Me - Through my Boys' Eyes

Okay, I am totally copying Paige on this one, but I loved the idea of asking my kids these questions that I just couldn't resist. All of these questions I asked the boys in private with no influence at all coming from me. I literally wrote down exactly what came out of their mouth after I asked each question. I love seeing the world through their eyes.

Austin age 6
Cameron age 3

1. What is something Mom always says to you?

Austin: Can you do something for me?
Cameron: No

2. What makes Mom happy?

Austin: When I clean my room
Cameron: Andrew

3. What makes Mom sad?

Austin: When I don't give you a hug and a kiss
Cameron: When I have to go to time-out

4. How does your Mom make you laugh?

Austin: If I do something fun she laughs at me
Cameron: When you laugh, I laugh

5. What was your Mom like as a child?

Austin: I don't know - smiling-
Cameron: People liked you

6. How old is your Mom?

Austin: 21
Cameron: 3

7. How tall is your Mom?

Austin: Umm... I don't know
Cameron: Big

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

Austin: Wash the dishes
Cameron: Eat otter pops

9. What does your Mom do when you are not around?

Austin: Lets somebody babysit
Cameron: Eat otter pops (apparently I've eaten a few in the last few days)

10. If your Mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

Austin: Playing games & Cutting hair
Cameron: "Nicole" he kept just saying my name. Apparently he thinks I will be famous when others know my name.

11. What is your Mom really good at?

Austin: Playing the Sorry game, and letting us go to the pool.
Cameron: Driving a truck

12. What is your Mom not so good at?

Austin: long pause ... I don't know ... then he finally says, going to sleep
Cameron: at this time he said he did not want to answer any more questions, smart kid!

13. What does your Mom do for her job?

Austin: Walk Drake, watching us when Daddy is gone
Cameron: Drives a truck

14. What is your Mom's favorite food?

Austin: Vegetables, Watermelon
Cameron: Pancakes

15. What makes you proud of your Mom?

Austin: Playing games with me
Cameron: Play with me

16. If your Mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Austin: Dora the Explorer
Cameron: Super Why

17. What do you and your Mom do together?

Austin: Play
Cameron: Watch Super Why

18. How are you and your Mom the same?

Austin: We were born the same (I think he means as little babies) and we both grow big
Cameron: We're both mean, we both have friends

19. How are you and your Mom different?

Austin: I am a boy and you are a girl
Cameron: You a girl and I a boy

20. How do you know your Mom loves you?

Austin: Because I know ... me prodding as to how he knows ... because she makes my bed
Cameron: She says I love you

We're Painting!

No more talk about it, we are actually painting! Okay, Spencer is doing the majority of the work, along with his Dad, but I say "we" because I am good at keeping the workers hydrated. Spencer started working on this project at the beginning of the week with all the prep work; hammering in all of the nails that had over time started to pop out; caulking down seams; and pressure washing. Once he started filling in the nail holes with the caulk, I knew we were committed to painting. The house colors we chose are dark gray with a lighter gray accent and white trim. We actually knocked on a strangers door and told them how much we liked their house color and asked them if it would be alright if we matched their color from a swatch book that Spencer had. They took it as a compliment and gladly offered any help they could in helping us steal their color. The painting process is not going to be a single day job so it will be interesting to see both the blue and the gray on it for a little while, but it should be nice when it is all done.

Now I can cross this one off my list!

I have a bucket list. My bucket list includes 100 dreams/goals that I would like to accomplish in this life before I kick the bucket. A couple years ago a wonderful friend of mine created such an album for me and after receiving this gift I thoughtfully wrote down all that I want to do. One of those dreams was to see the Broadway play, The Phantom of the Opera. I grew up loving the music in this play. Several members of my family have seen the play, which includes my brother who saw it in Paris, but I had not yet found the opportunity. Well I lucked out. Last night Spencer took me and I loved it!

The music was indeed phenomenal! I was blown away at how much the actors sounded like the original cast and how well they could sing the part. It was incredible how the crew could transform the entire stage and create a whole new setting that looks so real. My favorite part of the play was when the Phantom took Christine to his Labyrinth underground. The illusion that was created was so great. I enjoyed the entire show. There was one part though that I was a little disappointed with and that was when the Chandelier fell. That part wasn't quite as spectacular as I had imagined it would be, but oh-well. It was well worth the money spent and I would go see it again in a heartbeat. Thanks Spencer for the nice treat and now I can cross this one off my list!

Mud Fishing

Spencer loves taking our boys mud fishing in the river. He finds the most remote little slough, home to lots of small fish, the kind of fish you can catch using worms and fishes that area like crazy. The boys enjoy this kind of fishing because it's constant action, reeling fish in and casting back out. Austin is funny because he is the "worm caretaker". I believe he would keep them as pets if he could. I myself am not a fan of putting worms on hooks, but I am glad that my boys are a lot more brave then me. Spencer has taken the kids mud fishing a few times here recently. Cameron caught a baby flounder which I had never seen here in the river and Austin caught a catfish. When they come home they all stink like fish and have dirty faces, but they come home with smiles on those dirty faces and lots of stories to tell. I think they are pretty grateful that their Dad spends his time playing with them and teaching them.

The Portland Timbers

This summer I have been to more professional soccer games then I have been to in my entire life. It all started earlier this summer when Spencer surprised me and took me to a Portland Timbers game. We had a blast at that game and with hanging out with Brandon and Eileen. A few days later we were telling this to some friends of ours about our experience at PGE Park and our friend, Tracy, said how her firm has a suite there and that she can get tickets for us anytime. A couple of days later she dropped off a grip load of tickets for the next four home games. A couple of the nights we took all of the boys and a couple of the nights we left them and invited Spencer's cousins. All of the tickets we had, except for one game were for the suite. The other tickets got us into the premier section area and I actually enjoyed those seats more. We sat right at half field and could see the players up close. Last night was our final game that we had tickets to and we were pleasantly surprised when the Timbers finally made their first goal. I'm so glad that I was finally able to see a piece of wood cut from the log by the Timber mascot. After the game a local sports store gave out free Nike mini soccer balls to all of the kids in attendance and so we came away with three. I am still thinking of a great way to thank Tracy for providing my family and I with such fun and free entertainment. Free except for the cost of cotton candy :)

Welcome Tooth Fairy

Austin did it, he lost his first tooth just after we came home from church today. He had officially nicknamed his loose tooth, "Wiggly Tooth" and he's been so excited for this moment when it would finally come out. He was so brave. After playing with it all day at church the little tooth was barely hanging on and so he let his Dad reach in and give it a little help out. After washing off the tooth we placed it in a zip lock bag and he ran upstairs and put it underneath his pillow. Luckily the tooth fairy has a $1 bill stashed away, but I hope the fairy remembers to make the swap tonight. 1 down ... several to go.

The 2008 Summer Olympics

Last night Spencer and I along with our boys gathered together on the couch to watch the Olympic Opening ceremony. I wasn't sure how much the boys would appreciate watching this event, but it did captivate their attention. I was completely impressed with the quality of performance that the Chinese people gave. They put on a fantastic show! You definitely have to give props to the Chinese, they are extremely precise in their movements and their costumes were beautiful. My only disappointment was the fact that they did not include any dragons into their performance.

My favorite part is watching the parade of the countries when they enter the stadium. 203 countries are represented in the Olympics in Beijing and I literally grabbed my world globe because a good share of them I have never heard of before. I love to see how each country presents themselves in their dress as well as their behavior. It's interesting how some countries are ultra conservative, they barely wave, and they are the definition of proper. Other countries, such as the United States, are fun loving, smiling, high-fiving, and yelling at the camera "Hi Mom!".
Another highlight to this years opening ceremony was when China, the last country to enter the stadium, walked in. Their flag bearer was Yao Ming and accompanying Yao was a nine year old orphan boy who survived the devastating earthquake in the Sichuan providence. The boy was being honored for saving the lives of two other children by pulling them from the rubble of the earthquake and therefore saving their lives. All this after getting himself free of the fallen rubble. It is a heartfelt story of heroism and the crowd in the stadium went wild as they paraded around the arena.

I look forward to watching several events this Olympics. The Track and Field is among the top. I also love to watch Gymnastics, Swimming, Diving, Soccer and Volleyball. Hopefully the U.S. can represent well this year and I can hear our National Anthem played over and over.

Who Is This Kid??

What happened to my little Andrew? My quiet, happy and content little Andrew?? In this last week I have heard him whine more often then I have in his entire 9 months of life. He sounds just miserable all because he is getting in his two front teeth. Teething must be a hard time for little ones. He is constantly gnawing on his hand or toys to ease the pain and I have been giving him regular doses of Tylenol to help ease some of it, but it is apparent that he is still struggling. He has woken up in the middle of the night crying, which he never does. I just feel so bad for him. I hate to see him miserable. I miss seeing him happy and content, but I feel helpless.

A Very Sound Sleeper

This is a funny story about Austin. One night while we were on the Pioneer Trek, Spencer and I woke up in the middle of the night to a loud sound "thunk" sound. We both sat up in the dark wondering what was going on. After the thunk it was completely quiet and so it surprised me when Spencer said, "Austin fell out of bed". Austin had literally fallen from the top bunk bed in our trailer, landed on a bag of dirty clothes to help break the fall and kept on sleeping. He never even woke up. Spencer scooped him off the floor and put him back in bed and both of us were just dumbfounded that #1: He fell; and #2: He never woke up. Thank goodness that dirty pile of clothes were there to soften the landing! Normally Cameron sleeps on the bottom bunk and Austin gets the top one, but with Caylin sleeping in the trailer too, both boys had to share the top. Cameron fell asleep first and got Austin's favorite spot in the back corner and I think Austin just got a little too close to the edge that night. I consider ourselves lucky that this didn't result in a serious injury. The next morning we asked Austin about it and he had no idea what we were talking about! How funny.

The Pioneer Trek

A couple of weeks ago the youth in our church had the opportunity to experience a little bit of what the Pioneers had to endure when crossing the plains in search of religious freedom. 250 people (youth & leaders) were grouped together to make a total of 18 families. Spencer and I were called to assist in the cooking for these people the entire week. We were fortunate enough to be allowed to bring our trailer and our boys. Another life saver was the fact that we were able to bring Caylin with us since her entire family took part in the trek, and she helped us greatly with the boys.

Duties required as camp cooks were sometimes hard, but we did alot of playing as well. Each day started out at 5:00 a.m. with the preparation of breakfast and ended around 10:30 p.m. The first day felt that as soon as one meal was done and off to the kids, the next would begin. By the next day we came up with a plan to have most of the prep work done so it gave us a lot more free time. In addition to Spencer's help in cooking the food he was also the designated food deliverer. Three times a day he had to tow the kids' meals up to where the trekkers were stopped and hand them their meals. Each family had a dutch oven and 10 gallon bucket designated just for them. A few times I went with Spencer to deliver the food and I was shocked at how rough and grueling the road was. Anytime we were around the youth we had to wear the appropriate pioneer clothing.

Visiting the trekkers at camp was so much fun to see during the course of the week and talk with them about how it was going. On Thursday evening, the entire crew from base camp was invited to join the trekkers for dinner at Far West where they were camped. That night was probably the most real night in terms of what it really would have been like as a true pioneer family traveling with a large group. By then I noticed that each family was united. They had gotten to know each other well. As I walked around the meadow I could hear one family gathered around in a circle praying for their food. Another family would be singing a song and others laughing. It was a neat experience to see.

During the week we did have time for fun. The gigantic slip 'n' slide created great fun for us. We hit it several times each day. Spencer and Caylin went tubing down the Yakima River, the kids and I went swimming in the pool at the nearby Best Western, thanks to one of our bug fearing leaders in the stake. We went on walks around the lake and the boys caught countless grasshoppers and other bugs. Our kids were so well behaved during the trip and I can't be grateful enough to them for that. I am also so grateful to Caylin for her help in attending to the kids' needs while I was busy getting food to everyone.

This calling was such a great opportunity for me to really get to know a lot of people in the Stake that otherwise I would have not been able to know. It was wonderful having my family there with me and in the latter part of the week other friends as well.