My New Calling

Well, I finally have a calling in a ward. I have just been made the Relief Society Secretary. I would have to say that this is the largest calling I have ever held in my life, so far. It's a litte overwelming. I have this thing about always wanting to be the best at every thing I do. And since I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing yet, I think it may take me a while to try and reach that goal. But I can say that I am very organized, so I do have that to my advantage. Also, I'm on the Enrichment Committee too.

Almost 30

"There's nothing we could do." --part of Josh's inscription said, "Just wanted to let you know it's coming."

Try next year Joshua. I'm not 30 yet. -Yesterday I celebrated my 29th birthday. And I think that I look pretty good for almost 30. Don't you agree?

A Bit of Paris along the Columbia

Thursday Mom and I and the boys went out to the Maryhill Museum. It's about a 2 hour drive from Portland, in Goldendale, Washington. Straight from the brochure, the Maryhill Museum of Art is set in a castle-like chateau on a stunning 6,000 acre site overlooking the scenic Columbia River Gorge. It truely is an amazing view and the grounds are just beautifully kept. They have a collection of furniture and other items from Queen Marie of Roumania. Her court gown is just so detailed a picture can't do it justice. And they have a large collection of chess sets. And the reason Mom wanted me to go most of all, is their collection of Theatre de la Mode Fashion dolls. Just a brief history: Due to minimal resources during war times, these dolls were created in 1944 to make a statement to the world that Paris was still the center of fashion. The miniature mannequins were dressed in current couture and were exhibited in 1945 in liew of a full scale fashion show. Once they had traveled the world, they were abandoned in the basement of a department store in San Francisco. Where they were later found in 1983 and sent to the Maryhill Museum. An old article in the Oregon Journal says, "How Maryhill got the collection is still something of a mystery..." --You've really got to see them. They're 1/3 scale of an actual size fashion collection. And these unique fashion dolls reside right here in the Northwest. It's interesting that they were placed here, instead of New York or someplace more notable.

Maryhill Museum

A blushing flower

We have red and yellow sunflowers. How fun is it that Kaden planted two different types of seeds.

Your sunflowers may be taller Trenya, but I have you beat on color...by the way, my tallest is now over 8 feet tall. And Maryann, if you ever read this, these images should take you back to the good old days. S.C.A.T s Forever!

Garage Sale Fun

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After going on the Ladybug Walk, we picked up Mom and went out to a street of garage sales. And we found so many good things that we had to stop when the car was full. We got the Little Tikes airplane the kids are enjoying so much for $5 and we picked up some tinker toys too. Mom and Kaden made the drag racer car together. (We also picked up some set of the original wooden tinker toys.) I think it may have been more fun without the kiddos, but we found ourselves some treasure for sure. I even found a 3 book set of Sudoku books, still in the packaging, for $0.50.

Watch Out for the Sun Shade Monster

Is the Sun Shade Monster under that tree? Kaden told our Nature guide during the Ladybug Walk not to let the Sun Shade Monster get her when they walked into the shady part of the trail. Such an imagination. This week's Mommy & Me was at Whitaker Ponds and Kaden had a lot of fun!

During the hike they let all the kids borrow a ladybug backpack that's filled with all sorts of things. They have spoons for digging, a box for viewing bugs, a magnifying glass and lots more.

Versii had a good time running around and pointing out plants. He wanted to touch them all, even the prickly blackberry bushes. Below, he's wearing the backpack for a few minutes to give Kaden a little break.

Kaden caught a potato bug! He was really excited.

Running up and back down the hill...kids have so much energy.

Kaden, watch out for that Sun Shade Monster! I think he's going to get you! --Don't be silly Mommy, I made him up.

Trusses Up

My last update was on day 19. Now 10 days later we have a second floor and the trusses are going up. (Those are the frames for the roof.) Once they're all installed, they'll be working on putting the roof on. Will Dad make the goal of having the roof up before going hunting? He's still got 2 days to goal.

Cut It Out

So I walk into Kaden's room this evening and what do I see? Kaden looking very suspicious hoovering over this mess. And he immediately says to me, "Versii cut this up!" ---Nice try Kaden, but this time you can't blame your brother. Versii is not coordinated enough to be this destructive. I've seen him make a mess like this before, but usually with toilet paper, a napkin, or paper...and it's hand-torn. Anyway, this used to be a ball before Kaden got a hold of the scissors. While Kaden had the scissors, he also decided to cut his hair. When asked why he cut his hair, he said, "Well I just sawed it was getting long." ---Way to be on top of things Kaden, but next time let's leave this job to Mom. Honestly, I haven't found exactly where this chunk of hair came from.

Our Little Picasso

Kaden's spent the last few days painting with his new watercolors. We were out buying school supplies and he wanted to get a set for "home." He said, "I never had it before in my whole life." --It's kind of his new thing to say. This is his little masterpiece. The blue leaves "got changed up" and the long rainbow leave "is really crazy."

The Sun Blooms

Kaden pointed out this morning that he his sunflowers had a flower on it. These little seeds were planted back on May 23rd, at Kindergarten round-up and now 97 days later...we have flowers budding. The tallest one is over 7 feet tall (85 1/2 inches to be exact).

Progress Check on the Home Front

It's been 19 days since I posted the house plans and showed the completed foundation. Now the floor is complete and the framing is underway. Joshua's been helping Dad in the evenings and on Saturdays. They're out working right now. Kaden's helping a little too, but mostly just playing in the gravel piles. So far today, Joshua and Dad completed the framing for the laundry room, Mom and Dad's closet (which is big) and the bathroom. Dad's very motivated to get the framing done quickly since the roof needs to be on before hunting season starts, later this month.

If you look closely, you can see Kaden's new Beetle friend.

We were out on the site eating our lunch and I went back inside to get drinks. When I returned I heard Kaden carrying on a conversation with the beetle...I thought it was so funny.

"Hi beetle. Do you like my eyes? I like your eyes too. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Daddy wants to kill you, but that's not nice. You are a nice bug. Your hungry? You can eat little tiny bites of my sandwich and I'll take bigger bites. Daddy takes really big bites. (The beetle starts walking away.) --Hey beetle, it's me, Kaden, your friend. --Mommy, he thinks I'm mean, but I'm nice. --I don't like spiders, but I like you. No I don't like spiders. Where did you go? Beetle come out from under that board."

Look, Versii can walk through walls. And he was trying hard to be a helper by picking up and dumping nails.

Here's Daddy and Versii (wearing Kaden's sunglasses). He really wanted Josh to hold him and he was following him around with his arms in the air, so Josh took a quick break to oblige.

2 Kids + 2 Kids = Lots of Laughter & Lots of Tears

My sister, Julie, came to Portland and spent the last week and a half here. We had lots of fun. With our kids together 24 hours a day, our house was a fun zone and a war zone. Kaden's 5, Ashlyn's almost 4, Austin's almost 2, and then there's Versii, almost 15 months. All the kids need nap time daily (except Kaden) or there's total craziness. The kids played well together for awhile and around the time that they were tired or hungry, there started to be a lot of fighting, crying and you would hear things like, "I don't want to be you friend anymore." or "We not being best friends now." It's funny how there can be a hundred toys and they all fight over one.

This is the kids playing duck duck goose. Although the younger ones just ran and ran.

Here's an example of the crying caught on camera...Kaden is actually crying because Ashlyn popped a bubble he deemed as his.

Here's Austin sneaking through the flower bed, while I was trying to take a picture of how Kaden's sunflowers are now taller than he is.

Ashlyn really does love her cousin Kaden. They wanted to sleep in the same bed every night, but of course we couldn't let them...all they'd do is keep playing all night long.

We actually didn't do anything big while Julie was in town. But we did go to IKEA a few times to let Kaden and Ashlyn play in the Smalland. (IKEA's play place) It's great if you have a young child who's potty trained. They'll watch your kids for an hour for free. No babies allowed though, bummer. Anyway, Kaden and Ashlyn begged to go there after the first time...it looks really fun. They have a big ball pit and a little rock climbing wall, a coloring area, and a loft where they can sit and watch a movie. And Mom took the big kids to Chuck E' Cheese which of course they loved! And Julie and I were able to get away from the kids long enough to catch a few movies. We went and saw Get Smart and Momma Mia. Julie's got a good review of it on her blog. (The Lara Family, if you want to check it out.)

I have realised that I didn't get one picture of Julie and I together. I wanted to get a picture of us with all our kids, but it just didn't happen. They'll be back in December though, to celebrate Christmas with us. We can do it then.

Rainey Brooke

These are just a few of the pictures of baby Rainey and Mom, Renae. She is adorable.

Welcome to the world Rainey!

My niece Renae, who lives up in Alaska, just gave birth to her first baby this morning at 12:21 am. She had a little girl and named her Rainey Brooke. She was 5 lbs, 13 ounces and she came by C-Section. Congratulations Renae! We're very happy for you.

---No pictures yet. I'll post them when I get them.