Busy Busy Busy

I keep meaning to post something in here, but it seems to keep getting pushed off of the list.  There are many things I have on this "list", such as returning emails (in an embarrassingly late fashion)and developing pictures of the kids I took over a month ago and sending them out (also embarrassingly late).  I know there are more things on this "list", but I my brain isn't going to reveal them again to me until the usual 3 a.m. time slot.  I do know I have a constant dull nagging trying to get me to clean this house, as in the REAL clean instead of this surface clean I have perfected.  Let's just call it "summer clean" in here right now.  I have way more important and fun things to do that toil around in here, creating instantly destroyed perfection and missing out on the three months of sun granted to me in the mean time.

We've been really busy so far this summer, and it looks like it is going to stay that way.  We've spent a lot of time in the water, in classic summer fashion.  We went up to Lake Mary Ronan and spent the day with Dad and Renae a couple of weeks ago.  We rented paddle boards (sooo fun!), and took our canoe and Dad's little fishing boat out on the lake for some late afternoon fishing.  We were hoping for Kokanee Salmon but they weren't biting that day.  We did catch a bucket of perch, so it was still a fun time.  So far that has been one of my favorite days.  We went horseback riding the next day, which was also very fun.  We were so wiped out by the end of it that we all took three hours naps; most satisfying.

The kids seem to be having a good summer (?).  I compare all the stuff we do as a family to my childhood and I wish I could zap my memories into their heads so they could see just how unboring it really is around here... *sigh*  Not that there was anything wrong with how I spent my summers as a kid, but we rarely ever left Paradise to go camping or travel or anything else.  My days were spent riding my bike all over town, fishing in the pond behind the town, and exploring the river and mountains- mostly by myself.

I know that sounds pretty great to Derrin.  He is 12 going on 13, and this summer I can tell he is starting to get bummed that he isn't allowed to go very many places by himself.  I feel like we try to counter that by doing lots of fun stuff with both of the kids.  He gets to go more places and do more things than I ever did, it's just that he has his parents with him most of the time.  What a big bummer.  This growing up thing is going to be hard on us both.  Just the thought of him riding his bike to the store by himself makes me have heart palpitations.  Visions of the bad drivers sharing the road dance across my head, convincing me that letting him go anywhere by himself will mean sure and imminent death.

The truth is, I do trust him.  He is a smart kid, and totally capable of taking care of himself.  I just don't trust the rest of the world. I am going to have to eventually let him start venturing out by himself alone... but let's not let it be this summer.

They've both had friends over, and also spent the night at their friends houses.  I think that helps more than anything.  Both of the kids are just so social, they start wilting after too many days of not seeing their friends- especially Derrin.  Oh-well.  We will do what we can do. I know I am having a great summer so far, and all of the pictures I've been taking will prove to my grown up children that I was a rockin' parent.  Haha:)

And without further rambling, here are a few snapshots of our summer so far:

I wish it was always and forever like this out there.  July is already burning up the hills.

Beauty.  

My three babies

Our rhododendron bush while it was still blooming and beautiful.

Derrins OBSESSION... photo taken by and for... Derrin (a random citizen's car)

Riding the carousel with our friends :)

Feeding the ducks during a service break.

Daddy-o, enjoying the shade

Rainy giving it a try

Derrin and Derrick paddle boarding

Some of my flower gardens this summer

Kloe's new disclaimer and greeting for her bedroom... enter at your own risk!!

Our horseback riding day.

Silly horses

Sabrina took me to a Bare Naked Ladies Concert!!!

We were up front and center- he even looked  at little ol' me (well my camera anyways) while I snapped a shot

Shannon, Kloe and I hiked clear to the top and over the M- pretty intense hike.  Kloe said it's the last time, but maybe  next year we will give it another try?

Indian Paintbrush... taken on a family drive into the woods last weekend.

A Time for Huckleberries

We went huckleberry picking a couple days ago at a top secret,undisclosed place in our area.  I was amazed at how many berries we found!  It's only the middle of July, and all of the little bushes are completely loaded up.  We (well, the kids and I- Derrick is going to be riding motos with friends) are going to go picking again tonight with Shannon.

It was so unbelievably beautiful in that forrest.  I had never been there before, but now I know where some more great hiking trails are.  The whole time we were up there we heard distant thunder rumbling.  Shannon, who has been up there a lot, said it is pretty common to hear thunder there this time of year.   In this case, however, a huge storm system was coming through the area, and toward the end of our time there we started to get rained on and the wind began to make the trees begin to sway all around us.  We high tailed it out of there, with imaginings of trees snapping around our heads. 

In town, some trees did get blown over.  The storm had mostly passed by the time we reached town again, but the sky was so amazing- deep pink, with lit up clouds.  This really has been a beautiful summer.

Me, Myself, and I

This has been an interesting week so far. I've been kidless since Sunday afternoon and husbandless since Monday morning! The kids are having a great time in Thompson Falls. Kloe is staying with Stephanie and Aiyana, and Derrin is staying with Heidi and Colton. Steph signed both the kids up for swimming lessons, and they are LOVING it. Swimming lessons last for two weeks, so it looks like the kids will be back down there next week too (which I am sure breaks their hearts).

So, what have I been doing in the meantime? Weeelll, Monday was a weird mood day for me. I had a crazy downward swing that sort of hit me unexpectedly in the morning, and it lingered for about half the day. I was actually glad that my family wasn't around to have to deal with me. If I were to have a mood chart with crazy low at a 1 and crazy high at a 10, I would give that morning a 2. I managed to calm myself to go to work by 11, and being at work seemed to help. When I got home I worked on an art project for awhile (computer art with photos) which was very soothing, and then I forced myself to go on my 6.2 mile run. I ended up walking the final mile, but I felt WAY better at that point. Then I went to Finnegans (I was very amused with my choice of restaurant) to eat and use their WI-FI. The day ended on a good note.

Yesterday I had the day off to go to Mom's doctor appointment. We were worried about her stomach because she has been having a lot of pain, and we were getting results from a CAT scan she had received the week before. The scan didn't show anything going on in her stomach (cancer wise), but it did show a spot on her liver that wasn't there before. The report said that it was suspicious of cancer, but maybe it could just be a hematoma. The doctor said it was pointless to test it since operating wouldn't really be an option anyway since she has several tumors in her lungs. I can tell she is starting to feel scared now. I'm scared too, but it's like the feelings and thoughts that go along with my mom's sickness are blocked. I don't think I could function on a daily basis if I had to deal with those feelings. I pray a lot about it, for strength. Running helps a lot. We are trying to spend more time down in Plains and Thompson Falls too. All of the yard work is helping too:)

I did a lot of yard work after I left Mom and Dad. I lined the little pond in front of our house with new plastic, put rocks in, and filled it with water finally. It is a muddy pond, but I have given up on perfection out there a long time ago. I did a ton of weeding out there this morning, and hopefully Derrick will hook up my new little fishy spout to the water pump when he gets home. All that will be left after that is to get a couple new little goldfish to start their own little game of who will survive Rachel's pond this year:)

After all that yard work, I got all dolled up and went into town to eat with Shannon, and then we went to the Jewel concert. My honest feelings about Jewel are 1) She is a brilliant song writer. 2) She is a very funny performer and very good with interacting with the audience. 3) When she gets too dramatic in her Jewel fashion it actually makes me happy because it reminds me of the same slightly irritated feelings I had with that as a kid. She brings me right back to being sixteen again:) Anyways, I had a good night with Shannon.

And that brings me up to today. I ran my 6.2 this morning. That brings me to 12.4. Gonna run tomorrow (will be at 18.6), take Friday off and the Saturday is THE DAY. I am looking forward to it!!! BRING IT!!! Derrick will be home by the time I get off work and I am glad of it. Although I have enjoyed the last three days of me time, I wouldn't want it to always be just me. Waking up next to someone I love and hearing the voices of two more of my little loves in the living room is how I want my life to be.

Bonds of Love

Bonds of Love

This year was a crazy year- at least when it came to people close to our family (or part of our family) getting married. By my count we went to five weddings, and Derrick was either an usher or a groomsman in everyone. First was Dustin and Jasa last January in Mexico. Then Kevin and Alta, Zac and Shawna, and Shon and Alysa all got married this summer. And December 8th my sweet *little* nephew Brandon married his sweetheart Lyndsay in Yucaipa California. It was a beautiful wedding. And what I loved about the whole experience was that almost my whole family flew over there (most of us on the same flight). We had a great time together! So, since I put my blogs in a scrapbook with my pictures (and your comments too!), here is an itinerary to help remember what all happened while we were there.

Day 1 (Wednesday, December 5)- We arrive in Yucaipa after flying in from Spokane. Sharon and Dale  picked us (Mom, Dad, Renae, Doug, Steph, Casey, Aiyana, Shannon, Derrick, Derrin, Kloe and myself), and our piles of luggage up at the Ontario airport (except for Casey and Steph who rented an awesome blue Mustang convertable while there) and hauled us back to the much smaller town of Yucaipa. I was sick (still). They dropped us off at their place before they headed back to Los Angeles to pick up more family from that airport, and we all went out to eat. After my taco, I promptly crashed, fell asleep and didn't get up for about 3 hours. Then Derrick, Shannon me and the kids packed up our luggage into Lyndsay's brother's jeep (which he let us use the whole time we were there), and we went off to Lyndsay's grandparents house (Jeannie and Les), where we stayed for the first night.

Day 2- Jeanie and Les made us a tremendous breakfast, bright and early! Eggs, ham, pancakes, and coffee. They are adorable. The grandparents everyone wants to have (I love grandparents. I didn't have them while I was growing up, and now I understand their immense appeal). Then we packed up all our stuff again (we were moving to another place to stay that night), and headed into town to meet up with all the younger members of the wedding party to head onward to Knottsbury Farm. It took a couple hours of driving to get there, but it was AWESOME. When we got back, everyone who didn't go wanted to know the little kids liked their time at the farm. Aiyana, Kloe and Derrin did have fun. But I think all of the big kids who went had as much fun! My favorite ride was the Accelerator, a rollercoaster where they shoot you out going 80 miles and hour, immediately going into corkscrews. Loved that ride. We got back to Yucaipa late, went on to the next place we were staying (friends of Lyndsay's parents who were out of town that week and said we could stay at their house), and I crashed. Danny and Nancy got into town that night, and they stayed at the house with us.

Day 3 (Friday)- The day started out with manicures and pedicures. Just in our group, we had ten women. The people doing our nails all did good work, BUT the guy who did mine (his name was Tom), was also the manager, and he was feeling stress over dealing with our group and trying to keep his regulars happy. The result was my manicure was filled with moments of being ignored by the guy sawing away at my feet, having my calves massaged by a tense little man who alternated trying to strip the flesh from bone, and remembering I was there, smiling at me and saying "Feels good, right???". I admit, I lied and said it did. I am not good at standing up for myself in these kind of situations. But the end result was good (he even pained little flowers on my big toenails), so it was all good...

That night included: Decorating the reception hall, wedding rehearsal, and wedding rehearsal dinner. We fell in bed late.

Day 4 (WEDDING DAY!)- Woke up early to get kids washed and ready for the wedding since I wasn't going to be with them for the rest of the day (Shannon, Nancy and Danny watched them for me:). Next stop, hair appointments... then pictures. I need to mention here that there was a horrible weather system working it's way down the coast the whole time we were in California. It was in the 40's by the time we went out for pictures. We were freezing!!!

The wedding itself was beautiful. Doug gave the talk, and he did a great job. There was one moment where he got choked up (the same part he got choked up when he gave the talk at Steph's wedding), but it was a touching moment you only get when a Dad is the one talking. Brandon and Lyndsay were in their own little world, gazing and laughing and so forth. Eww. Na, it was cute.

After much eating and dancing, we drove home. On the way home it SNOWED. In southern California.

Day 5- I have to admit, I was a whiny, wimpy, complainy sort of girl on Sunday. I was really tired because we hadn't stopped even once. I was also still sick, hacking my lungs out attractively every couple minutes. But I got up earlyish anyways and onward we went to the Los Angeles Zoo. It was a pretty fun relaxing day, and no one seemed to care how pastey or contagious I looked.



We kept hoping the weather would be warmer as we got farther down the Mexico penicula, but the system that had been in California the whole time we were there followed us to San Felipe. We still had fun, but not in the same hanging out in our swimsuits sort of way we thought we would.

Days 7 and 8- We collected shells, the guys all went deep sea fishing, we ate tons of seafood, drank gallons of magaritas, played games (lots of hand and foot), went to the market and dickered with the merchants, had a couple campfires, and just relaxed.

Day 9- We drove back up through Mexico, toward Tijuana. We stopped in Puerto Nuevo for dinner at a place where you get Lobster, and two margaritas for twelve dollars each. Then onward we went to the border, where it took nearly two hours of traffic to actually get through to the other side. We stayed at Brandon and Lyndsay's apartment (they were on their honeymoon in Cancun) for the night (we packed and unpacked, loaded and unloaded eight times this trip). And we crashed.

Day 10- Lyndsay's gramma Patty made us all biscuits and gravy for breakfast with sumptuously strong coffee that morning. It was divine. Then they drove us to the airport, we flew back to Spokane, and we were in real winter again. We drove back to Missoula and it FEELS GOOD TO BE HOME!!!

In conclusion, I have to say, I love weddings (I'm not saying marraige is easy, but I love the family ties it can create and strengthen). When I got married my sister was my matron of honor, and I had Shannon, Steph, my cousin Heidi, and Brandon too. Now I have been in all of their weddings. I have also been in some very good friend's weddings as well. I love how close it makes all of us feel to eachother. It creates a shared memory of a pivotal moment in our lives. Both Brandon and Dustin were the youngest people in my family and our clans to get married. They were the last of the single people. The next single people in our families to get married will be my children. Hopefully that won't be for a very very long time. So even though this was the summer of many weddings, we won't be having a summer like this again for a long time.