Baby Fish

I asked Madeline while we were making lunch today if she had any ideas for names for the new baby. She replied, "She will be a girl and I will name her Ariel".

I asked what names she likes for a baby boy (I really feel like it's a boy, but I thought Madeline was a boy, so what do I know?). She usually refuses to discuss anything regarding the possibility that the baby is a boy, but today she indulged me with this answer, "Fish. Yellow Fish. That could be his name".

Letter to Santa

Madeline and I are in Logan this week working on some sewing projects for Christmas with my mom. One of the many perks of spending time here is that Madeline goes right up to see my mom when she wakes up and I can stay in bed a little longer. Early this morning they found a "Letters to Santa" form in the newspaper. Madeline dictated her little letter to my mom. This is what she said:

Dear Santa,

I am a good girl. I would like pots and pans and a stove and a kitchen and a apron for Christmas. I like to cut. I like to tell stories. I like to be Cinderella I like to color with crayons. I like my coloring books. I will not cry anymore at bedtime and I like my moon to sleep. I like my dresses and my glass slippers.

Madeline

The letter will go in the mail today to ensure that Santa will know just what to bring.

Santa Scare

This week has been a week of Christmas parties for us. It began with our ward Christmas party on Tuesday night. I knew a "certain" visitor would be there, so we spent the day preparing Madeline for the big night. We've actually never stayed at any of our past Christmas parties long enough to see Santa, so this was all new for little Madeline. We talked about how the children sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. She had her list down. She was ready.

The evening began with dinner, of which she refused all but the cinnamon rolls and Christmas candy. Dinner was followed by a short program. At the end of the program all of the primary children stood in front of the stage to sing a few songs. Madeline's eyes got wide, and she asked, "Mommy, can I please go sing with the other children. I really, really want to". So, up she went. She looked adorable up there looking at the other kids, and not singing a word. She's so exited to grow up. Little does she know that she'll have to spend another whole year in nursery. She happened to be standing next to the dessert table during the little serenade, and every few seconds would reach up to try and steal a morsel, only to be met by "No, Madeline" whispers from her mean parents.

She ran back to our table, and Santa made his big appearance. Her face fell in fear, and she refused to look at him as he walked across the gym to his special chair. There wasn't a chance she was going to sit on his lap. We were able to get close enough to watch Santa without a major meltdown. I saw that Santa was handing out a pretty big bag of candy to each child who sat on his lap. I tried to entice Madeline with the big bag of candy, but she just replied, "No, I don't want any candy today. Not today, Mommy".

On the way home we talked about how Santa was going to know what to get her for Christmas. She said, "That's ok. I don't need any presents from Santa". She really thought he wouldn't bring her anything, and would rather that than sit on his lap! So, we've settled on writing him a letter with her list.

Today I'm Thankful For...

I have a lot to be thankful for today, but I'm most thankful for our new child who will be arriving in June. We are so exited that it's finally time for this little one to join our family. I'll be even more exited when I get over this awful "morning" (or every second of the day) sickness, which is why my posting has been few and far between. This pregnancy feels exactly the same as my first, so I'm calculating that I should feel better in the middle of January. After that, hopefully we'll be smooth sailing until the delivery.

I told Madeline the news a few weeks ago, and I'd like to share her immediate thoughts on the subject:

"Mom, if that baby is a brother, I would cry"

"I will help you to rest when your tummy feels sick"... followed later in the day by, "NO, mommy! Don't rest!"

"Mommy, are that baby's legs in your belly?

So, I guess that's our news.

Fun pre, not so fun actual Halloween

We had lots of fun activities leading up to Halloween this year. Scott's sister, Andrea, throws a big Halloween bash every year. This was the first year we were in town to attend. The picture above was taken in her living room - she really goes all out! We dressed up as a family of creepy crawly things. Scott was a stink bug, I was a black widow spider, and Madeline was a butterfly.

We are so lucky to be able to do so many things with family now.

Halloween wouldn't be complete with out a trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a much different experience this year than we were used to in Dallas. The pumpkin patch was held in someone's yard, and it was about 40 degrees out. No bounce houses, no hayrides, no sno cones, no 80 degree weather. Madeline got to choose her own pumpkin and design it herself this year. Basically, she covered the entire thing with green permanent marker scribbles.

The day before Halloween, there was a party at the church. Different families decorated doors around the building, and the kids went trick-or-treating to all of the doors. The weather was miserable outside, so I was all about indoor trick-or-treating. And, believe it or not, this was Madeline's first time. We practiced all week what to say at the door. When the big day came, Madeline refused to say "trick-or-treat", but she did say a quiet little "sank you"after she was given candy each time. It was a sweet experience to watch this for the first time. The candy has been ever so helpful this week for bribery and good behavior.

Our actual Halloween, however, was not so fun. I spent the day on the couch with my hand in a bucket of water. On Saturday night we had family in town and decided to make popcorn balls and caramel apples. I was in charge of the caramel apples. At one point I noticed that the temperature on the candy thermometer wasn't rising at all, and saw the it wasn't lowered enough into the pot. When I pushed it down, somehow it got stuck, the clip on the back flew off, and the caramel spilled onto the top of my left hand, and a little down my forearm. 250 degree caramel. It's been a hard week because I can't do much with my hand, like pick up my child or do the dishes. I'll spare you any nasty pictures. It's not pretty at all. I can tell it's starting to heal up a little,but I'm sure it'll be a long road. I think my candy making career is over forever. The apples turned out well, though.

While The Boys Are Away...

Scott is working 16+ hour days and my dad has been in China, so Madeline and I decided to come down to Logan for a few days and visit my mom and sister. It never fails that these little visits turn into days packed with driving, shopping, and projects. This trip has not been an exception.

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and started some projects. On Wednesday morning we drove up into the mountains near Price, Utah (4 1/2 hours) to visit my maternal grandma. She's been living in a little cabin up there for the past five years, and I'd never been to visit. She actually just met Madeline for the first time a month ago, so we also thought it would be nice for them to get to know one another. On Thursday morning, my mom's two sisters also drove up to the cabin. We had fun riding four wheelers, roasting marshmallows, playing cards, and telling old stories. We also went on a little fishing trip in the middle of the day. You'll never believe who the only person to catch fish was...Madeline. She caught three. This was a good thing, because she kept assuring us that she really needed to catch a mommy and daddy so that her first fish wouldn't be sad.

We left Thursday evening and stopped in Orem to pay a quick visit to my paternal grandma, and finally made it back to Logan late that night. We've been running around yesterday and today shopping, cleaning, and finishing our projects. I've got a sign and a chair sling yet to finish. Halloween costumes are done. Hair bows for Madeline are done for now, until she breaks them all, which is just inevitable.

My dad returns from China tonight, and we'll head back to Idaho in the morning. I'm exited to hear all of his stories. If he's awake enough to tell any.

Harvest

It is harvest time in Paul, Idaho. There is an air of excitement around town. This is the season when the farmers are able to reap the benefits for the seeds they sowed in the spring and the hard work of the summer. Scott is participating in the sugar beet harvest this year. He's a real trooper, and I'm proud of him for being willing to work hard for his little ladies.

The other thing we are reaping are the benefits from the good friendships my in-laws have sowed for so many years. We've been able to pick up potatoes left in the ground after harvest in a friend's field. We've also picked corn, tomatoes, italian prune plums, pears, peppers, onions, and peaches. It was all given to us by friends. Some of it is being stored in the garage, some has been frozen, some canned, some dried, and some eaten. I'm so exited to be able to eat all of this fresh produce this winter. We've already enjoyed peach cobbler, plum pie, fresh marinara sauce, and stuffed peppers. Lets not forget the potatoes. They're pretty much a staple of life here in the winter. We've tried potato leek soup, baked potatoes with bbq shredded chicken, au gratin potatoes, and potato pizza. How do you like your potatoes? I need some good ideas. We've got 9 boxes to go through.

I think this season is full of rich symbolism. We don't get something for nothing in life. I've been thinking a lot about the "seeds" I've been sowing, and hope they are good seeds. I know that with hard work and time I will reap the blessings of an abundant life.

“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7)

Peapod Plus

We had a hard night last Friday to top off all of the hard nights we'd had for the past couple of months. The transition out of the crib had not been going well. Not well at all. As I laid in bed at 1 am, prayerful, exhausted, and frustrated, I had the thought to move her to a different bedroom than she had been sleeping in and buy her this little beauty.

This is the new addition to our family. It's called the Peapod Plus from Kidco. I'm in love. This is Madeline's new bed. She loves to play in it during the day, and is learning to love sleeping in it at night. It weighs about a pound and folds up into a small circle. When you pull the strap off from around the circle, it pops open to a tent. No assembly required, except blowing up the mattress. It's so much more portable than our pack'n'play, and the mattress is more comfortable. Madeline does better sleeping in a secure place. I do better when I get more than two hours of sleep at a time. We are both happier.

Projects

This is my project of the week. I think it's turning out quite nicely. Everything looks better with a fresh coat of paint. Best of all, it gives Madeline and I something to work on every morning. Grandpa gave her her own little paintbrush and a can of colored water to "help".

My other current project is to help my child to stay in her bed, instead of getting up MANY times a night, during all hours of the night. This has been a tiring and frustrating project, to say the least. And her nighttime adventures affect more people now that we are living with family. I've tried about every solution and incentive I could think of, positive and negative. She's not buying any of it. I've got one more trick up my sleeve that I'm pretty optimistic about. We'll see...

Fire

We had a fire yesterday. A fairly big one. It burned close to an acre of land behind the house. It was a pretty scary experience, but as I looked back on the events of the day, I realized that we had been blessed in many ways. These were our blessings:

• My father-in-law, Max, spent the morning hunting, but just as he saw the first animals of the season, he had the thought that he should go home. Madeline, my mother-in-law, and I were in the house yesterday afternoon. Max hadn't been home more than a few minutes when he went outside to chain the dog up and saw the fire. We wouldn't have noticed until much later had he not been home. It's possible everything could have been lost.
• I had time to move our car that was parked back by the fire
• The volunteer fire fighters came very quickly. I think it only took them 10 minutes. They had to go from their jobs to the firehouse, and then out to the country in that 10 minutes.
• Scott and his dad had spent the last couple of weeks tearing down old sheds on the side of the entrance to their home. If the sheds had still been there yesterday, the fire trucks wouldn't have been able to pass through the narrow driveway.
• The fire burned around and under two of Max's farm trucks, but the trucks themselves were untouched.
• The fire didn't reach the large gas barrels in the driveway.
• We were safe, the house was safe, and the farm fields on either side of the fire were untouched.
• There were many friends and neighbors who stopped by to offer help and condolences.

I didn't get any pictures of the fire before it was mostly put out. It just didn't seem right to have a camera out there.
The rest of the pictures were taken this morning as Scott and Max were removing a couple of trees that were still smoldering.

When my mother-in-law first screamed down the hall to me that there was a fire out back, I thought it was right up against the house. My first thought was to grab my daughter and our shoes so we could run across the street. At that moment I realized that nothing else really mattered. I didn't think to save any of our possessions. It was a powerful reminder of what is really important, because our possessions can be lost at any moment.

Idaho Driving

This morning I was reading through Idaho's Driver's Manual in preparation for taking the written test to get our licenses (I know, I'm kind of a nerd that way). A couple of passages stood out to me as a reminder that I now reside in a very different area than I'm used to. You'll appreciate the second one if you've ever been stuck behind a driver with Idaho plates.

1. Horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and other livestock under controlled movement over a highway or road have the right of way in Idaho. Livestock also run at large in much of Idaho's range country, and they have the right of way. Drivers must be alert for animals grazing unattended on "open range", which means almost all areas outside of city limits and herd districts upon which livestock by custom, license, lease, or permit, are grazed or permitted to roam.

2. Since it's dangerous to drive slow when other traffic is going fast, a minimum speed may also be posted. If you can't or don't want to drive at the posted speed on a freeway, choose another kind of road to travel on.

It's an interesting place, this state of Idaho.

Twin Falls County Fair

Last Saturday we decided to take a little drive to the Twin Falls County Fair. A year ago we were at the Texas State Fair, and while it was fun, the little one in Idaho was much more manageable for us.

The highlight for Madeline was all of the animals. She liked the pigs the best. I liked the rabbits that were the size of small dogs. And the alpacas.




















We were there so early in the day that the food tents were just starting to open, and the rides hadn't started yet. Scott and I decided to come back later that night for a little date. Free babysitting is one of the best perks of living with family!

We had a fun night filled with hand holding, delicious yet greasy fair food, and a romantic ride on the farris wheel (we found that a little kissing helped with our fear of heights). We felt like teenagers in love, but better.

Life on the Farm in Pics

Life on the Serr Farm

Unable to secure any other employment, we have found ourselves on the Serr farm while Scott helps his dad with watering and other projects. What does one do on a farm that's sort of in the middle of nowhere, Idaho? Well, we're learning.

• We make three pretty extravagant meals each day. When my mother-in-law is at work, the "we" is "I".
• We do the dishes by hand after each large meal.
• We clean and do other typical household stuff.
• Scott gets up early and helps his dad on the farm, or sometimes they tear down old sheds in the yard
• I go on morning runs along the canal banks, or take Madeline in the stroller to see the horses up the road.
• We watch Scott swing across the canal on a rope and assure him I WILL try it some day when I am confident I won't end up in the middle of the canal.
• We pull weeds in the garden and pick beautiful flowers for the kitchen table
• We take naps.
• I read on the back porch while Madeline jumps on the trampoline.
• Madeline packs the outside kittens around like little rag dolls. And sometimes tries to push them around the yard in her stroller.
• Madeline plays with her cousin, Zane, who lives just around the corner.
• We do the daily crossword puzzle in the paper. My mother-in-law and I are quite the team.
• We experiment with rhubarb desserts because their garden is being taken over by it.
• We spend our evenings curled up with a good book or watching a movie with popcorn and root beer (in case you're wondering, no, I can no longer button my pants).

Life here is slow, but peaceful. It's just what we need right now. We are so blessed.

Summer Vacation 2010

At the end of July I quit my job, we packed our suitcases, and flew west. We spent the first leg of our vacation with Scott's family in Paul, Idaho. Let me just say that each time we go to Paul, I love it even more. The first couple of times, I wasn't too sure. I even told Scott once as we were driving through the country that the wheat fields looked like "fields of death". He replied that they were not in fact fields of death, but the amber waves of grain that we sing about in our national anthem. I wasn't impressed. Rural Idaho has really started to grow on me, though. Life on the farm is beautiful and simplistic.

To Madeline, life on the farm is all about the cats. She named the runt of the batch Madeline (no, she's not self-centered at all). She spent a good part of her days petting and feeding kittens.

We had a couple of birthday parties during our time there. The one for her cousin, Zane, I would call her first REAL birthday party with games and all.


Most of Scott's family members ended up in Paul at the same time thanks to a little event called the Spudman Triathalon. I wasn't a big fan of this event five years ago when it took place the same weekend as our wedding. It meant every hotel within 100 miles was booked months in advance. A night of our honeymoon was spent in his parent's back bedroom due to that small problem. This year Scott participated in the triathalon with his brother, sister, and brother-in-law. Scott and his brother and sister each took one leg of the triathalon. He ended up with the 26 mile bike ride.

Madeline and Grandma Serr cheering the bikers on

The "runner", Clint

Scott is somewhere in this pack

The finish line.

We spent the next weekend at my family's Roper Reunion. We get together every other year at a ranch in Altamont. We had a fun weekend filled with meals in a yurt, games, geocaching, hiking, a campfire, canooing, and lots of catching up.

The whole gang, minus a cousin, all 3 of my brothers (one on a mission, one's wife just had a baby, and one was on a vacation he thought was way more fun,) a sister-in-law, and a brother-in-law. My parents were in charge of the reunion this year, which makes it a little funny that most of the absenteeism was from our part of the family.

My sister, Shelley, and her son, Hunter

We spent the last few days of our vacation at my parents house. Madeline and Hunter were best of friends and I had a great time hanging out with my sister. They live in Cleveland, so we don't get to see them very often. I think the very best part was my mom taking care of Madeline and Hunter every morning so my sister and I could sleep in. Absolute heaven.

After Scott and I flew back to Dallas, my parents took Madeline to visit her new little cousin, Landon. They live in Twin Falls, Idaho, and I'm hoping to make it up there this week to see the little guy.


It's been a fun-filled month for us. We're trying to settle in to some resemblance of real life now. We are still very uncertain of what real life will mean for us. The longer we're here the harder it is to imagine leaving, but we're trying to keep our options open.