My Mountain Man

*The caption for this picture is at the end of this post ....

During the work week he may seem like a city boy toting his Mac in his laptop bag, texting on his iphone and working in a fancy Seattle high-rise but on the evenings and weekends he's an entirely different man......

My downtown man becomes my outdoor guy dressed in his farmer clothes digging fence posts, building chicken coops, splitting wood and clearing the land. He thrives on being outside whether working or playing he'd rather be outdoors. His most recent project is making an obstacle course for the boys. He cleared a place back in the woods down by the creek, chopped down a tree (okay, chain-sawed) then hauled it across the gully, dug holes and sunk stumps of varying sizes into the ground staggering them for the boys to try and hop from stump to stump without falling off. If I remember correctly part of his "plan" includes a climbing wall, a zip line and....okay, I forgot the rest. But what I love most is not just that he does these sorts of outdoor guy things, it's that he does everything (whether working or playing) with our boys by his side. It makes me so happy to look out the window and see my three sons working alongside their Dad stacking wood, digging holes & hauling rocks. When they're done working and come inside they take off their muddy boots smelling of dirt and sweat and I can't help but smile with pride.


After they work, they always play. According to Aaron a Saturday would not be complete without doing "something fun." So outside they go again..... off to their next adventure. Sometimes it's fishing down at the pond, hiking or biking on the trails of Banner Forest. The last couple weeks when it was raining they went rock climbing at the Y.



His latest hobby and new found love is mountain climbing. As young men's president he plans and supervises the 16-17 year old boys on their scouting high adventures. This year he received stake approval to take the young men on a 3-day climbing expedition up Mt. Rainier. In preparation for this climb they'll have training climbs as they summit 4 other mountain peaks in the northwest. When I asked him why he was buying all the gear instead of just renting it he said, "I want to have all the gear for when our boys are older so that I can teach them how to climb mountains too".

REI and Sierra Trading post are my worst enemies right now. When the UPS truck comes up the driveway I'm rolling my eyes wondering what on earth he has bought now...doesn't he already have all of his gear? Apparently not, because even after many, many deliveries there still seems to be things he "needs." Ugh!!!
(I can already feel myself getting cranky as I type this). Sooooooooo, before this loving post takes a turn south, I'm going to take a deep breath and focus on the positive.......


I'm happy to be married to my outdoor guy who enjoys snow caving in the winter and mountain climbing in the spring and summer. A man who uses his brains at work and his muscles at home. That lets me dress him up when we go on a date but isn't afraid to get his hands in the dirt when he works. A man who works hard at whatever he does; whether a computer geek during the week or my outdoor guy on the weekends.

Here's to my mountain man husband that I love and adore, I hope our boys grow up to be just like you.

*Shopping for mountaineering glasses at REI on his lunch break, he sent me this (and 2 other pictures) he'd taken on his phone to get my opinion on which he should buy.....Trying to hide my irritation I replied, "whichever's cheapest!"

March Memories

I love Lauren's Fashion Sense.
It cracks me up when she comes downstairs wearing an outfit she's put together. This is one of her better combinations.

Ben loves riding the mower with Daddy.
Actually they all do. They patiently wait their turn to ride on Dad's lap. Aaron's always so sweet to let them hop aboard.

Anyone need a cell phone?
I love finding things like this around the house. It reminds me so much of myself when I was a little girl. My boys actually play with the same set of blocks that I played with as a kid. On one of those blocks you can see a bunch of numbers that I wrote on it years ago when I decided to turn one of them into my phone (this was back in the day before cell phones). I think Joseph was the one that made this wonderful styrafoam phone. Hey, that has a nice ring to it. Wow, I'm on a roll....

Rocket ship for Teddy
Another discovery I found one day up in the playroom. When I asked the boys what they had built they said it was a rocket ship for teddy.

Suma, Suma
For years this has been a fun game that Aaron plays with the kids. Usually it starts out with two opponents facing each other on opposite corners of the rug. "Suma, Suma" they say, then charge at each other trying to wrestle the other one to the floor. Usually it's just one kid against Daddy but as you can see from the picture it usually ends up turning into a huge wrestling match with all of them. Aaron told me once that it's his way of getting extra cuddles and snuggles from the kids.

Campfires and Silly Stories
Aaron is so great about being spontaneous. He loves taking the kids out to the fire pit in the woods next to our house and roasting hot dogs or smores. He'll do this on any given day of the week, just for fun. Part of their tradition includes telling silly stories around the campfire. We each take a turn and everyone gets to pick the name and type of animal that the story is about and then you just go for it and tell the best story you can. It's funny to hear what the kids come up with and Aaron too!

A Family Tradition

Last night was a special night for our family as we read the last few verses of this book of scripture. When we moved back to Washington Jacob and Joseph were 21 months and 2 months old. We knew that family scriputre study was something we wanted to do but were unsure about the appropriate age to begin this tradition. We decided that now was as good a time as ever and so we began.....
The boys were so little we just made it a part of their bedtime routine. We only read a handful of versus each night, then sang them a primary song (usually Teach me to Walk in the Light, or I am a Child of God) followed by a family prayer.


It has been over 6 years since we started this tradition. In that time we have only read through the Book of Mormon twice (last night being our second time). Sometimes the kids are crazy (what am I saying-most of the time they are), and sometimes you're wondering if this is really doing any good. But then there are those occasional moments when you're discussing what's been read and teaching them a principle of the gospel and a sweet spirit fills the room as you find yourself bearing sincere and heartfelt testimony to your surprisingly attentive children. These are the moments we wait for.

You never know when something you read or something you say will sink in or speak to their little hearts. And whether or not it's a spiritual feast (and it rarely is) we have seen many benefits to doing this each night. Now that the boys are older they participate too following along in their own scriptures as Aaron reads aloud. Then each of them take their turns reading a verse or two. I am amazed at how there almost always seems to be something that we can learn from just the short amount of verses read each night. When we apply these scripture stories and gospel principles to our everyday lives we've found many opportunities to have great conversations with our kids talking about a variety of topics ranging from compassion and courage to charity, contention and even chastity.


Probably like most parents we struggle every day, trying our hardest to raise our children in the best possible way. Daily we make mistakes and hope that our kids will overlook our imperfections and forgive us for the things we do and maybe don't do so well. With that said I pray that when all my children have grown and the apron strings have been cut, that they'll sail off into the horizon of their lives equipped with what they need to have a safe journey.


As their mother it is my sincere hope that this legacy of faith we have established will sail with them upon the seas of their lives. That they'll sail with confidence as they navigate their way on this mortal voyage, equipped with the assurance that they are not alone. That their Father in Heaven loves them deeply and that Jesus Christ is their Savior, Redeemer and truest friend. He will captain their lives if they turn the wheel over to Him. By following His gospel and teachings they'll sail on calmer, safer seas finding joy in the journey as they learn and grow through the storms and calms of their lives. Sincere prayer and study of the scriptures are the compass and map that will help them find their way back to God. Daily I carry in my heart the hope that these traditions we set in place for our growing children will one day be the light they turn to when they've left the safe harbor of their childhood home.

For those of you who are not of our faith I pray that you will feel a yearning in your heart to seek the Lord in your life and feel of the peace that following His path brings. He has changed my life in so many ways and continues to be my kind, wise and trusted friend. If you want to learn more about these beliefs I invite you to visit this website that can teach you more.

http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/

Too Busy to Blog....

So I have a list of things I want to blog about but we've been so busy with house projects and entertaining visitors that my blog has fallen to the bottom of my list of priorities. It is, however, important to me to preserve these memories so on my desk in the office I keep a running list of things I need to blog about....Here are just a few as I chip away at my list:

Lauren's BAD haircut....

Yes indeed.....I totally screamed.

I was in the kitchen when Lauren came downstairs just moments after her bangs had been lovingly cut by her big brother Ben. Just a few steps behind her was the culprit holding the green handled craft scissors in his naughty little hand. With each step she took I saw how terrible it really was and I literally screamed in prolonged shock as she got closer and closer, revealing to me that this was indeed very, very real. This is the 3rd time my son has cut my daughters hair and the 3rd time EVER that ANY of my children have been caught cutting hair. Why, oh why, does it always have to be on my little girl ? How though do you punish a sweet little boy that each time thinks he's doing something good by making his little sister "look pretty?" (In his defense she was in desperate need of getting her bangs trimmed). Will this be the last time he takes matters into his own hands or did my screams of terror at the sight of his hack-job scar him for life and remind him to keep those craft scissors away from my daughters hair! After I got over the shock I got out the flat iron and multilple hair accessories in an attempt to conceal the missing bangs....this is about as good as it's gonna get for the next 4-6 months.


Speaking of Ben, whom I love dearly (truly), I've been noticing that as he's getting older he is becoming quite the little pessimist. I don't believe in labeling my children, although it can be difficult at times when you have a chronic liar (not Ben) in your household. Or when you have a son like Ben who whines and complains about a great many things. I confess that lately I've been biting my tongue (sometimes unsuccessfully) to keep myself from calling him a "little grump". Just for fun I started writing down on my magnetic grocery list some of the "grumpy things" that he has said....mind you this is just a little sampling. It seems that daily he finds new things to grumble and complain about. I'm really hoping that this is just a passing phase....

Some of Ben's Grumpy Quotes

"This dinner looks slimy..."

"Why do I have to do everything?"

"Oh great, I hope it's not Family Home Evening."

"I don't like this day."

"Why do I always have to say the family prayer?"

"Oh great, I hate this bread."

"This is a dumb shirt."

May I take your Order, please?

I've been keeping busy with a lot of projects around the house since the new year. While I was re-painting the bathroom vanity Lauren was a busy little bee getting into everything. After I pulled the drawers out to paint I couldn't keep her out of that cabinet! She was making such a mess of things I was getting a little irritated but at least she was staying away from the wet paint. My irritation melted away rather quickly though when I came in to find her sitting on the side of the cabinet with her head peeking out pretending to be a drive-thru girl at McDonalds. "Mama" she said, "Do you want ice-cream or french fries?" I nearly burst into laughter. It was just what I needed to take me out of my busy, busy mode of trying to finish the painting before picking the boys up from school. I sat down on the floor and played along for a few minutes all the while smiling from ear to ear at this funny little girl....

Updates

"The Club" is what they call it and we've been spending a lot of time down there lately. The kids love going down to the beach and anytime we have friends over for the day we all pile into the back of the suburban and drive down the road to driftwood cove. I look forward to when they get older and they're old enough to ride their bikes down there to spend an afternoon playing on the beach. It's such a great place to play. This is a picture of Joseph and his friend Hank next to the club they built out of driftwood.



It's been raining a lot lately and when it's a Saturday and it's raining there's only so many things fun things you can do. Aaron's been great about taking the kids to the YMCA to climb the rock wall.

Here's a picture of Jacob at the top.

We were so happy to have a visit from Megan and her family this month. The kids enjoyed playing around with their cousins Tyssen and Trenton. We even got to celebrate Tyssens 5th Birthday! I sure wish she lived closer, I just love my little nephews.

Cute stuff from January

Lauren has been using her tea set from Grandma and Grandpa a lot. The other day I went in to the bathroom and found her just like this. I only hope she didn't get the water in her tea cup out of the toilet!



Jacob has been working on earning his Wolf badge in cub scouts. One of the things he had to do was to learn how to tie a tie. He was very proud that he could do it all by himself.




We took the kids to the Pacific Science Center for the Mission to Mars exhibit. The IMAX film about the Mars Rovers was absolutely amazing and captivated the kids for the entire 45 minutes. Pretty impressive for a scientific documentary.

As we were walking down to see the Mars exhibit I looked behind me to see Joseph and Ben rolling down the sloped ramp down to the ground floor. Ahhhhh, to be a kid again, they find fun in the most unusual places.



This month has started a chess and checkers craze in our home. I dug out the checker board one day and taught Jacob how to play, soon the other boys learned too. Then we got a chess set and Aaron taught them all how to play. Now Jacob is always asking me to play chess with him. He has beaten me more times than I have beaten him. Benjamin is more at my level when it comes to chess. Pretty embarrassing that a 5 year old is an equal match for my wit.




There seems to be a magnetic attraction between kids and water. I love the look on Laurens face. She realized that she was caught before the boys even knew I was there looking at the water all over the counter top, dripping down the cabinet and all over the floor. I think Lauren was probably thinking one word when she saw me in the doorway, "Busted!"

For my Children

(chalkboard art - compliments of Joseph)

Every night I go into your room to check on you before I go to bed. I see you laying there so sweetly and peacefully. I place my hand on your head and stroke your hair then lean in to kiss your cheek and whisper "Mommy loves you" in your ear. It's usually at this time that the weight of the day comes crushing down on me and the guilt sets in for anything and everything related to mothering that I've done or not done for that day. Guilt for the missed opportunities to show you how much I love you. Guilt for not enjoying every little cute or funny thing you said or did (because I was too stressed or too irritated with all the messes or the bickering to even notice). Guilt over forgetting you're a child and being too hard on you for doing things that kids just do. Guilt over a harsh word spoken or a lost temper that erupted far more than was necessary for that given situation. Guilt over the misuse of my time (however well-intentioned) I allowed myself to get caught up in the "thick of thin things" and I missed those opportunities to share in those simple joyful moments with you my sweet children.

The most hurtful thing is when I find notes that you've scribbled on a little piece of paper or written on your chalkboard that say things like "Mommy's mean" or "Mommy doesn't love me" just because you were punished or sent to your room. Or the times when I tuck you in at night and you roll over to the far end of the bed where I can't reach you on that top bunk because I've hurt your feelings and you're still sulking over being punished. You won't even let me give you a hug and kiss goodnight. It wouldn't upset me as much if I thought you were just trying to get attention. The reason it makes me so sad is because I know you really are hurt and the cause of your hurt is because of my inability to handle your quirky, obnoxious, disobedient behavior. In that moment I know that you really do feel I'm "the meanest Mom" and sometimes there's a part of me that believes you.

Later that evening I leave your room after giving you that kiss on your cheek and whispering "Mama loves you" in your sleeping ear. Another day over, another battle fought. We've both been wounded but we'll feel better in the morning. All will be forgiven; the slate is washed clean and we'll both start over again. You'll come down for breakfast rubbing your sleepy eyes and I'll meet you at the bottom step. "Good morning sweetheart, how did you sleep?" And so another day begins.....

I'll keep trying to love you and parent you the best that I can and hope that my best will be good enough to help us both get through the day with a happier ending. I'll try harder to let go of the stresses and messes and enjoy each of your sweet smiling faces. I will try harder to savor the things you say and do that should make me laugh instead of make me mad. I will try to be the mother to you that I thought was so easy to be......until I had 4 kids.

I'm sorry for everything that I do that does not fit that cookie cutter mold I had designed in my mind. The mother I wanted to be (and once was) before my plate was so full and so much of me was spread so thin. My hope and desire has always been to be the kind of mother that you look back on with the sweetest of memories. I've never wanted anything more than that for you my sweet, precious children. Please don't interpret my shortcomings and inabilities to manage myself as an indicator of my love for you. It hurts me more than you can know that I've fallen from that high place in my idealistic mind and regularly find myself not on that top shelf but in a heap on the floor picking myself up (yet again) and climbing back up to that place in which I want to be. Please be patient with me and know that I love you more than you could ever know. And please Heavenly Father help my children to survive my shortcomings.