Anasazi Ruins

We live in a unique state. Alpine mountains, sandstone desserts, world class skiing, national parks galore...We have decided to explore this great state, so this week, we traveled to SE Utah to explore where the Anasazi Indians lived 800 years ago. Wes's brother (Owen) and his family did this same thing a few years back and raved about their experience...so we copied them. We stayed in Monticello. A little town at a high elevation with fabulous autumn scenery and amazing views of the surrounding valleys. Owen's good friend, Bryce and his cute family played tour guides and took us to some little known ruins and petroglyph panels, and fed us an awesome dinner!

A woolly mammoth. In recent years, the rock has chipped away, but our friends said it was definitely an elephant-like animal with a trunk. How would our Indian friends 800 years ago know about woolly mammoths OR elephants?

A dinosaur footprint.

A cob of really old corn (it was mini compared to ours today).

Anasazi pottery shards. Amazing! Look at the painted designs!

Caleb's collection of pottery and flint.

"Wolfman" petroglyph with our friends, Jesse, Alan and Lydia.

"Balcony House" ruin at Mesa Verde NP.

Are we crazy parents to take our 3 year old on this ladder surrounded by cliffs? The people in our tour group seemed to think so, but were so helpful and kind. The gentleman next to me climbed back down the ladder to cheer on scared Norah and offer his help.

"Cliff Palace" ruin at Mesa Verde NP. Over 100 rooms and many, many kivas (underground rooms thought to have been gathering places for ceremonies).

In one of the kivas, we saw some poison ivy growing, indicating a seep spring was near. I pointed out the poison ivy for the children to see. Norah was really interested in this plant that she was sure was named after her sister. She pointed to another plant off the trail and said, "Mom, that is poison Norah." She was serious!

What a grand adventure!

Bear Lake

Inspired by my friend Stephanie and her blog, I am going to post more often because I want to remember all the little things in our journey as a family.

I have a little recipe box full of 3x5 cards that I have recorded milestones, funny sayings and sweet moments we've had since having children. I read some with Caleb tonight, and we laughed and laughed at the hilarious things he said and did as a little child. I'm so thankful for the idea from a friend in Sandy to keep memories in a recipe box in my kitchen....because that is where I live my life...in the kitchen!

Yesterday, we took off in to Bear Lake (45 minutes away). We roamed the beach, skipped rocks, built a ramp for Caleb's remote control car and watched Caleb and Ivie jump off a rickety old pier. It was a beautiful early fall evening, the water was so calm, the beach deserted. Jane, at 19 months, is still summoning the courage to walk but she charged into the water on all fours, fully clothed. Norah and Ivie gathered tiny shells. My nephew Brigham, who has become Caleb's surrogate brother was with us. He always brings a sweetness and contentment to our outings, and is a super companion for Caleb on our many adventures.

All the children were soaked at the end of our time on the beach. I've been a mother long enough to know that would happen so I brought a change of clothes for each child. Then we went to a little pizza place for some mediocre pizza. While we waited for dinner, we each took turns acting out a movie or book, without using words. Hilarious, especially with 3 year old Norah doing the acting. All her movies were princess movies, of course! On the drive home, we introduced the children to "Lunchlady Land" by Adam Sandler....navy beans, navy beans...sloppy joe, sloppy, sloppy joe." What a classic tune. OK, maybe not classic or classy but hilarious.

It was a fun evening. One of those times that I was happy we didn't do the practical thing, but went out and created a memory!

Friend

I have a fabulous friend named Stephanie. We became reacquainted in Minnesota (after having known one another in college, but lost touch for 5 years). I loved being with Stephanie because she adores her children and savors time with them. Most of us adore our children, but Stephanie really, really enjoys being with them. I remember talking to her one day and she mentioned that her husband had been working the previous night and she wanted to watch a movie, but didn't want to watch alone. So she let her two little ones stay up and they watched Mary Poppins. It had never occured to me to 'hang out' with my children like that. But it occurs to me now, thanks to Steph! We went on many, many adventures together with our children in tow. Oxbow zoo, the nature center, apple orchards in autumn, children's museum in Minneapolis, lots of picnics at the park and slip 'n' slides in our backyards. We were never in a hurry...we just noticed the roses and watched the clouds roll by. We did a co-op preschool two or three different times and I was always so happy my children were able to be around her loving influence. Steph always made me feel like a better person and a better mother. We had so much fun together creating memories with our children. We were REALLY WITH our children, listening to them, dreaming with them and laughing with them. I'm so thankful for Stephanie's friendship and her lasting influence on my mothering. I will always long for carefree days (before our children started school) full of exciting adventures, but I'm so grateful for the memories we made together.

Update

We had Wes's brother Tyler take some family picts for us. It was long overdue, since getting the fam ready for pictures in one of my least favorite things to do. The shots were fabulous and I'm glad not to have to do that again for a while!

I ran the crazy Ragnar Wasatch Back relay race in June. It took our team 36 hours! It was really quite the par-tay, and so much fun to run with my dear sister, Amy.

Another family picture that I love!

These three girls are peas in a pod, especially Ivie and Norah. Ivie pretty much ceases to exist unless she is with another human being (yeah, she's social), so Norah has become her side-kick. Ivie is so attentive and sweet with Jane and is always packing her around and giving her loves. I'm thankful for a responsible, sweet oldest daughter!

Doesn't every boy look forward to his first pinewood derby? Caleb worked so hard on his car, designing it, cutting, sanding, painting, and figuring how much weight to add to increase it's speed. When his car cruised past all the others, he couldn't contain his excitement! It was a boost he needed and really fun to see him so happy.

The 3 year old birthday has been one of the best with all of my children. It is the first birthday that they are old enough to really, really be excited and understand what's going on. Norah was the sweetest three year old and got to celebrate with three parties: one at our home with grandma and grandpa M, one at grandma and grandpa S's with mini cupcakes on her new mini tea set, and another at the Argyles (well, it was really for Emma, but they let Norah feel like it was for her too.)

I just love this picture. It shows perfectly what a creative leader Ivie has become. They were "playing the piano" on the stools, even though we have the real thing in the next room!

Adding compost to our garden. It made me happy to see my family all working happily together.

One of Jane's most distinguishing features is her hair. It has become really curly, and is always crazy, crazy, crazy! But I love it so much and I love this girl so much!

Other things of note:
Wes and I went to Washington DC for a conference. While he was in meetings, I toured some of the cool places there. A highlight for me was seeing a REAL painting by Leonardo di Vinci. Turns out I really like art museums! Hours after visiting the White House, it was announced that a certain terrorist had kicked the bucket by force...and we could hear the happy cheers of the crowd in front of the White House from our hotel. Spending time with my best friend, uninterrupted was fabulous. I could get used to that!

I still haven't figured out how to manage the laundry in our house.

Caleb started violin lessons again, and Ivie started piano. I hired traveling teachers that come to MY HOUSE. It is heavenly, and pretty cool to hear my children create music too!

Wes is officially a partner in his group after a 2 year buy-in.

We did some landscaping in our front yard and built a sandbox in the back (that the kids get SO dirty in, but that is absolutely so fun!)

I'm so thankful for the words "I'm Sorry." It seems I'm using them every day as I learn how to be a mother. I get rather tired of messing up, but glad my children forgive me. In the midst of it all, I love, love being a mother and really try to relish the time I have with my little ones (between dishes, laundry, and wiping little bums).
That's it.

Hot Peppers

This picture has nothing to do with the following story, except that Jane is the main character...


It was a perfect autumn day. The sky was clear and blue, the air chilly but the sun was warm. Wes came home and suggested that we throw all caution to the wind and enjoy the beautiful weather. We ditched Ivie's choir practice and headed up the canyon for a hike, which was wonderful even though Jane screamed much of the time.

Since we were throwing all caution to the wind, we decided to try out a new pizza place in town. Jack's Wood-Fired Pizza. Wes and I ordered "The Chuckwagon" topped with bbq pork, fresh pineapple and jalapenos. I'm not a jalpeno kind of gal so I picked them off and left them on my plate. Well, when I didn't notice, 9 month old Jane snatched one of those hot peppers off my plate and popped it in her mouth. She promptly started crying and crying and when I finally looked down at her, I saw that her face was bright red. "That's weird," I thought. After trying to console her for a few minutes Ivie finally noticed that there was something in her mouth. After fingering the jalapeno out, I figured why she was screaming and bright red! I immediately gave her lots and lots of rootbeer to douse her flaming mouth, all the while laughing at such a funny series of events! Poor baby.

I'm Such a Good Mom

You know the saying, "Don't cry over spilt milk?" Well, I didn't cry, I threw an outright fit. When Norah knocked over her cup of milk with her elbow yesterday, I grabbed my hair in my hands and jumped and stomped all over the kitchen. I had wiped up one too many milk spills in the last few days. Look at the example my children have to follow! Scary.

Well, I did spend a good amount of time with Norah rescuing worms on our patio after a big rainstorm. She would point them out to me and I'd pick them up and chuck them onto the grass where they could resume their existence eating dirt. Doesn't that make me a good mom? Does the worm rescue make up for the fit I threw over spilt milk?

HUMMM. Here's to hoping my children turn out.

8 Months

Jane is almost 8 months. What in the world? But I'm always happy when my babies reach this age because this age is SO STINKIN' CUTE! Jane is a humming, grabbing, kicking, arm- flapping, kissable, stationary chubby package of absolute yumminess.

I've decided that babies create a safe, peaceful haven in my life. Much of the day I have my to-do list on my mind and get ansy to check things off, but I'm always able to put the to-do's aside during the minutes and hours spent rocking and cuddling with my babies. It is theraputic to let everything else go for a moment (many times a day) while I nurture my baby and myself in the rocking chair. I love it and will miss it when it's gone. I wonder if I'll be one of those mothers that rocks their last baby until age 10...