2011 in the Cole Sorority

Birthday Girl

2011-09-21T09:41:00.001-06:00

September and October are busy birthday months in the Cole home. Anya celebrated birthday #7 this year. Some things we love about Anya:
She is a super nice friend and loves to be social.
She has great fashion sense.
She remembers to say her prayers every night.
She has really taken off with her reading in the last 6 months and works hard in school!
She loves all different kinds of music.
She gets up without a fuss every morning, and goes to bed without a fuss as well.
She is enjoying her first season of soccer and is a great team player.

This is a very excited kid on her first day of first grade. In other exciting news this week, she had another first day . . . of second grade. Toward the end of kindergarten, we started talking with her teacher and the principal about the possibility of skipping Anya up a grade. After getting used to first grade routines and everything, we decided the time was right to move her on up. She was even more excited today than when school started I think. So she is now my big 2nd grader! We love our miss Anya!

I Used to Be Smart

2011-09-13T22:40:00.001-06:00

Once upon a time I was considered a smart girl. I took AP classes and graduated in the top 4 of my high school class and had a full tuition scholarship to college. I got better grades than my husband in Organic Chemistry. I graduated Summa Cum Laude with University Honors. I got a near perfect score on the GRE's. I got a Master's Degree and passed my licensing exams on the first try.

And then I had children . . . and gave them all of my brain cells.

And now they are all smart and I can't remember why I walked in a room or conversations DH swears we had, or how to spell "mentioned" (thank you spell check), or to put the yeast in the bread I was making for dinner.

Ryan has to ask me daily if my estrogen levels are OK, or if I'm taking a B12 vitamin, convinced that my mental lapses are signs of some nutritional or hormonal deficiency.

It couldn't be because today I am also trying to keep track of:

my 1/2 marathon training plan
feeding the dogs
4 shifts of getting girls out the door to school
delivering chicken eggs to 4 neighbors
my eye appointment
a lunch date with DH
picking Paisley up from preschool
excavating Anya and Paisley's bedroom floor that hasn't been visible for a week
update from DH on 3 new clients at work
picking up 2 girls from school (with a reminder from 7 year old that she hates it when I am late-again)
starting dinner
putting a puzzle together with Paisley
changing the laundry
something for dessert for the cross country dinner
violin lesson for Anya
picking up Emma
taking Emma to Formal and Bridal to get her choir dress altered
getting new shoes for Emma before my $20 off coupon expires
getting Sierra to soccer practice
back to school night for Sierra
taking Lexi to cross country dinner and picking her up 2 hours later
helping Anya learn about regrouping addition
making sure everyone practiced their instruments
bathing Paisley and making sure she has her "itchy cream" and panties that aren't "uncomforble"
bedtime stories and prayers and signed homework and other school paperwork
changing the laundry again

Maybe it's really a wonder I only forgot the yeast.

Bunkbeds

2011-09-05T23:03:00.000-06:00

We had many, many fun adventures over the summer and I really should write about all of those exciting moments.
But for today I want to talk about bunk beds.
I have never been a huge fan of bunk beds. But they became a necessity in out last house trying to fit lots of girls into the space we had available. Mostly they are just a pain to make and keep looking neat. And I always worried about the littlest girls climbing up and not being able to get back down. Plus it's a hassle for me to climb up and down if I wanted to read in bed with one of the girls or just give them a bedtime snuggle. So I swore we would not bunk the beds in our new house, and that worked really well for almost a year.
About 6 months ago Sierra and Emma decided that they wanted to be in the same room and that they wanted to have their beds bunked so that there would be space in their room for the digital piano. Wanting to encourage my children's efforts at cooperation and creativity, I agreed with this plan. They are old enough that they can at least keep their own bunk beds made, and I don't really spend much time snuggling with them in bed anymore.
I did not take into consideration, however, what happens when someone on the top bunk gets sick in the middle of the night and doesn't make it to the bathroom before she throws up. Sierra woke up just long enough to throw up over the edge of her top bunk onto Emma's pillows and book that she sets next to her bed when she goes to sleep each night. I woke up Sunday morning to clean up the aftermath. Keep in mind that the farther liquid falls, the greater the splash at the bottom. Not pleasant. I really do not like bunk beds. I'm sure you won't miss having a picture for this post.

Goldilocks

2011-07-09T16:28:00.003-06:00

Emma and I completed our 60 mile Goldilocks bicycle ride today. (Check out www.goldilocksride.com). I am so proud of Emma for making it all the way! We have been planning and training for this ride for 3 months, and there were days the training part was not her favorite. I really enjoy cycling and it was so fun to share it with one of my girls. Way to go Biker Chick! You can accomplish anything!

Sweet Sixteen

2011-05-02T08:10:00.000-06:00

Today miss Christa celebrates her 16th birthday. I don't know how I have a 16 year old living in my house and calling me mom, since I'm only 22 myself, but that's one of the mysteries of life I guess. So today I get to let her know (and everyone else), how amazing Christa really is.
--She has perfect pitch and an amazing ability to play music by ear and create her own harmonies when singing
--She plays piano and violin so beautifully. I love to listen to her practice.
--She is so smart and does really well in school. AP Chemistry and AP Calculus exams are this week! All her teachers are so impressed with her consistent great performance.
--She chooses great friends, and is pretty sociable
--She makes her bed every day
--She does whatever she is asked to do to help around the house
--She has an appreciation for all types of music
--She is very goal-oriented and focused when she has her sights set on achieving something
--She runs to keep herself in good shape physically
--She is the household grammar police and we frequently has discussions about proper verb tense or dangling participles (in English or in Spanish)
--She is beautiful
--She is pretty humble about her accomplishments
--She knows and loves the scriptures and is very involved in church activities, and keeps high moral standards
--She is a great example to her younger sisters, and tolerates their little-sister-ness
--She is willing to try new things
--She is extremely dependable in so many aspects of her life
Thanks for being a part of our lives, Christa, and thanks for teaching us all so much! We love you!! Happy Sweet 16!

Dubai

2011-04-25T10:59:00.000-06:00

Ryan and I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Dubai this past week. When we were at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting in New Orleans in February, we met several dermatologists from the Middle East who expressed a need for dermatopathology expertise in that region of the world, and who told us about their regional meeting being held in Dubai. We have talked about expanding our practice internationally for a long time, and decided this was the time and place to explore that possibility. It was a big leap into the unknown, but turned out to be an amazing experience. We went with our two other key associates in our company, and learned so much and came away with many great contacts and 5 invitations for Ryan to speak at meetings in the region within the next year. There is a great need, not only for regular biopsy diagnosis, like Ryan does now for his American clients, but also for expert consultation and also for education and for humanitarian work. There are the wealthiest of the wealthy in the region, but also the poorest of the poor. It really was an incredible response and we are so grateful for the opportunity we had to go, and for the opportunities that are ahead. Here are a few pictures of some of the sights:

The Burj Khalifa--The tallest building in the world--

and the view from the observation deck on the 124th floor

The beach on the Persian Gulf

A traditional spice shop in the old Souk (market) area of town

The Jumeirah mosque-one of the few non-Muslims can tour

There is a mosque on every other corner all through the city

Ski Dubai-the indoor ski slope in one of the malls

Feet

2011-03-06T17:09:00.000-07:00

Paisley is having a foot fetish of late. Actually it's not just her feet. She is constantly complaining that her sock hurts, or her panties hurt, or her pants hurt . . . I cannot get that child dressed without at least 10 minutes of crying, fussing, whining, about her clothes. If she gets herself dressed, there is sometimes a bit less of it. But even if she chooses her clothes then asks for help, she complains that they bother her. She has just spent the last 20 minutes rolling around on the floor asking me to fix her sock. She wanted to go outside, but wants socks, but thinks I can fix them. I can't fix them. I admit that clothing is just irritating in general. Too bad we can't all go around completely naked all the time. Society and weather won't really permit that sort of thing. I think she just fell asleep on the floor mid tantrum. So much for early bedtime . . .

50 States!

2011-02-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

One day Ryan and I counted the number of states we have visited over our lives. About the time we moved here, we were up to 47 for me and 46 for him. Then we visited Alaska and Hawaii together and were tied at 48 states. Just Alabama and Mississippi to go. They have been the last two on our list for about 3 years. A couple of weeks ago Ryan had a conference scheduled in New Orleans, so we decided to take one morning while we were down there and check off our last two states. It's just over 2 hours from New Orleans, across the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, and into Alabama. The Mississippi Coast is really beautiful, even in February when it was way too cold to enjoy the beach. We had brunch at the Spot of Tea restaurant in Mobile, Alabama, listed in their "100 Things to Eat in Alabama Before You Die" brochure that we picked up at the visitor's information rest stop at the border.

As we drove it was fun to talk about what we remember from our visits to each of the other 48 states. It is so fun to have that perspective on our nation and to have a visual image of so many different places we have been. There are beautiful and amazing things to love in every place we have been. What a great country!

Next travel goal: Visiting all 7 continents over the next 7 years.

Two More Birthdays

2011-02-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

February is a double birthday month in our house.
Paisley turned 3! I can't believe I won't have a two year old in the house again. She got a pillow pet and a Mr. Potato Head and a heart dress. Her vocabulary has increased by leaps and bounds and she talks a mile a minute. She loves to draw and color and has just learned how to draw smiley faces.
Three things we love about Paisley:
--She spontaneously says, "I love you, Mom (or Dad). You're the best in the whole world."
--She wants to try everything the big girls are doing (playing the violin or piano, gymnastics, homework, collecting chicken eggs . . . .)
--She still likes me to cuddle with her at night.

Lexi also had her 14th birthday and got to go to her first church Saturday Night Dance. Very Exciting!

Fourteen things we love about Lexi:

--She is so smart and works hard to do well in school, even with her challenging math and science

--Listening to her practice and perform her cello

--Listening to her sing in choir, especially her solos or small ensembles

--Cheering for her basketball team and seeing her free-throws improve every week

--Her fast mile times, thanks to those long legs

--She has a wide variety of friends, and is kind to everyone at school

--She keeps her room cleaned up and does her own laundry

--She lets Paisley sleep with her sometimes, especially when Mom and Dad are out of town

--She does whatever she's asked without complaining

--She talks to me about the ups and downs in her life

--She doesn't get upset easily

--She has always been able to get up and get herself ready for school on time, since 1st grade

--She is committed to doing what is right, even when it seems hard

--She is beautiful!

Happy Birthday to two of my babies!

Minus One, Plus Two

2011-01-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

This has been a big week for Anya. She lost her first tooth. It went from just a bit wiggly to gone almost overnight! The nice tooth fairy let her keep the tooth and left money.

She also started wearing glasses! She has been wearing them very diligently and taking very good care of them.

Lovebirds

2011-01-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

These are our lovebirds, Mango and Bronco. They joined our family about 6 months ago. Mostly they are noisy and messy, but we do occasionally enjoy taking them out of their cage and talking to them and trying to teach them to say a few words, without success so far. You can't see so well from this picture, but Bronco has more orange on his cheeks, so he was named in honor of the Boise State mascot, their colors being blue and orange.
The other day Ryan was eating a mango we received in a Christmas gift basket. Paisley and a couple of the other girls were in the room and some of them were asking if they could taste the mango. Paisley said, "Dad, are you going to eat Bronco, too?" We laughed. A while later Ryan went in the sun room, and found Paisley staring into the lovebird cage. She said, with surprise and gladness, "Mango! You are still alive!" It's so cute to see how little not-quite-3-year-old brains put information together!

The Year In Review

2010-12-25T23:28:00.001-07:00

In place of sending a letter with our Christmas card, I decided to put our blog address on our cards and then post a review of the year.

Paisley is just about 3. She is a bundle of energy and rules the household, pretty much. She loves Pet Shops and Dora and pretending to play the violin and piano. Her favorite question is "Why?" and she makes us all laugh with her funny expressions. Her vocabulary is growing every day and she loves to go everywhere with Mom.

Anya turned 6 in September, and started Kindergarten in August. She loves all day school like the older girls and is on the Wall of Fame for her class for tying her shoes and writing her numbers. She is very social and has many friends and is constantly asking which friend can come play. She plays the violin and loves dancing and singing around the house.

Sierra turned 10 and is excited to be a two digit number. Sierra started playing the flute this summer and is also taking piano and Irish Dance lessons. She is very creative and is always drawing new fashion designs. She collects Webkinz and Silly Bands and loves to read.

Emma turned 12 in October and joined the older girls in the Young Women's class at church. She is home-schooling this year, but still sings in the choir at school and also plays viola in the Elementary Honor Orchestra. She is working on her first piano Concerto as well and really enjoys playing whatever music she can get into her hands and also likes to play a bit on the guitar. She spent a week this fall at the Outdoor Science School in McCall, with the rest of her 6th grade class.

Alexis is looking forward to her 14th birthday coming up in February. She is in 8th grade and ran with the cross country team this fall, winning first in one race and taking 2nd with her team for the season. She is taking advanced classes through the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center and is in the school choir. In February she starred in the lead role of the Junior High production of "The Boyfriend"--a cute musical set in the Roaring 20's. She takes cello lessons and has had several boys already ask her out. Dad has the shotgun handy.

Christa's major milestone for the year was taking Driver's Ed and getting her driver's license. While still limited to daylight driving hours, she is enjoying that extra bit of freedom every now and then. She started high school, and is taking AP Chemistry and AP Calculus through the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center. She was especially pleased with her score of 5 on the AP Physics exam this past spring. She took first place in her division in the Boise Sonatina Festival, on piano, and took first place in her division in the Meridian Symphony Young Artist's competition on violin. She took the first level of Teacher Training at the Suzuki Institute this summer, and now has her own violin studio with several beginning students. She started taking lessons on both instruments at the University, and is really enjoying the perspective of new teachers, and is playing with the Boise Philharmonic Youth Symphony, as principal second violinist. She is the self-proclaimed "Grammar Police," a talent she gets from her Dad.

Most of our family travels involve either music camp or a conference for Ryan's work. This year we were able to spend a few days seeing the sights and a show in New York City, skiing in Montana, enjoying some sun in San Antonio, visiting the Oregon Coast and Mt. Bachelor, listening to Itzhak Perlman in Sun Valley and watching a BYU football game (a winning one!). We were able to pull Dad away from the lab for a few days for a much needed actual vacation, sitting on the beach in Hawaii for a few days over Thanksgiving.

I spent a good part of the first few months of the year trying to get settled in our new house. I'm loving my garage where I can park my car out of the weather, and heated bathroom floors. I'm finally getting the house furnished and decorated bit by bit. I still spend one day a week helping out at Ryan's office, mostly keeping the books up to date and sharing my opinion on whatever the topic of the day may be. I had the last of my 30-something birthdays this year and have a few goals of "Things to accomplish before I turn 40." We'll see how many of those I can make a reality. Mostly I spend my time driving 6 busy children around town and keeping the household running.

Ryan's practice continues to grow each year, and he is enjoying being busy. We started several new business ventures this year on the side, including a lumber milling business, a fine woodworking business, a bee-keeping business, and a gold mining business, in addition to Cole's Organic Fruit Tree and Berry Farm here on the property. He loves listening to TED talks online while he works, and finds all sorts of inspiration for new projects.

We feel truly blessed, despite the challenges that life inevitably brings to all of us. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Birthday Girl

2010-09-21T07:56:00.000-06:00

Anya turned 6 a couple of weeks ago. We had to sqeeze in cake and ice cream between piano lessons and back to school night, but we got to sing and open presents. She really wanted to go ice skating for her birthday, so that is still on the to-do list when we have a day to get to IceWorld. There wasn't really anything she wanted, other than to shove her face in pie. For months whenever Anya gets excited about something, she says, "I think I want to shove my face in pie." Where she got this idea, I don't really know, but we promised her that on her birthday she could make that dream a reality. We made a delicious Jello pudding cream pie, and after opening present, she got to shove her own face in it. Crazy girl. Six things we love about Anya: She is adventurous and willing to try new things. She loves to read to me and with me. She is a good big sister to Paisley. She loves music-both playing it and listening or dancing to it. She remembers to say her prayers every night. She loves making new friends.
This past weekend she went to Utah with Uncle Andrew and visited grandma and cousins there. Our family definitely noticed how much she was missed. We love you, Anya!

First Day of School

2010-09-21T07:42:00.000-06:00

So this post is a bit belated. But we are all back into the swing of things with school. The girls are all enjoying their classes and teachers, and mostly getting to see their friends every day. Anya is in all day kindergarten, and has adjusted well to that new schedule. Of course I was the typical teary mom dropping the kindergartener off. It doesn't really matter how many times you have done that, or have left to do it, it still is an emotional milestone. Sierra is in 4th grade. Emma is in 6th grade, and went to school for 2 weeks, and then we decided to homeschool for the year with her, so she can have more time to work on her music and work more at her own pace (somehow I didn't get a first day picture of her. We'll have to go back and recreate the moment). Lexi is in 8th grade, and has started with great cross country season, besides a great academic year. Christa started at high school, and especially loves choir and Calculus. Paisley gets to be home all day with me and asked about 25 times a day for the first week, "Go get Anya?" It took a bit for her to get used to the girls being gone all day. It didn't take me long to get used to it :)

Football Season

2010-09-07T07:03:00.000-06:00

I have to admit it . . . I LOVE college football. I'm not a fanatic about it, but I really do enjoy a good game. I have loved it since I was 11 and my dad would take us to the Air Force Academy games (he taught there for 4 years) and we would watch the cadets all run down on the field to do push-ups when they scored, and my 6th grade teacher was the wife of one of the coaches and we would make posters for the team to put up in the locker room. I loved going to the games, even when one time my sister threw up when we were stuck in traffic and there were several of us crammed in the back of my dad's old Monte Carlo. At BYU, my roommates and I camped out for tickets and I don't think I ever missed a home game in the 4 years I was there. One roommate was a HUGE Ty Detmer fan and would wear her #14 jersey and paint her face blue. Her dream was to toss the football around with Ty, and I think she realized that dream during that 1990 year when he won the Heisman trophy. I was there cheering at the top of my lungs 20 years ago this week, when we beat Miami, a highly ranked team that year. It has been fun to be in Boise during such great years for Boise State, even though we haven't made it to many live games. I love seeing the highlights for all the good games on College Football Saturdays. I keep an ESPN app on my phone to track the top 25 teams (especially when BSU and/or BYU are in the top 25). This was a great weekend for my teams. We were able to go to Provo and watch BYU play, and there's nothing like being in the stands when they win. We watched the BSU game here at home. Both teams gave me a few new gray hairs by waiting to the last 2 minutes of their respective games to pull out their lead. I get way to anxious when things are that close. I didn't see the Air Force game, but their offense put 65 points on the board, and they play BYU next weekend. Yeah for fall and College Football!!
On a related note . . . We dropped Christa off on Friday night at her first High School football game. I just about cried. It was one of those weird moments where I all of a sudden felt much older. I sometimes feel like I should be the one walking into the stadium as a student, not my child. Strange.

Paisley

2010-08-11T09:29:00.002-06:00

Hi! I'm Paisley and I am 2 1/2. Some moments I am so cute and sweet and lovable, and other moments I am wild and completely out of control. My vocabulary is increasing daily and I love to mimic what I hear other people say. Two of my favorite expressions are: "Bad Baby!" (I say this whenever someone else, including Mom, does something I don't like) and "I love YOU." (I just learned that this is a great way to melt daddy's heart and get whatever treat he has that I want.) Everyone is also entertained by my gangster "What What" or "Peace Out" complete with appropriate body language. I want to be like the big girls and follow them around trying to do what they do constantly. I recently learned how to use the big girl potty and can keep my Cinderella panties dry all day and all night! Yeah for Mom-no more diapers. The girls just spent a week at music camp and whenever someone asks me what I want to play when I grow up, I tell them "I play BASS!-A tiny one" I really like to read books and I love our new puppies, Sugar and Snap. I don't want to take naps, but if we are in the car after 4 pm, or if the TV gets turned on in the late afternoon, I am sure to fall asleep, and then I will be up until 11:00 or so. I love "Lella" and any other princesses, and I love coloring with markers, especially on my hands and legs and some hidden corner of the wall or cabinet. I have snipped my own hair at least 3 times already. I love playing outside, and would spend all day in the swings if I could. I pretty much know that I am in charge around here. It's great!!

Oregon Coast and Vancouver

2010-07-12T10:31:00.000-06:00

Ryan had a conference scheduled in Vancouver, Washington so we decided to make a little family vacation of the trip. Here are a few pictures of our adventures. We spent 3 days on the coast first and then headed inland to the Portland/Vancouver area.

What used to be the largest Sitka Spruce in North America. The top blew off about 2 1/2 years ago, but it's still an impressive tree.

Ecola State Park

Tillamook Creamery-a must see for dairy lovers.

Portland Children's Museum

The Portland Zoo

Japanese Garden and Rose Garden in Portland

Bonneville Dam Fish ladder

Multnomah Falls

One event I didn't get a good picture of-we brought home two new family members. Someone at a gas station had 2 cute puppies they were giving away. My husband has a very soft spot for homeless animals and we now have two (because we couldn't separate the brother and sister) new puppies, named Sugar and Snap. They both rode 4 hours home on Ryan's lap (fleas and all.) I'll post pictures with the kids later (with fleas all dead).

I guess I should go clean out my car instead of playing on Blogger. I'm sure the girls will post more pictures on Facebook.

Zoo Animals

2010-07-02T09:37:00.000-06:00

My sister was here in town on Monday and Tuesday for a couple of days and we decided to take the kids to the zoo. I hadn't been there in a couple of years so my girls were pretty excited, especially Paisley, who has never been to a zoo. Our zoo is pretty small and doesn't have too many exotic animals, but it's about right for the 2-6 year old crowd. They also got to ride on the merry-go-round. Note to self-do not try to take pictures while riding on the very small merry-go-round. My head was still going in circles for several minutes afterward.

My Front Door

2010-07-02T09:30:00.000-06:00

This post is way overdue, but I still have to write it. Since we first started building our house, Ryan wanted to build the front door himself. The idea came from an Amish tradition where the husband would build the front door in anticipation of his marriage. He had some beautiful walnut wood that came from a tree that was on one of the original homesteads here in Dry Creek Valley. There were so many projects going on when we moved in that the door just didn't happen. We put some boards up over our main entrance and just went on. But our mortgage company withheld a portion of our funds in escrow until we completed the door, as well as several other items that weren't essential for living, but certainly kept the house unfinished. I patiently waited without trying to be too nagging for our front door. The mortgage company said our deadline was April 30th. By April 30th I had a frame for the front door, but still no actual door to put in there. We were able to get extensions from the bank, and I kept telling Ryan the deadline was 3 days away, and he put in many almost all-nighters, and by the end of May I actually had a front door hung. It still needs a couple of coats of finish, and the actual art glass that will go in the windows of the door, but it's beautiful, and it makes the house look more finished. Ryan does some amazing woodwork-he just doesn't like to be on a timeline. Now can we talk about bookshelves . .

Farm adventures

2010-06-12T00:17:00.000-06:00

Wednesday morning I woke up and was sitting at the computer doing my morning email checking routine. Everyone else was still asleep, except for Christa and Lexi, who went out for a run. I thought the chickens were being especially noisy, but thought maybe I just hadn't noticed them before since it's not usually so quiet this time of day. Chickens? I guess I should explain. We had been told that chickens are fairly easy to raise and that we could have our own fresh, organic eggs within a few months. So we decided to give it a try. Of course when Ryan decides to try a new hobby, he goes all out. Within about a week's time, we had close to 50 tiny chicks and 4 cute ducklings in a little pen in our garage under a heat lamp. This was in mid-March. In about 2 weeks they grew out of that pen and he built a slightly larger pen for them, still in the garage, since it was still pretty chilly outside. Meanwhile, a friend started building a more permanent chicken coop out on the driveway in front of Ryan's shop, with the intention of moving it to it's permanent home in the pasture when it was complete. Well, the chickens continued to grow and didn't know they were supposed to wait for the coop to be ready so they could have a home and learned to fly out of the pen in the garage and were creating a bit more mess and smell that I really wanted in the garage. Plus the nights were mostly above freezing by the first part of May. We attached wheels to the coop and moved in about 50 feet down the driveway, where it has been stuck since the first week in May. The ground has been too wet for us to try to take a large, heavy building across the field. And the original plan for moving it did not work quite the way we expected. The chickens (and ducks) were moved to a new temporary home of enclosed chicken wire in the field. They have been mostly content with this arrangement, as long as someone remembers to feed and water them often enough. The girls like to go out and pay them a visit every now and then. We have several varieties-mostly hens, but some roosters, too, and four funny ducks. On Wednesday morning as I was sitting here, I heard an especially loud THUMP, followed by more chicken sounds. It's not uncommon for birds to hit my windows in the morning, but this didn't sound like the usual chickadee hitting the glass. So, I went downstairs to investigate. Out the back window I saw my chicken enclosure completely empty with not a chicken in sight, and a large dog running away across my field. Hmmmm. I stepped out the back door, and still could see no chickens. I walked around to the front of the house and found about a dozen of the chickens hiding out on my front porch. Then I went around the other side and found another couple dozen, and the ducks, hiding out under Ryan's truck. I also found a few on the back porch, and two that had somehow fallen down the window well to the basement. I don't know a lot about chickens, but I really didn't want to leave them all over my house and yard, leaving little presents for us to find later with bare feet. So how to get them back to their home. (There was one chicken dead next to the enclosure, and lots of scattered feathers.) In books and movies it seems you see chickens happily following their caretaker, who scatters corn as she wanders the farmyard, and all the chicken follow. My chickens were not the least bit interested in following my trails of feed. Next idea: to herd the chickens back toward the enclosure. I learned that chickens are not particularly herding animals. Especially if there is only one chicken herder. I did manage to get all of the ones on the front porch to join the group on the back porch. Now to get the ones from under Ryan's truck. Finally Ryan came out to join me in my chicken herding endeavors. (Of course by now it's starting to rain again.) With the two of us and Ryan's brother Andrew, and our lawn boy, Blake, we managed to herd all the chickens back to their enclosure. Ryan nicknamed me "Chicken Whisperer" because I did have a good number following me around. We must have looked pretty silly chasing chickens all over the yard. Blake had to climb down the window well and carry the two that were down there up and out. I need to get better farm girl shoes-my good white sandals got pretty muddy. Another adventure of the city girl trying to turn into Farmer Brown.

Shopping . . .

2010-06-11T00:19:00.001-06:00

So, the last few months have been crazy busy and I was in Facebook world for awhile, but it's not really working for me as a good way to actually share or record what's going on in my life, so I think I'm back to blogger. I'm not deserting Facebook altogether, since I still like to spy on my children that way, but for my personal use, I think this is better. I've skipped a lot, but I'm not going to try to go back and catch up now, I'll just pick up with my thoughts for today and maybe one day next week I'll find some pictures we've taken in the last bit and add a few historical notes.
As for the title of this post . . . I've discovered that the trade off for the fun of shopping for cute baby girl clothes is the agony of shopping for preteen and teenage girl clothes. This is where having boys would really be handy-jeans and T-shirts and styles that don't really change from toddler through adulthood. That doesn't work for girls. Particularly my girls. You would think that with all them I would just be able to pass things right on down the line. Not so much. For one thing, they are all different body types. For another thing, they all have completely different tastes. Thirdly, they are all pretty particular about what they will and won't wear (it's too itchy, it's too clingy, it's too loose, it's too short, it's too long, the pockets are strange, I hate glitter). Fourthly, styles change between the time #1 child wears it and #6 child gets it. Fifthly, after about 3 children, clothes start looking pretty worn or stained. So, I find myself needing to buy every single one of these cute girls a new summer wardrobe this year. Luckily the oldest 2 have their own source of income and are largely responsible for paying for their own things. But I still have to endure the shopping for the new things. I confess, I have never been a shopaholic. I spent some time wandering the mall as a teenager, but not for the love of shopping. I get a headache after running from store to store for more than about and hour and a 1/2. I don't even enjoy shopping for my own clothes. I find myself spending hours perseverating over whether or not I'm getting the best deal, and whether I might find something I like more somewhere else, how often it will have to be ironed, and whether I really should be spending my money on this at all, or if this article of clothing will match enough of what is already in my closet. That's after I even find something I kind of like and that mostly fits, which in and of itself is a major chore. I inherited my shopping dislike from my mother. She was one of those who knew what she needed, knew where to get it and was in and out of the store with her mission accomplished. I'll probably pass it on to my children. Summer clothes and church dresses are particularly troublesome shopping missions. Shorts are too short, tank tops too skimpy, and dresses don't come with sleeves anymore. Of course my girls want to look reasonably stylish, and so do I, but these days stylish means having the least amount of coverage of your body as possible. That doesn't work for me. This season I seem to be having an especially hard time finding things I like and that they like for anyone. Lexi and Christa are so long-legged that any skirt or shorts is too short. Emma is difficult right now being in that weird preteen size where juniors don't really fit, unless I can find an extra small, but girls' size 14/16 don't really work either. Sierra is just too skinny and pretty much any bottoms fall off of her. I had a bunch of knit shorts that Emma wore, but she hates those. I have several cute summer skirts in Anya's size, but she's not so much into those. I've tried saying, "Well, that's what we have, so wear it or not" and they usually opt for the "or not" and wear the same 3 outfits that they like every day then cry to me in the morning that their clothes aren't clean. I just gave away boxes of clothes that were just sitting in the closet not worn while my kids complain that they have nothing to wear. Internet shopping doesn't really help me because the girls really need to be able to try things on-there is so much variation in sizing. Maybe I'll be hiring a personal shopper for back to school season . . . for the next 15 years.

Fall update

2009-12-06T22:52:00.004-07:00

My girls remind me regularly that I need to update our blog. Yes, I do. It's been a crazy few months. I don't think I've even downloaded pictures off our camera since my last post. Can I even find the camera at this point? Here's the overview:

Oct. 18: Sierra's 9th birthday. Emma was so sweet and put together a surprise party for her.

Oct. 29: Emma's 11th birthday.

Oct. 31: Halloween

Also Oct 31: Moved out of rental house while Ryan was away in Chicago at a business meeting.

Nov. 1: Went to Pocatello to see my brother who was in town for 2 days before deploying to Iraq this month.

Nov. 2-20: Stayed in another rental. Ryan was over at our new place every night until 1 or 2 am trying to get it livable.

Nov. 19: Paisley sick with the stomach flu.

Nov. 20: Ready or not, here we come. We moved into our new house, on the condition that the plumbers turn on hot water for us that day, which they did. But the electricians shut off the circuit to the heat and we didn't have heat until Sunday. Thanks goodness for the wood-burning stove.

Nov. 20: Sierra, Anya, Christa and Mom up all night with the stomach flu.

Nov. 22: Lexi and Ryan up all night with the stomach flu.

Nov. 24: My sister Karianne came over to help me get a few things unpacked.

Nov. 26: Thanksgiving, with 3 more sisters here with their families and my parents, here at our new house. They all went home with the stomach flu as well.

Nov. 30: We actually closed the mortgage on our house.

We are grateful to be here, but still LOTS of work to be done (a front door before Christmas would be nice). Yes, my husband is a compulsive perfectionist, who believes that if it's going to be done correctly, he has to do it himself. Lots of boxes to unpack as I figure out how to arrange things.

December 4: Girls played piano in Christmas recital

December 5: Christa performed a Mozart and Mendelssohn concerto in a solo recital.

So, that's been our life for the last couple months. Kind of crazy, but good crazy. I am getting a bit tired of "Mom, do you know where . . . is?" Some days I feel like I spend 1/2 the day just finding things for people around here. It's nice to know I don't have to move again for a long while. Paisley is into the full blown 2 year old stage, complete with tantrums and screaming fits, alternating with complete cuteness, like when she points out the Christmas lights with a big "WOW!" Anya loves her preschool, and lots of playdates with friends. Sierra is so excited about making everyone's Christmas presents and started Irish dance this fall, along with Emma and Anya. She also had a great soccer season. Emma is really enjoying playing viola in the school orchestra, and is really picking it up quickly. Lexi has the lead role in the school play coming up in February, had an awesome cross country season, and is on student council. Christa is also in the school play, also on student council, played on the 9th grade varsity volleyball team, and is still keeping up with violin, piano, and her AP Physics class. Plus she's officially old enough for driver's ed, although that will have to wait a couple of months.

Now to think about Christmas, if I can find any decorations.

I'll try to find my camera to add some pictures of all this excitement! Happy December.

Pictures

2009-09-20T17:39:00.011-06:00

Birthday Girl

Yellowstone

4th of July with the Freis

Dr. Cole and Dr. Cole

Shoshone Falls

Paisley dressing herself

First Day of School

Christa and Friends at Music Camp

Is summer over already?

2009-08-23T22:29:00.002-06:00

I can't believe how this summer has flown. I've been really negligent on posting, partly because Christa wanted a Facebook account, so I started that, partly to get a glimpse of her life from that point of view, and I can only keep up with so many online posting things at a time. Here's a brief update: We moved Ryan into his new office. He's been working out of our home for the past 5 years since starting his own practice. Having him work at home has been a great thing for our family in many ways, but it was time to make the transition back to a regular office space. One major reason being he needed to hire some additional support staff and I can't have a couple of administrative people working in my house. We were able to hire my sister, who has worked for our billing office for quite awhile, and convince her to move to Boise, and we found another girl with some medical office experience who should be a good fit. I have been working down at the office (about 12 minutes down the hill) trying to get the new people trained in and things running smoothly. I have full time help at home with the girls for 10 more days, and then I get to really be a stay home mom again. It will be strange to not be in the day to day of our practice, though. Though I have plenty to do to keep me busy at home, I'll miss being more of a part of Ryan's world.

After putting out our For Sale By Owner on a whim, we had an offer on the house within 2 weeks, and closed a month later. We were able to find a rental here in the neighborhood, since our new place won't be ready for move in until sometime mid October. We put a lot in storage, and in many ways that has greatly simplified things. It's a lot easier to pick up toys when the number that can get dumped out is limited.

Meanwhile, Christa and Lexi went to Girl's Camp. Then we took Christa over to Harrington State Park (Eastern Idaho, North of Rexburg) for an amazing two week music camp. We took the whole family and spent an extra day in Yellowstone and checking out Bear World. We were reminded that Paisley really does not like being in the car for longer than, say, 30 minutes at a stretch, and she doesn't sleep in the car for more than 30 minutes a day.

July 22-25 Ryan had a conference in Cle Elum, Washington (an hour east of Seattle) so he and I took Lexi and Emma over to that, and enjoyed a couple of days relaxing and biking in the great outdoors. We came back from that to a new hire at the office to train in, a record case load for the week, and a house to finish packing and moving. We had some wonderful help with the move and getting the old house ready for the new owners, and it is great to have that behind us.

I think I'm pretty much done with getting ready for school, except for finding shoes and a backpack for Lexi. The girls are very excited about their new teachers and classes. Christa just found out she made the varsity 9th grade volleyball team. Lexi will be starting the junior high, and just got her very own cell phone. Emma is going back to regular school after doing homeschool for last semester. Sierra is always excited about everything and she'll be starting her new soccer season this week. Anya is a bit sad that most of her good friends will be in kindergarten, and she gets another year of preschool. It will be good to have the extra time with her, though. Paisley is just a busy busy bee. Her favorite words are Mommy, More and Shoes. And we added 4 more new kittens a month ago, but we lost 3 with the move. They won't stay at the new place.

One more week of summer freedom then back to the school routine!

Book Recital

2009-06-16T22:51:00.002-06:00

On Saturday Christa and Lexi will have a their Suzuki "Book" Recital. It's Suzuki tradition to have a recital performing all of the works in a particular volume when those pieces are mastered. Lexi completed Book 3 cello about 3 months ago, and Christa is finishing Book 8 Violin, so we are hosting a performance for them at Dunkley's at 5:30 pm on June 20th. You are all invited to join us to celebrate their year of hard work and the joy of music in our lives!

One more thing I should have added on my list of things I've learned this month:

-Small busted women are in the minority in this day and age, as evidenced by the difficulty in finding a bra that fits.

Catching up

2009-06-14T23:01:00.002-06:00

Well, I guess I haven't posted in awhile, so I'll fill in here. This past month has been a bit crazy around here. After Christa's birthday, we had our anniversary (#17), Ryan's birthday (#41) and lots of end of the year concerts, socials, soccer parties, field trips, and so on. Things have calmed down a bit since everyone finished school, with flying colors I should add, and we are settling into some sort of routine, if you can call it that. Ryan has a new lab building that is ready this week, so we will be moving offices over the next bit, and trying to train in some new secretarial staff. We also put the house on the market. We won't actually be ready to move out until October most likely, but we figured we should capitalize on the summer traffic. Right now we just have a For Sale By Owner sign out front, but we have had one person come look already. We'll see what happens. We have lots of changes going on, and while they are all exciting ones, it's stressful in some ways, too. A few things I've learned in the last month:

-14 year olds should not be hand-washing priceless family heirloom bowls

-High density spray foam insulation exacerbates asthma

-8 pizzas are too many for a soccer team pool party

-I must know where Paisley is at every moment-if I can't hear her, it means trouble

-How Spock and Captain Kirk became friends

-Sierra doesn't run into things as often without the filter on her glasses

-Emma would rather hang around the boys

-Hot pink nail polish doesn't really come out of carpet, and the bottles break when dropped onto tile floors

-Love is a choice

-Cats can be pregnant again 8 weeks postpartum

-My husband can still make my heart flutter

-I don't remember very many people from high school

Until next time . . .

Giving

2009-05-08T16:53:00.003-06:00

I just listened to this great talk recently given at BYU. It's about 30 minutes but well worth the listen.

http://www.byub.org/talks/Talk.aspx?id=2998

Naming Contest

2009-05-05T23:39:00.002-06:00

So we need a name for our new little place in the "country." We have been referring to it as "Cole Cottage" but it's not really sticking for me. I am thinking more along the lines of something-Farms. Just thought I would solicit nominations. We'll come up with some great prize for the winning entry-you can come over and have a BarBQ or something. Thanks for your input!

Happy Birthday Christa!

2009-05-03T00:48:00.002-06:00

I can't believe Christa is 14 already. I really can't be old enough, can I? Christa is becoming such an amazing young lady. She is so self confident and talented in so many areas. Today she wanted to spend the day with friends. It's been interesting to watch her develop and expand her friendships this year, being in the junior high school. She gets along with lots of different groups of friends--church friends, choir friends, TVMSC friends, neighborhood friends, sports friends . . She has always made good choices with her friends, and we are grateful we can trust her judgement in that department. We may have to sign her up for text-messengers anonymous sometime soon, though. Thanks for being a good example to your sisters, Christa, and thanks for your willingness to work hard and do the right thing. We love you lots!

Kids

2009-04-23T22:10:00.002-06:00

Tonight as I was tucking Anya into bed, she poked herself in the eye. I said that eye were not for poking. She said, "Eyes are for seeing. And Mouths are for talking and eating. And Ears are for hearing, and Noses are for sniffing, and Hair is for putting in accessories." She is definitely the girly-girl.

Paisley has learned this week to throw major tantrums when things don't quite go her way. She drops to the floor and actually bangs her head on the ground a time or two until I feel enough sympathy to pick her up.

Kittens

2009-04-16T23:01:00.002-06:00

Whiskers just had 3 baby kittens. They are so tiny and cute. I hope they make good farm cats for when we move out to the new place!

Trouble with a capital . . . P

2009-04-16T22:48:00.004-06:00

Doesn't this face look like she's up to something? This little girl is busy busy busy. She is weighing in at just barely over 2o lbs and 31 1/2 inches--following the long and skinny model of several of her sisters, and boy is she on the go. I've seen similar posts on several blogs by those of you with a toddler in this age range--if she's not being constantly supervised, you can plan on a disaster in her wake. Paisley's favorite perch is the middle of the kitchen table. I came home from violin lessons the other night to find that she had climbed up there before it had been cleared off from dinner and decided to test gravity with a glass. Luckily it had been emptied of juice before she pitched it to the floor. She uses whatever she can find as a ladder. She likes to try to clean the toilet with the toilet brush and is particularly fond of the dishwasher as well. She has half of her 1 year old molars in and a snotty nose right now, so she's a bit more grumpy than usual. She doesn't sit still for more than about 30 seconds, unless I am in the shower. The other day she was emptying the bathroom drawers, as usual when I'm taking my shower. I looked out and didn't see her anywhere until I looked right on the rug next to the shower. With the soothing sound of the water running, she had put her head down right there and gone to sleep. Cute!

Easter

2009-04-16T22:37:00.004-06:00

We enjoyed out Easter weekend. Due to soccer games, we weren't able to participate in the neighborhood Easter egg hunts, but we did have out own version in the backyard. We also had fun with a good old Paas egg dye kit. Tomorrow it's time to make egg salad sandwiches I guess. For Easter I get a bit obsessed about finding new dresses for all the girls. I love to search for matching outfits. However, a few times I have found things that match, only to find that certain children would never where the dress I picked out ever again. So this year my dilemma was whether to find everyone something they liked, even if it didn't match, or to make sure we all matched, even if the girls didn't like it. Well, I picked something they liked. The three little girls coordinated pretty well, but the older ones didn't really. In some years I've been really ambitious and made their dresses, but that gets time consuming when it's times 6 now. We tried to talk more about Jesus than the Easter Bunny, so hopefully some of that sunk in.

My Hand

2009-04-16T22:21:00.005-06:00

Thanks to all of you for your sympathy and offers of help while I was disabled! So I took Paisley and Lexi in to see our family doctor for their immunizations and well visits last week. While there I mentioned my encounter with Jack and showed him my right hand, which was still pretty tender and a bit swollen in one area. Ryan and I had discussed the possibility that it could be broken, but I didn't have time or desire to go get an X-ray, make an appointment with an orthopedist, etc. Dr. Kropf felt that it would be good to have the X-ray and at least know for sure what we were dealing with. Luckily there's an imaging center in the same building as his office and he was able to send an order and I could get it done right away. He called later to say that I did indeed have a fracture at the base of my 5th metacarpus (pinkie), right near where it meets the wrist bones. He was even so good as to call the orthopedist and give him the history. Given that it looked pretty stable, and that I was two weeks out already, they decided that I could just wear a wrist splint until I can go about my regular activities without much pain. I wore the splint for about 6 days until it just got annoying. Thanks to daily prayers by Anya that "Mom's hand will get better" it feels mostly back to normal now. The stitches have all healed beautifully and are just slightly tender if they get bumped just wrong. Here's a picture of your hand bones, if you are looking at your right hand with the palm toward you. The fracture is right about where you can see the red line that says "hamate" even though that's not the name of the bone. Enjoy your anatomy lesson for the day.

Sad Days

2009-03-24T21:44:00.002-06:00

Well, today was one of those days that doesn't quite go like you plan. This morning I was putting our 3 1/2 year old lab, Jack, back in his kennel after his morning potty break. I grabbed him by the collar from behind him (bad form for a dog owner), and he whipped around and bit me--hard, on both hands. Ryan ended up putting 20+ stitches in my hands, and my function is somewhat limited for a couple of days. My right hand especially is pretty swollen and tender, but I learned to type one-handed in all my years of nursing babies and working on the computer at the same time, so I can still do some things. I'm just a bit slower that way. Unfortunately, this is not the first time Jack has shown signs of aggressive behavior, and we have hoped he would grow out of it, or that we could train it out of him, but that has not been successful. At this point Ryan decided we would just have to put him down. So, this afternoon Ryan took both dogs down to the Humane Society--Jack to be euthanized and Jill to go up for adoption. Jill never showed the aggression, but we just don't have the time to really train her to be a good family dog right now with everything else going on. Plus, the girls never really loved her because she's so rambunctious and jumps up on them, so they wouldn't walk her or play with her. Anya is the most sad of all the girls because Jack was her Birthday dog when she turned 1. As Ryan tucked her in tonight they were talking about Jack being put to sleep and she said, "I wish this was a dream and not real life." Ryan is in the depths of despair--he had dreams of Jack being his garage buddy and bird hunting dog for many years to come. A few things to be grateful for with all of this--Jack bit me and not one of the girls; the girls are home for spring break, so they can really help out for a few days until I regain most of my function; it wasn't a busy work day for Ryan, so he won't get behind after not doing much work all day. So the timing was good, even if I never would have chosen the experience.

Photo Booth

2009-03-22T23:19:00.003-06:00

On our Mac, we have a fun feature called Photo Booth, which is basically a built-in web cam. The girls love to sit in front of the computer and take pictures of themselves with all sorts of cool and interesting effects. Here's a sampling.

Getting so Big!

2009-03-22T22:53:00.004-06:00

Paisley is growing up so fast! She climbs on everything and anything, and can open drawers and doors now, too, thanks to lever door handles. This morning she climbed/fell out of her bed. I heard here awake and fussing, but was still half asleep and couldn't get myself out of bed, until I head the "Thud." I went in and found that the same sound had pulled Lexi out of bed, and she beat me to pick up Paisley. I realized that the crib was only on the 2nd lowest setting, so I can drop it another inch lower, so hopefully that will buy me a few more months in her crib. I was debating whether to put the crib up in our new house, or move her to a bed at that point. I guess I'll be lucky if I can keep her in the crib until the end of the summer!

Here she is sitting on Ryan's desk next to the microscope, where she found a chocolate treat. She seems to have a built in radar for chocolate. A few short minutes after getting her down from this precarious perch, we found her on the stairs, also with someone's chocolate bar.

She found both Lexi's and Sierra's candy drawer and regularly raids those.

She is also developing quite a little vocabulary. She can say Hi, Momma, Dad, Di-da (for Christa or sister), shoe, juice, woof (for dog), more, and night-night. At least we think she says all that. She has had a poor snotty nose and diaper rash this week, and is cutting 4 molars (one has broken the surface), so she's been a bit out of sorts this week.

San Francisco

2009-03-15T17:49:00.003-06:00

Last weekend Ryan and I spent a couple of days in San Fran for the American Academy of Dermatology Conference. He goes most every year (last year I was in the hospital having Paisley so we missed it) to shake hands and bring in some new clients for his practice. We were able to squeeze in a visit to Muir Woods, just over the Golden Gate Bridge, and Stinson Beach, a trolley ride to Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square with a view of Lombard Street in passing, and dinner and shopping for trinkets for the girls in Chinatown. It was fun to be in a big city again--I love the vibrancy and the culture that comes with a real city. But I'm always happy that I'm living in a bit more sheltered town here in Boise. I helped out in Ryan's booth on the tradeshow floor, where it is always interesting to people watch. Walking along the streets of San Fran we noticed a few scraggly men shaking their cups and asking for donations-some playing music, others just hoping people would drop in some change. We mused that our activities in town weren't all that different, we just have a nicer backdrop. Maybe next year we'll bring along the violin and just have the case open in front of our booth, "Biopsies to spare, anyone?" The girls were well taken care of here at home, and it was nice to have a couple of days break, even though we were working.

News Story

2009-02-28T13:16:00.004-07:00

Channel 7 called our heating and cooling contractor the other day and asked if they could do a story on geothermal systems, and other "green" energy sources. Jason, our contractor, told them they were working on an install at our house, and the news came out and did a little article on renewable energy, which now qualify for some additional tax credits and incentives. We were there going over some lighting, so the news interviewed Ryan as well. Here's the link to the story, complete with video of the house.

Lexi turns 12!

2009-02-18T14:40:00.002-07:00

Tuesday was Lexi's 12th birthday! We've been stretching the celebration out for several days. On Saturday we went shopping and got her ears pierced. Then Monday night we went out to dinner and had cake with some friends who have a little boy who shares Lexi's birthday. Tuesday was her real, actual birthday, but it's our crazy lesson day, so we didn't really have much time, but she did get treats at her school class and to choose dinner (dad's homemade mac and cheese), and she opened presents late that evening when everyone was back home. She is excited for her friend party on Friday night, and sometime we need to have her mom and dad dinner date. Lexi is such a sweet, bright, talented kid. Some things we love about Lexi: She is a pretty easy going kid-not much gets her upset; she is a huge help with Paisley; she is very smart, but is really humble about it; she is friendly to a variety of kids; she has worked really hard to get all of the Articles of Faith memorized before her birthday, and is sooooo excited to be in the Young Women program; she likes to play football at recess, and loves to go for long walk-runs; she has a really quick, witty sense of humor and often makes us laugh with her sarcastic comments. She is a joy in our lives, and a child any parent would wish for. Thanks, Lexi, for being you. We love you tons!

Happy Birthday Paisley!

2009-02-06T01:07:00.003-07:00

On Monday, the 2nd, we celebrated Paisley's first birthday. I can't believe I don't have a baby anymore. She's a full-fledged toddler. She walks everywhere, and even tries to run. She's learning to climb on everything, and she's figured out how to let us all know what she wants (and doesn't want.) We switched the car-seat around to face forward, which makes her so much happier. This little one is definitely the star of the family. She knows how to pose for the camera, and how to scream until someone gives her whatever toy she was just playing with. We all adore her-especially her daddy. She loves her new baby doll. (She would steal Anya's all the time, so she got her own for her birthday.) Thanks Sarah for the cute cake idea.

No news is good news . . .

2009-01-22T00:30:00.004-07:00

Things have been the usual crazy busy around here since Christmas. We had various family members here visiting for most of the 2 weeks starting at New Year's (thanks for all your help!). We love being close enough to have family come visit, after spending the first 12 years of married life at least 1200 miles away from family. Just as we were getting back into the swing of things, the girls had a couple of days off school for the end of the semester, and for MLK day (or whatever we call this holiday in the middle of January now). Paisley is walking all over the place now, and wins the prize for the youngest walker of all the girls. She is also starting to say a few words-Hi, Momma, Dadda, juice, and some form of Lexi. She is getting to be a little mimic and has quite an opinion about lots of things. She really fast at emptying my bathroom cabinets and the plastic dishware cabinet. She recently had a bout of thrush, which resulted in her being weaned (happy day and sad day), and a course of Nystatin. That seems to be mostly resolved now. We have decided to homeschool Emma for the remainder of the school year. Though she has been performing at the top of her class academically, she just wasn't loving the school experience. We have a great curriculum that makes it pretty easy for me to manage and for her to be mostly independent in the day to day learning activities. She will still go down to HSCS for PE and a few other specials with her old class. She is excited for the change. Christa started basketball. She was picked for the 8th grade varsity team and is really improving, especially in her shooting abilities. Her first game is tomorrow. Go Grizzlies! Our house is coming along, and we're just trying to keep up with all the decisions about windows and bathtubs and where we want light fixtures. It's never-ending, but in a mostly fun way. We have been in an inversion for nearly 2 weeks straight, and I am more than ready to see some sun! They say maybe this weekend. I got a new computer and imported all my photos, but somehow they came through duplicated and unorganized, so there's a new project, in case I don't have enough on my to-do list. I enjoy those kinds of projects, though. They just come out of my sleep.

These pictures are just random shots from the last month.

Aarggh matey! Anya the sleeping pirate

Almost a toddler

Bad hair day

Trying out my new makeup kit from Grandma

The Year in Review!

2008-12-26T18:35:00.007-07:00

I finally got our Christmas cards sent out, better late than never. Thanks to all of you who sent pictures or cards or whatever sort of update on your lives. We LOVE getting Christmas cards. I put all of them up on our wall and the girls ask about who everyone is and how we know them and "Who is my age?" It's so fun to tell them about all of our wonderful friends we have collected over the years in the various places we have lived. You continue to bless our lives even though we don't see you very often. I put our blog address our little picture Christmas card, so for those of you just tuning in, I thought I'd give a brief summary of the year and the girls.

We have our first teenager in the house-Christa turned 13 in May. She has been busy, busy, busy with school (Treasure Valley Math and Science Center, and Riverglen Junior High), violin, piano, volleyball, and Young Women activities. She loves being involved. She got braces a few weeks ago. She is still a bookworm, though reading usually comes out of her sleep. She is in choir this year and loves making up harmonies to songs.

Alexis is super excited to be turning 12 in February. She also started at the Math and Science Center, and goes to Hidden Springs Charter school for the other 1/2 of the day. She is playing cello and piano and school basketball. She started babysitting and loves earning her own money. Paisley loves Lexi as her second Mom!

Emma turned 10 in October. She is also taking piano lessons and is doing well in school. She loves working with Ryan on wood projects in the garage and is looking forward to finishing her kayak in the next year.

Sierra turned 8 in October and was baptized a member of our church. We are so proud of her for making this decision. Her school teacher is incredibly energetic and really brings out the best in Sierra. Her class was involved in a Food drive in November and Sierra could hardly leave for school without taking 3 or 4 cans from our food storage. She played soccer in the spring, and was the fastest girl on the field!

Anya loves preschool and is our little drama queen. She started violin lessons and loves to think about and talk about playing the violin, though she doesn't always love actually practicing. Christa is working with her on this and it's fun to see them work together. She loves the American Girls doll Kit, and had her hair cut so that she could look just like Kit. (Until she decided to cut it herself last week. See previous post.) She is also taking ballet and loves dancing around the house when one of the girls is playing piano.

The highlight of our year was the addition of Paisley to our family. She was born February 2, on a cold and snowy morning. She is a generally happy baby and we all adore her. Even with our 6th, I am constantly amazed at how she grows and changes daily. She is saying her first words and taking her first steps.

Ryan's practice continues to grow and he is enjoying his work. He was able to take a few days off to go to the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota this fall, with several friends, for some much needed guy time. He also spent a couple of weeks in Portland learning how to build a guitar and always has several woodworking projects at various stages of completion. He also enjoyed experiencing Alaska with the rest of the family this year.

I'm just trying to keep everyone where they need to be and keep the household, and Ryan's practice, running smoothly.

We had two kittens and a new puppy join our family and they keep Ryan company in the garage. We had to put our old cat, Mouser, to sleep this summer and we miss her.

A few of our adventures include our family reunion in Eastern Idaho, a week in Alaska, a quick trip to Disneyland, a conference in Victoria, BC, as well as camping and canoeing around Boise.

We are grateful for the many blessings which we have enjoyed this year, especially for our relationships with each other, with you, and with our Savior, Jesus Christ. We hope this year has been a good one for you and yours as well. Keep in touch!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T18:12:00.003-07:00

This has been a great week. We got enough of a break in the weather to go over to Pocatello for my Mom's 60th birthday. All of my siblings and spouses were there except for my sister Teri and her family, who came at Thanksgiving time, and my brother-in-law Will who is serving a 6 month tour of duty in Baghdad. We went out to dinner, just the grown-ups, which was great. Of course we were true to form and 1/2 an hour late because it took longer than we planned to get all of Ryan's work done so that we could get on the road, but it was fun just the same. (Punctuality has got to be one of my New Year's resolutions). We came back on Wednesday in time for the girls to finish up their gifts for each other. We have a tradition of the kids making gifts for each of their sisters. It's so fun to watch them get excited about giving something they really put a lot of effort into. Then we had our Christmas Eve program, with the reading of the Nativity Story, and then sent everyone to bed. Christmas day the girls are great about not waking Mom and Dad up too early, so we got to sleep in until about 8:00 am. Then we opened stockings, had a nice breakfast, and opened our other gifts. We kept things pretty simple this year, but all of the girls were happy with their gifts, and excited to give the things they had made. We got more snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, mixed with some rain and ice. It was great to have a white Christmas. The girls are having fun sledding. We went out today and found a couple of new sleds, since the dog ate our sled from last year. Hopefully we'll get up to the ski resort pretty soon to enjoy their new snow.

Playing Catch-up

2008-12-26T18:09:00.002-07:00

The last few weeks have been insanely crazy. I'm sure many of you have felt the same. At 1:00 am it becomes a question of blogging or sleeping. I have chosen sleep. So, I'm finally getting to some posts I've had on my mind for a few weeks. Enjoy.

Haircut

2008-12-26T14:49:00.003-07:00

I guess it was inevitable. Anya has been telling me she wanted "vangs" in her hair for weeks. She got a bit impatient waiting for me to take her to our friend that usually cuts the girls' hair for me, and took matters into her own hands. Hands with scissors that is. She now has very short "vangs" right in front, as well as some nice side layers. She wasn't looking in the mirror when she did it and I gave her a bath and then she combed her own hair after. That's when she realized this was not how she planned it. "It's not beautiful!" she cried. Well, she's right about that. She asked me to fix it and I tried to explain that cutting it shorter would not actually fix it, but that we have to wait for it to grow. At least she likes wearing headbands, because she will be wearing a very wide one on the front of her head every day for the next several months, I guess.

House update

2008-12-26T14:43:00.008-07:00

We have a roof on most of

the house. It's good to have

it protected from at least

some of the snow, though

it still blows in the windows.

Look who is Walking!

2008-12-26T14:38:00.002-07:00

This little miss is on the move. She took her first few steps about 10 days ago and gets a bit more brave every day. The girls love to play the walk back and forth game. She can stand herself up and will transfer between chairs or other things that are close together, but if it's more than a few steps away, she still prefers her speedy crawling. She gets up and down the stairs without any trouble at all, and has even tried to walk down the stairs while holding onto the bannister. That makes me a bit nervous. She'll be running in no time.

Braces

2008-12-26T14:32:00.002-07:00

After many consult visits and much procrastination by Mom, Christa finally got braces a couple of weeks ago. She has adjusted well and hardly complained about the achy mouth and shredded lips that go along with new braces--thank you, ibuprofen. For me, this was one of those strange parenting moments that has reminded me that somehow I have the responsibility for 6 growing girls. How did I get here? I still feel like I could be the one in braces.

Our new family member

2008-12-04T19:16:00.002-07:00

We have a new little girl in the family. Ryan took a quick trip in to Cabela's, and a family was sitting outside selling yellow lab puppies. The plan was to wait until we moved to get a new puppy--he's been puppy hungry for awhile now. But this was love at first sight. We named her Jill (so we can sing the nursery rhyme when she plays with Jack, our 2 1/2 year old lab) and she is very cute. It's just a good thing Ryan works from home and can take care of her during the day.

House update

2008-11-30T21:55:00.002-07:00

The main floor of our new house is nearly framed in, and they will probably be starting on the second level tomorrow. It's so fun to walk through and imagine where we will put things and how each room will be used. Very exciting. We have to decide on windows today and then on the heating/cooling system. Ryan was over there a few days ago shooting BB guns and then his shotgun on the property, and the neighbor got a little nervous (even though the shot was not going anywhere near his property line.) I think they got things smoothed over. This picture is from a few days ago when they were just starting to frame.

Our Family

2008-11-17T21:01:00.002-07:00

To fully view, simply drag image onto desktop, then double-click.

Our Hero Sierra

2008-11-10T19:50:00.004-07:00

Sierra's 2nd grade class has been working really hard to collect food for the Idaho Food Bank. When each child brought 30 items, her class earned a read-in, where they got to wear PJs and read all day. News Channel 7came in and did a story on their class. Watch for Sierra (she's wearing a white sweatshirt and has a hot pink reading pillow)! http://www.ktvb.com/video/?z=y&nvid=301855

The food drive has been expanded to include the entire school. If you would like to help their efforts, you can make cash donations at www.chrisconant.com-click the "Chip In" link on the right hand side.

Halloween

2008-11-02T14:35:00.005-07:00

Another year of trick-or-treating has come and gone. This year I took the girls around and Ryan stayed home to pass out treats to the neighbors. Usually I stay home and he goes with the kids. The weather was great-warm enough to only need a bit of a jacket, so there were lots of kids of all ages out and about. Anya was a fairy princess. Sierra was Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean (although she hasn't seen any of the movies and mostly just thought the costume was pretty). Emma was a Southern Belle (think Scarlett O'Hara). Lexi and her friend Madeline were Thing One and Thing Two. Christa went with two of her friends as a fork, knife and spoon. She was the knife. I didn't get her picture.

Baptism

2008-11-02T14:28:00.008-07:00

On Saturday Sierra was baptized and confirmed a member of our church. We had lots of family who were able to come over--thanks for coming, family and friends! There were 7 other children in the stake also being baptized. Our girls sang My Heavenly Father Loves Me, arranged by Christa, in the program. We are so pleased that Sierra has chosen to follow the example of Jesus Christ and to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that she will now have the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Four walls

2008-10-31T06:25:00.003-06:00

The basement walls have been poured and tarred for the house. Next step is to backfill this area then start digging the crawl space for the foundation for the rest of the main floor. Ryan spent most of the night putting foam insulation around the cement walls so that the basement stays that much more warm and dry.

Happy Birthday to Emma!

2008-10-31T06:13:00.002-06:00

The 29th was Emma's 10th birthday. So exciting to be double digits! She had a family birthday this year. Her favorite gift she received was several rolls of duct tape in all different colors. She is excited to make all sorts of crafty things from duct tape. A few things we love about Emma:
--She is incredibly sensitive to what is going on around her.
--She is very observant and often knows where a missing item is located.
--She loves to sing.
--She is taking piano lessons and is almost caught up with Lexi.
--She is quite photogenic.
--She is meticulous about any project she is working on-very detail oriented.
--Her best subject at school is probably spelling, but she does well in all of her subjects.
Thanks for being such a sweet big sister and little sister, Emma. We love you!

What else is going on . . .

2008-10-19T20:57:00.002-06:00

Besides birthdays and volleyball, this weekend was a busy one. Christa also had a district choir and orchestra concert, which was fun. She enjoyed participating with the kids from other schools, some of whom are her friends from the Math and Science Center. On Saturday there was a Regional Young Women's Conference, with Sister Mary Cook, 2nd counselor in the general YW presidency as the featured speaker. I was able to go for most of the day with Christa, and it was really uplifting. (I can't remember if I posted that I was recently called to work with the Beehives in our ward). On Thursday night this past week, Emma and Lexi had a Talent Show for their Primary Activity and Lexi played a cello-violin duet with her friend Ana and Emma showed some of her woodworking, which she likes to do with Ryan. Paisley climbed all the way up the stairs all by herself the other day. I was working on the computer downstairs and didn't even realize she was on the stairs, until I came out and couldn't find her where I had left her, and instead found her up in the playroom. I guess it's time to teach her to do down backwards. Today was the Children's Sacrament meeting program--always a wonderful Sunday. There was a bit of panic at the start of the meeting when the microphone wasn't working, but through some miracle it was working by the time the children were ready for their presentation. All of the children did so well. Anya, being in the youngest class, was right in the front, and I don't think she held still for more than 2 seconds in the entire hour. She was so wiggly. She sang and said her little part at the microphone without a single bit of hesitation, but I felt sorry for her friend Piper who was sitting next to her. At one point they just about got into a wrestling match right there on the stand. We all have colds and the baby and Anya haven't been sleeping too well. Maybe we can get to bed early tonight and be ready to start all the craziness again tomorrow.

Blog Tag

2008-10-19T20:46:00.004-06:00

Quinn, one of my great roommates my first year at BYU, now living in Germany with her cute family tagged me for this one. You have to pick the 4th picture from the 4th folder in your photos file. This is the one that came up for me. (Our entire digital camera libaray isn't on this computer, otherwise it would have been and older picture, but it was fun to look through them.)

This is Anya sitting on the landing going up the stairs, taken about 2 years ago. One of those silly, every day moments that somehow gets captured on camera. I tag Erin, Kara and Laura.

Birthday Girl!

2008-10-19T19:36:00.004-06:00

Happy 8th Birthday to Sierra! She had a great day, and a fun Pajama Party with 10 fun friends. We did hair and nails and ate pizza and watched Freaky Friday, and everyone still went home to their own beds. Sierra is excited to be baptized and be confirmed next month. Some things we love about Sierra: She loves to give and receive hugs and kisses. She does everything with energy and enthusiasm. She has really learned to love reading in the last few months, and always has her book. She is doing well with piano and with her school work. She loves to help take care of Paisley, and will change her diaper without being asked and without help. She has a cute smile, even without most of her front teeth :) Story about the T-shirt. Sometimes Sierra's busy mind is elsewhere when someone is talking to her and you'll ask her a question and she will respond, "I have no idea what you are talking about." The other day Ryan was watching his favorite show, Mythbusters, and one of the guys on the show had a T-shirt with that exact phrase on it. Of course Ryan thought of Sierra and was able to find it for her just in time for the birthday party.

Volleyball Star!

2008-10-19T19:13:00.003-06:00

This weekend was Christa's last volleyball game. She played on the 8th grade JV squad all season, which officially ended on Monday, but the City Tournament was on Thursday and Friday and the 8th grade varsity coach asked if she would play with the varsity team for the Tournament. She really has improved over the season, and has had a lot of fun playing. She didn't actually get any play time in the tournament, and the team lost in the second round (of 8 teams), but it was great to wear the varsity jersey and be on the sidelines for the games.

Hole in the Ground

2008-10-19T18:39:00.003-06:00

After a year of talking and thinking and planning, we finally have a hole in the ground that is going to be a new house! The girls like to run around the hole asking, "What is going to be here?" It's on 10 acres just about a mile from where our house is now, so we get to go check on progress every day. We are all very excited. We'll keep you all updated.

Disneyland

2008-10-09T14:12:00.002-06:00

The girls had a couple of extra days off of school so we decided to head to Disneyland. None of us had ever been before. We went to Disney World about 5 1/2 years ago when we were still living in NYC. Anya was the most excited of anyone. She asked every day when she was going to meet Minnie. She drew lots of pictures, and made everyone else draw pictures, of Minnie. Everyone traveled well. We stayed at the Marriott a couple of miles down the road from the Disney complex. We wore ourselves out riding rides and meeting characters. The first night the fireworks were canceled because it was somewhat overcast, but we got to see them the second night. Anya wanted to visit Minnie each day. I was surprised that she was more interested in Minnie Mouse than the Princesses, although we did see them as well. California Adventure was also great. We all loved the California Screamin roller coaster. Christa, Lexi, Emma and Ryan did the Tower of Terror. It lived up to it's name for Emma. The others went back, but she hated it. Sierra really liked the roller coasters and was pretty adventurous in trying new rides. Anya liked anything that didn't go in the dark. Paisley was pretty good in her Baby Bjorn and stroller. On the ride back to the airport, our shuttle driver started asking us about religion and we were able to tell him about our living prophet on earth. He was pretty fascinated by that concept. We left him with a Book of Mormon that Christa had brought along, as well as our email address.

Election 08

2008-10-08T12:31:00.003-06:00

I heard this great article read on a talk radio program this week. It's written by James Dobson, of Focus on the Family. I think he sums up our thoughts on the issues in play. http://www.citizenlink.org/pdfs/2008-10-c4newsletter.pdf

What have I done with the day?

2008-09-12T17:56:00.004-06:00

Sometimes I get to the end of the day and can't figure out what on earth I have done with the last 12 hours--why does my house still look messy and I still have a to do list a mile long? Here is just one reason I can't seem to get much done.

This little person has become very mobile. In this case, someone left the pantry open while preparing lunch, and she decided to go exploring there. Everything goes straight to her mouth. She especially likes to crumble, tear, and eat paper. This afternoon she found some cheese and ham crackers that Anya left on her little chair, and Paisley gagged on them, and threw up all over Ryan's office floor. She pulls up to things, so it's not just ground level that we have to keep an eye on. I'll have to teach the other girls to help me out with Paisley patrol. She may just be our early walker at the rate she's going.

Look Who's 4!!

2008-09-12T17:27:00.004-06:00

On Sunday we celebrated Anya's 4th birthday. Her actual birthday was on Monday, but Ryan had to leave for a meeting in Chicago on Monday. As noted in an earlier post, she has been obsessed with the American Girl, Kit, so she was excited to finally get Kit. She loved her Barbie cake. It's a good thing 4 year olds aren't too particular about the details-maybe someday I'll take a class and get some pointers on cake decorating. Sometime around each girl's birthday we take them out for a special dinner date with just mom and dad. We are looking forward to Burger King play place with Anya.

Some things that make our 4 year old special--

She loves to color and do workbooks and is very careful with her coloring and crafts. She amazed us with her skill at drawing a smiley face a few weeks ago in her church class, and can write most of her alphabet letters.

She is a real snuggle bug and loves to have someone snuggle with her at bedtime.

She has a great vocabulary and uses words that aren't common in preschool conversation.

She likes to help take care of Paisley and brings her toys and gives her treats and picks her up.

She is quick to forgive parents or siblings or friends who may hurt her feelings. Everyone is her "best friend." If you do something nice for Anya, she often says, "You're my best friend, you can come to my birthday." If she doesn't like something someone says or does, she says, "You can't come to my birthday!"

She is growing so much. We love our Anya!

Harvest Season

2008-09-07T23:27:00.003-06:00

One of the things I love about this time of year is seeing how our garden has grown. I have to give credit to Ryan for this one. He loves to plant things and watch them grow, and is always anxious to get seeds and seedlings in the ground in the spring. He also makes sure our garden gets watered, and he does most of the harvesting, and even cooks much of what he harvests. I just get to eat the good stuff. This year has been our most successful Idaho garden. We have had more squash and zucchine than we and our neighbors can eat, quite a few tomatoes, some beans and peas, cabbage, lots of herbs, a couple of apples and a couple of nectarines, and we even got a few ears of sweet corn, which we had tonight with dinner and it was delicious. We have several pumpkins growing that may actually be big enough to carve into jack-o-laterns or make into pumpkin pie in another 6 weeks. Very exciting.

I Didn't Plan to Be A Witch . . .

2008-09-07T23:22:00.003-06:00

This is the title of another quick book I just finished, and one of my favorite books on motherhood. It's not so much a parenting book as it is a mothering book. It really reinforces our role and our worth as mothers, and reminds me that I'm pretty normal, even in my witchy moments. I laugh and I cry and I come away from each chapter reminding myself that I can be better, or at least pull out my witch hat a little less often. I read this about 5 years ago, and just pulled it off my bookshelf to loan to a friend and flipped through and ended up reading the whole thing again. Completely different things impress me based on my kids ages and stages now, compared to the last time. It's by Linda Eyre, one of my true Mom heros.

Junior High-by Christa

2008-09-06T14:34:00.004-06:00

Just as a warning to all of you who are reading this, this is Christa writing this, not Kelli (Mom).

So, as you may know, I "officially" started junior high this year. I am in 8th grade, but last year I homeschooled and went to the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center (TVMSC), where they teach advanced math and science classes. I am still at the math and science center this year as well. In the morning is when I have TVMSC. I take Accelerated Biology 9, Accelerated Algebra 2, and Statistics there. (For the second semester I will be taking Applied Research 1 instead of Statistics.) After TVMSC, then I go to my fourth period PE class at the junior high. (Second semester I will be taking health instead.) 5th period is lunch, after which I take Accelerated English 8. Then I have chamber choir (Esprit de Corps), which is the school's auditioned choir. Finally, I have world studies for 8th period. I like most of my teachers, especially my world studies teacher because she is really funny. My biology teacher seems to be a little strict and teaches more like a college professor would (at least my friends and I think so), but I think I will get a lot out of that class this year. I have several of my friends in my classes at TVMSC, and a few friends in all my other classes. But because I am taking so many advanced classes, I tend to have a bit more homework than most other students at the junior high.

In terms of extracurricular activities, I was planning on keeping this year a bit less busy, but I ended up with no such luck. I decided to do volleyball this year, and I was not expecting it to be so intense and rigorous. Practice lasts for an hour and a half after school every day unless it's a game day (our first game is on Monday!). I just stay after school working on my homework and practicing piano until volleyball starts. Despite the intensity, I still love the sport and am having tons of fun with it. But that is not all... I am also involved in the school orchestra. Last year because I was homeschooling, I could come once a week and practice with the orchestra. The director loved having me in the orchestra a lot, but I really didn't want to take orchestra for my elective because I wanted to "expand my horizons". However, I got roped into the orchestra, so my friend and I are coming after school on Thursdays to practice the orchestra material with the conductor. So between orchestra and choir, we have many many performances in the school year. I will have to skip quite a few days of school to be with choir and orchestra at all their rehearsals and performances. In the spring especially, there are several days when I have to stay after school for two or three hours. On top of all this, I still am taking piano and violin lessons, along with attending Mutual every Wednesday and accepting the responsibilities that come with having five younger sisters. I am very grateful for Mom, the chauffeur of most of my crazy activities. I honestly don't know how I have time to even sleep! I have little time for hanging out with friends, and almost no time to relax, except for on Sunday. Nevertheless, I am starting the school year off well (despite my annoying head cold that came about because of a sudden temperature drop) and I think this will be a great year for me.

Election '08

2008-09-05T23:29:00.002-06:00

We have spent a lot of time this week listening to speeches and to reaction to speeches on talk radio. We have really been impressed with Sarah Palin as McCain's choice for VP candidate. First of all, she is from Alaska and you know Ryan immediately loves any connection to his favorite place in the world. While a Republican, she seems to be first a conservative, and will stand up to the Republican establishment when she needs to. She has a great grasp on energy policy, which will be a huge issue in the next administration, because Alaska has so many energy resources. She is the most connected to the real American experience of anyone in the election, or of any recent elections. She is pro-life and pro-family and believes in less government involvement in our day to day lives. She has really added some life and energy to McCain's campaign, and has reassured the conservative base that they are being represented. We also followed the Democratic convention, and I just can't get excited about Obama. While he is all for change, which would be a good thing, I'm not sure higher taxes and more government programs will solve any of our current problems. It will be an interesting couple of months.

John Adams

2008-09-05T23:01:00.003-06:00

Our neighborhood book club voted to read David McCullough's biography, John Adams, over the summer. While by no means a quick or light read, I have really enjoyed this book. There are no monuments to him, like Washington and Jefferson, who were the President's before and after Adams, but he was one of the most dedicated statesmen of his time. He was truly committed to the cause of American independence and endured considerable personal hardship in the name of liberty. I was particularly struck by "The more things change, the more they stay the same" as I read of the divisions within the country regarding socio-political issues, such as slavery. We have different issues these days, but the same divisions remain. Also regarding the role of the media in the political scene-has journalism ever really been unbiased. It seems from the time of print, newspapers and pamphlets have been published more of a means of furthering one cause or another as opposed to just sharing facts. The argument continues: What is the role of government? What do we as people expect from our government? Then, as now, we see those who would like to have a larger, central government with more authority, and also those who believe the government should be more minimalist and allow for more individual choices. One thing that really impressed me about Adams was his absolute integrity. He always acted consistently with his beliefs, which we do not always find in politicians, then or now. The book also gives a good view of Abigail, who was an amazing woman in her own right. She endured years of separation and managed the household without her husband for a good portion of their married life. Very impressive. (Another good book I read a few years ago relating to this time period is Founding Mothers, by Cokie Roberts.) Highly recommended reading for anyone who would like a glimpse into one of our nation's first and dearest champions and the Revolutionary time period.

Milestones

2008-08-20T22:09:00.006-06:00

The Charter school and preschool started this week, so 4 of the girls are back in school. This afternoon as they were gone I was so enjoying the quiet that I hardly knew what to do with my time. I always get a bit choked up the first day of school, even the 9th time around. It's one of those markers of time passing, and a reminder that life won't always be the same as it is right now, for better or for worse. And even on the hard days I know there will come a day when I'll miss all the chaos at least a little bit. Anyway, the girls were pretty excited to get back in class. Anya has good friends in her preschool class, and it's right here in the neighborhood, so it's really convenient for me. Sierra has all of her favorite friends in her class this year, and an awesome teacher, Mrs. Brooks. Emma seems to like her teacher, Mrs. Swanson, so far and she hasn't had homework yet, so that has eased her transition. Lexi is in the middle school, so she gets a locker and changes classes and everything. Next week she starts at the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center, which is a regional program for more advanced math and science classes, which will be a great experience for her. Christa starts next week as well, continuing at the Math and Science Center and then at Riverglen JHS for the rest of the day. I'll have an official Junior High student-Yikes!

Other recent milestones: Paisley's 3rd tooth broke through, and #4 should be there any day. She is crawling all over the place and sitting herself up really well, eating baby food, and will not hold still for diaper changes. Anya has mastered keeping herself dry at night and earned a Toucan Webkinz for her efforts. Sierra lost another bottom tooth, that makes 6 baby teeth gone. Emma had her first stitches this very evening. She cut the bottom of her foot on the lid from a can that was in a garbage bag that was waiting by the door to go out to the garbage can. She stepped on the corner of the bag just wrong and the lid sliced right into her poor foot. She screamed and cried, but we just laid her down on the rug in the foyer and Ryan stitched her up right there. Many thanks to my dear neighbor, Tina who happened to have come up to get something from our house right before it happened, and who took the three younger girls down the street to play for a few minutes while we took care of Emma.

Twin Falls Temple

2008-08-17T18:13:00.011-06:00

On Thursday afternoon we all piled in the suburban and headed over to Twin Falls to catch the temple open house. It is such a great opportunity for the girls to be in the temple and feel the Spirit there. Anya said, "Does the Holy Ghost live in the temple?" I was impressed that she would recognize that feeling and make that connection herself. It's a beautiful building and in many ways reminds me of the St. Paul temple, which was built when we were living in Minnesota and we were involved in the open house and dedication of that building. I was sure to point out the Bride's dressing room to the girls and remind them that when they are married, the temple is where they want to be. It's neat to see how they tie in the location with the building--the syringa throughout the glass, the mural of south central Idaho landmarks, and the waterfalls used in the landscaping. Next week we will be able to take some of the girls to the dedication broadcast.

Joshua Bell

2008-08-17T16:08:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we (Kelli, Ryan, Christa, Lexi, Paisley and my sister Cindy) took a quick trip over to Sun Valley for the final concert of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony featuring one of the world's most amazing violinists, Joshua Bell. We were so fortunate to end up seated in the 5th row with a fantastic view. Of course he sounds incredible. It was also mesmerizing to watch him play, completely absorbed in the music. After the concert, he was signing autographs, so we were able to shake his hand and he signed CDs for the girls. He seemed like such a genuinely nice person, just a regular sort of guy who just happens to play the violin better than almost anyone else on earth. Very memorable experience.
Links to check out: www.svsummersymphony.org and www. joshuabell.com

Meet Kit

2008-08-16T09:36:00.005-06:00

Anya is currently obsessed with Kit Kittredge, the American Girl. I think it started with a mini Kit doll that a friend had. Anya was at her house and played with it about 4 months ago. She has talked about Kit ever since. One day she went around the house calling all the girls to a family meeting in the front room. When everyone was there, Anya said, "Now, let's have a family talk. We need to talk about American Girls. I really love Kit . . . ." When the Kit movie came out, of course we went to see it with all the girls, which just added fuel to the fire. We tried to get her interested in one of the other dolls--there's a cute one named Elizabeth Cole (Elizabeth is Anya's middle name so it would have been perfect), but she doesn't like Elizabeth, only Kit. The only thing she wants for her birthday next month is a Kit doll. A couple of weeks ago she decided she wanted her hair cut and every day she asked, "When can I get my hair cut like Kit's?" So I acquiesced on that point, too. I thought Ryan was going to cry when she came home, but it's cute.

Welcome back to TV

2008-08-12T19:52:00.005-06:00

After not having TV for about 2 years, we decided that we wanted to be able to watch the Olympics, and various other programming that Ryan misses. There were two unsuccessful attempts at installation, but finally today they got it hooked up. My main stipulation with the re-installation was that we have a DVR so that we can see the shows we want without having to watch them right when they are airing. (I never was very good at recording shows and playing back with the old VCR method.) This way we can still keep rules like not having TV on school nights, but still watch some shows we want to see on the weekends, or after the kids are in bed. Also, I like the idea that we can fast forward through commercials. I hate it when we are watching a good program, or sports, or whatever, but then some trashy commercial comes on unexpectedly. The DVR seems pretty easy to use, so I think this will be a good solution. Yeah for the Olympics!

Camping

2008-08-10T21:22:00.004-06:00

This weekend we went camping on Lake Cascade at Rainbow Point with some good friends, the Woodards. They rented a motorboat on Friday and the kids had a great time tubing and speeding around the lake. We did flood the engine at one point, and had to paddle back to shore, but that just made it all the more memorable. Saturday morning we woke up to thunder and lightening and rain, but it passed fairly quickly and we were able to eat breakfast and break camp without getting too wet, and then we went up to Tamarack Resort for a little hike, I had never been there before, and it really is a pretty setting. It will be an amazing resort if they can ever get the money to finish the planned construction. All of the girls are pretty happy campers, and even Paisley did well (until the car ride home, anyway.)

Family Togetherness

2008-08-10T20:46:00.002-06:00

Last weekend we did a whirlwind trip to Pocatello to drop off my neice who had been visiting for the week, then down to Utah to see Grandma and Grandpa Cole, then my mom's family reunion in Morgan, then back to Pocatello, then over to Rupert for my sister's baby's blessing, then back to Boise. We really enjoyed having Alyssa here for a few days with the girls, and wish we could see her more often. Thanks for letting her come, Lori! The girls always enjoy a trip to Grandma Cole's house and love playing with all the dolls she keeps around. I love going out to Morgan to my Grandparent's place. In all the moving around my family did growing up, it was the one constant. I don't know many of my cousins very well--there are 76 grandchildren, and over 100 great-grandchildren now--so it was good to re-connect with some of them, as well as my aunts and uncles who were there. It was my grandpa Noyes' 88th birthday, and you never know how much longer he'll hang on. He's always so glad to see us and always reminds us that the gospel is true and that he loves us. It was good to be there on Sunday for Erin's baby's blessing. Jack sure is growing quickly. It's neat to see her as a mom. She's such a natural. I love being close enough to family that we can be involved in these events.

Why can't we all just get along?

2008-07-31T00:39:00.003-06:00

Today my girls seemed to be at each other all day long. She won't play with me . . . she touched me . . . she said this . . . she's being mean to me . . . it's her turn to do that job . . . I wanted to sit in the special chair . . . . I am trying to figure out how to teach my children to love and serve one another, and to keep from being the referee in every little squabble. It made me wonder how God feels about how His children get along with each other, and how He has managed to watch us all fight with each other over centuries and centuries, in little ways and in big huge ways. It started early in the history of the world, with Cain and Abel. Human beings just don't get along with each other very well. I guess God doesn't referee our fights very often. Most often he lets the battle just run it's course. Maybe He weighs in on the side of the good, if there is one, in some cases when He needs to. So what does this mean for me as a mother with my 6 warring nations battling over borders and commerce, and words? My job is to teach by being an example of love and service (which is not always easy, since I, unlike God, am not perfect, and am subject to the same human temptations and frustrations that my children express) and to pray for the best, I suppose. It's interesting to think about how our microcosm of parenting relates to the whole big picture of humankind. My deep thoughts for this way too late hour.

A week in the life

2008-07-27T22:44:00.003-06:00

We were actually at home this whole week. Well, at home is a relative term. We didn't travel by plane or car outside of Boise, anyway. Lexi, Emma, and Sierra had a YMCA sports camp every day from 9-1. They got to go swimming and rock climbing played all sorts of fun games, and they could walk down to the school for it, which was even nicer for me. Anya had Sleeping Beauty ballet camp in the mornings, which she loved. She goes to a studio right here in our neighborhood, which is so convenient. I thought I would get tons done with everyone gone in the morning, but of course Paisley is plenty time consuming herself. We had violin lessons, and group violin and a meeting about next year's Suzuki institute, and I went to lunch with a friend. I did get through a stack of paperwork, so I feel good about that for a week. Paisley has been a bit more fussy lately, with 4 top teeth on their way through. She drools constantly and chews on everything. She also really figured out how to army crawl this week. If she sees something she wants, she can get to it pretty quickly. It won't be long before she's on all fours. She can sit for a minute or two without any help, but still tips pretty easily. I started her on rice cereal, which she seems to like. I talked to a couple of my sisters and they told me about different projects they are working on and it really made me want to do some sort of crafty project. I always enjoy working on something that gives a sense of accomplishment and completion. Housework doesn't qualify, because that is never ending. I do need to start thinking about a dress for Sierra's baptism. Maybe I'll actually start on that sooner than the week before.

Bedtime Battles

2008-07-22T23:23:00.002-06:00

You know what, I HATE bedtime! Not my own of course, I'm always happy to go to bed, but my children's. This is one of my greatest challenges as a mother, and it always has been. It's when I'm most prone to morph into the wicked witch. Summer time is even worse because it stays light so late here, and because we don't have any real routine or reason to be up early in the morning, so it's even harder to convince the kids they really do need to go to bed. From the time I say, "It's time to start getting ready for bed" the girls start finding ways to stall--we forgot to feed the pets, I need a drink, I'm starving, I didn't practice the piano, I just want to finish this movie, etc, etc. We try to have family prayer and scripture time, but mostly I feel like I'm just reading outloud to myself. I get frustrated because I know they need their sleep or they will be extra grumpy the next day, and they are not always cooperative with doing what needs to be done to get in their beds at a reasonable hour. But I can't keep them moving along and make sure everyone's teeth get brushed and dirty clothes get picked up at the same time I am trying to read to Anya and nurse Paisley so that she settles down for the night, and also get scripture time and prayers all in there. I have got to figure out some way to change the routine so that my kids don't go t bed every night thinking I am the meanest mother on the planet.

Victoria

2008-07-22T23:02:00.003-06:00

Ryan, Sierra, Paisley and I just returned from a conference in Victoria, British Columbia. I had never been to Canada before except for a brief sojourn across the border a couple of years ago when we were in Northern Idaho and went to a little town just across the border and had ice cream and left. Since we were crossing the border by sea and not by plane, we just needed to have ID and birth certificates. We are trying to give each of the girls a chance to travel with Mom and/or Dad alone, to have a little one-on-one time and decided that it was Sierra's turn to go with us. The day before we left I was getting Sierra's birth certificate from my safe birth certificate storage place and found every other child's EXCEPT Sierra's. I prayed, I searched, I looked in the same spot at least 12 times, and the other places I possibly thought it could be another 3 times each, and prayed some more. I could not find it anywhere. I thought the school had one on file and found someone in the office, luckily for summer break, and we found that there was not one there for her either. We took her social security card with us and decided to just give it a go. Our prayers were answered, not by finding her certificate, but by getting back and forth across the border with no problems at all. We flew to Seattle then took the Vicortia Clipper across to Victoria (about 2 1/2 hours by boat). My sister, Shari, met us in Seattle and went with us. It was so fun to have her along, since we really haven't had much of a chance to spend time with her in a long while, other than brief visits when the whole gang in together. (Her blog, Songsty's Place-see link at right, has her perspective of the trip and some great pictures.) While there we strolled through the Empress Hotel right on the waterfront (where the conference was held), ate some delicious food (seafood, gelatos, french pasteries), visited the Victoria Bug Zoo (Sierra held an 8 inch African millipede), saw Miniature World, petted goates at Beacon Hill Children's Petting Zoo, toured Butchart Gardens, took a horse drawn carriage ride, dined at Hatley Castle, played in the hotel pool, and walked through lots of fun touristy shops. We stayed at the Marriott just behind the Empress. The highlight for me was Butchart Gardens. It was so beautiful. I would love to have at least a portion of our yard looking a bit like that. Of course I don't have a $20 million annual budget and a full time staff of 600, but we'll see what we can do. Sierra seemed to have a fun time and Paisley was great (other than the time she pooped all down her pant leg.) She was carried around in the Baby Bjorn by Ryan a good part of the time, and everywhere we went people asked her name or how old she was or otherwise oohed and aahed. Babies are the best networking tool there is and we'll have to credit her college savings account for commissions for the new accounts her Daddy picks up as a result of her cute smiles at the meeting. I think they modeled the Energizer Bunny after Sierra - she really does keep going and going and going. Our flight home was delayed by about an hour and a half due to a mechanical issue, and we didn't get in until near midnight, and still Sierra was going strong. Besides being a neat place, Ryan got a few hours of CME and maybe picked up a new client or two, so it was good for all of us.

Alaska

2008-07-10T23:22:00.003-06:00

We returned on the 4th of July from a week Alaska. . . It's an amazing place. If you know the view of the Tetons from Jenny Lake, or standing at Redfish and looking up at the Sawtooths. Imagine that for hundreds and hundreds of miles around. We got pretty close to a couple of glaciers and lots of icebergs. We had porpoises running along with our boat. We saw sea lions and seals and sea otters and whales breaching and playing and a little black bear on shore. There are waterfalls and eagles soaring everywhere you look. The fishing wasn't as great as it could have been but we still came home with plenty of fish, mostly halibut, and Sierra's pole landed a good sized King Salmon. We also caught quite a bit of rockfish, of which there are many varieties. All of the girls had a great time fishing. Christa pulled up a 75 lb halibut herself. (The boat captain helped her actually get it into the boat with the gaffing hook, but she reeled it in without help.) There was one morning that was a bit choppy and some of us felt a little queezy, but otherwise there was no real sea-sickness. Put it on your list of things to do before you die.

Family Reunion

2008-06-22T23:53:00.005-06:00

Last weekend (June 13-14) my family got together at Lake Walcott state park, near Rupert, for a family reunion. It was so fun. I took my girls and went a day earlier than Ryan because Teri was here from Wyoming and we just don't get to spend enough time together. Everyone in the family was there except for JD, who is off being the voice of the Army these days. We camped and ate and fished and played games and had water fights. It's great to have a family where everyone really makes an effort to be together. We love spending time with each other. Sure we have differences of opinion, and we all have our idiosyncracies that drive everyone else crazy, but generally we love each other and get along pretty well. Some of visited Albion, which is a little town not far from the Utah border where the Phippens lived for quite some time--my dad's father, grandparents and great-grandparents. It was neat to see the valley where they lived and farmed and died. Also in Albion is the Teacher's college that my mom's mom attended. I love experiencing places that we read and hear about because it all of a sudden becomes real. It's a pretty little valley. Over the last 6 months I have been more involved in family history research and I really enjoy that. I love understanding their lives and learning from the faith and courage of our ancestors. My girls also enjoy hearing the family stories. A couple days after we got home, we were driving around in the car and Anya said to me, "Tell me a story about your grandpa that died." It's a great legacy to pass on. I'll post a slide show when I get to Ryan's computer where all the pictures are downloaded.

Joseph Smith The Prophet

2008-06-22T23:27:00.002-06:00

Christa and Ryan and my sister Cindy had the opportunity to participate in a cantata that the Boise Institute put on this past weekend in honor of Joseph Smith, our first latter-day prophet. Christa and Ryan played in the orchestra (Christa on the violin, the youngest member of the orchestra, Ryan on trumpet and guitar, and one of the older members of the orchestra), which was open to all ages, and Cindy sang in the choir, which was just college age kids. They performed in the Morrison Center at BSU, which is a great performance hall, and it turned out really well. The composer, Rob Gardner, came up from Phoenix and conducted the performance, which added to the energy of the whole performance. He composed the piece when he was just 23. Pretty amazing. Basically it tells the story of Joseph's life, of the First vision, and the early history of the church, including the persecutions in Kirtland and Missouri, and the martyrdom. There were some gorgeous solos and a good deal of narration, and the music reflects the mood of the story beautifully. It was all very powerful. If you have access to BYU-TV, a performance of the work with a group from Salt Lake will be aired this Friday, June 27, in commemoration of the prophet's martyrdom. Check out the webiste at www.josephsmiththeprophet.com. Good stuff. For me, things like this allow me to feel the spirit which reconfirms the truth of what I already know.

Paisley

2008-06-15T17:53:00.004-06:00

Paisley is our newest addition to the sorority. She was born February 2, 2008 and weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz, an was 21 inches long. At her 4 month visit last week she was up to 13 lbs (33 %ile) and 26 inches (86 %ile). She cut her first bottom tooth about 10 days ago, and its' neighbor poked through just today. I hardly even knew they were coming--she wasn't even fussy about it. She has been chewing on everything she can get her little hands on, however. She has been a great sleeper from early on and generally sleeps 8-10 hours a night, from at least 10 pm to 6 am, then she usually goes right back to sleep for a couple more hours. She smiles and laughs and can roll over both ways. She has discovered her voice and is prone to squealing when she wants some attention. She likes to be carried around on my front in the Baby Bjorn pack. She doesn't really love being in her carseat, which, unfortunately for her, she is quite a bit while we run the other girls to their various activities. She is a sweet baby and we're glad to have her in our family. Love to Paisley.

Anya

2008-06-15T17:43:00.004-06:00

Anya is our little princess. Her favorite color is pink and she really likes to look "stylish." She loves accessorizing--headbands, jewelry, nailpolish, a purse, cute shoes . . . She is a girl all the way. She is 3 1/2 and loved preschool and her dance class this past year. She is always asking "What are we doing tomorrow?" and wants to make sure appropriate play dates are planned. She is very dramatic in her expressions and she keeps all of us laughing. She just started violin lessons, with Christa as her at-home teacher. She will talk to herself making up all kinds of stories and often says "Listen to me tell about my dream" whenever she has a story or memory to share. We love our Anya!

Sierra

2008-06-15T17:22:00.002-06:00

Sierra is energy-plus. Everything she does, she does with gusto. She also loves school, many thanks to teachers who have been so good for her. She is the family hug-bug and loves to give and receive lots of hugs and squeezes from family and friends, and anyone who will stand still long enough for her to squeeze. Sierra has always been a night-owl, from the time she was tiny. Getting her to unwind and go to sleep takes awhile, then trying to get her awake in the morning is also a challenge. Sierra loves to play board games and card games and her Webkinz. She also likes sports and playing outside and will take on anyone in a round of Chinese Jumprope. Her constant energy makes her a bit more accident prone and she usually is sporting a Band-Aid or two. She inherited her mom's astigmatism in addition to a bit of a lazy eye and has been wearing glasses for a couple of years now. She is the family zoo-keeper--the bunnies (Flopsy and Mopsy) and the toads (Bumpy and Jumpy) are her personal pets and she loves playing with the kittens (Whiskers and Dusty) and Jack (our yellow lab.) We love our Sierr-Bear.

Emma

2008-06-15T17:00:00.003-06:00

As you can see from the photo, Emma is our miss photogenic. Her pictures are always beautiful. Emma had a great 3rd grade year this year with a teacher who was perfect for her more sensitive nature. Emma has always been very aware of sensory input in any variety. She notices when her socks don't fit just right, or the tags on her shirts or pants. She is the first to get overwhelmed by the noisy chaos so often present and needs her 10 hours of sleep to cope best. She does well in school and has many friends, both boys and girls. She is taking piano lessons right now with the hopes of starting to play the Harp in a couple more years. She is the first to remind us to say family prayer and read scriptures, and is very sensitive spiritually. She loves to sing and The Sound of Music is a favorite. Her nickname is "Meg" (short for megaphone, when she gets a bit loud). We love our Emma.

Alexis

2008-06-15T14:08:00.004-06:00

Lexi has always been a pretty easy going kid. She is a great helper and does what she is asked without complaining or talking back. She is great with Paisley and very patient to hold her when I'm trying to get something done. She loves music and will often walk by the piano and play a little bit of some piece and taught herself several songs before she was even taking piano lessons. She switched to the cello after taking violin for about 5 years, and has really picked it up quickly. We really love to hear that cello. She recently was accepted into the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center and is excited to begin her school work there next year. She was a bit bored this past year in school, so it should be a good challenge. She enjoys all kids of sports and has a goal to run a 1/2 marathon someday when she is just a bit older. This summer one of our projects is to walk and jog together. We haven't really started yet because she has been having early swim lessons, but this week we hope to get running a few days a week. It's a good motivation for me. Lexi also loves to do crafts and has even had her own crafting business. Lexi is a great example to all of her sisters and we love her lots.

What I Did Today

2008-06-09T23:35:00.004-06:00

Accomplishments for Monday: Played War with Sierra and CandyLand with Anya. Walked to the library and got the summer reading program papers, and a few books and movies for the girls. Swim lessons. Cleaned all the junk out of my car and Ryan's car. Made appointment for Paisley's 4 month check-up. Changed family reunion reservations. Had dinner out with Ryan and girls and in-laws. Read family scriptures. Bed before midnight. Yeah.

Christa

2008-06-09T22:30:00.003-06:00

Christa turned 13 a month ago and boy do we know it. She spends much more time with friends and wants to stay up late every night. She is so very conscientious and self-motivated. It makes it very easy to parent in so many ways I feel spoiled that she is such a great kid. She is extremely bright and talented and is interested in everything and wants to be involved in everything. She plays piano and violin and sings. She loves making songs on Garage Band and emailing her friends. She's in the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center program and has been at the top of her class for 2 years in a row there. She reads her scriptures and writes in her journal and works on her Personal Progress faithfully, without being reminded. She is helpful with her sisters, especially Anya and Paisley. She is a voracious reader and she has perfect pitch. That's just a bit about Christa. We love her.

Welcome to my Blog

2008-06-07T13:33:00.002-06:00

So, I have decided to join the 21st century and start my own blog. I don't know what random thoughts I'll end up actually posting here, and hopefully it won't take over my life. But welcome to my world, our own little sorority.