Arrow of Light

The Arrow of Light.

A Cub Scout's highest honor and achievement.

That's what Dallin earned and was awarded last night.

What an accomplishment!

I'm so pleased with his effort.

He makes this mama proud!

And who wouldn't love to wear this ribbon of achievement in honor of her son?

Look at all we've accomplished together!

Kitty Chronicles: An Introduction

Twig.

Twiggy Twig.

Twigsters.

Kitty.

Keeker.

Keeker meow meow.

Keeks.

He goes by many names, as you can see.  

And for as many names, he has as many personalities.  

He is a cat of many colors.  

Twig has changed our world and provides us with ample entertainment each day.  

I certainly have enough fodder to create many blog posts, hence my introduction of.... 

[enter voice of doom]

----THE KITTY CHRONICLES----

starring Twig Richards.

Stay tuned for stories, antics, rituals, and tricks from the newest member of our family.

BYU, basketball, and a brawl

We had the opportunity to watch another BYU basketball game at the University of Portland.  It looks like this might become an annual tradition for us, which will be fun!  This year we came prepared with noise makers--because we're not noisy enough as a family.  I'm pretty sure the people in front of us did NOT appreciate our enthusiasm.

We enjoyed watching the basketball team whomp on the Portland Pilots again.  They even slam dunked the ball--twice!

A brawl broke out during the 3rd quarter--fortunately it wasn't the Cougars who instigated the conflict.  We felt sorry for the poor referee who landed in the middle of the heat and who was certainly roughed up.  He kept his composure quite well and when it was all said and done, we gained more points from the scuffle.

It was a good night and we had fun as a family supporting our alma mater.  Jason and I are always excited to share our Cougar spirit with our kids.

Family change

Sometimes you expect family life to always be the same--whatever that sameness may be.

But, people grow.

Lives change.

Opportunities arise.

And suddenly you realize, what you thought would always be the same.... isn't.

My brother and his wonderful girlfriend moved to Iowa this past month.

Iowa.

That's really far away.

I had to look it up on the map just to be sure where the town is their moving to exactly (don't judge me!).

I always thought he'd live over the river and through the woods as he has for so many years.

But, he had new opportunities arise and he seized them.

I'm excited for the both of them.

I will miss him, but I hope for the very, very best.

And now, I have an excuse to visit Iowa!

Timberline Lodge

Jas and I spent some time at Timberline Lodge for a Valentine's getaway.  It was a nice, relaxing, beautiful time together.  We stayed the first night in an upper room where the views were gorgeous of the surrounding area.

The next night we stayed in a lower room where we were socked in by snow.  We found perks to it, though, as we realized the need for a refrigerator was eliminated by the natural frig outside our window!

The lodge is really incredible and I'm amazed at the hard work and grit it must have taken to build something so beautiful and huge during a time of difficulty and with the lack of modern technology (the 1930's).  It remains mostly unchanged from the day it was built except for electricity and modern bathrooms.  They've done a nice job of keeping the authenticity of the Lodge but adding the modern features in a way that doesn't detract from the theme and decor.

We were grateful to spend the time together in such a beautiful place with such beautiful surroundings.  It's not every day you get to stay in a place where inside the window views are blocked by walls of snow and outside you feel like you're on top of the world!

Smackdown

Lately, my kids have coined the phrase, "You just got poned!"  I'm not sure where it came from or how it came about, but families of our size tend to create their own jargon for various situations and scenarios.  Our family has a lot of "poning" situations since competition for even the simple things in life (like who's getting the first serving of dinner, or who gets the biggest piece of cake) is common.

The other night I was picking up Grant from basketball practice when a girl approached him and said, "Hey, Grant!  Can you dribble two balls at the same time?"  [Insert typical eight-year-old girly, cattiness.]

Grant replied nonchalantly, "Yeah," while dribbling his ball.

Then the girl shoved her basketball toward Grant and said, "Then do it!"

Smackdown!

Grant proceeded to successfully dribble two balls at the same time and passed the ball back to her.  She walked away while another parent and I laughed over the situation.  As we headed out the door, the girl yelled Grant's name again.  We turned around to see her dribbling two balls at the same time.... while she was walking!  She hollered, "Grant, betcha can't do this!"

Whoa hoa!  We laughed some more as she grinned from ear to ear and Grant walked away.  I said, "Grant, I think you just got poned!"

Party at the Lumberyard

Grant's 9th birthday was last week and we celebrated by taking him to an indoor mountain bike / BMX arena with his friends.  There aren't many places we take the kids where they play for hours without complaining or even coming in for a break.  This is one of those places.  We were there for almost four hours  and the boys rode hard, they rode fast, and they rode until they were sweating buckets.  It was awesome!

I wasn't very good at getting pictures and I even forgot to take our traditional pic of Grant with his cake.  He chose an Oreo cheesecake, which he quickly gobbled up before heading out to the track again.  It was a fun, easy party that created great memories and fun.  Happy birthday, my boy!

Life

Sometimes LIFE gets away from me.

And in different ways, too.

Sometimes LIFE gets drowned out by busy-ness.

Too busy with sports, church, school, kids, cleaning, blogging, work, music....

Where did LIFE go?

Sometime LIFE gets lost in the minutia of the day to day.

Make kids lunches, put on my makeup, help kids with homework, make dinner, routine, routine, routine, blah, blah.....

Where did LIFE go?

Sometimes LIFE gets lost in a tangent.

Focusing too much on something that's not important in the long run--a bigger house, the next vacation, a diversion from the day to day.

Where did LIFE go?

Sometimes LIFE gets swallowed up by the needs of others.

Kids, husband, kids, family, kids, friends, kids, church members, kids.

Where did LIFE go?

The answer is this:  LIFE is in all of this.  This is LIFE.

Then why is it so hard to enjoy it sometimes?  

Why do I get caught up in it so much that I forget to stop and see that LIFE is all around me?

Sigh.

That's the challenge I face most days.  

Perspective and gratitude are the antidotes.

Perspective + gratitude = Happy LIFE

Perspective + gratitude = Joy

It's something I'm working on.