Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Day of Firsts

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Our family finished the Book of Mormon together for the first time today! It was very exciting. Ok, actually, it was anti climatic. I guess somewhere in my naive little Mormon girl brain I figured that would it would be a great spiritual finale to our 3 years of work. But when we were done Go Go just said, “Can I have some more orange juice?” I’d like to say that it has been an incredible spiritual journey for our young family and that it was foundational in their young testimonies. But… I won’t. Yes, I hope it was foundational, however an “incredible spiritual journey” would be stretching things QUITE a bit. 🙂 Some days it was all we could do to keep them from fighting over toys or bouncing off the walls while we read. But I hope something got in, by osmosis, if nothing else! Sorry for the cheesy picture, but I thought the boys would appreciate this photo 20 years from now. Rock n Roll will appreciate the memory of his hair, anyway. Ok, so I’ll appreciate the memory of his hair. He begs me daily to shave it-less work for his ascetic mind.And Blue Jeans decided to find the stairs in our house for the first time today. He is always blocked out by a gate, but it didn’t take him long to notice the gate was gone today! I got to him just before he fell over backwards into my arms. Whew!
And I thought that was all the firsts for the day till tonight when I found… for the first time in my life…..deep breath… a gray hair in my head!!!!! May it be the last.

Lake Duvall

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Our valley flooded today! We may yet make it to Island status by the end of the day. For those who don’t know, we live on a hill above the Snoqualmie valley. The Snoqualmie River floods the valley every year closing at least one major road into Duvall. In 2006 it flooded both major roads into the town and we were stuck for about 24 hours! It was an amazing sight to see, so I thought I’d finally get it on camera. The boys and I went out to look around and get pictures. Here are some before and after shots for ya!

This picture is looking out across the valley at one of two main roads across the valley on a regular, non Duvall Lake day.
This picture is what it looks like in the Duvall Lake stage. The boys are standing at about the bottom of the red brick triangular median. If you look closely you can see the blue bridge in the background of both to give you some perspective.

Well, this one is just not as good posted on blogger, but the little rectangle sticking out of the water just to the left of the power pole is the speed limit sign. Also gives you some perspective on the amount of water. Anyone want to come swim in our lake?

The Flu Shot Incident

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It was just a flu shot. That’s all. Not an epidural, not someone getting stabbed with a 12 inch knife. Just a flu shot. But leave it to Mr. President to overreact.

Today in a fit of craziness I took all three boys to get a flu shot. By myself. I knew it was stupid, but working out logistics for Rock n Roll to be there to help just wasn’t possible. I bribed them all with icecream if they could handle it well because I knew Mr. President would not, indeed, handle it well. I supremely underestimated him.
Just as background, when he got his kindergarten shots this summer he did fine for the first three but when they threw in a fourth they had missed previously it got painful. He came out balling and deathly afraid of shots. I had no idea just How afraid, however.
Once at the Dr.’s office we all crammed into a little room with the nurse and her needles. Before she began she pulled out her paperwork and said, “Just to clarify, we’re doing flu shots for ALL three today?” emphasis Not added. She looked at me like I was indeed crazy and when I answered in the affirmative we proceeded. Mr. Pres took one look at those needles and broke into utter hysterics. Kicking, screaming, crying, flailing, etc. THE WORKS. So I stepped in to hold him down. Right at that moment Blue Jeans, who had been crawling around on the floor fell over and hit his head not 1 cm away from the place on his forehead where he’d hit it on Saturday and got a big bruise to match. So picture if you will.. Blue Jeans is now crying-loudly-Mr. Pres is screaming and flailing on the table and Go Go is as usual totally oblivious to all peril and happily and loudly clapping and cooing at the baby to get him to stop crying, all while the nurse is poised with her needle with a look on her face that says, “So what are you going to do now?” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Why Me?
Eventually they brought in the big guns (a really big nurse) to hold Mr. President for the shot. 2 seconds later Mr. Pres says, “Is that all?” IS THAT ALL?! Yes Pres, THAT is all.
All joking aside, (yes, now it is rather funny hours later), I find it interesting how torn I felt during the incident. Sister Hinkley’s saying, “Save the relationship” kept running through my mind as this nurse tried to hold him down and then get me to hold him down. Was this really worth it? Worth the trauma, the tears, the frustration. Should I have just let him be? This was a flu shot after all, it wasn’t a polio vaccine or an MMR which he really does need. So, for all you other mothers out there, what would you have done?

The War Wounds-All 3 of them.

Fall Fun

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I love fall. We’ve had lots of fun this last week playing in the leaves in our yard. Usually it is rainy and the leaves are a wet mushy mess. But this year we’ve lucked out and had BEAUTIFUL weather!


Some of us had more fun than others….



Blue Jeans later decided the leaves were not so bad…


One more I couldn’t resist!

It Begins

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Finally, after much procrastination I am joining the blogosphere. Every time I turn around a new friend is sending me their blog address so I decided to get on the bandwidth wagon! Just to get me started, here are some pictures of the 4 handsome men in my life.
Mr. President, age 6 and Go Go Boy, age 4

Are Naked Babies ok online? Blue Jeans, age 8 months

For those of you I haven’t talked to in a while here’s a not really short and sweet update on our life!
We’ve lived in the Duvall, WA, the rainy but beautiful Northwest for 4.5 years now. Rock n Roll works for Microsoft and I got to stay home and try my hand at homeschooling. My oldest, Mr. President is super bright and was ready to learn last year even though the public school wouldn’t let him in until this year. So we started learning last year at home and have had a great year doing it!

Our oldest son, Mr. President lives up to his name and likes to be in charge. If he could run things he would. He waffles back and forth between a sweet boy who is loving and kind who surprises me with his desire to help and obey and… a boy who acts like an attitudinal teenager who would give any parent a run for their money. Sometimes I think, “Wow, I love having a 6 year old!” and some days I think “Heaven help us when he actually IS a teenager!” He loves to learn and can’t get enough into his brain. He’s like a sponge.

Our next child, Go Go boy is harder to describe. Much more mellow than his brother, more emotional and yet at the same time, extremely exuberant about everything. He never simply walks down our long hallway, he runs EVERY time. He loves anything that moves, thus his fake name. He is great at puzzles and reading and surprises me with how much he picks up on the things I’m teaching Mr. Pres. He was totally oblivious to Blue Jeans until about 2 months ago. And then it clicked how fun it was to push and prod and play with (literally as one plays with a toy, rather than as one plays with a friend) this little person. I frequently have to help him find other things to “play” with so as to preserve the life of my youngest child.

Blue Jeans is our youngest. He came a week before Christmas last year. He is a very happy, mellow baby. He is content for a very long time if he is fed and slept. He’s a mini Mr. President. And what I’ve found with each baby I have is that I love them more and more the older my other kids get. Whether that is because they are infinitely easier to handle than a two year old tantrum thrower or a 15 year old in a 6 year old’s body, I’m not sure. But I really enjoy my babies!

Ok, enough for my first post! There’s an update on us.