All In Her Head

I know what you are thinking. This picture looks a bit like something out of the scandalous Abu Ghraib Prison. But no, it's just Kennedy proving the -'it's all in your head'- theory. Now Kennedy generally eats a huge breakfast and tapers off from there. Tonight for dinner my mom had made this warm, hearty stew and it was so good. But Kennedy took one repulsed look at it and dramatically fighting her gag reflex- declared she wasn't hungry. Then when she learned she had to eat it if she wanted to go for a treat with Papas she began moaning about how she just 'couldn't take a bite' and how it 'looked scary'. Irritated that as usual she was going to draw out the affair for hours I had a sudden stroke of genius. Since she claimed the problem was the stews ghastly appearance, I grabbed the kitchen towel and held it around her eyes and told her we were playing a new game. My parents and I were all stunned when she willingly opened her mouth for a bite and then preceded to eat her entire dinner in about 8 minutes- UNHEARD OF- in Kennedy's world! Who knows if this trick will ever work again but it was fun while it lasted. And I would like to thank Kennedy for proving so vividly the power of mind over matter!!!

Engagement Party

Ashley & Shayn

Engagement Party

Check out the 'redonkulous' decorations. My sister Natalie and her husband Robert (below with my rents) threw the party at Ashley's friends house which had the perfect setup in the yard. Natalie is responsible for all of the decorations and obviously spent a lot of time, effort and attention to detail on the whole event. The effect was charming. Both my sisters have a talent with this type of stuff...where were they when I was planing my wedding...hmmm :) A very fun evening celebrating Ashley and Shayn's engagement!

Beyonce' Concert!!!

I have been dying to write about this night, but I wanted to wait until I got the picture from my sister. So Sept. 10th Beyonce' was in Boise. I went with my sisters and one B.I.L. and several of their friends. We rode in a limo which was fun, and had dinner before heading over to the concert. Okay, if I'm being honest, I felt so stupid. I had my b.u.b. (big ugly boot) on and a dress that would be more at home in Sunday School and I was hanging out with all of these people who looked ready to go clubbing in Vegas or walk the Red Carpet or something. So other than feeling really stupid, I was excited to learn that my b.i.l. Robert had surprised us and upgraded our tickets to front row...FRONT ROW Y'ALL!!! I couldn't believe it, I have never experienced anything like it before. I was front and center in my Sunday school dress and my 'hi! I ride the short bus!'-boot...geez I am such a goob. Anyway, this concert experience was one to remember. Beyonce' sang live and sounded awesome (I still feel weird calling singers by their first names like we're bosom buddies, but I still don't know what else I would write so let's go with it). It was so weird to be so close to her. She would look and sing right to us and wave to us...it was amazing. After, my sister Natalie and her husband Robert and 3 others got to go backstage and meet B. (lol, now I'm pushing it) and said she seemed sincere and was kind and down to earth. My only regret about this night (beside my b.u.b.) is that I wish Nathan could have shared it with me.

One Week!!!!!

It has been over 7 weeks since we have seen Nathan. Words would be useless in trying to express how much the children and I have missed him, suffice it to say- we have. Today marks the one week countdown until we get to see him again and I think the kids and I are more excited about seeing him than if we were meeting Santa Clause himself! We love and miss you Nathan! Can't wait to see ya!!!! xoxo

I Kill Me!

I was trying to take a picture of a fairly uncooperative Kennedy and Kohen when Aly (you can see her on her way in the first pic) comes charging in from the other room for her moment in the sun. She totally high-stepped into the office and then finding herself extremely funny, gets all crouched down laughing at herself. I still bust up every time I look at those last two pictures, I love Aly's goofy little sense of humor.

Two Sides to Every Story

I wasn't kidding when I said that we have had really crappy luck since we have been in Boise. Check out this glorious accessory. And believe me when I tell you it is better than the boot they had me in at first. So, I broke my heel. And I can tell you the story and it sounds pretty fantastic, but the truth is there are two sides to every story. About 2 weeks ago I was over at my In-laws swimming with my kids and two of my S.I.L.s were there swimming with their kids too. We were having a really nice time and had had dinner and the children got back in the pool but the adults were still sitting out at the table and several had gone in side for a bit.

(Side 1) Anyway, I'm sitting there when Norm hollers, "Laynie's in trouble!" I look over and see my 4 year old niece struggling in the water and without even thinking I jump up and run and do a flying leap into the pool. I get to Laynie and I am able to help her and get her out of the pool.

(Side 2) I jump up and run and do a flying leap into the pool, assuming that since Laynie is struggling where I am jumping in must be the deep end- WRONG! Where I jumped in was not quite the deep end and my right heel smashed into the concrete floor. I was in so much pain at that moment it actually took my breath away but I hopped on my left foot the rest of the short way to Laynie and right as I got to her she was finding the side of the pool.

So my amazing rescue could pretty much be down graded to moral support as I helped my frightened and crying niece out of the pool so she could go see her mom. Of course I proceed to walk around on my foot for a good 5 days before seeing a podiatrist. He said he felt certain I had a stress fracture but we would need to re-xray again in 2 weeks to be sure and so we treat it with the 'big ugly boot'/walking cast. Well, that didn't really work. And my heel that hadn't been swollen before started swelling up after I would walk around on it at all. So he sends me for a bone scan. The technician who did it totally made me feel tough cuz he was freaking out saying he hadn't seen a scan 'this bright' since he could remember and couldn't imagine how I was walking on it.

Turns out there was a nice fracture along with a beautiful bone bruise and so now the dr. puts a cast on me and tells me he wants me to stay off of it for 3 weeks...In my head I question the legitimacy of his degree and bite my tongue to keep from asking, "Did you take math? Try this equation: (temporarily) Single mom + 3 children under the age of 5 + no dad able to help out and a broken heel that I am supposed to some how stay off of in a townhouse that has about 50 stairs mocking me at every turn = IMPOSSIBLE!" Instead I said 'Sure thing doc' and got outta there, searching in my mind the assortment of big scary tools I've seen in my parents garage that I felt confident I could get the cast off with. I have made it 3 whole days...The statement -one day at a time- has never been so maddeningly true.

Belly Flop Bliss

Kennedy is a fish. She has figured out all sorts of stuff this swimming season, including a flip into the pool. But this is by far her trick of choice:

This is seriously her favorite way to jump. It doesn't seem to hurt her...she sure does it a lot, anyway. She does have good form...for a belly flop, it's really quite graceful

And here is about half of my neices and nephews hanging out in the hot tub!

#327

Unnecessary Reason to Wake Mom #327:

4:00 AM

Kennedy: Mom??
Me: Huh...?
Kennedy: My pillow fell off my bed.
Me: Okay...why don't you put it back on and go back to sleep, K?
Kennedy: Okay.

***How would they survive without me...***

Baby Mama...literally

At first Aly seemed almost entirely attracted to Kohen's toys...as you can see things have changed. I caught her correctly feeding this doll a bottle and could hardly believe my eyes. I totally did that cartoon thing where you rub your eyes real good and take a second look cuz you can't believe what you're seeing. But no, my little baby is apparently old enough to feed her doll a pretend bottle...sigh...

What a Dahl!

Meet Jeff and Amber Dahl, 2 of Nathan and I's most favorite people IN THE WORLD! When Nathan and I were first married and had moved back to Boise Amber was one of my first and truest friends. Frankly I am not sure how I could have entered motherhood without her example and advice. Amber and Jeff have 5 children now and are still sane as ever (how???). Anyway, the other night I ran into them at the bookstore and Jeff started teasing me about how they were never on my blog. Really it doesn't make much sense considering how much I love these people, so I promptly pulled out my blogger's best friend (aka: my camera) and snapped a few pictures to remedy my senseless oversight. One of Heavenly Father's greatest gifts? True friends.

Sick Bay

Pretty much since the kids and I have arrived here in Boise this is what my parents house has looked like. Sick Bay...except we don't have the cool computer to talk to and give us all our answers, or Captain Kirk to diagnose our problems in his trademark...broken...up...sentences. From the prospective of the blog I know everything has looked well, but I have pretty much posted every un-sick moment we have had- so not many. We have had a laundry list of illnesses and it seems like all of them have been 'linger longers'. The list includes but is not limited too: teething, sinus infection, ear infection, a dozen bloody noses, a broken heel (my mom insisted I add this one, more on this in a later blog) a round of cough/colds, flu, fevers, and my personal favorite- diarrhea for one and all. I keep thinking this has to be some kind of sick joke...oh, that was punny...but as soon as we have a good day or two someone comes down with something else. Warning: this may be t.m.i.- this weekend I am down and out with what I can only imagine is the Russian Mafia of Diarrhea. Though I thought I had evaded it, it got me in the end. It is violent and enjoying torturing me. If it wasn't for Gatorade and Imodium .... Let's just say I can totally imagine how people used to die of this type of thing back in the day. The dehydration can happen in nothing flat. Anyway, I am sure my parents are just thrilled they let us stay with them...thrilled.
ps- happy grandparents day mom and day, lol, NOT!

Labor Day 2007

Labor Day 2007 was awesome and I don't throw that word around lightly these days. My s.i.l. Amber and my b.i.l. Mike invited Kysa and I and our kids (I left Aly with a sitter) along with Bonnie and Norm to go out on Mike's boss Amy's boat...did ya get all that? Amy and her best friend Melanie graciously took all of us out on her amazing boat and seemed to handle the inundation of children gracefully. Thanks to my other b.i.l. Taylor (Kysa's husband/Nathan's bro) we had jet skis as well and so there was something fun to do at every moment. I haven't wake boarded in years and I was still as good as I was before, pretty much not at all! I can get up no problem and get around but that is about it, nothing fancy. Kysa wake boarded and Norm did it for the first time (2nd from last pic) so cool- and Mike showed off his 360 skills (lol) and then Melanie and Amy took turns and without even trying put us all to shame. The top pictures are Bonnie with Kohen and Spencer and then a pic of Brayden, one of Rylee, and then one of Kennedy and Spencer. It was a record breaking 101 degrees out which was great because the water was really...'refreshing'. You know, the kind of refreshing where you run the risk of losing toes or fingers. Okay. Not quite that bad. It was so great to spend the whole day up at Lucky Peak Lake.

Surfing...the coolest thing EVER!

The day wore on and we lost Kohen and Tanner to an afternoon nap on the boat amazingly enough; and we got to try something that is really new called surfing. IT IS SOOO COOL!!! It is a board similar in shape to a wake board but it has no bindings. You weight down the back end of the boat with water in these giant bags to create a monster wake and then you use a rope that is only maybe 10-12 feet. You get up, (boy, I made that sound easy!) come down the huge wake and pull yourself forward climbing up the rope until you are about 2 feet from the back of the boat (pic below). Then the task is to find the 'sweet spot' where you can let go of the rope and the wake will continue to carry you along behind the boat without actually holding on to anything. How cool is that!? Kysa and I were trying it for the first time and we had a blast. Neither of us were ever able to find the 'sweet spot' where we could let go of the rope- before we would wipe out but I posted a cool picture of Amy showing us how it's done. What a great day! Thanks Amy, Melanie, Mike and Amber for such a memorable day!!!!

New 'Dungeons'!

Kohen and Kennedy were getting a little restless and so Papa Dixie decided to get out the 'dungeons' and cool foam swords she had found for them. The mayhem that ensued was all encompassing and straight up hilarious to watch. Kohen insists on wearing the helmet with the face mask down which means he can see pretty much nothing; but what he lacks in vision he makes up for in raw enthusiasm. He would run around until he happened upon some poor soul (ie- an unarmed Alyssa) and then just like the blindfolded batting around a pinata he would try to assault his defenseless victim. Luckily the swords are sturdy but soft and it is hard to actually cause any pain. So Aly sat there enduring his ineffective tirade, just waiting for him to lose steam so she could get up and walk away...but Papa John intervened carrying the Knight in Shining Dungeons away and giving Alyssa the chance to escape. The whole thing ended in a fantastic sword fight between Papa Dixie and self-named 'Dungeons'. There was a flurry of flying foam and in the end 'Dungeons' dramatically succumbed to Papa Dixie's superior fencing skills. Who needs to pay for entertainment when I have access to stuff like this!??

These Boots Were Made For Sloppin

Kohen's Aunties have a way of picking out such perfect gifts, they completely spoil my kids. If you remember right Ashley gave Kohen his most favorite Superman pj's and now check out what Natalie got for him. These stud-ly cowboy boots. Kohen loves them and wants to wear them everywhere...and I mean everywhere. He even likes to have them in his room when he goes to bed at night. Now of course his desire to ride a horse is stronger than ever. Whenever he puts on his "Cowboy Kohnee Boots" as we call them, it inspires him to talk about the things he will do when riding a horse like tell the horse to go "faster, faster!" and then also tell him to "stop!" Anyway, the boots are a little big so he slops around in them a bit and it makes him strut all the more. B.t.w., this is one of the first times Kohen has ever posed for a picture, it totally caught me off guard! He was more than happy to show off his boots!

Cold Mountain

My little sister Ashley is getting married up at the Tamarack ski resort about an hour and a half north of Boise. So Ashley, my mom, my sister Natalie and Shayn's mother Carmen and her best friend Cathy all drove up together to tour the resort and see the resort and the different places we can stay. We had a nice visit on the way up and got to hear some funny stories about Shayn when he was a boy. I had never been up to Tamarack before and I cannot believe how beautiful it is. After lunch we got complimentary lift tickets and we all rode the 25 min. round trip. The view was spectacular!!! The second picture is of the construction still going on at the resort which shows just how far up the mountain we went. It was a beautiful day but the further up we went the chillier it got until it was down right cold! Poor Natalie was wearing a sundress and was freezing. So I had to get a picture of her leg which she said looked like a freshly plucked chicken...can't argue with that. We started our journey home and at this point in the trip I feel like we had probably been making a fine impression on Carmen and Cathy and that the day had gone well. I don't know what happened. I guess it has been over a year since my mom, sisters and I have had the chance to just sit and visit. Slowly we started slipping into our usual ways that we typically try to keep under wraps in public. We were laughing and talking fast and over each other (we have been described as a bunch of hens when we get like this) and unless you are one of us the chances of you keeping up and/or finding our conversation entertaining are slim. At the time I didn't think about it. I had missed my nap and had some soda to stay awake for the ride home so that is my official disclaimer. Afterwards each of us started worrying that we had probably scared off Ashley's M.I.L.-to-be or at least given her cause to have a serious talk with her son. But as far as I know the wedding is still on so maybe Carmen will just block out that last hour or so! We had such a fun time with them and getting to spend time with everyone, it was a really fun girls day out. And while I am at it I should give a quick shout out to Trevi, Tara and Kysa for each taking one of my children for the entire day so I could go- THANK YOU!!!!!

The Western Idaho Fair 2007

The Western Idaho Fair happens every year in August. The combination of people watching, petting zoo, and expensive greasy food continues to lure me in every year. It is never until I am elbow deep into helping my children feed some sad looking goat that I remember: I don't, in fact , want mad-cow disease- the food always smells better than it tastes- and the Carnies' give me the creeps. But somehow I still can't escape the lure of the fair. I fear it is some hick-gene that all Idahoan's are born with that attracts me to such activities...if that's the case then why fight it, right? This year we jumped right in viewing all of the blue ribbon cows and pigs and Kohen could hardly contain his excitement at being so close to the animals (further proving my hick-gene theory) and then we went over to the petting area and let the kids risk their immune systems by feeding the animals. Kohen was willing to try milking a cow once we explained that no, the cow wasn't peeing. Not a bad guess from a 3 year olds perspective. Milking the cow turned out to be the highlight of the night for both Kennedy and Kohen, even beating out our usual finale of one ride on the Carousel. Though it was $9 bucks for the 3 of us to ride, I was generously reminded my stomach doesn't do spinning anymore, for free. After bathing the children in anti-bacterial we headed home. There really is something magical about the fair. Mostly the part where I magically won't remember any of this by next year when I will likely do it all over again.

Over The Rainbow

Look at these two beautiful rainbows that came from a storm we had the other day. I know it may sound a bit cheesy but I consider a rainbow sighting to be a type of spiritual experience. The specific thought I had when I saw these rainbows was that just like in life, you have to endure the storm before you will see the rainbow...

Full Lap

I know there is some saying about how mother's have 'full hearts' but tonight all I had was a full lap. Full of sick kids. Kohen and Aly especially have not been feeling well and that makes for fussy, uncooperative, clingy kids. Poor Aly has a fever that is still over 100 even after Tylenol. Needless to say she won't let me put her down. My sister caught this shot after they had all piled on to watch gymnastics with me. Later, in a fabulous 'mom moment' I gave Kohen a bloody nose when I opened his door to take him potty after he had been calling me from his bed. Or I thought he was in his bed...not so much. More like right behind the door. Yeah. In my defense he gets nose bleeds fairly easily. It's TRUE! Thankfully every one is sleeping now...but not my favorite day.