Avalanche!!! October 26, 2008

I finally got these off my email, Tom sent them to me to illustrate just how high in the air he was- (50 feet? I don’t remember now) when he got scared spitless for a few minutes. About a month ago Tom was in Redmond doing a survey of a salt pile (We’re talking the Redmond Real Salt) with his dad and he had to climb up to the top for a shot. Well, he was climbing, or standing there- he should really be the one telling this story- when the whole hill started to move under him. He was stuck there, trying not to fall on his face and get buried under a pile of salt, with his dad watching closely from the ground so he’d know where to dig him out if it came to that. Luckily it didn’t. Tom just rode it down a ways, ended in salt up to his knees or there-abouts. After that I think he decided to go up the back of the pile and get the data a different way, rather than up the face. He was fine, just a little….shaken? I think it came close to the time he was almost struck by lightening while surveying as far as scare-factor goes. The pics are cool though, and he looks pretty good if I do say so myself… 😉

Salt Surfing

Salt Surfing

Salt Surfing

Vaht a Veek! October 25, 2008

Okay, it’s late, I’m tired, but Tom’s doing his Navy duty this weekend so I don’t really want to go to bed. Besides, all the kids are asleep, so this is a perfect time to do this. 🙂 Anyway, I plead insanity as my excuse for that awful accent up there. Honestly though, it’s been quite a week! Tom’s sister Cindy came to visit from OR with her husband Dan- yay!!!! We had tons of fun with them, and I don’t know if the kids wore Dan out, or Dan wore the kids out… they were all sorts of wild, when they weren’t busy reading anyway; Dan and Cindy both were super nice about that!
And then Sam and Elena were invited to a birthday party on Thursday, and got to wear their costumes- They had a blast and came home with small pumpkins they decorated. Then Sam went to another party this morning- a SURPRISE party- what fun!
Lily did something really funny today- she’s really growing up! She’s talking more and more- I realized something tonight- we’ve been surprised that she doesn’t say dad, or even dada (Well, Cami comes out kinda like dada, but different, slightly.) and tonight she was talking to Tom and she was calling him ‘Papa!’ isn’t that cute! And I realized later, she calls me Momma a lot too- it’s actually a great big long thing, like “momma-mom-mamma…” but she called me just plain Momma several times. Funny girl. Anyway, so the specific funny thing I had in mind; she took a bath this afternoon, and after about 20 minutes when I went in (again) to see if she was ready to get out, she had a present in the tub for me. Yup. For some reason, in spite of doing so well, (she’s doing amazing I think!) with potty-training herself she….didn’t this time. so she finished on the toilet while I cleaned the tub, then we got her back in again to get clean. She was in at least another 20 minutes. When she came out she was holding her hands out in front of herself and looking worried, “momma-mom-mom-mom”-ing me, and over the next half hour or so she kept looking back at them confused and worried. I realized it was because her hands were all wrinkly from being in the tub so long! Funny Girl!!!
And that’s just some of what’s been going on- Cubmaster Tom had to do Pack meeting thursday night, and he left tonight for the weekend. I’m trying to get my songs in order for Sunday…Oh wait. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that…I’m the Primary chorister now. This’ll be my 3rd week, and and adventure since I’ll be at church without Tom and thus will have Cami with me. Hm, it’s just primary though, right? I’m enjoying it so far though, I was called the week after the program, so I didn’t have to worry about that. Phew! So far we’ve just been getting to know each other- trying to have fun and figure it all out. Anyway, now its way way way past my bedtime- ttfn!

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, and other tales of intrigue… October 22, 2008

OK, I don’t know the best way to do this, individual posts for each story, or one long post…. I guess we’ll see what unfolds. That’s just what I get for not doing them promptly! First, tomatoes; ours were INSANE this year! I kid you not, we had tomatoes ALL OVER our garden. I didn’t even fertilize them and we still had 6 foot vines on them, seriously reaching from one end of the garden to the other, growing in the corn, cucumbers, cilantro, the other corn, zucchini, just everywhere. I tried to get a pic so you could see the vastness of the tomato leaf jungle, but it doesn’t do it justice. Here’s the lowdown though, I picked a whole bunch of tomatoes about 2 weeks ago, on a Tuesday or Wednesday I think; picking everything that was remotely close to wanting to be ripe. (Here’s a question for you I’ve been trying to figure out all summer: Do the tomatoes start out white, then go green before orange/red? Or vice-versa?) Reds, oranges, and orange shades of green. I went back out on Friday and picked about half the vines that were left, literally the vines. I just pulled up the whole plant and picked it clean. We were going out of town and it was supposed to freeze that weekend anyway. So, here’s what I pulled out of the garden that day- the bowl and pans were what I got the first day, and everything else I got that Friday. Needless to say we have a lot of tomatoes, and could have had a bunch more…life is just too crazy. Next year though, I’m only doing one roma or cherry or grape, and the rest will be LARGE tomatoes, for easier salsa making. This year I have a bunch and it’s a bit of a pain, although picking them is a bit like picking grapes, whole bunches at once.
You know Sam’s in kindergarten, and loving it, but I had to show off for him a bit. He’s really loving reading, he’s been bringing home little ‘predecodable’ books from school that teach him sight words, but he’s been reading some from the library, like the Bob books, and he’s really taking off! In fact he was reading scriptures the other night; funny thing though, one of his last books from school was questions, he started reading it to me, and I said “is that how you’d ask a question?” Well, he started over, and up went the voice, and up when the shoulder, and over went the head, it was pretty cute/funny! when I figure out how to get the video on here I will.

Oh, and I’ve finally got a picture of the wall quilt that Tom did this summer- This is a Tom original, and while he did decide against using broken glass, You can see the barbed wire running through it and making the handle. The title is “Escape from Paradise” which makes Tom wonder what message we’re sending our kids, hanging it over the front door….

Tag- You’re it!

Alright, I’ve seen a few of these ‘tag’ things going around, but this was too fun and easy to pass up. Here’s how it works: If you’re reading this, you’re tagged. Now you go to your 4th folder/file of pics, and post the 4th picture. See? Easy as pie! fun too! Now, let’s see what I find…. Alright, I think I’m going to do a couple- this one is just the 4th picture in my pictures folder- it’s from January right before my brother Will (bottom middle) left on his mission. It’s my 8 brothers and Tom and Sam. Fun!
Now, what’s next? Ok, so I’ve learned that my pictures need to be organized- what a jumble! This is from 2 years ago, Thanksgiving, Tom is giving his classic “you’re taking my picture” pose. Isn’t he han’some? Too bad- he’s mine! 🙂