Alaska!

We've been looking forward to this trip for awhile! We had so much fun with all the siblings and Jared's parents on our last cruise three years ago. Jared and I haven't been on a trip together since. And even though it was kinda hard to leave Soren I am so glad we got to have this chance to be together. I was so looking forward to having Jared to myself for a whole week. Cruises are so fun in groups. I love the long dinners and having a chance to talk with everyone. Jared's brothers are always super entertaining. Alaska was amazing! I loved it. We had amazing weather the entire time. No rain at all, which is unheard of.

Ketchikan

We saw a lumberjack show, toured the little old town part of the city.  We had fish and chips at this yummy little pub.  Jared and I took a floatplane into the Misty Fjords.  I love seeing things from above.  Misty Fjords are also called the Yosemite of the North because of how they were carved by glaciers.  There were tons of glacial lakes, waterfalls, and vast wilderness.

Juneau

The highlight of Juneau was the Mendenhall Glacier.  It was awesome.  It is one of those things that you really can't explain, or capture how cool it is in a picture. Before heading to the glacier we saw three bears, a mama and two cubs, up in a tree in an area where bears like to fish for salmon.  There were lots of red salmon that were getting ready to spawn.  They were everywhere.  It was crazy. There was a huge waterfall coming down into the ocean right next to it.  We saw all these preppy 20 year olds wearing pretty fancy clothes for hiking to a glacier.  Then we figured out they were doing a photoshoot for American Eagle.  Kinda fun!  I eavesdropped on their conversations all the way back to the bus and it was interesting. We ate at Joe's Crab Shack before heading back to the boat.

Skagway

I was excited about Skagway.  Elise had to do a big webpage last year for history on the Yukon Gold Rush, and I loved the old pictures.  Skagway was beautiful.  We rented a van that took us up the White Pass Summit to the Tormented Valley.  I was just saying how hard it would be to spot bears since I never would have seen the ones in the trees by the glacier on my own.  But right after I mentioned that we saw a little bear right next to the road.  We were so close to it, literally only a few feet away.  I loved all the blue lakes.  I guess the lakes are that gorgeous turquoise because of the crushed rock that flows down the rivers and into the lakes.  We ate lunch at a great little sandwich shop called Glacial Smoothies and Espresso.  It was my favorite place we ate at in Alaska, and cheapest too.

Victoria

I was looking forward to Butchart Gardens.  It has been on my bucket list since Angela went there several years ago.  I knew I had to see them even though we only had about an hour because our ship docked in Victoria so late.  It was neat and I am so glad we did!  I couldn't stop taking pictures.  The flowers and all the combinations were breathtaking.

At Sea

Our two days at sea were fun as well.  Jared and I watched Alaska: The Last Frontier and kinda got hooked on Atz Lee and their stories of subsistance living in Alaska.   It was fun to watch all the boys win all the different contests on the boat.  Cameron won the Ping Pong, Zach won the golf, and the basketball tournament got cut short, otherwise they would have won that one too.  I worked on a puzzle, and wished I had Aunt Marge there to do it with me.  They had some great comedy shows, and trivia contests that were fun too.

They had Les Mis on the Movies under the stars.  At night on the boat on the big screen they give out blankets and you can curl up on the lounge chairs and watch.  It was really cool.

We saw Orca from the boat a few times.  I learned that they are actually part of the dolpin family and not actually whales at all, so that was interesting.

I love the Mediterranean Cafe and they had a lot of good salad options.  I probably should have eaten less cheesecake, more salad.  But we figured we'd live it up for the week.  It was such a fun time.

Seattle

I've never been to Seattle before.  So it was really fun to get to see a new city.  We were able to take a shuttle provided by the cruise from the airport.  Our bags went straight to our ship cabin from the airport.  So when we were dropped off at the port, we got a cab and we went to Pike's Place Market for a couple of hours.  We had the most delicious shrimp cocktail, crab, rainier cherries and clam chowder.  It was fun to see the flying fish.  On the way home, we took a cab to the rental car place near the market and got to explore a little more before our flight home.  We ended up spending more time at the market.  We missed the Gum Wall the first time around and it was fun to get more food.  Jared tried currants for the first time.  I wished I could have brought some of those flowers home with me on the plane.

Thank you Mom and Dad Winger for the amazing trip!

16 Months!

We have a talker.  In July grandma recorded Soren saying, "I want this"  over and over.  Then he said "where is that" when Monet was hiding the ipod that he wanted.  Today he said, "I REALLY want this."  a lot.  And grandma insists that he also said refrigerator.  So funny.

He says "MAAA" in a nasal voice that sounds like some sort of Brooklyn accent.  It is probably a shortened version of Miles's badgering "MOMOMOMOMOMOM" that I hear on a regular basis.  Maybe with the older kids he will skip the "Mommy" phase.  Simone quit saying it last year.  Aww.  

Soren is obsessed with lids.  He couldn't care less about cars and toys, but markers, pens, plastic containers, nail polish and anything else with a lid is really exciting.  He always wants to scratch the lid labels off the doTERRA bottles and is entertained for awhile doing that.  

Some words he says that we can understand:

Kitty

Doggy

Sugar

Chicken

Hello

Stop

No

Daddy

Mom

Eees (Elise)

Monet

Nurse
Miles
Yum
Stop it
Diaper
EWWW

He speaks clearly for a little guy.  It is going to be fun to see what he starts to say.  He can communicate what he wants really well with gestures too.  We are trying to teach him not to dump his food on the ground when he doesn't want something.  Can't wait to stop sweeping up the mess under the highchair five times per day.

I had to leave him for a couple of days to do the Wasatch Back Race and then again for our cruise, and I missed him so much!  He has been a little more clingy ever since I got back.  I'm loving the extra hugs.  He pats my back like I do to him when I am holding him.  And he'll randomly pucker up and give me kisses.

He started watching Sesame Street and loves Elmo.  We got a sticker book for church with Elmo and that keeps him entertained for a little while.  

He LOVES his blankie.  He is always happy to go to bed at night.  He waves bye bye to everyone with a big grin on his face.  It is sweet.

He's got six teeth. His top two are kinda huge.  He has a cute little grin.

He just started climbing onto the table.  He is proud of himself and apparently really likes the view.  I had to move the bench.  Somehow he hasn't figured out to use the chairs yet.

Back to School

Back in school!  This is a momentous year, it is the first time since having a kid in school that I don't have a half-day preschooler or kindergartener to be home at noon for.  Which means, a much less chopped up day for me.  Yay!  Even though Soren naps anyway it is a lot more flexible.

Simone has been looking forward to school starting since about a week after school got out.  That girl loves seeing her friends.  She loved eating in the lunchroom.  She packed her own lunch and made sure to bring some seaweed paper to share with her friends.  Most of them liked it!

Miles has the same teacher as last year, and lots of friends in his class.  He was disappointed at first not to have the teacher with the snake as a classroom pet.  But his teacher is really thoughtful and interesting and he likes her.

Monet was really excited about her teacher!  She already knew who her teacher was going to be and knew that her class would be mostly the same since she is in this two year program at her school called ALL.  They do a lot of fun things and she is especially looking forward to doing Space Camp and Lego League.  Monet is getting taller! She's grown an inch in the past year.

I missed catching a first day of picture of Elise in the morning.  So I'll have to do another post for her.

I am really looking excited about my schedule so far!  I feel like I hit the jackpot.  Girls lacrosse practices are at the same time, same place.  And carpools are all in place.  I think this is going to be a great year.
Hopefully I'll spend some of that time catching up on my blogging!  It was a very busy and very fun summer.

Before and After Pictures

We've been working on getting the lawn and yard cleaned up.  It is coming along really well!  I am making friends down at our IFA and I am learning all kinds of things that I never had to worry about before.

We had the shutters painted right after moving in because they were so faded and broken.  I wish I had the pictures of them before!  The front door got refinished.  We had the trees trimmed and beds weeded, sprayed and composted.  It is looking much better I think!  Hopefully a few lawn treatments will help fill in the lawn too.

This poor Austrian Pine had to be butchered a little bit 

Now we have to tackle the backyard.  It is much better already.  We are enjoying it even if it is pretty wild looking still.  I think in a month it will look amazing.  I am excited to plant but I think that might have to wait until next year.

Courage

I think about this story every so often and decided it is another one that needs to be recorded somewhere.

This is one of those experiences in life that you really find out what you are made of.

 The summer between 8th and 9th grade I spent 8 hours a day babysitting for a family friend (and got paid a whopping $16/day) .  These friends had a big family and were Mexican and sometimes random people would come by when I was babysitting.  There was a language barrier issue.

Anyway, one night I was putting the little baby to sleep when I heard footsteps in the hall.  I was pretty much frozen in place.  Someone was definitely in the house.  I was terrified.  I called out but no one responded.  I sat there for a few minutes just listening.  Still I heard definite movement and footsteps coming from the back bedroom.  I finally got my courage up and flung the bedroom door open.  There in a box in the middle of the room was a giant.. . . Jackrabbit.

About scared me out of my wits.  It was pretty funny though when I saw what it was.  It was HUGE.  Like someone caught it out in the desert and brought it home for some reason.  Maybe it was tomorrow's dinner.  Whatever.  I just think it is funny.  And I really did think that someone was in that room, I guess the hopping sounded like footsteps.  What a random thing to have in the house.  Not sure why I didn't just run out the house with the kids and have someone else investigate later.

Thirteen Months!

Soren is Thirteen months!

He can say:
Daddy
Sugar (our dog)
Chicken
Cheese
Stop
Hello

He is great at pointing at what he wants, though screaming is fast becoming one of his best tools as well.  Ugh.  He is starting to walk a lot more than crawling.  I think wearing shorts might have something to do with that new phenomenon.

He really loves suckers!  I am feeling the guilt because I am really sure none of my other kids had this much sugar by one year old.  In fact, Miles had never had sugar at all at this age besides his birthday cake.  But this baby is a group effort really and the older kids think it is funny to see what they can make him do if they bribe him with treats.

Right now he has one big top tooth, and both lowers.

He is about 20 lbs still, which is about where Miles and Elise were at age 1.  Simone and Monet were both little peanuts and only weighed 16 lbs at age 1.

Soren loves the chickens!  Jared takes him out back regularly to look at and feed the chickens.

R-Rated Rhino Report

Miles was really excited to be able to do an animal report this year.  He was very eager to do what he has seen his older sisters do many times.  So one night when Jared and I were out on a date, he did all the research and printed a bunch of pictures from the internet.  By the time we got home, the whole thing was all done.  All by himself.

I took one look and just about couldn't stop laughing.

We told Miles he should probably switch the lower left picture.  But he LOVED that picture.  It was the only one he could find that was like that.  After we explained what they were doing, he conceded that it was kinda "inappropriate."  Ha ha.  We had a good laugh, and when we found this t-shirt we had to have it to remind us of the famous Rhino Report.

Life is Good!

Things have been so busy this year.  In January we had a little lull for a couple of weeks.  I was really focused on eating great and exercising something I could do even though Soren and Simone were both sick.  Then we had Miles, Jared, and Simone's birthday parties and Miles's baptism, plus our anniversary, Valentines and numerous other family occasions.  Not to mention the eighteen hours of continuing education I'd procrastinated doing that I needed to renew my real estate license.  Things were kinda busy I thought.  But my time will be mine once again as soon as Valentine's is over.  (Yes with four school-aged children, even Valentine's day and the hundreds of cards is busy!)  So once Valentine's was over, we decided to buy a house and move.  So then started the packing, purging, showing the house, money saving mode, and selling all my old crap on eBay and KSL.  And I had many, many untimely vertigo episodes as well, which basically makes it so I have to lay down for several hours.  Kinda a pain.

Finally moving day arrived.  We got settled pretty quickly and I think had every box unpacked within a couple of days.  That is always my moving goal anyway, to get rid of the cardboard boxes asap.  Next we had Soren's birthday and cake smashing the following week and a recognition luncheon at our home for one of our doTERRA leaders.  We also had the pinewood derby, Monet's Hope of America, orchestra concerts, as well as the many practices including gymnastics, lacrosse, basketball, piano and other birthday parties that are the norm around here.  

And since then, every morning is filled with what project is calling my name today.  I've loved it.  Is there anything better than having a lot of projects to work on and seeing the progress?  The first thing we did is have the shutters painted and weed some of the front beds, and it was immediate gratification it looked so much better.   I finished the bed and important stuff for the guest room last week.  I've been impatiently waiting on tree trimmers and landscapers to help with the weeding and the trees that desperately need some help.  So I started on them myself a couple days ago filling an entire garbage can full of weeds and snails in a couple hours.  I had help from the kids.  I think they like seeing the progress too.  It feels good to look out the back windows and at least see one pretty flower bed.  I've had lots of spray painting projects, which are the best of all in my opinion.  It is fun to see that old mirror turn Monet's desk into a cute new vanity, and the shelves that I was going to send to DI are going to be perfect for Miles's many Lego creations.

We have been working on painting furniture, organizing the garage, programming garage codes, hanging TVs, putting together shelves and decorating kids rooms.  I still have a couple of rooms that are completely devoid of furniture and I'm planning to leave them like that until wintertime when there aren't so many other optional projects.

May has never been so fun.  We've loved seeing what kinds of things are actually growing in our yard.  OUR yard!  With TREES!  It is exciting to have trees with fort potential.  There are some sort of berries growing on the sideyard and I think that has made me happy for a couple of weeks.  We have wild strawberries everywhere and tons of beautiful blossoming trees.  This week, we get to finally open the pool.  The kids can't wait.

So a few things I've learned this year.  Quit waiting for life to slow down and just enjoy it anyway.  I am the kind of person who likes to wake up with NOTHING on the agenda and just know that I can fill my day with whatever I feel like.  And so my calendar stresses me out.  But life with five kids is never going to be completely open, unless we are on vacation.  So I think I better just embrace busy, and protect the things that are really important to me.  Last fall I was so angry whenever I looked at the mountains and the changing colors because I resented that I didn't have any time to go hiking or get up there and experience fall, or the canyons.  I should do a better job of carving out my time so that I can do those things.

Another thing I've learned: having a baby who will only sometimes take a bottle is really difficult.  It is so much easier now that Soren is bigger.  When we were newly married I read a book about marriage that said that having children reduced the enthusiasm for the marriage.  That was kinda depressing and I hoped it wouldn't be true for us.  But I can see that at least for us it is true temporarily.  There are so many factors and stressors requiring stretching, growing, sacrificing, and the focus is no longer on where we should go out on a date.  In fact, there were no dates for us for a few months.  A rude awakening after I had Jared mostly to myself during the days while the kids were at school and we could have lunch wherever we wanted.  Having a baby changed that along with an intense period of focus on work.  Jared's been on a LOT of trips this year too which is also something we weren't really used to.  But now that we have a place for him to work from home again, and an older baby who eats lots of food and isn't so unpredictable, I think we are coming out of that little dip in "enthusiasm" or however they phrased it. And I'm so happy we have Soren.  It is funny to me that we almost didn't.  How different would our family be.  Babies bring so many smiles into your life.  All the kids trying to make him laugh.  Clapping and loving on him for every little new step, new word, etc.  It is sweet.

It struck me this morning that I am just really happy.  I like the projects.  I get in a rut sometimes and just feel inefficient and lethargic and unproductive.  To me, projects and progress=happy.  Having nothing to work on  or no means to do so is depression.  Years ago before we figured out eBay I just had Elise at home and was really bored.  No car, stuck at home during the day.  No money.  We ate canned food for a month.  And I felt such guilt spending $12 at the scrapbook store trying to cultivate some sort of hobby.  The highlight of my day was watching Matlock and Little  House on the Prairie.  Glad those days are gone.  I hope they stay away.  I realize that this is totally different than chemical depression, but it was still hard.

I know this post needs some pictures.  Next time I'll just post the pictures!

Scariest Experience of My Life

Kids love kidnapping stories.  I don't know why, but they really like my near kidnapping story.  I think in some way they think it is cool that I fought off a bad guy and got away.  So here is the scariest experience of my life.

I was nearly 13 years old and it was the night before my first girls camp and I needed to bring a sack lunch.  I decided to walk to the grocery store that was pretty close to home to get some things that would make it really good for this special occasion.  It was evening when I set out and it would be getting dark soon.  Grandma R. called out from the front of the house and asked me not to go.  I brushed aside her concern.  I loved walking around in the dark.  I had always enjoyed being alone in the night.  It was beautiful and different and I wasn't scared at all.

So I set off for Dan's grocery store.   When I got there I browsed leisurely.   I remember looking at the different choices on one of the end caps and getting some bottled water and I had a hard time choosing between Clearly Canadian and Evian.  Because bottle water are all so different. ;)  

Anyway, as I returned home I was on a main road and didn't have any thoughts of fear.  Until I passed a vacant house and suddenly a man stepped out right in front of me onto the sidewalk.  There was a tree next to the streetlight that was really overgrown.  This man had been hiding under the tree and was completely concealed until he stepped out just a couple of feet from where I was walking.  Maybe he saw me pass earlier and was waiting for me when I returned.  I don't know.  But I was completely terrified, but as I looked at the busy road there were a lot of cars that were coming and he stepped back in the overgrowth.  

I debated what to do.  First I just wanted to put some distance between us.  I kept looking behind me and he wasn't following me.  My Sunday school teachers were two houses away and I thought about knocking on their door.  But when I turned to go down the street to my house he still wasn't following me.  And there were people sitting out on their porches, etc. so I felt like I wasn't alone.  I decided to keep going, after all I really wasn't very far from home.

I was about a hundred yards from my house when I heard a man's voice call to me, "Come here, I have to ask you a question."  I turned and it was the man that I had seen.  He had a white tee shirt wrapped around his hair.  He was shirtless, with cutoff jean shorts and white boat shoes.  He was next to a silver truck that had a white shell on the back of it.    I am not sure how I didn't see him coming.  I was immediately terrified again, realizing that he had followed me.   I yelled, "go ask someone else," as  I turned and started running.  He got out of his car and started chasing me.  He grabbed me around my arms and my memories start getting more vague.   I have a great memory but I think the reason why I don't remember everything exactly from that point on is because the adrenaline kicked in.  My limbs knew what to do, and my brain was just on overdrive referencing what I should do.  I remember my thoughts.  I just don't remember all that happened.  I did a lot of babysitting, and the first thing that struck me was "baby drop"  when the toddlers would throw all their weight into their lower body, it was really hard to pick them up.  I slithered out of his grip.  I wanted my back against the ground.  I was kicking and screaming and felt like it was easier for me to fend him off in that position.  I thought about my friends little niece that had been attacked while waiting for her bus to come and how she kicked and screamed and got away.  

My attacker had really glassy eyes and longish hair under the t-shirt.  He put his hand over my mouth and told me not to scream.  I bit down as hard as I could and kept screaming.  I kicked so hard my my shirt came up and my back was full of grit and rocks.  It crossed my mind that he might have a gun.  And I thought he is going to have to shoot me then because I am not getting in that car.  I wondered why no one could hear me and no one was coming to help.  I saw headlights coming up the road and I was pleading, "don't turn!"  Just before the car reached the stop sign closest to us the man ran across the road, jumped in his car and took off.  The car stopped and there were two women inside.  They asked me if I was okay and if I needed a ride.  I told them that a man just tried to kidnap me and I pointed to my house and said I just lived right there.  I was paranoid at that point and wondered if these women were the "plan b" and were going to try to take me too.  

I ran home crying and as I walked in the door I told my parents and grandma that a man just tried to kidnap me.  They called the cops.  A few minutes later the women came to our house.  They tried to chase the man to get his license plates, but he got away.  They gave the police a description:  6'2"  lanky build.  

That night I slept in my sisters room.  The next day I still went to girls camp.  It was strangely normal.  How could things be normal after something like that?  It felt like it didn't really happen.  I hated sleeping alone for a long time.  I worried that he knew where I lived.  Hearing footsteps behind me also caused me to panic.  During a track meet the following year I started feeling a lot of anxiety just from hearing the footsteps of the runner behind me.  I dreamed that I had bought the Clearly Canadian in the glass bottle and chucked it at his head when he was chasing me and knocked him out with it.  I also had a lot of hate for men.  :)  I know that sounds weird, but I was so angry that someone would actually do that.  I wondered why  and what was his plan?  I was just mad that someone would think nothing of me as a person and would actually try to take me.  

I think I gained some maturity from the experience as well.  I wasn't as naive about the world.  My 7th grade year was spent goofing off and trying to find fun and as a result I got kicked out of all my honors classes.  We had moved to a new area, and I had a lot of hard changes which contributed to me not being responsible.  Starting 8th grade after my experience I had classes with a bunch of punk boys who were absolutely the most perverted, disgusting kids ever.  The things they said in class were horrible.   They were incredibly disrespectful to women and girls and it was harder for me to ignore.  I was very motivated to get back into the honors classes and escape these losers.  I think I lumped them into the same category as the guy that attacked me.  Their gross comments made me feel they were capable of similar behavior.

At this point in life that experience is mostly just a creepy story that my kids like to hear.  They are forbidden from walking around at night, and they know why.  I think it really helped me to know what other people did when they were in similar situations.  Fighting back came naturally to me.  Just about a year before I was attacked I was in a singing group and we'd do school assemblies for the Safety Kids.  The Safety Kids is a program with songs by Janeen Brady, etc about different types of safety, one of which is what to do if someone tries to kidnap you.  Though extremely embarrassing for a sixth grader, I think that helped too.  As a kid I had tons of kidnapping nightmares in which a similar scenario happened and I'd talk with my friends about what we'd do if we were in that situation.

I also am very aware when I am out on the street of my surroundings.  If I'm out for a run, I see all the bushes, trees, etc where people might be hiding and even in day I think about it.  A few days a man crossed the street to where I was running.  Although I knew he was probably just going my same direction, I still think of what I can grab or do if he grabbed me.

I am glad that I was prepared somewhat.  In high school some guy was teasing me and he lifted me up and I could not get out of his arms.  It was frightening in a way.  I wonder how I did it when I was almost 13.  I think adrenaline plays a big role, and also not holding anything back.  When you are fighting for your life there is a much different intensity.

I learned a lot from this experience.  I knew that I needed to be more cautious and that there really are lots of evil people in the world.  I also learned that I'm feisty and a fighter.  Preparation and role playing was REALLY helpful.  

Its pretty sad to me that my situation isn't uncommon.  Yes attempted stranger kidnapping is rare.  But there is a whole cluster of violence against women that isn't rare.  I heard a statistic once that 30% of girls experience sexual abuse, etc.  I thought that seemed really high at first.  But when I stopped to think about it, with my five sisters at least two of us that I can think of had some really scary situations that required a lot of action to prevent.  And lasting fears associated with those.