One Year.

Every Spring for the past 9 years, I would have an overwhelming sense of “down”. Kinda depressed and just down. It didn't last long, just a few weeks, maybe a month. I finally, that first year, realized why. My brother Aaron died in the Spring 9 years ago. And even though I knew it was coming over the years, I still was surprised when I felt that sharp sting. But it isn't as painful a sting as it used to be.

Earlier this year when our dream of adding another child to our family was finished I had a conversation with my mom. Knowing what it was like to lose a child, she told me, that over time, the loss wouldn't be the first thing I think of when I wake up. At the time, I just thought it would take forever! But over this short time since, that sting has lessened and it isn't the foremost thought in my mind.

Over the past couple of weeks I have had a struggle of sorts. Was is that school was starting? Was it that summer fun was done? I began again to go through all the feelings I know of and could possibly be ignoring about the adoption. But I still couldn't place it exactly. Until Sunday night. Ruthie and I had already made a plan and executed part of that plan and knew what this week represented. But the sting was sharp all at once. It was one year ago, Monday, August 30, that Lyndsay came to the door as Ruthie was getting ready for bed. I told Lyndsay that Ruthie couldn't play, but to come back tomorrow after school! For sure she could play then. That night Lyndsay was swept away by Life Flight and swiftly returned to her Heavenly Father. Ruthie didn't get to play with Lyndsay again.

We miss Lyndsay. We hope the morning of the first resurrection comes swiftly. I know that only a year later, the sting is still sharp and isn't easily lessened. Time doesn't take the memories away. Time doesn't end the sting. Time doesn't heal all wounds. Time only gives us time to ponder and remember and look forward to a wonderful reunion. For 9 years I have looked forward to seeing my baby brother again. For 1 year I have looked forward to seeing our sweet Lyndsay again. And boy do I look forward to it!

Lyndsay, Aaron, Rebecca, Heidi, Opah, Grandpa, Grandma Shelba, Zenda...We love you. We miss you. Come back soon.

Goat Smorgasbord.

It had been weeks, weeks I tell you, since the grass had been mowed. Hey! It's allows Daniel to do fun stuff with us. And the grass isn't going away. So there. So he got out that same Saturday of Poppy's Hike and the new garage door opener and mowed. It got dark just as he finished. But look at all that grass. One of the things the goats, Vegeta and Biscuit, LOVE is freshly cut grass. Or just grass. They tolerate the horse grass in their space. So Isaac and Ruthie and I got out there and began gathering grass as it got cut.
We added some leftover hay from the shed and some goat feed. A Goat Food Extravaganza! A Great Goat Smorgasbord. We layered it in the wagon and wheeled it back. Look at Isaac's foot. Our feet and hands were stained green for a day!

Do ya think the goats are hungry? Excited? They can hardly contain themselves.
They went right to it. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. There was so much in that wagon that it took a couple of days to get through it all.

Happy kids. Happy goats.

Poppy's Hike And A New Opener.

First off...Every Single Child Survived The First Day Of School! Although when I told Isaac I was so relieved he didn't die he said, in all seriousness, that a kid in his class did die. What?! He puked in class. Oh nice. He said he was just nervous and threw up so his grandma had to come get him. I'm really hoping it was just nerves. Because, you know, I really don't want to deal with the tummy flu!

Anyhoo...Last Saturday was the annual Poppy's Hike. All the dads and boys go on a hike with Poppy. They usually get a hat and some treats. All the moms and girls hang out with Abbie and then meet all the boys at McDonald's for lunch. Here is the handsome group. Only one son didn't go. Too young and his daddy said his mommy wouldn't let him go.
All the group right before heading up. They went to the Rocky Mouth Trail. There was a waterfall and when many boys came back with soaked tennies, I asked Sam if he got wet. He said no way! He was wearing his new school tennies.

We didn't break the McDonald's this year. We usually do. So that's something.

When we got home, Daniel went to work to replace the garage door opener. Remember a couple of years ago when the big spring broke? Go here if you need a review. We only needed one part when that occurred but he had to get it with an entire garage door opener. Sooooooo. When the garage door opener stopped working last week, we were set. We had the opener and Daniel just need an hour to get it in. HAH!
He spent hours. Hours. In the hot garage in the heat of the day getting it in.

We finally set a fan on the car aimed up at him. He Aaahhhh all about that!

He finally got it in and now the entire neighborhood doesn't know when we open or close our garage door. It's so quiet!

It's The Most Wonderful Time...

And I'm all alone. Alone. Alone. Alone. And my house was clean by 10 am. I am showered and blogging and it's only 11 am. Laundry is running, too. I'll take a nap Wednesday morning at 8:30 am.

We began our morning with school preparation. We have great teachers and classmates this year. We are all excited. Just look at the excitement on these cute faces...
Let's try that again... Looks like Ruthie is the really truly excited one. Isaac had written these cryptic words on the calendar about a week ago. "The day the kids DIE!" I told his new awesome teacher last night that he might die today. Just call me if he does. I'll come get him. So far, no call. He must be okay.

And......We're off!

This is......"THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!"

The Hair Cut.

First off. A WARNING!
DO NOT STEP ON A BEE! They sting. I sent Ruthie out for the mail. She got it. Then she jumped about 3 feet off the ground and started running. Then she fell on the grass. I was running to her after she jumped and got to her as she landed. She started screaming that she was stung. She was! I pulled the stinger out and got her into the house. And here is what is great. Isaac ran and got his Scout book and looked in the first aid section and read out loud what to do. Sam went right to action to make an ice pack. I got baking soda and water in a bowl. Working together we got Ruthie calmed and soothed. Her poor toe. PS. This picture is a contrived picture of what she felt earlier. Except she was in a lot of pain. And wasn't trying to hide a smile. That is great acting!
Now on to the hair part. I told the boys at the beginning of summer that they didn't have to get a haircut until school started. There was rejoicing all around. I did eventually have to pay Isaac $2 to trim around his ears and neck. But Sam was going for the Justin Bieber look. I mean look at the hair coming down the back of his neck. It was really starting to get embarrassing. But last Friday he told me he was ready for a haircut. I had taken before pictures of the HAIR but he apparently got my camera and deleted them. So we go with the swimming in Lava picture.

It was amazing! When he got out of the shower and came into the family room, dressed, of course, I didn't recognize him. I could see his ears. And his eyes!

Today is Back To School Night. Isaac finally relented and let me cut him this morning. Handsome boy. Just look at his neck!

I love freshly cut heads of hair. Next year I hope to keep my big mouth shut and not offer a summer of hair growth!

Make A Meal. From The Garden.

I've been waiting so patiently. Then I was waiting not so patiently. But the many many many green balls on the plants in the garden are finally turning!
RED! Well, okay. So they're just orange. But I've gotten a couple of red ones out. And more are starting to turn. YAY! And with all that zucchini coming in I've got a great recipe to share with you!

TOMATO AND ZUCCHINI PASTA

Here's what you need:

8 oz linguine

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium zucchini, sliced

1/4 cup parsley

1 Tbs olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp each:dried basil, dried oregano

1/8 tsp each:salt and pepper

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Cook linguine (I used spaghetti), drain and keep warm. In a large skillet heat olive oil then add zucchini, onion and garlic. Stir fry for several minutes until zucchini is soft. Add tomatoes, parsley, basil. oregano, salt and pepper. Stir gently and remove from heat. Stir in pasta. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top and serve.

Ruthie and I had been watching Chopped on Food Network. I began making this dish for dinner and she came in and started to make comments like: "Wow. Look at you go chopping those vegetables" "You really know your way around a kitchen" "Wouldn't you think adding something like [she points to an ingredient I already have out] this would enhance the dish?"

Then while she was eating she said things like: "Mmm. This really is a great dish. The ingredients really stand out" "How did you get the tomatoes to be so....Mmm" It went on for a while. I finally told her she can't watch Chopped anymore! But we really loved this recipe.

This recipe originally came from my sister Emilie.

My House Is A Mess.

Hi. My name is Jennie and my house is a crazy mess. Because it's been summer and my kids have been home. And I can't think clearly when my house is a mess. I'm vacillating between cleaning my house or going back to bed next Tuesday at 8:30 am when my kids are finally back in school. Or exercising. Because I can't exercise when they're home. I don't know why. Just can't. But I think I'll wait on the exercise thing for a couple of weeks. Why? Because my house is a mess and I can't think clearly and I certainly can't exercise in a messy house. Do you still read my blog? I'm just wondering. No one comments much any more. And not too many really blog any more. But then someone will mention something I've blogged and then I know at least that person read my blog recently. Or not recently. I really can't think clearly. My house is a mess. And then there's the fact that I haven't had any chocolate recently. It's killing me. And makes it so I can't think clearly. Why? No idea. But it's chocolate. That should explain a lot. Plus did I mention my messy house? So it just makes me wonder what's the point of blogging if no one's really doing it anymore and no one really reads this. You know? But then I look at my blog books and think, oh yeah, great to blog. I don't have to scrapbook or keep a very tight journal. It's all right here when I blog and then get it made into books every Mother's Day. Thanks to my dear Daniel. So what do I do? I don't know. My house is really messy and I really need to clean it. But if I clean it right now it will just be messy by the time my date and I get home tonight. Because my kids don't care if it's messy. Actually I don't really think Daniel minds the mess. Except the shower. He really hates the black stuff that grows in the shower. So he gets this awesome stuff to clean it. Then he cleans it. I wish dirty dishes bothered him as much. Or a filthy floor. Or an unmade bed. Or. But my kids will be in school next Tuesday. So I'm trying to decide if I will clean the house or go back to bed at 8:30 am. Cause I'm tired. But my house is a crazy mess...

My New Scent.

For years I wore body sprays. Loved them. Coconut Lime Verbena was a favorite. Then I moved to real perfume. Loved it. Beloved is my favorite. Now I'm on to a new scent giver. Because of this...
My new scent is SPF 70. Why? Severe Sun Damage. We'll refer to it as SSD. See that band aid? It's covering up a removed mole. Wanna See??

I just got the results from the biopsy and it's benign. Didn't think it would be anything different. But I've got 2 weeks of serious watching to help this heal. Isn't it pretty? Hey! I thought you wanted to see it!

Here's the real problem. I have many spots of pre cancer on my arms and legs. When the doc said he was gonna freeze them off I asked if it would hurt. He smiled and said, "Definitely not as much as it would hurt to remover real cancer!" Then he froze them all. I know it looks like a boil. By the time I got home they had all turned to big nasty blisters.

He also removed some little thingies from my face. All from the derned SSD. One conversation went like this...

Doc "You Are burned!!"

Me "No. My skin is always that..."

Doc "No you are burned. Look at that. Where have you been?"

Me "We were on a couple of rivers."

Doc "Which ones?"

Me "Lava and Snake"

Doc "We love Lava. Did you have fun? My kids love going up there. [LALALALALA. Continuous lovely talk] YOU ARE BURNED! Look at that!"

So my job now is to wear sunscreen EVERY DAY! I found the one he recommended to be a nice light scent and won't make my face greasy. I also have to go back every 6 months. My skin is a mess. It will take some dedicated daily sunscreen application and several visits to make sure my skin will last a long time more. I am grateful the pediatrition recommended taking my boys in to have their skin checked. Otherwise I would just keep going with Daniel always bugging me about getting it checked but never doing it. And I really love this Dermatologist! LOVE him! Very easy to work with. I would recommend you all get your skin checked. Better safe than sorry!

The Potatoes Are Coming In.

On Sunday we had our first potato dig up. Look at these babies...

Mashed. Baked. Fried. Shredded. Scalloped.

You name it, we'll do it!

Yum.

The Last Hurrah!

We just got back from summer's last hurrah. And boy was it fun. Here is where we ended. But I'll get to that in a bit. But isn't it pretty?!
We'll start here. With Daniel's bu.... Just kidding. We went to Lava Hot Springs. After getting camp set up we walked into town to explore. We found this cave.

We found it in the Sunken Gardens. These guys didn't want to go all the way in. Up there, Daniel was showing them how easy it was. But he got stuck and bumped his head. So these guys felt vindicated.

The Gardens were right above the Hot Pools. See 'em down there? We didn't go to the Hot Pools this time. I think we will definitely go next time.

A picture with some of the gang.

I finally caught Isaac and held him down for a picture. That's why we look so serious. "Stay!"

This tic tac toe game was on the other side from where we were. We eventually walked over to them.

The gang walking to the tic tac toe game.

A look at the other side. Where we just were. Isn't it just pretty?

This pleasant bench surrounded by flowers became a pretty picture spot. Aren't these guys cute?!

All because two people fell in love...

Okay. I'm over that!

Here is the river we went down many times. We rented a tube and rode down then walked up then rode down then walked up.... It went until we were too hungry to keep going.

And you'll notice I only have pictures of an empty river. No one was going down at the time. But more importantly, I WAS ON THE WATER!! Yessiree folks, I went down the river on the tube. And I had a marvelous time! So I didn't get any pictures of us going down.

After the river we had lunch then headed to the Olympic sized pool. Oh yeah. The kids were in heaven. I got over being in water very quickly and just spent the afternoon on a chair protecting our blanket. I tried to read, but mostly watched people. Especially the guy in the orange speedo. Oh, that was interesting.

At one point I looked up on the ladder leading to one of the slides and saw these people. Ruthie and Daniel rode all the slides and had a blast.

But mostly they all swam in the indoor pool. Hey! There I am. And you can see my swim shorts to know that I did, indeed, hit the water.

Isaac doesn't ever stay still enough to get a clear shot. But he had fun.

Hey Sam!

And there's Ruthie.

Now here I'm going to share something very disturbing with you. We had a lovely camp site. Lovely! But then this thing happened. A Train. See it? But it wasn't just one. It was one every 2 to 3 hours. Including through the night! Just oil the tracks! Pleeeeeeease! I wanted to put something on the tracks so they'd have to stop sending them through. Oh how I hate trains.

Okay. Back to more pleasant things. Here's our home away from home. We love this tent. We can stand up in it. Hi Ike!

And the chair set up. Hi guys!

This year we added the pup tent for whoever wanted to sleep in it. Ruthie spent the first night by herself. I didn't sleep because of the trains. Daniel didn't sleep because his little girl was "out there". Long night. The next night we all slept in the big tent.

Okay. Here comes some fun. Last week at work, a co worker, Randy, came to Daniel to invite him up to run the Snake River on Saturday. He said we'd be in Lava and couldn't. Hey, you're almost there. Come on up. So we packed up and headed close to Jackson to the Snake River.

And let me tell you. Again there are no pictures of us in the raft going down the white water! Why?

Because I went down, too. Oh yes, people. I went white water rafting! Randy said he got some shots of us at Lunch Counter. So when I get those I'll post 'em!

So that was our last hurrah! Hurrah! We've decided to do the same last hurrah every year. Lava and Snake River. We are now on our last week of summer vacay. It will be filled with school shopping and planning. And some more hurrahs! From me. Not the kids.