I saw Xander riding down the path by himself, with Dad trailing a ways behind. The next day, Dad lowered the bike seat a bit, and then Xander was able to start and stop by himself, too. I was quite impressed.

Back at the Home Front

2010-08-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is Elodie right after dropping Xander off at school yesterday. Her face seems to say, "What am I going to do all day without Xander?" Sometime after lunch yesterday, I suggested to Elodie that she go up to her room to play. She came down after just a minute saying, "I already played with everything in my room." Things sure do feel different with just one kid around! It makes me even more excited for the new baby to arrive! That oughtta keep Elodie busy!

Another First

2010-08-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

That's Xander, climbing onto the school bus like it's no big deal. Like he's done this loads of times before. But, no, it was his first time. And he didn't even bat an eye. Even though I'd prepped him for months that when he started school, he'd get to ride the bus with his pseudo-big-brother Nolan (a big 4th grader now) who would take good care of him and then during breakfast this morning, we found out that Nolan was going to be getting a ride to school and would not be Xander's bus buddy today. That made me a bit more apprehensive, but Xander didn't seem to mind at all. We walked over to the bus stop, and when the bus arrived, Xander joined the swarm of kids and climbed aboard without even looking back at me. He was gone before I knew it. I felt a bit weird seeing him leave like that.

After school, when I went to pick him up from the bus stop, he came walking towards me when I was only about halfway there. He had gotten off at an earlier stop, at the park, and just started walking home like he didn't expect me to be there to meet him or anything. Of course he knows the way home from the park; we've walked it TOGETHER hundreds of times. But alone? How old does this kid think he is, huh? I wanted to clarify that I planned on meeting him at the bus stop, so I was asking him if he wanted to get off at the park everyday or at the stop that's a little bit closer to our house so that I could plan on leaving at the right time and going to the right spot. "Oh, no, Mom, you don't have to come and get me. I can just walk home by myself. I'm a really big boy now." Oh you think so, do you? Well I'll be there at the bus stop, even if you don't think you need me! Independent or TOO independent? He's making me wonder!

Xander loved riding the bus. From how he talked about it, it was one of the highlights of the day. I guess as far as kids go, he does a pretty good job of telling me what he did and learned at school, but it is SO weird for me to not really know what he's been doing all day. When I asked what he learned, he said, "I learned TONS of stuff," but when I pressed for details, he said, "I can't remember all of it." Hmmm. I know that he got to go to Music today, which he liked, but not as much as he loved gym yesterday (it was his favorite part of the day yesterday). That he played with a friend from Church at recess. That the bought lunches smell better than his packed lunch and when can he buy his lunch? That Mrs. Parker sings the days of the week song differently than we do at home and can we start singing it her way? That she read him a book about Dos and Don'ts that was really funny because it says stuff like "Don't wear underwear on your head" and "don't make other people smell it." That sometimes Mrs. Parker lets them lie down while she's reading them a story. That he missed me a little bit at school today, but he didn't cry about it like a little girl in his class did. That the kid from his class who sat next to him at lunch today is named Aaron just like dad. That he wanted to draw a picture of Nolan before the end of school, but he didn't get a chance. That he's learning classroom procedures quite effectively. (He raised his hand at dinner today to make a comment, and it's only the second day!) Pretty good details, huh? So why do I still feel like I really don't know what's going on in that classroom of his all day?

And I'm learning some things, too. For one, not to tell Xander that he can finish building his Lego helicopter in the morning if he wakes up early enough. It seemed like an innocent thing to say when he was crushed about putting his Legos away at bedtime last night. (This all day school thing is really cutting into his playtime. Only 10 minutes of bike riding and barely time to get your helicopter halfway built? Sheesh.) But when I was hopping into the shower at around 7:00 this morning, Xander knocked on the door to show me that he'd finished his helicopter. How early DID he wake up to get that finished by then? Who knows. But when I got out of the shower and saw him lying grumpily on Elodie's floor, I knew it was too early. "Why did you wake up if you were still tired, Xander?" His reply was so innocent and sweet: "because you said that if I woke up early enough, I could finish building my Lego helicopter." Note to self: watch what you say because he is listening!

The First Day of School!

2010-08-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

Who was SO excited to start kindergarten today? I'll let this picture speak for itself.

Today was a lifechanging milestone for Xander--and for me. Xander is officially in kindergarten. I am a school mom. There's no turning back now. My days as a mother of just protected preschoolers is over. We have sent Xander into the world--the world we call Yale Elementary school. I know a lot of parents who would be proud to send their kids to Yale for an education. Xander could hardly wait to get started. He was so proud last week to be able to show dad HIS school at back to school night, and after his screening with a kindergarten teacher last week, he exclaimed, "That was SO fun!" This morning, he was dressed in his school clothes including his socks before I even saw or heard that he was awake. After saying good morning to me, he went right back upstairs to get his backpack, which he wore for the next hour before we had to leave for school. After a First Day Brain Food Breakfast of Quinoa-infused whole wheat blender pancakes and spinach-infused fruit smoothie, we packed his lunch, THREE criss-cross peanut-butter cookies included (I just couldn't turn down his request when he was being so adorably reasonable as he explained that the day would be even more awesome if he had three cookies in his lunch instead of two), and headed off. Along the walk to school, I let Elodie dawdle and play at the park a bit because we had left in plenty of time. With his school just past the park fence, Xander looked back over his shoulder and urged, "Hurry up!"

I managed to convince him that he had plenty of time to play on HIS school playground for a bit.

Then we walked around to the front of the school where the kiddos were gathering up. We found the two other kindergarteners Xander knows from church and the little informal preschool group they were in together. They won't be in his class, but I could tell Xander felt a confidence boost upon seeing some familiar faces.

Then it was time to line up in their classes. Xander was brave and excited and cooperative and sweet. As they were about to walk into the building, I gave him a hug and he hugged me right back, kissed my cheek, and said, "I love you, Mom! Bye!" My heart melted. When Elodie called, "I love you, Xander!" He stepped out of line, gave her a hug, said, "I love you, too!" and quickly got back in line. Mrs. Parker was the first one to lead her class into the school. You can see in this picture that Xander wasn't the first one in line when they started moving, but they paused at the door for the teacher to tell them something, and while they were stopped, it appeared that the kids in front of him were a bit hesitant. Somehow, Xander ended up in the front of the line and led his class into the school. He was the first kindergartener in the school this morning. That is just how eager Xander was to get started with kindergarten! It was a little hard to watch my little boy go off into the world like that. I mean, kindergarten is a whole school day in these parts. He is still so little and wonderfully innocent in so many ways. But his whole go-get-'em attitude sure made the first day easier on his mom! I didn't sense a moment's hesitation in him all morning. The start-of-school Father's blessing on Sunday and his sweet prayer for courage at breakfast this morning sure helped me feel reassured that he is in good hands. He is going to do great this year!

Update: When I picked him up and asked him how his day was, in typical xander form, he replied, "I had the best first day of anybody! No other kid had a better first day." Well all right, then! He even told me he made two new friends. And that his lunch code was 1-3-1-2. I didn't even know what he was talking about until he showed me the paper in his backpack that said they were supposed to practice their lunch code so they'd have it memorized. I guess he's already got that covered! What a cutie!

The County Fair

2010-07-29T19:21:00.001-07:00

Fer Pioneer Day Weekend we swung on down t' Colorado Springs t' pick up our nephews and niece fer some fun. We all had a hay day at the County Fair here in Arapahoe County. Elodie sho nuff got herself her face painted and said she reckoned she liked that more 'en anything else we did do at that fair.

Xander fer one liked that there tractor pull. The rodeo was pretty exciting, too. Xander had fun hollerin' and cheerin' fer that last bull named Ziggy. We reckon the cheerin' worked 'cause he threw that crazy cowboy off him perty darn quick like.

O' course Xander had to get him his face all painted up, too, and he was perty happy with the manly results.

Then those model trains had him all excited and giddy. That boy sho is easy to please. He didn't seem to mind none that we didn't get to do one single ride not even the Ferris Wheel. All or nothin' rides sho is hogwash. Nothin' fair 'bout that.

We came home tired but down right happy. Xander wanted to make sho before bed that he could go back to the fair every year. He worried his head a bit when he realized we're movin' away from these parts before next summer. Knowin' there's Fairs all over this fine country helped him settle right in fer sleep.

Xander is 5!

2010-06-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

Xander was SO EXCITED to turn 5. He is the kind of kid who gets pretty excited about a lot of things. Like the incredibly long wrapping paper tubes Melayna gave him for his birthday this evening. That was an exciting present; I mean, those'll make some huge rocket boosters! Last night we got Xander in bed early to help him get enough rest for the exciting day, but he didn't actually go to sleep until almost 2 hours after I tucked him in, due to the combo of excitement and summer daylight. And this morning, he was up at 6:20. (For some frame of reference, the previous couple of mornings he was up around 9:00. For some reason, my kids often sleep in when their bodies need sleep. Go figure.) He was just so excited to have his big day begin, how could he wait? He certainly couldn't fall back asleep when I sleepily suggested that he try to get some more rest so he'd have energy for his big day. (Or was that so I'd have energy for his big day?) After his requested breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and hash browns, eaten outside per request, we geared up and headed off to the swimming pool with his soon-to-be Colorado cousins and some friends. Then we loaded Katy and 5 kids in the Beast (that's our Excursion's name, FYI) and headed right over to Subway, where Xander decided months ago he wanted to eat for his birthday. Of course, he wanted to eat it outside, so we headed over to the splash park and found a lucky picnic table. Pretty soon, his friends started showing up for his birthday party where they splashed and played and frosted and ate the requested chocolate cupcakes. It was simple for me and loads of fun for him--four thumbs up!

(On a side note, I love how Xander gets carried away with the thumbs up, sometimes bantering between him and Elodie, other times simply outdoing himself. A thousand thumbs up! Ninety-eight-thousand-hundred-trillion-seventy-nine-fifty thumbs up! Infinity thumbs up! The last time I heard Elodie try to trump him with infinity thumbs, Xander informed her, "Infinity is not a number, it's a concept." And while to you that might sound like a funny thing for a now-5-year-old to say, to me it was one of those heartwarming motherly moments, "Oh, he IS listening to me, his math nerd mom!")

We came home and the kids took a little break from the sun and lounged around watching Curious George. (Xander actually really wanted to watch Popular Mechanics for Kids but was unable to convince his girl cousins and sister that learning about how roller coasters work is REALLY COOL! They were pushing Barbie Swan Lake or Princess and the Pauper, but the diplomatic Xander found some middle ground.) I whipped up some sausage pizza, per request, with broccoli, not salad, on the side, per request. Of course he requested that we eat it outside. And then we finished it off with a little watermelon cake. Doesn't it look just like watermelon? That's because it is watermelon. We're having the real cake (a Blackbird Jet ice cream cake) on Thursday when more of the family comes in for the Fantastic Fillmore Reunion! Woohoo! Pretty much, the birthday excitement just doesn't stop!

Life

2010-06-25T22:56:00.000-07:00

I've always been a pretty optimistic person. I generally don't worry too much about things. I don't often get super stressed out. I like being optimistic. I like assuming the best without mentally enumerating all of the things that could go wrong. And while I still feel like an optimist overall, it's different now somehow, and I miss it. It's like I lost a little bit of that along with losing Dexter.

I went this week to another ultrasound. As I watched the screen at the beginning, our little girl didn't seem to be moving around at all . Previously, I would've thought nothing of it; babies don't move every second of the day. But this time, I felt myself searching desperately for some little movement, looking forward to the part where they check the baby's heartbeat and let you listen to its rhythm and see the beats graphed out on the screen. And when I did see her move and heard that nice regular heartbeat and heard the Ultrasound Technician declare that everything looked healthy and good and normal, I felt relief instead of, well, what I used to feel. I don't want to be paranoid or pessimistic. I miss assuming that everything is fine. I mean, back when I was pregnant with Dexter, I had a second ultrasound and they found an abnormality in his brain that wasn't there at the first ultrasound. But when they told me that, I wasn't worried at all. That used to be my immediate reaction, even when there were things indicating that everything may not be fine, I felt fine. I felt peaceful. I felt very clearly that everything was going ot be OK. And I assumed that OK meant healthy and whole like my first two children. And then I learned that there are other ways for things to be OK. Everything was OK with Dexter--it was just how it needed to be. The "OK" I first imagined was very different than what "OK" turned out to mean. But when it got to that point, I was no less OK with the reality than I was with my assumption of what OKness would look like. In fact, everything was so fine that I specifically remember the same week that Dexter died discussing with Aaron that I felt ready to have another baby whenever the Lord wanted to send one to our family. I felt so strengthened and supported and reassured that everything was as it should be, that I felt ready because I was willing to provide a body for another sweet little spirit even if his or her mission was the same as Dexter's. Because I KNEW that the course of his life was the will of God and I felt so confident that whatever happened with any other child God sent to our family would be the Lord's will, too, whether that meant a long or a short life on Earth. I felt such peace and trust. I felt ready.

And so I was surprised last summer when we were pregnant with our fourth and I felt hesitant to share the news with family or to even let myself get too excited about the prospect of another little baby to raise. I tried to convince myself that it was OK to get excited, that everything would be fine. But I didn't feel it. I wondered if I had lost my optimism. And then when we miscarried in the first trimester, I felt grateful for what I then recognized as the Spirit preparing me to face another challenge. It was much easier on me since I hadn't told anyone. It was easier on me because I hadn't assumed that everything would be fine like I used to. I felt peace and confidence mixed with my sadness.

Now, with this pregnancy, I have felt that everything is fine from the time we found out we were expecting. It felt different than last summer's pregnancy. I didn't have to convince myself that it was OK to get excited; I just felt excited and OK with that, like I didn't need to guard myself from hurt. I still do feel peace. I feel like everything will go well. So I was surprised that my former optimistic assumptions were no longer my first reaction at the ultrasound. I guess I just learned from Dexter that I don't necessarily know what "OK" means. OK might mean whole and healthy, but OK might mean that it's all in the Lord's hands and will go as it should. I don't think I've lost my optimism at all, really, it just looks a little different.

Perhaps the blessing of Dexter's life helped me learn not to take life for granted. It is a gift--both the giving of life and the sustaining of life day by day. As I felt the relief at the ultrasound, I felt such gratitude, along with a renewed, deepened sense of awe at the miracle of life. A new little person of her own is growing inside of me! I can feel her! I saw her sweet face and her little hands and feet! Pregnancy is just amazing! I love being such an integral part of this miracle.

Aaaaaaaaa-chooo!

2010-06-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

The first thing I heard out of Elodie this morning was a sneeze. And then another. Followed by this statement, "I hate allergies. I wish I was a boy and didn't have allergies!" Now I think her wish to be a boy is only based on the issue at hand and the sample size she's familiar with: our little family. Here in the Dahle house, Mom and Elodie have the hayfever seasonal allergies and the dry itchy eczema skin and Dad and Xander don't. Lucky boys.

I knew it!

2010-05-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

Doesn't this look like the face of a girl who knows what she's talking about?

I mean, back at the beginning of February, when we were suspecting expecting but hadn't confirmed those suspicions, Elodie started throwing some pretty sweet little requests into her prayers, "please bless our family with a new baby girl" and things of that nature--always a girl baby. It somehow seemed like she knew; not only that a baby was coming, but that it was going to be a little girl. And so, even though I've never had very strong inclinations about whether I was carrying a girl or a boy, this time, I've felt like it's probably a girl, and told people as much when they've asked me my guess. And I think I was just persuaded by Elodie's unwavering conviction that "it's going to be a girl baby." She just seems to know.

Well, this morning, we had the whole family together at the ultrasound, and when the technician identified the girl parts, Elodie said confidently, "I knew it." Now Elodie is going on to predict hair and eye color. She says yellow hair like her, but brown eyes like Daddy. When I asked, "you don't think she'll have brown hair like dad?" She said, "No, that would be weird!" Hey, what do I know? She's the girl who knows what she's talking about.

We are so excited to welcome another daughter this fall. Wouldn't it be fun if she came on my birthday? She's due right around then (October 12th)!

Like Father, Like Son

2010-05-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

These guys have a lot in common. Xander got dressed after Aaron had left for school, but they were somehow in sync with the simple jeans a a T-shirt look that day. And take a look at their shoes.

Somehow, Aaron and Xander manage to completely wear out shoes in a couple of months. But I can wear shoes for years and still not have a single hole in the toe or bare spot on the sole. Take my work-in-the-yard shoes, for example. They ran a half marathon (not with me in them, but with the cousin who kindly handed her stinky tennis shoes down to me) before I was even married and they are still going strong. They're dirty and shabby and fully functional. But with Aaron and Xander? Their shoes have to be thrown away--they're not even good enough to function as work-in-the-yard shoes. What do those guys do to their shoes?

So it was getting to the point where Aaron and Xander's shoes should have been thrown away a month or two ago, but living by my favorite depression motto, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without," I stalled as long as I could. Finally, we saw a sale and found Aaron this great pair of running shoes for a great deal. Unfortunately, the store didn't carry Xander's size, so he went home empty-handed (or empty-footed, as the case may be). Well, Xander thought that Dad's new shoes were pretty much the coolest shoes ever made. In fact, the next day, when he was requesting a specific cup color, he informed me that his new favorite colors were orange and gray. Luckily we have an orange cup. Even more luckily, as we were walking through the store a week or so later, Xander reminded me to go to the shoe section, and what did he find? His very own pair of orange and gray shoes. He was ecstatic!

Being Polite Could Save Your Life

2010-04-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

For our FHE activity Monday night, we played Doctor to help Aaron prepare for the practical portion of his Entrance to Third Year Exam the following morning, where he would have pretend patients and pretend to get their medical histories, do physicals, diagnose them, counsel them, and such. So we got out the kids' medical kit and were having fun faking catastrophes and quickly being restored to health by the amazing Doctors.

When it was Aaron's turn to be the patient and Xander was the Doctor, Aaron was doing quite a dramatic rendition of a heart attack. When he fell upon the floor, Dr. Xander auscultated (that's Aaron's fancy word for listened) with his stethoscope and announced that his heart wasn't even beating. After several vigorous shocks with the blood pressure cuff, Xander auscultated once again and declared excitedly that his heart was beating again--he was better! Like a thorough physician, Dr. Xander proceeded to counsel his patient. "You need to be more polite and take smaller bites. When you swallowed the whole hamburger, it got stuck in your heart and gave you a heart attack. So you just need to take smaller bites, OK?"

What perfect advice. The laughter that ensued certainly helped reduce Aaron's risk of heart attack due to exceeding levels of stress that night! It was just what the doctor (or midlevel provider, as the case may be) ordered.

Our Mountain Getaway: Togetherness

2010-03-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, I entitled my post "Families Can Be Together Forever." We spent a couple days of Aaron's Spring Break celebrating that truth with some togetherness time in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. (Courtesy of the thoughtful generosity of his PA School classmates--we can't thank you enough!) We had so much fun sledding together, drinking hot chocolate together, swimming together, eating out together, eating in together, trudging through the snow together, roasting marshmallows together, reading stories by the fire together, playing crazy eights together, building a snowman and snowdog together, snuggling up in our cozy cabin together, reading the scriptures together, singing songs together, and enjoying the gorgeous mountain scenery together.

It was the perfect time to share something worth celebrating with our kiddos. I decided I'd give them a big clue and let them guess.

Me: "Have you noticed anything about my tummy lately?"
Xander: "It's getting bigger because there's a baby growing in there."
Elodie: "It's just getting fat like Daddy's."

Who do you think was right on the money?

(This picture was taken on Apr. 8, when I was 13 weeks along.)

Good Clean(ish) Fun

2010-03-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

Elodie is quite a well-rounded young lady, thanks to the influence of her big brother. She is quite opinionated and doesn't usually appreciate my suggestions about what she should wear. She does not like to wear jeans and LOVES to wear skirts with fun tights. Some days her outfits even almost match, like her purple day above. So that part of her is pretty obviously girlie. Yet she tells me she wants to play football when she grows up, even though she sees the amount of tackling it involves when she watches Nolan and Xander play football in the family room. Do you think she's got the build for it?

She also enjoys shooting bow and arrows with her brother, who was kind enough to insist that I make a bow for Elodie after he finally got me to help him make one for himself. The hanger with tied-together rubber bands ended up working out pretty well; much better than the splintery shards of wood Xander was bringing in from the garage when he was trying to make a bow all on his own. And the quick drawing of a target was a good substitute for me and Elodie as the prime targets. If only dad wasn't gone studying all the time, he'd make a pretty good target...

And when I was distracted, she found a highlighter and out came some more girliness. "Mom, it's just eyeliner!"

Yes, she is wearing a Princess Cinderella dress, but she just "launched a missile" complete with sound effects. For the record, I always call them rockets, not missiles. Where does she learn these things?

Oh, yeah, from my little space engineer. He currently hoards toilet paper rolls and the like so he'll have the materials when an idea strikes him. I think his favorite thing I bought him lately was a roll of masking tape. I believe this was a rocket that morphed into a jet that has the capacity to scoop up water to put out forest fires. Yes, these projects do result in a trail of paper, cardstock, and tape scraps, but it is so fun to see his creativity blossom! And he's not too bad at cleaning up after himself, either! This stage of life is just good, clean(ish) fun! Do I have to send him to all-day kindergarten in the fall?

Olympic Celebration

2010-02-19T13:56:00.000-08:00

Some of our fun friends came over for dinner last night. They happen to be Canadians. And the other fun friends who came thought it would be fun to bring a Canadian dessert in honor of said friends (and the Olympics, of course). This friend is a trained pastry chef, so I knew it would be a winner. If any of you are looking for a fun Canadian treat to munch while you watch the Olympics, try Nanaimo Bars! Yum, yum! Warning: the recipe does sound a bit involved--you may feel like a pastry chef as you make them!
And since we ate them after a heaping serving of vegetable & lentil curry over brown rice, I really didn't feel too bad about enjoying these little beauties!

You're toast!

2010-02-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

Elodie and Xander are both pretty into cardboard swords these days. It started a few weeks ago when Xander's primary teacher gave him a CTR shield made of cardstock with some yarn attached to it. He didn't think a necklace shield was too cool, so he asked me to put a handle on it. And once I showed him my armor-making skills, the requests for new swords and shields have just kept coming. Because cardboard swords bend and break, you see. And Xander has no tolerance for a floppy sword. Or sometimes, you're at Aunt Melayna's and you both forgot your swords, so you both have to beg and beg to have new ones made right then and there. And gratefully, Aunt Melayna's a softie. When we were gone in Florida for 4 days, Xander came home with a new cardboard sword made by Uncle Milan. And, call me silly, but the fact that he had written "Ctr" on it made me feel much better about the sword fetish.

Daddy Daughter Date

2010-02-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

After reading the article on becoming a more influential father in this month's Ensign, Aaron and I decided it was time to implement what we've intended on doing when our kids were "old enough"--one-on-one outings with Mom and Dad. Since it was Elodie's birthday this week, we figured that was a good reason for her to go first. So daddy and daughter went to Baskin Robbins last night. What little girl wouldn't choose such a pretty scoop of pink bubblegum ice cream? We had told her for months that she couldn't have gum until she was three, so she felt pretty grown up to finally be old enough for gum. Aaron said she absolutely loved it and thought it was so special to have real chunks of bubblegum in it. Which she of course swallowed, since it's mixed in with the ice cream. Aaron sampled it and found the rock-hard chunks of cheap bubblegum rather repulsive. But to a three-year-old, this made it quite a special night.
The night seemed a little less special when she woke up 3 different times, complaining of not feeling good the first time and then throwing up 3 times throughout the night. And yes, it was bright pink. She slept in until almost 9:00 this morning to make up for the lost sleep, and since she's awoken, she's felt fine and had a normal appetite. We're pretty sure it was the bubblegum. So this served as a great opportunity to teach her why swallowing gum is not the best idea. In fact, she told me this morning that maybe she's not old enough for gum yet. At least we'll be holding off on the pink bubblegum ice cream indefinitely.

You are what you eat

2010-02-05T12:54:00.000-08:00

The year I was born, President Benson said this regarding physical health and the Word of Wisdom:

"To a great extent we are physically what we eat. Most of us are acquainted with some of the prohibitions, such as no tea, coffee, tobacco, or alcohol. What need additional emphasis are the positive aspects--the need for vegetables, fruits, and grains, particularly wheat. In most cases, the closer these can be, when eaten, to their natural state-- without overrefinement and processing--the healthier we will be."

"To a significant degree, we are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth, and lacking the energy that could be ours because we overindulge in junk foods. ... We need a generation of young people who, as Daniel, eat in a more healthy manner than to fare on the "king's meat"--and whose countenances show it (see Daniel 1)."

(My dad emailed me an article containing this quote and my dietician sister posted this picture on her blog today; they are both great examples of this principle! They make ME look like a junk food junkie! These are great reminders and they go so well together that I thought I'd pass them along!)

Elodie Marie is Now Three!

2010-02-02T20:52:00.001-08:00

Elodie was so excited to turn three. All day, when I told her we were going somewhere, like to take Xander to music class or to go to the store or to walk to the park, she wanted to just go to the "Children's Nuseum." I found out a couple weeks ago that on the first Tuesday of every month, they have a free afternoon, and since her birthday fell on the first Tuesday, we decided to incorporate the Children's Museum into her birthday party since we've never been there before. Well, when we finally got there, it was packed (free fun = overcrowded) and Elodie was a bit overwhelmed, shall we say! She's kinda the slow-to-warm-up type. When she saw the dress-up dance studio, she wanted to try it out. But when it came to actually doing it, well, this was the result.

Before long, she warmed up and began clickity-clacketing around in the tap shoes, twirling the rainbow ribbons, and swishing the pink scarf.

Then she enjoyed a little stint as a clerk at Whole Foods, reshelving what the 20 other kids were steadily ransacking off of the shelves.

Then she joined Xander the train engineer for a few minutes before we had to get home to have the "real party" with dinner, cake, and family.

The long-requested princess cake made her appearance this year. Elodie tends to change her mind, and had gone through all of the princesses as she expressed her greatest birthday wish over the last couple of weeks. Before I added the food coloring to the frosting yesterday, I made her nail it down--a blue Cinderella or a beautiful pink princess. She went with pink. I made it Monday while she was in bed and didn't let her see it until after her birthday dinner of "noodles and sausage and cheese" (Pasta Bake).

She seemed to like it, I'd say! I had lots of fun creating it--it's so fun to have a little girl! It definitely took more work than last year's butterfly cake, so I am VERY glad that she changed her mind last minute last year from a princess cake to a butterfly cake. I had the time to enjoy doing it this year! I was remembering tonight that Dexter came home from the NICU last year the day after Elodie's birthday. It seems so long ago. Alas, I digress. After numerous attempts, Elodie finally blew out all THREE candles (one is hiding behind the cake). As I was tucking her in bed tonight, I asked her what some of the best parts of her birthday were. First, she said watching a princess movie with everybody. (After opening presents, she convinced everybody--Grandpa, Grandma, Melayna, Rachael, me, and Xander--to watch 20 minutes of Barbie Swan Lake with her. So this may have been listed first because it was the most recent thing she'd done.) The next favorite thing she listed? "The cake." Aw, thanks Elodie! How'd ya know I worked hard on that just for you?

All around, it was a full and fun third birthday. We love our spunky little Elodie Marie!

Sweet Melliflous Voices

2010-01-23T19:57:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite sounds is overhearing Xander and Elodie playing when they don't realize I'm listening. This is a frequent occurence and I just love it. One conversation sounded like it was getting a bit heated, but when I came in to see what was wrong, they already had it worked out. Elodie informed me, "I'm not going to say 'beautiful.'" I reassured her that there was nothing wrong with that word, but she told me, "I'm going to say, 'cool.' That's a cool truck." Apparently Xander took issue with her when she described the passing truck as a "beautiful truck." This led to their heated debate about what words can be used to describe boy stuff. I guess it sunk in--I noticed that today, when Elodie got Xander to play "The Bag Game" as she dubbed it, although she called her pink flower bag "beautiful," she was careful to call Xander's bucket "handsome, handsome, handsome" as she handed it to him.

As Uncle Milan (AKA Brat Child) will attest, it's pretty fun to hear Elodie play the mom, too. She really seemed to relish the chance to discipline her doll Erika the other day. "Erika, I have to put hot pepper on your tongue!" Then Elodie turned to me, nodding her head, "she said S-T-U-..." Hmm, guess what had happened just that morning when Elodie shouted at Xander, "You're stupid and I don't like you!" Yowza, that girl knows how to use her words! Now we're working on word choice and tone of voice! She toned it down a bit later that day when she was mad at Xander again, "You are mean and selfish!" On the bright side, at least she didn't say S-T-U again. And at least she had said "don't like" rather than "hate." And at least she's getting plenty of chances to learn the words to great songs like the Builder song "to speak with kindness in my home," and "Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly, too," and "I'm trying to be like Jesus, I'm following in His ways."

Speaking of Elodie singing, she just loves to sing her own made up songs. They go on and on, occasionally incorporating phrases from "real" songs, but mostly, they're just her ramblings. Tonight, she whipped out a new one at family prayer. She was saying the prayer, and in the middle, she just started to sing it like one of her Elodie originals. "I'm so, so, so graaaatefullll that I have a mooom and a daaaad!" Oh, my little Elodie! What's not to love?

Qu Eenglix Laangwij

2010-01-15T14:06:00.000-08:00

Ever sins Zander storted skwixeeng leterz tuugeqer intuu werds a fyuu munqs ugoo, II'v bin qeenkeeng qat Eenglix speleeng needz a cumpleet ooverhol. Az Zander haz triid tuu riit werdz funetiklee, I'v nootist qat hee'z on tuu sumqeeng.

Ferst uv ol, wee ol noo qat qu speleeng ov vauwul saundz iz unprudiktubel. I hav u suluuxun! Wen qaar iz just wun vauwul, it maaks qu xoort vauwul saund qat wee ol noo and luv. Dubel vauwels wil nau maak qu long vauwul saund.

Sins "c" iz tootulee reedundunt with its sumtiimz [s] sumtiimz [k] nonsens, "c" wil nau maak qu saund foormerlee maad bii "ch." Cildren evereewaar wil fiind it for simpler. "G" wil noo longer maak the saund olredee taaken kaar uv bii "j." Similerlee, "s" wil not be ulaud to saa [z]. And "q" iz raqer yuusless sins it kan kwiklee bee reeplaast. "Q" will nau maak qu saund preeveeuslee maad bii "th." "X" kan eezilee bee kuverd bii "ks," "gz," and "z," soo "x" wil reeplaas "sh." Wee wil need to canj qu alfubet song, tuu. Konsununts wil bee called bii qaar saund folood bii [ee]. Foor egzampul, wen yuu see "q," yuu xud kol it "thee" (riten in oold Eenglix). Qees caanjus maa taak sum geteeng yuust tuu, but kidz and fooreners uliik xud upreexeeaat it in qu long run!

To the rescue!

2010-01-13T18:10:00.001-08:00

A young damsel in distress fluttered downstairs, frantically announcing the presence of a spider in the bathroom. Super Xander courageously followed her upstairs, promising to take care of it straightaway. After squishing it with a square of TP, Super Xander boasted dramatically, "I am glad that I saved the world!"

Little Dexter's Birthday

2010-01-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Dexter's birthday tonight. There were certainly a few tears, especially while we watched the movie I made of Dexter's little life, but mostly I just enjoyed remembering. What a precious gift he is. I am so glad that he got to come to our family and that I had the privilege of providing him with the physical body that he needed for his eternal progression. How deeply and inexpressibly grateful we are for our knowledge of God's eternal plan. And how determined we feel to keep our covenants that we might be worthy of the great promises! Families can be together forever!

The Joy of the Season

2009-12-26T10:19:00.000-08:00

I think my favorite moment of the season is our Christmas Eve Nativity program. Xander and Elodie were so eager to be Mary and Joseph, and of course Aaron made a great donkey.We had nine adults and our two little kids at our house for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, which means Xander and Elodie got plenty of attention and plenty of presents. Xander and Elodie can't get enough of their aunts and uncles. We were especially glad to have Mitchell and girl Erin come into town to celebrate with us.Another unmatchable part was watching my kids' pure delight on Christmas morning. I just loved hearing their shouts of joy as they came downstairs and saw what "Santa" had given them. Both of them are very excitable children to say the least! Xander's exclamations were just as exuberant for his 10 pack of socks as they were for his space shuttle with rocket boosters. And Elodie's excitement over the candy in her stocking surpassed any of the gifts she received. I love how easy it is to please little children.

We certainly felt the joy of the season this year! Our knowledge that the Babe of Bethlehem is the Savior of the World has been deepened and reaffirmed. The gift of His Atonement blesses us daily. We are so grateful for our little family and for our large and loving extended family! Thank you all for your examples, love, and support!

Take your Hobby and Run with it!

2009-12-17T14:13:00.000-08:00

I love cooking.
I love baking.
I love Christmas treat making.
I just finished making candy cane cookies to eat with hot chocolate after Christmas caroling. We've gone to Melayna's twice to use her stove (because our stove is acting rather unpredictable of late) to make peanut brittle and carmels.
I've made two batches of toffee on our own stove (it needs high temps and our stove still does that; it's medium and low that the units are periodically boycotting).
We've rolled peanut butter dough into buckeyes.
I've rolled and dipped coconut balls.
I baked Mexican Wedding Cakes.
We've covered the carmels and a pecan in chocolate to make turtles.
And I have all of the ingredients waiting to be turned into a few other Christmas goodies.

I've been enjoying my kitchen hobbies so much that Aaron had to make this rather reasonable suggestion one morning. "How about we get the house all clean and hold off on making any more treats until that's done? And then we can clean up the mess from candy-making right after, and the house will still be clean." Not a bad idea. Any hope of cleaning becoming as much of a hobby for me as baking?

NOT The Man of My Dreams

2009-12-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

Last night, in my dream, Aaron was a full-time missionary. We were married, but he also had a missionary companion, as missionaries so often do. We were at his parents house down in Texas. He got a phone call that his dad was stranded somewhere, so he and his companion left to go rescue him. While I was at home, awaiting their return, I began making dinner with Rachael Ray, of course. She was showing me how to make her favorite chicken enchilada bake. We mixed in the cream cheese and salsa, and it looked so good that I couldn't wait to taste it, so I grabbed a big spoonful and popped it in. The sauce tasted great, but I had popped a chunk of raw chicken into my mouth, so I spit it out, disgusted. Rachael Ray seemed not to notice my mistake, since she was busily pulling some strange looking things out of the freezer. They resembled Antarctican Birds, but surely I must be mistaken? She layered them in a huge pyramid on a baking dish and poured the chicken enchilada mixture over them. When I asked her what they were, Rachael Ray was suddenly Samoan, and she couldn't remember the word in English. "Are they...penguins?" I asked. "Oh, yes, penguins, yes, yes," she confirmed as she put the concoction in the oven. Hmm, is that a Samoan delicacy? The so-called chicken enchilada bake was almost done, but still no sign of Aaron. It was only supposed to take a few minutes; where could he be? I was getting pretty annoyed that he was so late and hadn't had the courtesy to call, so I gave him a call and it went straight to his voicemail. Just for me, he had recorded a special greeting, telling me where he was. "Some guy gave us these awesome tickets for the football game tonight, and they are second row seats, so we couldn't pass it up! Don't expect us home; we'll be at the game." I was livid! Missionaries are not allowed to go to football games! And especially not on a Sunday, which it was! How could my husband think that this was remotely OK? I tried to calm myself down by convincing myself that he was kidding. It must have been his idea of a good joke to get my goat. Just then, Aaron called me back and sincerely denied that it was a joke. He completely ignored my reminders about it being Sunday, assuring me that if he had asked, he was sure his mission president would have said it was OK, that it was really no big deal. Which, of course, made it a very big deal indeed. At that point, I woke up, still feeling irritated at my sweet husband, who was sleeping innocently beside me.

For some reason, Aaron is almost always a jerk in my dreams. That's why I lovingly tell him when I wake up that I'm so glad he's not the man of my dreams.

Ho, ho, ho it's Christmas!

2009-12-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

As we were decorating the tree, Elodie found this little Santa suit and tried it on. It fits pretty well, doesn't it?
Here's Baby Xanta in it at 6 months old!

Texas Take Two

2009-11-30T08:55:00.000-08:00

We drove down to Texas for the second time this year. Xander and Elodie should get blue ribbons for Excellence in Traveling by Automobile. Seriously, they're champs!

For some reason, Aaron associates Thanksgiving with hunting, so he got this notion a few months ago that we should go down to Texas for Thanksgiving break so he could hunt wild boars with his nephew (AKA brother) Ryan. They did hunt for hogs, they did find some hogs, but lucky for the hogs, no harvesting (as Aaron so humanely likes to call it) took place.

Xander and Elodie had a GREAT time at playing and relaxing at Ryan and Keira's house. They bonded with their cousins Jaxon and Logan a bit, but it's Skippy and Peanut that Elodie tells me she misses. I'm not too worried about the kids begging for our own dog, though; when anyone asks Xander if he's going to get a dog someday, he says, "no, because my mom is allergic."

(And I hope you enjoy Elodie's post-braids fro as much as we did.)

There are too many kids in this tub.
There are too many elbows to scrub.
I just washed a behind, that I'm sure wasn't mine.
There are too many kids in this tub.
Aah, good ol' Shel Silverstein! And why is Xander such a blur of motion, even in the tub?

A huge group of relatives gathered at Aunt Tina's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We were mostly able to just chat with family and enjoy ourselves while cousins and uncles entertained our kiddos. Uncle Ron was a great horse for the kids' one horse open sleigh. It was fun to see the soft "Grandpa" side of Aaron's oldest, tough-guy brother!

We are so THANKFUL for our wonderful extended family!

His Father's Son

2009-11-15T12:59:00.001-08:00

Dad, what if I saw your blood cells and your heart? That would be interesting!

Remembering

2009-11-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

On a Sunday afternoon in September, we piled in the Excursion with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Melayna and Uncle Milan and Aunt Rachael to go visit Dexter's grave. Aaron and I were the only ones who had been since the headstone was placed. Isn't it beautiful? I think it's just the perfect memorial to little Dexter Joseph. I don't want to let anyone's right hand know what someone else's left hand may have been up to, so I'll just say that we are so very grateful for and humbled by the generosity of dear family who encouraged us to select just what we wanted and provided the means to make it happen. Thank you!

The past couple days I have been working on turning the blog entries that I wrote during Dexter's life into a physical book, and it has given me a great chance to reflect and remember what I learned. In some ways those memories seem so surreal and so long ago. Yet we've talked about and thought about Dexter every day since he passed, and it just seems normal for him to be part of our family. Just today, Elodie was throwing a fit about something and I sent her to her room to calm down until she was ready to talk about it. When she came back downstairs, she declared, "I was just sad because Dexter's not with us." To which Xander replied, "I thought you were sad because you had to go to your room." That's a perfect illustration of how the current physical absence of Dexter is an accepted, normal part of our day-to-day life. I sometimes wonder if it's too commonplace; my kids don't realize that losing your little brother isn't as common an occurence as getting a new little brother. Yet, how it could be otherwise for little children without avoiding the issue and causing them to forget? And I wouldn't want it to be otherwise; in fact, the way they accept death as simply as they accept birth is profound. With innocent children, you can't call their attitude about death irreverent, can you? I was thinking of including this picture as the last page of the book, but I can't decide if it's almost irreverent or if it's just cute and classic kid. What do you think?
I mean, come on, Xander. What's up with that goofy face? How about a serene, angelic smile? Or at least a little respect? And yes, Elodie is climbing on the stone barefoot because, well, she's 2 and gets in anti-shoe moods. I dunno. Maybe I'll go for one of the options where one or both of them aren't looking towards the camera. This one might not fit the tone of the book. Or does it?

Cousin Buddies

2009-11-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

Xander and Elodie had so much fun when cousins visited for a whole week! Xander especially loved the nights that they slept over at our house. He was quite the gentleman and let Kendall sleep in his bed while he slept on his floor in a sleeping bag. (Although the fact that he slept on his floor for the five nights after Kendall left seems to indicate that personal interest was a factor in making the noble offer). Elodie bonded especially well with Berkeley, so she asked Berk if she'd sleep in her room on the floor. Berk is such a sweetie; she was happy to comply. Being East Coasters, Kendall and Berkeley woke up rather early in the morning, and my kids were happy to wake up with them and chat and giggle in their beds until the sun came up. They were having so much fun playing all morning that when it was time to go to "preschool" at his friend's house down the street, Xander protested with, "But I don't want to leave my cousins!"
Then more cousins appeared on the scene and Xander was excited to have a boy cousin to be crazy with, especially a cool 8-yr-old who got baptized while they were here. Xander followed Tyler around and they wrestled and jumped off furniture and played goofy games. And Elodie had Eden, who is only 4 months older than her, to play with. I thought of how I got to be great friends with my long-distance cousins through periodic visits and family reunions over the years. We got so close that I roomed with my cousin Rachel during our Freshman and Sophomore years at BYU. (And then we served missions at about the same time, got married within a year of each other, and have had all three of our kids within months of each other. Now that's close!) That could be Elodie and Eden someday! I'm so glad my kids had the chance to bond with their cousins and build the foundations of eternal friendships!

One of the sweetest moments of the visit was watching Xander, Kendall, Berkeley, and Tessa sing "Baptism" together at Tyler's baptism. Elodie didn't want to be left out, so she stood up there with them just looking cute. It was wonderful to feel the Spirit together as a family. Thanks for making the trip, Meredith and Marliese!

Is it Christmas?!

2009-10-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

It has snowed 3 times this month. And every time, when Xander has woken up and seen the blanket of snow, he has asked me with excitement, "is it Christmas?!" I've had to explain to him that it sometimes snows in the fall here; that it's really almost Halloween; that Christmas is not for a long time; that it's only October and November still has to come and go before we get to December. I really thought he was catching on. But Tuesday morning, it was a REAL winter snowstorm, not just a soggy fall storm, and Xander was completely convinced that it must be Christmas. After I re-explained to him that it can snow on days other than Christmas, he was still doubtful. "I'm going to go downstairs and see if there are any presents." He checked; there weren't any presents; and THEN he believed me.

Funny Kiddos

2009-10-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

Elodie screamed (again) because Xander teased her in some way.
Me: Use your words, Elodie.
Elodie: (shouting) Xander, if you ever do that to me again, I'm going to be super mad, and I'm going to hit you! (calmly) And then I'll say sorry.
She definitely knows how to use those words. Hmmm.

But Elodie also has a super sweet side. Over breakfast, I was telling the kids about a very random dream I'd had. Apparently this prompted them to "remember" their dreams.
Elodie: I dreamt about marshmallows, and cake, and princesses, and Melayna.
Sing with me now,"These are a few of my favorite things!"

We were talking about how my birthday is coming up and I told them that I'm going to be 30.
Xander: Your cake is going to have to be huge to hold all of those candles!
Thanks, Xander.

Happy Fall, y'all!

2009-10-05T19:12:00.001-07:00

All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God, our Maker, doth provide for our wants to be supplied.
Come, ye thankful children, come! Raise the song of harvest home!
Aaron is definitely one of those thankful children. When a volunteer squash was taking over our back garden, he just couldn't yank it up because he saw it as a gift directly from God. And when we harvested all of this plus a couple buckets more from the squash we didn't plant, Aaron did not regret that decision. His gratitude for this abundance is so sweet and childlike. "Just look at all of this food!" We are definitely enjoying the bounty of fall. We hope all of you are feeling abundantly blessed this season, too!

Smack Talk

2009-09-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

Imagine sitting at dinner with us, chatting about the day, when this little high-pitched voice chimes in."Mommy, I'm gonna beat you." She gives you that look that let's you know you've been challenged and starts shoveling her food in. (Eating races probably aren't the best table manners, but it sure helps her finish all of her dinner!) "Mom, you're toast." Where did she learn to smack talk? Now it seems that "you're toast" is not quite enough for her. She took today's dinner smack talk to the next level: "You're burning toast." You think you can take her?

Wonderful Washington

2009-09-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

As we were leaving Oregon Saturday morning, Xander asked where we were going next. He was not happy to hear of our boring destination: HOME. Lucky for us with the summer travel schedule we've had, our kids love to GO. But unluckily for them, summer was over and Dad had to get back for school Monday morning. Xander begged to go back to Isaac's house instead of home. He had such a good time there! Isaac was quite the train fanatic at Xander's age, and was kind enough to humor Xander with hours of trainset fun.

Isaac also taught Xander and Elodie an elaborate pretend game that he called Elephant Slayer. In case you haven't read Isaac's current favorite library book, an elephant slayer is an extinct tiger-like creature with teeth that could tear through elephant skin. Luckily, the game was more like house played on all fours in a cave than chasing and slaying elephants. In fact, it sounded like this particular family of elephant slayers actually preferred bacon to elephant. Elodie, the mom, kept retrieving pounds of pretend bacon from the toy chest to bring back to the cave. Elodie loved playing with Isaac, (I wish I had caught a picture of Isaac giving her a hug before bed; he was so sweet to her!) but she did occasionally try to play with Camryn, too, who is almost 11-months younger. Yes, they do look the same age, but the just-learning-to-talk barrier made Elodie think she was so much older than her "little" cousin. The next time they see each other, they will likely be caught up to where they seem the exact same age. And it'll be so fun to see them interact even more. Camryn has such a sweet personality!

Aaron and I had loads of fun, too. We went to a free lunch concert in a Puyallup park with some fiddle-playing Irish-dancing sisters who were actually extraordinarily talented.And afterwards, the kids had a blast splahing around in the wading pool. Xander usually remembered the only rule that the lifeguards made every kid repeat before letting them in: No Running!But I think that my favorite part of staying with Ben and Mary Ann was just sitting down after the kids were settled and talking until the wee hours of the morning. (Although I did feel a little guilty for wearing out my dear pregnant sister-in-law! We're so excited for the new addition to their darling family!) I learned so much from both of them. They are so wise and such great examples to us! Thanks again to Morgan and Ashley for the much-needed excuse to get to the Northwest and reconnect with family!

Be Fruitful

2009-09-07T20:08:00.001-07:00

Mystery Squash--defying the law of the harvest. Reap what you sow, and then some.The camera isn't playing tricks on you. That dark green one really was about twice the size of Aaron's head. After disecting the squash and analyzing its seeds and flesh, we've ascertained that Mother Nature created a unique zucchini/pumpkin hybrid just for us. But it was too much just for us and so Aaron the shredmaster reduced it to an enormous heap of bakeable goodness, and we got down to baking. After a double batch of chocolate brownies, streusel muffins, and classic zucchini bread, all concocted in the Stephenson kitchen in Oregon, there was still a normal-sized zucchini's worth of heap remaining, which we bestowed upon Aaron's sister, Nancy. Aaron just felt so grateful for the lush volunteer squash that he couldn't leave its fruitfulness behind in Colorado to deal with (I mean, enjoy) when we got back from gallavanting across the Northwestern region. And we only tackled this mega squash after enjoying the normal-sized ones daily in the Ben Dahle kitchen in Washington--sauted, grilled, and baked in a cream cheese filled chocolate roll. Let's just say that this thriving jungle of volunteer squash is pretty serious about being fruitful and replenishing the Earth. And so are we.

Toilet Training Woes

2009-09-03T07:37:00.001-07:00

I keep thinking that Elodie is just about there. And she's not. And I start feeling exasperated and start using less effective parenting techniques such as begging like this.

Me: (pleading, begging, nearly groveling) Elodie, please don't run around naked!

Elodie: OK. I'll just walk.

Spatial Intelligence

2009-09-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

I have no sense of direction. Sometimes I can use my memory to fill the gap, but I definitely don't know what it feels like to just sense which way is what way and what way is which.

And then there's Xander. I think he knows how to get more places in this town than I did when I was 17! I remember finally getting my driver's license and realizing that I had to ask my parents for directions before I went anywhere by myself because as a passenger, I had never really paid any attention whatsoever.

Monday afternoon, Xander was riding with me to pick up two boys I started tutoring after school. He had been with me once to this charter school, a week before. As I turned right on 1st Ave, Xander piped up, "Mom, this is not how you get to Arthur's school." I assured him that although it wasn't the same way we'd gone last week, it was another way that would get us there. Just a few feet further down the street, Xander said, "No, Mom, this is the road you go on to park and wait until it's dark and watch fireworks." How in the world did he remember that this road takes us to the CCA parking lot where we watched fireworks on the 4th of July--in 2008? I was quite impressed. But Xander was less than impressed with my skills. When we turned onto the next street, Xander declared quite confidently, "Mom, I don't think you know where you're going."

That time I did know just where I was going, but back in June, Xander's sense of direction and attention to detail got us unlost in the backcountry of Texas and back safely to Grandma and Grandpa's house. He's got the sense, so I've learned to listen to the boy!

Finally Finished

2009-08-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

Whew--I took my Linear Algebra Final this afternoon! And while it would feel a bit better to have aced it, it feels plenty good to just be done with it! That procrastination factor sure made it pretty all-consuming the past few weeks!

Always Good for a Laugh

2009-08-08T12:31:00.001-07:00

(Me, trying to find the eigenvalue of matrix A using the characteristic polynomial.)
Xander: Mom, do the funniest word ever!
Me: (distractedly) What's the funniest word ever?
Elodie: Stinky!
Elodie and Xander: (confirming that she's right) Giggle, chuckle, giggle.
...
Me (muttering to myself, unaware that anyone is listening): Now, how do I find the eigenvector?
Elodie: (bossily) You tan't find the eidenvector.
Personally, I think the word eigenvector, coming from Elodie's high-pitched, well-enunciated little toddler voice, is far funnier than "stinky." But maybe that's because I've grown numb to the funniness of "stinky" due to severe overuse around here!

Pack, Unpack, Repack

2009-08-01T08:28:00.001-07:00

The middle of May, Aaron finished finals and began his relaxing summer "break." Pack. Fly to San Diego. Come home. Unpack. Do laundry. Repack. Go on an 11-yr-old scout camp out. Come home. Unpack. Do laundry. Repack. Go to Sterling for a week and live in the dorms. Friday night, come home. Unpack (i.e. throw it all in a laundry basket). Do laundry. Madly repack. Leave for Texas Saturday morning. Come home Saturday night (two weeks later). Unpack. Mow the jungle of a lawn. Do laundry. Repack. Thursday morning, drive to Utah for a family reunion. Come home Tuesday night. Unpack. Do laundry. Replace a door. Mow the lawn. Repack. Fly to Alaska Saturday morning. Come home Thursday morning (nearly three weeks later). Unpack. Wait for it to stop raining so Aaron can mow the jungle of a lawn. Do laundry.

The question is, should we leave the suitcases in our bedroom or stick them back in the crawl space while we enjoy our luxurious two weeks at home before we get to repack and head west for Morgan's wedding?

Use it or lose it

2009-07-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

I should be carefully writing a proof of one of the following statements right now.
The action of a linear transformation T: U → V is completely determined by its action on a basis B = {u 1, u 2, ..., u n} for the domain U. OR
The range of a linear transformation T: U → V is a subspace of the codomain V. OR
The linear transformation T: U → V is one-to-one if, and only if, ker T = {0}.

Decisions, decisions. Which statement shall I prove? Unfortunately for me, my brain is more used to decisions like which of the following recipes shall I make for dinner tonight, or which of the following parks within walking radius should we visit today. My poor brain hasn't done higher level mathematics since, oh, let's see, 1998. These proofs are making me wonder if that part of my brain has atrophied!

Regardless, I must prove what the online Linear Algebra course tells me to prove, for I seem to have NOT lost my procrastination skills that I had perfected in high school. This online course that you have a luxurious year to complete expires in a month and I'm not wasting my $411! Plus, I really do LOVE math and I'm excited to go back to teaching math at some point in the future. At which point I want to have a teaching license.

So my kids have gotten a little less attention and watched a few more videos from the library in the last week, which apparently put our TV over the edge. I think it's fritzed out for good. (So much for my free babysitter!) That's why Xander is begging me to play Cootie with him instead of being mesmerized by the What's in Space? show I so lovingly selected for him.

The Princess and the Helicopter

2009-07-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

Xander and Elodie were making some pretty elaborate plans as they sat in the double stroller on the way to the grocery store this morning. We saw two helicopters flying at the same time, which was pretty mesmerizing. Naturally, Xander declared that he wants to fly a helicopter when he grows up. Elodie took this opportunity to repeat her future plans. "When I drow up, I want to be a princess." I was curious about what she thinks that entails. "They dance at the ball," she informed me.

Xander: "Elodie, I can take you to the ball in my helicopter!"
Elodie: "You tan? Tan I dance at the ball?"
Xander: "Yeah. And you can eat dinner on the helicopter. You fold down the seat, and then you put your dinner on it, and then you pull down the thing, and you can watch a movie. Elodie, You. Can. Watch. A movie. While. You. Eat." (He punctuated each word as if that was the most unbelievable thing.)
Elodie: "Oh."
Xander: "And I'll pick you up in my helicopter after the ball. But you can't marry me, because I'm your brother. And you can't marry Dad. No. ... You can marry Cooper. (He's a cute little 3-year-old from nursery.) Do you want to marry Cooper?"
Elodie: "Um, yeah, I do."

Don't you wish you had a helicopter pilot for an older brother? Talk about first class.

Did I hear that right?

2009-07-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

I was just chatting with my survivor man who's currently in Middle-of-Nowhere, Alaska. Before we got cut off, I do believe he said that while the beauty and feel of Alaska is everything he'd built Alaska up to be, he wasn't quite as set on moving our family up there due to the cost of living. Was I really on the phone with Aaron? I guess we've become more unified than I realized over these last 6 years! He's putting practical and frugal over wide open spaces and hunting seasons!? And the funniest part is, when he said that his heart isn't quite as set on Alaska as it was, I felt a little let down. I've been gearing up for an Alaskan adventure for years--I think I was starting to get excited. But with that little reality check, our life-after-medical-school suddenly seems so completely up in the air. Although the cell phone reception was pretty shaky. Who knows what he actually said.

Update: Aaron just called from Anchorage, where cell phone reception is quite clear. The first words out of his mouth were, "I really do love Alaska!" He told me he read this post and that his response was, "What have I done?!"

North to Alaska

2009-07-15T19:15:00.001-07:00

Today, Elodie woke up from her nap with some exceptional bedhead. She had taken out the darling princess hairdo (thanks to my niece Alyssa for teaching me another way to do her hair!) which resulted in some gravity-defying craziness off to the sides. I told her that she looked like a mad scientist. "No, I'm a happy scientist," she informed me. I realize that this story would be cuter and funnier with a picture, but our camera went North to Alaska. With Aaron, who is so alone up there in the Last Frontier that he has to take pictures of himself. Here he is in front of the Alaskan Native Medical Center where he is doing a clinical rotation in surgery. Yesterday was his first day, so he just observed. But since today was his whopping second day, he actually got to assist in surgery. I kindly (bluntly?) asked him if these surgeons knew that he has no idea what he's doing. Aaron assured me that you're fine if you just follow their instructions to a tee. Wow--he's definitely getting some good experience! The top-notch surgery department and unmatched hands-on experience offered by these Alaskans is definitely a huge plus, but I'm pretty sure that the main reason Aaron is up in Alaska is to convince me that living there will be a dream come true for the whole family. This is the home where he's currently staying. Our bishop hooked us up with some friends of theirs in Anchorage and they've offered him a couch--and food--at no charge. I'll admit, this house could be a dream come true for a large family. I love the wrap-around porch! Aaron is also trying to disprove my notion that Alaska is all glaciers and tundra. You can actually grow a garden up there, believe it or not. Check out the size of their rhubarb!And he claims that these raspberry bushes are taller than he is. Maybe this IS a dream come true! YUM!Every time I talk to Aaron he tells me how gorgeous the views are--mountains jutting straight up from the ocean's edge, with a glacier nestled right in between. Of course cameras aren't very good at capturing spectacular--he assures me that this view is awe-inspiring in person. Which means that all of you will just have to come visit us when we move up North to Alaska so that you can see the views for yourself!

Tiny-Town Texas

2009-07-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

We spent the second half of June in a tiny town called Bowie, Texas. That's where Grandma & Grandpa Dahle live these days. While Aaron learned oodles in his rural family practice experience, the kids and I enjoyed the pace of small town life. The biggest adjustment for me was no internet access or cell phone reception--for two weeks! One of my favorite parts was watching Xander bond with Grandpa Dahle. Xander loved to just follow Grandpa around. With all that space, there were plenty of interesting places to follow--to the pond in the corral, to the garden to pick vegetables, even to the driveway to check fluids in the Jeep.

Xander and Grandpa especially loved picking berries together out behind the horses' corral. Unfortunately, Xander liked those berries so much that the bowl always returned to the house as empty as it had been when they left. Grandpa just chuckled, but, hey, I never even got to taste one berry! Grandpa was also Xander's favorite because he knew how to fix the chain that kept breaking on the pedal-powered John Deere. And Grandpa helped Xander make his idea of hauling the wagon behind it a reality. Xander's little cousin (technically, first cousin once removed, but who wants to be technical?) Jaxson was happy to be hauled behind the tractor.And he was equally happy to hop out and help push when the tractor got stuck. They had a blast together!Jaxson and Elodie bonded, too, although Elodie only considered Jaxson and Logan and Braxton and Zach and Cody Xander's cousins, since they are all boys. There were no little girl cousins in Texas, but she was excited to have her "tousin" Tanielle, who's 13, sleep in her bedroom one night. But Elodie really did play well with Xander's cousins, too! Grandma Dahle and Aunt Marj generously threw Xander a Texas birthday party. He came away with numerous new trucks, one of which was a John Deere with various attachments which he informed me today is his best truck. We all had loads of fun with Ryan and Keira's cute little family, even though Ryan and Aaron's hog-hunting plans never quite materialized. (Awwww, shucks!) We really enjoyed the time in tiny town Texas, mostly because we got to really reconnect with people we love most!

Won't my daddy be so proud of me?

2009-07-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

I'm cookin' up a pot of garden weeds.

Won't my daddy be so proud o' me?

'Cause I'm cookin' up a pot of amaranth!
Yum! That smells good!

I'm eatin' up a pot of garden weeds.

Won't my daddy be so proud o' me?

'Cause I'm eatin' up a pot of amaranth!

Wow! That's yummy!

Ya know when you come home from vacation and you have no produce in the fridge? Ya know how you come home from vacation and you have GIANT weeds in your garden? Put them together and what do you get? Bippity, boppity, boo! A delicious side of greens! Believe it or not, I heard these exact words out of Xander's mouth when he finished his serving of amaranth" "Yum, may I have some more greens? Those are really good." I think that moment was the highlight of my day! Having greens for dinner really was quite a novelty. Growing up, we generally had them as a midnight snack since my mom (the dinner chef) wasn't nearly the edible weeds enthusiast that my dad (the midnight snack chef) is. If only I'd made a frozen-banana-powdered-milk-honey-milkshake, the experience would have been complete. Mmm, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. It's been too long! I think I'll have to break tradition again and serve it for breakfast this week.

Back Together for the Jamboree

2009-07-08T13:34:00.001-07:00

Lowe Reunion Days! Please pass the ketchup! While we were together drinking homemade root beer and gobbling down the homemade ice cream, we wondered why our old family reunion song didn't say "Please pass the root beer." I'm sure Grandpa Lowe had his reasons! With nearly all 100 of the Nola and Julian posterity there, we sure had a blast! Elodie thoroughly enjoyed the chance to play with HER cousins. She calls the boy ones XANDER'S cousins. Elodie even got some chances to dote on "tute baby Haley."Evan and Grant are so good at including Xander as one of the big guys. He idolizes them both! I believe his last words to Evan before we drove off were, "You're awesome!" Personally, I think Jill is rather awesome. I even honored her on the Fourth by making it "Try to be like Jill day."

Unfortunately, I don't think it worked. Her cuteness simply can't be copied. Trust me. I tried.