Number One Reason to Blog...

THIS!

Introducing my 278 page blog book spanning my actual blog from 2007 to 2009 with additional emails and pictures going back to July of 2004 when Bekah was born. How awesome is that!! I now have an amazing compilation of our family history since our family started. I am feeling a little bit giddy about this. :) I made the book through blurb dot com, a website that can "slurp" your blog into a book format and then let you tweak it to perfection. Yay yay hooray! THIS is the reason to keep a blog!

On another unrelated note...this morning I got Beau out of bed, took off his shoes (his braces), carried him downstairs and then finally got a good look at his face to find this:I mean this: (what a ham, he wasn't in the mood for a picture this evening...oh and the band aids are just for fun. He has owies on his knee but wanted the band aids to go on his arms)EEK! I think he got bit by a vicious mosquito last night right on his eyelid. His eye isn't red or even the slightest bit pink...he just looks like Quasi-Beauto. It hasn't bothered him at all, but Rus keeps wanting me to give him drugs because it's disturbing to him. Hopefully tomorrow it's better. (Bekah getting in on the action, much to Beau's pleasure).

Rus Wednesday

(You almost thought I was going to miss it, didn't you...)
Winter 2002, MLK Day Weekend.
Rus, boyfriend of less than one month, his cousin Tom and I loaded up in the truck and headed east. It was a three-day weekend, why not go visit/meet Rus's parents? When we got to Albuquerque Rus said, "It's only another thirty minutes now." I was introduced to the mess called the Big I, a really big mess at that time because it was still under construction. I saw the tall downtown buildings and the mall and I'm sure I noticed Target. We drove under the shadow of the Sandia mountains and I learned that Sandia means "watermelon" and at sundown the range catches fire and resembles the deep reds and greens of a watermelon. We drove through the canyon, turned off, and found ourselves on a stretch of two lane highway where Rus promised that the police rarely are out because it's the border of two counties. He drove eighty in a forty-five to prove it, I'm sure. (Cop's kids. Hmph.)
We turned off again on an even narrower road that took us up a sharp hill. "Heartbreak Hill," Rus informed me. A mile away we turned off on a dirt road, and a mile after that we turned again onto his family's property. You know that "you know you're a redneck if?" joke? (If directions to your home include, "now turn off the paved road and...")
Honestly all I remember about that first night is how cold I was - I slept like a frozen frost bitten log. I don't remember greeting his parents or sister or brother, but man, oh man having been a part of his family for years now I'm sure I could tell you verbatim how it all went. Rus did tell me later that everyone was on their best behavior because they didn't want to scare me off.
Now the part you've been waiting for - the good stuff - the dirt - Rus's parents had this saying that they offered readily almost like a greeting - "Back rubs lead to front rubs!" Rus told me about this before we went on the trip, probably while I was giving him a back massage (where no front rubbing was present, I promise), and he was determined to rub my back in his house in front of his parents. I think I even played along just for grins and giggles and so Rus could get the evil-eye-looking-over-the-glasses from his dad. And of course for the massage.
The best part of the trip came when we went to meet Rus's uncle Spencer. Spencer was a big man. Big. He had really poor health stemming from diabetes and was mostly confined to a super-sized electric reclining chair. He was infectiously cheerful and funny and just ten minutes with him made you feel like you were best friends. Actually, ten minutes with him had him introducing me to a member of the stake presidency as "Rus's Fiance." Fiance. Remember the part about dating less than a month?
Visionary, I guess...the man was just knew.
It was after that weekend that I knew I was in big trouble with Rus. He had a seriously terrific family and I might have fallen in love with them first. Sshh...don't tell Rus. Oh never mind, he won't believe you anyways, he says his family is crazy and me loving them (and him) is a sign of an inferior brain...A favorite Rus-ism is "I'm the smart one here, because look who I married and look who she married." Cute, huh.
And now eight and a half years after meeting his family for the first time, I can still say that I am immensely blessed to be a part of such a fun, caring, crazy family!

Day One

Me with Jacob, summer 2007, completely irrelevant...

There's something particularly satisfying about rising to a challenge. In my case it's my sister Amy's four week challenge to raise money for her three day breast cancer walk. Each day for four weeks I have to drink 48 ounces of water, exercise 45 minutes, eat 2 fruits and 2 veggies, not eat unhealthy snacks, fried foods, soda or alcohol or sweets, not eat after 8 pm, spend fifteen minutes reading something motivational (does Hunger Games count?), record one journal entry, express sincere appreciation and work towards one personal goal.
Phew.
I'm not sure how I'm going to do, but I am excited to see the healthy person I'll be after four weeks of trying. The two biggies for me are no sweets and 45 minutes of exercise. My sweet tooth is demanding and so are my kids, which leaves me with one guaranteed slot of time to exercise: 5:30. AM. Bleck.
But I am happy to note that today, so far, I have exercised and have drunk about half of my water and have had two fruits and I haven't had anything sweet or unhealthy. And look - I'm doing my journal entry and you (lucky sucker) get to read it. :)
Now just cross your fingers and keep the smell of cookies from wafting my way. I'll be avoiding people like me - the ones who bake at the drop of the hat and then want to share. Darnit I'm turning into an anal person with a clean house and fridge full of veggies! AAHH!

Rus Wednesday

One of my favorite pics of Rus (with Nichole and Marcy in the Background) at BlueRidge, AZ

I first met Rus when my roommate Kat invited him and his cousin Tom over for dinner after church in our Institute ward in Flagstaff. My first impression of him was "scruffy redneck," and while it was accurate, it was also incomplete. But before I get off on a tangent, what I really wanted to write about today was cars. Vehicles.
I'm going to tell the story this way:
One day my mom went garage sailing and found this "ganga" (great deal) in the form of a small white Cadillac pimped out with a red leather interior. She called it the Love Car.
Because of the color.
When I went off to college, being the youngest (and most favored) child, I was sent away with the Caddy. More than a year later this Caddy found itself with a busted heater-core-something and no one to fix it.
Enter Rus - F150 Redneck Man.Rus, a recent acquaintance and grease monkey at the local Jiffy Lube had been prepped for this moment by years of dying cars driven to their demise by his sister Katie. He knew how to deal with problem engines and had the tools and friends get things running. The vision of Rus and Clint alternately wedged into the front seat of my car (that's where you fix the heater core) in - um - creative positions will forever be burned into my memory. They worked their magic - my car ran - and I think Rus even got cookies or something out of the deal. Not to mention a warm fuzzy place in my memory.
Now, Rus's F150 was a beauty - it had an alternate fuel system where it could run on propane. It was really, really cool. And manly. Months after my Caddy experience I found myself on a date with Rus, (which was following several other dates), driving up a mountain in the snow in his truck. We made it to the top with only one incident (Clint and a winch fixed that one), and it was then that something curious happened. Rus asked if I wanted to drive. His truck. Down the mountain. In the snow.
I think that's when I knew this whole thing was getting serious. Men don't just hand over the keys, you know. So I drove it and I loved it.
So many of my memories of dating Rus and being a newlywed include that truck. He drove me up a mountain in that truck to propose to me with two dozen roses and a picnic dinner. He drove me to NM to meet his family for the first time in that truck. We went spotlighting in it. We probably even made out in it. (Probably?) He sold it so we could have some extra money soon after we had Bekah.
You know how cars that are part of Big Events (like marriage) always hold a special place in your heart (oh...you didn't?), well the Caddy and the F150 hold a special place in mine, even though they are long gone.
They remind me of new love...and that is a whole batch of good memories.

Wooden Transformer

I'm going to call this one "Jacob's Challenge." He was asking me all weekend to make him a wooden Transformer, and each time I told him I couldn't, it wasn't possible. Then last night I pulled out my sketch pad and doodled it out and discovered that if Jacob approved the design maybe we really could make a wooden Transformer. He is rudimentary, mind you, but Jacob loves him...enjoy the pictures!
Here he is as the Man:And now Jakey is turning him into a car:The dowels come out - Jacob calls them his guns. He wants to paint him yellow and green. If the wheels turned easily we'd really be in business...But I'm satisfied...and tired. :)

The Challenge

My sister Amy is taking part in Arizona's Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure...where she will walk sixty miles over three days with thousands of other men and women in an effort to raise funds to support breast cancer research. This amazing event will begin on November 12, 2010.
To participate in the walk, Amy has to raise $3000.00 by November 1st. Here (in her own words) is how she plans to do that:

Hi,

Amy Dries here...

This year I am initiating a 4 week wellness challenge. The wellness challenge consists of setting goals and keeping track for 4 weeks. This is a way to help me raise money for the Susan G. Komen 60 mile walk. I am also excited to issue the challenge as a way to fight cancer by living healthy lives. I would love it if you would participate and invite others to join. Simply click on the Walk for the Cure box (top right of my page) and donate $50 per participant ($100 for couples). The wellness challenge is explained in depth in a word file that can be emailed to you. Here are the ten main daily goals of the challenge:
1. Drink 48 oz. water
2. Exercise 45 minutes
3. 2 fruit and 2 veggies
4. No soda, alcohol, unhealthy snacks or fried foods
5. No sweets
6. No eating after dinner/8pm
7. 15 minutes motivational reading
8. One journal entry (I think blogging counts)
9. Express sincere appreciation
10. Personal goal
Each accomplished goal earns you one point and you have one free point per category per week - so you can still treat yourself, just sparingly.
The challenge will start on September 27, 2010 and go for four weeks. The winner(s) of the challenge (those with the most points over the four week period) will be entered into a drawing for a $100 gift card. Once you donate, I will email you twice weekly to update you and motivate you during the challenge.

If you care to donate, but not to do the challenge, I appreciate your support! Please click on the link to the right and make a donation. (Please donate an odd amount so that I will know you do not wish to participate in the challenge, ex: $101.50 instead of $100)

Thank you!
- Amy

Doesn't that sound like an awesome challenge? A chance to motivate yourself? Redefine your lifestyle? Get back on track? Support an awesome cause?
I am totally up for it, and though I know I won't have a perfect score at the end of the four weeks, I am excited to see how well I can do.
Will you do it with me?

Jacob's Dragon, Take 2 and the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Ever.

For our project of the week, Jacob decided he needed a dragon with two necks. Like the one on How to Train Your Dragon.
So after some coercion (again), I convinced him that fabric would do the trick and we came up with this loveable guy...who just happened to be much more work than a wood dragon, fyi. (He got his eyes after this pic)He has wood legs, covered with batting and fabric, that were nailed (with a nail gun) to a wood body. His necks and wings and tail all have wire inside so they can bend (very important, just ask Jakey), but the wire has already poked through the head once and come out of the body once. It may not stand up to a rigorous Jacob Playtime...but I've already thought of how I'd do it different next time. Which I hope there won't be...because some fun experiences take too much work.
And here is to show you our current Dragon Nest. Beau's is my favorite, the smallest one, he calls it a Doggie.

Also, if you're like me and you have been searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe for forever because (you or) your hubby is a CCCF (chocolate chip cookie fanatic) then this recipe is for you. I have made it three times with the same results each time (a miracle in and of itself). Slightly crisp outsides. Terrifically chewy insides. Here. I just like a little more salt, about 1 tsp, and I usually make them smaller than the "quarter pound" size shown on her blog. And sometimes I add white chocolate chips with semi-sweet. (Or actually Rus does. He made these himself. That's what 9pm and an empty cookie jar will do to a CCCF.) Try them. And let me know when you fall in love.

Rus Wednesday

Rus loading up Bekah's bike for a ride on her fourth birthday...

I think I married the wrong guy.
I know this because I like him too much. He helps out too much. And when he's gone too much I go crazy.
Last night Rus came home and asked how I was doing...to which I replied, "I'm depressed. I've been trying to figure out a way to tell you that without throwing a massive fit, so there you go. Rus, I'm depressed."
I guess I should preface this by saying that the last week and a half has been really busy for Rus at work, and while he rarely has late nights, last week was filled with them. And then this past weekend he and his dad went on a road trip up to Colorado for some fun off road motorcycle action - which I completely supported, and the weekend went fine, and the kids were really well behaved...
But then Sunday night the thought of the week ahead of me was completely depressing. I hadn't had a weekend reprieve with someone else to yell the words, "Beau! Stop hitting your brother/sister!" or someone else to clean up the milk that spilled three times in one morning, or someone else to take Beau out of sacrament meeting because he kept climbing up the pew and slapping the guy in front of me...
Then Rus's van got in on the action and decided to steal Rus's attention Monday night (me and the ManVan are so not tight anymore), and then Tuesday morning Rus let me know he had a meeting that night at church...
And I bawled. The rest of the day. And while my kids pounded on the bathroom door because someone chose that time to inexplicably torture someone else, I just wanted to curl up on the floor and disappear.
Ever have those days?
Ug.
So that's why I was crying when Rus asked me how I was doing and when Jacob refused to eat the dinner he specifically asked for and...Then Rus did some amazing things for his crazy wife.
He got the kids all ready for bed. Jammies, story, scriptures...everything but teeth and prayers. At six o'clock. Long before bedtime.
He headed off to his meeting...but returned ten minutes later smiling and removing his tie and sat on the driveway with me in his Sunday clothes while the kids rode their bikes and scooters and the sun changed the clouds to bright orange and yellow and pink.
He rode Bekah's pink scooter up the street, slippery Sunday shoes accomplishing nothing on the asphalt, looking ridiculous and happy.
He showed Jacob how to pop a wheelie on his bike, something Jacob will definitely get the hang of...sometime.
He herded the kids inside and upstairs and into their beds.
He indulged me in another fit and helped me clean downstairs till it smelled like my swiffer mop thing that does a crappy job. (But smells nice.)
He told me he still loved me.

And today was not depressing at all.

Helping Jakey Fly

I learned from making a dragon to pay attention when Jacob says he wants to make something. This time it was wings. And a jet pack. The wings needed to be all wood and needed to fold back. The jet pack was so he could fly into outer space whenever he wanted.
I nixed the jet pack. There are some things I just really can't do.
Then I spent an hour convincing Jacob that fabric wings would be better than wood ones. He relented. I had an idea for wings that could pop up but needed to go to Lowes to see if it was possible. It was almost exactly noon and so I promised Jakey that if he could keep Beau awake until we got to Lowes we could go inside to find the right parts. He did a great job and so we found ourselves on the gate/hardware aisle. They had the perfect spring, a screen door spring that was a little more than 12 inches long. We also picked up three 3/8" dowels and a package of mending brackets. When we got home we cut a four inch piece off the spring with heavy pliers. Then we wired the spring at it's center to the bracket. Then we screwed the bracket onto a square board that had been fitted with straps made from a felted wool sweater (I have a whole drawer of felted sweaters so I just grabbed the first scraps I could find.) I then found a piece of fabric large enough to cut a big semi-circle. I folded over the top (flat) side of the semi circle and sewed two long pockets for the dowels to fit into. Once they were slid in place I fit the ends of the dowels into the springs and voila! Jacob flew!
A close up of the back operating parts:
Holding the wings down before take off:And LIFTOFF!Here it shows the board with the straps:
Jacob showing off his huge wingspan
Here's my grand total at Lowes (including a donation for muscular dystrophy, they get me everytime), which includes all the parts for three sets of wings.Eight bucks isn't too much when it comes to equipping super-heroes with the right gear!
Now I just have to make two more sets!

Rus Wednesday

Rus and his girlfriend Suzi

Last night the doorbell rang right as I was finishing the last of my sauteed zucchini. Instantly everyone asked me, "Who is it?!" I'm supposed to know that, you know. Then they all raced me to the door, Colonel too, and I had to shoo them back to the table.
"Bekah, finish your carrot! Jacob, go sit down! Colonel, sit!"
It was Kayla, a neighbor girl from up the street, a sixth grader, I think (or maybe fifth). She came inside, gave me a hug, followed me to the kitchen, hung around for .5 seconds and then said she had to run home and would be right back.
I took that break to shrug my shoulders at Rus, gesturing to him my apology for an interrupted meal. What he said to me warmed me down to my cold crooked toes...
"It's okay, Keri, that's what I want our home to be like. I want kids to feel welcome, anytime."
How awesome is that?
And it was a good thing, too, because Kayla returned with her twin sister Cami and the other neighbor kid Ryan and we all went into the backyard where they filled their shirts up with tomatoes and green chiles and basil like they were on a scavenger hunt.
The whole time I couldn't stop thinking about Rus and how much I love him for letting me have a home like that.
Thanks again, hon.

(slave) Labor Day

Yesterday Rus and I celebrated Labor day by actually working. Crazy, I know. There is a lot of work to do at Gram's house (the house we will be moving into when our house sells and Rus's parents move to Lordsburg...), but most of it we will have to save until Rus's parents move out - we don't think they'd appreciate us tearing out walls or carpet, plus we kind of like having them around. The work we could do yesterday included electrical work in the garage (very important, you know), and cleaning up some termite damage. Hmm, have I mentioned the termites before? Nasty little guys, but at least this species has a preference for paper and not for wood. That means they enjoyed dining on the paper part of the drywall, not the studs. The whole house has been treated for them, and all that was left to do was to clean up their mess - tracks and droppings in the drywall in one bedroom and a closet. Yum. So while Rus ran wires and conduit with his dad, the kids and I took turns with some joint compound and a trowel. Jacob was great at filling holes with his finger full of paste, and Bekah learned how to smooth the joint compound on. (It was her room, after all.) In the garage we hung two eight foot florescent lights and a half dozen outlets...on one wall. Serious garagers need outlets every four feet, you know. I'll have to post pictures later...
The first part of the weekend we were blessed to be able to hang out with my friend Taffy and her family in Ruidoso. (Roo-ee-dough-so...or Ree-uh-dough-so...or Ree-uh-dough-suh...I haven't learned which is right). We hiked, rode bikes, ate lots of good food, enjoyed the beautiful weather, attended church (tripling the primary), and relaxed. It was really, really fun!
We stopped in Carrizozo to dream and drool at this awesome door/gate/warehouse where almost everything is built in Mexico. The couple lives in Mexico in the winter and then brings back goods to be sold in the spring and summer. Here are some of our favorite things - hopefully we can incorporate some of these ideas into our new home. I love the metal straps on this door.These corbels are 200 years old. Rus and I want them and the two ancient columns that go with them.Rus and I are contemplating making our own front door, similar to the one above (which is out of solid mesquite). It would be a really big door and we liked the idea of making windows in the top of it like this:
And now from Ruidoso:
Here is a sign from the South Fork Trail that we hiked. I thought it was very thorough. (Although they could have added parachuters, repellers, SWAT teams, monkeys, screaming children...)The trail was absolutely beautiful - green and lush with water. The kids played in the water, hiking upstream on the rocks, and not a one of them went home dry.Rus helped Jakey down from a wall he had climbed. Well all of the kids climbed it and needed help. I noticed it worked better for this:And not so much for this: (Taffy's brother)You can check out some more great pics on our adventure blog. Rus took some amazing shots of the water.
Our trip even ended with a beautiful sunset. How perfect was that?!

Rus Wednesday

Rus making me laugh...while putting the moves on...family pictures, November 2009

Rus went out of town last week. Five days, four nights. I handled it a lot better than I normally do. I always miss him, but by Day Five, it's more the extra man-power and co-parent that I really miss. (That's not to say I didn't kiss him good when he did come home!)
He left me notes this time...under my pillow (a Pohnepeien note - "I poakpoake uhk pil limao"), in my scriptures("Don't forget to kiss the kids"), in my sock drawer ("I miss you"), my shower caddy ("So hot"), by my allergy medicine, in my makeup drawer ("You're my favorite"), and - my favorite - in the butter compartment of the fridge.
We have this ongoing joke about butter...He got me an anniversary card one year that had a picture of a man looking in a fridge full of butter, saying, "Hon, where's the butter?" So now whenever he asks where something is (and the location is usually obvious), I reply "Hon, where's the butter?!" I think that's one reason my note found it's way to the designated butter area.
The other reason is that Rus knows how much I love to bake, and while he might not know exactly how much butter I go through a week (about 2 pounds - eek that sounds so unhealthy when I actually spell it out!), he does know I use it regularly enough. I love that he knows me so well.
That note said, "5 more," and it's still there. When Rus was a little kid his mom asked him how much he loved her and he thought of the biggest number possible and said, "FIVE!" The "more" part got added later in a competition of who-loves-who-the-most. When Rus and I got engaged we had this goofy game (and we still do) where we each try to be the first one to say "Five more" that day. It's silly and sentimental and I love that Rus is always trying to beat me at it. He usually does, honestly.

I can't wait to see what other silly inside jokes we'll have in another eight years...

Emmeline Apron

Check out this super cute apron I made...from this pattern:
It's reversible! Eek! I might have to make some more!