Catching up: July

Chase turns 19!! We had a birthday celebration and TRIED not to give him too many mission-related gifts. He requested non-mission items. But... he's leaving in a month and it's hard to know what ELSE to give him since he'll be spending the next 2 years as a missionary! Happy birthday, dear Chase!

Cliff also had a birthday this month. My husband is: generous, funny, absolutely dependable, honest, hard-working, loving, giving, strong, skilled, thoughtful, handsome and just plain wonderful. I am forever grateful that he asked me to his Senior Ball in 1984. I love my husband! Happy birthday, honey!

(Note the chocolate peanut butter cake that I made totally secretly!!! He thought I did nothing, but I fooled him! Unfortunately, the cake was a bit disappointing. It was a recipe I found online and it was not a "keeper". But the thought was what counted, right sweetie?)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I was roommates with some wonderful girls and friends with some wonderful people. I was lucky enough to meet with two of them in Monterey this month. Joey and Michelle are two of my very favorite people in the world. Fun to be with, honest, hard-working and wonderful. I love them both. Here we are in beautiful Monterey. Joey, Michelle and I spent the day in Monterey with our husbands, David, Sam and Cliff, accompanied by my friends' delightful daughters. It was a total pleasure.
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Joey Sue is on
the left


































Michelle is on the right.
Me! Thanks to Michelle's Sam for taking a picture of me that I don't hate!

Monterey is one of my favorite places on earth. I think it is beautiful in any weather, but today was a totally gorgeous day. I took lots of photos, as is my wont in Monterey. Michelle's sweet husband Sam not only took all the photos above, but also took the photo below with the view of the wharf and the seals. Beautiful.




Finally, my Vicki came home from her mission. She's been my girl since she was a young woman in my ward and I was her YW president. She served an honorable mission and loved it. I'm glad to have her back and I'm especially glad she's made time to come and visit. Welcome home, Vicks!

Catching up: June

In June our stake did a Pioneer Trek. Almost every member of my family went--my mom and dad were in charge of the "vignettes", my husband went up as part of the medical team, my Allegra went up as part of the youth group and my Chase went up as part of the "Sweetwater rescue" team. It was a remarkable experience for everyone. I am so PROUD of my Allegra (here, in her Pioneer clothing that she would wear for the entire 3 day trek) for making it! And I'm proud of my son for being part of one of the spiritual highlights of the trek. And I'm proud of my parents for working so hard at those vignettes, which helped the kids understand a bit of what the Pioneers experienced. Here's a photo of Chase carrying his grandmother across the water during the "Sweetwater rescue". He carried his sister across also. So sweet!


The hair battles contine. Doesn't her hair look great? Rayne is in the midst of "doing" her hair. I think Allegra secretly loves it. Allegra turned 15 also this month. Can you believe she starts driver's training in 6 months? I am NOT looking forward to that. But she certainly is. And I gotta admit that not having to drive her to seminary next year is a very happy prospect. But I just can't imagine her behind the wheel of a car! I have a feeling that every age milestone of hers will come as a surprise to me. She is my little girl! My LAST little girl, as a matter of fact, the older "little girl" being all grown up now. I am not ready for the absence of sweet, young Allegra. Of course, I'm holding out hope that I'll like sweet, older Allegra just as much.
This month also Isaiah (who turned 12 last month and was ordained to the office of a Deacon) went to the temple for the first time to do baptisms for the dead. He was accompanied by his cousin James who was spending the week with us.

This month was also: Father's Day (below: hat by Allegra, pot given by Rayne and Chase)

And we went on a couple of day trips with Chase (spending lots of time with him before he leaves on the mission). This place has been around forever and they say you can get your hamburger any way you want. We liked it, but thought it wasn't above average and cost a little too much for a diner. We still had a good time together, though, as usual. We love our Chase!!

And my nephew Scott graduated from Junior High school! What I wanna know is, when did they start having graduation ceremonies from Junior High school? Promotion, yeah, but can it possibly count as graduation? Hm. Still, Scott won every single award except for one. I was sitting by his mom and she was getting a little embarrassed by his repeated returning to the podium. :) He's such a nice boy. I love my nephews!!

Finally, the most important thing we did in June was to go to the temple with Chase. That was a very sweet experience. I have always dreamed of being in the temple with my children. Chase is the first fulfillment of that dream. Here he is with his Grandfather and Grandmother.

The hair wars continue... I want her hair down. She wants her hair up. I want the hair brushed all the time. She wants to brush on an "as-needed" basis and our definitions of "as-needed" differ. Greatly. If only her hair were my hair, I say, I would truly appreciate it. If she had my hair she could cut it short and forget about it. Sigh. Anyway, perhaps a temporary cease-fire has been reached--I am requested to brush and braid it on a daily basis. She has compassion on me. My beautiful girl.


















The tall man got all 4 wisdom teeth out. He did the manly thing: he drank his food and he took no vicodin. He kept waiting for the pain to be unbearable enough for the big drugs, but he ended up being fine with ibuprofen and ice. Ice especially for the first 24 hours. Things he didn't get to eat when his mouth was sore: pork chops, fish and chips (homemade), pizza, sweet and sour meatballs... I thought we should have eaten all his favorite things, but I'm just mean that way. I tenderly cared for him with: mashed potatoes, broth, yogurt, cottage cheese, diet shakes, ice cream, smooshed pasta, smooth chili. And! We forgot to take his mission photo before the extraction, so we had to take one the evening after his teeth were taken. Here he is, numbed (notice the inability to smile), swollen and very tired, with jeans on the bottom half and the new suit on the top half. Sweet man.


The CAR is almost done! Actually, it is done and sitting at school, drying in the paint booth. Chase says it looks really good. Here are photos of Chase in the painting booth and the car all primered and ready for the final coats.


He brings it home tomorrow. Here's the official description of how he chose to paint it: "black primer underneath red pearl in the clear coat". I can't wait to see it. I'll post photos. It's a totally original choice--he made it up himself. So, after months of body work and tons and tons of sanding, he is just about done. He says all he has left to do is the final very very very fine sanding (to get rid of the "orange peel look") and a buffing. Then it will be perfect. I think he might cry like a baby when he gets the first ding on that paint job. And I've already announced to all current and future adolescent drivers that no one but I and DAD will be driving the car while Chase is on the mission. For one thing, I can't wait to drop the insurance on a teenager driving a sports car!
And no, we have not yet received the mission call. We expect it any time. Maybe this week? Maybe next. All summer plans are on hold until we know what his schedule will be like. I've got butterflies in my stomach already, thinking about my very very nice son being away for so many months. And, you know, once they leave home, it's never quite the same again. However, in my experience, although it's certainly not the same, it's not less happy. A good change is okay with me. And he's making a good change.

My baby turned 12 this week and was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. One of the things I love about him is his ability to take serious things seriously. He is an intense little boy when the matter is serious. He's a genuinely good boy too. Here he is with his birthday ice cream pie (probably the easiest dessert to make EVER), and with his birthday loot--one present every hour for the 12 hours of his 12th birthday. Note the pj bottoms that Allegra made out of outgrown t-shirts (wow!).


















A few weeks ago I drove to Idaho (by myself) to visit Rayne and help her get ready for her "literary pilgrimage"--the study abroad program that she got into this year. During spring break, when everyone's housing contracts end and begin and most students go home for the week, Rayne had to be on campus every day for 7 hours or so for the first of the two weeks her literary pilgrimage program spent on campus. Of course, her housing contract had expired the weekend before spring break and she had no new housing contract since she'd be leaving the country in 2 weeks. So, that left her homeless in Rexburg Idaho for 2 weeks. The first few days of the first week she moved in with a friend, slept in an empty bed (cuz the other tenants were still away for spring break) and lived out of her boxes. Then I came and we loaded all her boxes and suitcases and bags into the car and unloaded everything into my little hotel room. Can you tell which bed is hers? Rayne actually slept in that bed without removing any of the stuff from off the top of it. And our very sweet housecleaner at that hotel actually managed to make the bed after a fashion without disturbing our piles. Anyway, we spent some happy days packing and shopping and planning and going to dinner and hanging out with her friends before I finally shipped her boxes, transported her with her remaining things back to her friend's apartment and drove away. She slept on the floor at her friend's for another 5 days or so before she took the shuttle for SLC, slept on the floor at another friend's place for a few nights and finally got on the plane to Dublin, Ireland. Such a great experience for her! She's having a ball and has been to Ireland, England, Wales, England again, Wales again and will return once more to England before finishing the trip in France. I'm really looking forward to her return--I can't wait to see the photos and all the loot she's purchased!

So that sums up the last month, I guess. We're so blessed.

It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog. Here are some of the photos I liked best from the past few months.

We had some huge storms in November and December that tore up our trees and anything else we had left outside. Many trees blew over. Our trampoline, even though we tied it down, was taken apart by the wind. I love these storms, even when they're violent. I have always loved rainstorms. And they turn our hills beautifully green. And afterwards we often get the most beautiful rainbows.
Often we can see the whole thing--from one side to the other. This rainbow looked like it ended right in our hills. If there really were pots of gold at the end... well, we could have our entire 6 acres professionally landscaped by now!!


Every Christmas, like in many families, our kids get new PJs. This Christmas Cliff and I had the *brilliant* idea to create a family crest and print it on tees and then buy PJ bottoms. Well, we thought it was brilliant anyway. My mom liked it too! The kids were less impressed. Oh well.
Anyway, the kids and I had a hilarious time taking pictures together after they all had their t-shirts on. I think I took dozens of pictures trying to get the "perfect" one. But once they started laughing, they couldn't stop. So I didn't get any "perfect" photos, but I got a lot of adorable ones.

We have been blessed with a lot of bread for many months now. This is something we LOVE. We are full of gratitude for those that make it possible. Not only does it stretch our grocery money, but we are able to share it with others. Bagels anyone?

There is no season more beautiful here than Spring. I looked at last year's Easter pictures and our front yard was all dirt. We had a few trees and a few straggling bushes. Last year my mom planted a few poppies and this spring, after a few good rainstorms we had THIS in our front yard!
Those poppies self-propagated everywhere and they look so beautiful against the deep purple lavender. We have so many poppies that Mom has had to weed some out. They blossom everywhere--even in the cracks in the concrete. So now we know two things that grow eagerly here: poppies and lavender. Oh! And you can't see it in this picture, but our ornamental cherry tree (in the front) blew over in one of the storms--it didn't get uprooted, though--it just got ripped away from half its roots. Dad gave it up for dead, but Cliff went out there and reburied it and staked it. And lo and behold! It lived! It is in glorious blossom also this spring. I'm so glad! I've never grown so attached to trees as I have here because all of the ones around our house are babies and we want so much for them to get big and lush, so every loss is a sad one. I've posted pictures of the sycamore in the back... we lost that sycamore. We've lost our Asian pears (the ground squirrels ate them), most of our ornamental cherries, and several of our oaks. Some get uprooted in storms, some get chomped by our co-tenants here and some just... don't like it here. Since no one's lived here before us, we are starting from scratch with everything. It's very interesting. Gives me a feeling for those frontier families (Little House on the Prarie maybe?) who settled and planted and hoped for the best. With no grocery stores to fall back on. Our garden for the last few years has been straggling along... very little produce because we were still trying to figure out what works here. This year we've moved the garden and hopefully we'll have a very big harvest. Already there are seedlings all over the house--in all the warmest windowsills--and in our little makeshift greenhouses in the yard. Go garden!

My dad called me out to look at the lavender this afternoon. All of the bushes were buzzing! Someone around here must keep bees because we had hundreds in our lavender bushes, industrially gathering good good pollen that will make somebody some very tasty lavender honey. Bees are good for our orchard and our garden too. Beautiful bees. Can you see them in the picture? Look for the little yellow bodies.


We had a very fun Easter this year, even though our Rayne couldn't come home for it. I'm trying to think of different things to do to tweak our traditional Easter activities and make them a bit more interesting for my older children. This year instead of our traditional huge Easter egg hunt, we had a much smaller one--a glow in the dark one--at night. We taped reflector tape on the eggs and sent the kids out with flashlights to hunt. It was a lot of fun! Then on Easter morning, rather than the traditional clue-driven hunt for the Easter baskets, we tied the end of a ball of yarn to each basket. White for Chase, dark red for Isaiah, pink for Allegra. Then we strung that yarn all over the house, into every room, out to the garage, in and out of cars, out to the front and back yards... we strung yarn until each ball was used up. Cliff and I had to crawl around on the floor to get back to the beginning of the maze! Then we gave each child his end of the yarn and they spent the next 15-20 minutes following their yarn and rolling it back into balls, finding their baskets. They really liked it and so did we. I think it was one of the best Easters we've had in awhile. Except for missing Rayne. And our kids are old enough now to voluntarily watch all the sessions of conference and they LISTEN and we even DISCUSS it. Amazing, I know. Yes, they did built a huge blanket fort in the family room, from which to watch conference--bless Chase's heart for still being willing to play with his siblings!! It was a wonderful weekend.

Chase, by the way, is in the midst of getting his mission paperwork ready. Our part was easy to fill out. It's the doctors stuff that is taking some time. Word to the wise: keep good track of your kids' immunization records cuz you'll need them. I thought I kept pretty good track, but I spent quite a few hours tracking down dates from a variety of locations. And he's needed some dental stuff too. We've kept on top of that, so that hasn't been too complicated, although he's got to get all 4 wisdom teeth out at the end of the month. Cliff has a sense of urgency to get it all done. I want to get those papers in too, but Chase is so nice to have around.... and once he goes it'll never be the same... and Isaiah will miss him so much... I guess I just don't have quite that same sense of urgency. By the end of the month, though, those papers will be in. AND the car will be painted. (See, that's the only mention of the car I'll make in this blog even though it's a subject of considerable interest in this house and has been for lo, these many months.)

I go to visit Rayne in Rexburg next week. I'm very excited. She leaves in a few weeks for her study abroad program. We won't see her until she returns in late May. So I go to help her pack, to ship her unneeded stuff back home, to store stuff that may stay in Idaho and to find good shoes (think we can agree on the meaning of the word "good"?) and a perfect carry on bag (which is all she's allowed to take with her for 6 weeks in Europe). I can't wait! I'll take pictures.

And perhaps I'll post again soon. Perhaps. I'm not very good at this blogging thing. Hopefully I'll do better....

Our Autumn

Can you see the marquee in these little photos? I stood on the corner of the street for 5 minutes or so waiting for the perfect moment: Cliff's name on the board, no cars or trucks in the way, the perfect zoom setting to get the words clearly, etc. I'm sure anyone who noticed some lady taking photos on the street corner thought I was one brick shy of a full load. Or a stalker. Or something. Anyway, Cliff won Teacher of the Year for Fremont ROP. He and a teacher from every other district in Alameda County were honored at the county offices. They promised them all big bonus checks and instructed them to go to the "green room" after the ceremonies to receive their bonuses. Eagerly they all trooped to the "green room" only to be told that "the check was in the mail". Apparently the last (and most generous) donor's check had not yet arrived at the county offices, so the bonus checks could not be written quite yet. But they would certainly have them in the next week or so. Now, a month later, there is no check and the friendly assurances are not so forthcoming as they were in the first week or two.... Teacher of the Year is certainly a nice thing. It's an honor and an accolade. However, it's tempting to decide that it's just one more version of lip service that we pay to teachers.... hm. All cynicism aside, though, I'm very proud of Cliff. He excels at everything he does. He's a great teacher, with huge, popular classes and with students who remember and use what he teaches. So, Congratulations! to my man.


Gorgeous, gorgeous colorado. The two youngest and their two cousins and I visited my grandmother in her little beautiful Western Colorado town. It was apple season and I bought the most delicious apples! I'd forgotten what orchard-fresh apples actually tasted like. I'd gotten used to the grocery store version. This photo was taken on the Mesa. The best fall color is past already (it was the beginning of October) but it's still beautiful up there--the aspens are yellow and the evergreens are dark and the air is crisp.


On the Mesa is a creek and a reservoir named after my Grandfather's family. They were some of the earliest settlers in this little town and my forbears were part of the group of men who dug out the numerous reservoirs and waterways that feed their lovely little valley. Of course my kids just liked throwing rocks into the water, especially when they found a patch of thick ice. Could they break it with the rocks? Yes, they could! When my grandma is gone, we probably won't visit this part of the country. It's a long drive and she is the motivating factor for us to make it. I hope my kids have visited often enough now for them to retain a sense of the history for us in this little town. I love it here.


What the kids love about visiting the ranch: mud fights are a desirable activity, even if you have to scrub the dried mud off of the house the next day (I did a lot of washing of clothing, too). Budding architects can build dams in the creek (as long as Grandma K doesn't catch them). You can leave your shirt off all day (if you're a boy). You can build paper boats and race them down the creek. You can build fires every day--outside in the fire pit and inside in the stove. You can chop up wood--with a real axe!--for said fires. You can walk downtown unaccompanied and spend all your money at the local variety store (Duckwalls)--they have everything! Grandma makes enough food for you to eat until you are stuffed full. And then you can have the leftovers 10 minutes later when you're hungry again. At the right time of year, there's Applefest--a huge fair downtown with shopping, face-painting, food, games--all within walking distance of the ranch. If it's cold enough on the Mesa (as it is any time after summer is over), there'll be snow--at least enough to build a snowman and throw a few snowballs. When I was younger we'd sneak into the barn and jump on the piles of my Grandpa's hay bales. Now, though, Grandpa's gone and there's a friend who leases the pastures and the barn and I don't let my kids jump on his hay. :) Too bad. That was really fun. Until Grandpa caught us. Anyway, we had a great time, with a lot of driving (which I love) and a lot of visiting with people we love.
In other news...

Beautiful Rayne turned 20. She attempted evasions from all birthday photos taken this evening, but this is the one that I finally snatched, with help from her dad. She's such a nice girl. She's busy working, working... She is VERY excited to go to UK on BYUI's study abroad program. Now her focus is on saving money and planning everything. Gotta get as much as possible ready now since she may or may not be back here before she goes to UK in the spring. She returns to school after the holidays, at the beginning of January. I think she's about ready to go back. She couldn't WAIT to get home in July, but now she's getting tired of working full time and is looking forward to getting back into school and is REALLY looking forward to her trip, of course.


Ally is the most creative person I know. I've said this before, but I am still continually amazed at what she makes with ease--she conceives the project, she plans the project, she fabricates the project. She made this hat from her own design. And she totally made her Mat Hatter bandolier, hat and jacket (with tails at the back of it that you can't see from this angle) from her own design. She later rejected the Mad Hatter costume because she didn't like how it looked on her. All that work! She is a pretty amazing girl. And she IS getting better and better at remembering to clean up after herself :).... I keep reminding myself that genius can't be expected to do everything!

Isaiah's scout group used our backyard for a camp-out. They slept on the "peninsula" and cooked all their food over the fire and then the next morning they practiced shooting with 22s into the hillside. They had lots of fun. Only one desperate parent asked to use the bathroom. Isaiah smelled SO bad the next morning. What is it about camping? Anyway, they had a great time and I didn't have a to lift a finger. But I DID have to remember to close my curtains before I wandered into my bedroom and got ready for bed. No problem.

That big and windy storm that blew in in October was very exciting up here. We tied everything down. During the last storm, the trampoline got blown to pieces and when we collected them all from all over the north side of the property, we found that one of the big pieces was bent backwards. Our kind neighbor welded it back into shape for us. So this time, we tied it down. My dad, however, went out in the middle of the storm to check on all the little trees. They are all tied and supported, but the storm had indeed blown a few of them down and he had to wrestle with them in all the wet. Meanwhile my mom and I had a nice time giggling at his yellow slickers and taking photos of him from the comfort of the house. Doesn't he look cute?

Finally, here are my youngest two and my brother's 4 boys all dressed up for Halloween. We've got a detective, a hobbit, 2 injured boys, Dan (from Bakugon--duh, I'm surprised you didn't recognize him right away), and Darth Vader. Cliff and I took the kids up to Brentwood to trick or treat with their uncle and cousins while he and I (and our friends the Hutchings) went to dinner at Diggers. Yum! It was fun.
Postscript:

Yeah, I didn't mention Chase at all this post. But here he is, reclining on the couch. I couldn't complete a post with one kid missing. He just got transferred to the Livermore store and he got a promotion. He's still working on perfecting the body work for... the car... and he's the biggest tightwad in the family. Go Chase! As far as I can tell he's pretty much an EOE (if you don't know what that is, you'll have to ask me in person), but he's so dang charming that most of the time I just smile and nod. :)

Oh, and one further postscript:

Ah, my typical morning view--the container in the mist! I took this picture because it shows how my kitty hangs out with whomever is working in the back yard. My dad calls her the kit-dog because she follows us around outside and sits at her ease in the vicinity of whomever is working out there. This morning the kids were doing some chore out there and the cat was, of course, present and supervising all outside activities. BUT... today the container is to be moved!!!! Yay! The battle has been won and the container is now to be moved to the side of the house, out of my view. Also today Dad and Cliff and Ernie (we love our neighbors!) will place the 2 new cisterns. Soon we'll have enough rainwater to nourish all our landscaping (including a lawn for me!) and we'll have a workshop/storage shed for the tractor at the side of the house. And my view will be untrammelled. Well, except for the compost, the rock pile, the pea-gravel pile, the wood pile... etc. But the lovely container will be removed from the view. I am very happy. Pictures will be posted.... And maybe I won't leave 2 months to go by before I do it, either!