The Lovejoys

Fall Craftiness

2011-10-25T09:40:00.000-06:00

Since I have three boys I have a limited number of things I can sew for them. Those of you with boys know what I mean. There's no dressmaking, no cute purses, no dolls etc. etc. etc.....So, I've made it my business to create a tradition that I get to make their Halloween costumes. I have to admit that this has become a little more daunting now that there are three of them to make, but so far it's been ok. I start early and think about it for months (as do they of course). Another thing that helps is that once the project gets going, there's no turning back - no changing your mind, you are what you are. This year I have tried to curb the violent tendencies that come with having three boys by encouraging good old fashioned cowboy games. Instead of the typical fighting, good vs. bad, robot/soldier/monster/droid battles that go on in our neighborhood I've been trying my darndest to get the boys interested in the wild west. And, thanks to PBS and Bonanza, it's been working! That's now their favorite show:) And, thanks to Dad who willingly fabricated some rubber band rifles one afternoon there is no turning back from the Wild West excitement.

So, where to from here? We decided it was cowboys for Halloween this year so I started looking around online for ideas. I found this great website that offered some wonderful tutorials - just what I was looking for! I had an old leather jacket lying around and Dad had some old pants that didn't fit right. I also had some wide elastic in my sewing drawer that I had bought without purpose (I do that a lot). Perfect lineup for some great Halloween costumes. Here's a fashion show!

Jasper - the arms of the leather jacket (size large) from a thrift store worked perfectly for his little legs. Leather is the perfect material for this project since it doesn't fray and so you don't have to finish the edges or hem them at all! There was enough left from the jacket to make monogrammed holsters for them all. Once again, the blue leather I used for the monogram was purchased without purpose - it just inspired me when I was scrounging around the scrap bins at the leather store.

Now that's just too cute I can't stand it!!! I know, I know, he's mine, I'm biased.

Next, Noah. He is sporting his chaps and a nice Wild West tough guy pose. He already got to wear his outfit to school since they had a cowboy day a few weeks ago. His chaps were made from old men's pants. I just cut them to the right height using the bottom hem then I sewed the side seam onto the outside so that I could 'fray' them by clipping the sides. He was so excited and proud!

And finally, Jack who is zealous about his new cap guns.

I have to admit to you that I didn't make their vests..those were found at the thrift store. All that fringe! Love it!

Pickled Peppers

2011-10-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

So fall is here, officially. I have spent a lot of hours this year harvesting and finding ways to preserve things without a ton of work. One of my favorite things has been sun dried tomatoes (ok, they're not really 'sun' dried, more like dehydrator dried:). I dried them for about a day and half and then pack them in olive oil in a jar in the fridge. They've been such a delicious treat to add to eggs in the morning, salads, pizza (on the grill - our latest obsession!) and much more. Unfortunately, the dehydrator was sitting on the counter and got knocked off by someone (who shall remain nameless) and is now broken. Sad! The oven doesn't really do the same job - my oven only goes down to 200 degrees and the dehydrator would stay as low as 95 for me. I did try a batch in the oven but they got a little browned, still tasty and good though.

Another thing we have had in abundance has been peppers. I'm learning that from year to year I'll always be surprised by what my garden yields. Anyway, I planted 3 pepper plants - two 'garden salsa' knock your socks off fire breathing pepper plants, and 1 red (disguised as green) chili pepper plant.

*Note to self: Home Depot doesn't know how to label their plants*

After discovering that our garden salsa variety was NOT going to produce those lovely Anaheim type peppers that you can fill with cheese and munch on, I lost my enthusiasm for them. I did make one batch of my annual canned salsa using tomatoes and peppers from the garden (the first time we've ever done that!! Yay!) but after that the pepper plants sat untouched for most of the summer. once in a while I would go out and pick one for our morning eggs or something like that. Anyway, after putting all that work into my garden I'm not about to let the fall frosts take the fruit of my efforts without a fight, even if it was an unexpected bounty of HOT HOT HOT peppers.

So, I decided the answer was to pickle them! After picking a bushel (ok, not really) of peppers I brought them inside to use this recipe on. An easy Saturday night project - no canning involved, using ingredients I already had on hand. An unsuspecting cook, standing over her stove. Here is where my plan when awry. As I'm standing over the stove slicing away my husband mentions, 'hey, maybe you should wear gloves...?'. 'Na,' I reply. These peppers aren't that hot after all and I don't think just slicing them and throwing them in the jar will effect me. I'm careful, I'll wash my hands before I rub my eyes. And on and on with the excuses...

The peppers were finished, and set in the fridge to brine. Pretty huh?

Not long after finishing this simple project, my hand began to burn. And I mean BURN. I tried to ignore it out of pride but it wouldn't be ignored. It started throbbing, pulsating with heat - like I had scalded it or something. I couldn't wash it off...I sat down and tried knitting but it continued to throb. Later when I went to bed, I just lay there while my hand sat outside the covers to cool. It didn't work. I didn't sleep well...and when I finally woke up I thought it was much better. But, alas, when I went to put my contacts in I discovered my problems were NOT over...with burning pain shooting through my eyeball I had to reach in with the pepper infected finger again to retrieve my contact - ahhhh!!! And then I went on all day with a burning hand. That was yesterday, and even today I feel the effects of it still. Phew that was quite a lesson. The moral to this story is: always wear gloves. The secondary lesson to take away is: your husband is smarter than you, listen to him.

Fall Retreat

2011-10-17T10:39:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was Fall Retreat here in Utah.

It's always so fun to see how many students arrive from around the state to fellowship and grown in theirs walks with God. This year there were about 55 students from a variety of schools. We didn't bring in a special speaker, the staff team did the teaching which made for a fun lineup. Mark did a program on boat building which prompted the students to take a good look at their relationship with God and surrender their future to Him.

They had a variety of 'found' objects that they could use to assemble their boats. You can imagine the creative solutions!

And as they set sail to their boats outside in the reservoir, they gave something significant over to God - symbolically releasing their will to God. Pretty cool huh? A few of the students recalled later how this was a significant moment for them and they made some new commitments to God for their futures.

Overall I'd say it was a pretty great weekend.

Sledding Fun

2011-02-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today we went sledding....

This guy never smiles!

Jasper ate some snow....

Overall it was a good day.

Valentine's Day Craftiness

2011-02-20T21:17:00.004-07:00

This Valentine's day I think I kind of over extended myself. After throwing Noah's birthday party on Sunday, I had to help do a craft at my mops group on Monday and then in the afternoon I went to Jack's kindergarten class and did a craft for the Valentine's day party. I was up late the night before figuring out what to make, I was actually at a loss until about 10pm. I had planned on making some robots and decorating them with candy (from the family fun website) but I really didn't like that one, would much rather do something without candy. The other hurdle was to figure out something that the boys would like, afterall, Valentine's day is kinda girly...all that pink and red. So, finally I landed on these.

When it comes to crafts, girls can be satisfied with something fun to look at, but boys really want to USE it. It needs to do something or it's no good. I was honestly a little surprised at how well these heart shaped glitter glasses went over! It was such a hit, everyone in the class was wearing them. It was so much fun! And his teacher was snapping pictures of them all. They all wore them home and Jack even wore his to the grocery store later on! Anyway, it was really simple.

All you need is:

1 piece of cardstock 3"x6.5"

2 pipe cleaners about 5" long

glitter and glue if you have them, or whatever you want to decorate them with

Just fold the cardstock in half. Then fold each side in half again and starting at the center side cut out 1/2 of a heart. Then cut around the outside of that heart to make the outer shape. Unfold and punch two holes, one in each side where you can then stuff the pipe cleaner through for the earpieces. Decorate them however you want and when you're ready to put them on just form the pipe cleaners around the child's ears. I guess you could make these in any shape too!

The other fun thing I did this Valentine's day was these valentine's cards for the boys to take to school. If you know my kids at all, you know that they are obsessed with Star Wars. I looked all lover the web for Star Wars printable valentines but couldn't find them at all. Finally I realized that valentine's are just a picture with some words anyway so I just imported some cute pictures and wrote on them. This is what I ended up with. If you want them you can just right click and save them!

Happy Birthday Noah!

2011-02-20T21:01:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday to Noah! He turned 4 on February 15th. It's hard to believe that he's already 4! He started talking about having his birthday party at Alta this last summer. Almost every week during the winter the boys head up to Alta (one of our ski areas) and go skiing. It's great because they have a great deal - it's free after 3pm...that's my kinda price! Anyway, it's perfect becuase the Sunnyside lift stays open until 4:30, pretty much the perfect amount of time for a 4 and 6 year old to practice their stuff. Mark has been taking the boys since Jack was about 3 - he's braver than me! Needless to say, they are both great little skiers. The only thing we need now is some good ski buddies for them. That's why we agreed with Noah, that would be an ideal place for his birthday party!

Being a mom of all boys, I find ways to get a little crafty here and there. There aren't any ruffles in our household, unless they're on me:) So, when a birthday comes around I like to indulge in some creativity. This year I made some super fun party hats out of scrapbook paper (around here that's about all it gets used for...I'm a horrible scrapbooker!). A space/airplane theme emerged when I found some Paul Frank party stuff on sale at Target (I'm a total sucker for monkeys - strange I know).

One of my favorite things to do for my kid's parties is put together the little favor bags. I LOVE putting little gift packages and sets together. This year I made the gift bags out of some felt I had sitting around. I appliqued little planets on the front and put some ribbon handles on. They were stuffed full of goodies like parachutte army men, gel stickers, die cast cars etc. The best part was NO candy!:)

We ate pizza and french fries....in honor of Noah's skiing techniques! The funny part was it didn't dawn on him until we were headed home, when he said "Hey! We make pizzas and french fries with our skis and that's what we ate at my party!!". That's right buddy!

These guys drew quite a bit of attention as they headed down the mountain with their party helmets! It was a great day overall. All the parents were thrilled, most of the kids had never skied before and no one (seriously - no one) had a meltdown or even a sad face!! Oh, I forgot to mention it was almost in the 60's!! When we got home, our temperature gauge at the house read 65 degrees...unbelieveable. We couldn't have asked for a better day!

Christmas Cards

2010-11-29T13:52:00.001-07:00

If you're like me, the whole Christmas card thing is kind of an ordeal. I always procrastinate on taking our family picture, then take forever looking for the cutest card with the best price and before I know it, it's January and no one has heard from us yet! But not this year. This year I took that bull by the horns and my cards are DONE! Ok, not in the mail or anything but printed at least. And the best part? I spent a whopping $28 for 200 photo cards! Yes, you read that right. Here's what I did....

We took a family outing about a month ago and bribed the kids with ice cream if they behaved and smiled for the camera when I asked them to etc. Sadly, they did NOT earn their ice cream...they were complete turkeys - yes, I'm the kind of mean mom who follows through on things like that. I was very unhappy at the end of the experience and we ended up taking our screaming clan home without their ice cream. Ugh. But, that's not the whole story. Here in SLC we have such beautiful fall colors and I wanted to capture them. I decided taking the clan up to the foothills of the Wasatch front would be ideal. There we found a kind biker who volunteered to snap some pics for us while we posed (did I mention we are CHEAP and don't pay to have our pictures taken? Yes, we use the self-timer and a tripod). Anyway, this is the kind of thing we ended up with:

Ya, turkeys right? And what the heck am I thinking with those two huge white power poles in the background? I thought that the wagon would be a fun prop but it ended up being a death trap for the tiny tot who wouldn't sit down to save his life.

So, we got into the car and headed off in search of a better location. I remembered a little bridge, tucked away in the middle of the city next to Old Navy. It is a little piece of nature inside the city. So, that's where we ended up. Really, I couldn't believe we actually got any 1/2 decent pics out of the day but I did end up with one that was "editable" enough to use (since I'm not about to subject us to that kind of torture again).

Next, I took said image and imported it into Picnik. I have photoshop on my computer but it takes so long to open and use on my 4 year old ancient laptop that I prefer to use something quick and easy like Picnik. If you haven't found it yet it will change your life! I am addicted. It's so easy to boost color and edit photos with fun effects! You'll love it. Here is the photo that we started with:

No one would sit still. But I guess it kind of captures our life right now! So, I then headed on over to picnik.com and made it black and white, boosted the contrast and faded the effect a little so that some of the green showed through and then I added text to make it our Christmas card. They have a ton of fun fonts you can use and it's all FREE! Here's the finished product:

No bad eh? So THEN I got online and sent the sucker to Costco's 1-hour printing service (I've searched around a bit and have found that Costco really does have superior quality compared with the other brick and mortar businesses I've tried). I ordered 200 copies, matte finished with a white border for $.13 each and picked them up 1 hour later! Yahoo! Anyway, I'm supposed to be printing out my envelopes right now but instead I'm blogging about my great deal. Again, I'm a procrastinator. Happy holidays!

Happy Birthday Baby Bug!

2010-11-26T14:47:00.001-07:00

We've celebrated two birthdays this month at our house. November has turned into quite a busy month for us! My birthday is the first week and then we have Jasper's on the 21st then Thanksgiving. I can't believe he's already 1! This year has gone by so quickly. I know everyone always says that, but it's true! And it's also true that the older you get the quicker time flies.

Instead of adding to our already over populated toy collection (and really, what 1 year old cares about new toys anyway?:) I decided to referbish our old grimy carseat since he has officially graduated from his infant seat. We've had this seat since Jack was 1, it still has some life left before it has to head to the dump (carseats expire! Can you believe it? Ugh. What a racket!). So, instead of putting up with that barf encrusted seat cover for the next few years I wanted to give it a nice little facelift. Let's face it, the third boy doesn't get many new luxuries.

This project was not for the faint of heart. It began by disassembling the existing cover with my dandy seam ripper. There's something so satisfying about taking that little knife to a seam and just ripping away! I took off all the existing binding etc. and turned it into four separate pieces. Then I washed the pieces in the washer to get the years of barf build up and snacks off, then dried it by the fire all night. At this point, Mark looked at me sideways, wondering if we would be able to leave the house for the next week.

Next morning I headed out in search of fabric (coupons in hand of course!). I found this fun owl print at the local quilt shop and the minky at Joanns. I washed it all when I got home. Then I just layed my old padding on the fabric and cut around it (I'm a lazy seamstress). I then serged the new fabric to the outside of each of the old pieces. For the center I just cut slits and then zig zagged the edges to make buttonholes for the straps. Then I sewed the pieces back together and bound the whole thing with FOE (my new favorite sewing essential - Fold Over Elastic:). All I had was yellow so that's what I used....I think it turned out quite nice! In fact, I'm pretty proud of it. It fits like a glove and online you can't find these for less than $75. So there ya go! A referbished, homemade job...not so bad for homemade huh?

On his birthday, the poor baby guy had a horrible fever and cold. He was miserable...so sad. So, we celebrated as a family a day late. The party was complete with elmo hats (that I've actually had since Jack turned 2) and little marionberry hand pies.

I'm obsessed with pie....I love it. And particularly hand pies....they're just perfect, a little heaven in your hand. You can eat them for breakfast or dessert or whatever! Ever since I got my new Cuisenart last year for my birthday I can't help but make a pie crust once a month at least! I just love it...and so does he as it turns out.

Earlier in the day I noticed Jack went missing. I finally heard him yell "Mom! How do you spell happy?" I then discovered him making a birthday card for Jasper, all on his own! What a precious memory for the scrapbook (that is...if I ever get it to it...). This little guy has the best big brothers EVER! Not to mention one fine Daddy. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-26T13:49:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a wonderful smoked turkey courtesy of our fabulous friends. We also had one of our students over who had no place to go. That's one of the best things about Thanksgiving, spending it with friends, and actually just seeing who ends up showing up! Our little house fills up quickly I have to admit, and we run out of counter space easily. But, that makes it all the more cozy! This year it was super cold out. All last week we've been building up to a super big storm, actually they were calling it a blizzard on the news so when Tuesday night came we were all braced for the storm of the century. Anyone who has lived here for more than just a year should know that whenever there is that much hype...nothing usually happens. Tuesday night 'Snowpocalypse 2010' hit us with very disappointing results. Ok, we do have a few inches of snow to show for it but really, we were looking forward to 4' snow drifts, power outages and the whole nine yards...Bummer! All we have left is some frozen snow and super cold temperatures. Oh well. It makes for great powder - Mark is out skiing today - so that's one bonus I suppose! I think we'll take the kids skiing tomorrow for the first time this season.

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving. A few years ago my parents had a bunch of wild turkeys (like a dozen or so) perched up in their hawthorn tree right outside their front window. How strange is that? They're not small birds and to see a small tree FULL of them was quite a site! Anyway, my dad couldn't pass up the chance to shoot one. So, a little while later I ended up with a bag full of fabulous turkey feathers! I had no idea what to do with them....still don't really. But, I had to hang onto them because they're just spectacular! Finally this year they've finally made their way out of the craft room. Jack made an indian headress out of some and took it to school. Everyone else had to wear their headresses they made at school with one colored feather on a little paper strip, but he got to wear his very own, genuine turkey feather headress - and boy was he proud of it! He's been painting his face with washable markers and he finally pinned down Noah and painted his face too. He has made headresses for each member of the family. And the most fun of all was taking a few feathers to his teacher at school! He got to stand up in front of the class and show off the cool feathers and then present his teacher with her own collection to keep. He's one proud boy:)

Well, on the homefront the feathers graced our Thanksgiving table as a centerpiece this year - a turkey feather bouquet actually. I thought it made a unique and fun, whimsical table for us to eat at. Each place setting was also marked by it's own smaller feather. I think next year I'll make a wreath or something out of these. They're just so beautiful!

The Giant Doughnut

2010-09-15T17:18:00.000-06:00

It's been quite the week here at the Lovejoy household. Just busyness...our schedule is close to unbarable. I feel like we've been transitioning to our fall routine now for about a month! This week was really the first that gave me a taste of what is in store for the next year and wow! It's really crazy! I feel like this parenting thing just keeps getting busier and busier. At first, when I became a mom and had one little infant I thought it was sooo difficult to manage...lack of sleep, loss of my independance...but if I only knew then what I know now! I would appreciate all those naps. I could really use them NOW.

Last weekend Mark did an outreach with some military guys (our military movement is called Valor for those of you who aren't familiar). He took them out in the desert and played paintball - it's always a huge win. He was exhausted when he left here at 7 a.m. on Saturday, but hopeful. He came home with a great report (4 guys who had never heard the gospel got to hear it for the first time) and felt really encouraged! That's always great. The Valor movement has been slowing picking up speed over the past few years as we've seen some really key leaders surface.

The next day, Mark took Jack and two other guys (one student and one graduate - Jake) up to the mountains to get firewood. He's got this deal with Jack who wants to buy a lego x-wing fighter. He has to go on a certain number of woodcutting adventures and also stack wood at home to save up and earn enough to buy it. He's VERY motivated. In fact, our neighbor has said that he will hire him as well. They have it all figured out, how much he has to save in order to tithe, and then have enough to pay tax and buy the legos he wants. It's been interesting to talk him through his purchases...he's had some things in hand at Target and then reconsidered when I reminded him what he's saving for...and that Darth Vador umbrella is probably not really what he wants.

Well, this last week I think I realized that I CANNOT do it all. I can't play taxi all day long, make lunch, pack lunch to eat in the car on the way to pick someone up and drop someone off, wake my napping baby twice a day to do all this, have dinner on the table and homemade snacks for Bible study, all with a smile on my face and a clean bathroom. I'm not sure what has to give (well, the clean bathroom is really just a pipe dream anyway)...maybe the Bible study snacks? Thank goodness my kids love peanut butter sandwiches.

Over the past year, God has blessed me out of the blue two times with heaven sent snacks for Bible study. Each week Mark has several college guys come over and they meet in our garage for small group. I used to love making them treats, they're so appreciative and I love to bake. One week Mark even made a lesson out of making bread and had me show them my method, then they got to eat fresh homemade bread as their snack. They still talk about it now, after two years! Well, I will never forget one day last year when I was feeling particularly UNmotivated to make them a treat...I was standing in the kitchen pondering what I had in the cupboards to throw together-quickly-becuase they were going to be here in about an hour. Then the doorbell rang, I remember being kind of annoyed since I didn't have the time to answer the door!! But, as I opened the door, there was our next door neighbor holding a perfectly beautiful chocolate cake (the double layer kind with truffle frosting-yum!) and a smile on his face. He had just taught a cake making class at the gourmet cooking store he worked at (as a chef instructor) and had this leftover...would I like it? Hm...let's see...WOULD I??! To this day, I wonder at how God can use my athiest neighbor to show me He loves me!

Well, I tell you all this just to set up yesterday's scenario. As you can guess..something very similar happened. I was sitting in my dining room writing my grocery list and thinking about what I was going to make for dinner and Bible study snack later that evening as my friend pulled up and ran up to the front door with a lovely coffee cake in hand...for no apparent reason. She said she just felt compelled to buy it for me at the local bakery! It makes me laugh out loud at how God cares for such trivial details in my life (and it reminds me of how important those Bible study snacks really are...), things like cake for heaven's sake. So cool! Oh, and in case you're wondering, the boys thought it was a giant doughnut....the Bible study guys loved it and this is all that's left.

Garden Bounty

2010-09-06T12:16:00.000-06:00

Every year we plant a garden. Even though we leave for several weeks throughout the summer, it has worked for us. We come home to a tangled mass of weeds and some dead plants but after two days of weeding and pruning we are usually able to finish out the summer with a fun variety of plants that suppliment our summer diet. Through the years I've branched out in my selection and tried some new things and I've also planted several things that stick around for multiple years without much tending to. We planted raspberries and an apple tree last year. We have yet to see ANY raspberries and the one apple we had fell off in a wind storm so we ate it as a family - it wasn't quite ripe but it came off OUR tree! Anyway, those things where kind of a flop this year (I know apple trees take a few years so I'm patient, but the raspberries - come on!). But the rest of the garden has been great! We've had tomatoes, zhuccini, corn, strawberries, beets, carrots, radishes, pumpkin (by accident, it came from our compost) and potatoes. The kids and I pulled several goodies out of the ground the other day and made some baby food for Jasper - totally homegrown. Take that Gerber!

We Did It!

2010-09-06T12:08:00.000-06:00

We made it through the first week of school! It was super fun and Jack loves it. His teacher is wonderful, we are so thankful that we chose the right school for us! We are loving the charter school so far. yesterday when Mark was out climbing with a group of students he ran into a teacher who said she had applied to work at this school. She said it was a great place to be! That's reassuring.

Doesn't he look cute in his school clothes?

So now we are just need to nail down our schedule. I am already feeling like a taxi...if I'm not in the car on my way to take someone somewhere, I'm sitting in the car waiting for someone to get done with something so we can go to the next activity. I don't know how parents do it, and then add the extras like soccer or karate to the schedule!? That just seems impossible.

In other news, LarryBoy has resurfaced. This is acutally another milestone that we met this summer (not LarryBoy, but the bike). Noah started riding his two wheeler! I got to be the one who was there for it too. Usually Dad gets to witness these things but on this particular day I was hanging out with a friend outside our hotel in Crested Butte when Noah just decided it was time to start peddling and go for it!

It's funny when people come and ask us how old he is...'isn't he young to be riding a two wheeler?' Yes, he's only 3. Mark is very opinionated when it comes to training wheels, the ones that came with this bike have never been used. I was a skeptic at first but it has worked for two kids so far! Now they're both buzzing around the neighborhood on their bikes.

It's beginning to feel like fall again

2010-08-24T11:39:00.000-06:00

And that means that it's time for school. Oh what a pain this process has been...picking a kindergarten that is. A year ago we decided that it was best for Jack to wait till he was 6 to go to school. Either way, he'll be the youngest or the oldest. That was a hard decision at the time since he has some friends who will now be in first grade but, we felt confident that it was best and would give him a leg up when he's older (I'd rather him be a little more mature in high school when he's making important decisions!). Putting off school also gave me a little more time to explore my (our) options which seemed daunting. And, it has been. Daunting that is.

I started out in the fall of last year, September, looking into my options. Our neighborhood school is located practically in the middle of a super busy street, I see the kids out at recess playing in clouds of exhaust and it makes my stomach turn. So, that was out. Which means we had to apply for 'open enrollment' for anything else. I set out on a quest to find out my options and found a couple of good ones not far from our house. One is a charter school and the other is just a regular public elementary school that I've heard good things about. The charter school had an open house in October where I signed up for the lottery. It seemed SO EARLY at the time! Anyway, then I applied for open enrollement as early as I could down at the district office the first of December. Man you can't waste any time! Then, we waited. For four months. Yes, we can't waste time but they sure to wait a long time to give you answers!

Then in March we got the answers. I was hoping that we would be turned down by one of them and thus the decision would be easy. I guess being there early paid off though and we were accepted to both schools. Argh!!!! Why the frustration you say? Well, this has made my life sooooo difficult for 6 months now! Both are good options with lots of potential....and I have had a heck of a time making up my mind.

A few weeks ago, we thought we had it figured out and had chosen the regular school. The basis for the decision was that we are wanting to invest in our neighborhood while we are here and keep us close to home. It's also on the way to the preschool that Noah goes to so that makes pick up and drop off easy. Yes, we had made up our minds. Then while at VBS at church, I talked with one of my friends who told me if she had the opportunity she would probably try to go to the charter school....hmmm...that got me thinking again. Maybe we had a good opportunity and were just throwing it in the garbage?? Back to the drawing board. Within 2 days my mind had shifted and we were going to the charter school.

Then came the backyard party at my friend's house. She sends her kids to the charter school so I wanted to pick her brain about it. She said she LOVED the kindergarten teacher that they had last year, but the school was pretty normal otherwise. Ugh. If that's the case, I thought, maybe we should opt for convenience and go with the closer 'normal' school. Afterall, a good friend of mine is the president of the PTA there...I know I'll be plugged in socially and that will help Jack to plug in as well right? Yes, that's what we should do. Our minds were made up, we were going to the other school.

Then, about a week later, my friend came over for coffee (the one who goes to the regular school). She told me about some possible changes coming down the pike this year for them (not for sure yet) and it was enough for me to think, yes, this is the confirmation that I needed. God is finally closing a door and telling us that the charter school is right. When Mark got home that day I told him, we had our minds made up, we're going to the charter school.

Later that day, our neighbor came over and was chatting with us while the kids played on the front lawn. He mentioned that the kids on our street are going to school in all different places...and it turned out that there are two boys moving onto the street who are going to the 'regular' school we were thinking of going to....my how handy it would be to carpool...and have neighbor friends who go there as well...no. We had our minds made up.

Then came a letter in the mail from the charter school. It turned out that they had assigned us to the fabulous teacher my friend had recommended...however in the AFTERNOON! Argh!!! We can't possibly do that! Was my initial reaction. This was a clear sign from God. I talked it over with Mark who agreed, we had to change our minds once again and go with the 'regular' school in our neighborhood. The next day I got a phone call from my friend who sends her kids to the charter school. She was so excited that we had been assigned to her favorite teacher and was suprised to hear we had changed our minds. Oh well, she said, Jack would have had a wonderful experience with this particular teacher, but the schedule thing is hard.

Alright. We were getting used to the idea of the regular school and gearing up for the kindergarted assessments this week. All the while, I'm not able to let go of the other option. Selfishly I have been hanging onto both options, knowing that there are other kids out there who would likely jump in as soon as our spot opened up.

Yesterday I took Jasper to the doctor for his 9 month checkup. I decided to ask our wonderful doctor to weigh in on my school choice. He sited this article and said there really is something to be said about a good kindergarten experience. A good teacher is pretty important. Yes, he's right, I thought. I promptly came home and called a good friend for advice. She graciously spent time on the phone with me deliberating over the small details of this decision. Bringing a few new details to light and reminding me of my priorities. I felt much more peace after getting off the phone with her. I then went on a walk and talked with some of my neighbors (we have several young families on our street, 5 boys who are either in kindergarten or 1st grade this year). They had some good things to say as well. After all this I think we have come to a conclusion. There are so many factors that come into play on this decision. One of the ones I've been ignoring all along is the fact that I don't think I'm ready to send him to school! I think I'm having a hard time accepting that we are moving on to the next phase of life, whether I like it or not. This also explains why I got choked up when he lost his first tooth this summer!

I have learned so much about us during this process. I have so much more respect for parents who have their kids in school. I know God has been growing us through this experience and preparing us for the future somehow. Although it was grueling I think by next week we will be glad to be starting school and moving forward. Am I the only one in the world who has been so fickle? Maybe, but it's for the sake of my kids. I want the best for them and can't stand the thought of making a mistake. I am so thankful to be able to trust God with them and know that He is in control. Thank you to all who have provided a listening ear for me these past few months!

I'm a junk junkie...

2010-07-17T14:57:00.000-06:00

Yard sales are in full bloom around here and the little old lady inside me is beside herself with giddiness! I found this little beauty this morning and it's going to be my new knitting basket!! I could hardly believe my luck and for only $1.

I bribe my boys by promising them cheap toys and they gladly come along with me with piggy banks in tow. It's become sort of a fun saturday morning bonding time. I also got some lovely blue jars to add to my set...I can always use more jars right? Oh and Jack found a fabulous trampoline for $5 along with a new bike for the same price. Mark's first words were 'oh great, more garbage to store in my garage' when he spotted the prized trampoline...oh well, you win some you lose some.

Flowers...

2010-07-15T12:20:00.000-06:00

Crested Butte is known as the wildflower capital of Colorado. We were just leaving right before the festival was about to begin...but I was amazed by the beauty while we were there! I've never seen such fantastic natural floral displays. I became addicted to photographing them!! Even the town was decked out...

Jack got his nose a little dirty...and decided to put a tatoo on his forhead....this is my plight when trying to capture the perfect photo of my boys...I have a feeling it will continue for the next 10+ years...

Tree climbing...

Lupine

Poppies

Asian poppies (my new favorite flower!)

Mt. Crested Butte

Ahhh....isnt' that just breathtaking?! How could we not come home totally refreshed.

Crested Butte in July

2010-07-15T12:08:00.000-06:00

As usual, we were in charge of the climbing element on project (ok, what I really mean is Mark was in charge of climbing). I ended up only going out twice with the groups and even then I was only there for a short little while. So, I only got one climb in all summer! This was much different than last year. We did do a 'family climbing day' however, which was really fun with all of our 15 kids!! It was fun to watch them all attacking the rock with their youthful zeal!

Then, we had some visitors...My parents came to stay for 4 days and brought my Grandma. It's been so fun to have them come each year (except when we were in Maine). This year it was a treat to have my spunky 85 year old 'Granny'. She and I took the boys for a hike on the 'Lower Loop' trail one day. Looking back, that was an act of bravery on my part...especially realizing that her glaucoma inhibits her vision in a pretty extreme way. The three boys made for an exciting trek! It was a really fun day though and is a fond memory.

Then my parents caught up to us on their bikes.....

The next big adventure....Jack lost his first tooth!! The day before his 6th birthday...

Birthday #6 was shared with another Jack on project. The other Jack (also known as Johnny) turned 6 on July 2nd so we combined birthdady efforts.

For some reason I volunteered to make the cakes. And of course I waited until 10pm the night before the party to start...becuase it overwhelmed me. I had to make a submarine cake and a Buzz Lightyear cake! Luckily the boys were pleased with my effort..the party was a success!

And this is the crew of kids we had this summer (two are missing from the picture). They made a great party!

As part of his birthday, Mark took Jack for a backpacking trip. They went fishing and ate fish that night and had a blast!!

Then on the 4th we volunteered as a project to help put on the Fourth of July fest downtown. The staff got to be parade marshalls on Elk Ave. for the main event!

The boys spent their parade morning fighting for candy in the street...it definatly pays off to have a mom who's a parade marshall, especially when there are big kids snatching up each peice of candy that touches the ground! It was a dog eat dog situation....

And some of the paraders made it look like some sort of hippy peace march....I'm imagining Adam and Eve here...

After the parade, we got to put on some games in town for the locals. Our family was in charge of the egg toss (who knew that throwing eggs could be so fun?! People were running home to bring more so that we could do it over and over again!). We also helped out with the pie eating contest after the egg toss was done. I don't think I've ever seen a pie eating contest with real pies before! And the most disgusting part was that they did it in teams of 3....imagine sticking your face into a pie that had been slobbered on by two other people...GROSS!

Then of course the fireworks....this was our view off our deck.

As a project fun night, we got to take over the 'Adventure Park' area at the ski hill. They had a bungee jump trampoline thing (whatever it's called??)...it was a hit! We all had some good bungee jumping time.

Noah was a little tentative...

Jack did flips.....and went back for at least two more turns....

I felt sick....and finally was able to do a few back flips after I stopped laughing....

And Mark was the last to go....he did a triple front flip and everyone cheered! I was dealing with two screeming kids and another one who was running away so didn't get a picture of him. He was the grand finale though.

And this is Katie. She has been with us for 4 summers now..and watched our kids since Jack was 1 1/2 when we were in Maine! This was our last summer with her becuase she just graduated from high school and is going to college next year!

And that is our Crested Butte summer in a nutshell! More to come on the student/ministry side of things....

Crested Butte in June

2010-07-15T00:05:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I totally slacked off while on project...no blogging happened at all! But that doesn't mean that we just sat around...now that we're home I've decided to give some updates by the month. These are some of the things that happened in June..

We sat out on our deck and drank tea with our puffy jackets on...after it snowed.

I just liked these pictures since I hardly ever get a picture of myself with my boys these days...I'm usually the one with the camera in hand!

Mark took Noah on his first backpacking trip. They hiked up the ski hill and spent the night. Noah insisted on carrying his own sleeping bag and the stove. They had a blast and came back really excited! He's such a trooper...

The 'Chainless Bike Race' in Crested Butte is a crazy fest! People dress up in wild costumes and deck their bikes out, then take the chain off their bikes and ride down a huge hill (Kebler Pass). It was one of our outreaches in the community and some of the staff men and even a student decided to participate!

Just an example of some of the craziness...I decided I would spare you a photo of the naked man and just go with the super hero speedo guy instead.

Some 'Towney's'...there are probably more bikes in Crested Butte than there are cars. People ride these 'cruisers' around and call them 'Towneys'. Finally a place that appreciates our old schwinn cruisers! I felt right at home.

The Columbines bloomed...

We ate overpriced ice cream in town....

And one of my personal highlights of the summer...mountain biking the Snodgrass trail with my friend Laura. During the 'Fat Tire' bike festival week we got to demo these ridiculous bikes for free!!! So, this is me, mountain biking single track for the first time EVER on a $4,000 bike! It was quite the experience!

The aspens made it breathtaking!!

And this is my favorite shot...do you see the guy in the background taking a photo of me? That's a guy from Mountain Biking magazine taking my picture...in a feild of Lupine on a worldclass mountain biking trail....don't forget the amazing bike I'm riding and that it's my first time...ya..this experience pretty much secured my position as the world's BIGGEST poser!! We laughed all summer long about this!

I'm alive!

2010-05-30T22:50:00.000-06:00

I'm not dead! I am still alive and kickin'...my poor neglected blog wonders from time to time. Here are some of the highlights from this past month...

We went down to Moab and Mark took his climbing assessment so that he could continue to guide the climbing outings on our summer project. He is an official AMGA top-rope instructor again! We got a day of climbing in as a family before he had to go to class. While he was there I got to hang out with some of our good friends who came down with us for the weekend. We had a BLAST! The boys were covered in dirt and sand from head to toe. I made my first dutch oven dinner and it was amazing! We were contemplating using the dutch oven at home after that meal...I'm sure it wouldn't be the same though. Somehow when you're camping things taste really good...it must be the extra sprinkle of dirt and bugs.

Jasper hung out in his jumparoo most of the time at camp. He loves that thing (it's my $8 yard sale find - yippee for yard sales!). It's amazing to watch a 6 month old flying up and down in one of those. Sometimes I worry that he might launch himself out!

On the way to the beach we found some awesome roadkill....a 5' long snake curled up in the middle of the road. Of course I made a comment about how gross it was and at the same time our friend Jason promply stopped his truck, turned around and retrieved it. It turned out to be the most talked about moment of the trip!

Ok, so next Jasper got started on solid foods (yes, like a smart mom I waited until we were done camping:).

And then he ate some oatmeal too....

And finally, we ended the month with a graduation. Jack is now officially in Kindergarten! Ok, yes, it's cheesy and yes, I did get choked up...but can you blame me? I mean there was a slideshow with baby pictures and everything! And look at those gowns...I mean really, how do you keep a straight face?! They even had a 2010 tassle for the scrapbooks!

And so now, after three days of packing and a 9 hour car ride, we are at our summer project in Crested Butte for the summer!

The Fight

2010-04-22T21:49:00.000-06:00

Jack got in a fight the other day.....

With this.....

The jury's still out on who won...since he got pretty bunged up and actually pinned to the garage floor...I'm thinking victory belongs to the toolbox since it's pretty much unscathed. Just a word of warning in case you have one of these in your own garage, if you pull all the drawers out at once and there are lots of tools inside, it will tip over (it has no regard for human life).

That's the scariest thing we've faced so far...that is besides Noah getting trapped in the garage for a few minutes the day after the whole fight with the toolchest thing happened. He just disappeared and we couldn't find him (you know that heart in your throat feeling of panic!) and I finally heard his little voice calling out from behind the closed garage door. Mark just didn't realize that he was in there and he closed it. Oops! So, go ahead and call us to watch your kids, I promise we're not TOTALLY irresponsible parents...

A special Mother's Day...

2010-04-16T08:46:00.000-06:00

And this is what I'm asking for.....

An organization that we strongly support as a family, Children's Hopechest, is partnering with Adoption Fathers to bring us these beautiful and unique necklaces for Mother's Day this year. Proceeds will go to help stop sex trafficking in Moldova. Here is the info I just got in my inbox from Tom Davis, the director of Children's Hopechest :

I'm on my way home from Russia after various flight cancellations and re-routes due to this volcanic ash cloud. Hopefully by the time you get this I'll be headed toward US soil.

While on this trip, I heard a powerful story that is weighing on my heart to share with you. It is an encouragement and a strong reminder that girls absolutely MUST be protected from sex trafficking. Not optional. Here's the story.

This week, I met with "Masha," a bright young lady who visits our Ministry Center in Kostroma.

She told me about the day some professional women came to her technical school in Kostroma and promised her a new job with lots of money, clothes, and jewelry.

Instead, they trapped her in a rundown apartment, beat her when she asked questions, and forced her to work in a strip club.

Scared and alone, Masha was terrified at what came next. "You'll have sex with 10 men each day," they told her. But before that, some men would come to her apartment to "teach her" what to do.

Masha managed to escape the apartment and ran to the HopeChest Ministry Center for help. Our staff immediately called the authorities, and brought her to a safe place to live.

Fortunately, Masha avoided a life of forced prostitution and stolen dignity, thanks to the intervention of the HopeChest Ministry Center in Kostroma.

My wife and I have seven children-including two daughters from Russia-and the thought of them being raped makes me extremely angry. When I heard Masha's story I wanted to do something to protect her, like I would protect my own children.

Today, you also have a unique opportunity to help protect and defend girls like Masha. Buying a Mother's Day Gift from HopeChest is just one way to join the fight against sex trafficking and forced prostitution and provide a safe haven for orphaned girls in their time of greatest need.

When you buy this necklace for your mother, wife, sister, or daughter, proceeds will go directly to support young women like Masha, and other girls who benefit from programs at the Ministry Centers. Each necklace provides one of the following:

2 weeks of direct assistance for a women in our Young Mothers Program

Nearly 1 month of mentorship, counseling, and discipleship at our Ministry Center

I encourage you to check this out! We have been supporting this ministry for a few years now and have adopted a child in Swaziland through them. For the past two years we have sent teams of people from our church who have actually spent time in our little guy's home and held him on their lap! The came back with funny stories of him and we've been able to send personal photo albums and letters to him hand delivered by our friends here. This is a worth while organization I can assure you!!

April Fool's

2010-04-02T22:15:00.000-06:00

We're so creative most of the time...but when April Fool's comes around I'm at a loss. This year we really wanted to play some jokes on the kids but all we could think of was this...

Green eggs for breakfast........

And this strange concoction of snow and raspberry chipotle sauce for lunch (that was Mark just so you know)....which actually kind of backfired on us when Noah devoured it......

Thank you LMBC!

2010-04-02T22:11:00.000-06:00

Today we recieved a special blessing in the mail. One of the best parts of being a missionary is that we have an incredible team of people who support us, not just as ministry partners but as a family as well. Some of our best supporters are in Alaska. One of our churches up there formed a small group from the congregation who are assigned to us. I guess their job is to encourage us and pray for us...it's really humbling to think about! So today we got a beautiful gift in the mail, it was a stack of cards made by a 3rd grade Sunday school class! They were complete with sweet drawings and scratch and sniff stickers. One of my favorites had a picture of Jasper in his monkey hat! The boys loved reading through these and smelling the stickers. What a precious gift! We loved it and will definatly be writing back soon:)

God of This City

2010-04-02T22:10:00.000-06:00

Today was Good Friday. A time to remember what Easter is all about and think about the sacrifice made on our behalf. I read the story of Jesus' betrayal and crucifixion to my boys tonight before bed. I was amazed at how much Jack understands, he kept interrupting to tell Noah (with much enthusiasm) how important this story is...he would say "Ya Noah, Jesus died for our sins!!". I love to hear him evangelizing to his brother! Usually he's evangelizing about Star Wars (yes, I've labeled him a 'Star Wars Evangelist', that's how intense his love is for the Force). Anyway, it blessed my heart to dye our eggs today and read this story with those two guys. They're just precious.

So much of the time we are complaining about living in the city. I feel trapped most of the time, wishing my kids could grow up in the country like I did. I hate our inversion in the wintertime (especially this year, yuck!) and I hate that our neighbors are just feet away from us at all times. I hate that we have to drive to our sledding hill, and even then it's a city park. BUT, for all the things I love to complain about, this city is pretty amazing when I stop and think about it. We are only 15 minutes from 4 fantastic ski hills and anywhere you go in the city you have an amazing view of the mountains. We lack for nothing when it comes to shopping or amenities and over the years I've really grown to love my neighbors and friends, especially at our wonderful church.

Today while I was driving, the song "God Of This City" by Chris Tomlin came on. Every time I hear that song I am so inspired by our unique position here and I really do believe that God is planning great things for this city. Where there is great adversity to the Truth of the gospel God is at work and the battle is waging. The culture here is so different and many people want nothing to do with this place becuase of it. But as my husband likes to say, these people are just non-believers who like to talk about God. I admire so many things about the LDS organization. Like the other day when my neighborhood held a gathering at the local ward to organize and talk about disaster preparedness. One of the women who was helping to put it on asked me to do the opening prayer and I was assuming hardly anyone would show up. I was shocked however when there were close to 100 people there! We really do live in a community and the reason we know each other enough to organize this way is largely to the credit of our local ward. It was also kind of fun to be able to stand up and pray to my God for our neighborhood in their church!

We've been so discouraged at times when thinking of how to break through to the culture here, it's like they are in chains and just need freedom. They're so steeped in the culture and heritage that it means risking everything if they leave 'the church'. But, I am inspired by how many people I acutally know who have taken that risk and are willing to pay the price for the freedom of the Gospel. One of my MOPS friends recently left a polygamous marriage, listening to her is like watching God paint a picture of redemption right in front of me. Just another day in the life of a missionary in Utah! Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you for paying the price for me and for this city. I know great things are in store for this place and I thank you for putting us right smack dab in the middle of this culture!

Jasper's Wool Stash

2010-03-31T14:59:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to post this for a long time now (like 4 months). He's now grown out of his newborn woolies and in between his smalls and mediums! This guy is growing like crazy. I know my other guys are growing too but it's just not as apparent on a day to day basis. But if our grocery bill is any indication, we are definately a house full of growing boys! I came home from Costco yesterday totally blown away at how much food we go through! They aren't even that big yet...maybe it's the food that's just expensive? Please, someone tell me that's it...Even in the summer when we grow a garden it doesn't seem to slow the spending on groceries. I feel like we just eat our money up! I'm sure in another 10 years I'll be an expert at cooking rice and beans with the occasional 'ramen' surprise to keep from having to re-mortgage our house to keep up our eating habits. Ugh.
Ok, back to the wool stash...here are the newborns.

Oh, and that's the little shirt that I dyed and appliqued. This is what he wore home from the hospital. Wow, I'm really late in posting these pictures! He looks nothing like this anymore!

And I had to add a picture of some of the stuff my mom has made for us over the years. She's the official 'bootie-maker':) She also made the adorable bonnet, but unfortunately that hasn't gotten much (any) wear from our boys!

Here is a jumper that I actually made the pattern for. I totally love it, but I actually made it for Noah and then never put the buttons on it until Jasper came along. I figured that I'd better get it done for this one or it would not get worn!

Here are some of his small longies that we are now having to phase out of.

The yellow and green pair were made by my friend Janice who dyed her yarn and made them in Tunisian Crochet. These are amazing!! We wear them more than the one's I've made...and they fetch compliments all over the place. We love them! Here's her shop.

The last pair I have to show are my upcycled debut. I bought a bunch of sweaters at the thrift store a few weeks ago and decided to try my hand at a pair of yoga pants. They turned out really cute and fit well, but I'm not sold on the soaker side of things. They don't really do the trick, maybe it's becuase they're too thin. Anyway, I am going to be trying some wool interlock soon (as soon as it arrives!). meanwhile, these are way cute on my little baby-J!

Spring!!

2010-03-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Since we got home it's been sunny sunny sunny! It was almost 60 degrees when we got here on Saturday. For me, that's a breath of fresh air...for my husband (bless his heart) it means the end of winter is near...in other words, the end of ski season is near. Oh well! The garlic I planted this last fall is bursting through the ground and my rhubarb has started to sprout up as well! I just LOVE it when these little promises of spring burst out of the ground. You never know when you actually plant something if it will actually produce something so when it actually shows up green months later, there is something so satisfying about it. I think without the waiting in between I wouldn't appreciate it so much!

We're finally home!

2010-03-01T10:26:00.002-07:00

Yay for home! After a loooooong journey, we are finally sleeping in our own beds again. I'm not sure how I would've done it differently but two days driving with three little youngsters is a lot. Then, flying with a baby accross the country is even more! Glad it's over and we are not taking any long trips again soon. With that said, the kids desparately miss their grandparents and think it is so sad that we don't have a tree house like they do! (My parent's have a grown up size tree house, complete with a window seat and small little fake stove and front porch). Oh and the cat was hard to give up too! So many things about living in the country that are good for the soul. Each time I leave Moscow I get a little pushy about finding a place in the country here. I'm insisting on looking for property somewhere...but really don't know where that would be around here! I guess I need to be thankful for what God has provided for us and our house really is great. Isn't it funny how we are never satisfied where we are at?

Anyway, Jasper is getting better...his RSV is not as bad at all. In fact, he doesn't even have runny nose anymore. The only indication that he is sick at all is an occasional cough. I still have him sleeping in his carseat though. Does this look like the face of a sicko to you?

One thing is for sure...the boys were spoiled at Nana and Grandpa's house. Jack even thanked Nana the night before we left for spoiling him. They watched so many movies that I'm surprised their eyes aren't buggy. The new favorite is Ice Age (The Dawn of Dinosauers). We have been hearing the phrase 'liar liar fur's on fire' over and over and over again. We couldn't figure that one out until finally on the way home Saturday we heard it on that movie! The mystery is solved. Although, now it's becoming an issue...it's not exactly the nicest thing to say to someone. Why is it that they pick out a line like that instead of something sweet and kind to say? Hm.

So here we are....

2010-02-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Last summer we were invited to join the National Lifelines Ministry team. Such an awesome opportunity for our ministry and it aligns perfectly with where we feel God is leading us in our careers with Crusade. Not to mention it's totally a promotion! We were excited to accept the invitation and have been working at moving ahead with the change since. It means a number of things, one of which is an annual meeting with the team in Florida. The team is made up of several people accross the country, from Maine, Vermont, Virginia, Arizona and now Utah (there are 9 of us in all). Mark was totally bummed to leave Utah in the height of winter as he was certain the snow would start to fly the minute we left town. He's such a ski bum. I was excited at the prospect of warmer weather and some sunshine. Anyway, our first meeting was this week.

So here we are in Florida. We left last week for this adventure. The two older boys were left with Grandma and Grandpa (and Granny) after a two day drive, and Mark, the babe and I flew here a few days later. The morning of our flight our little bundle of joy barfed all over himself in his crib...needless to say my anxiety over leaving was heightened even more (I didn't think that was possible). The thought crossed my mind that maybe this could be my reason for not going...I could turn back and not have to give up a week spent with my boys. It's ironic becuase I was the one who spearheaded this trip planning to begin with. I always have an urge to travel deep down and when an opportunity arises I'm pretty quick to jump on it. But, for some reason this time I had some major fear in leaving them and flying accross the country for a full week.

By the time we arrived here, baby J had exhausted my stash of back up clothes after puking one more time and then blowing out his diaper and was wearing an improvised outfit. Luckily we were blessed with front row seats on the airplane for our 5 hour flight (yes, 5 hours between the flight to Chicago and then to Orlando, ugh) so we had the extra leg room luxury to lay him on the floor to kick around. I felt a little guilty when I saw the families with multiple kids walk by trying to find seats that would isolate their chaos from the rest of us. I've been there and done that!

Anyway, we'd made it through four days here when I started noticing that the babe had developed some bad mucus. He had even vomited a couple more times (when I say vomit I'm not talking about spitting up, it's full on tossing cookies). So, I finally decided to take him into the doctor yesterday. We had to find a doctor who takes babies since the local quick care doesn't see babies under 6 months old, not a reassuring thing to find out...however we did find a pediatric quick care place not terribly far away. So, long story short, they swabbed the poor guy and found that he has RSV. Argh! My first reaction is to pack my bags and get the heck outta here. All I wanted was to be back home where I know my doctor and we have our very own children's hospital if we need it! But, after spending the night in his carseat, much prayer and mucus sucking he's doing a whole lot better today. We did find this fantastic piece of equipment at Target that sucks the snot out of his nose like a vacuum. It's really cool and works exceptionally well for $25 if anyone is interested (check it out here). I really think it's going to save our bacon.

So, as for our meeting here, it's been going well! It's always such a challenge for me to go between business and being a mom in the same room. It's so fun though to be with our National Lifelines team and talk about the future of this awesome ministry. I'm thankful overall for this opportunity and a job that allows for me to still be a part of things even when I'm at 1/2 capacity. I guess life is never ideal right?

Ministry on the Move

2010-02-03T13:29:00.002-07:00

I am just in the middle of getting our latest newsletter out. The way we work it is Mark writes text and then I put the newsletter together and send it out. Usually I'm left feeling like there is so much more to say but I can't fit it all into a one page newsletter! I feel like there is so much going on here that I want to share with people but the newsletter just doesn't provide the space for what God is doing!
I'm sitting across from Emily (one of my co-workers) and she just told me about how many people are coming to our weekly meetings. In the last week there were three new LDS students who came to our Bible study at SLCC, two new LDS students came to a women's Bible study at the UofU and 18 women came to a brand new Bible study starting at Utah State University. Can I just tell you, that is amazing! We see such ebb and flow here with ministry, but over the past 5 years there has been a steady increase in interest toward the gospel. We only occasionally get to see the fruit of our labor when it comes down to numbers. The soil here is hard and the culture often prevents people from turning toward the true gospel of Christ even when they are convinced of the Truth. So, to hear about such an upturn in attendance is incredibly encouraging!
There are also some other ministry things that are happening that I wish I could talk about more openly here. But let me say that God is on the move here! People are taking chances for the gospel and choosing Christ over family and friends, even coming out of lifestyles that leave them with nothing.

More Goodies on Etsy!

2010-01-30T10:45:00.004-07:00

The other day I found the most precious Valentine's goodies on Etsy! These are plantable cards for your sweetheart. The paper is imbedded with seeds for flowers so it's a bouquet and card all in one! I couldn't help it, I bought the 20 pack. I'm sure I can find 20 well deserving friends to give them to. I'm a sucker for unique things and this one did me in! I've also been drooling over her 2010 Calendar...might have to make another purchase soon...find these irresistable goodies right here!

P.S. Free shipping to boot!

Valentine's Day is coming up!

2010-01-29T12:41:00.002-07:00

So, this is really a Christmas gift that I gave my husband this year but I thought I'd post it here for a Valentine idea. I have a husband who has pretty much everything he could ever possibly want or need. For some reason he seems to attract friends in the outdoor retail business who have excess 'stuff' and love to give it away...this means that he is already well equiped for pretty much all of his interests. Great for him, bummer for me when I'm brainstorming for gift ideas. Another interesting thing I've learned about my guy is that he's a 'quality time' lover. If you've ever read or heard of 'The 5 Love Languages' you know what I'm talking about. Basically it means that he really feels loved when you spend good quality time with him. He's also in the 'acts of service' camp too (another love language)...like he'll clean house or do the dishes or watch the kids for a day so I can go to the opera with a good friend (like he did this last Sunday:) just becuase he wants to show me that he loves me (don't I have a GREAT husband?!). Anyway, this year I was really trying to think of something he'd appreciate for Christmas that would speak his 'language'. I was checking out gift ideas on the internet when I came across a little notepad idea. It was so cute, made up like a little book of matches only with scrap paper inside. I didn't really have a use for that, but I decided it could pair quite nicely with the old coupon book idea. So, I made up a stack of coupons like '1 day of skiing with a friend', 'An evening by the fire with me', '1 steak dinner', '1 day to yourself', and so on. There are back rubs, car washes and coffee dates in there too. I did put an expiration date on them all of December 31, 2010 and a place to write the date that each one was redeemed. This way, he's required to use them all within the year guaranteeing that we'll spend some good quality time together and we'll also have a record of when we did what over the last year. These days, if we don't plan our time together it's likely not to happen!

Anyway, you can make one of these too! Just type and print out your coupons then cut and stack them in the order you want. Cut out some card stock that is a little longer than twice the length of your coupons (you'll have to use the 12x12 paper for this). Fold the card stock so that it wraps around the coupons and then overlaps toward one end and staple it all together. Then you can tuck the longer end of the cover into the stapled end and voila! You have yourself a cute little coupon book. This was a big hit for us, in fact a few of them have already been put to use. If you make this, write me a comment and tell me how it goes!

Check it out!

2010-01-24T23:01:00.002-07:00

Here is my listing for Crafthope on Etsy! To see the listing just go here.

Hope for Haiti!

2010-01-20T13:34:00.003-07:00

I just stumbled upon this great shop at Etsy.com called Craft Hope for Haiti. It's a store that is full of donations from crafters all over the world. The proceeds will go directly to the organization Doctors Without Borders. I was so thrilled at the chance to use my hobby to boost the relief effort just a tiny bit. What a creative idea! So I signed up to donate a little hat there for sale and will be browsing through the items in hope of finding something to purchase soon. I would encourage everyone else who reads this to do the same if you can!

I gotta lotta thinks in my brain....

2010-01-12T09:39:00.003-07:00

This came out of Jack's mouth the other day after sitting pensively at the table for a few minutes staring at the wood grain. Not sure what he was thinking about at the time but I can definitely relate! I know his thoughts and concerns are waaaay different than mine but I really love the way he relates to the world. Sometimes I really wish my biggest thrill could be an over-frosted bite-sized mini-wheat! (Yesterday morning he couldn't wait to show me one in particular so while I was getting out of the shower he shoved it under the bathroom door so I could see it before he ate it...).

A few weeks ago at MOPS we had a panel of moms, who are a little further down the mom road, come and share some wisdom with us. A few things stood out to me during that time and I've been trying to implement some of them since. The main thing was being intentional during these crazy and hectic years. It seems like the very thing that might drive me over the edge and cause me to give up the last bit of whimsy I have left, but on the days when I really am taking the time to be intentional I notice that we are all a little more free to be joyful. I guess it's probably because we know what is coming next and that we are freed up to get excited for it.

The main place that I feel the need for intentionality is in my prayer life. When I got pregnant with boy #3 I remember thinking to myself that my worries were just going to increase...it was hard to be joyful with that thought in the back of my mind. When you have kids hanging out there it's like having a part of yourself walking around without having any control over it. I want so many things for my kids, most of all for them to walk with the Lord faithfully and to love others with all their heart. But because I'm human I also desire success, confidence, comfort and popularity for them! Everything in me wants to control them into this and away from hurt and brokenness. But I realize that what I need to do is pray that they will have the resolve to walk with God through hardship and allow Him to guide them through hurt in order that they will come out stronger and wiser on the other end. Otherwise what kind of flimsy, feeble faith will they have?

So, one of the moms at MOPS named a few things she and her husband prayed for diligently for their kids. The first was that they would love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and love their neighbor as themselves (I think someone else said that is the greatest commandment right?:). The second is that they would have wisdom and discernment for good decision making and the third is that they would have the strength of character to follow through with those good decisions. That pretty much sums up what I want for my kids! I think they could survive any situation if they have these tools in their toolbox. Ultimately it's eternity that I'm concerned with and I don't want to be distracted by daily life and temporary earthly concerns. Let's face it, I'm just not big enough to control all the things that come our way. I'm so thankful for a God who wants to take this on for us!

Skiing at the Park

2009-12-31T12:32:00.003-07:00

The other day we went to the park to ski (becuase we got out of the house too late for 'free after 3' at Alta). The boys had fun skiing down the hill with the sledders and riding up on their own personal rope tow. Dad and I had fun working up a sweat. This is a video of Jack's first jump of his skiing career!

Gingerbread Massacre

2009-12-31T09:34:00.003-07:00

So this year we attempted the ever popular Gingerbread house contruction/decoration. We've done it in years past but each time I forget how to do it for some reason. It's not that hard, but it always seems like the walls cave in or the roof falls off and it becomes a really frustrating experience. So, this year was no exception. Noah got to make one out of graham crackers at school so Jack was overjoyed when he saw that we had one to make at home. We started out with great enthusiasm but I quickly realized that I had messed up when the roof started sliding off under the weight of our decorations. Then as a last resort I decided to read the instructions (seriously, who needs instructions for something as straightforward as this?), only to find that we were supposed to put it togehter and wait for 15 minutes BEFORE decorating. Oops. No going back now. So, I enlisted my engineer husband to rescue our failing structure. When I came back 10 minutes later this is what I found.....

A pack of angry cinnamon bears had invaded and were storming the house with their toothpick guns. Only two were left to defend the pathetic excuse for a house and they were stranded on the roof. A few more were sacrificed on the side of the house with toothpicks through their heads to hold the roof up (too grousome to picture here).
After staring the boys in the face for a week, I finally relented and let them eat it (gross, gross, gross, stale gingerbread and crusty frosting, yuck! But sugar in ANY form is irresistable). It ended up on the floor and so to the garbage it went, much to their dismay (and my secret joy). Another Christmas tradition has been established!

Christmas Events

2009-12-31T08:58:00.005-07:00

Well, now that Christmas is over and New Years is here I thought I'd get around to posting some pictures! We had such a great Christmas this year, very relaxing and lazy. We were home for the first time in a while and just had some good friends (Mark and Katie) over for brunch and dinner. Here's a picture of all the boys together on the couch!

The kids were so excited for Christmas morning! We've decided that we probably could've waited until Jack was 5 to start giving him gifts for Christmas...it really was the first year that he was up to speed on why we celebrate Christmas and what it means to give gifts. We had fun reading the Christmas story and talking about the reason Jesus came to earth as a baby. We left cookies out for Santa with egg nog and they were gone in the morning. He was a little unsure about how Santa could fit down our stove pipe and when we mentioned that we'd probably have to turn the fire down he stared at the stove with a look of concern on his face. When he asked me if Santa is real I told him about St. Nicholas and then he told me he thinks that Santa is just an actor. So, I think he's kind of at a point where he believes that there is an actor dressed as Santa that comes down our chimney and brings a few gifts. He did ask if we could have a 'family sneak up' in the middle of the night so we could all spy on Santa and see him in person. I thought that was pretty cute.

Otherwise, we have finally nailed down a few traditions I think. We decided that taco soup is a great Christmas Eve dinner that we want to continue. We also decided that each year we'll buy a new game for the family and open it Christmas Eve so that we can play it together that night. This year we got Jenga. Mark's favorite is the prime rib for Christmas dinner! Although we were shocked at the price of that big hunk of meat. It will have to start becoming a party of our Christmas budget if it's really a tradition, yikes!! But, it was pretty tasty and the leftovers made great fajitas.

Oh, I also attempted some family pictures. It was a pretty ridiculous experience and I'm sure it will continue to be for the next few years. But, at least we have a photo to look back on. Jasper looks like he was crying but he was really singing Christmas carols the whole time while Noah picked his nose and Jack scoffed at my pathetic attempts to make them all smile and look at me. The Christmas spirit was amazing. All in all, it was one of our best Christmas holidays!

Oh, and Jasper was thrilled to wear his Christmas outfit from Grandma Mary (Mary Bowman), so cute!!

Jasper

2009-12-22T22:35:00.006-07:00

He's already a month old! It's so hard to believe. Here are some of my favorite pictures...

Baaaaaaad Day

2009-12-13T13:04:00.003-07:00

I finally got a real taste of life with three at home this week. Mark had all day meetings and the weather has been soooo cold (not to mention the air quality is horrible) so we've been inside most of the time. I did well until Friday came. I think it must be a combination of exhaustion, hormones (yes I admit it, I'm hormonal!) and extremely energetic kids that just drove me over the edge!! Anyway, it was one of those days when the baby screamed all morning long and the other two just chased each other around the house bickering and yelling while I went from nice mom to monster mom at the drop of a hat. This dynamic seems to be a cycle. We start out peaceful and pleasant and then the baby starts to cry, my nerves ramp up and then Jack and Noah somehow sense my looniness and start to go crazy themselves. I wish I could keep my sense of humor or at least remember how momentary this time is, but no, my patience gets sucked into the vortex of chaos. This ugly cycle leaves me feeling so guilty at the end of the day. I wonder if my kids believe that I love them and I wonder if they'll grow up as scarred individuals or have a crazy view of women becuase of my dr. jeckle and mr. hyde behavior (all lies by the way, but very believable ones on a day like that). I'm so thankful to know the Lord, especially during times like these! He shows up immediately when I ask Him to, just by soothing my frayed nerves somehow. He is so gracious to answer when I ask! If only I would remember to wake up asking every day, things would go a lot more smoothly.
Then today at church the sermon really hit me. He was talking about being a person who is known for loving others the way Christ loved us. And how Christ loved us enough to take on human form and hang on the cross. I was struck by the fact that Christ endured soooooo much on our behalf and His only response was LOVE! How humbling to think that I can't make it through a day with my three kids without feeling the tug of selfishness and even letting it get the best of me! Good greif. All I'm 'putting up with' is another diaper change, a needy scream or two, another snack request and a few toy disputes. Yet, at the same time, Christ extends His amazing grace and even puts up with me claiming it as mine (how dillusional can a person get? to think that I'm actually a kind and loving person apart from Christ...). All the while He has paid the ultimate price so that I can go through an ugly day and at the end confess to Him and ask for forgiveness for my selfishness and bad responses. I guess this really hit me between the eyes this morning. I know I'll never have enough patience and love to fulfill my kids' needs each day. I just pray that I'll remember that and continue to ask BEFORE I feel the need!!

Baby Boy is here!

2009-11-23T21:55:00.005-07:00

On Saturday we got to finally meet our new bundle of joy! Jasper Mark Lovejoy was born at 7:43am after 5 hours of labor. He was 20 inches long and 7lbs. 14oz. The hard part this time was going into labor at 2:45am. With both the other boys I went into labor at 5 am. after a full night's rest. It really made a difference, but once these things get started there's no going back...! It's amazing how different three boys can be. First there was Jack who was super tiny when he was born (6lbs.2 oz.) and you could just see his personality from day one. I'll put a picture up of him at 6 days and you can see what I mean. Then there was Noah who came two weeks early weighing in at 8lbs. and suprising us with his red hair. He's just been a cuddler and such a sweet second child (with some feistiness of his own of course). Even his interests are different, he's the one who loves stuffed animals and all kinds of construction trucks and vehicles while Jack loves to play combat (especially Star Wars). So, along comes Jasper...with his thick brown hair, rounding out the rainbow for us I suppose (I couldn't help but post this picture of my ridiculous monkey hat that I made for the hospital:). All along while I was pregnant with him I wondered at how much he moved around. Some nights I would get a little motion sick by all the movement...it kind of had me a little worried! So, forgive me if this is too graphic, but when he was being born, his head popped out and when my midwife stuck her finger in his mouth to sweep it, he BIT her and wouldn't let go! She gave a yelp of surprise and Mark laughed! Hm...not sure what to think of this yet.
But, nonetheless, he's a great baby so far. He loves to eat and of course sleep all day and scream all night. Ok, he's only had two nights to do that but still, that feels like an eternity for someone who is still catching up on sleep from three nights ago and is sore from using muscles that weren't in use for 9 months! People ask who this little guy looks like and it's hard to answer, so I figure I'll post pictures of all three so you can decide for yourself!

Here is Jasper, all that hair!!

Here is Noah, who has just been kind of thick from the get go.

This is Jack at 6 days old. No, we didn't pose him this way...my mom and dad say that he looks like he just hiked to the top of a mountain and laid down to take a snooze.

Upcoming Events

2009-11-06T12:20:00.003-07:00

It's hard to believe that it's fall! It was 77 degrees here at our house yesterday. That is the warmest that it's been on my birthday that I can remember! Today is just as nice, it's about 70 out. The leaves are still falling and it definatly looks like fall still but the warm weather really makes me do a double take.
Mark just told me that they have 29 fraternity guys signed up for their outreach on Sunday! This will be the second paintball outreach they (Chris and Mark) have heald for this particular fraternity and it's so much fun to see it grow like this. This will definatly be the biggest number we have had for a Lifelines event yet in Utah!
On another note, we are holding a women's outreach at the same time on Sunday and we're calling it Christmas in November. We've done it the past few years and it's always a big hit! We have a woman who is very crafty come and show us a few unique craft ideas for the holidays that can make gift giving affordable and economical for college students. Last year she shared some really remarkable things about what the Lord has taught her about her uniqueness as a woman and her creativity. It really made an impact and it's such a fun event for the women to bring their friends to. We are definatly praying that God will use both of these events in huge ways to grow His kingdom and further the gospel here among college students. I can't wait to update you!
On another note...we are still awaiting baby #3's arrival...we will definatly be updating you on that as well!:)

Mark's Men's Time

2009-10-12T21:46:00.002-06:00

So, Mark got home yesterday from his men's time in Moab. He went with about 10 guys from Utah and met about 10 more guys from Northern Arizona University. They spent the weekend rock climbing, paint balling and rapelling off of an arch (yikes, no thanks!). It was fun to hear the excitment in his voice as he talked about some of the guys that went with them. It was a mixed crowd, some believers and some non-believers which is what we were after! And, everyone got home safely as well which is always an added perk. If you think of it, please pray for the guys who went that aren't believers yet. I know God has awesome things in store and will use this weekend as a jumping off point for some of them. In our history here in Utah we've seen the most success with ministry when people become involved socially and feel like they are part of the group first. The way our students interact with each other is really attractive to others...sometimes I'm so impressed by our students!

While Mark was gone, I spent some time with some really good friends who were in town for the weekend. In fact, I was spoiled! Our great friends John and Sara are so sweet and generous. Even though I'm fighting off a cough, 8 months pregnant and had two crazy boys who were semi-sick as well, I can honestly say that I am coming out of this last weekend refreshed and blessed becuase of our dear friends. We only wish they lived closer!!!! It was really fun to watch all four of our boys running around together with Jack as the leader of the pack. It wouldn't have been a complete weekend with these guys though if someone hadn't taken a hard spill in the driveway and scraped their face to shreds. I guess it was our turn to take that one, I'll post pictures of poor Noah later...but he looks like he got dragged behind a tractor for a mile:( So sad.

Fall Scarves

2009-10-06T16:14:00.004-06:00

I started these last winter and just finally finished them up! For some reason it takes me forever to get things finished when I have to sew buttons or do a fringe or something like that. I just procrastinate! But the boys LOVE these and have been having "snake fights" with each other and dad constantly. It's fun to have them like something I make! The snake's tongue makes him look a little like a fire breathing dragon...but oh well. I was a little afraid that they would be itchy but they're not at all so that's lucky I guess. I plan to make a few more for the other guys (nephews etc.) for Christmas. They're pretty quick and easy. The tweed gives them a fun effect too! Mark thinks I should make a hat that looks like a snake swallowing your head and call it the 'I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor' hat...you know that poem? It's one of those morbid poems that we all grew up reading.

2009-09-29T20:59:00.002-06:00

I guess I'm a cluster blogger. I like to make a bunch of posts in one day and then take forever to post again. I'm not sure that anyone really reads this anyway so maybe it doesn't matter! So tomorrow is supposed to be cold (like there's actually a good chance that it might snow tomorrow night!). Today it was in the mid 80's so I'm having a hard time believing it. Mark spent today prepping with enthusiasm...in his mind it could be eternal winter and he would be as happy as a clam. He swept the chimney and chopped wood. He even took some kindling to our neighbor who loans us his chimney sweep and other stove equipement all the time. He was talking with even more enthusiasm about his upcoming hunting trip. I guess it is that time of year.

He didn't have meetings this morning and so while the boys went to preschool he and I had a date! We went and had hot chocolate at our favorite chocolate place (anyone from SLC can you guess??). Yes, it was in the mid 80's like I mentioned before. In fact the store wasn't open until 11 and we arrived at 10 so we went for a walk (or waddle in my case). It was a nice break and we hardly ever get to do that sort of thing! Otherwise I've spent much of my time the past few days thinking about sleeping, wishing I could sleep and looking on with envy as my family sleeps peacefully. I've banished myself to the couch becuase anytime I lay down I start to cough. I have a smoker's cough (so does Noah). I can't even imagine if I really was a smoker, how aweful.

Our fall retreat was last weekend and I've heard lots of encouraging things about it. One of the girls up north got baptized! The speaker was a pastor from India and I guess he was really great. I was disappointed to not go, but after years of braving it, I decided of all times in my life to stay home this was it. The boys and I spent the day on Saturday at Walmart instead...sounds uneventful but with those two nothing ever is.

New Goodies on Etsy

2009-09-29T20:41:00.007-06:00

Here are my latest creations for Etsy:) The other day I got to go take pictures of my friend's baby in a new little cocoon that I made. Sooo cute! I am making one for our bambino in the meantime. I also put my little stocking cap on her and took some cute photos. Newborns are just so easy to photograph! I wish toddlers and 5 year olds were as easy...

Did I mention I LOVE my camera?:) Below: some new sock monkey longies and some adorable girly longies that I'm calling 'Sunday's Best' because of the black and purple and also the picot trim around the bottom. I'm laughing right now to myself becuase I know there are people out there trying to predict what we are having based on what I've been knitting...he he he....by the way...I sold the 'jack o'lantern' longies a couple of weeks ago in case you're wondering:)

Laundry Soap recipe

2009-09-26T08:56:00.003-06:00

So, I know I've passed this recipe around to some people but I thought since I've had a few conversations about it recently that I'd go ahead and post it here as well. We use this laundry soap almost exclusively, and when we are using diapers this is definatly the stuff I use. Laundry soap that you can use on cloth diapers is really expensive and so to have an alternative that keeps my diapers economical is really an essential. I'm also posting my homemade wipes recipe (I say 'my' but really, none of these are original to me! They can all be found on multiple sites around the web). For those of you who recieved an electric knife for your wedding and don't have any use for it (it's definatly one of those gifts that I wondered why we were hanging onto it!)...cutting rolls of paper towels is the only use we've given ours! And I have to say, that if you don't have an electric knife it is a total pain to try cutting the rolls.
For diapers use:
1Cup Borax
1Cup Washing Soda
1Cup Oxiclean free (no smellies etc.)
Just mix and store in a bag or box of some kind. I like to make lots of this so I usually at least double or triple the recipe at once. To use just scoop out about 2-4 tablespoons and throw it in the wash with the soiled diapers.

For regular laundry soap:
1Cup Borax
1Cup Washing Soda
1 bar of castile soap ground in a food processor or blender (Kirk's Castile soap is super cheap and can be found in most grocery stores, otherwise you can also use Dr. Bronners if you want a little scent but it is much more expensive!).
And, no, I haven't ever had any issues with soap residue in my kitchen appliances. If you think about it, you wash them with soap right? Just consider them extra clean:)
Just mix and store this as well. You only use between 2 Tablespoons and 1/4 Cup for a load depending on how soiled your laundry is and how big the load is. I do usually try to allow the soap to dissolve just a little in the water before adding cloths but I'm lazy and I don't like to wait for it to totally dissolve before adding my clothes (I have better things to do than sit and watch my washer fill!) and I've never had a problem with it caking onto my clothes.

Ok, so for the wipes:
Use strong paper towels (I like the Bounty ones from Costco). You can also choose a kind that has the 1/2 towels and you won't have to cut the roll in 1/2. I always just cut the rolls in 1/2 so they are about the size of a roll of toilet paper.
Mix 2 Cups of boiled/filtered hot water with 2 tablespoons each of baby wash and baby oil. I acutally like to use apricot oil since baby oil is usually nothing more than just mineral oil wich does NOTHING for our skin. I've also used Burt's Bees oil wich is wonderful and has a really nice apricot scent. Jojoba oil works well and so does olive oil.
Just mix these together (double if you're not cutting your towels in 1/2) and then poor into the tube of the paper towel roll and let it just soak up. You'll want to have your paper towels in the container that you're using to store them, like a tall plastic storage container or something. A ziplock bag will work as well, you just need something to hold in the moisture.

A word of warning about the wipes...they will dry out quickly if not sealed properly. They will also mold if you hang onto them for too long since there aren't the preservatives in them that the store bought ones have. Enjoy!

My husband the photographer

2009-09-26T08:41:00.005-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I dragged Mark out to the backyard on a whim to take some maternity photos. I never did this with the other two so I figured since this is my last opportunity (Lord willing the last pregnancy!:) that I'd better do it while we had a chance. I also fixed up the kiddos really quick and even made Mark put on a nice shirt. I continue to be amazed at how great things turn out with just a nice camera and very little experience. I only wish I had more things to take pictures of, I guess maybe that takes creativity. I also don't really know what to do with all these pictures since I'm not much of a scrapbooker...at least for now I'm going to put some up in the nursery.

Swim Lessons

2009-08-31T09:42:00.003-06:00

The boys have been in swim lessons this summer too. It's been fun watching Jack take off! He's loving it and getting pretty confident with putting his head under. He practices in the bathtub almost every night. He loves to float on his back as well. It's not been as fun for Noah who is semi-miserable when he's not crying in the pool. Mark had to take him to most of the lessons since he behaved much better and would actually get in the water when I wasn't there! I guess it must be an age thing?

Cute little cupcake

2009-08-31T09:31:00.005-06:00

This is another fun little knitting project that I've been contemplating for a long time. When a friend had a baby and I needed a quick gift, this came in handy! It was a quick and simple knit and turned out adorable. I made a newborn size that is quite small and I hope it will still fit this fall when the weather turns colder (which at this point seems like it will never do!).

Another project I've been working on for a long time are these linen stitch longies. I ordered yarn way back in the spring and couldn't wait to start the project. I made the newborn size so that I could finish them quickly. They were done before we left for our summer adventures but I didn't take pictures of them till now. I love the way linen stitch turns out with varigated yarn! I have another pair in the works now with a little brighter colors.

Playgroup

2009-08-31T09:27:00.002-06:00

We have spent the past two weeks cooped up at home becuase of the heat etc. We've been desparately waiting for school to start (not till 9/8) and finally we were able to go to playgroup on Friday. We went to the farm and the kids had a great time. There were a few other moms there so it was just right! We even got to go on a wagon ride (behind a stinky tractor) which Noah LOVED and talked about non-stop afterward. We stayed until the weather warmed up to an intollerable 95 degrees and then went home and had lunch. Fun fun:)

New Knits for fall

2009-08-31T09:07:00.004-06:00

After a particularly monstrous day with the kids I sat down and knit these little pants up. I was in the perfect mood to knit the little monster pants! The project is one that I've been contemplating for a while now and so when I sat down to do it, it moved really quickly. Then, after they were finished, I realized that my color choices were kind of halloweeny....not sure what to do with them now since I'm not due until November 15th...I haven't decided if I'll keep them or not. I almost used dark brown instead of black, I even hesitated 1/2 way through but then kept going with them. I didn't even think about the black/orange combo until I got past the mouth and noticed it was looking like a jack-o-lantern! Oh well.

2009-08-07T09:39:00.004-06:00

So, since we've been home (one week) we have basically turned our house upside down! First of all, we came home to a broken fridge. We had purchased it second hand when we remodeled our kitchen. We always said that since we spent so little on it we wouldn't be out anything if it broke down. It still stings though when it happens unexpectedly! After spending a couple of days hunting for a new one (those are expensive!! Yikes!) Mark finally had the bright idea to check the fan out and see if it was working...he ended up buying a new moter for the fan and voila! It works now! I can't tell you what a blessing it is to have a handy husband!! He is willing to dig in and do whatever needs to be done.

So, after that, we decided to move all of our bedrooms downstairs and Mark's office and my craft room upstairs. So before we even unpacked we totally flipped our house around. We are still recovering from it. It's given me a great chance to weed out things that we need to get rid of, and it means that we won't have to put three kids in one room, yay! We'll actually have a nursery this way. Hopefully we won't all freeze this winter with our bedrooms down in our frigid basement...

Then, as if all this adventure wasn't enough for a couple of days, we decided to buy a little tent trailer! We've been thinking about this for a long time and after camping this summer a few times in our tent we decided it was a good time to get one. With another kiddo on the way it will be so nice to have something that will fit our family and allow us to escape to the mountains. Mark is especially excited becuase this means that I might actually come with him this hunting season! It's a perfect little trailer for us, we even bought it from a family of 5 and their kids have just grown out of it. They were excited to sell it to us too! While we were looking at it at their house, the oldest boy from their family caught this HUGE grasshopper for Jack...

We are starting back up again this next week. It's hard to believe another fall is upon us! This will be our 6th year here. We've seen so many changes here and made it a home. I can't wait to see what God is going to do this year!

2009-08-07T09:27:00.003-06:00

After our Lifelines project ended in Estes Park, we headed to Ft. Collins for a 10 day conference with about 5,000 other staff members from around the U.S. It was hard for us to spend 10 days in a hotel after being gone for so long already so Mark ended up taking the kids swimming each day to keep them occupied. It's always an amazing feeling though, to see 5,000 other people in the same spot for the same purpose, singing together etc. I love that part of it! And we always get to hear some great teaching and connect with friends that we only get to see every two years because of this conference. One of the funnest parts of the time was watching the new staff walk across the stage after they completed their new staff training time. There was a huge crowd of them (I think over 200!) and to think that they are just following God's call in their lives is so fun to witness!

While we were in Estes this summer I signed the boys up for swim lessons. Jack did a wonderful job and just hopped right into the pool and did what they asked him to do. Noah on the other hand, screamed and cried almost the whole time. He did alright as long as I or their babysitter Katie was in the water with him. As a reward at the end of the lessons they both got a pair of goggles. Jack picked the killer wales and Noah picked out the crabs. Pretty cute.

The end of Summer Project

2009-08-07T09:23:00.002-06:00

So, the end of summer project has come and gone. We had such a great summer this time! The students and staff were both so engaged and we saw some incredible growth in everyone who participated. I can't believe that I was dragging my feet to leave home at the beginning of the summer! I always end the summer amazed at what God can do in such a short amount of time and so thankful for the opportunity to do this for a living. This is a picture of our whole summer project this year right outside of our lodge.

Our amazing view

2009-07-11T16:41:00.003-06:00

This is the view from where we are staying. It's pretty unbeatable! Mark was fly fishing in the lake right out our front door. I have no idea where the mist came from, but it was cool enough to get me out with my camera!

The other night when we were driving home this huge elk was just sitting in the meadow in front of Long's Peak. Pretty amazing sight! This was only a few hundred yards from our lodge.

Climbing Programs

2009-07-11T16:32:00.003-06:00

So, this summer Mark and I have coached the 'climbing' team. Mark has taken the lead as the climbing guru for our project (he's the only one certified this summer) and I have gotten to be a belay slave:) It's been so fun to watch our students grow in so many ways. Each week we'd take them out and do programs that our other staff members wrote for climbing. I love this project becuase we get to see people actually change over such a short period of time. I have total confidence that they will leave here changed and more mature in their walk with the Lord. The growth has been really apparent this summer and I love to hear their deeper understanding of who they are in Christ coming out in discussions like the one pictured.

Have you ever seen such a pear shaped climber? My harness has fit sideways all summer long...it just doesn't lay right. Pretty funny looking:)

2009-07-11T16:16:00.008-06:00

So, the kids have been involved in a number of things while we've been here. Jack has had soccer, pirate camp, and now swim lessons. Noah just plays at the playground while he's waiting. It's turned out to be a pretty good summer for them afterall! We've also done a fair bit of hiking and climbing as a family. Two of our hikes were fruitless searches for new climbing spots. It's funny how history has a way of repeating itself...for some reason I don't learn my lesson and I keep going on these 'adventures'. The second time I finally decided to read the directions from the climbing book myself once we got about a mile into the hike (I had been told that it would only be about 200 yards total)...it turned out to be a 2 mile hike with a 1/2 mile scramble to the base of the summit. That didn't sound like fun with my two kids and a bunch of other people in tow...so we turned around and just went out to coffee. A much better option:)

Finally, a post for this summer!

2009-07-11T15:47:00.004-06:00

Ok, so we've been here for almost 6 weeks now...and I'm finally getting around to posting on our blog:) So far, we've had an adventurous summer. We had our last outreach today and invited people in the community to rock climb for free. It's so fun to be able to offer something like this to people that they can't do on their own. It's been a fun summer and I've been able to participate in almost everything. I was only about 4 1/2 mos. along when we went backpacking, still big enough around that I had to improvise and wear some of Mark's pants part of the time. They don't really sell outdoor maternity clothing anywhere that I know of. The backpack was ok, it just sat low around my wide waist.

2009-05-28T18:24:00.003-06:00

Another cute picture of the boys. I've been playing around with photoshop:)

Boys

2009-05-28T17:20:00.003-06:00

We are getting ready for our big summer adventure, packing, cleaning, etc. All the energy always sparks my creative side and causes me to dive into a project or two. All the time that I spend on these things (like this blog for example!) I should really be putting into cleaning our house and doing laundry to ensure that we're ready to leave on time. Oh well, it's kind of what keeps me going I guess. Our anniversary was yesterday (8 years!!) and Mark got me a book on photography. I have a new camera that I saved up and bought this last winter and I've been experimenting with it ever since. For someone who really knows nothing about how to take a picture besides pushing the trigger button it's definatly my challenge for this year! I feel like I'm ready, I'm at a place in my life where some of my hard drive is freed up to take in this knowledge. Of course it's a slow process and my slow brain doesn't like to try to understand all that jargen. We'll see how long it lasts. Part of my enthusiasm comes from being way too frugal (cheap?) to have a photographer take pictures of my own kids when I feel like I might just have the capacity to do it myself. We'll see.

We're growing! (me the most:)

2009-05-28T12:47:00.003-06:00

Wow! We finally decided that our family just needed one more kiddo to make us complete. We are expecting number three in November. We hope to find out this summer sometime what we are having but we're not sure if we're going to tell....we'll see. Having two boys already has created a strange dynamic wherever I go. People seem to really need to say something about the possibility of a girl, as if we haven't already thought about the fact that we already have two boys. For the first time I'm really experiencing the annoyance of thoughtless comments from people. Also, a third baby seems to be hard to comprehend for some....as if we're going beyond the norm or something. Yet, most of our friends are having three....I just can't wait to see what God has in store!

I've moved!

2009-05-28T09:12:00.001-06:00

After starting my blog on wordpress, I've decided to change over since it didn't seem as streamlined. Any complexity that makes this more challenging for my slow brain is just not tolerable! So...I'm no longer at 'www.myknittygritty.wordpress.com'.