WHERE DID IT GO?

August, where did it go?
First week we took off for Utah. My niece Stacy was getting married on the 14th, we decided to drive so we could help out and stay a couple weeks.
The kids and I got up at 3a and hit the road. The drive was great, the kids
did excellent. Dalton slept 75% of the way, he was ready to go when we got there. After 13 1/2 hrs, I was ready for sleep but Phoenix's reminded me she had forgotten her dress. So, I pulled myself out of the chair to get in the car "again" and run to the mall. I don't mind shopping but I was ready to grab the first thing and run, but you know teenagers. We did find a really cute dress and we were ready for church the next morning.
My niece Amber was having her baby boy Josh blessed. It was fun, no one knew we were going to be there. They had a really nice get together after, Amber made the best crepe's....must make those @ home.

The next 2 weeks were really fun, just being with family. Helped my mom get the yard ready for the reception. The reception turned out great and then we had to head back home again. So soon, seemed like we just
got there. We did the same thing, got up at 3a and drove thru. This time there was alot of construction but we made pretty good time. I do like road trips but it is nice when there is someone else to help drive!

Last 2 weeks of Aug. we spent getting ready for school. Did not have a thing for the kids yet. Gabe left for Alaska on the 22nd, 5 days after we got home. He will probably be up there for a month working.

IN THE SWIM

I'm thinking you are probably tired of hearing about the beach, but we are not tired of going. As long as the sun last, I'm going to post water photo's anyway. LOL

CRABBING

Last week was a blast crabbing. Gabe was teaching Dalton how to run the jet boat. He did awesome, he also helped pull the crab pots. They are VERY heavy when they are full. Think we have a natural on our hands. We had some friends come over from Eastern WA who went with us on Sat, then we went clamming on Sunday. I definitely think we got enough sun and crab last week.

BEACH, BEACHIEST, JUST BEACHY

What more can I say, the summer so far has been awesome. The beach has been fantastic. We have spent more time the past month, in the sun swimming than we usually do the whole summer. The kids are having some fun days with their friends... bonfires and smore parties.

Do have to say, I have washed more than my share of beach towels!

4th was, as every year a blast. lol Fireworks going off everywhere.

There is not a word to discribe how cool it is to watch the fireworks going in 10 different directions. Iverson beach really out did themselves. They had huge ones going , one after another for hours. To top it all off, it was a warm night, no blankets just a little bonfire.

Later yesterday we were down at the beach, the tide came in. Dalton had a new swim shirt. He was swimming around and would blow air into the front of his shirt, it would inflat it and he would float around. Pretty funny.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Sigh...my little girl graduated from Middle School. I'm still in shock, I can't believe she will be going to High School next yr. I can't even say it. Hiiiighh Sccchhhhool (quivering).
They had a wonderful ceremony in the high school gym. It was about 1000 degrees in there!
Gabe is not one for loving the formal deal, I don't know who was more wiggly on those hard, cramped bleachers, he or Dalton LOL I thought the faculty did an excellent job. They had a slide show with every graduating member and fun things they did through the year. Then handed out certificates. I guess I should use their word, it was called "PROMOTION".

Phoenix had 3 grade parties to go to and I think she is ready to just relax for a week and take
a breather... HA HA she is not relaxing we have to much work to do.

ALLSTARS

Dalton's baseball team was so much fun this year they had a great end of the year party at the
park. It was one of the teamates birthdays so they had cake/ice cream. Fun get together.

Transaction to next years team will be a big one. This year the coaches pitched, next year it's the kids. Being Dalton has a late birthday, he had to play with the younger kids while most of his schoolmates were on the older team. He made the allstar team which is giving him another
4 weeks of practice and about 4/5 more games. He has to try out for a team next year so we are hoping this will help him. Only bad thing is we have to stick around here for another 3 week!

UPDATE: Dalton's first allstar game they won, 36 to 1. It was good batting practice for his team and good outfield practice for the other team. I did feel bad for the other team, they tried so hard, just not their night. The next game was friday night. The other coach and any of his kids from his original team did not even show. Not surprising this coach was one of those people
who made up his own rules. Everyone else in the league has been great. This age group there are no ump's, so everyone works together to call the game, no problem until this coach. Sad, he
was yelling at other parents on the field in front of the kids. So, they ended up splitting Dalton's team (for the game) with what other kids showed and coached both teams. They had a fun game, even in the rain.

WORST MOM AWARD

I mean, it, today I deserve it! Have many other posts I need to do but I'll start with this one.
Crazy, Crazy 2 weeks, last night we were all exhausted. Last day of school today, Phoenix didn't need to go and frankly, I doubt I could of gotten out of bed! Dalton needed to go and they had short day, which is normally out at 12:00. Dropped him off at school,came back and cleaned, showered, ready to take Phoenix to her friends house for their overnight party at the lake.
We had to meet one of her friends at the store grab some munchies. It's oh 11:06, an elementary school is right down the street from her friends. I look and all the kids are out of school, I said, "are the kids out at 11:00".. I pull in her friends house in a panic, try to get Phoenix out and everybody is pulling in and out. The parking is a square with a long drive so you have to do some maneuvering just to get out, let alone with 5 cars there. Her dad is a cop, his cruiser is behind me. I could not screech out of there like I wanted to. The panic you say...well Dalton's school is 20 min from the house and I'm not out of the drive. The schools not answering. We all watch the movie's where the parents forget the kids. The funny thing is I was so tired I told Phoenix, remind me to get Dalton cause today I may just forget. In 8 yrs of picking the kids up everyday, I may have been late 10 min, a couple times. Finally the school picks up, I'm sure she could hear the panic in my voice. I get there at 11:25, my heart was pounding the whole way and of course everyone was going SLOW. Dalton was in the office and I don't know if the ladies were laughing or cursing me behind their smiles. Now D. can say he was last one out on the last day of school.

The starting of the coop!

YESSS! We have finally started on the chicken coop! After about a month of nagging, I have gotten my father to start building hahaha!(Victory laugh). But I think it is only because his friend is in town and he is a framer, but I don't care! As long as we are nailing wood together, I am ecstatic!!!!!

CATCHING

Another baseball season has almost wound down. Just a few more weeks left. Dalton
is doing great considering he was yawning out in the outfield last year. This year he is batting
great, getting more than a few doubles. He also has secured a spot as catcher. Keeps him busy, which is a must for him. Last night and 2 games ago he caught a foul pop-up off the batter, while he was catching. Awesome being the sun was shinning in his eyes both nights. I asked him
if he was surprised if he caught them, he said "nope". I don't know about you but being behind
the bats of kids would unnerve me, does not seem to bother him at all. Good Job D!

GRIFFIN

I am proud to say that my little brood is growing up! But unfortunately with 1 causality, Bamboosa. She escaped out of a hole the old duck pen that we are using to put the chickens outside and our standard poodle (Figaro) ate her, I have to say I'm quite sick of that dog! so sad. But the other 6 chickens are doing wonderful like (above) Griffin! She is a silver polish and her hair is starting to grow out and she looks absolutely hysterical, every time I see her I can't help but to laugh. She is also very inquisitive. I came out to check up on them and saw that she was just sitting in the grass and staring at the dandelion seeds float by, cocking her head. One of my other chicks hawk, is pretty funny because she is (no pun intended, OK... a little lol) a total chicken. If anything new comes by her she runs away chirping and squawking haha or to mommy (smugly me) and jumps on me if I'm sitting and atempts to hide lol. - Chicken Crazed Phoenix

WHY

Do you ever wake up and just wonder "WHY" you do the things you do. Sometimes I take myself too seriously and then other hand I can laugh at myself and think others should be able to laugh with me! So, I'm going to share some of my recent duh moments with a "WHY". Oh and when I think of them I will add others & some family ones too! Here goes..

WHY....did I just pour a glass of orange juice only to turn around to find a glass I had poured 2 min ago. (this was not a one time deal)!
WHY...do I open up the cupboard to get out the peanut butter in the morning, knowing full well
I already had it out and it's sitting on the counter.
WHY....the past few months did new wrinkles suddenly appear under my eyes. They were not there 3 months ago and they came so quickly??? Well I have the answer to that one. Want to hear? First, I thought well life has been a little stressful lately, and you know you don't sleep or your not drinking enough water. Well NOPE that's not the answer. This is the answer. I was tired of spending $$$ on my regular skin care I've used for yrs. So, at costco there was a good brand I had used a long time ago. Their normal skin pair products if you get them on their site on-line cost $40 on up. Who knows if the Costco ones are the same but hey, I could try. Well
Phoenix really loves the mast (ok this is long) and they came in a group. I thought they were mask, deep cleanser and face lotion. I bought 2 sets at different times. I kept one bottle of lotion in our main bath and the other in Phoenix's bathroom. At night I use Phoenix's bathroom so I don't wake dalton. I have been slopping on this lotion at night cause it's been cold and my skin has been really dry, which is normal. I've been using this for 3 months and the other night
I looked at the "LOTION" bottle. It read "gentle cleaner. WHY for 3 months have I not read the bottle. Yes, it looks exactly like the other bottle but...I can read. So there you have it, a
major WHY moment.

Gabe WHY moment:
WHY...has Gabe been craving fried chicken 4 times a week?? This is a man who rarely will
eat leftovers or the same thing in 2 weeks? WHY, has he gained 10 lbs, don't think I really need to ask why on that one? lol

So there you go the beggining of the "why factor". Feel free to add your own why's and lets laugh.

RIBIT RIBIT

Dalton came into the house yelling, mom, mom... I thought there was something wrong. "Come outside". I ran outside and the kids were by the fountain. They had found a frog up at the pond in the seasonal stream that flows into it. They have found tree frogs around the property but this was a pond frog. They let it swim around the fountain for a few minutes then returned it to it's home. I'm sure they will be looking for more!

ALMOST SEVENTY

Monday was the first day of spring break for the kids. We stayed home for the first time in many years. Mainly we had baby chickens to tend to and we went to Utah over Christmas.
The weather was beautiful, it reached almost 70 that day and around 3:00 the tide was in... we headed to the beach. Ahhh...the sand and sun. Phoenix and I plunked down some big towels and
layed there soaking in the sun. Dalton had other ideas. He headed for the water and actually stayed in for an hour. Phoenix tiptoed in and and ran back to the sand and said it's cold mom, Dalton's legs must be blue. Dalton said "it's great". He also found a huge piece of board which
became his surfboard. He and Teal had a great time in the water and none of us wanted the day
to end.

Chicks

We now have an addition to our animal family. LOL Phoenix has wanted chickens forever
....I have always said no. We were in the feed store picking up some bunny food, the kids
were looking at the new batch of chicks that came in. This chick kept following Dalton wherever he moved, it was so cute. So I finally said "yes", I'm such a sucker. Phoenix built them a pen and we have them inside for now,we can put them outside when it warms up and we can build a coop. They are growing so fast and we have trained almost all of them to jump up on our arms. We have 7, Dalton's is captain crunch, then; bumble, ambrosia, griffin, bambooza, dixie, and hawk(for now). Kids are having a blast with them.

THE CLEAR BLUE

Gabe came home and asked if we would like to go out on the Strider for a few hours the next day. They were taking the boat to the yard to work on. So we loaded up and went down to Edmonds to jump on. It was a clear beautiful day and had actually warmed up to about 45. We had to take it thru the locks which was a really cool experience. They had to stear this 65+ft gorgeous boat into the locks (cement on both sides). Then, it fills up with water so the boat raises up to the level on the other side of the locks. Billy, Gabe's friend, the captain was cool as could be. Don't know how he can do it. We had a really fun day together out on the water.

LOOK OUT "GIANT SQUID"!!!!

Phoenix had a science project in school. A "CSI" with labs sort of thing. The teacher also assigned each pair a storyline, they were to create a video and characters. Their's was to be a "giant talking squid who get's killed". It was supposed to be in sortof cartoonish, funny form. Everyone else was going to dress up their pets for the video. Phoenix came up with the idea to make Dalton the squid. I was in the middle of taxes and told her I would take her to the fabric store and the costume was up to her. To my surprise, she whipped it up in a couple hours. Of course, Dalton goofball that he is.. LOVED playing the crazy squid.

????? ok this blog did not publish! Sad thing is I can't even remember what is was about!! LOL
I know it was good though. HA

photo's

They took pictures at wrestling. The results I will post when we get the photo's back. They had all the little guys there too, which resulted in 50 crazy boys + 1 girl running around while they all got their individuals taken. I cannot even explain the zoo it was, maybe liken it to 50 moneys in a cage jumping, dragging each other all around. It was actually hysterical!!! They had a fun hour but it was hard getting them to settle down when practice started. I got one photo from my camera phone, the photographer starting to get the picture organized one by one....notice it is blurry! Dalton is in there somewhere.

BOOKS

I love to read. Yes, I do but I very seldom actually have time to sit down and make it thru an entire book. I read everything else, the computer, paper, but it has been awhile since I have read a good book.

When I was in Nashville my sister-in-law took me to their new favorite find. A used bookstore. She told me about it and said "we will want at least 2 hrs". I thought oh, that's a long time. We walked in and the place was HUGE. My main focus was finding books for Phoenix because she reads us out of house and home. Darice had great picks and we had a stack in no time. I took a few home with me and shipped the rest. We had a great time and "laughed until we were sick at some of the book covers and the guy with the "great eyeshadow". She already had Twilight and I started reading it when I was there, just because I had extra time. Phoenix wanted me to read the series, so I could talk to her about them. I know the majority loves these books "BUT", they are fun BUT, I only got to page 120 and just could not take "HIS EYES" anymore. So, I started reading "Ender's game" by Orson Scott Card. I could not put this book down and can't wait to read another of his. I don't know why, this just is not something I would choose but Thank You, Dar...great pick Oh, yes, I will get back to the "Series" and even enjoyed the midnight showing
with 300 screaming girls. "THOSE EYE'S"!

FOG

Well if it isnt rain or snow if fog. January the sun does not get thru the forest to our front yard, so it's usually about 10 degrees colder than the rest of the area. We went down to Mukilteo house to work on it Sat and it was 45 degrees here and 57 there, it felt like spring. Yes, we are still working on it!!!! It is looking beautiful, and near the point that our friend can move in and rent it. We will love the extra $, he is also interested in purchasing and with the housing market we think renting it to him is the best option. I will post some photo's after we get some paint on.

I also started compiling our tax information..this job I don't love but when I get started it takes me back to my past life. LOL By the time I finish I usually have 50 spreedsheets for our accountant. Yes, I know I should work on it all year but I never do! Our kitchen table is now full of receipts I just organized.

Phoenix came home and announced she might play basketball, we filled out the forms this weekend and she turns them in today. Now, she has informed me in the past "SHE does not like basketball". Her coach at the volleyball party was begging her to play. She told her "look, I cannot even dribble a ball and I know nothing about the game". Coach still pleeded. Could it maybe be she is one of the tallest girls in 8th grade??? Mmmm, we will see what transpires...I'm laughing and she is laughing cause the only basketball game she has ever watched was Dalton when he played last year.

Grubby Granola!

Caution: Do not Read This If You Are Easily Grossed Out!!!

As i get in to the car after school, my mother tells the grosses thing I have ever heard! Ok..so she said she was in the mood for cleaning weird things so she decided to clean the downstairs cereal cabinet (Which we hardly ever use) and when she looked inside there was a seemingly harmless box of cereal granola, so clueless, she opened it without looking inside... and stuck her hand in and grabbed what she thought was granola. Mom put it in her mouth! she told me that it tasted and felt a bit strange so she spit it out and there was stringy moldy stuff all over it!!!!!
EEEEWWW right?!?! and that isn't the grossest part yet! When She looked inside THERE WERE MAGGOTY WORMS ALL OVER!!!!!!!! crawling up the sides of the plastic, in the cereal, and just all over!!!
-phoenix

phoenix's creation

MOJO

This is dedicated to my mother-in-law. Thank you for leaving behind your MOJO! Read on..

When Bert, real name Bertha in case you are wondering, comes to visit she wanders around the property, loving it. However, she does it oh so carefully because she is afraid of stepping in dog do do. Now it's impossible for me with 7 1/2 acres to find every place my "dogs" deposit in, so chances of stepping in it are pretty good. Last time she was down I was laughing away at her because I never step in it, never watch for it, and the kids don't usually land in it either. She commented on "if it's there, she will find it and land in it". They have been back in Alaska for about a month. About 2 wks ago I was running around at my usually pace and what happens, I stepped in it.. NO@! Today I was out picking up in front of the garage and whish, right in, you guess it. I don't know which dog did it but "WHY", with all the property would you do it there. So I cleaned it all off, which took me a good 15 minutes. Later as we were checking out the pond I stepped in some again, twice in one day!
I therefore, am dedicating this do do mojo blog to my mother-in-law who I dearly love but next time, I promise, I won't laugh.

SOGGY BOTTOMS

Enough already. First it's snow and cold and now RAIN!!! It's 50 outside right now and raining
to beat the the band. All the rivers are overflowing and at flood stages. We are fine where we are, but all the surrounding towns with any kind of stream/river (which is almost every town)
is going to be affected. Phoenix came out of school and announced "NO school tomorrow". AHHH They are going to be in school until July at this rate and it's only January.

We walked up to our pond to check things out. It is...need I say full. There is an inlet and outlet so it will not flood over. It is a natural stream that heads down to the water in the springtime. Kids had fun playing in the standing water and exploring, following the stream up into the forest.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas day was an early one, the kids and I left our house at 3a, hit a blizzard driving down to the airport but luckily when we arrived at the airport it was not snowing there. We got to SLC just in time for the snow to start falling made it to my moms about 12. Everyone came over throughout the day. We ate dinner, chatted and just had a good time. It was fun but also a little sad, Gabe and to stay behind and work. The previous week, because of the snow, everything basically shut down. Therefore, Gabe and his guys could not work and were a week behind. Gabe made the decision he needed to stay and get his jobs done. I had a tough time, stay or go, go or stay. With my dad so sick and Gabe going to be working everyday, the kids and I decided to go. This was the first time I have been home for Christmas in 8 or 9 years.

We had plans to go to a play w/my brother Paul but that fell through... because of the SNOW! We did make it to the movies with them. We saw the show "Forever Strong" about Brighton Highs Rugby coach and players. It was a great movie for the kids, had a very good moral story to it. However girls being girls (Phoenix & my niece) came out all giggly from the "cute guys" on the screen. After we went down and played the card game "slide 5" with them. All 10 of us played and if you have never played it you should find a set. I ordered us one the minute I got home. Paul uses a site called www.funagain.com, which has a ton of games. I think target also carries it on-line.

We saw my dad and went to dinner with him. He is really not doing well but considering, he is a tough old dude. It was really nice to have some one-on-one time with him. Hard to see him in
so much pain.

New years we went out to Carla & Farrell's house. Carla made mega Chinese Food for everyone,
thanks Carla. I came home and tried some of your recipes...they are delicious!

The flight home was quick, it was a new plane and all the seats had there own TV screen. Kept Dalton totally entertained.