while i was making dinner...

Dave studied on the couch,

Jack watched ...

The Magic School Bus,


and Ana snapped photos.






*all photos by Ana

i live on the scenic route

I love the beauty of the west: the high mountains, the sprawled towns, the mountain streams, the smell of pine trees. I love how the mountains are so easily visible from everywhere and that the towns are spacious and open. I loved the smell of pine trees high up in the mountains.

I miss those things. Admittingly, sometimes I feel a little claustrophobic with all the trees blocking my view of everything. And I miss my sense of direction.

But there have been moments when the beauty of what surrounds me here leaves me speechless.

This weekend was full of those moments. Friday night after Dave's first comprehensive final of his medical school career, we headed to Shelburne Orchard to pick apples. The apple picking was fun enough. We brought home a couple bags. We also purchased some apple cider and apple cider donuts and sat down at a picnic table to devour our goods. (Have you ever had apple cider donuts? They must be devoured immediately.)

Then I saw it.

Tucked back behind one of the old farmhouses on the property was a large tree with a rope swing tied high in the branches. There was a slight slope downward that opened up to more orchard, a few old farmhouses, and in the distance, a glimmer of Lake Champlain.

And I died.

Or at least I thought I had because surely I must have stumbled upon Heaven.

Amazingly, no on else was there. We spent the rest of the time playing on the swing and on a way cool slide (Think mini-alpine slide.) Our friends took some awesome pictures of Jack running down that thing and crashing into the hay at the bottom.

It is probably my favorite memory so far.

Saturday we went back up the Farm for their annual Harvest Festival. That place is beautiful. Awe-inspiring. We snacked on corn on the cob and cotton candy, listened to fiddle music, played with toy tractors and sat on big pumpkins.




Then Dave and I decided to go on a little fall foliage tour up to a town called St Albans. Gorgeous. Quintessential. It was a lovely afternoon. The town square is lined with cool old churches and the square park has and fountain and beautiful, tall red-leafed trees. And the drive home was gorgeous and relaxing and rejuvinating.








Its heaven I tell you!

Friday my sis gets here and then it will really be Heaven.

all in a week

I'm a needy sleeper. Maybe I'm just needy, but sleep is definitely one of the things I need. Though my kids aren't the best go-to-bedders, once they are asleep, they are out and I rarely have get up with them. (excluding the nursing babies.) I usually attribute this to a tender mercy of the Lord.

Ironically, just last week I was making such a declaration to a mom in Ana's tumbling class. Since then, I think I have been up every single night with one or both of our children. Two of those nights involved raging temper tantrums. Last night Ana crawled into bed with me and then insisted on telling me her dream - for 20 minutes - before she would go back to sleep. If I even appeared to be falling back asleep she's say, "Mom, you're not listening to me!"

In other news, Ana slipped on the playground and bit her tongue in two places, got a bug bite on her eye and took too much ibuprofen when the cap didn't get screwed back on tight. Her eye looked like this:

Jack face-planted on the hard wood floor tonight and got a bloody nose. That was a first. Ana got a bunch of tissues to wipe off some blood that dripped and said, "its like we're being doctors, mom."

Oh, and Jack's not really napping anymore.

And so I'm not getting a nap either...

And we're back to the sleeping thing.

differences

We are really loving it here. In a lot of ways, life for me is just like it was back in Idaho. We play with friends, go to the store, and find fun things to do. But there are some things that are different here. Most of them are pretty non-consequential, but it still takes some getting used to.

*When Dave and I were in West Virginia a month ago, we commented about how forested the hills are here in the East. It seemed to us that you could just get lost in about two seconds hiking up in those hills. Then Dave's parents took us for a drive in those hills. I was floored. There was a TOWN up there. I mean, hundreds of houses, stores, banks, etc. It is the same here. You see forested areas with main roads coming out of it with neighborhoods and businesses hidden unseen from the main roads. Crazy stuff!

*There are a lot of farms around. I love that! I think it was about Ohio when I realized: there are no sprinkler systems in the fields. No wheel lines, no pipes. Our grass stayed green all summer without a sprinkler system. Idaho really is the desert.

*There is a Lowe's just down the street from us. It is very convenient and we shop there often. The strange thing is, there are usually only a couple trucks in the parking lot. Most of the cars are subarus and cross-overs, but very few trucks. That is the case all over town. Crossovers are everywhere. And its very rare to see a Suburban.

*Kids are a novelty in this town. Really. I don't usually see many other moms with children out and about. Interestingly enough, I rarely go to the store without someone noticing me and m y children - either by a wave and smile to them or a comment to me. Maybe that's why there aren't many Suburbans...

*Dave went into a bike shop to buy slime to put inside my tires. You know, because I got flat tires a lot driving through puncture weeds/"stickers." When Dave asked the attendant about puncture weeds he got a blank stare. They are not here. Even in the bike shop, he found one small bottle of the stuff that is sold by the gallons out west.

Like I said, inconsequential, but still interesting.

prayer time

Our children's prayers had us giggling tonight.

Ana: "Thank thee for Jesus and I love Jesus. I love my mom and I love my dad. I love my friends and the whole world. I love the earth. I wonder if we are inside the earth. But... we're not."

Jack: "Thank thee for my family. Thank thee for Jesus. Thank thee Ana's puppy be safe. And thank thee my puppy. And the drawers where we get my pjs out. And I'm dressed. And daddy's dressed. And Ana's dressed. And the books. the books are green. ... " (admittingly, he needed a little prompting to remember to finish his prayer.)

They also had us giggling in the car tonight when Jack started singing "where my kids at?" and Ana made up a song that included the line, "You can do anything you want to. If you want to build poles, you can do it."

And that, my friends, makes parenting worth it.

Well, and this:

jack in boots

Its no surprise that Jack likes boots.

This week we found his very own snow boots at a thrift store. AND they had a train on them, which made them extra cool "train boots." AND they were only $6, which made mama think that they were extra cool as well.

We bought them Tuesday afternoon. He carried them out of the store. He carried them in the car. He insisted I put them on him when we got home. He has since sported them during all waking hours. No exceptions.

Last night about 4:00 am he waddled into our room carrying his boots. I put them on him.

And now he has decided he needs them on during sleeping hours too.

need a laugh?

Rexburg is snowy. And ice-y. Dave and I spent a lot of time walking to and from class on snowy ice-y sidewalks during our time there.

One particular day the first winter after we were married (or maybe we were just engaged, but I think we were married) we were walking up such an ice-y sidewalk on our way to class.

(We were probably running late, because we usually were, but that's beside the point.)

Dave - in all his tall, lanky glory, - totally biffed it. (Do people still say that? "biffed it." "wiped out" maybe?)

Anyway, this was a feet-slid-out-from-under-him-and-he-caught-himself-with-his-face-and-all-his-stuff-went-flying kind of fall.

What is it about people falling that is so funny? I couldn't help myself. I stood there pointing and laughing hysterically while he picked himself, and all his stuff, up off the ground.

That was funny enough, but it was even more comical because while I was standing there laughing and pointing, a sweet girl came up behind us, asked Dave if he were okay, and handed him his cell phone.

Am I a mean wife?

Maybe... But it totally made up for the time he did this:






I miss that shirt...

the day we met

I've been feeling a bit nostalgic lately. Maybe its a little homesickness. Maybe its the changing seasons and the cooler weather. Either way, in the spirit of nostalgia, I thought I would write down a few memories this week. I'll begin with the day I met Dave.

To say I was boy-crazy would be the understatement of the century. I liked dating, and was more comfortable around boys than most girls, so naturally I was a flirt. And I liked it.

The Summer of 2004 would be my last summer at home, though I didn't know it at the time. It was an idyllic summer. I dated, worked, took an missionary prep course, and trained for a half marathon. I still had almost a year til I could serve a mission, but it was definitely something I wanted to do. I had life planned out: finish my associate's degree, serve a mission (Spanish speaking, preferably), transfer to BYU to finish my Bachelor's degree and buy a cell phone and a motorized scooter. Of course, marriage could find me after that. Perhaps one of my missionary friends who by then would have more schooling done.

I think God must laugh when we make plans for ourselves.

September took me back up to Rexburg. Then back down to Pocatello for my half marathon one weekend, then back up to Rexburg. One evening I walked into my apartment after a run, wearing, naturally, work out clothes with my hair in a pony-tail. I glanced around the room and spotted the only person I didn't know.

He was tall, cute, and seemed so at ease sitting in my roommate's burgundy corner chair.

"I don't know you!" I guess I like to state the obvious.

"I'm Dave," he said, with a smile. I instantly liked his easy manners. We spent a few minutes in small talk, which revealed that he served his mission in Chile.

He speaks Spanish

If ever there was a way for a guy to solidify himself into my memory it was to be Spanish-speaking returned missionary. But then I got a phone call from a friend and I flitted into the other room to chat. I flitted a lot those days. Though I didn't see much of him for a couple months, I definitely remembered him.

I guess the rest is history. Or a blog post for another day. We'll see.

big boys underwears

we tried this on saturday:




After 10 accidents in 2 hours, we decided to wait a few months. We weren't really going to start, but then Jack wanted to wear his diego underwear, so we thought we'd give it a try. He's still young; we have time.

a walk in the park

There is a park right behind our house. There is another one a few blocks away. I prefer the latter. There is something about walking to it that makes me feel introspective.

Maybe its the way my kids are fascinated with things we find along the way:



a fuzzy plant, a big leaf, a long stick.

Maybe its the way I can watch my kids and see their personality in action.

Like the way Ana always runs ahead and wants to get where we are going fast. She gets distracted and will run up stairs and over to benches until we catch up. She wants to catch squirrels (and is disappointed when they run away) and run in the falling leaves. She loves to do the monkey bars and hang upside down and meet new friends. Her hair is always in her face and her shoes flung off the moment we arrive at the park.

Jack walks slowly and steadily. He likes to find a stick and bang every tree along the way. He usually finds one thing and does that the entire time we're at the park - go down one slide, climb up and down one ladder, make a dirt pile, etc. Or, like yesterday, try to hit an acorn out of his hand with a stick. (He succeeded more often than you would think. He's got quite the coordination for a two year old.)(In this case I had to pull out my phone-camera.)


(Notice Ana hanging from the swing.)

It makes me notice that life is vivid.

Life is vivid in color, in expression, in all things that we feel and see and hear. I see it in so many things around me, but mostly the expression of life is found in my children. Each time I take this little walk, my thoughts turn in this direction. I usually leave my camera behind, because I know that I can't quite capture life in all its glory.

But in my head I make a mental snapshot of these vivid moments.