January and the Birthday Bummer/Blessing

January is like the black sheep of the family.  No one likes it.  Everyone would be happier if it just went away. I feel the same way, but it’s also my birthday month.  Lucky me.

 My birthday this year was quite the story.  It started with some crazy snow on Tuesday. So, just as usual in the Northwest all hatches were battened down, schools closed, and work was sketchy.  By Wednesday, people were mostly staying home from work, too.

The first snow day is always full of gleeful children frolicking in the snow, making snow forts, snowmen, sledding and hot chocolate by the fire.  It was all very Norman Rockwell.

Wednesday morning Bill suggested that we invite the bishop and his family over for breakfast.  I didn’t think much of it.  People were home from work, friends were mingling.  But, just as breakfast was over, Bill and Jerry (bishop) sat Kami (bishop’s wife) and I down in the dining room and presented us with plane tickets to Miami and a cruise to the Bahamas, for that VERY DAY!  Our plane was to leave at about 1 pm.  We were shocked!  The guys had taken care of even detail from child care to seminary subs!  What an amazing birthday gift!

We parted ways to go pack for the trip as fast as we could.

Bill had been watching the weather for the past few days and wasn’t too worried because it looked like the snow was supposed to turn to rain that day (Wednesday), unfortunately it was wrong.  The snow continued to fall all morning very heavy.  We found out at about 11am that our flight had been cancelled.  Bill and Jerry tried jumping through every hoop they could fine to get us re-routed, new flights, etc, etc, but it wasn’t to be.  The trip had to be cancelled.  Huge birthday bummer.

I unpacked.

By about noon we were without power, too.

But now for the blessing part.

Ethan woke up feeling sick that morning, so it was probably better that he didn’t have to go over to the Buckley's when we left for the airport and infect them all, too.

Cute story:  When Ethan found out we weren’t going to be able to go I heard him up in his room crying and crying.  I went up there and asked him what was wrong.  He said, “I’m so sad that you can’t go.  It’s your birthday and it’s ruined now”.  I told him it was ok and there would be other opportunities and we’d make my birthday fun anyway.  He said, “but it’s all my fault!!”  I said, “no it’s not, things just happen, it’s no ones fault.”  He kept insisting that it was his fault, so I asked him why he thought that.  He said, “last night when I wasn’t feeling very good and I didn’t want you to go away for 4 days I asked Heavenly Father in my prayer that your trip would be cancelled and that you wouldn’t be able to go, so it’s all my fault!!”.  Poor kid. He melted my fridged January heart with that one.

Andy had been grumpy for about 3 days straight, prior to the trip, and I couldn’t figure out why.  He had been keeping this secret about the Bahamas and hadn’t been very happy about it.  For some reason it was making him nervous for us to leave this time. Not sure why. So he, also, was very happy we were staying. I felt the relief flow off him like melting snow. (do you like my January themed metaphors....or is it similes?)

Then the power went out.

We happen to have a generator. Got one after the big storm of '07. (I sound like an old-timer). Of course we have it hooked up the the furnace, but after that Bill and the boys made quite sure that the TV and the computers both worked! Nice.

Anyway, back to the story...The plan was to send the kids to the Buckley's for the first day of our trip, then Marne was to pick them up for the remainder of the time. Well, the Buckley's don't have a generator and we do. So instead of both our kids and their family freezing cold and bored at the Buckley's house that day, we ended up inviting them to OUR house for dinner and spent the rest of the evening watching Mythbusters and playing games.

It turned out to be a fun birthday evening.

Bill asked me what I would like for my birthday dinner and I thought breakfast for dinner would be really good on a cold winters evening with limited power. Our oven wasn't hooked up, but with the help of our gas stove and a few lanterns to help us see, (limited lighting with a generator.....but hey, the TV worked!), we cooked up a pretty tasty breakfast/dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I also made a quick run to Safeway (where they were also on generator power) and bought myself a impromptu birthday cake so we could celebrate. Nothing like buying your own birthday cake!

But I was very glad that the kids were safe and warm that evening and we could help out the Buckley's as well. Another blessing of a cancelled trip.

So all in all, it wasn't a total loss that our trip was cancelled. In fact, I think it was supposed to be. Perhaps we'll get to the Bahamas another time.

A "Big White" Mid-winter Break

When Bill suggested a ski vacation to a resort in Canada, let's just say I wasn't that thrilled. I have been a snow hater for a few years now. I don't know what started it. I hate being cold, having wet clothes, trying to get places in the snow. Or, it could be related to driving home from color guard competitions with 7 girls who weren't my own in my car during blizzard conditions. That happened a few times. Anyhow, you get the idea. 


 I am happy to report that our mid-winter break at Big White was a delightful weekend. We really had tons of fun. I do have to add that I didn't actually get on skis the whole weekend. Who goes to a ski resort and doesn't ski? Me, that's who. But between trying to keep Ethan happy and so many other activities, I never did it. There's always next time. 


 Here's a re-cap....... 


 The accommodations: We stayed in a little chalet, as I like to call it (cause I'm so European), that was really nice! It had a big family room with a big screen TV, a full kitchen (that we never used), two bedrooms, one for Bill and I and one with bunks for the kids, two and 1/2 baths, and a hot tub it on the balcony! It was the perfect little hideaway. 

Inside our little Chalet

 The Snow: Tons and tons of it. It would start snowing every day at about 5pm and would snow all night. We woke up every morning to about a foot of fresh snow. It was so fun to wake up, get all our snow gear on and go frolic in the huge snow banks right outside our door. I felt like a kid again rolling down the huge snow banks. Our little chalet had about 3 feet of snow on the roof. Very picturesque. 

That is the roof of our Chalet!

 The tubing: Here's the set-up: Grab a tube, get hooked on to one of the two rope pulls by a cute Big White employee, leisurely relax and look up at the snow falling gently on the huge pine trees as you are pulled to the top of the huge sledding hill. Then you scream at the top of your lungs as you get flung, by yet another cute Big White employee, down the huge snowy mountain. All kidding aside, it was probably the best family entertainment there! We would hook all 4 of our tubes together and make it a family ride. Great fun! 

 The ice skating: Some genius at Big White came up with this "granny walker" made just for the remedial skater. Seriously, it was a walker thing sort of like an old person would use that would slide across the ice. This little contraption made ice skating possible for our family. Bill, Ethan and Andy we're ok with giving skating a try as long as they had their "walkers". Bill eventually graduated to "big boy" skating and did a fabulous job, but the most surprising thing was that Ethan loved skating! He kept asking to go back. I, of course, was skating circles around everyone. (I get bragging rights here because skating is the only snow sport I'm really any good at) 

That's me thinking I'm all professional when really I just look like an old lady

 The skiing: as I mentioned. I didn't ski. But Bill and Andy did! They spent a whole day on the slopes. There is miles and miles of ski runs. They must have gone on at least 7 or 8 different lifts and even made it to the summit. They had to ski down the mountain in the fog on that one! They both came back exhausted and sore, but happy. 

SO cold at the summit their lashes are frozen!

 The snowmobiling: Fun, fun, fun!! I can't believe they let a person who has never even been on a snowmobile take one for an hour drive over the craziest, bumpiest, snowiest terrain imaginable and even let her child sit on the back. This was insanity. The instructor was in the lead, Bill behind with Andy on the back of his, then I brought up the rear with Ethan riding on mine. I was going like gangbusters trying to keep up with those two crazies. The trail was like slaloms for snowmobiles. Poor Ethan was on the back getting his teeth shaken out of his head over every bump. (I think I made him cry once). But, he said (at the end) that it was super fun despite barely being able to hold on. Glad he did, though. Craziness. One word of advise: Never! never! never! go snowmobiling when you need to pee. It is torture. Good thing I was able to stand up over most of the big bumps or my ski pants would have needed changing. Still, most crazy fun I've had in a long time! 

oh yeah! That's me driving that beast!

 The sleigh ride: Oh me, oh my...the sleigh ride. It looked good on paper! It really did. The description was something like..."go on a fifteen minute horse drawn sleigh to a secluded cabin in the woods where a delightful breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs awaits you. Then complete your hour long sleigh ride through the beautiful Canadian backwoods!". Sounds good, right? Not so much. The driver was this wierd old man who liked to make off-color jokes. Then it turns out that this cabin breakfast is in a dirty, stinky little cabin, and the driver is also our cook. The same driver who has just been harnessing horses, changing poo bags and driving a sleigh. He actually said," if you get any horse hairs in your eggs, they are free with the meal". Har har. Hilarious. The meal consisted of eggs (which may or may not contain horse hairs), super greasy bacon and the worst pancakes I have ever eaten. Bill could have made better pancakes with both hands tied behind his back. Then a fridged ride back to the lodge listening to this guy crack lame jokes as my feet turned to ice cubes. I think we'll skip the sleigh ride next time. 

Looks picturesque, doesn't it?

Ethan got to drive.  Doesn't he look thrilled.

 The snowshoeing: This was the most unexpected delightful adventure of the trip. The boys were really not too excited to participate in this activity at first, especially after just getting off the sleigh ride. We met our guide, put on our snowshoes and got underway. The snowshoes were easy to use and a quick adjustment for all of us. Our tour guide was GREAT! He was this awesome, rugged, adventurous, weathered old Canadian guy who knew everything there was to know about the flora and fauna, animal tracks, trees, etc. Andy said it was more like a botany class than anything and he loved it! He was following this guy around as close as he could get to catch all the words of wisdom pouring out of his mouth. We tracked through the back woods of the area and because of the fresh snowfall, we were blazing our own trails the whole time. It was stunningly beautiful with the fresh snow on the ground, the beautiful scenery, and a light snowfall coming down. None of us got too cold with all the moving around and hiking we were doing. It was a great workout, too! I think that was the most surprisingly memorable adventure of the trip.






The sore muscles:  We all woke up the last day to find that we couldn't move.  So sore!  Between the skiing, snowmobiling and snowshoeing we all hurt so good!  But totally worth it.

Bill said it might have been his favorite vacation ever, so I guess it was all worth it.  I love vacations that exceed expectation, and that was certainly one of them! 

Christmas In Germany

I don’t think I even need to go on…..the title is pretty much awesome sauce all on its own. Christmas in Germany. Could it get any better?

I’ll add a few pictures to wow you all with the beauty of the cities, especially Hamburg. It’s gorgeous. Like a little fake Christmas village.

I’ll make a little list of all our highlights. That should cover it.

*Ethan and the trains. A little slice of Ethan heaven. Trains every day, wherever he wanted to go.

*The churches! Beautiful!! Especially hearing the trumpet and organ music in the St. Michael’s church in Hamburg.

The Christmas markets! Yummy food, yummy smells, open fire brats roasting, fresh pretzels, cute Christmas decorations.

*Andy’s photo journal. If you ever want a picture of a German earth worm after a rain, a close up of the word “Fahrt”, a pizza vending machine, cigarette butts on a curbside drain, or a speed limit sign for tanks, just ask Andy to show you his German photos.

*Stealing the “private room” on the ICE train to Hamburg. Ethan was sure we were going to get caught and thrown off the train, so when the conductor asked to see our tickets, he hid his face under his coat and pretended to be asleep. He was quite relieved to hear her say that is was just fine, as those seats weren’t sold that day. She was also kind enough to turn off the light in our little private train car so our poor little “tired” son could sleep. You should have seen the dancing that occurred after she was gone.

Bill and I sleeping in the private train car

*The Lego Discovery Center. Another slice of heaven for a certain boy. The only trouble was, the German speaking tour guide wasn’t very informative. Shoulda saved Lego tours for an English speaking trip. (he still loved every minute)

*All the walking. Pioneer children sang as they walked, and walked and walked, and walked……Not really, but they felt like pioneer children! Honesty, they did pretty good for spoiled American kids.


*To go right along with the walking….the travel. Andy had a few times where I was afraid we were going to lose him to the gods of ornery sleepless people. I haven’t seen him in such a state before! That boy needs his beauty rest!

*New Years Eve at the Brandenburg Gate!!! Holy crowds of drunk people!! I have never seen so many people in one spot before. Since we had the kids with us, we went back to the hotel a little earlier than midnight in the spirit of staying alive to get back home, but we could see the fireworks from our balcony. I kid you not…..one solid HOUR of non-stop crazy lights in the sky. It was spectacular!

Many many more fun memories, but I will let the pictures tell the story.

Christmas- A Week of Service

There are times (at least for me, I hope others feel this way) that you are so blessed that you feel it would be a sin to receive even more. At least that’s how I felt this Christmas.

We knew that our family was going to get to go on a big European adventure for Christmas (blog entry coming at a later date), so that was our big gift. Bill and I felt like because we are so blessed that we needed to give back this Christmas…so we came up with a plan.

A week of service. We decided that each day, leading up to Christmas, that our family was going to provide one act of service for someone else. So that is exactly what we did. The funny thing is, though, it ended up being Our best Christmas EVER!!

Day one: Andy and Ethan (along with the other YM) went to a lady’s house in our ward to cut wood. She and her family heat their house all winter with a wood fire place and needed to replenish their wood supply. Andy and Ethan spent 5+ hours that day chopping, splitting (they were pretty enthralled with the electric wood splitter that was rented for the task) and stacking wood. They came home dirty, hungry, covered in wood chips but very happy. A fun day of service.

Day two: We had each boy choose another boy his own age in our ward that they thought could use a “Secret Santa” that year.

The boy Ethan chose is autistic and without a father figure in the house. Ethan got him an art set for a kid who expresses himself through drawing.

The boy Andy chose is having family and financial issues at home right now. Both boys could use some TLC. So, I took Andy and Ethan to the store that day and had them choose a $50 gift for each boy. Andy wasn’t too excited about this service project at first, especially about spending his money on someone else, but as he was trying to choose the perfect gift for this kid, he caught the spirit of giving.

Here is the actual text he sent to Bill (from my phone) as he found the perfect gift…..

“We went to Freddie’s and I am going to get Nathan a Timex watch and a maglight!!! Andy!!! Excited!!!”

This is a pretty emotional response for someone…”with the emotional range of a teaspoon”. (thank you, Hermionie, for this great quote).

The boys and I also made a few treats for Bills home teaching families and my visiting teaching ladies. They were good helpers. Bill did his home teaching that night and delivered the goodies.

Day Three: Bill got to take the rest of the week off work, so we all got in the car and went to Costco. We chose three families in our ward who are either out of a job, or struggling financially this year. We filled up two huge shopping carts full of groceries to give to these families.

Later in the day I needed to get my visiting teaching done. The lady I visit is single and has an older daughter probably getting close to her 30’s, who is severely handicapped. She has to be fed with a tube, diapers changed, etc. Well, my partner was out of town, so I asked Ethan to come with me. He is very good at being kind and helpful and social with people. I knew he’d do a good job coming with me. He did. Sister Centeno was trying to make her “soup”, as she calls it, for Dominique (her daughter), so we jumped in to help. Ethan went out to her garden and picked the last of the kale and hearty vegetables that were left while I scrubbed and chopped potatoes and other veggies. We helped her get the soup together, and visited for a while. Ethan was so kind and helpful. I was glad he was with me.

Day four: This was Thursday. Bill knew I was stressing about a messy house before Christmas, so he cleaned the bathrooms for me! And the boys and I surprised him by washing his filthy dirty car while he was out that day. It was COLD, but a job that needed doing.

That evening was also the day that we planned to deliver the food to our families. We divided everything into three great big boxes, and waited til it got dark. Then we did our first under-cover operation. It was a blast!! The boys and Bill had to do the actual deliveries (those boxes were HEAVY) while I was the get-away driver. It was hilarious watching them hit the doorbell and run! Best entertainment ever! The last house that we went to, we could hear them inside, but they wouldn’t answer the door! We had to ring and run 3 times before they got the delivery. The boys made me do the last ding and ditch. Haven’t done that since I was a kid. It’s amazing how fast your heart gets going, even when you know your not doing any naughty tricks. It was really foggy that night, too, so that helped with our under cover operation.

Day five: Today was a big day. We decided to have a Christmas “open house”. We invited everyone we knew to come over to our house any time from 7-9 that evening to have treats and to visit. We thought it would be fun instead of delivering treats to people. That way we get to actually spend time with our friends.

So, Bill and I started first thing in the morning and we baked treats all day until just before people started showing up!! ALL DAY!! I have never washed so many dishes in my life! Bill made so many amazing German Christmas treats, and I made a few of my favorites, too. I kept wondering why he could get about 6 things done in the time it took me to make one. He is a wonder in the kitchen! (then I realized that I was washing all his dishes). But, nevertheless, his treats were amazing.

 
 

 



We had a FULL HOUSE that night. It was jammed with people. I was surprised how long people stayed and just wanted to chat! We even invited the parents of most of Andy’s school friends who we have gotten to know over the years. Most of them are not LDS, but I was surprised and happy that most of them came and stayed for a long time. It was so much fun! (it’s another one that I’d love to make a tradition, but it was so much work it just about did us in by the end of the day!).

Day six: Christmas Eve. We had lots of treats left over from the big party, so we packaged them up and had the boys deliver them at the doors of all our neighbors who couldn’t make it to our party.

Later, when it got dark, it was time to make the secret Santa deliveries!! Andy and Ethan had so much fun doing another ding and ditch. Andy almost got caught doing his. They saw the back of Andy as he was running away. The next church day he heard Nathan talking about seeing the person who delivered his gift. He was convinced that it was a certain girl at school. (I wrote the gift tags, so the handwriting WAS kind of girly…..tricky, huh? )

Ethan wanted me to go with him for his delivery, so we hit the doorbell and hid behind a big cement neighborhood marker. We got to see them come to the door. That was fun.

That was the last of our service projects for the week We went home and had our traditional Christmas production put on by our resident director-of-all-things-creative. Ethan. Then we opened our annual Christmas eve gift (jammie’s for all) and our annual drive to look at the Christmas lights.

You know, after the wonderful service week we had, all those traditional things we do every year almost seemed unnecessary. The service out-shined all the other Christmas who-ha.

I am convinced, more than ever before, that the doer of the service reaps more reward than the recipient! It was definitely our BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!

Back Peddling

Ok. I’ve said it before, but I’m gonna say it again. I’m going to start blogging. Yep. Believe it. It’s real this time.

But…I need to back peddle a little bit because so many blog-worthy things have happened over the past few months.

Let’s begin…….

Halloween 2011

I can’t let this last Halloween go unblogged. (my iPhone changed that word to unclogged….shouldn’t let that happen either). It was epic! (Halloween, that is, not the unclogging)

We told Andy that since he was now 13 he is too old to go trick-or-treating. Sad times for a minute until we suggested he have a big party with all his friends.

I am kind of a Halloween junkie ever since I was a child and the sisters, neighborhood friends and I used to put together a big Halloween spook alley every year. It was a big stinking’ deal. We worked on it for weeks, invited all the neighborhood kids, and even made some money every year! One of the best memories of my childhood. So, we suggested to Andy something similar, but different.

I decorated the house within an inch of it’s life this year….. Here’s proof.

We decided to make a big spook alley in the garage. We worked on it all week. We put up large pieces of fabric to act as walls that people could follow around the alley. Then added lots of black lights, and filled the ceiling with spiderwebbing. We had some white ghostly figures that we hung up that glowed in the black lighting, and even had one fall from the hole in the garage ceiling when people walked by. Bill and I created a “crime scene” with a man (dummy made out of Bills old clothes) who got pushed off a ladder and broke his neck. But, Bill’s piece de resistance was the laser he just had to buy. I admit, it was cool. Add to that lots of creepy music, shredded garbage bag entry ways, a touchy/feely gross table, and we had ourselves a pretty great spook alley.

Marne and Leanne in the "Laser Room"

In fact, we decide to open it up to the whole neighborhood!! We took all Andy’s friends through it first, then took their picture with the big camera set-up, then the party went back inside. While Andy and his friends partied in the house, Ethan and Josh stayed outside and let all the trick-or-treaters go through, and gave them their treats and the exit.

The Whole Party!

It was a hit. All the dads loved the laser. “…that is cool, man,”…. and all the kids liked the dark, spookiness. We even had moms and little ones go through. It was just the right combination of not-tooooo-scary and “totally cool”.

Ethan and Josh had a blast out there running it. It was their ,”best Halloween ever!!”.

The boys even heard about it at school the next day……. “Hey, did you go to that cool house with the spook alley? That was awesome!!”

Meanwhile, indoors…….Andy and his friends were treated to the best Halloween feast ever (not to brag or anything).

 

 

Then they watched old episodes of “The Twilight Zone”, made carmel apples, and even ran around the neighborhood in their bare feet. (please don’t tell their mothers, I didn’t know about these shenanigans till it was too late and it wasn’t a warm night).

Marne and Leanne even came over to help us with crowd control at the party. Leanne added her special touch with a “pill” the kids could suck on that made everything you put in your mouth taste super sweet. You could eat a jalapeño and it would taste like candy. That was pretty cool.

To sum it up, it was the best Halloween ever!! We will definitely make it a tradition… I think…..it was a lot of work.