You know, when you don't blog for about three years you're either really busy, really lazy, or really don't have anything meaningful to say.  Maybe I feel like all of those are true for me.  So, how 'bout an update?

Tayler and Haley are going to the local high school.  They both are learning drivers. They both made it into the concert choir for next year!  Haley wears her hair straight and just got contacts.  Tayler wears her hair curly and usually wears glasses. They have jobs. They're growing up almost as fast add when they were newborns. I won't be ready to let them go when it's time to.

Chase loves Snap Circuits. He is creative and smart. He loves to tease anyone and anything and often makes Lily growl and bark as well as his mother and sisters, and sometimes even his father.  He will be going to the local public school this fall and he's excited to "finally have friends!" (Updating in this subject should be interesting.) He is as tall as I am, now, and taller than the girls (which they hate). Eric says if Chase grows taller than him, he's going to stop feeding him.  He's a tough, skinny kid, and very cute.  Ugh. I don't look forward to girls bugging him.

Emily it's as darling and messy as ever. She is so sweet and artistic she makes loving cards for the whole family.  I wish she would clean up after herself without being told (yelled at/scolded).  I hate when I get mad at/frustrated with her. She is SO sweet/thoughtful. I am thinking about homeschooling her instead of doing online school, if I don't send her off to school too!

 I'm boring. Eric says so. But it's true. I am. I don't even like being around me (too bad I'm stuck to myself!) I school the kids, cook, do laundry, clean (though not as much as someone would like. Might be me; you never know), shuttle kids around, grocery shop, try to faithfully do my visiting teaching, sing in the ward choir, work on my calling in primary, referee (and sometimes get involved in) way too many fights in the home, wish I was somewhere else doing something else...I am boring. I don't even know what I'd rather be doing because I feel like what I am doing is the most important thing right now. I don't really dare to dream. Or do I?  Because maybe I can.

Eric works. He exercises. He eats. He works. He watches shows. He tries to get us out of the house to do fun things like hiking, shooting, four wheeling. He works. He takes me on dates. He sometimes picks the girls up from/drops them of at work. He works on his ward financial clerk calling.  Did I say he works? He really hates that part.

Utah How I LOVE Thee!

Now that we've been in Utah for over 7 months (but not 8) I think it's safe to call it home again.

After years of being told we'd never live here again (and years trying to convince myself that that was true), I am SO happy to be back!

I knew I love it here! Mountains! They are amazing and beautiful! They offer skiing, tubing, snowshoeing, and beauty in the winter and hiking, camping, fishing, beautiful waterfalls, lakes, and views in the summer. I LOVE to look at them! I LOVE to be in them! I love the way they smell (except when there's a rotting carcass nearby), I love the way they sound, I love the animals they shelter and provide for, I love their rocky edges and their quaking aspens, fresh pine, wild roses and mint! I wish I could bottle it up and bring it home but then I wouldn't have as nice legs! lol

I LOVE the cool nights in the summertime! I LOVE it when we're camping and it's chilly enough to have to snuggle close to my hubby for warmth! I LOVE that my nose is cold and the rest of me is warm! I LOVE roasting hot dogs over the fire and smelling the camp smoke on my clothes. I love the delicious goo called S'mores (because who doesn't want s'more?). I LOVE trying to roast a marshmallow to perfection (even though we know Eric is THE master at this art). I love throwing paper plates in the fire and calling the dishes "done" (I know the kids do, too)! I love that when we're camping and we wake up things aren't wet! (Or at least they dry fast). Unlike camping in the humid south where everything is wet and you HAVE to use a towel so your tent doesn't get moldy. I love camping here.

I LOVE the tug on the line when a fish takes the bait! I LOVE the excitement of wondering what the catch is! It's like a present every time! (Gutting it and cooking it are another story).

I LOVE the lizards that we catch, and the ones we don't. I LOVE to see snakes and I'm grateful to have never run in to one that rattles! I LOVE seeing, moose, deer, elk, mountain sheep (whatever they're called), coyotes, rabbits and even the bajillion squirrels that I occasionally call raccoons for some ODD reason (I really don't know why). I would LOVE to see a mountain lion! It would be even better if it's not hunting but even if it is I would love to see one, in the wild!

I don't want to claim that I "LOVE" this, but it is something that I do to identify what wildlife may be near. I look at poop. There I said it. I look closely at poop to see what the animal has eaten. I get sticks to poke at poop to see what's inside. I saw some moose poop (I'm pretty sure because I lived in Alaska twice and I saw it a lot there. On the store shelves, no less!). Anyway, I saw moose poop and right next to it was another poop that I would like to think was mountain lion poop. It had a piece of vertebrae in its poop!!!! I know, right? That is CRAZY!!!! That thing ate bones!!! MAYBE it was a coyote, but I'm hoping for a mountain lion (because that would mean that it comes where I go and maybe someday I could see it)!

I LOVE MY FAMILY! My little Emily rocks! She takes on the huge hikes and still wants to ride her bike "when we get home" (at least that's what she says when we're at the top). We have good times.

Thank you, Utah, for being SO awesome! (And I haven't even mentioned Southern Utah)

Dear Lyla (a poem for a dear friend of mine whose daughter recently passed away)

Dear Lyla

I love you more than rainbows

I love you more than rain

I love you more than I miss you

I love that I’ll see you again

I miss you every moment

My heart feels more than ache

The pain is almost unbearable

I almost think it will break.

I’m grateful for the memories

I’m grateful for the love

I am grateful for you, my gift,

Given from heav’n above

You’re precious and I knew it

Long before I bore you

I never took you for granted

You are special and I knew

I will always love you

And we’ll never be apart

I am always with you

And you’re always in my heart

Thank you for showing me

What life is all about

Thank you for all the joy

I will live to shout it out

All the words you never said

Pound within my chest

I hear you with my heart

And that will give me rest

Yes, I always love you

And I know you love me, too

We will be together again

When this life is through

Til then I’ll keep on livin’

I’ll give each day my best

I love my life, e’en when it’s hard

I know that I’ve been blessed

I love you more than rainbows

I love you more than rain

I love you more than I miss you

I love that I’ll hold you again.

October 14th, 2009

(Emily just came up to me and, with her sleeve pulled up, she flexed her muscle and said "This is my pound of rock!" I said, "Mmm-hmm" and she said, "Is it big?" And I said, "Yep it is!" (while I was touching it). Then she said, "I eat broccoli a lot!". She's so funny!)

MOVING!!!

MOVING to Elizabethtown, KY!!!

Eric landed a job as In-house counsel, manager, and IT person for Eriksen Chiropractic. He says it's a lot different than what he's used to. I say, he's gonna love it!

We're looking for a place to rent, now, and with the military flooding into Ft. Knox we have a LOT of competition.

I/we've been praying for a miracle and we got one (well, two. The first being the job)! One showing of our house and an offer! Now we wait to see if our counter-offer is accepted. Tues. Nov, 2 by noon... Our house hasn't been on the market quite a month so this is GREAT!

We will miss our house that we finished making how we like it! But we're also looking forward to the future.

Oregon

Oregon is beautiful! There were so many things to see and do there was no time to be lazy and relax!

We flew in to Portland, Oregon REALLY late and where dad and Russ picked us up and took us straight to our motel for sleep. Ahhhhhh!

We went to the Bonneville Dam and had a picnic (twice!) and watched the fish swim through the fish ladder. We went to a fish hatchery where we saw a 10-foot sturgeon. We drove up to Mt. St. Helen (well, close enough anyway). It was beautiful. We hiked the mile up to Multinoma Falls for that beautiful view. We went to the OMSI museum where Chase tried his hand at being a weatherman on TV and we discovered just how cold Haley and I are in thermal-imaging cameras. We also got to pet a walking stick and a snake. We drove down the coast a bit and got to sample the wonderous Tilamook Cheese (we did this twice, too), food from their cafeteria, and the delicious ice cream, as well as watch the factory workers do there things and shop in the gift shop. We finished our drive down to Newport where we searched the tide pools for creatures. We found purple and orange "sea stars", sea anenamies of many colors, a strange worm thingy that broke itself apart when touched, sand crabs, little fish, and hermit crabs. The days were chilly but the wind was cold, so we stayed bundled up while we played. Some of us went deep sea fishing (where I cought the catch of the day. A 32-inch, 13 1/2 pound Ling Cod, and a few other fish), while the others went to an underwater museum. We saw sea lions gripe at each other for a spot on floating docks. We went to the Oregon Aquarium. Ian (my brother) and I went to Seal Cave (when it was pouring rain) and saw and heard LOTS of sea lions and, through binoculars, watched some swim in the ocean. We had some delicious clam chowder. Oh did I mention that I caught a clam with my bare hands?!!! That's a bit o' diggin'! We had a WONDERFUL time. And then we drove to Utah, where we got to see lots of family and my BFF from High School and it SNOWED in JUNE!!!!! (I did not prepare for Utah to be colder than Oregon or I would have packed more pants and long shirts!!!) What more can I say? Let the pictures speak!

Monday

I know it's Tuesday but since Monday is over I can write about it now.

I:
1 got on the computer
2 did intervals on the treadmill then 10 min. on the chi-swing.
3 had a shower, prayer, breakfast
4 saw a big, female turkey fly 20' in front of my van on my way to drop a book off at the library, go to the grocery store, bank, and I took a quick look around Walgreen's
5 unloaded groceries
6 got on the computer
7 emptied Emily's drawers
8 glued Emily's drawers
9 emptied Chase's drawers
10 sorted Chase's clothes (dirty/laundry, too small/give away pile, clean/folded, sorted and put back in drawers)
11 back on computer
12 remembered while IMing with Eric that I forgot to eat lunch, so I got off computer and ate a butter and banana sandwich and some almonds.
13 um...I probably got back on the computer...I don't remember
14 made lasagna and a salad (romain lettuce, spinach, fresh sweet potatoes and beets (thickly grated), Eric had Ranch dressing and I made a garlic vinegar with garlic juice, basalmic vinegar and white vinegar)
15 ate lasagna and salad. They were yummy.
16 cleaned up the kitchen (Eric swept and took the garbage out, I washed dishes)
17 we watched a little bit of news that was talking about our Tornado Watch that was in effect
18 when we lost satellite connection because of the weather we watched The Amazing Race that we had recorded on the DVR, and ate some Kit Kats and Twix's while we watched.
19 we watched I tidbit of Dancing With the Stars and then made some popcorn (killing some time while 24 was recording so we could watch it and fast forward through commercials.
20 ate popcorn and watched 24
21 scriptures, teeth, prayer, bed

I think the kids got to ride horses. I can't wait to hear about it.

What a day! I don't know what to say... It's different!