Boys are expensive

I've decided that it's a good thing that boys won't cost as much when they are teenagers like girls with their clothes, shoes, make-up, hair, etc. because they are certainly more expensive in the medical department. Here is Coleman's latest injury.

You can see the fracture in the long bone of the second toe (how's that for medical terminology?) He was doing parkour (look it up) in the family room, flew over the chair and landed on top of his foot. We kept him home from school today with it iced and elevated, but by this evening I decided that it needed to be x-rayed. Sure enough, it's broken. Just in time for Disneyland.

fab 50s sock hop

I had the pleasure of being the date of this little hottie at our school's annual Mother-Son dance. We had a great time being together. We don't usually dance too terribly much, but we have fun hanging out, eating treats (of course), and doing a little YMCA--is a school dance complete without it? Our neighbor brought over his great 57 Chevy for some hip pictures.

He's a little blurry due to lighting issues, but he was having a great time doing the YMCA!

photoshoots

I've been wanting to get back into photography for quite a while now, but I'm too chicken to do it for real! But I got the chance to practice on some friends, so I thought I'd post some of their shoot. I also got to take pictures of Gannon, the newest Sever baby. I love taking babies! So Here's a little taste of what I'm doing.

Here is an effect that I really like:

Cute Little Gannon

My three favorites--maybe because I love black and white!

wider blog page

My friend Shawni posted information on how to make your blog wider. YEA!! That's one thing that has bugged me from the beginning. So check it out here and you too can have a wider blog! I also changed my background template to a 3 column background so it would fit the wider text.

When you get to her page, check out her photos. She's incredible!

Thanks Shawni!

creepy crawlies

We have a little visitor in our house. Well, he's not actually little. He's large. And hairy. And pretty cool to watch. Believe it or not, Coleman caught him on our hike yesterday. I didn't have my camera, so I'll have to wait and get some pictures from my friend Rachel who was with us. But this was Coleman holding him at home.


We actually went hiking specifically to hunt for tarantulas. Are we crazy or what? Garrett has been mountain biking in the foothills this time of year and seen hundreds of them. We only saw two on this hike, so I was a little relieved. I think it's cool and all, but hundreds would be a little creepy. Coleman was determined to find one to give a teacher at his school who had a class pet tarantula that recently died. So he's only a short-term visitor at our house. Oh darn.

A few weeks ago we were on the same trail (just Garrett and I with the little ones) and we found this much more kid-friendly, not so hairy or creepy little friend.

I believe it was a gopher snake, but it pretended to be a rattlesnake, so I inspected it for a long time before I picked it up. Ellie and Anson had so much fun holding it. They were thrilled! Claire and Coleman, who were at school, were very disappointed that A) they missed it, and B) we didn't bring it home. I convinced Garrett to hold it for just a minute. He's not thrilled by snakes. Or any other creepy crawlies!

little miss smarty pants

We are so proud of Claire--she got straight As the first quarter so she was honored with the Principal's High Honor Roll. What an accomplishment! She has really stepped it up this year and has been determined to get all As. She has been working extra hard on math, even spending time at recess with a friend to learn things they haven't gotten to in class yet. She has been finishing homework in class so she can play more at home and she is getting more into her reading.

She actually got a perfect attendance award also, something I thought no member of our family would ever get! It may not happen again, but she enjoyed the extra honor. Garrett and I went to the awards ceremony, then took her out to lunch. Great job Claire!! We are so proud of you!

thankful

I feel great relief and thankfulness that Proposition 8 passed. I wish the opponents could understand why we did what we did. I wish the same-sex couples could understand that we love them and accept them. I wish that they could understand that we'd rather not have to get involved in their personal life, but that once the government gets involved we have to take a stand. I hope that members of the Church that have been divided can get over their differences and come back together as brothers and sisters. I hope that the opponents can move on and not push this farther and let things get more ugly.

And I'm really thankful that I will no longer be sending/forwarding/receiving prop 8 emails!!

happy halloween!

I had a fun time this Halloween with the costumes. The girls were easy--Ellie's was a dance costume of Claire's and Claire's was a dance costume of Taylen's. You can't get easier (or cheaper) than that! Coleman wanted to be Anakin from the Clone Wars, so I made his. It turned out very cool--much cooler than the store-bought ones. I made Anson's vest out of scraps from Coleman's tunic. He was a super cute cowboy! My costume was very fun and very cheap. I found this great witch hat in Allison Sever's costume box, borrowed the dress from Miranda, got all the jewelry and shoes out of my closet, and only bought the tights!

Claire really enjoyed her look!

When I handed Anson his bag to go trick-or-treating he said, "I need some candies in this bag!"
He got way into getting candies!

happy birthday elisabeth!

A few weeks ago I mentioned to Elisabeth that her birthday was coming up soon and we should figure out what we wanted to do. Her face lit up, she clapped her hands together and said, "Oh, I hope somebody will make me a princess cake!!" Well, somebody did! I am pretty proud of myself, I have to say. This was my first attempt at a whole fondant cake and it worked out pretty darn well. I learned some things that I will do differently next time, but it came out very nicely. And our little princess loved it, so does anything else matter?

My favorite picture of the day!

We had a fun little princess party. Everyone dressed up for the occasion, which made it extra special. We brought Claire home from school for a while because she really wanted to be there. She painted nails while I put on a little makeup. We had a pink princess lunch, took lots of pictures, opened presents, and of course, ate cake and ice-cream. It was a very fun, but simple party--the best kind!

Ellie and her princess friends--Arden, Chloe, Anna and Kirsten

Even Mom was a princess for the day! I love you sweetie!

absolutely spectacular

The adventure begins!

I'm finally getting to posting about our backpacking trip to Zion National Park. It was an amazing/beautiful/challenging/gorgeous/tiring/fun trip. Garrett and I went with his mom, Dixie, for two days starting at the north west Lava Point and ending in the main canyon at Angel's Landing. Our highest point was about 7,900 feet and we ended at about 4,000 feet. All of it wasn't downhill however. The first day we had lots of up and down--nothing too long or steep, but at that elevation it really winded us. I mean, we do live at about 200 feet. The air is just a tad thinner up there.

Yes, it's a very long way down.

I believe that I have the most-used description right--absolutely spectacular!! Wasn't that it Dixie? But Garrett and I totally agreed. The scenery was spectacular. Every turn we made I had to stop and take pictures because new canyons were visible and the formations we had been viewing now looked totally different. The sunset and sunrise made for beautiful views too.

These were from the point just beyond our campsite. Gorgeous!

There's something very liberating and empowering about backpacking, knowing that you are carrying everything you need to survive on your back (or at least someone with you is!) You feel this freedom to go anywhere and take on anything. The only concern is for water, since it's hard to pack enough for the whole trip. There was a spring on both days, both of which we managed to find (no help from the parks service--thanks for nothing), much to our relief and delight. It's funny how exciting a spring can be. I couldn't wait to put my hands in it. A pretty little deer came for some refreshment at the same time and wasn't concerned about our presence in the least. She also wasn't concerned that she was standing just feet from the edge of a 1,000 foot cliff. Go figure.

The large tree on the left is barely hanging onto the cliff. It's a seriously long way down!

This is looking back up at the spring. The arrow shows where the spring is.
The tree to the right of that is the one by the deer.

The second day we had a lot of knee/ankle/back pounding downhill down trails cut right out of the rock. It was amazing, and very difficult to show in photos. Perspective is difficult to portray without other equipment or fancier lenses. Or maybe it's just the photographer. We were super glad to have our hiking/trekking poles to save our joints on the downhills and help us power up the uphills. I'd never used them before, but I loved them. I highly recommend picking some up (Walmart for under $20, or REI for $80--WHAT?? Trust me, our cheap ones were better than Dixie's expensive ones--she said so!) For day hiking or backpacking, they are a must. Just one piece of advice--don't ask Garrett about the poles unless you REALLY want to hear about how awesome/indespensible/fabulous/won't-ever-even-go-on-a-walk-without-them-again they are and if you have a while. He really likes his poles. Really.

The trail cut out of the cliff. Like I said, it's hard to portray the exposure in the picture.

Maybe this shows it. Below Dixie is the next section of trail. Get it?

Another spectacular view--fall was already beginning in Zion!

We ended the trip with a trek up Angel's Landing. This is a day hike from the valley floor that Garrett and Dixie had done previously. I'd been there, but not to the top because we had little kids with us. I have a great picture of Dixie and Garrett midway up, but Garrett is a little green in it. As soon as we made it up he hightailed it down without us. I never knew he was that bothered by looking down from heights. Getting to know your spouse better--another benefit of backpacking!

Me on top! The Virgin River is visible at the bottom.

From the top of Angel's Landing we had a good view of the trail we just came from. I didn't realize there was that kind of exposure right there. Don't look Mom! Of course, that's nothing compared to the exposure of Angel's Landing.

What a ridge, huh?

We were exhausted but happy that we made it when the hike was over. I didn't realize how spent my body was until the next day. Lots of steep up and down made for sore calves! But we had a great time. If you are interested in looking at more pictures (as if I didn't post enough!) you can look at them all on right here.

Thanks for being patient (or not so patient) with my delay in getting this post done. And thanks for being patient and getting all the way through this very long post!

fun in caruthers

Where in the world is Caruthers? I asked the same question when Garrett suggested that we go to the Caruthers District Fair and let Coleman race his dirt bike. Come to find out, it's only about a 40 minute drive from Clovis, smack dab in the middle of raisin country. And after just spending quality time at our area welfare project--a raisin vineyard--"rolling raisins," I found myself admiring acre after acre of neat rows of raisin bundles as we drove to the fair.

So Coleman competed in his first (and last?) dirt bike race. He was pretty darn excited. His buddy Brett was racing his quad. Can it get any better than that for a 7-year-old boy? Actually, yes, it can: when that boy comes home with a trophy! No matter that every kid was handed one as they exited the track after their last heat, and no matter that it says "participant" on it, to him it's a TROPHY! His first trophy!

The pictures aren't the greatest, but he's so darn cute in his gear on his little bike. Here he is on the straight-away (almost center of the picture) and rounding the corner. He was a little timid--not the fastest guy out there, but he had a great time.


In his first heat he killed his bike at the starting line and had a rough time until some guy came and helped him get it started. He got going in time to make a couple of laps. He did better in the next heat and was happy to announce that he passed a couple of guys.

Garrett was in the pits with him so the other kids and I spent a few minutes checking out the rest of the fair. When that few minutes was over we'd seen everything there was to see (did I mention this was a very small fair?) so we sat in the stands to watch the practices. The kids got pretty stir crazy and we were sweating our faces off, but we had a good time.

The guy sitting by us was not very comfortable with a camera, so bear with the picture. Check out Ellie's hair. She and Anson were entertaining themselves by wrestling on the benches. You should have seen the dirt in the bottom of the bathtub. These next pictures demonstrate their general mood.


And to change the subject, I had to post these pictures of Anson's obsession. These go along with the last post and his Thomas shirt. He takes great care to set these all up before he can be happy going to sleep. But boy, is he happy!

happiness for sale

My friend Lisa picked up this Thomas shirt for Anson for $2 because she knew how much he loves Thomas. And boy, does it make him happy! He gets so excited when I put it on him. He jumps up and down and spends a lot of time looking down at it.

I don't know how he became so obsessed with Thomas. He only recently got an actual Thomas train. He's just had the little train set with a couple of random Thomas characters that Coleman had. We got a movie a while back--I think that did it. It's funny how different kids latch onto different things. Coleman wasn't all that interested, but Anson eats, drinks and sleeps Thomas. So thanks Lisa--much more than $2 worth of happiness out of that purchase!

ellie bellie

Tonight as we were leaving Enrichment Ellie saw her Primary teacher, Karen Foster, and ran up and gave her a big hug and said, "I miss you!" (She really has no concept of time.) Karen pulled me aside and told me how much she enjoys having Elisabeth in her class and how she's so loving and sweet. She said, "I always need a hug."

That got me thinking about Ellie's loving personality and about two things that happened at our Utah reunion in July. At the 24th of July parade in Salt Lake, all the kids in the extended family were sitting right in the front, so I wasn't right with my kids. I didn't notice what was happening until someone said, "Who's Ellie sitting with?" I realized that the people right next to our kids weren't part of the family, but Ellie didn't. She had just made herself comfortable with the nice lady by her and ended up in her lap. The lady didn't seem to mind at all. Ellie loves to be loved and cuddled--she'll take it from anyone she can get it from!

Later in the day we had our reunion lunch, games, stories, etc. at a park. Garrett's Aunt Pat had brought a lady from her ward who doesn't have any family. She sat alone most of the time as the rest of us had responsibilities, kids to feed and chase, games to play, etc. But later in the day I noticed Ellie sitting by her and chatting away. No matter that she didn't know her. It's like she knew that this lady needed a little attention, and Ellie needed someone to listen to her for a minute. From this picture it's obvious that Ellie made her day!

We love our sweet Ellie Bellie. She has her moments of strong-willed stubbornness, but I'll take it if it means we get our sweet, loving, hugging, giggling, silly, happy girl.

my best friend's wedding

What a fabulous weekend! My dearest, greatest friend, Lissy Sanders, got married in the Salt Lake Temple to a wonderful guy, Mark Sarvela. I've never seen her look so radiantly happy. She was beaming from head to toe! My other good friends, Kay and Jen, were there. We were all roommates at BYU (missed you Jamie and Liz!) It was a beautiful sealing--Garrett and I were so glad we were able to come. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Sarvela!

We also got to enjoy absolutely perfect weather and great company for the weekend. We visited my Aunt Patty after the wedding in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where she is serving a mission in the Family and Church History Mission.

We enjoyed walking around the temple grounds and basking in the gorgeous weather. What a day! This is one of the best pictures Garrett and I have taken in a while!

After all the festivities, we met up with some of our good friends from college. We hadn't seen two of the couples in about 10 years! It was great to hang out with them. There was a lot of laughing, as usual. Roger's wife, Angie, commented to me, "I think Rog and Garrett are soul mates." Later Garrett told me his cheek muscles were cramping and sore and that Roger spit out his food multiple times. That's the sign of good times.

Jeremy & Janet Astle, Alesha & Clark Finlinson, Roger & Angie Gardner, Us, Andrea & Mark Ryser

We enjoyed two fun hikes with the Burbidge clan that was in town. Friday we hiked in the mountains on the west side (I can't spell the name!) then drove to the top and looked down into Kennicot Copper mine. What a sight! Saturday we did a short but beautiful hike up a little canyon in Salt Lake. I had no idea this lovely stream, waterfalls, and lake were so close! After a picnic, some duck feeding, and Angie taking advantage of the prettiest nursing spot ever, we took a few silly pictures and headed back. It was a perfect day! (This didn't have anything to do with the fact that our kids were home with mom. They would have loved the hike too--I think!)

The perfect end to this wonderful weekend was a very nice old lady giving us a ride home from the airport. We got home in the middle of church, so we didn't want to bother anyone to come get us. We figured we'd just get a taxi. But there weren't any hanging out, so we were wandering a bit when she spotted us. She'd just dropped off her daughter and said, "Do you have a ride?" She didn't even live in Clovis--it was quite a bit out of her way. We offered her gas money, but she refused, even when I tried to stash the cash in her car. So we had a lovely ride home with Billie and enjoyed her gift of service to us. There are many good people out there, and it's good to be reminded of that!

P.S. I don't want to sound ungrateful by including this as a post script, but I need to mention that this wonderful weekend was made possible by the generosity and loving devotion of my mom. She came to stay with our kids so we could fly (wow, what a treat!) to SLC. She even helped the kids participate in our annual block sale. I know, I know, I can't believe it either. Garrett and I both regret asking her to do that, but the kids were so excited to sell some of their things and earn some money. So thanks A MILLION Mom! We all love you to pieces!