The Forgotten

I will by no means be receiving the mother-of-the-year award. As I write this, my child is at someone else's house.That may be all good, but not this time. We were at some friends' house playing games and left very late. All of the children had fallen asleep, so we had to wake them up to get them to the car. Brett and I started herding them toward the car, and I guess Emily was the first to head that way. Brett was close to the lead, and I was bringing up the caboose. When I finally made it outside, Brett was in his car ready to drive away. I looked in my car and saw three children. I assumed he had the other one, and didn't ask. So, off we went.

We got home and the children came in. Claire and Eli landed on the living room couches, and Caleb was up chatting with us. Brett came into the living room and asked where Emily was. I told him that I thought she was with him. He thought I was teasing him, and I thought he was teasing me.

We gave in and called our hostess, and she got out of bed to go and search for my daughter.

Emily had gone from the living room, downstairs toward the door, missed the door, continued downstairs to the basement, went into the basement, and curled up on a couch downstairs. Our hostess checked the living room first... no Emily, so she continued downstairs and found our Boo. She helped her walk back up to the living room and put her to sleep on the couch in there.

OOPS!

Natural Wonders

I went out to hang laundry yesterday, and I hung up some towels. The towels started heating up and the water started "steaming" from them.

I had to run inside and get my camera to capture it.Then when I was walking back inside, I noticed the windows of the house.

The ones on the main floor had condensation on them.

The ones on the second floor did not.

This is the main floor window...

This is the second floor window.

They are on the same side of the house, and there was no direct sunlight on either of them.

Just an observation to share.

Benefit of a Late Dinner

The other night we went to a meeting at the middle school for Caleb to do cross country, and I didn't make it home until about 7:30 p.m. I decided that we would do burgers, so I went outside to turn on the grill. The sky was beautiful. I sent Emily outside with my camera to get some pictures. A couple of minutes later Emily called to Brett and me to come outside and see the sky. It was amazing. She captured it, too.

Also, she couldn't resist taking a few more pictures.

Like this self portrait.

Mystery Solved

A month or two ago one of the children looked in the fish bowl and noticed that Claire's white goldfish was missing. There were supposed to be three fish in the bowl, and one was missing. There was Emily's goldfish and Eli's beta. We had no idea what happened to it. Our guess was that the beta ate it (all three of them had been sharing a bowl for several months with no signs of aggression), but we were a little confused.

Lately, I've had several days where there is really no place to go and nothing scheduled, so I have been working on de-junking. I was cleaning out a plastic file drawer that was under the counter, and I found this:

It is Claire's fish. It is dried and stuck to the paper bag. I called Brett at work to let him know the mystery of the missing fish had been solved, and he asked me to save the fish so he could see it.

Claire wanted to dissect it to see its insides. I told her that it wouldn't work very well because it is dry. Who knows, we may decide to dissect it. I have the paper pinned to my bulletin board with the fish stuck to it.

YUCK!

Underground...what?

While Claire was exploring in our living room, she pulled out one of these:

She was excited that she found an "underground hideout." (Just for the record, this is not ours. It is just a random picture.)

I guess if Claire goes missing, I should check all of our underground hideouts in case she decided to get away.

Nothing to Do Today

Well, almost nothing to do. Caleb did have a cello lesson.

Our day started out slow. I got up as Brett was going to work, and I was alone until about 8:00. The children slowly started emerging from their bedrooms and making their way into the living room. I got a late start on laundry, and didn't get it hung out on the line until about 10 a.m. With rain in the forecast, I was taking a chance.

A little after 11, we headed out the door to Caleb's

cello lessons. It started drizzling. We went and dropped him off, and then turned right around to come home and pull the wash off the line. Eli, Emily, and Claire all helped. Laid the laundry all over my couches. Then we went back to pick Caleb up. We went to lunch, shopping (Caleb got a new bookshelf), and then home.

We put together Caleb's book shelf. The boys cleaned up their rooms. I traded desks with Caleb. I moved my computer upstairs because I have an addiction problem (I feel like I need to be on my computer every time I pass it - and with it being in the dining room, I would pass it a lot). I started organizing (AKA: de-junking) the children's craft supplies. We finished all of the dishes - including all of the hand wash ones.

The children had a lot of outdoor time - even with the rain. Eli and Emily found out who their teachers will be. They made some telephone calls and some house calls to see which friends were in their classes. Caleb had scouts and Brett went to work on a merit

badge with him. I prepared a bunch of papers for Brett to use, since it was last minute and he came directly home from work and had no time. While they were gone, I continued to de-junk different areas of the house - no one would be able to tel

l because it is all over the house, and Eli, Emily, and Claire played outside until Brett & Caleb came home about 8:30 p.m.

We had everyone get ready for bed, read scriptures, said prayers, and then I got to read to the children. I read this book that Emily got at the library for reading this s

ummer:

It is a cute story.

I am reading this book to the boys:

As I am reading it, I realized that I don't think I've read it before. I thought I had, but it isn't familiar. We stopped at a troubling place last night, and the boys didn't want me to stop. Hopefully it will get better.

So that is a day where we have nothing to do. I loved it. Most of the rest of the summer will be like this, so my house may end up being clean before the children go back to school.

#10 (actually #9, #10, and #11)

So, I was tagged by a friend, and this is it. The instructions are:

1. Open your first photo folder.
2. Scroll down to the tenth photo
3. Post that photo and story on your blog.
4. Tag five other people to it.

As this computer is new, I don't have a long history of pictures in here. I thought it was fun when I opened up my pictures and the tenth one was one that she had given to me. I don't know the story behind it.

#10 - This is Emily at my friend's house. That is all I know.

Since the story behind it isn't great, I put #9 and #11 on, too. I know the story of #9 a little better.

#9 - Last fall we went to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha with our friends. We learned all about eagles. There were many interactive activities for the children to do, and this is a picture of the girls being eagles. Emily, Abigail, and Claire.

#11 is of my Eli at my friend's house. If you go here, you can see a picture of her wall. Again, I don't know the story behind this. I just thought it was fun that the pictures were from my friend. Thank you Micah for the pictures.

Maybe if I get daring I will go down to my other computer and try again. Who knows what I will find down there.

And, you're in luck. No one will be tagged here. Just do it if you want to. It is a fun trip down memory lane.

CREATE

Several weeks ago we had an enrichment meeting on the following message:

Sorry, I cannot get it show the whole frame. You can watch it on YouTube.

I came home and shared it with Brett, and we have been thinking about it since. It is a fabulous message, and we all benefit from creating... whether we create it ourselves or someone else creates something.

There is a young man from our ward who is going to be getting married this fall, and someone CREATED this video of their engagement photo shoot. I think about them creating an eternal family, creating a new life together, and creating fun, exciting memories. Following his story has been inspiring.

I decided that I wanted to create something for my girls, but I didn't want to put too much money or effort into it. I realized I have buckets full of material, I found a tutorial, and off I went. Here is what I came up with.

Easy to make three-tiered skirts.

Claire modeling her skirt.

Emily modeling her skirt.

I made Emily's yesterday, and ran out of the plaid. Emily wore her skirt all day, and then got up and put it on. I found a coordinating color for Claire's skirt and started working on it when I woke up this morning. She came into the sewing room, groggy from sleep, with a smile on her face because she knew I was working on her skirt. I showed her the different material, and she was pleased.

Both of my girls are wearing their skirts today, and I am very pleased with the outcome.

Claire's tiers:

1st = two strips 18” x 8”

2nd = two strips 27” x 6.25”

3rd = two strips 40.5" x 6.25” or three strips 27" x 6.25"

Emily's tiers:

1st = two strips 20.25” x 9”

2nd = two strips 30.5” x 7.25”

3rd = two strips 45.75” x 7.25” or three strips 30.5" x 7.25"

Just a side note: Emily can wear Claire's skirt. It is just a little shorter and tighter.

Loving Laundry?

Who me? Yes, I am really enjoying doing the laundry right now. I get up and run a load through the washing machine. Then about 9:00 a.m. I go out to hang it on my neighbor's clothes line. I wash another load, and hang that out, too. Then later in the day I get to go and take it off the line. While I take it off, I fold it and put it in separate piles for the children and me to put away when I come in.

Even yesterday was fun. I had washed Brett's dress shirts, and hung them out. Claire came in from playing outside to tell me that it was starting to rain. We ran outside (all of the children were with me) and started to rescue the clothes. I pulled Brett's shirts off first and sent them in with Caleb to be put on hangers. Then the other three children started pulling the clothes off the line and putting them in the baskets. We didn't get a chance to fold them, but they all got pulled off and brought inside

Lucky for us, we rescued them before we got any substantial rain. Also they were mostly dry, so we only had to lay out some socks and one sweatshirt that didn't quite have enough time to dry.

The question, "Why do I love laundry?" has a few answers, and here they are:

1. I love the fresh smell that stays with the clothes. After I put our sheets out, I could still smell them when I walked into my room two days later.
2. I love the fresh smell. Sometimes our closet smells "dirty," and it is probably from all of the shoes in there, but yesterday, after hanging his clean shirts in there, it smells fresh.
3. I have to get the laundry done. I cannot wait and do seven to ten loads in one day. There is no room for it all.
4. The children are willing to help with it (Caleb especially likes to hang his clothes so that to unmentionables are hung where people driving by can see).
5. It is very fulfilling. In a small way, I feel like I have accomplished something after I have finished the laundry.
6. No more little laundry piles all over the house. The laundry has to be brought down to the washer almost daily so that I can wash it.
7. We are saving energy. I'm not sure how much, but we are not using our dryer, and every little bit helps.
8. The wrinkles are minimal because the clothes don't sit in the dryer or a laundry basket without being folded (unless they are wet).
9. I love the feel of the clothes (O.K., not the stiff ones, but they do soften up, too).
10. Did I mention I love how fresh the clothes smell?

I've gotta go and collect the laundry so that I can get it washed and hung. Maybe I'll do the boys sheets today?

Some T-Shirts You May See

In Alaska, Brett and I bought some t-shirts at the SOHO COHO store down on Creek Street. Here are the three we chose...

When I saw this one, I had to get it.

The reason I had to get it is because when I was young, probably before I reached double digits, my mom used to wear a shirt that said this. She was a wife of a submariner, so she was often home without my dad. This was her way of telling the world that she was okay with the situation. When I saw it, it reminded me of my mom.

With all of the political stuff that is always happening, we thought this was a good one.

We liked this one because it is a little pun-ny, especially since we were able to go and watch some bears.

Who knows if we will ever actually wear them in public, but we do have them, and we might adorn ourselves with them.

Oh, the Rain!

I was able to get a load of laundry washed and hung out on my neighbor's clothes line. As I was hanging it, I was watching some dark clouds roll in. Being a little nervous, I ran in and checked the weather on the internet. It told me that there shouldn't be rain until about 5 p.m., and then only a 5% chance. Silly me for actually believing the weather report, but I packed up the children and started my errands.

Our first stop was lunch at the middle school. While we were there, it got more humid, and the sky turned black. Then it happened. The rain came down in sheets. It poured for about ten minutes. I am not sure how much rain was dumped, but there was standing water on the roads, and the ditches held big puddles, too.

So the fate of my laundry was to get another rinse, and it stayed out on the line a little longer. It did, however get dry before dinner - everything but the socks.

Home Again, Home Again

When we arrive in MSP, we went to baggage claim. We waited, and waited, and waited for our bags. Three of the five came out quickly. The other two never came. There were two other people who had missing luggage, and one of the men was proactive in looking for his. While we were waiting for customer service agents for Alaska Airlines, the was making phone calls. He found out the fate of his luggage.

It never made it on the airplane. (Not our actual luggage, but the fate of our two missing bags.)

After he filed his report, he handed the phone to the other lady who had missing luggage, and she was placing her claim. We had landed at 12:45 p.m. and at 2:30 p.m. Brett went to get the car. We didn't wait to talk to the same agent the other people had talked to because we had an appointment at 3:00. I ran out to the car, and made a call to the same number the man had. I was able to make my luggage claim and found out that my bags would be on the next flight out of Seattle and in Minneapolis at 5:37 p.m.

With amazing luck, and grace, we pulled into the temple just in time. We sent the children into the stake center to find the group from our ward (thank you Bremners for showing them the way), and Brett and I walked to the front door of the temple. It was an amazing session with all of the people from our ward there.

Now I have this to take care of. The joys of returning home. Hopefully my washing machine will hold up so I can do a few loads of laundry.

Uncle Who?

We left Ketchikan on Friday afternoon, and flew to Seattle. We arrived in Seattle about 4:30 p.m. We went back to our five star hotel (the Travelodge). My sister Misty came to visit us and we went to dinner. She carted us to the Cheesecake Factory. We were able to meet her little guy, Ty, who loved Brett.

When Misty came to the hotel, Ty was having a little bit of a shy moment. We tried to warm him up, and I commented that I wish I had a ball. Misty thought about it and remembered that she had a ball in her car. I went out and got the ball and something that looked like a bat (I think it was a music shaker), and brought it in. We gave Ty the bat and the ball. He handed the ball to Brett to hold and wanted to hit it. Brett was a little nervous, so I pulled out a sleeve of plastic cups I was giving to Misty, and they used that as a tee. Ty loved hitting the ball, and my children loved fetching it for him.

After a little of that we decided to go to dinner, so we drove to the mall where we found the Cheesecake Factory. Misty took two trips, so she dropped Caleb, Claire and me off first and we signed in. When she returned with Brett, Emily, and Eli, our table was up. We were seated at a big round table. It was nice so we could all see each other and visit.

Tyler was naming people at the table, and he would look at Brett and yell out to him, "BUTT." We got a chuckle out of it. It happened many times. Ty would be eating, look up and see Brett and call out to him, "BUTT." We all appreciated it.

While we were at dinner, Huck called from our hotel and started walking to the restaurant. Misty's husband, Phil, had finished his softball game, and was on his way to eat with us, too. We did, however, cut out dinner short because Eli (who had eaten too much) excused himself from the table to go to the bathroom and threw up. We ordered a couple of pieces of cheesecake to go, packed up the left overs, and headed out. We found Huck on the side of the road and picked him up, and Phil got to the cheesecake factory right after the first carload went back, so he picked up the second carload of Asays and took them back to the hotel. We visited for a little while longer and then said good-bye to Misty, Phil, and Ty. Phil was at the beginning of a softball tournament, and he had games the next day (congratulation Phil's team for winning the tournament yesterday), and we all had to be at the airport by about 6:00 a.m.

It was so fun to see Misty and Phil and finally meet Ty, who I feel like I know because Misty does such a great job with her blog.

Just an additional note: All of the little ones liked Uncle Butt. D would go to him and call him Uncle Butt. April made a club with Claire and Brett and they called it the ABC (April, Brett, Claire) Club. In fact, while we were sitting in the hotel with Huck, his phone rang and it was April. She was a little sad and sounded like she was crying. She told her dad that she missed him and then asked if she could talk to Uncle Brett. He convinced her to go and read a book for their club. They love their UNCLE BUTT!

The Last Hurrah!

On Thursday, Heather and Caleb filled up some water balloons. We were not able to use them until Friday morning. On Friday the grown-ups were launching the balloons down the hill to the children, and then they decided to launch them at the children.

Huck loading the launcher with the last balloon.

Brett and Amber preparing for the launch.

The wounded. The balloon hit the mark - Emily's head.

Another of the wounded. J took one of the first hits. It welted his shoulder.

Brett and Huck couldn't stop laughing at the situation. Emily didn't even see the balloon coming. It hit her in the head and knocked her hood off. She started crying immediately and Brett and Huck doubled over laughing.

That night while we were eating, Brett randomly started laughing, and then commented that he doesn't think that he will ever stop laughing about Boo and being hit in the head.

Totem Poles and Tide Pools

We spent the last evening in Ketchikan out looking at the Totem Poles. We took pictures and later found out that if we would have gone during the day we would have been able to see some of the native dancing.

Brett taking some pictures.

The story of the Totem park.

Eli at one of the totem poles with the clan house behind him.

Brett with a puffed out chest.

One of the totem poles.

The top of a pole.

D and North jumping at the family pole.

The top of another pole.

The Asay kiddos.

One of the big totems at the park.

A hermit crab that abandoned its shell when I picked it up.

Day 7 of 7

The last trip out on the boat was on Thursday, the day before we left. Brett and Huck took out the girls who hadn't been out on the boat yet. They got to try their hand at fishing.

The girls...

and North got to go, too.

My little fisher.

Boo and her catch.

A reeling in a fish.

Em and Brett.

Autumn lounging in the sun.

They did really well this trip. They brought back 8 to 10 salmon. We kept 2 fillets, marinated them and had them for lunch the next day before we left.

Heather and Huck live in the bottom half of a house, and their landlords live upstairs. They were very patient with us. There were between 17 and 22 people at the house at any given time, and considering 13 of them were 12 and under, there was quite a bit of noise. The children played outside a lot, and they even played in the landlord's garage. They were very kind, so to say thank you, Heather and Huck washed and bagged the rest of the fillets and took them upstairs to their landlords.