Happy 29th Birthday Nate!

We are happy to celebrate our wonderful Nate today. There are hundreds of things we love about him. We thought we'd just list 29 for his special day. So here's to you, Nate. We love...

1. That you go to work early so you can come home early to spend time with us and never complain about being tired even though you get up way earlier than the rest of us.
2. Your wonderful singing voice
3. That you love the outdoors - going camping, hiking, or just observing bugs and trees. You enjoy nature like a kid but understand it like an expert.
4. Your Spryness
5. That the kids think you don't like treats because you eat lots of treats only after they are in bed.
6. How much you love people, all people. And you really take the time to get to know them by serving them.
7. That you have learned to eat vegetables for me and always swallow some down to be a good example to the kids. And now one of your most requested meals is Veggie Pitas.
8. Your bow-leggedness
9. That you magnify your callings so well in an effort to simplify and bring people to Christ. Whether you are the exec. secretary, or the scout master, or the sunday school counselor you always get things organized and, more importantly, touch peoples lives for the better.
10. That you can pick up and run 5 miles like its nothing.
11. That your waste size is smaller than your age.
12. That you came up with the idea and happily put a chocolate coating on my "morning sickness" pills so i could swallow them each night without gagging.
13. Your muscles
14. That you have put up with my fruit picking and preserving obsession year after year even though you don't like dried fruit.
15. That you do everything with whole-hearted enthusiasm.
16. How smart you are. Your brain works in an amazing way. With your PhD you are officially the expert on Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium of Polymer Solutions During Thermal Decomposition of Rigid Foams. Congratulations.
17. That you joined the emergency response team at work because you love to help people and because putting out large fires and crawling through small spaces to rescue people sounds fun to you.
18. That you are such a very hard worker. You enjoy a challenge and complete tasks with a smile.
19. How financially smart you are. Thanks for helping us to budget and save even when we had very little and helping us work toward good financial goals.
20. That you research everything in detail before purchasing or trying things out.
21. How much you love our families. How your parents and siblings rely on you for advise and support. And that you love my family and are happy to spend time with them.
22. Your competitive nature when playing games, that you just have to win. But also that that competitiveness does not flow over into the rest of your life as pride.
23. How good you are with our kids. You are so good at getting them to calm down when they are upset and at having fun with them. Having you with us makes everything more fun.
24. That even with my big tummy you still tell me i am beautiful and you are excited that our family is growing.
25. How you tell me that you love me at the end of every phone conversation. Even if it was just 30 seconds long and even if we just talked 5 minutes ago, you make sure i know.
26. How you really teach the kids about science-y things. Explaining down to even a sub-atomic level to help them understand how things work. (They like your answers alot better than they like my "Just because that's how it is" answer.)
27. That you encourage/force me to do hard things because you know it will help me grow.
28. Your dark hair and long elephant eyelashes and amazing dimples. You are so hot!
29. You! You are the best friend, husband, and father we could ever ask for. Thanks for your work, your example, your testimony, and your love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!!

Pioneer Week

As i said before in a previous post, Pioneer Day is my favorite holiday. So, our family turned it into kind of a week of celebrating these amazing pioneers. Last Monday we had a very fun FHE pioneer party with several of our good friends here. We put out the pioneer quilt, plugged in our "cold fire" (built with logs, a fan, some light bulbs and tissue paper) and told pioneer stories. Outside we had games for the kids, kid and adult crafts, and a mini covered wagon for the kids to pull around and even ride in. We served cobbler from the dutch oven, homemade ice cream and whole wheat rolls with hand shook butter. The ice cream turned out more like a raspberry milkshake but our sweet friends were kind enough to eat it anyway. We really had a fun night and i felt a little more connected to my Utah home.
Then on Thursday we set off on another adventure. As soon as Nate got home from work we started driving to Nauvoo, IL. It was quite an exciting adventure trying to get there. We hit a big storm just outside of Kansas City. Long story short - We ended up turning around at 1:00 am to find a detour as we did not feel safe driving through water up to door handles. Thanks to our trusty and cheerful dad we made it to Nauvoo safe and dry. We had a wonderful time there. We enjoyed seeing all the historic sites and shops, and learned alot about pioneer life. The kids collected many souvenirs like a rope that they helped make, a Nauvoo brick, self-braided rag ropes, prairie diamond rings, and a piece of wood branded with a picture of the Nauvoo temple. We got to see the pageant and enjoyed many of the pre-show activities. I even got to tie a few stitches on a quilt which made me feel at home and gave me lots of joy. I got to see a second cousin who is on her mission in the area and some family friends from Salt Lake were performing in the pageant. We loved seeing the re-built temple and being so close to it day and night. It is amazing. I was reminded of the remarkable strength our temple covenants can and should give us.
To make all of this even better we got to share it with our wonderful cousins, Kristin and Sarah. They are working at a shop there for the summer. It was so good to see them. They kept our kids entertained, fed us amazing breakfasts (french toast with "preview to paradise syrup" and special whipped topping, SOO YUMMY!), arranged for us to stay our first night in a beautiful hotel room, took us on walks to special places, and were just generally wonderful to talk to and be with. We are so glad we made it to Nauvoo while they were there. Thank you for everything, you two.
I love and admire the pioneers. I am constantly amazed by their faith and courage and unfaltering obedience to the prophets of God. They are truly an inspiration to me of cheerfully doing all that we are asked to do and trusting that God will take care of everything. I am grateful we were able to celebrate and remember them and i pray that i will be able to imitate, in some way, their inspiring qualities.

Red Hair

I think Emma may be tired of the blonde look and trying to change it. Yesterday she made two attempts to dye her hair red, neither of them was very successful. Her first attempt was shortly after we got home from the library. The kids were eating their reading reward - big red blow pops. I was working on making lunch. Soon i heard from the family room little whimpering from Emma and Morgan saying "Hold on Emma. Hold on." I went to check things out and found Morgan tugging with all his might to get his lollipop out of Emma's hair. It was tangled in pretty good and stuck tight. After a lot of twisting and tugging i got it out. Morgan ended up with a hairy lollipop and Emma ended up with one side of her hair turned red.
Later we were all enjoying quiet time. Emma was starting to get antsy and wanting to come out. I had just turned on another story CD for her and was back out in the kitchen. I heard her start crying. I very calmly and slowly walked back to her room wondering what silly thing she was sad about now. I found her laying on the poof chair with blood running down her arm and from her forehead into her hair. She had attempted to climb the cabinet to get a vase full of paper stars. The heavy vase fell on her head and caused an owie with lots of blood. It was our first big bleeding head injury. We got it cleaned up and luckily did not need to go into the doctor. For the second time in the day Emma had red hair on one side of her head. Hopefully she will give up her dreams of red hair or at least find an easier way to dye it.

My Favorite Holiday

Pioneer Day, the 24th of July, is my favorite holiday. Seriously, i love it! I am somewhat mourning the loss of it as i now live in Oklahoma and it is almost non-existent here. I love the parade and i love the fireworks and i love all the handcart pulling, hoop-tossing pioneer activities around the valley. Best of all i love the party at my Aunt Karen's house the night before.
We are missing all of it but i thought i'd try to help the rest of you enjoy it. The last two years i found a way to enjoy the parade without the sweltering heat or bored kids. Here's the secret. Go to the parade float preview party. It is July 21st and 22nd from 11am to 9pm at the SouthTowne Expo center. It is really fun. You get to see the floats up close in an air-conditioned building. Sometimes you can meet the float creators, and find out the stories behind the floats. (Last year we found out that one of the floats was completely covered in quilts that were later donated to Humanitarian Aid.) You also get to vote for your favorite and sometimes there are little freebies given away. They also have some of the marching bands playing if you want to hear them. It is a great way to see the "parade" without all the heat and you can take as much or as little time seeing them all. I hope you all go see it and have a great time. Take pictures and send them to us so we can feel like we got to be there too. We'll do our best to enjoy it here even though they don't give anyone the day off or turn the whole state into a celebration.

What's in a Name

As you can see from the last post my belly is growing steadily. We now have less than 100 days until the due date. Yeah! The question is are we making any progress toward choosing a name. The kids at least have settled irrevocably on a name for our little boy. They have decided on Joseph Smith. Yep. They love to tell anyone and everyone we meet that we are naming him Joseph Smith. I guess it is their way of doing a little missionary work. While i love and honor the Prophet Joseph, i think the name Joseph Smith King is a little much for a small boy. I tried to tell the kids that it was not going to happen. This was our conversation:
me: "Guys we are probably not going to name the baby Joseph Smith."
Morgan: "But he is a boy."
Emma: "I know he was a boy every night."
Morgan: "Yeah, and everyday. So we can name our baby Joseph Smith."
I give up. You can't really argue with their logic.

Alert the National Inquirer

ALIEN BABY?
(I really don't like putting up pictures of myself, but i think the world has a right to know)

Finished!!!

Today i accomplished something big. I finished my quilt that i have been working on for literally two years. I hand-quilted the whole thing and today finished attaching the binding (also by hand). It is a big deal for me. I am happy with how it turned out and learned a lot in the process of doing it. I will definitely do another one, but maybe after a little break. Here are some pictures of it.

Here is the whole thing. (Somehow the picture flipped when it uploaded. Sorry.)
Here it is in our new living where it just happens to match so well the paint and furniture that the previous owners left. Love it!

More of the living room and a closer up picture to try to show the detail. Don't look too closely or you may see some of my mistakes, but that just makes it genuine homemade.

Just since i have finished my quilt in the last hour the kids have said some funny things.
*Morgan brought out a "city" that they built out of blocks and declared, "Yea! The city of Venice has appeared to us in the Last Days before one o'clock!"
*Emma was talking about dancing with her prince, Gaston. Morgan asked, "Gaston, who?" Emma: "Ah, Gaston Prince in my ward."
*Emma talking about going to preschool for "a great day". Morgan: "Who is the teacher at preschool?" Emma: "Um, John Taylor." Morgan: "Oh, that's great!" Emma: "Yes, but he's moving to the jail soon. So, i am sad for him"
*Now they are off to "save Emma's father from jail" because she "doesn't know him very well" and "should spend more time at his house." (This may have to do with the fact that Nate is currently out of town.)
Kids say the funniest things.

Independence Day

The 4th of July was pretty cool here. We went to fireworks at the home of the Vaclaws in our ward. We had been told it was neat but had no idea how big it would be. Many people from both wards were there as well as other people from town who know this big, wonderful family from various places. There were probably about 400 people there on the lawn. The missionaries helped direct people where to park in the field behind the house. Each of the eight sons and sons-in-laws man different stations to set off the fireworks. The show was amazing. I lasted for over thirty minutes with music to go along. It was very impressive. It was a big city firework show in a small town atmosphere where we knew many people and refreshments were provided free rather than at some ridiculous concession stand price. We loved it. You are all invited to come with us next year.

What I Miss

I was flipping through my journal and found an entry written about a month before we moved. I was contemplating what the move would mean for us and ended with these words, "I wonder what i will be missing in a month?" So now that it is two months later i thought i would share what i do miss. I was so worried about missing the mountains and the temple and general conference, etc. While i do miss the possibility of all those things, I have found that it is the smaller, everyday things that made up the little moments of our lives that i really miss.

I miss leaving our car in the parking lot for days because we could and did walk most everywhere. I miss just going for lazy walks around the neighborhood and running into the Carlisles, or the Jensens, or the Robinsons, or the Booths, etc. or any of the many fabulous and wonderfully close to our apartment people we know in Provo. I miss walking to the Allen's at 5:32 because we forgot some essential ingredient for
our dinner. I miss walking to playgroup and enrichment activities and on other ward errands because our whole ward was only six blocks long.

I miss watching the comings and goings of my neighbors from my kitchen window as i washed mountains of dishes. The McKeowns and the Francises and the Wilsons all coming to get their mail, not knowing they were being watched. I miss seeing the Marins with baby Issac and then toddler Issac walking up the stairs on his own. I miss Leslie Marin's laugh and Chris's smiles through the window.

I miss knowing that my family was just a short drive north of Point of the Mountain. I miss being able to zip up there for dinner or parties. I miss throwing pajamas and extra clothes in a bag just in case we wanted to stay the night. I miss Karen and Preston. I miss Jill. I miss living close to my roommates. I miss Jamie and Kamrah and Carrie coming over for last minute, thrown together dinners just so we could really talk to them. I miss cousin dinners.

I miss the Willises. I miss hearing their car in the driveway and knowing that they are home. I miss Nathan coming over to play and his enthusiasm and intensity. And especially i miss Margaret. I miss her knowing my kids so well and Emma asking to go to her house everyday. I miss Margaret's laugh. I miss her listening and her expert parenting example. I miss the Ostensons. How comfortable it is to be with them. I miss Lizzy and Kipper playing with my kids. I miss Bethany's friendship and peacefulness. I miss having an applesauce making buddy. And Nate's and Joe chatting often and going swiss-bobbing. I miss the Boardmans making us laugh and going on adventures with us. I miss the Browns. I miss the Joneses. I miss the Peters. And countless other wonderful people.

So in the end it is the people i miss. All the people who were involved in the day to day activities of our family. All the people who love us enough to actually read this whole long blog post. I think like many people i got too caught up in the day to day living that i forgot to really appreciate all the things that i love and miss so much. I know this was a long blog but i feel blessed to have so many friends to care about. We hope you continue being part of our lives. Send us an email or a comment with your email. Thanks again.