Family Outing

Went to Giant Springs with Mike's 'rents over the weekend. Here are some of the shots we got .

Vessel rolling down the hill.

Vessie looks like he's growling or something.

Feeding the humongous fish little pellets.

Big mama fish lips.

Whoa, fatty!

Just Breathe

Welcome back to the blogging world, Jamie. It's been awhile since I've posted anything of interest or value. It has been very chaotic around these parts. Just a lot of stuff going on all at once. It is nice to have a day where I don't have any pressing matter to attend to. Okay, so I still have laundry to catch up on, and bills to pay, and I need to prepare dinner for the missionaries tonight, but RIGHT NOW I am not going to worry about that and just focus on writing. Here's a little catch-up. It has been a busy summer. We were able to make a trip to Idaho and Utah to visit friends and family. We took on some major home improvement projects over the summer as well. We also had the pleasure of having a number of visitors come stay with us. My sister stayed a week and it was just what I needed. After she left I really missed her and wished she could've stayed longer. My grandparents and my grandma's sister came the following week. They brought with them an organ I inherited from my great Grandad after he passed away. Now I just need to find someone who gives private organ lessons. :) The week after that my friend Bekah came from Boise to stay for a week. She brought her 11 month old son with her. We had a good time crafting and staying busy with projects. Although, everyone in the house caught a bug that left them with crummy tummies for a couple of days. Luckily I didn't get it, but it was still miserable to see everyone else not feeling so hot. But Bekah and I swapped music (which I am totally digging since we have similar tastes.) She also taught me how to coupon. She is way better than I am, and I don't know if I could ever be up to her level. But it was quite satisfying to look at my receipt at the end of my purchase to find that I had saved $52 from using coupons! Wow, right? I still need Bekah's know-how to help me hone my couponing skills. The week after that Mike's parents and grandma paid us a sort of unexpected visit. It was nice to have them here and I know Vessie really enjoyed playing with his grandparents.
Yesterday was the infamous Primary program. For being in charge of my first Primary program ever, I'd have to say it went rather smoothly. I had to crack up at some parts, like when certain children belted out the songs totally off key and out of rhythm, or the little boy digging for gold the entire time. Kids are funny. I am so happy to have that program behind me now. I was very stressed the weeks leading up to it. I don't know why I was so uneasy about it. Perhaps it is just in my nature to worry. :)
Things have been fairly good, I'd say. Although the shifting seasons has made me quite gloomy. I really don't know if I can handle winter this year. Seriously. I'm already missing my warm evening runs, taking Vessel to the park, swimming, feeding the squirrels from the porch, and even mowing the lawn! We had to break down a couple of weeks ago and turn on the furnace. This past Saturday was wonderful though. It was the perfect evening as we went for a walk. Warm and mild. Leaves crunching under our footsteps. Clean fall air. Pink clouds from the setting sun. It was incredible and made me wish every night could be like that. But today, it's friggin' cold and raining. All the leaves have turned soggy and gross. I am wearing my flannel jammie pants and slippers and waiting for my warm tater-tots to get out of the oven. And I think I just heard the timer, so toodles for now. Hopefully I'll have something way cooler to write about the next time I log onto this thing. :)

A few random shots....

I went with my sister to buy a new camera today. This is one of the photos I took while I was helping her figure out how it worked.

Lil' V asleep in the car.

The cute boy insists on doing his doody with the lid up. I dunno why. But anyway, while he was doing his bizniz, I went to the other room to get something, and when I came back he had dozed off. It had been a long day for him. I'm surprised he didn't fall in.

The boy child and the man child made newspaper hats one night. How crafty my little men are.

This kid is addicted to his Spongebob sippy cup.

Some cute drawings by our little artist.

He told me this is a cow.

And this is a bee.

Lyric Likes

The Ballad of El Goodo

by Big Star

Years ago, my heart was set to live
But I've been trying hard against unbelievable odds
It gets so hard in times like now to hold on
But guns they wait to be stuck by, at my side is God
And there ain't no one goin' to turn me 'round
Ain't no one goin' to turn me 'round
There’s people round who’ll tell you that they know
And places where to send you, and it's easy to go
They'll zip you up and dress you down and stand you in a row
But you know you don't have to, you can just say no
I've been built up and trusted, broke down and busted
But they'll get theirs and we’ll get ours

if you can just hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Years ago my heart was set to live
and I've been trying hard against strong odds
It gets so hard in times like now to hold on
Well, I'll fall if I don't fight, and at my side is God

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on

Drawings and Funny Faces

Vessel got this magnetic drawing board 2 years ago as an Easter gift. It has seen it's better days, but Vessel still loves playing with it and taking it with him on big trips or to church. Here are some recent drawings from the boy child.

This person complete with arms, legs, ginormous ears, and a belly button.

I'm not sure exactly what these are supposed to be (my guess is elephants) but whatever they are, my kid did an awesome job drawing them.

Vessel said this guy had "spider hair."

"Triangle man, triangle man, triangle man hates person man, they have a fight, triangle wins, triangle man"

Some shots Mike took of Vessel's funny faces on our drive home from Canada.

Bowling

A couple of weeks ago we went bowling with some friends of ours. It was Vessel's first time and he was pretty excited. Those little bowling shoes were so friggin' adorable, I just had to get a picture!

I thought it was a hoot watching lil' V attempt to get the ball down the lane. First try the ball went so slow that I think it barely nicked one of the side pins, but none of them fell down. Eventually we had to get the bumpers up and a ramp for the kids to get the ball going at a decent speed.

In case you were wondering, I'm the crazy mom with the double chin laughing her head off.

Daddy helped Vessel get the ball onto the ramp and all lined up to hit the pins!

So, if you ever want to have a really fun/funny time, just take your kids bowling! Whoooo!

Please, just let it go, okay?

To: __________________

I was just informed by a friend of your most recent display of hostility towards me. You say you want me out of your life and yet all you do is talk about me behind my back. One would think that if you no longer wanted me in your life then you would just let go and stop thinking of me all together. But how can you stop thinking of me when you continue to speak evil of me? If you insist on hating me because you just can't let go and forgive then that is no longer on my shoulders. I know I was mean to you at one point in our past, but I have attempted several times to make amends. There is only so much that I can do. I think you've forgotten that you aren't the only one who got hurt. And yet, even now I sincerely have no ill feelings towards you and wish you would just feel the same about me. I am not the person I was back then. I have changed. I have different views now and I have opened my mind to new ideas. I have grown and matured. I've been working on being a more peaceful and loving person. But you won't allow me to change. You just want to focus on some injustice you've built up in your head. I forgave you long ago of your offenses against me. And I've made a lot of progress when it comes to my feelings towards you. I pushed you out of my mind and tried to get on with my life. But when things are brought to my attention, such as your incessant judgment and cruel, inaccurate descriptions of me to your other condescending friends, then it gets hard. I don't want to have angry feelings towards you or anyone else for that matter. I guess some people might wonder why I let you get to me? Why would I let the opinion of someone I don't even care about affect me so much? Good question. I suppose it's because I'm human. Because it does hurt when you say bad things about me, no matter how insignificant you are to me. Its not fair that you persist spending your time bitterly speaking unkind words about me and victimizing yourself. Other people shouldn't have to base their impression of me on hearing your exaggerated, one-sided story. I have been willing to drop it and move on for quite some time now. And if you could just do the same it would make it a lot easier for me.

Toadstool Garden

I have an incredible inability to grow pretty much anything. So you have to know how astonished I was to find that my mushroom garden was thriving so excellently. I'm super impressed by these things. Also, not to brag (ahem) but our weed garden is coming along quite fantastically as well. So I suppose all is not lost when it comes to me and my gardening skills. I might not have a brown thumb after all. Ewww, brown thumb....doesn't sound pretty, does it? Okay, enough of that. Just enjoy these pictures. Some look really cool by enlarging them.

By the way, these things are strong . They plow up through the hard earth like it's nothin'.

Kickin' it in Canada

Spent some time across the border over the weekend. Here are some shots from the momentous trip.

Stopped at a convenient store. This slurpees straw was HUMONGOUS. Talk about brain freeze, baby. (p.s. good thing I'm not driving here...I got pulled over for speeding and the Mounty asked for my "doo-dads." No bueno.)

It's always fun to try some foreign candy.

The inside. What is it with injecting candy with air?

Vessel just keepin' it real in his little chair.

Me in front of the Cardston, Alberta temple.

Temple by itself.
After attending the temple, our friends the Jensens took us to a cool park in Lethbridge called Henderson park. Here is their son with Vessel.

Kizzia and Vessel.

Cool shot of the lake.

Bates and Jensen families.
The treehugger.
Vess throwing stones into the lake.
Daddy and Vessel on the dock.
I had to try this crazy toy on the playground. It just spins you around and around SO FAST. I got motion sick. Ugh.
Me and Vessie on this cool swing. This little girl in the background wanted to push us.
Okay, here are some sepia shots that I took.

Vessel with his feather that he found. He wouldn't let go of that thing.

Throwing rocks into the lake.