For the love of the girls. And veggies. And son.

I love it when I get to Costco and load up on veggies.
I loved it even more when the lady in line made fun of me
for buying a truckload of healthy food, and then found the last item
in my pile was a big box of cookies.
To which I answered, "Hey, a girl's gotta live!"
Here's a sample of the beautiful veggies I began chopping at home.
And a girl needs dip, so I made my delicious homemade ranch dip.
Too good.
I snack on these all week.

I discovered this little trick to get my little girls to eat their salad.
The lettuce used to just sit on their plates, until I decided one
night to do it this way.
Wash the romaine leaves and drizzle the dressing (or dip)
down the middle.


Pick up the whole leaf, no fork needed.
Take a good look at it, cause you know it's gonna be good.



I told you it was good.
And the little girls will eat it this way.
They LOVE it.
(Me too).



I don't know. I like taking pictures of my house.
I just put the crow and pumpkins on the mantle for Halloween.
I LOVE Halloween.
Looks fallish?




Elece & I just played in the Breast Cancer Benefit.
"For the Love of the Girls".
Don't you love it?
Just getting some fuel before the match.
Two plates of brownies ought to do it.


Got your game face on?
Oh but we do INTIMIDATE.



So my son has hair that makes me crazy.
Long.
Straight.
Long.
In his eyes.
Long.



He finally agreed to a haircut!
There is my handsome boy!
I KNEW he had beautiful eyes!
I just haven't seen them for a year or so.
Wink wink.


Happy Octobering!

Sister Writer

Check out my sister's day in the spotlight. She got to be a guest blogger!
Way to go sister writer!

ps - I feel like after reading her post I need to explain myself a little.
I KNOW that when I post on my blog I break writing rules.
One of the rules I think I break the most is starting my sentences
with the words "And" or "But".
But I do this on purpose.
I like the way it sounds. It sounds like me talking.
And I like that.

Giddy Girl

I had one of those giddy moments yesterday.
Do you have those?
Where you find yourself in a happy place and things seem so right and beautiful.
And you get the giddies?
I love that.
It was a compeletely BUSY day and I was hardly home
with errands to take care of all over the place.
I looked around me as I drove and noticed all the new fall foliage.

I rolled the windows down and enjoyed the crisp air.
Right on cue this song played on my CD player...."Tis Autumn" by Nat King Cole.
Love autumn.
Love Nat.
Even love the blooming sagebrush...what?
It is yellow - a cheerful fall color.
It was easy to forget my busyness as I took it all in.
Why do I love this time of year?
Why does the chill in the air and the turn of the leaves make my heart swell?
Why does a moment like this make me want to pick up my cell phone
and call everyone I love so they can share in the joy?
I don't know, but every year it is the same.
I inhale fall, and exhale giddy.

Tuna Fish & Rock Band...

Across from me sits my 5 year old daughter.

She is on a stool at the kitchen island.
She is oblivious to my amused glances.
I can't help myself...she is putting on quite a show.

At this stage of her young life, my little girl is obsessed with two things.
And those two things are definitely on her mind right now.
Those two things are?

Tuna fish and Rock Band.

She picks up her sandwich and pauses mid-bite...
"I think I'm in love Mom."
I'm wondering which lucky kindergarten boy she might be referring to.
"Oh yeah? With who honey?"
"With tuna fish".
I shouldn't be surprised, she asks for it every day.

She finishes off her first triangle with delight and wipes a few crumbs from her face.
She then picks up her imaginary drumsticks,
and starts right into "Hungry Like the Wolf".
That girl is dead on when it comes to singing on key.
And let me tell you, she is singing with GUSTO,
and drumming like Roger Taylor only WISHED he could.

The last note fades out as she clashes her air sticks together in true rocker fashion.
I know that audience she hears is just cheering like crazy.
It's over.
She calmly picks up the second triangle and takes a big bite.
"Oh man. I am so in love with tuna fish Mom".

Before autumn...

Sharing with you some of our last days of summer 2009.

Trev & I on the boat at Banks Lake.
We had a great time camping and boating with friends and family.


Tennis team in Portland (some of us).
This shot is of us at the hotel the night BEFORE we lost. See those smiles? They weren't so big the next day...



My big Kindergartner. Oh my how time flies.
Yup, she's my "baby".



One of the "lunch ladies".
That's me serving up a corn dog on the first day of school.



So my awesome friend Janelle has a tradition.
First day of school she dresses like a lunch lady
and serves her family a "school lunch" for dinner.
We were invited and we all had a fantastic time.
Janelle even had a costume for me...that girl is always thinking of others.




4-wheeling at the dunes.
We had a blast as always, and even the
littlest was old enough this year to have her own.
She was tearing it up out there on the sand.




Often times we ATV with a group of friends.
One of my favorite things is when we go on a "girl ride"
Meet Kim, Cherie, Tammi, Cheryl, Joanna & me.
(and a few daughters thrown in...Preslie, Courtnee & Jessie too).




My littlest high-fiving me after coming down the hill!




Three very dirty faces.
After a full day of riding, we stopped for ice cream at the Mercantile.
YUMMMMY.




I think this picture speaks for itself.
She eventually spent more time on her feet
and less time on her tush.

Goodbye fair weather days!
We will miss you.

Hot Fudge & Nail Polish

I don't have cute feet.

Since I was little I have complained about my toe length.
Or should I say LACK of toe length.
And my 2nd toe is way taller than my big toe...what's with that?
And my feet are wide.
So, all in all my feet are BLOCKS.
What's more, I have blisters and my little toenail is deformed from sports.
To this day my little brother teases me about my "slug" toes.

But when I was a teenager, my wise momma said...
"Who gave you those feet?
Do you think you could sprint as well with different feet?
Do you think you could flip (gymnastics) as well with different feet?
Do you think you could run down a tennis ball as well with different feet?"
And as wise moms often do, she said...
"You should be thankful you even HAVE feet!"

This week started out stinky.
And it just got worse.
And yesterday I had a headache because of stress.
At one point, I happened to look down at my feet.
My tired, torn up, gnarly feet.
I felt like crying.

COLOR!
CLIPPING!
BUFFING!
What strange words, but they SHOUTED in my head.

Get ready for this confession, cause it may just knock your socks off!
(no pun intended)
I have NEVER in my life had a pedicure.
Why spend money on not pretty feet?

COLOR!
CLIPPING!
BUFFING!
Those words echoed in my mind over and over again.

SOOOOO....guess what I did today?


BRIGHT ORANGE WITH PREEEETY FLOWERS!!

Yep, those are my feet.
I am proud to have feet.
Blocky, blistery, bright, cheery orange-toed feet!

I can't stop smiling.
I feel better.
Oh, and on the way home I treated myself to one of these...

Hot fudge is good.
And it tastes even better when you have orange toes.
Oh I kid you not.
It really truly does.

chore?

There is a "chore" that I actually steal from my kids.
Their dad expects them to do it, and most of the time they do.
But if I have time...I will tell them to please let me finish it up.
They are excused.
I kick them off.
Because it's MY turn.

I'm talking about a lawn mower.

We live on an acre, and a lot of that is grass.
It is beautiful and park-like, and we love playing
wiffle-ball, frisbee, croquet, football and horseshoes among other things on that grass.

The kids might groan and complain about the time it takes to mow it,
but not me.

Tonight I excused my oldest, and hopped on the mower.
I had a stressful day, and I wanted downtime.
The mower is a PERFECT way to unwind!
With my ipod on, I can turn it up and croon out loud to the likes of
Sum 41, Alison Krauss, and the Jonas Brothers
(yes, we have quite a mix thanks to the picks of ALL members of the family).
I rock out in my seat and no one can tell me to be quiet because the mower is louder than me.

I mow around the tree garden and my nostrils fill with the scent of marigolds.
For some reason, I LOVE the smell of marigolds...earthy.

I'm on that mower for over an hour, and when I am not inhaling and singing to my heart's content, I might be planning the next days activities in my head.
Or I will notice the rose gardens need deadheading.
It makes me smile to watch the quail family run from their hideout
under our cedar tree as I mow past them.
I've been known to use this time to have conversations with my Heavenly Father, offering up prayers of thanks or perhaps in supplication.

I love it when the sky turns pink, and the dogs chase me a bit.
Often I will scoop one of them up and let them ride with me a while.
Sometimes it's my youngest daughter who wants to ride,
and she will sit by my feet with one arm wrapped around each of my legs.
We mow in silence, and contentment.

A mindless chore.
A chore that forces me to SIT.
A chore that allows me to think and imagine and plan and pray.

And how could anyone groan about that?

homegrown.

TODAY WE PICKED...

MMMMMMM.

"thecousins"

Isn't Wyoming beautiful?
Those mountains...

And here are "thecousins".
They're beautiful too. Don't ya think?


The boys hiked Heart Mountain...what a view!
And what a climb.

The girls fed peanuts to the chipmunks.
They were DELIGHTED!



Watch out, she's going to eat your scrumptious apple turnover!!


Fun days. Loved walking around together.


Dizzy kids at the park.

Trev kayaking at Yellowtail.
He's cute.



But he can't just paddle around.
That would be too boring.

A free facial!
That red clay beach does wonders for your complexion.



This is sassy kayaking.
Right Kris?



Good thing we had some peanuts left.
These chipmunks at a Montana rest stop befriended us in a heartbeat.




Goodbye for now Wyoming.
...Until next trip!

I'm awake.

I had one of those dreams.
It seemed so real and I awoke from my own weeping.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had those, right?
In this dream, I lost Trevor.
And the dream seemed to last the whole night.
It was horrible.
And it took the whole morning to stop the tears.
I was exhausted the whole day.

And more aware.

I held his hand every chance I got.
I looked at him a little longer.
I stopped and hugged him more than once.
I inhaled his scent and savored it.


Sometimes I wonder why it has to take a dream
to wake me up.
And appreciate the man that shares my soul.

Summer So Far...

Wait! Don't throw away that old potato in the back of your pantry!

Just look at your other options!




Date night at Hogs and Dogs in the park...oh yeah baby, can you say biker chick?


My man likes to surprise attack. Especially his offspring.

The poor kid...didn't even see it coming...



Melting my heart...



Googles, me & monkey A


4 tubes + good friends = tons of fun


Yo mom.



The monkeys.



More monkeys with cousins watching driveway fireworks.


Hope you had a
hap hap happy
hip hip hooray
zippety doodah
shiny sparkly
poppety pop pop
4th of July weekend!