Sigh...

So, I admit I have been putting off blogging because I felt like I needed to do a long post about all that's been going on since I last blogged, and all the wonderful things we did, both significant and insignificant, before we moved back to Idaho, like...

swimming at our favorite pool about once every week,

picking up trash along the highway for a earth-friendly family home evening activity,

 going to the rodeo,

taking apart a broken etch-a-sketch to see what was inside,

celebrating the baby's first birthday complete with outdoor "hot tubs" 

 and water balloons

 as well as the traditional pancake breakfast and Jell-o birthday "cake,"

 going to the county fair 

and narrowly missing a downpour,

going on a picnic and wading in the shallow String lake in Teton National Park with friends and family,

(even the baby enjoyed the water, it's relatively warm)

picking wild huckleberries,

(They're gonna make the best homemade ice cream!)

going to Bear World with Grandma and Grandpa

where the kids got to feed and pet animals at the petting zoo

(accruing quite the collection of feathers from various fowl)

as well as ride kiddie rides,

(Grandma taught us the trick of following the feeding tour truck to see all the bears in action!) 

helping cut a big branch out of a large tree at grandma and grandpa's house 

(okay, so that was mostly my husband, but I gave great moral support from below),

roasting hotdogs over a campfire

Mmmm...

along with strawberry-and-nutella s'mores, 

Double Mmmm!

riding the ski lifts to the top of the mountain, 

going down an alpine slide,

finding a snake on my doorstep,

driving to a beautiful waterfall to try and take family pictures

then picnicking in a familiar camping spot,

and countless days spent playing at the parks --the ones with streams that the kids just had to get into,

(the crystal clear kind which were much too tempting even though they were ice cold!)

and ones with climbing walls (my oldest became quite the expert), others with ponds, or big hills,

or crazy toys... 

...not to mention all the wood chips you can eat!

They have it all there.

*Sigh*

I'm afraid life is a bit dull now, and I'm actually thinking it wouldn't be too bad moving back there again for one last Summer...  Am I insane or what?

I call it the "Lucky Charms Effect." (Or Marshmallow Mateys if you're more frugal like me, but that doesn't have the same ring to it).

I generally don't like Lucky Charms, but if I have to eat them (as in there's nothing better in the house and I need something, anything, sweet) I like to eat all the brown parts first, so that one-- there's no soggy brown parts, cause that's the worst, and two-- so I get a whole bowl of nothing but marshmallows at the end!  Awesome! (Yes, I know, I'm 30 years old... So?)

I also like to wash it down with some fresh cold milk at the end, not that warm sugary stuff that's left --it's just one of those things that delights me... Like the little tiny soap bubbles that sometimes puff out of my dish soap bottle and make me smile...

Anyway, even though I don't generally like Lucky Charms, after finishing off a whole bowl of just marshmallows and washing it down with fresh cold milk, suddenly I want another bowl of Lucky Charms.  I think that by ending on such a good note, I forget about having to choke down all the brown stuff and only remember how good the marshmallows and milk were.  My memory can sometimes be selective in that way --I guess it could be worse, I could focus on all the bad stuff, and sometimes I do, but either way, I still end up eating like three bowls of Lucky Charms!

Living in Jackson, and absolutely packing the last few weeks with all sorts of fun and exciting things makes me forget how stinkin' cold it is when I first move there, and how small the apartment is, and how expensive groceries are, and what a pain moving is in general --because moving from Jackson actually isn't that bad. After all, it's only a one bedroom apartment, and more than half our stuff is already boxed and in storage (-not to mention that the last two times I hardly had to do any cleaning myself) so I start thinking "that wasn't too bad, I can do that again" --and in the Spring I curse myself all the way.

This "Lucky Charms Effect" comes into play in a few areas of my life --like every time I decide to invite people over for dinner, or agree to do a babysitting swap (FYI -it's better to let the other couple go on their date first I think, so you have something to keep you from kil ...er, to look forward to).
(I am joking Sandi, we're still on for next week right?)

Even bottling fruit has a bit of a forgetfulness that comes with time.  I love bottled fruit, I love how it looks on my shelves, and the feeling of satisfaction I get when I look at all those gleaming bottles, and I  completely forget how tedious and time consuming it is and how horribly messy and sticky it makes my whole kitchen... *thinking of the several boxes of ripe peaches and tomatoes in the garage, ugh.*

I suppose the "Lucky Charms Effect" has its purpose. I probably do more stuff than I would if I really thought about it first. In fact, it's probably the reason I keep getting pregnant and having babies (they're just so darn cute!). But mostly it just gets me into situations where I want to pull my hair and cry out, "What was I thinking?!" or, "Why do I do this to myself?!"

Perhaps it is all worth it. I guess nothing good comes without a price.  Looking at this list makes me think that it really was worth it.
(I'm still going to petition for bigger accommodations next Summer though.)

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

What is your memory selective about and what do you find yourself doing over and over again despite your best judgement and the hardships involved?

Home sweet home

We have a home!  

Hey, it could be worse...

So, we moved, we survived.  I don't really want to go into all the details, nor am I going to bore you with pictures of the messy process again. I don't even know why we take those pictures; who wants to be reminded of that?  I will however get real pictures up as soon as I get around to it (hows that for commitment?).

Okay, two months later, I'm finally getting around to adding a real picture of our new house. Or at least the front door. Lovely isn't it? I love the roses.

I'm still getting over a terrible case of bronchitis (which the dr. was convinced was pneumonia, but the chest x-ray was inconclusive) which I'm sure was caused by all the wildfire smoke in the air combined with my weakened immune system from the stress of the move.   I think I get sick just about every move. Anyway, Now that we're settled, I'm finally back to blogging again.  Yay!

By the way, this was number 14 for us (15 if you count moving in together after we were married).  Yikes!  I'm surprised it went as smoothly --okay actually I'm not that superstitious.  And it was only smooth compared to the move exactly one year ago, (find that story here). One funny story though -- although this probably just shows what an airhead I am --  and I say funny, because I can laugh at it now, but at the time I balled, because I just couldn't handle it...

So after weeks of searching, I found a suitable rental for us to live in.  In fact, this particular property management place had several that seemed to fit our needs, and I could apply for them all with only one application, and one fee!  There was one in particular that I felt really good about and so had one of my good friends who lives in the area go check it out for me (long-distance house finding is such a pain, I'm glad I have friends here at least).  She liked it, I liked it,  and once our application was approved, I decided to choose that one.  One of the other possibilities happened to be just down the road, but I decided against it because it was a little more expensive and there were no trees in the backyard.

Well, when we got here and got the keys to go look at the property right before signing the lease, we drove up to our new rental and found that there were people living in our house!
Okay, so that was the first thing that crossed my mind anyway.  The second, and more rational conclusion I finally came to prompted me to look at the keys they had given me.  Sure enough, it was for the other house on the same street, just one number of the address was different.
I don't know where the mistake happened along the way, whether it was my fault or theirs, but what a shock!  I mean, I had been prepping the boys by telling them about the few features I knew about the house --like for example: the purple carpets, and the nearby bike path, and I had even thought ahead for once and changed our address with the post office and all our banks and such to that address. *smacks head*

Well, obviously we couldn't kick those other people out, and the property management place refused to work with us when it came to the higher rent, saying that if we didn't want the house, they'd sell it to someone else tomorrow.  (Yeah, they knew the position we were in --car full of tired kids, all our stuff in a truck, and a storage unit that needed to be emptied that day.)  They wouldn't take any responsibility for the mistake whatsoever or even be sympathetic. Grrr.

The happy ending is that we find ourselves in a really nice house actually.  In fact, our stuff is almost too shabby for this place. It's newer and bigger than the other, with automatic sprinklers, and I figure we won't mind not having any shade in the backyard during the winter --I might not even have to rake leaves this Fall.

Either way, we have a house...with a roof, and walls, and doors, and that's what matters.  The kids love having a room separate from the baby, and I love having a room period (yeah, the futon in the living room wasn't really doing it for me).  Not to mention our own bathroom and walk-in closet --which are two luxuries we've never had and I hardly know what to do with all this space!

It's finally starting to feel like home, and although I miss the beautiful mountains and cool fresh air and all our friends in Wyoming, I think we'll be happy here.  :)

At least until we move again next year.   :P

Feeding Time

I haven't really put any home videos on this blog, mostly it's just a stylistic choice, but this clip makes me smile, so I thought I'd share.




The baby just learned this new trick of spitting while I'm trying to feed him --which is less than amusing-- and so to teach him a lesson, I set down the food and walked away.  A minute later I hear giggling, and it turns out that my 3 year old has decided to try his hand at feeding the baby.  They both thought they were so hilarious.

Divergent Paths

A funny thing happened at our family reunion.  And I'm just going to say right now, that it wasn't anybody's fault, and I'm not blaming or accusing anyone of negligence.

The plan was, to go for a hike to a local waterfall.  We had discussed two different waterfalls, one of which was familiar to me, but the other was decided upon since it was a shorter hike and we had many small children.

(photo credit: "Gathering Clouds" by cousin Liam.)

As we drove, following the other cars of our family, the clouds began to gather.  A few drops began hitting the windshield, but we hoped it would blow over before we got to our destination.  As we got closer though, and pulled into the parking lot, it was pouring.  Water was streaming down the windshield as I made a mental inventory of what we had in the car --umbrellas? nope, ponchos? nope.  We had hats and jackets though to keep the rain off, and even some dry clothes for the baby when we got back.  At first we thought maybe we could wait to see if it let up a little, but time was short and it didn't look like it would stop anytime soon.  As family members ventured out to decide whether to return or forge ahead, I seriously considered turning back. Some families with babies and small children understandably did, but we had come all this way, the kids had been excited about it --okay, so maybe they weren't so sure once they saw the rain, I'm afraid it took a little prodding-- and now that I think of it, perhaps I had something to prove --to them, to myself, I don't know.

As we gathered our stuff, and put jackets on the kids, I saw the other members of our family proceeding out of the parking lot toward the trailhead and out of sight.  I figured they had assumed we would turn back too, having a baby and two small kids all, but I was made of tougher stuff than that.  I tried to hurry, but in the usual fashion of trying to go anywhere, it took us a few more minutes to get all ready and on our way.

We followed in the direction we had seen the others go, but the only trailhead we saw was the trailhead for the longer hike to the falls I was familiar with.  I supposed they had changed their minds, or perhaps there was a turnoff to the other falls... obviously our communication had been spotty at best, so off we went hoping for the best.

 After a little bit of hiking fast and not catching up, I began to doubt myself.  Neither of us had seen any other trail, but surely they weren't that far ahead of us, or going very fast.  We passed other hikers coming down the mountain, most of which were soaked through and looked incredulously at us for starting such a hike in the pouring rain with three little kids.  We finally asked some ladies if they had seen a large group of people hiking up the mountain ahead of us.  They replied, "yeah --with all the kids?" and we nodded, knowing that that had to be them, and we asked, "About how far ahead of us are they? "  The ladies looked at each other and agreed, "about fifteen minutes?"  We thanked them and went on our way, rolling our eyes at the exaggeration. They couldn't possibly be that far ahead of us.

Notice the drop of rain dangling from his earlobe, we were soaked.

The baby was hardly amused.

We kept hiking at a pretty grueling pace.  We were determined to catch up.  It was a lot to ask of a 3 year old and a 5 year old, but they did pretty well.  They had fun dodging the mud puddles (or not dodging them), and seeing the wet butterflies clinging to the flowers, waiting for the sun to come out and dry them.  I'm afraid we didn't take much time to enjoy the scenery, because we were on a mission to find our family and enjoy the hike together with them.

Well, after a while I started doubting again.  We asked some more passersby about the big group of people with lots of kids ahead, and they said they were about 10 minutes ahead.
So much for exaggerations. Perhaps I had just underestimated how long it took us to get ready, as usual, and they really were that far --but at least we were catching up!
There were a few other young college-age groups that passed us from behind, going up the mountain, so I figured our pace couldn't be all that grueling --after all the kids have short legs, and I'm not in peak condition myself, so I thought well, maybe if they knew we were back here, they would slow down and we could catch up to them. So I asked one of these groups of young people to "tell the big group of people ahead --the one with all the kids-- that there's a little family coming behind them" in case they wanted to wait up. The college kids agreed and hiked out of sight.  Surely, that would help us find them.

About this time, the rain stopped, but the kids started getting whiny, especially the baby.  My husband had to take him out of the baby backpack and carry him, which meant we couldn't hold both kids hands  and there was a lot more slipping and falling going on. We were covered in mud. I could also feel a blister forming on the inside of my heel, and we were getting pretty tired.  We asked the next group of people coming down the trail about how much farther to the falls, and they said we were about half-way.  

yeah.

Well, there was no going back now.  We had come this far, we were going to go all the way. Besides, now that we had notified our family that we were coming, they would worry if we didn't show up.

The clouds lifted and the surrounding vistas showing us just how high we had hiked gave us an extra boost.  Although the trail started heading slightly downhill, we slowed a little making our way down the slippery trail, being careful not to touch the stinging nettle that surrounded us.

We crossed a few rock slides, asked some more people about the big group ahead of us --five minutes this time-- (perhaps they hadn't gotten our message?) and finally we could see the falls in the distance.  That was enough to keep us going.

After hiking a bit longer, finding an exotic-looking bug, and expecting to see our family around every turn, we finally, gratefully, heard the sound of the falls.  We climbed down some steep stony places on the trail and came to the rocky outcropping that serves as the perfect lookout in front of the falls.

No family.

We heard voices, so we peeked over the cliff's edge to where the trail heads down to the river below at the base of the lower falls.  Sure enough, there were lots of people down there

 --A tae kwon do team taking pictures below the falls,

literally, below the falls.

The college students who had passed us,

and then there was a group with lots of kids,

(sorry for the terrible picture quality, some of these were taken from videos.)

but to our astonishment and utter disappointment, it wasn't our family!

We had been following the wrong large group of people with kids this whole time, and our family was nowhere to be found!
As this sunk in, we realized that we must've been on the wrong trail from the very beginning -although we hadn't seen any other trails anywhere.
We were so confused, and felt rather sheepish about the whole thing (not to mention the mysterious message we had sent ahead to complete strangers).  After explaining and re-explaining things to the kids, we all finally accepted the fact that we were on our own, and decided to make the most of it.

The falls were exquisite.  They were also a lot bigger than I had remembered.  

My poor hat went all soggy and limp in the rain.

The other pictures don't really show how big the falls are, but to put it into perspective,
the orange, white, and blue dots back there are the college students from the previous picture.

The kids were duly impressed (well, maybe not the baby), and we considered lingering and exploring some more, but we were dirty, wet, and hungry and had to get back to cook dinner for everyone that evening.

The hike down was dryer, and we took off our jackets as the sun came out --making the forest steamy and aromatic.  We decided that although we were tired and wanted to get back, we could take our time and enjoy the way down since we weren't trying to catch up to anyone.  The butterflies began dancing about and we got out some snacks and water I had thought to bring at the last moment.  It was a beautiful day after all, and we were glad we came, despite the difficulty and the disappointment of not being with our extended family.

(photo credit: "Sundance Fireweed", by my five year old)

The baby grew sleepy and still refused to go back in the backpack, so in a stroke of ingenuity (if I do say so myself), I wrapped my jacket around me and the baby, having my husband tie the sleeves behind me, fashioning a kind of sling.

I was able to carry the baby like that down the rest of the mountain comfortably and he soon fell asleep on my chest.  It was the sweetest thing ever.

The kids, who were troopers but nonetheless worn out, took turns being carried by their dad down the rest of the mountain. The hike back actually seemed to go faster than the hike to the falls -probably because I enjoyed it a bit more, and I wasn't trying so hard to catch up, expecting our destination around every corner, only to be disappointed each time.

It was still tiring though, and by the time we reached the parking lot we were ready to be done.

As we reached the car, I wondered what the others had thought when they saw that our car was still there, for surely they had figured we had turned back and gone home.  In the parking lot, there was a forest ranger and we asked her about the trails and waterfalls.  Sure enough, right at the very beginning of the trailhead, we had missed the gravelly turnoff to the other falls.

In case you were wondering, this is where the rest of the family ended up.  Not all are pictured.

In the end, we had gone a mile further than the others, but according to the ranger, we had been rewarded with a more scenic hike and falls.


All in all, for our little family unit, it turned out to be the most unifying part of the reunion.  We pushed hard through difficult circumstances, achieving an amazing goal and surprising ourselves by what we were capable of, and in the process made memories of our glorious adventure to the "wrong falls."

There could be a number of analogies made in conjunction with this story. Perhaps about how we often spend all our time trying to catch up to others, when all along we are each on our own paths with our own unique destinations.  Or how we often forget to enjoy the journey when we're too impatient or preoccupied with the end goal. Or maybe even something about how the best things in life require the greatest sacrifices, etc. etc. etc....

I don't know.

They're all good analogies, and ones that I could easily apply to my own life.

Our journey is definitely our own, and I find that I am only unhappy when I compare my life to others and begin to think that I want what they have.  I mean, sure it would be nice to settle down and have a house, but then I might miss out on all these other great experiences and wonderful people that I wouldn't meet otherwise.  I hope that my kids are stronger and closer to each other because of it.  The amount of toys they have or the size of their room won't matter, but they'll have great memories of all the different places we've lived and fun things we've done on this glorious adventure that is our life.
It's our story: moving from place to place, scrimping and saving to get by, working hard through a Master's and PhD, not waiting to have a family, hoping and praying that the end reward will be worth the sacrifice, and (for the most part) enjoying every minute of it.

Ich Ben Geleibt!

(German: "I am loved!")

I was browsing a favorite blog of mine, and I was delighted to discover that I had actually won a blogging award.  Okay, so won isn't the right word... I was awarded an award...  er, that's a little redundant... anyway, my blog received an award!

It's not anything that a lot of people vote for or anything, but the fact that it's coming from someone I respect and admire so much really means a lot.

I think I'm supposed to pass it on to five people, but I'm not sure how this works and I seriously don't read that many blogs in general, mainly just friends and family, popular people (did I mention this award is for people with under 200 followers?), and a few random people that I decided to follow because they have all boys like me.  So instead, I'm just going to embarrass the person who gave it to me.  :)

(Insert picture of me and Lisa and her family here --when I get back to where my stuff is in storage and have access to a working scanner.)

Lisa is someone I met on my mission in Poland, and though I only saw her a few times on Sundays since they lived quite a ways outside of Krakow, it was so nice having another American/English-speaker to talk to, and it made a huge difference having someone who had grown up in the Church coming to the small branch there.  It was like having a third missionary, one that people knew, respected, and could emulate--since we as missionaries didn't live a very normal life and couldn't show them how a member of this church lived day-to-day.
Her husband, who is Polish, was in the Mission Presidency at the time and traveled a lot, but whenever I had the privilege of hearing him speak, it was like a breath of fresh air.  Everything he said was so doctrinally sound, and made so much sense.  That isn't always the case in places like Poland, I'm afraid. The Church there is relatively young, and the members are almost all converts, so often times incorrect ideas would start creeping in.  As missionaries, part of our job was to make sure only true principles were being taught in our church meetings, and for a young missionary who didn't always understand the language, this was a cause of great anxiety. So you can imagine how grateful I was whenever President Pawlik was presiding. I could relax a little because if anything was amiss, he would kindly set it straight.
I loved their kids too. When we got to the opportunity to teach a bit of primary (and most of the time they were the primary) they were so patient with our weak Polish, and would often translate for us when we didn't know the words.  It was awesome.
Anyway, I am astounded by the strength and faith of this woman. What a tremendous blessing they are to the Church there (believe me, I know), and yet what a sacrifice?  I mean, I can't imagine living indefinitely so far from home and family, going without the things I was used to having around... like peanut butter and rootbeer...
 I suppose there's always some give and take; I mean, I would love to have easy access to affordable fresh-from-the-farm produce, delicious cheeses and breads without preservatives, german chocolate, yummy yogurts and ice-cream, (can you tell I still dream about Polish deli's, even after all these years?), etc. etc. etc.... Seriously though --speaking of taking things for granted-- I spent most of my mission craving things like tacos, and Carl's Jr., and such, only to come home and realize that I could have all those things for the rest of my life, and it would be so much harder to get a good zupa ogorkowa (cucumber soup), or a fresh bulki (bread roll)...  I even developed a taste for Lisner Sledz z sosem cremowy z jablkami i cebula (pickled herring in cream sauce with apples and onions) --and I still crave it!  How weird is that?
However, I definitely don't envy them the socialized medicine.  Maybe I just need to move closer to Chicago --but that would be too far from my family (of course, I probably take their proximity for granted anyway).
I know, I'm such a baby.

To be honest, it would all be way outside of my comfort zone --it was uncomfortable for most of the 18 months I was there, and I seriously applaud anyone who can do it as well and with as good of an attitude and sense of humor as Lisa.

How pleased I was to find that she was good friends with my husband's family, and I found her blog through comments she had left on one of their blogs.  Little did I know how witty and sarcastic and intelligent she is.  I admit I never saw that side of her in the few short meetings we had together (except for the intelligent part), and I wish I had gotten to know her better while I was there, in person.  I guess that's the beauty of blogging!


I've just decided that I am going to pass on this award after all, to 5 people whom I think more people should get to know.

One, is a friend of mine that I got to know in person, and then got to know even better after reading her blog. It's generally a regular mommy-blog like mine, but Sandi often has very insightful things to say.  Find her at Wuv,Tru Wuv.

Then there's my very talented and creative Sister-in-Law, who records all of her crafty creations and ideas, which I think deserve more attention, on her craft blog: Bee in My Bonnet.

Another creative person is my delightful little sister "JerZcow," who often has good ideas, and even has a fledgling etsy jewelry store that I think gets lost among the zillions of other hand-made jewelry makers out there, but has a unique, natural flare. (Hope there's no nepotism rules to this award thingy --I told you, I mostly read blogs of people I am related to.  She also helped me with the German for my title).

Okay, here's one I'm not related to (although I don't know how many followers she actually has because it's not shown, but what the heck...), a writer blogger who's blog I look forward to because it's honest and funny and well written. So here's an award for Kym, at Temporary? Insanity

And finally, the blog of veritable strangers, who's blog I've only lurked around a bit, but they are extremely talented artistically, and culinarily --and I've come to find out that she and her husband are really nice people as well when I actually met them in person last weekend (and of course, I probably looked like a real weirdo when I told them how much I loved their blogs --being a silent lurker and all). So the last award goes to our new friends Robert and Laura. (Be sure to check out their photo and art blogs in the sidebar, they're amazing!)

Hope you guys feel as loved as I do!  Share the love with 5 other lesser known bloggers, if you like, so we can get to know them too!

-Laura