Spokane

This year we had Husband & Wife in Spokane, Washington. It is a quaint city and reminded us both a lot of Flagstaff, Arizona. I don't know if was the actual town or the weather (seeing green grass and trees and sunshine) but we agreed that we could happily live in Spokane someday.

It was a great Husband & Wife. I have to admit that I had been dreading taking Talmage with us. . . knowing that a whole lot of the fun of this getaway would be sacrificed since I wasn't leaving my mother-self behind. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I was able to REALLY enjoy. We had some phenomenal speakers . . . Brother Webb speaking off the cuff was a favorite alongside the Lee's who inspired me with their "Be Brilliant @ the Basics" presentation. I was thrilled to be chauffeured by our dear friends the Richardsons (CES employees are notorious for being terrible drivers with the exception of Eric and Todd) and I have spent many a Husband & Wife in the backseat of some random mini van, grasping for handles, and scanning for a garbage bag. We also got to celebrate with the Richardsons as they learned of their new assignment in Oregon (goodbye Fairbanks!!!).

I was great to spend some time with Eric. I really admire who he is and how continues to grow and become better and better and better. He is also so good to me. I am realizing more and more how we compliment each other and what a blessing that is for both of us.

We had a fun time walking through part of Downtown Spokane.

Eric and I were able to walk through the Spokane Temple. It is beautiful and reminded me a lot of the Alaska Temple.

More Spokane

On a river trail. See all those pine trees.

Talmage bundled up in the stroller.

Isn't this a cool slide? Eric took Talmage on his first slide ever.

This little baggage flies free

In the next three month Talmage will have flown more than I did in the first 25 years of my life. A flight a month.

This is how we feel about flying with a baby. It was our fault. . . we didn't pack the baby benedryl and paid dearly for it.

Here's the picture we will put in his baby book.

Warner

Break Up

Right now it is Break Up in Alaska. The rest of the world calls it Spring. But that solicits the idea of heat and flowers and grass. We don't get that until June. But for us the mid 40's are incredible. We've been jacket-less for days. And the sun has been brilliant in the blue sky. Spring here is different, but in many ways it is just as hope-filled.

Most people in Alaska are lucky enough to enjoy the natural consequence of sunshine. . . melting. unfortunately for us, we have a north facing driveway. and this year, in particular, we've had a GLACIER of our own in our front yard. We have called it the Baconuska Glacier. I was tempted to advertise and charge $20 a person to walk on it. So we have been surrounded by ice. ice. ice. there have been moments that i swear i could see it growing and moving just like a real glacier. all of these broken up chunks is just half of what was in our driveway.

Some Sun from Washington

I remember when my mom and dad would go on trips, they would bring us back a little something. If they are like us, it was probably from the local Wal-Mart and not the exotic isles of Hawaii from where they returned. My two favorite "we're back" gifts were the wooden squares connected by ribbons and the coloring books with the white marker that magically colored for you. My sister Michelle and I spent hours playing with both of those things together. While we were in beautiful Washington we couldn't help but soak in a little sunshine. . . which got us thinking of summer. . . so we got the boys sunglasses. Here are our "cool" little dudes. . .

Treadmill

Warner + Treadmill (turned on my Hyrum)=

you cannot see his fingers, but they were also victim of the "treadmill" incident. lucky for warner, his sucking thumb was not injured. phew. he's obviously been favoring his right hand, but today i noticed that he was beginning to use his left again.

i wish i knew the details of Warner's collision with the treadmill. I was however, upstairs when it happened. . . at ward choir nonetheless. sam frantically barged in, "Mom, Hyrum turned on the treadmill and Warner got his hand caught." that was the end of choir for me. i ran downstairs expecting the worst (fingers dangling, blood everywhere, the sound of bones being crushed). . . and was relieved to see it was only a topical injury. i don't know which was worse, the actually injury or the application of liquid bandage.

Jumpity Jump

Warner PuzzleMania

Warner in Action.

Wagon RIDE

Talmage's Tongue

Talmage (like my other boys) is going through his Tongue phase. Can you tell?
Tal, like Christian, Tanner and Warner does have a tied tongue.

RISKy Business

No Risk With this One

There's no RISK in saying that Eric is an AMAZING Dad.
The boys love playing Risk.
The boys love playing with their Dad.
Playing Risk WITH their Dad is the BEST.

His Mother's Son

Love Him to Pieces

We had some friends over for dinner on Monday. The Dad was particularly impressed with Warner's puzzle skills.
"He's Amazing at puzzles for a two-year-old."
I replied, "Yah, he LOVES them. He's probably done these a 100 times."
The more I thought. .. 300 would be a more accurate and still probably conservative estimate.

Warner LOVES puzzles. He's my first to not get super frustrated. He matches color and shape extremely well. I didn't even have to teach him the turn the puzzle piece-around-to-make-it-fit concept. He just got it. Over the last three months he has spent hours and hours putting pieces together. Now that I can finally understand when he says puzzle, we get them out probably two to three times a day. When C&T were little I picked up about 6 twenty-four piece puzzles at a garage sale for 10 cents each. . . we have added just a couple over time We have put Elmo, Ernie, Blue's Clues, Big Bird, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, and Lightning McQueen together time and time again over the last decade. Can you guess what Warner is getting in his Conference Basket this year?

Brace Yourself Rachel!

Rachel, now that you mention it there is one thing Michelle and I would like to talk to you about. . .

Not about you, but about Scott. This is something that every young woman should know about her future husband before the official "I do" is said. Be forewarned, it isn't pretty.

1. Scott has KILLED (and may kill again for that matter) for candy. Just ask him about my goldfish. . . my sweet, precious, innocent, perfect little goldfish. The crime scene was brutal. The invasion obscene. And remorse? Non-existent. To the train eye, it had premeditated murder written all over it. Luckily for Scott, he had a good lawyer.

I know the news of this must be shocking.. . and really, I hated to be the one to tell you. . . but someone had to do it.

Do with this info. what you will. I just wanted you to be well informed that you are marrying a Candy Murderer. So in 15 years, when you can't find Scotty Jr.'s little Fluffy Puss, don't say I didn't warn you.


Don't let this face fool you! He's really holding butcher knife and the bag of candy . . .

Talmage Tongue

Tal

Tal. Mudge. Tally-Wag. Talmage.

Christmas Gifts

2009 Christmas Gifts
Favorite Gift to Give/Make: Greg's Family Puppets
Favorite Gift to Receive: Quilt Made by my Mom

Funny Faces with Hyrum