Mariah's new home

This is where Mariah calls home every free minute she has to spare.  

Yes, it's a barn.  A barn full of horses.  

And manure.  

And hay.  

And barn kitties.  

And wood shavings.

And saddles.

And more horses.

This is Mariah's heaven.

It has been such a blessing to find this wonderful place owned by wonderful people who allow Mariah to spend so much time there.  She cleans stalls, fills water buckets, sweeps, and feeds--all so she can have time on a horse and learn to be a better rider.  

She has met friendly, kind people and has really enjoyed herself.

And guess what?  

The barn is right across the street from our property where we'll be building the house!

Does it get any better than that?

Community service

Earlier this month our church helped out with a community service project at our local elementary school.  It needed some serious sprucing up, so we gathered together and went to work.  It's amazing what can be accomplished when people put their minds and wills together to work.  We got a lot done in just a few hours.  I helped coordinate the project and it was fun to see our efforts make a real difference and benefit our community.

Grant was more than ecstatic to use the hedge trimmers and he did a good job.  At least he didn't try to cut his finger off and bleed all over the place like his mom did.  Yeah.  Not good.

It felt good to contribute and serve.  All the kids worked hard and it was really rewarding to see them working together and enjoying it.  Now, when we drive by the school, we can see the difference we made.  When we were finished and driving around town, Mariah asked to drive by the school again to see how great it looked.  And it did look great!  

Space Derby

Grant and Kyle had a Space Derby this week in scouts.  They carved, sanded, painted and prepped their space rockets and were excited to put them to the test.  Once we got all the kinks worked out with the track and the rubber band motors, off they flew!

Our rockets weren't the fastest, but we had a lot of fun!

Train

Jason took me to see one of my favorite bands--Train.

I've loved them since their first hit in the 90's.

It was a good concert in a great venue (the Clark County Amphitheater) on a beautiful summer evening.

The opening bands were good too--Gavin DeGraw and The Script.

All the bands were great at involving the crowd and being personal.  They got off stage and walked around shaking people's hands, singing, taking pictures, etc, which made it even more fun!

My camera took terrible pics!

We stayed the night in a nice hotel in Vancouver and spent the next day at the movies.  

The month of August has been busy, so it was nice to spend some time together.  

Kitty Chronicles: Buckle up! It's the law!

Twig encourages you to....

Catching air

Skate parks have become a part of life lately.  The boys love to ride their pro scooters and are learning to do tricks.  Grant is the most adventurous of the group, but Kyle and Dallin have also improved their skills and are trying new tricks all the time.  It's a regular occurrence on Jason's day off for him to take the boys and check out different parks in the area.  We've seen some pretty neat parks, but our own Estacada skatepark is one of the best (minus the groupies that hang out there).

20 months

And so it begins.

The 20 month countdown.

20 months of....

Metal mouth.

Payments to an orthodontist.

Brush, brush, brush.

Trips to the orthodontist.

Rubber bands.

No more milk duds.

Colored wires.

Floss, floss, floss.

Ixnay on the orncay-on-the-obcnay.

20 months of....

Sacrifice for an even more beautiful smile.

It'll be worth it!

6 Years of Hurricane Karina

My brother fondly calls Karina a hurricane.  It's true.  She mostly is one--strong, powerful, unexpected, a force to be reckoned with.  But she's even better than a hurricane because she's welcomed, loved, and admired, which is more than a true hurricane can say for itself.

Yesterday, we celebrated our little hurricane's birthday.  She has been asking about her special day for weeks now, counting down the days, planning her party and cake, making a birthday wish list.  She has been more than excited to celebrate her special day.

Karina decided she wanted her ears pierced as one of her gifts.  We talked a lot about it and she was determined she was brave enough to do it.  A couple of weeks ago we were at the mall when we saw a little girl getting her ears pierced and we watched the whole procedure.  As we saw the girl cry, I asked Karina if she still wanted to pierce her ears.  Mariah piped in and said, "You know, Karina, piercing your ears doesn't come without pain."  Karina thought about this for a few seconds and replied calmly, "Yeah, but I'm tough."  That's my girl.

She proved her toughness yesterday as she walked straight into the ear piercing store without hesitation, while swinging her arm and saying, "I'm gonna get holes in my ears!"  Not a glimpse of fear was evident.  As she climbed onto the chair and waited for me to sign paperwork and the worker to mark her ears, I only saw the slightest glimpse of nervousness appear in her mannerisms--crossed arms, a slight look of seriousness in her big eyes right before the deed was done--only things that her mother would recognize, though.  To everyone else, she was a rock.

She didn't even flinch when the earrings went in and she was grinning and happy as she left.  Her strength and confidence never cease to amaze me.

We also took her to Build-A-Bear Workshop as one of her gifts.  They had My Little Ponies there and she was thrilled to pick out Rainbow Dash.  It was our first Build-A-Bear experience, so all the kids were excited to see the process.  Once Rainbow Dash was brought to life, complete with a heart and a theme-song-singing foot, it was time to accessorize.  Jason tried to convince Karina to add bling to Rainbow Dash, but she was completely content to have her as is.  No capes, no crowns, no shoes, no earrings.  Just pure, unadulterated pony.  "No, Dad, I don't want her decorated," she kept saying.  No amount of convincing would change her mind.  So, off she went with her new, un-accessorized Rainbow Dash and her newly pierced ears, as happy as can be.

I love my little hurricane.  She keeps me on my toes and makes me a better mom because of her strength and determination.  Happy 6th birthday, Karina!

Planets, bums, and brownies

Kids say funny stuff.

Especially when you're stuck in the car on a road trip.  

Grant was using the Google Skymap app on my phone and saying, "I can see the moon!  I'm looking for Uranus" (pronounced your-ay-nus).  This produced giggles and snickers from his siblings along with some suggestions on how to say the planet's name with the emphasis on a different syllable.  Grant insisted on using his original pronunciation and continued his "search."

A minute or two later Kyle said, "Well, I'm sitting on my Pluto."

* * * * *

The other morning, Karina cleaned her room without being asked and then reported to me her efforts.
I hugged her and gave her a big THANK YOU!
She pumped her arm and said, "Yes!  Brownie points!"
She followed that with, "Mom, what are brownie points?"
"Does it mean that the next time you make brownies you get to have more than one?"
Sounds like a good definition to me!

* * * * *

While playing video games, Dallin says to Grant,
"No, Grant!  You don't know how to read!  It's not Roger (raw-jer), it's Roger (row-ger)."
Pause.
"Actually, it's probably Roger (raw-jer)."
"Mom!  How do you say this name?"

* * * * *

Amidst the noisiness of our family Kyle says, as he's holding a big conch shell to his ear,
"Guys!  Be quiet!  I want to hear the sea!"
Several attempts later, with the noise still around him, he passes it off to Grant to try.
Grant goes into the other room, holds it up to his ear, returns and says,
"It doesn't work.  It's too old!"

Little scouters

'Tis the season for Scout Camp!  The first scout in our family scheduled to go to camp this summer was Grant.  To our surprise, a spot opened up for one more scouter in our troop to go and so Kyle was chosen since his birthday is next month.  Yay for Kyle!

They came home the first day with exciting stories of archery (Grant got a bulls-eye), water rockets, dutch oven cooking, and scavenger hunts.  They also had a station on knots, which they informed me was the most boring thing EVER.

The next few days they came home with mixed reviews and empty stomachs, resulting in a meltdown or two.  But, by the end of the week we figured out a snack schedule to keep them fueled and encouragement to keep them happy.  Friday was Family Day and they got to share their favorite activities--bb-guns and archery--with us as we visited.  Even Karina got to try!

Isn't this every boy's favorite thing to do?

Karina trying her hand at achery

The evening continued with fun skits and silly camp songs and ended with a very special, reverent moment of patriotism as we witnessed the retirement of our country's flag.  I love experiencing patriotic rituals and this was an new one for me.  When a US flag is no longer fit to be flown (in this case, faded and worn), it is appropriate to dispose of the flag by burning it.  So, in silence and reverence we watched the flag be burned and we were not dismissed until it was completely and properly finished.  It was a fitting end to a very American week of scout activities.

Where's Karina?

In the Estacada City Park there is a beautiful mural of Canadian geese and other local birds.

I wanted to take a nice picture of Karina in front of the mural.

Karina had other ideas.

She decided to blend in and be one of the geese.

Silly girl.