Out West

Camping

2011-10-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went camping in McCall. The weather was great (it was a little cold one night, but probably only for me). We had a campfire, made s'mores, cooked in the dutch oven, took scenic drives, hiked, and toured McCall. And then we did like 5 loads of laundry when we got home.

Thunder Mountain Railroad

2011-10-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

One Saturday in September we rode the Thunder Mountain Line from Horseshoe Bend to Banks. The train is from the 1940s and we picked the perfect day to ride in the open-air car and enjoy the scenery of the Payette River. It was a great Saturday afternoon activity!

Back to School...6 weeks ago...

2011-10-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

We are all happy that we are back in school again! Madison started first grade this year and she is enjoying it. She is part of the classical program where she started learning history. She has been working on Latin words, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the beginning of the Jewish nation. She just got a 100% on her spelling test (and they are seriously hard!). She likes to read and is a math genius!

Hayes is in his last year of preschool. He is addicted to puzzles and loves to help Madison with her spelling (she does not like it). He is excited for school this year because his BFF Annie is in his class this year. They like to do play dates after school. He also decided that he needed a faux hawk this semester to emulate his uncles.

I am enjoying this semester. I got all my thesis research done this summer and started writing. I have been trying to turn out a chapter (about 20 pages) every 2 weeks. I have 2 done chapters so far and it is going great. I am TA-ing again in Western Civ II (4th time through the class!). I am taking a class on World Explorers which is pretty interesting too. The books on the table picture is what our kitchen table looks like most nights.

Joe just finished a month of cardiology and is now doing dermatology. He has an application to 30 residency programs in so we are waiting to hear about interviews. He has just enough time to go golfing every week and play basketball.

IMA Conference in Coeur d'Alene, ID

2011-07-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

In July we took a fun road trip to Seattle, Yakima, and Coeur d'Alene. Grandma and Grandpa Deaver took the kids in Yakima and let Joe and I continue to Seattle on our own. We had fun visiting all of our favorite places (which, strangely, were grocery stores and restaurants).

In Coeur d'Alene we were on the 12th floor in an awesome suite where we could see the lake and keep the kids from eating the $5 candy bars in the mini bar. We took a boat tour of the lake, had some fun dinners with a bunch of doctors, and made some friends.

One day, the kids and I ditched the conference and drove over to Wallace where we toured a silver mine and checked out the cute downtown composed of 100-year-old brick buildings.

While in Coeur d'Alene we also go to see my brother Alex while he was doing an internship. He volunteered to watch the kids one night while we were there (slumber party!) and took us all up to Harry Potter 7.2 the next day. We had fun taking the kids on a little hike around the lake.

McCall

2011-07-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

Over the Fourth of July weekend I met my parents and siblings at my grandparent's cabin in McCall, ID. It was the perfect weekend of hiking, hanging out on the beach, roasting marshmallows, boating, and reading (I finished 2 fun books on a 3 day trip). Joe had to stay home and study for step 2 of the boards. Too bad!

Summer Sports Camps

2011-07-31T19:20:00.000-07:00

This summer I signed Madison and Hayes up for a week of soccer camp and a week of t-ball camp through the YMCA ( I love that the age requirements were 4-6 year olds so that they could both go together). Joe ended up taking them to most of soccer while I was in Rexburg researching, but they loved it. The had a blast learning new things and making new friends. Just watching Hayes dribble the ball down the field, I totally realized he was a natural.

T-ball camp was fun. It is funny to see little kids in the huge batting helmets running around looking for the base they are supposed to be on. Madison excelled at t-ball, and Joe is seriously hoping that we have a glitter-band wearing softball player in the house (not Hayes).

Kindergarten Graduation + New Accessories

2011-06-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Madison graduate from kindergarten on Friday. Hayes and I went to an award's assembly for her that morning where she was honored with the "Kinesthetic Excellence" award (not totally clear on what this implies). Later we went to her graduation where her class sang some songs and her teacher read aloud the kid's favorite things about kindergarten and what they wanted to be when they grow up. Madison liked field trips and wants to be a swimming instructor. The end of school always makes me so sad (not because I can't handle having the kids home all day...well, that might be part of it) because Madison had such a great experience this year with one of the best teachers and good friends. She is reading now and is awesome at math. Her teacher said that she has far exceeded kindergarten expectations which is really exciting!

Yesterday Joe took the kids shoe shopping while I put some quality thesis research time in and brought Madison home with newly pierced ears. I had no idea they were sneaking off to do that! She got little pink earrings that are her birthstone. She looks cute!

IMA Conference in Victor, Idaho

2011-06-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to Victor, Idaho which is near the Wyoming border. Joe is on the board of directors for the Idaho Medical Association (which makes him a big deal), so they paid for us to go stay at a REALLY nice resort while Joe went to board meetings. This area was so beautiful. We could see the Teton Mountains, and the resort was surrounded by deer and little lakes. One day we did a nature walk with a naturalist who talked about the geology and wild life in the area, which the kids enjoyed. We met doctors from all over Idaho who were all really nice to us. It was definitely a great little weekend trip!

Zoo + Preschool Graduation

2011-06-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hayes recently had a field trip to the Zoo with his preschool class. The day we went was pretty chilly and windy. We had some fun though. He fed the giraffe some lettuce (actually he freaked out at the last minute when he saw its huge purple tongue, and I fed the giraffe some lettuce).

2 weeks ago he had his preschool graduation where his class sang some songs and had a little program for us. Some of his friends are moving on to kindergarten next year, which made him realize that he didn't actually graduate. This made him mad enough that he came home and cut up his diploma. I guess there is always next year...

Christmas in April

2011-04-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

For Christmas this year we gave out sibling dates as gifts to the brother or sister whose name we drew. My brother Alex drew my name and promised to be my guide in Rexburg to all the sites associated with the Teton Dam failure in 1976. This weekend I met Alex in Rexburg and got a whirlwind tour of life in as a student at BYU-I. I forgot what real college life was like. We went out to dinner with a bunch of his friends Friday night in Idaho Falls and then went to a girl's apartment to watch a movie (I fell asleep on the couch in the first 10 minutes). The girls in the apartment did not go to bed until well after 1 a.m. while I was lying on their couch trying to sleep. At this point one of them remembered that they actually had an empty bed where I could sleep (information I would have appreciated about 3 hours earlier). It was pretty funny and definitely a flashback to my undergrad days.

Alex and I drove out the the dam site and hiked around trying to imagine what the flood would have looked like. He took me through all the towns that were hit. It was great! We had such a fun time! It was a great road trip. The drive across Idaho was beautiful this time of year with the mountains still snow-capped and the fields and grass starting to turn green.

I did start my thesis research at the BYU-I special collections and they were so excited to help me! I am glad that it will be an enjoyable experience. So far I am overly-enthusiastic and obsessed with the topic, so I hope I still enjoy it by the time I present it next March. I present my thesis proposal to my committee of advisors on Wednesday, so wish me luck!

Easter in Boise

2011-04-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

The kids had a good time finding what the Easter bunny left them. Hayes is convinced the Easter Bunny is a genius because he had the brilliant idea of bringing him a huge Star Wars book. I tried to avoid candy all together (I abhor Easter candy, it is so not good). We had an Easter egg hunt at my grandparent's house and the kids got a kick out of that.

Easter in Yakima

2011-04-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

The weekend before Easter we went up to Yakima for Aunt Doris' funeral. The funeral was nice and we enjoyed seeing a lot of Joe's family. The kids dyed eggs with Grandma Kathy and did an Easter Egg hunt. It was pretty fun!

Totally Framing this...

2011-04-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

For my birthday Joe sent me to a women's football clinic at Boise State where we got tour all the football facilities, meet some of the players and the coaches, and learn about how Bronco football works. It was awesome! And...I got to meet Coach Pete, which was a dream come true.

McCall Winter Carnival

2011-02-23T16:16:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago Joe and the kids went up to McCall for the Winter Carnival there. I was in class all day for 3 days learning about the environmental history of the Civil War so I stayed in Boise. They stayed at my Grandpa's cabin there for the weekend and had a fun time in the snow. They checked out the snow sculptures, rode some rides at the carnival, and saw the fireworks over the lake. I had a blast reading articles and writing a book review...yeah, not really, but maybe I can go next year!

Hayes turned 4...a month ago!

2011-02-23T16:10:00.000-08:00

Hayes is four now! He wanted a Bronco birthday party (which I encouraged). We found Bronco cupcake papers at the Bronco store and made blue and orange cupcakes that have the Boise State fight song written on them. We had a fun party at my parent's house where all of my brothers and sisters and some of my cousins came. And yes, he has a mohawk in this picture, it has since been shaved off.

Girl's Night

2011-02-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

So it has been forever since I blogged...anything. School has been SO busy. Since my last post my sister Clare and brother Max have both shipped-out to the MTC (on the same day). Before they left Clare and I had a last girl's night and yes we did go to a Boise State-Utah State basketball game. If you had told me that Clare and I would be going to a college basketball game for fun, I would not have believed you. We had a blast even though Utah State won (Clare went to USU so actually she was excited). She ended up sitting next to a guy who loves BSU and he was mad that he got stuck with a USU fan right next to him, until Clare won a BSU shirt and gave it to him. He was so excited and nice after that, it was hilarious.

Christmas in Yakima

2011-01-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas we went to Yakima to visit Joe's family. We had a great time catching up with everyone. The kids opened more presents, which they loved. Our friend's from Seattle drove over one day to visit. They have cute twin girls, and a little boy who just learned to walk. We went to see the wild elk who come to get a winter snack in the valley and ate Mexican food.

Christmas

2011-01-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas was really fun and incredibly hectic. We had our traditional Vaterlaus Christmas Eve at my grandpa's house where we ate dinner, sang Christmas carols, and opened presents. It was so nice to see most of the fam, especially before 2 of my siblings and one cousin leave on their missions.

Christmas morning was fun, but kind of a blur. The kids had fun opening presents after presents, and Hayes was relieved that Santa still came "even though we were naughty." Hmmm. That night we went for Chinese food in the vein of The Christmas Story "Fa ra ra ra ra."

Sibling Dates

2011-01-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year my brothers, sisters, Joe, and I drew names and instead of getting each other presents we took each other on "dates." there were some really cute ideas. Joe and Max went tubing at Bogus Basin and to a taco truck. Alex and Mitch went to hot yoga and got granola. Alex got me some books on the Teton Dam (my thesis topic) and is going to take me to the museum when I make it out to eastern Idaho. Clare is taking Joe go-cart racing. Etc.

I took my sister Emily to get a festive holiday manicure. We picked the colors, but the ladies who were working on our nails suggested some nail art, and started to add gems, snow men, christmas trees, and stars. It was pretty appalling, but what can you do.

After that I made Emily lunch while we watched Gilmore Girls. So fun!

Las Vegas Bowl

2011-01-01T16:07:00.000-08:00

My dad, two of my brothers, Joe, and I drove down to Vegas to go to the BSU vs. Utah game.

This was my first time in Las Vegas and it was so fun. The night before the game we went to the pep rally at the Fremont Experience where all the old neon signs are. It was packed with fans, bands, cheerleaders, and dancers. I did make friends with a Utah tuba player, which was nice... Sin City was full of Bronco fans and Utes. We were exchanging either cheers or words with strangers on the street.

We went sight-seeing that night and it was beautiful. We went and saw the fountain at the Bellagio, and went through NY, NY. The next day my brothers and I screened a new TV show and offered our TV watching expertise to an offshoot of Criminal Minds.

Game time: the first quarter and a half was unpleasant. The Broncos could not get moving. I was freaking out. Once the team started scoring it was awesome. The Broncos pulled out the win, and we only started one fight after the game so it a total success.

I love Las Vegas. The palm trees, warm weather, the food, and the lights. I have to go back!

'Twas the Night Before the End of the Semester

2010-12-16T21:21:00.001-08:00

*35 books read for my 3 classes

*30 academic articles

*15 books consulted for papers

*20 2 page papers

*10 3-5 page papers

*150 student exams graded

*1 10 page research paper

*1 20 page historiography paper

*Brain full of new theories and the occasional weight of the world on my shoulders when I dwell too much on the negative aspects of what I am learning and the intellectual responsibility I feel.

My first semester of my history grad program ends tomorrow and I am thrilled to have a month off! If you would have asked me how things were going in October I would have told you they were not going well to say the least. It was so hard to go back to school after a 6 year break. Doing homework every night instead of lying around watching TV or reading for pleasure was a major change in my life. Writing papers (3 per week on the 3 books per week) really taxed my rusty writing skills, and my initial grades were not to my liking. My advisor, and teacher of 2 out of my 3 classes was giving me Bs and B+s and I was freaking out.

But as I am literally writing my last page and half of my final 20 page paper (due tomorrow) I am reflecting on how happy I am now that I am back in school. I really needed something else in my life; another outlet. I complain all the time about my workload but I honestly feel so much better about myself now. I finally got an A+ out of my grades-way-too-hard advisor, I have a thesis topic in mind, I LOVE class discussions, I finally feel like I know how to approach my homework, and I even have more history nerd friends now so I can talk about post-modern, new social history, and structural racism to my hearts content. I even got to read another book about the Dust Bowl.

I could not have made through one week of school without Joe supporting me around the house and with the kids. I also could not have done it without my mom who had a couple of "Grandma days" with Hayes and Madison during the week so that I could go to class. I also am amazed about how well the mom/student life is going. At the beginning of the year my dad gave me a blessing telling me that the time I devoted to school would be productive, and one day it hit me that this truly happened. I finished a lot of my homework in a shorter amount of time than my single, childless classmates, and got the same or better grades. This was definitely a blessing beyond my own abilities because I am definitely not that smart.

As an undergrad I would be really stressed right now because I have all this work to do to finish up for tomorrow, but right now I feel really blessed to have found a career (in the loosest sense of the word) that I love and the opportunity to pursue it!

All right, now I need to finish my paper.

Snow Day

2010-12-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

Hooray! None of us had school today (except Joe). I was going to spend all afternoon reading 15 articles for class tonight and thankfully it is the end of the semester so we don't have to make them up! It has been snowing like crazy here. After Thanksgiving in Sandpoint it feels like it has been snowing almost all day, every day. We had some fun this afternoon making a snowman and playing in the snow. I will not be sad if there is no school tomorrow either.

Birthday Boy

2010-11-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

Joe's birthday is today...and lucky for him he is spending it at the hospital on a 30 hour shift. So, the least we can do is give him a little blog shout-out.

I have been thinking lately how lucky I am to have him around. Here is a list of things that he has done lately to make me like him.

1. He cleaned out the microwave..2 times.

2. He rents chick-flicks I have wanted to see even though he hates them.

3. He makes dinner more than I do lately, and is probably the better cook.

4. He does most of the grocery shopping; a chore I detest.

5. He always takes the kids to do fun things so that I can get my homework done.

6. He makes me hot chocolate (my favorite) when I am cold.

7. He is thoughtful, fun, and supportive.

We'll keep him! Thanks sweet-ums, have a happy birthday...at the hospital!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

This year we went to Sandpoint, Idaho at my aunt and uncle's house. We had such a great time. It snowed the entire time and it was so pretty.

We had an awesome time catching up with the family. We had a gingerbread house building contest Thursday night that was super fun. We all came out with some kind of prize.

Last night we went on a sleigh ride through the woods in the snow. We sang carols and finished at the lodge where we had dinner together.

Little Tough Guy

2010-11-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

Last night Hayes slipped and fell, breaking his elbow.

We went to an orthopedic surgeon today who set him up in a awesome Bronco Blue and Orange cast! He is probably going to have to wear it for four weeks along with a sling. We have to keep going back to get x-rays because if it doesn't set right he will have to have surgery to have pins inserted or have it re-broken.

He has been so good (and is on liquid Vicodin...which may be why). He hasn't complained at all. Yesterday, a couple of hours before the accident he said "Mom, when I grow up I don't want to be a wuss." I think we can say for sure that he is not going to be a wuss!

Toad for Sale...

2010-11-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

Things Hayes has done in the last month to totally drive me nuts:

Washes his toy trucks when we think he is in bed sleeping with his water bottle...and hand soap...on the carpet.
Pour grape cough syrup into his lotion.
Pour grape cough syrup into Madison's hair spray bottle (only discovered this one after I sprayed her with a fine grape mist).
Dumped an ENTIRE bottle of shampoo into the bathtub to create a bubble bath.
Turned off the water heater and the pilot light (discovered after a particularly cold shower).
Coated his clothes hanger's hooks with lotion, and then hanged them back up in his closet.
Absconded with all of my make-up, which we discovered under his pillow in a pile while he was sleeping.
Put Madison's tooth brush inside a huge bottle of hand sanitizer, which we had to fish out.
Squeezed a ton of toothpaste into a bathroom cup.
Spilled syrup all over the kitchen floor.
Opened his own Capri Sun all over the kitchen counter and floor.

Things Hayes has said to redeem himself:

"Mom did you sew my name in the bottom of my socks?" (HANES)
"Mom I want to snuggle with you."
"Mom is my girlfriend."
"Mom, why do I have such cute cheeks?"

Blue Halloween

2010-11-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Halloween came faster than I was planning this year. We did have some fun activities this time! We did a trunk or treat at the church, and went to my Uncle Jan's house Sunday night for scones and hot chocolate. Madison was a cheerleader and Hayes was an "oil changer," or a member of the pit crew.

6

2010-11-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

Madison is 6! We had a little party with Grandma and Grandpa for Madison's birthday. We had pizza Madison's favorite and pink cake. We also carved pumpkins for Halloween. What a fun night!

Uncle Royce

2010-10-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

My Uncle Royce died a couple days ago, unexpectedly. I just can't
get over the shock of it. He w s such a great guy. A fun father of five, and a wonderful husband to my aunt. It is really a great loss that he is gone so early and will be missed.

Royce Scott McRae (1971-2010)
Royce Scott McRae died suddenly due to an aortic aneurysm Oct. 5 at a hunting lodge on the Greys River in Wyoming. He was born July 21, 1971, in Logan, Utah, to Don and Donna East McRae.
Royce grew up in Hyrum, graduating from Mountain Crest High School in 1989. He was a skilled soccer player, avid hunter, entrepreneur and Eagle Scout. Royce served an honorable LDS mission in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Mission.
He married Melissa Quayle, July 9, 1993, in the Logan LDS Temple. They are the parents of five children: Madalyn, Hunter, Dallin, Spencer and McKenzie.
Royce's entrepreneurial spirit grew as he created the highly successful "Royce the Chimney Sweep" and "The Duct Hunter" businesses that served clients throughout the intermountain area.
His greatest love was for his family and doing things with them. They had a special Hawaiian vacation this past summer and have enjoyed many other family adventures.
Royce loved the Gospel of Jesus Christ and lived a Christ-like life. He was bishop's counselor, in Young Men's presidencies, a High Councilor and was serving as bishop of the Yorkshire Ward of the Logan Cache Stake.
Royce's love for the outdoors and hunting and fishing took him to Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Arizona and throughout Utah, hunting for bear, elk, deer, buffalo, ducks, pheasants and javelina pigs.
Royce will be most remembered for his ability to make friends through his work, service, and recreation. He will be greatly missed.
He is survived by his parents Don and Donna McRae; wife Melissa L. McRae; children Madalyn (13), Hunter (11), Dallin (9), Spencer (6) and McKenzie (2); siblings Georgeana (Monte) Cook, Cindy Tanner, Joel (Brigida) McRae, Rodney (Deanna) McRae, LaDawn (Mike) Richey and Sabrina (Nathan) Sullivan.
Funeral services will be held Monday, Oct. 11, 2010, at noon in the Cache Stake Center, 1200 N. 250 West. A viewing will be held at the Allen North Logan Mortuary, 420 E. 1800 North on Sunday, Oct. 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. and Monday at the Stake Center from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Services under the direction of Nelson Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers please contribute to the LDS Perpetual Education Fund or Cache Employment and Training Center. Condolences may be extended to the family online at www.nelsonfuneralhome.com.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hayes' preschool class went to the pumpkin patch yesterday and we had a great time. We got to do a hay ride, pick out a pumpkin, run through a hay bale maze and have pop corn for a snack. The farm was really pretty and I am thinking about going back to do their Bronco-themed corn maze (or maize?).

Game Day in Bronco Nation

2010-10-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

ESPN visited Bronco Nation for Game Day, and Joe and my brother Max made the most of it. They went to the stadium super-early in the morning for the filming of the show.

That night they had me paint them orange and went to the game! I was so jealous they got to go. The Broncos won and the orange paint came out so everything turned out well.

The Fair

2010-10-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa took us to the fair at the end of August just like my grandparents used to take us when we were little. We had a blast riding the rides, checking out the crafts (which the kids loved, I don't remember liking that part), and all of the animals. So fun! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

*Is this a selling point?*

Logan

2010-10-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

So I am really behind on the blog...but about a month ago we took a trip down to Logan, UT so that I could visit family and Joe could attend the BYU-UW game.

My sister Clare showed us around town. We visited the Utah State campus, which was beautiful! We also checked out the temple and the tabernacle, and had a little treat at the Bluebird.

My grandma took a bunch of us out to dinner (cousins, siblings, great-grandkids, etc.) to the Sizz to make it the perfect Logan experience.

My sisters and I tried to locate a haunted nunnery (where do nuns live?), but never successfully found it so we watched Gilmore Girls with our favorite cousin Madeline.

First Day of School

2010-08-27T09:24:00.001-07:00

Madison had her first day of kindergarten on Wednesday. She was super excited to finally go back to school. She is going to an all day kindergarten that is part of a classical program. The classical program offers a bigger emphasis on grammar, geography, government, and even some Latin (but not until next year)! She also does two days of Spanish per week. She is basically going to be a genius! She gets to ride the bus and doesn't get home until almost 4:00 everyday, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

Swimming Lessons

2010-08-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

The kids took two weeks of swimming lessons in August at Pat's Pool. Madison really learned to swim and is a little prodigy. Hayes...tries hard. One day his teacher wasn't watching and Hayes walked off into the deep in, and I had to jump in (fully clothed) and pull him out. Not the first time either! They loved swimming lessons. One funny thing about Pat's Pool is that it is also home to like 30 rabbits, and we loved seeing the various bunnies everyday just milling around the yard.

Craters of the Moon

2010-08-27T09:03:00.001-07:00

On our way home from Yellowstone we stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Its a vast tract of lava rock and caves from an ancient volcanic explosion. We climbed to the top of lava cones and spelunked in caves created by lava flows. My favorite was the Indian cave that we walked all the way through (about 300 yards) and climbed through a hole in the top. Madison made a friend there that held her hand all the way through. The little friend told me not to worry she "had experience helping young girls through caves."

Yellowstonextravaganza

2010-08-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went to Yellowstone, one of my favorite places ever! We camped out right on the Snake River near Ashton, ID and it was so pretty. We got to do my favorite part of camping: s'mores!

We one intense day at Yellowstone and saw basically everything we wanted to. Geysers, mud pots, fumaroles, buffaloes, bears (8!), deer, cranes, majestic mountains, and trees! The highlights from the trip were Hayes referring to Old Faithful as "shooting up into the into a masterpiece," and a park ranger trapped in a bathroom because he was escaping a bear. So funny. I want to go back and explore some more! Also, sorry for adding too many pictures, but I didn't include at least a hundred of them.

Better than Wildhorse

2010-08-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we drove up Yakima-way to attend a funeral for one of Joe's high school friends. Despite the dour circumstances we had a fun time catching up with a lot of friends and family. On the way home, Joe decided to indulge my love of dust and desolation and we turned off the freeway at Baker City, OR, popped in the Johnny Cash CDs and took the scenic route back to the Idaho-Oregon border. We stopped in at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. It was pretty interesting, we saw a lot of covered wagons and taxidermied animals and possibly people (although I think they may have just been mannequins). At the gift shop I bought the CUTEST buffalo cookie cutters. I just love buffalo, I would love to have a pet baby buffalo, but I don't think Joe would go for it. The scenic drive proved to be more scenic than we anticipated, it was a dirt road that followed the Snake River for at least 40 miles. It was beautiful to see part of Hells Canyon, and on the pictures one side of the river is Oregon, the other side is Idaho. We rolled into town late last night, making a final stop at Grandma and Max's house for 1st and 2nd desserts.

It's the dust and the mud...the bulls and the blood

2010-08-02T14:38:00.001-07:00

Two weekends ago we took the kids to one of the top 10 rodeos in the country: The Snake River Stampede. They totally loved it! We went to the matinee and were able to see all the rodeo events. I liked the bronc and bull riding, and also started to appreciate the calf roping. Madison and Hayes thought the rodeo clown was especially funny! Joe says we don't need to go back next year, but wild horses couldn't keep me away!

The 4 1/2 Miler

2010-07-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we ventured into the Boise National Forest near Lowman, and did a hike. I found the hike on the internet, and on several sites it was ranked as an easy hike and great for kids. I would have ranked it as moderate, and not necessarily for kids as young as ours. Nevertheless, it was great, everyone made it, and had fun.

We basically climbed a mountain. We followed Clear Creek most of the way up, and forded it a couple of times. We saw all kinds of wildflowers and trees, and a couple of chipmunks and birds. The kids did surprisingly well. There were no tears until the final tenth of a mile to the top. We were excited to finally summit (we climbed 1300 feet at least), especially because we knew the way back to the car was all downhill! Hayes remarked to me that he likes hiking, but he never wants to do this particular hike again. Fair enough.

MIA Blogger

2010-07-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

We have been in the process of moving for the last month or so. The kids and I left Joe in Seattle for three weeks to take Step 1 of the med school board exams while we moved into our new place in Boise.

We are finally (mostly) settled, Joe is here, and we are loving it. It feels like real summer here, and it is sunny! I think I made up all my missing vitamin D in the first day.

We have been busy enjoying the season. We have had visitors: various aunts and uncles, and of course Liz to keep us company. We have been going on little hikes, swimming in our new pool, riding bikes and scooters, and staying up way too late. Here are some shots from the 4th of July. We did fireworks at my uncle's house where the kids decided they needed to use a little hearing protection. We seriously had a great time with the fireworks, and it is so fun to have so many friends and relatives here.

Joe is doing his first rotation in Family Medicine and is enjoying finally getting to work with actual patients. And, no homework when he comes home at night! I wish it could be summer all the time!

Dear Metropolitan Market,

2010-06-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

As we are packing up to leave Seattle I am pondering the things that I will miss the most. I have enjoyed the new friends I have made. I love your parks, each one is seriously amazing. I also love all of your restaurants and shopping. And Burke-Gilman Trail we had some good times. But, let's be honest, Metropolitan Market, I will miss you the most!

I will miss the overflowing flowers arranged in color groupings by the door. I will miss the beautiful and glossy produce section that makes vegetables look appetizing. I will miss your glorious deli with my favorite sandwiches and other treats. I will miss your free and exotic cheese samples. Camembert! Aged Cheddar! Gouda! And dessert section, I am starting to well up as I think I leaving you behind. Cookies, pies, cakes, sold in individual portions, calling out to me. You are one minute away from my house and open for a casual visit 24 hours a day. I will miss visiting you every time I forget just one thing for dinner, or have a late-night-craving, or a weird ingredient the other stores don't sell.

I thinks it is time for the MM to branch out and start some stores in Boise.

Love, LauriAnn

So Doctor-y

2010-06-03T20:51:00.001-07:00

Tonight Joe had his white coat ceremony signifying the end of his second year of med school and the beginning of the third when they do their clinical rotations. He is done with school now, and is studying for the board exams (major test that helps determine what type of residencies you can apply for) and the kids and I are moving next weekend! Joe's family came and we had a fun time. Joe celebrated this momentous occasion this morning by riding his bike around Lake Washington with his friends Dale and Matt. It is an at least fifty mile loop with more hills than they anticipated, but they did it!

Memorial Day Weekend Road Trip

2010-06-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

For Memorial Day we did a scenic road trip called the Cascade Loop that circles the North Cascade Mountains in Washington. We stopped in Leavenworth, a little Bavarian town, and played some miniature golf. The kids loved it, but mostly just picked up their balls and moved them to the edge of the cup, and then hit them in. After a round of golf, we rode into town and got some ice cream and saw a German band. They were awesome! We stayed the night in Wenatchee in a sketchy little hotel.

The next day we drove by the Columbia River and and Lake Chelan. It is amazing how sunny and warm things are as soon as you get on the eastern side of the cascades. You are welcome Eastern Washington from us Western Washingtonians for absorbing all the rain and clouds. We visited a little Western-themed town called Winthrop that was pretty cute. There we saw a glass blower in action, that was fascinating! We drove through the North Cascades National Park and went sledding at the summit. We did a little bit of hiking and saw all kinds of water falls, rivers, and lakes.

That night we stayed in Bellingham near the Canadian border. The kids were thrilled to be in a hotel that had a pool. The next day we did a scenic drive called Chuckanut that followed the coast down, and it was pretty. I think everyone had a good time; Joe and I are always up for a road trip as long as we have the DVD players for the kids.

Madison's Graduation

2010-05-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Madison's graduation from ECEAP (preschool) at UW (also not her first university, she did some work at Boise State last summer). It was cute/sad. Madison LOVES school and has learned so much and has so many friends and great teachers I just felt sad for her sake that tomorrow was her last day!

All the kids were wearing little caps and gowns and they sang us a couple of songs. The teachers had a video montage of pictures from the school year that was really good. Then the kids graduated and got their certificates. I do not think that there were that many cameras at my high school graduation (500+ grads). These parents and relatives were excited, and as a result I had a hard time seeing most of the program because they were all standing up and taking an obscene amount of pictures. But who can blame them, preschoolers in caps and gowns are pretty cute.

Afterward we had a buffet dinner and not one, but two kinds of cake (for the last week this has been emphasized at our home every day after school, one white, one chocolate). Madison introduced us to her BFFs that we have heard about all year: Mariam, Delisia, Leah, and Yuenah. What a fun night! Kindergarten here we come! Although after ECEAP kindergarten might be anti-climactic.

2010-05-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

Joe has his last final tomorrow and I have been packing and cleaning so we haven't been up to anything terribly exciting, but here are some highlights.

Madison lost her first tooth, and the other one is practically already in. She was eating some goldfish crackers, it came out, and she totally didn't realize. Joe noticed and asked her where her tooth went, and she had no idea! We think the most likely scenario is that she swallowed it. She already has another loose tooth. She is getting so old!

Joe gave Hayes a haircut and we tried to give him a mohawk, but he did not like it. I thought he looked cute, like Puck from Glee, but apparently this hairstyle was not fancy enough for him and he made us shave it off.

Hayes has also decided he doesn't like to sleep alone. Saturday I went to go get something in my room and found him asleep in my bed with his blankets and stuffed animals. Sunday night Joe found him in Madison's room with his pillow, blankets, and bear. We never even heard any talking or anything. It was pretty funny.

Mitchapalooza

2010-05-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

My brother Mitch came to visit us this last weekend and an awesome time was had by all. We tried to show Mitch a good time and fortunately the weather cooperated. On Thursday we went to the Japanese Gardens at the Seattle Arboretum (I LOVE going there!). It was even prettier than I remembered it; everything was in bloom. We bought some fish food for the kids and the had a great time feeding the huge Koi that were in the pond.

Friday afternoon we took Mitch to our favorite park/beach for a picnic. It was above 70 degrees and sunny. The kids played for hours in the sand and Mitch and I enjoyed one of our favorite activities of lying on the beach, eating cupcakes, and analyzing our siblings. That night we went to dinner with a family friend from Boise.

Saturday was our adventurous day. Adventurous because I usually don't willingly drive in downtown Seattle. We went to the Cheese Festival at Pike's Place, and it was crazy-crowded. We could barely wedge ourselves in to the tables to get our little toothpicks loaded with cheese. We still had a good time, though, except for the kids who were pretty grumpy. Definitely too many people for Hayes' taste. That afternoon we went to a coed baby shower where Mitch made a new best friend.

Mitch left yesterday and the kids are so sad. We definitely miss him!

Top 5 Reasons My Mom is better than Emily's

2010-05-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

1. She has a level a patience that is envied world-wide. I never thought much of it until I was a parent (which is why my siblings never comment on it), but it is surreal. I always have people comment on how chilled-out she is.

2. She has set the best example of self-esteem and healthy living in my life. She runs...every single day, and doesn't eat butter on her toast. She has never made a disparaging comment about how she looks, and that makes me feel better about myself.

3. She read to us all the time as kids and I think that greatly contributed to my and my siblings love of learning. We have all or are about to attend college, and three of us are working on grad school. I attribute that to the high priority of being informed that my mother set for us.

4. She only cut us some slack when we really needed it (this does not include illness). She holds to a high standard, so we have learned to do that in our own lives. One of her favorite stories is about Sir Thomas Moore (A Man For All Seasons) who maintains his integrity and dies for it. She reminds me of him, except she is still alive.

5. She takes great care of my dad. I have never heard her say anything bad about him, and she always puts him first. She supports him in everything he does, even though it isn't always her favorite thing. I think I have only ever seen them argue about politics! She is a great example of how to be a fantastic wife.

Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you!

Easter

2010-04-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

We really spread Easter out this year. The kids dyed eggs with Grandmas Kristi first during spring break and picked out some Easter clothes. Madison does have a distinctive style and is manipulative and talked my mom into trendy little black dress and a nice pastel dress that is a little more seasonal. Poor Grandma!

On our way back to Seattle from Boise we stopped in Yakima to see Joe's family. We had a nice Easter dinner there and colored some more Easter eggs!

The Easter Bunny indulged us and hid some eggs early for the kids to find.

By actual Easter we were ready to wrap it up. We had brunch between conference sessions, which Madison and Hayes kept calling "Crunch." I made our Blueberry Boy-Bait again and it lived up to its name. I made it the night before and when I went to check on it Sunday morning someone had taken little fistfuls out of the top of it (Hayes, for sure). He just couldn't resist the siren call of the Bait. I made some festive bug cakes with my new pan and they turned out super cute. We had aunt Melissa over for dinner for everyone's favorite: tacos.

On the Bayou/Sugar Plantation

2010-04-03T17:31:00.000-07:00

One day on our trip we rented a car and drove East along the Mississippi River to look at a couple of plantation homes. The first one pictured is Oakview Plantation with the row of oak trees lining the road up to the plantation door. We didn't go in this particular house.

All the rest of the plantation pictures are from the Laura Plantation, which was run by 4 generations of Creole women during the late 18th and the entire 19th century. We took the tour of the house and grounds and the history was fascinating. Our tour guide was a Creole woman, who was still kind of ticked off about the Louisiana Purchase...of 1803. It originally encompassed 12,000 acres of sugar fields. The women made great CEO's of the whole operation, making millions of dollars, and frequently outlived their husbands by decades. The Br'er Rabbit stories were recorded in the slave cabins here.

We also took a swamp tour which was fun. We had a great tour guide who was a real Cajun born and bred with pet alligators and turtles and he was hilarious. We went up and down the bayou on a swamp boat filled with senior citizens. We saw turtles and alligators in the water and sunning themselves on rocks and trees. We did get a chance to hold an alligator and that was pretty cool. He was so nice and soft, and could even wave. Our tour guide just kept kissing him.

Ahh! I miss New Orleans. I loved all the crazy drivers and the slow pace of life. I felt totally at home there with people sleeping in, staying up late, and taking it easy! Too bad about the hurricanes, or I would probably just move there!

Haunted History: New Orleans

2010-03-28T15:32:00.001-07:00

One of our nights in N'awlins we took a ghost tour of the French Quarter. It was awesome, and I would definitely recommend it. Charles, our tour guide, was hilarious, and liked to adopt an English accent at times, regardless of the fact that the Quarter is French and Spanish. We learned a lot about the history of New Orleans and all of the stories that Charles recounted were based on historical research, and the paranormal activity had been studied and documented by legit ghost hunters. Most of the hauntings were at sites that involved executions and murders, and the ghosts manifested themselves by moving things around, talking, ringing bells, or dropping the temperature. The La Laurie Mansion was probably the creepiest. A rich family was secretly performing twisted medical experiments on servants and slaves there and also happened to bury 72 people alive below the floor boards (who does that?). Joe and I, unfortunately must not be sensitive to paranormal activity and didn't see, hear, or feel anything.

The next night we took a Vampire tour of the French Quarter (if you aren't into the bar scene you have to be a little more creative with your nightlife in the Quarter). It was pretty much the same deal as the Ghost tour, with historical accounts and real cases of Vampirism in New Orleans. Our tour guide was really into it (more than once did I wonder if she herself was a vampire), and did get super-offended when at the end of the tour some lady from Atlanta said "finally," apparently people in Atlanta don't like to walk too much. That lady may not have made it back to Atlanta, I am pretty sure that tour guide got to her later that night.

After our tours we made a habit of stopping at Cafe du Monde for Beignets and hot chocolate, a habit I loved and miss. The amount of powdered sugar on those things was insane.

Who dat? The French Quarter

2010-03-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to go to New Orleans. This year for Joe's Spring Break we drove down to Boise and dropped the kids off with my parents (thanks Mom!) and flew down to Louisiana. We landed in a downpour (nothing new there for us) and took a cab to our hotel. It was the worst ride I HAVE EVER BEEN ON. It was midnight, you couldn't see because of the rain, and the guy spent most of the time between two lanes (half in one and half in the the other). That is the closest I have ever been to hyperventilating.

The next morning we walked over to the French Quarter. I was expecting the weather to be fairly warm, it is the South, and Seattle had even had great weather this spring. Unfortunately it was pretty cold and windy. But, the French Quarter was great! I loved all the little streets, with the old buildings covered in wrought iron balconies and fences. We saw street performers and bands, little stores and restaurants, and all kinds of bars and Voodoo shops. We did go to the Marie Laveau Voodoo Museum and it was pretty lame (just a bunch of pictures hanging on a wall with blurbs from wikipedia and some Voodoo altars) but we got the gist of it.

We went to St. Louis' Cathedral and it was beautiful, I loved all the statues and stained-glass windows. It was kind of funny to see people in pews praying while tourists were walking up and down the aisles snapping pictures. I am considering becoming Catholic on some of the religious holidays because I like all of the rituals and the cathedrals.

We also saw the Mississippi River and all of the river boats. And, I made Joe pose like Captain Morgan in Pirate's Alley. Don't even get me started on the food...

LauriAnn turns 28 Today - 03/10/10

2010-03-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

Hello - This is Joe. I have no idea how to blog. I even had to sneak onto LauriAnn's account. It took a couple of tries, but she isn't too unpredictable with her login/password info. She has been making lists for the rest of us for our birthdays. You can check them out if you scroll through her posts. I decided to make a set of lists for her. I have selected 28 awesomenesses of LauriAnn broken down into 4 groups of 7: Things She Loves, Things She Hates, Things She Has Mastered, Things She Has Yet To Accomplish. Enjoy! Happy Birthday! I Love You!

Things She Loves:

1. Cookies

2. History

3. Reading Books and Magazines

4. Running

5. The Desert

6. Certain T.V. Shows (Lost, Bones, Glee, Biggest Loser, Top Chef)

7. The Boise State Broncos

Things She Hates:

8. "Creepy, Little" Eateries

9. The Entire State of Ohio

10. Messes

11. Bathroom Talk

12. So You Think You Can Dance (especially that Cat Deeley)

13. Beans

14. The BCS

Things She Has Mastered:

15. Cleaning (Our place is always shining, and she has even cleaned our friends' places, too.)

16. Getting Ready (In all the years I have known her, she has never NOT gotten up, showered, dressed and ready for each day.)

17. Writing Thank You Notes (She even made me write a note for a birthday card I received.)

18. Baking Pies

19. Providing Our Parents With Grandchildren (However, I don't know if this is a reflection of her mastery or the ineptitude of our siblings.)

20. Putting up with Madison and Me

21. Cooking (She has absolutely mastered some dishes, mastered looking for new dishes, mastered, mastered mixing in uber-healthy and vegetarian dishes. She is an excellent, excellent cook.)

Things She Has Yet to Accomplish, But From My Vantage Point Appears to Want to:

22. Travel to Distant Places (someday sweetums....someday)

23. Receive a Degree From Boise State University (She was recently accepted into their Master's program for History.)

24. Name a Child With a Ridiculous Presidential Name (Van Buren, Taft, Nixon, Jackson for a girl)

25. Win our Fantasy Football League (or at least prevent Erik Dryden from winning it)

26. Go on a Luxurious Shopping and Spa Vacation

27. Putting Up With Hayes

28. Witness Firsthand The BSU Broncos Win The National Championship (or at least a BCS Bowl Game)

Hope you have a great birthday!!!

3 Nerds in a Row

2010-03-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

I have finally reached the stage of parenting that makes me think to myself "it is all worth it!" This weekend I introduced Madison and Hayes to the trilogy. And they loved it (despite not really understanding any of it and asking a question every 30 seconds). Star Wars is one of my all-time favorites and I am convinced with exposure early and often in life my kids will love it too. Joe may be a lost cause though.

Golden Gardens Park

2010-02-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

Every one had President's Day off and the weather was nice so we went to a park in Ballard that came highly recommended. Golden Gardens Park is right on the Puget Sound with sandy beaches and dunes. It was warm enough to test the water. The kids liked to run to the waves and as soon as it touched them run away! Hayes is still scared of the waves after they knocked him down in Cannon Beach. Madison and Hayes found some little friends to play in the sand with we had a great time getting some sun and beach time.

Spring?!

2010-02-15T22:55:00.000-08:00

It may not be spring according to the calendar, but try and explain that to the blooming flowers right outside our front door. I know pretty much else is blanketed in snow and freezing temperatures. However here in balmy Seattle we had the WARMEST January on record and enjoyed weather in the high 50's and low 60's. We never once hit a freezing temperature. El Nino, I love you! I could have used a little more sun though!

Here is Hayes riding his Diego bike while Madison is at school. He is watching Joe ride off to school on his bike. I think we skipped winter in Seattle this year, and I am not at all sad!

'Cause you had a bad day...

2010-02-08T21:00:00.001-08:00

Today I got a call from Madison's school saying that she fell down. This is the result of that fall. Some pretty serious road rash to the side of the face. Poor girl, she is all swollen and red.

Happy Birthday Hayes...Last Week

2010-01-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

So Hayes' third birthday was last week. Having my youngest kid be three is weird. I know it is time for another kid, but we can save that dilemma for another day.

Hayes had a fun birthday that stretched over several days. We celebrated a day early because Joe was going to be gone all day on his actual birthday (when in reality, he got sick and was home the entire day). Hayes went to his first day of school that morning, which he eventually liked (I had to haul him in screaming, but by the end he wanted to go every day).

After school we made his Spider-Man cake. He loves anything to do with Spider-Man. Joe's sister Melissa came over while Hayes' opened his presents; he got really into it and just kept asking for more. That night we went out to dinner at Red Robin where he asked the waiter to sing the "Happy Birthday song" to him, and bring him some ice cream.

He is such a funny guy. He will always go along with Madison's games. He loves to sit and read to himself for hours. He is a 100% Momma's boy, sometimes tells people that his favorite thing to do is snuggle with his mama. I can't believe how old he is!

Winter Break with the Fam

2010-01-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

The last part of our Christmas break was spent with my family in Boise. The house was full this year with everyone home. We had a great time with everyone. This year my siblings, Joe, and I did a drawing for gifts, and had a $20 limit plus one other restriction: the gifts had to be homemade. The Vaterlaus' are crafty, but only in the other sense of the word, the one that doesn't actually involve making crafts. Most of the gifts were actually pretty good, my sister made me some jewelry, Joe made a mystery date box for my brother, some leather working by Alex, carpentry by Max, and Mitch made an apron and cookbook, but some gifts were a little shady. I am not going to name names, but someone did SPRAY PAINT some Vans shoes and passed them off as "homemade." Not only that, they spray paint ran so they just look all jumbled, reek of spray paint if you are within 10 feet, and are probably seriously flammable. We did die laughing about it though.

We kept ourselves entertained by hosting a girl's night at Amelia the movie. My sister took me to New Moon (yes, I finally saw it). We went to the Humanitarian Bowl. We saw both my grandparents. We also played a lot of Rock Band, and apparently I monopolized the drums. We also went out to dinner, constantly one-upped each other, watched movies, talked about why we are so awesome, and I BEGGED for someone to get married and get my kids some cousins! Thanks everybody for a fun time!

BOWL SEASON!

2010-01-05T16:47:00.001-08:00

Priorities and other nonsense aside, there are at least 5 best nights of my life. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. My first kiss with Joe. I felt like I waited forever, and even lured him to Panther Falls at night, but finally after a heated argument involving politics he kissed me.

2. The night Madison was born. There was an eclipse, the Red Sox won the World Series, and I had been in labor for days, literally. And those little, dark eyes just looking around all night were pretty cute.

3. The night Hayes was born. We couldn't pick a name (or Joe just wouldn't come around to what I had already decided), and it was like 60 degrees out in January. He was such a nice baby.

4. The first Fiesta Bowl, and you all know what I mean. I was 9 months pregnant, in Virginia, watching with my nay saying husband Joe and friend Erik freaking out for my beloved Broncos. Zabransky with his trick plays! Winning the game after midnight! The total elation I felt when they won! (I would probably rank this as #1 but people would definitely question my priorities).

5. Fiesta Bowl: Deja Blue! I totally didn't think the Broncos were going to win again, but they did! And more trick plays! I will never miss another BCS bowl game featuring the Broncos!

As many of you may have noticed I am getting into college football more and more. Some may even say that I am becoming a fanatic...and those people may be right. This was my second year attending the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise. I always root for the WAC team, because I love the WAC almost as much as I love the Broncos. The game this year was pretty thrilling (Idaho vs. Bowling Green), Idaho pulled out a victory at the last minute on a two-point conversion. I was so glad they won (even though during the regular season the are my rival) and that they didn't go into over time (my feet were totally frozen by 4th quarter). The Humanitarian Bowl has been a fun family tradition. My dad, Joe, and my brothers, their exchange student Patrick, and some other friends went this year. We really enjoy trash-talking each other. Thanks for the memories Dad!

Christmas

2010-01-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas in Seattle this year. It was really fun because Hayes and Madison really got into Santa this time around. Joe made our favorite ribs for Christmas Eve dinner, and we set out some cookies, milk, and broccoli (we ran out of carrots, but I am sure the reindeer appreciated the extra iron).

Christmas morning the kids were thrilled that Santa had come. Joe's sister Melissa came over later for breakfast and to open presents. I made my famous and delectable Blueberry Boy-Bait; it really is addicting. The kids loved opening the presents and kept asking if there were more. Joe totally spoiled me this year. I am a lucky girl! Later that day we drove to Yakima to visit Joe's family and open more presents to the excitement of our children. We enjoyed seeing Joe's family and friends, and just had fun hanging out and catching-up with everyone.

Fort Clatsop and Cape Disappointment

2010-01-05T16:20:00.000-08:00

On our way back to Seattle we visited Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark wintered before heading back to Virginia. We poked around the barracks, which were pretty cool and dank, even for replica barracks. It's no wonder the corps of Discovery was not overly fond of this area in the winter. We walked down to the river where they kept their canoes; which was a nice little hike.

Later we crossed the Columbia and on the Washington side visited Cape Disappointment where the Columbia spills into the Pacific. We walked to a light house there and saw some sea lions out in the waves. Although we missed spending some time with our extended families (particularly my sister Emily), we really enjoyed this trip, and love this holiday tradition. Maybe when Joe is a doctor we can hit up some warmer beaches. Hawaii anyone?

Seaside and Sunsets

2010-01-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

After Tillamook we stopped in Seaside, OR to see the finishing point of Lewis and Clark as they finally reached the Pacific. After reading Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage I have been itching to visit all the Lewis and Clark sites I can. In Seaside they also had their salt works, where they boiled sea water to make salt (the random picture with large pots in it). The sunset in Seaside and at our hotel room was awesome, so here are some pictures!

Tillamook

2010-01-05T16:03:00.000-08:00

After some beach time, we drove down the coast to Tillamook. The drive down was beautiful as we followed the ocean. Excuse the family picture, I usually sabotage any good picture with my apparent inability to keep my eyes open, it's hereditary, what can you do?

We stopped at the cheese factory, and it was a hit. I could have stood for hours and watched the production line cut and package the cheese. Hayes, Madison, and I partook of the delicious ice cream while Joe perused the cheese.

Toad Stack Rock

2010-01-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas break was action-packed and a lot of fun. Joe got 2 weeks off from school, and we were on the road for most of it. I will probably be posting for days just to catch-up!

Our family tradition is to spend every third year with just our little family for the actual holiday. This year we drove down to the Oregon Coast for a couple of days just before Christmas. We always hit the beach in the winter and take advantage of the excellent deals on beach-front resorts. We were able to stay in a suite with an extra bedroom and a kitchenette (always better with the kids) and this was our view. We also had a fire place which was often used after being outside all day. We stayed at Cannon Beach right in front of Haystack Rock, which Hayes thought was "Hayes' Stack Rock," and eventually translated into "Toad Stack Rock," because at our house "Hayes" and Toad" are interchangeable.

The weather was surprisingly beautiful, it was 50 degrees and sunny for our morning on the beach. In the first 5 minutes Hayes was knocked down by a wave and totally soaked. We found sea shells and a ton of jelly fish. It was so pretty! More to come.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2009-12-14T20:08:00.001-08:00

...Christmas, finally, at the Deaver house. Joe's finals schedule really cramped our style this year, so we just got our Christmas tree this last weekend. Better late than never! Madison and Hayes wore their Christmas clothes to church yesterday, and looked pretty cute (especially in their opinion). Last night we decorated the tree, and it is hard to tell from the picture, but it is adorned with blue and orange twinkle lights. Go Broncos! Now we just have to finish our Christmas shopping.

I think Hayes is doing some kind of jazz hands/spirit fingers here. This is not the only picture of him in this pose.

31

2009-11-30T13:29:00.001-08:00

Saturday was Joe's 31st birthday. He celebrated by going to the Apple Cup with one of his high school friends (UW vs. WSU football game). UW won, so I think he had a good birthday.

I am going to attempt a list of 31 things about Joe, but it will probably be super-controversial so I may regret this in the end.

1. He loves to play college bowl, a sort of trivia competition. This is actually how we met. He is really good at it. I am not.
2. He wears shorts almost everyday of the year. Even if it is cold outside.
3. He gets weird diseases and injuries, like hepatitis E.
4. He is really great at playing with the kids, they love to wrestle and tickle with him.
5. He is one of the hardest people I know to shop for; I dread present-related occasions because of him.
6. He loves to travel and see new things, if he ever has free time he starts planning elaborate road trips.
7. He is disgusted with toothbrushes that have soft bristles, he only likes the hard ones that scrape off pieces of his gums in the process.
8. He loves fantasy sports. He spends weeks planning and practicing his fantasy football draft, recruiting people to his league, and setting things up in general. He loves me so much that he actually will let me, the only girl in the league, participate.
9. He loves playing card games, especially spades, and has a spades night once a month with his med school friends.
10. He hates TV shows like sitcoms or dramas, and only likes to watch sports on TV. The only exceptions being Lost, Prison Break, Top Chef, and The Biggest Loser (where we have both actually teared-up).
11. He HATES/can't eat onions at all. If he bites into one he will throw it up (so he says).
12. He loves to golf, and is always sneaking out in good weather with his friends to a golf course.
13. He is not addicted to video games, and for that I am thankful.
14. He loves to cook and grill, and is really good at improvising in the kitchen.
15. He gets really into intramural sports. Even with his hurt ankle he still manages to dominate in softball, flag football, and volleyball.
16. He is very smart, was valedictorian in college, and has a great memory.
17. He is not a big reader, but does love to do Sudoku.
18. Sometimes he likes to get all dressed-up and take me out to really nice restaurants, even though he would be happy with little cheap restaurants that creep me out.
19. I think his dream career would be a doctor for an NFL or MLB team so he could meet the players and always go to all the games.
20. He seems to attract friends named Eric/Erik. He has at least 4 or 5 that I know of.
21. He has an obsession with the state of Maine, he has never been, but he is convinced that he will love it.
22. He doesn't let me get away with too much (in a good way). If he knows I don't want to do something because I am being lazy or am scared to do it, he makes me do it, which is good.
23. He thinks the worst gift I ever got him was the Sound of Music on DVD. He is probably right.
24. He has a "side of the bed." No matter where we are, he has to have his side of the bed. He even made me sleep on the crappier side of the bed when I was pregnant, and will probably never let that go!
25. He isn't a big fan of anything sweet, but he does love cheesecake, and is always trying to talk me into making chocolate chip cookies.
26. He likes everything to be logical.
27. He does not like the way that I drive, and pretty much never lets me drive if he is in the car.
28. If he does something he always does it well. He is meticulous and likes a good thorough job.
29. For one summer he was addicted to the movie version of Phantom of the Opera. Kind of out of character for him.
30. I don't think that he could ever turn down a plate of ribs.
31. Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday, New Year's is his least favorite.

Wow, I thought a list of 31 things was going to be hard, but it wasn't too bad. Happy Birthday, sweetums, don't expect a new list next year, I think I am out of ideas!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T13:21:00.000-08:00

This year we let Hayes handle the photography for Thanksgiving. After weeding through about 30 pictures of his feet, this is what we came up with.

We spent Thanksgiving in Yakima with Joe's family, the kids were excited, as always, to see Grandma and Grandpa. We had a fun time. Dinner was great, and I contributed the pies this year. I do enjoy making and eating pies! We even got a couple of days of sunshine, which was so nice!

Boise/Halloween

2009-11-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

On Thursday the kids and I flew to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Boise. We left Joe at home to study for his Cardiovascular final, fun! We had a great visit. Grandma and the kids decorated sugar cookies to look like pumpkins. We also were able to visit some friends, including Hayes' girlfriend Annie (ask him anytime who his girlfriend is, and he will tell you it is Annie, it's pretty funny).

Thursday night, my parents, my friend Melissa and I went to a dinner for Idaho Humanities. It was great. We heard prolific writer and Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer speak about the relevance of Lincoln today.

Friday I hit the Idaho State Archives for some research. It went well, now I just need to finish up my paper!

Saturday my dad and I went to the Boise State/San Jose State football game. I was so glad to be back at the blue turf. The game was a blast. My dad got picked to go on the field at half time to kick a 35 yard punt into the back of the orange Bronco truck to win it. He did a pretty good job, but we didn't make it home with the truck.

That night I took the kids trick-or-treating. They dressed up as their favorite band KISS. They had their guitars, tattoos, face paint, wigs, and black fingernails. They were the coolest kids on the block. We got to see a lot of friends from Boise, and the kids were glad to get a lot of candy!

We had a fun time in Boise!

5

2009-11-02T11:34:00.001-08:00

So big! Madison turned five last Tuesday. It was a big day! Hayes and I took cupcakes to Madison's class at school. We got to sing happy birthday to her and Hayes and Madison passed out the cupcakes to her classmates. After school we opened presents at home with Aunt Melissa. That night we went to Madison's favorite spot: Chuck E. Cheese's. She had a blast playing the games and riding the little rides. We decided to hit Trophy Cupcake instead of making a cake this time. So we each got a birthday cupcake. Madison and Hayes had to have the Halloween-themed cupcakes and Joe and I split a snickerdoodle and red velvet cupcake. It was pretty fun. Madison is getting so old now! She loves school, playing with friends, watching movies, and reading.

Madison opening her present: Hayes all wrapped up!

Pohm School Field Trip

2009-10-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Liz (SVU college roommate and friend-but that may be stretching it, J/K Liz) paid us a visit in Seattle. We had a whirlwind of adventures and were able to "catch-up." We got into Crush, a top Seattle restaurant, and got to participate in their tasting menu ($30 for 3 courses). Each course just got better and better, but the chocolate they gave us with the bill that contained Pop Rocks, was probably the most innovative. We hit Pike's Place market with the kids, and that was an adventure. The produce stands were gorgeous with the farm-fresh wares that all looked so good. Their were also a couple of stands crammed full of bouquets of flowers, which seemed like an unnecessary extravagance, but eventually I caved and bought $5 bouquet of oranges, yellows, and reds. We had a lunch of donuts that were pretty delicious and then headed to the waterfront park and Olympic Sculpture Park. The sculptures were impressive, the weather was beautiful, and we got great views of the Puget Sound.

The next day we took the ferry to the peninsula. While there we went to Fort Worden and went out on the beach. Liz and the kids really enjoyed playing in the sand. We could see Canada (it didn't look like they were up to anything, but you never really know). After that we got ice cream in Port Townsend and walked around the little shops.

Sunday night Mary came over and we really had an SVU reunion going. It was really fun to talk and hang out. Finally Liz had to go home and I think she took all of our sunshine because it is GONE. It has rained every day since she left! Thanks for coming out Liz!

Fan Appreciation Night

2009-10-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night we went to Fan Appreciation night at Safeco Field. This was Hayes' first Mariner's game, and I think he wouldn't mind going again. We got a bag of peanuts and he was in heaven. The game was not very good (it was kind of boring and we lost), but we did have fun.

Whidbey Island Weekend

2009-10-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago (?) we took the Mukilteo ferry over to Whidbey Island for the weekend. We had a blast and the weather was pretty nice. We stopped at a kid's festival on the southern part of the island, which the kids loved. They got all kinds of free stuff, and got to do a bunch of fun things like play drums, go down big slides, and play with bubbles. It was definitely a hit. We went to Deception Pass State Park, and played on the beach for awhile (alright, I read), and then toured the bridge that connects Whidbey Island to another one. At Fort Casey they were having a kite festival so we went to check that out, and it was impressive. I had no idea that people did competitive flying to music (it was like couple's ice skating or something) it was pretty cool. Madison and Hayes also got to make and fly their own kites too! We definitely had a great trip.

Last Day of Summer

2009-10-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

To celebrate a beautiful Seattle day and the last day of summer we went to our favorite park (Carkeek) for some beach time. The kids played for hours while I was able to lounge in the sand and read in the sunshine! A perfect afternoon.

Not a Nice Nature Post

2009-09-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Usually my blog is devoted to upbeat posts about our adventures in nature. This is not such a post. The pictures may seem cheery, but it is merely our feeble attempt to put a positive spin on the situation. Please do not let young children read it as it may contain language too strong for their delicate constitutions.

The Sunday night of Labor Day weekend we decided to take a scenic drive between Redmond and Northbend that promised views of two different waterfalls and some mountains and marshlands. That weekend had already been pretty rainy, but it wasn't too bad when we set off. The drive was nice, the marshlands and mountains were all that was promised. We saw where Snoqualmie Falls was on the drive (we didn't stop because we have already seen it a couple of times) and continued on to Twin Falls. We finally found Twin Falls state park. There were no signs indicating where the falls were at the entrance we were at but we found a trail that followed the river an assumed the falls were not far off. WRONG.

We started to hike, it was after six o'clock and we were in the trees on an overcast day, so the visibility wasn't great. The scenery was pretty, but there were a couple of major puddles to ford on our elusive trek to the falls. After about 30 minutes of hiking we finally made it to the top of a large hill, and I naively thought we had made it, when we saw two other hikers. They assured us that we were close (keep in mind we have two small children, which apparently did not factor into their time estimation). I expressed my opinion to Joe that it might be getting too dark for hiking and that perhaps we should turn back, but the hikers had somewhat convinced us that if we just went a little bit further our efforts would pay off. We started hiking back down the other side of the hill. The rain was starting to increase at this time, fortunately I had brought every one's coats. We made it to the bottom...and then the top of another hill until we finally found some slippery and steep stairs that led to a view point. Finally we made it to the falls, and decided that we could spend about 3 minutes looking at them because we obviously had a long walk back to the car. As soon was started to hike back it began to POUR RAIN. Thinking that we were merely going on a drive I had worn clogs with wooden soles, and was finding it seriously hard to walk because I could not feel the trail at all and was tripping on almost everything as I stumbled along in the dark. We marched back at a brisk pace unable to see even a couple of feet in front of us. I finally twisted my ankle, falling into a mud puddle and screaming obscenities (at least my interpretation of them, I did say "Judas!" Steph, a term I don't think that I have used in years). So we kept on going (limping in my case), walking cavalierly through puddles because we were already soaked now. We finally made it back to the car and had to strip the kids down and just wrap them in blankets because we were all soaked to the bone. Twin Falls State Park, I implore you to put up a sign actually informing unsuspecting hikers how far it really is to the falls. Joe says that sometime we should go back in better conditions and try it again. I say, "No." I never need to repeat the Hike from Hell again.

Western Washington State Fair

2009-09-15T10:22:00.001-07:00

Saturday night we went to the State Fair in Puyallup. We enjoyed every minute of it. We started out by looking at the animals. Madison and Hayes practiced milking a fake cow. After that we hit up the fair food (Joe is a major fan). Madison and Hayes rode a couple rides. We did put Hayes on a little roller coaster (we had to sneak him on because he wasn't quite tall enough) and it was definitely a little mature for him. Held onto the bar for dear life and looked pretty pail, but he did it! We also went to a 3-D movie about the brain, which I think was a first for all of us. It was pretty fun. Going to the fair always seems like the event that signals the end of summer and the start of school, so I guess we are ready for fall (just hopefully not the rain!).

First Day of School

2009-09-15T10:07:00.001-07:00

Madison had her first day of real school yesterday. She started a Lutheran preschool 3 times a week, and I think that she is going to LOVE it. Hayes and I went with her for an orientation yesterday. The teachers seemed fun, and Madison has plenty of new potential friends. I met a lot of the moms who were wearing professional wear and holding their Starbucks, and felt kind of funny because I still felt way less grown-up than them, but they were really nice. It is a religious preschool and they do sing a prayer before snack time, which I can honestly say I have never seen done before. I don't think Madison and Hayes realized they were praying, but thought it was fun anyway. After the orientation we went to chapel, and Madison and Hayes kept loudly asking what chapel was. I had to explain to them that it was kind of like church. Fortunately they enjoyed the new church, and Pastor Peterson's story about the creation. I think Madison is going to love it, and I was really impressed with the school!

Camping Extravaganza

2009-09-03T16:54:00.001-07:00

Last week we went on our long-anticipated camping trip for the summer. This year we went to Ohanapecosh near Mt. Rainier. We stayed three nights and had great weather, almost too warm for a campfire! The kids loved it. Joe and the kids went swimming in the Blue Hole at La Wis Wis (those are really their names), it was way too cold for me. Madison and Hayes became Junior Rangers after completing their training at the visitor's center. We drove up to Mt. Rainier's visitor's centers at Paradise and Sunrise, and saw some pretty spectacular views of the Cascades and Mt. Rainier. We took a hike to the Grove of the Patriarchs, some 1000 year old trees in the area. We even ventured into the world of dutch oven cooking for the first time, and were pretty good at it, even if we do say so ourselves.

It was a fun trip, a great place to go. I did learn a lot about the volcanic capabilities of Mt. Rainier and I am torn between fearing a blast which would surely take-out our Seattle home, and secretly just wanting one anyway because it is so fascinating. I do love volcanoes.

Tasty Summer Lunch

2009-08-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

This summer my favorite lunch has been hummus with whole wheat flat bread, so I thought that I would share the recipe! I got it from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (shout out to Liz, our favorite editor there)and it is super easy and really good.

HUMMUS

1 (15.5 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed
1/4 cup tahini*
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons lemon juice

*Tahini is sesame paste, and I found it in the international/Asian food aisle of the store. You have to stir it up pretty well before you use it because it separates in the can.

I throw all of the ingredients into the food processor until they are mixed, put it into a container, and refrigerate it for about half an hour before enjoying. In addition to being a great dip for flat bread, it is good on vegetables too!

City of Rocks

2009-08-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Joe and I put an offer on this house, the location is great, and there is a lot of room for us to put our personality in it.

This last weekend we drove down to the Idaho/Utah border and visited the City of the Rocks and Castle Rock. We had fun climbing around on the rocks and seeing the various formations.

Idaho City

2009-08-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

We made our second annual excursion to an Idaho ghost town. Last summer we went to Silver City, and it was awesome. This Summer we went to Idaho City which actually isn't too far from Boise. Idaho City and Silver City led to the rise of Boise as a center of commerce. Idaho City experienced a surge in population when gold was found on Grime's Creek. It was the largest town in the Northwest during its heyday. On our visit we were able to see many of the original buildings, and visit a museum (this museum was hilarious and also houses the largest collection of glass bottles in the region) where we saw many varieties of barbed wire and other oddities. We walked around the dusty streets, and on the old wooden side walks. Finally we settled down for some ice cream and saspirilla Joe, unfortunately is not as big of a fan of ghost towns or dust as I am so I usually can only visit one a year, after the memory of the last time has faded somewhat.

McCall

2009-08-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

I finally found my camera, so now I can catch up on my summer adventures. At the end of July we went to a Vaterlaus family reunion in McCall, Idaho, one of my absolute favorite places. I love all of the trees, the woodsy smell, and the lake. One morning I went running through Ponderosa State Park and got to run alongside the lake, pretty cool, but the altitude left me panting for air. We did some boating, and then the next day we took a bike ride around the lake. It was pretty awesome. I had a great time with my cousins, and I LOVE McCall.

Big Week

2009-08-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

I have two excuses for lacking a blog post for the last month or so: 1. I lost my camera in the back of our car, which is currently parked at my dad's office having the timing belts changed for the last week and a half, and 2. I set two goals for myself this summer and was coming down to the wire to get them accomplished. I did have one week where I was so overwhelmed that I didn't even make the beds one day, had a melt down, and almost didn't shower. That is saying a lot for someone who prizes cleanliness like I do.

Goal #1: Take the GRE and do well enough that I will not ever have to take it again. I finally took the GRE last week and did much better than I thought that I could do. I actually scored higher than I ever did on any of the practice tests, and when I took the real GRE I thought I was literally doing so badly that I was about to cancel my scores. Now I just need to get the rest of my stuff together and graduate school here I come!

Goal #2: Finish a half marathon, and actually run the whole thing. I have had a series of injuries that have made this goal illusive, but this summer has been mostly injury free (I HIGHLY recommend cross-training, I was faster and less sore when I rode the stationary bike 2 times a week). I signed up for the Provo River Trail half marathon, and my sister Emily and I drove down last weekend to run. We had an awesome road trip, despite the fact that she would not let me listen to Johnny Cash in the car. The race was great. We started pretty far up the canyon and had a ton of down hill stretches, so I did not feel too tired, but it was a lot harder on my muscles. I was able to do between 9 1/2 and 10 1/2 minute miles, pretty speedy for me, and didn't stop once, not even to drink water (I did however try to drink and run, and that resulted in most of the water running down the front of me). I could not walk for about two days after, but I am so glad that I did it.

Max, I am pretty much a big deal.

Hiking the Foothills

2009-07-07T15:24:00.001-07:00

The other day the kids and I decided to hike to the top of the foothill nearest my parents house. The kids really love climbing and hiking right now, and got a kick out of this 1.5 mile excursion. Horses had passed through this trail and left their mark, and Hayes asked of every branch, rock, or tuft of grass "is that horse poop?" I mean like every 30 seconds. Madison's pose in the second picture is a tribute to Gene Simmons of the band KISS, my kids current favorite. They know the words to "Rock and Roll All Night," and love to stick out their tongues and pretend to break their guitars. This is probably a normal phase for a 2 and 4 year old, right?

Not a Wimp Anymore

2009-07-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

I have always felt like the family wimp because out of all my brothers and sisters, I was the only one who could not get up on one water ski growing up. However, I am a wimp no longer. On a whim I decided to try getting up the last time we went boating and got up on my third try! I was so excited because I honestly never thought I would be able to get up. Go me! I relinquish my title of family wimp!

South Central Idaho Road Trip

2009-07-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

A weekend or so ago (I am behind on my blogging) we drove out to Shoshone to meet one of Joe's classmates who is doing a rural medicine internship there, and her two kids. I seriously loved Shoshone. It is right on the railroad and has a main street of old brick buildings. I get so excited every time we pack up for a road trip and head out of the city. The semi-arid desert of southern Idaho is not always appreciated for its aesthetic appeal, but I love it! I make Joe listen to Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins as we cruise through the mountains and buttes. It drives him nuts. We went with Annamarie, her mom, Sienna, and Alder to the Indian Ice Caves just north of Shoshone. The caves are the result of an ancient lava flow that created a cave, and now has naturally occurring lake of ice covering the whole floor. We walked on a pathway about a foot or so above the ice and and at the end of the tour we got a chance to stand on it. It was pretty fascinating.

Our next stop was Shoshone Falls, near Twin Falls. Our family had gone to see the falls last summer, but they were particularly impressive this time of year due to the high volume of water. They are higher than Niagara Falls, and far superior in my opinion.

The last stop on our trip was the Balanced Rock near Buhl. We hiked up the hill to get a closer look. Madison and Hayes are getting really into hiking.

Emmett 75th Annual Cherry Festival

2009-06-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

Northwest from Boise lies Emmett, a small town of about 6000 people and the 75th Annual Cherry Festival. It had all the great elements of a great local party: pie eating contests, cloggers galore, little booths selling tie-dyed everything, fair food like "fresh-squeezed" lemonade and pronto-pups, and amusement park rides.

Joe and Max both participated in the pie eating contests. Max was in the 16-18 age group and should have won (according to him) but came in second. Joe was in the 18-54 age group, and unfortunately couldn't shovel it in fast enough, but at least he got a taste of the great cherry pie and the chance to meet Miss Gem County!

Max and Joe coerced me into riding the mechanical bull, and I did put on quite a show. One of the guys working at this particular venue did ask for my permission to record my ride on his cell phone. Creepy! But, scour the Internet and see if it ended up somewhere.

Madison and Hayes enjoyed riding some of the rides, visiting the petting zoo, and getting their hands on some of those fantastic Emmett cherries.

Ironman Boise

2009-06-14T11:51:00.001-07:00

Yesterday my sister Emily, Joe, and I participated in Boise's second annual Ironman Triathlon. A 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run. Pretty grueling in itself, but at around 3 o'clock that afternoon it started to rain and did not stop until around 8 o'clock that night. Drenched and fatigued we all finished what we had set out to do: volunteer at an aid station providing power gels, water, oranges, and bananas to the runners! We did get praised by one runner as "the best aid station on the course," most likely due to our zealous cheering and willingness to look silly at times. After about two hours of holding out wet bananas and gels we made our way to the finish line to watch people finish. It was so exciting to see everybody come in. We were surprised by a lot of the athletes who definitely did not look like a stereotypical triathlete. Those finishers were inspirational. Emily and I definitely got bit by the Ironman bug last night, and have been talking about training for one ever since!

The Hike

2009-05-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

On our Memorial Day trek to Mt. Rainier we stopped at a campground and did a hike to a waterfall. This was one of Hayes and Madison's first "hikes" and they did really well. The way there was mostly an uphill trek, and the trail was covered in snow or fallen trees in some areas, but the forded it all with enthusiasm. We hiked through a natural hot spring, and traversed Laughing Creek many times. The trees smelled so good, and the sun was setting as we made our way to the falls. The falls themselves were impressive and worth the 2.5 miles we walked over some rather rough terrain! Good work Hayes and Madison!

Japanese Gardens

2009-05-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

Joe had to study for finals this last weekend, so I took the kids to check out Seattle's Arboretum by our house. It is pretty vast, so today we elected to tour the Japanese Garden. We actually had a lot of fun. Everything was in bloom, and there was a big pond in the middle in the middle of the garden full of huge fish and turtles sunning themselves. Madison really wanted me to pick a lily pad for her, she did not understand that the foliage was not for the taking. My favorite part was the wisteria arbor on the edge of the pond.

The Snows of Rainier

2009-05-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

The road to Mt. Rainier opened up Memorial Day weekend, so we drove up to see the majestic mountain. Joe's mom, "Grandma Kathy," was in town and came a long with us. There was still snow lining the roads despite the sunny day. Needless to say the kids were excited to play in the snow. We walked down and saw the Ohanapecosh river, which was pretty full and moving fast.

Around Twilight...

2009-05-10T19:30:00.001-07:00

No trip to the peninsula would be complete without a stop in Forks! Forks was inundated with Twilight memorabilia. We stopped at the Visitor's Center, where Bella's truck was parked. Unfortunately we hit Forks pretty late, and a lot of things were closed, such as the 2 Twilight themed stores ( the town has a population of only 3000). However, the local grocery store still had an entire section devoted to Bella, Edward, and Jacob. The local newspaper even had an article about an Alice Cullen look-a-like that charges you to take a picture with her. Pretty hilarious. Alas, we did not spot any vampires or werewolves.

After Forks we drove through Port Angeles (where there was another Twilight store) trying to make it to Bremerton to catch a ferry back to Seattle. The Hood Canal Bridge is closed in May (the easiest way to go back and forth on the peninsula) and we had to drive all the way down and around the Hood Canal, over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and up through Tacoma. We did not get home until 2:30 in the morning, and drove for almost 11 hours yesterday. This trip obviously was pretty spontaneous, but we still had a great time, and I can check a tour of the ENTIRE Hood Canal off of my list of things to do.

Moving up the Coast

2009-05-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

After the beach we started driving north up the Olympic Peninsula and hit the smaller part of the Olympic National Park that covers the coast. There we saw enormous cedar trees and more of the ocean as the sun began to set. I cannot believe how pretty it was there. The trees were so close together in the forest, and then you would get a glimpse of the ocean. We followed a couple of trails to check out various features of the park, and drove some back roads to see some of the rainforests that are in the middle of the peninsula.

Pacific Ocean

2009-05-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday we embarked on a never-ending road encompassing the entire Olympic Peninsula. Our first stop was a view of the "real" ocean for Hayes. A first for him. We went to a state park right on the coast. It was so beautiful. It would have been perfect, but the wind was pretty intense. We had fun wading into the water, which was not as cold as I thought it would be. We also saw people fishing, flying kites, and riding horses on the beach. We still are finding sand everywhere!

Monday

2009-05-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hayes started sleeping in a "big boy bed" when we were at Grandma Kristi's house, so Joe set up our little toddler bed while we were gone, so that Hayes could try it out when we got him. A couple of days later, I was trying to shut the curtains in Hayes' room (they are too high for me), lost my balance, and totally fell onto Hayes' bed, and broke it (insert fat joke here, I can take it).

Monday, Joe got out of school early so we ventured down to Ikea to get Hayes a new bed. We decided bunk beds were a practical choice for our growing family (I mean this in an eventual sense, nothing is happening right now). We picked out our favorite, brought it home, and then chaos set in. Our power drill would not stay charged, so we could do about five minutes of work at a time on the assembly process. We had to take literally everything out of Hayes' room just to have enough space for the assembly. Halfway through we realize that Ikea did not include all of the parts (I have a love/hate relationship with Ikea), so we could not put up the ladder or guard rail on the top bunk (where Madison plans on having occasional slumber parties with Hayes). Finally we got everything put together, all of Hayes' stuff put back, and the kids in bed by 10:30. Kind of a nightmare, but kind of worth it. Hayes was pretty excited about his new bed.

Tulip Festival

2009-04-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Friday night we headed out to Mt. Vernon
(not the home of George Washington) for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. We made it to Roozengarde Farms just before it closed and got in free! We walked around and saw more varieties of tulips and other flowers than I have ever have seen before! Most of the flowers were in bloom, so it was an amazing site. As we drove through Mt. Vernon we also saw endless fields of daffodils. Unfortunately we were too early for the bigger fields of tulips. Maybe next year, but is was still worth it!

Spring

2009-04-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

Finally we are enjoying some Spring weather here in Seattle. We celebrated a sunny, and warm day with a trip to Green Lake Park, where the kids literally got in the lake (it was not that warm) and then basically rolled in the sand. After dinner we had strawberry shortcake outside with our friend Isa. One nice thing about living this far north is that the sun sets so late, so when it is sunny we get a lot of it!

Opening Day

2009-04-14T21:49:00.001-07:00

Joe and I were lucky enough to come by tickets to the Mariner's first home game of the season. We had an awesome time. Safeco Field was sold out (around 50,000 fans). Ken Griffey Jr. was back, and Seattle was thrilled. The game was really good. The Mariner's pulled out a win in the 10th inning with a bunt. Everyone was pretty excited. It was actually sunny, so the retractable roof was off for the day and it felt like real baseball. I don't think I have ever seen an exodus quite like the one leaving the ball park. The streets were packed with people leaving the game. Go Mariner's!

Easter

2009-04-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

We traveled to Yakima to see Joe's family for Easter weekend, and had a fun time! Madison learned to ride her black bike with flames (her favorite color really is black, I will have to put up a picture of her riding). We were able to see a lot of Joe's friends and family there, so we kept pretty busy.

On Sunday Grandma and Grandpa hid Easter eggs in the yard for an Easter egg hunt. It was hilarious to watch them scour the yard. Overall, I think that they liked Easter.

PROM 2009

2009-04-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

Last night Joe and I went to UW's med school prom at the Space Needle. When we found out they were having it at the Space Needle we had to go, even though we aren't really dancers.

That afternoon a couple of my friends and I got ready together (so high school, so fun) and had someone do our makeup and stuff. I did my own hair, which ended up being a lot of time with the curling iron! I have way too much hair! The dance was pretty fun. I totally was like prom, and I think some of the songs they played I did hear at my first prom. We had dinner and met some of Joe's classmates. It was nice to finally put faces with names. After dinner we headed up to the observation deck to get an excellent view of Seattle. It finally stopped raining and was actually pretty nice. My favorite part was people-watching seeing what the other girls were wearing and watching everyone dance. We had a ton of fun! I love to get dressed up! (P.S. I stole almost all of these pictures off of my friend Melissa's blog (pictured below) so I can't take credit for the photography).

Out West

Camping

Thunder Mountain Railroad

Back to School...6 weeks ago...

IMA Conference in Coeur d'Alene, ID

McCall

Summer Sports Camps

Kindergarten Graduation + New Accessories

IMA Conference in Victor, Idaho

Zoo + Preschool Graduation

Christmas in April

Easter in Boise

Easter in Yakima

Totally Framing this...

McCall Winter Carnival

Hayes turned 4...a month ago!

Girl's Night

Christmas in Yakima

Christmas

Sibling Dates

Las Vegas Bowl

'Twas the Night Before the End of the Semester

*Snow Day*

Birthday Boy

Thanksgiving

Little Tough Guy

Toad for Sale...

Blue Halloween

*6*

Uncle Royce

Pumpkin Patch

Game Day in Bronco Nation

The Fair

Logan

First Day of School

Swimming Lessons

Craters of the Moon

Yellowstonextravaganza

Better than Wildhorse

It's the dust and the mud...the bulls and the blood

The 4 1/2 Miler

MIA Blogger

Dear Metropolitan Market,

So Doctor-y

Memorial Day Weekend Road Trip

Madison's Graduation

Mitchapalooza

Top 5 Reasons My Mom is better than Emily's

Easter

On the Bayou/Sugar Plantation

Haunted History: New Orleans

Who dat? The French Quarter

LauriAnn turns 28 Today - 03/10/10

3 Nerds in a Row

Golden Gardens Park

Spring?!

'Cause you had a bad day...

Happy Birthday Hayes...Last Week

Winter Break with the Fam

BOWL SEASON!

Christmas

Fort Clatsop and Cape Disappointment

Seaside and Sunsets

Tillamook

Toad Stack Rock

It's beginning to look a lot like...

*31*

Thanksgiving

Boise/Halloween

*5*

Pohm School Field Trip

Fan Appreciation Night

Whidbey Island Weekend

Last Day of Summer

Not a Nice Nature Post

Western Washington State Fair

First Day of School

Camping Extravaganza

Tasty Summer Lunch

City of Rocks

Snow Day

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