Rus in a {hot} Monkey Suit

Rus is a scout leader in our ward. He told his boys [in January] that if they all brought their scriptures to church then he'd sport a stylish light blue three-piece polyester suit to church the next week. A few Sundays ago, they finally all brought their scriptures to church and so Rus had to hold up his end of the deal. Doesn't he look handsome? Something about a three piece suit, I like very much...maybe in a different color and fabric next time, but mmm...I dressed to match him, and I only look taller than him because I'm wearing heels. {By the way I won the bet, the one where Rus pays me a hundred dollars for growing my hair out. The soonest appointment I could make to chop it off is August 31st. I won't cut it all off, only four or five inches...it's just so hot right now!}

 

Why are we blurry? Because Bekah was taking the picture. Here we are, in true color: (and oddly enough, not blurry...)

 Later that night we had dinner at Carla and Doug's house. Ben, Beau, and Russel are three crazy kids. Here they are doing what boys do best:

 Yes, Russel is punching Beau's butt. Yes, Ben's face is hidden in there somewhere. Yes, each of them has a butt in his respective face. Yes, they were all laughing. So was I.
The next day we were up and at 'em early because I was working on a project for Bekah's baptism. (More on that later). Here are a few fun pictures we took at the park. Bekah liked to show off by skating over Marianne. I was sure she was going to run over a little finger, but she never did.

 Beau, the daredevil on his scooter.

 Beau pulling Jacob. These two boys have a blast together!

 Marianne loves to swing. And she loves all things soft and furry, which is why she wouldn't let go of this zuzu pet.

 Yep, they're all mine. No, I'm not too young to have them. Yes, my hands are full. How else would I want my hands to be?

Random Pictures

A few weeks ago Beau got strep throat. He was grumpy and miserable, and then got over it so I could take care of Jacob, who caught it and the grumpy-miserableness that went with it. So they watched a million movies and when they got bored of that one time, I painted their faces at Bekah's suggestion. Jacob looked like this for days - not the flames, but the expression. He doesn't just get sick, he gets angry that his body could so abruptly betray and hurt him.

Bekah was obsessed with her Lalaloopsy doll at the time. I think she's moved on to her new stuffed kitty, but I never really know. First she had me paint her whole fact to look like Lalaloopsy. I even painted big black buttons on top of her eyes. She looked creepy. So she washed it off and just kept the cheeks.

The heroic, yet humble Beau...

...Who becomes the devious heroic Beau when he gets a dinosaur and flames on his arms.

Marianne joined the fun. I had an extra set of paints that fell to the floor while I was painting Jacob's flames, and Marianne just helped herself. Yum. Why not...

Even with a messy face I could just eat her up!

Did you know that she's best friends with her cousin Rachel? Here they are on a different day (before the sickness).

Bekah and Dad Campout

 A few weeks ago Rus took Bekah camping, a special "eight-year-old" over-nighter that involved backpacking in to a campsite and camping in a real tent (not the pop-up). Bekah was ecstatic! She has always enjoyed one-on-one attention and this trip was no exception. She packed her backpack with the things Rus said she needed and was ready to go when they got off work. They headed north to Cave Creek and got there, luckily, before the sun went down. They had time to hike in a little ways and find a good spot for their tent before dinner. Bekah is hyper-aware of fire danger and all the forest fires that happened earlier in the summer and so she was perfectly fine not making a fire, even though they did just lift the fire restrictions.

 Rus said they went to bed around nine and didn't have the worst nights sleep, although Bekah did wake up a couple times in the night because she was scared or cold. At 5:30am she was ready to go, but Rus convinced her to sleep a little longer. At 7am they were out of the tent and enjoying some tasteless pop tarts (Bekah's choice), before they headed out for their hike. Bekah picked me some wildflowers.

 They hiked to where the creek disappears into a cave (hence the name).

 Kids are able to fish for free, so Rus took a fishing pole for Bekah. They found some worms and Bekah fished while Rus took a billion pictures. Here is only one:

Bekah said fishing was her favorite part of the trip, even though she didn't catch any fish. She did catch two sticks, though, and Rus said she was as thrilled as if she had actually caught a fish. She even brought the sticks home to show me.

Thank you Rus for making this special trip with Bekah!

Everyday this and that

Well, it's been longer than usual since my last post...mostly because nothing has happened. And by "nothing," I of course mean all the happiness, sadness, whining and fits that make all my days blur together.
Yep. I thought about the last week and a half for a good thirty seconds, but I really can't report any great stuff.
Oh, except: Tom Hartman came to visit, briefly, and on that occasion we all enjoyed some creme brulee french toast, (yum), and a trek downtown to find the oil painting of Grandpa Payne that hangs in one of the many courthouses.
Beau got strep throat over the weekend and has been honing his "I'm sick, everything is impossible" attitude that makes getting a drink of water for himself a cruel form of torture. It's the third time this year he's had strep. Blech.
Jacob is way into Transformers right now, not outer space or dinosaurs which he was way into two weeks ago. Itellyouwhat, he can draw a pretty mean Decepticon.
Bekah *sigh* my dear girl Bekah. As the sign on Aunt Mary's wall says, "Being a mother is like being pecked to death by chickens." Bekah is a vicious little chicken in this context. She routinely asks me ten questions in five minutes, questions like, "What is sausage made of? Why doesn't lightning make a sound? How big is the tallest evergreen? Why are we not standing sideways if we're on the side of the earth? When are we going to Walmart? What are we doing after lunch? Can I have a cream soda?" I tell you, that girl will make a fine lawyer or deep-cover-spy-interrogator. Sometimes I think she asks questions just to hear herself talk. And fine mother that I am, after eight hours of this I either hide in the bathroom or tell her to give me five minutes, no questions. To this she responds, "When will five minutes be up?" Nails on a chalkboard, my friends. Here she is, so pretty, posing for a picture for her baptism invite.

And me...I am learning lots about myself these days, like that proximity affects how good of a friend I am, other amazing mothers with amazing children make me feel insecure and dumb, scoring a goal in hockey makes me super excited (so much that I lose my balance and fall into the goalie's lap), and that hosting a girls night out is a huge pick-me-up when I feel tired and down. I'm grateful that my husband loves me and I pray that I'm not royally screwing up my children. I wish I were better at teaching them their abc's, how to tell time, how to read, math...but I know what I will really regret later is if I fail to teach them to love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, to love each other, to love the scriptures, to love to serve, to know that prayers are answered. That's a big job and sometimes I just expect them to absorb all of that from somewhere instead of proactively teaching them.
On another note, I finished my eagle nebula painting. I varnished it to give it a good sheen (thus the glare), and I'm pretty happy with it. Hopefully he's happy with it, the man that commissioned it.

Here I am in my hockey gear after a game. My mom came to watch and took a picture for me - the one and only piece of evidence that I actually play. I didn't realize until now that the picture shows a portion of the sign above saying, "Awesome!" ;) I used to wear yoga pants because that's what I had; I have since invested in a pair of hockey pants - much breezier. The t-shirts come in XXL and so I've altered them each season to fit. I recently found out some of the other girls were jealous because they thought I scored the only small shirts. I had to correct them and say, nope, I know how to sew. Believe it or not, hockey doesn't usually draw the sewing-types. I'd love to buy some actual hockey skates, but I'm not sure Rus can handle another season...

 

The end. Congrats for making it through this much jibber jabber.

Bekah, Age Eight

Last week my oldest girl turned eight. EIGHT! I can't believe Bekah is so big and I can't believe it's been eight years since I had her - a tiny bundle of joy with white-blonde hair and balled-up fists. I had no idea what I was getting into - she has taught me and tried me so much, and she has given me so much joy, too.

 For her birthday we decided to make a trip to the Natural History Museum here in Abq. It's not my favorite museum by far, but they have six new robotic dinosaur exhibits that my kids and I enjoyed looking at.
Here they are by the t-rex skeleton. The cutest grandpa-employee came up to my kids when I was taking pictures and said, "I'll show you a great picture." Then he told me to stay put and put the kids on the other side of the t-rex's mouth. He was right, great picture!

And by the new robotic t-rex, who frankly made Beau a little nervous. Here is Bekah being a t-rex. This makes me think of the movie line, "I've got a big head and little arms!"

I also like their hands-on lab where the kids were able to look at snakes, toads and spiders, look through microscopes, and learn from enthusiastic employees. Honestly the employees were great - there was one woman who was so patient with Beau and answered every question he had, and another that took a snake out of its tank so Bekah and Jacob could take turns holding it.


They have one exhibit with wooden dinosaur eggs and a display about how some dinosaurs would arrange their eggs. Here is my baby dinosaur, squawking at her momma.

And I just loved this picture. Jacob is a great big brother. Do you notice that they are matching? That's because Beau thinks his big brother is so super cool.

We had a great time and left before anyone got cranky. I had the kids stand by the triceratops for a picture. Marianne doesn't really love pictures where her siblings have to hold her. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the flash, or the pressure of smiling, or being choked...hmmm...I don't know.

That afternoon Bekah had a play date with a friend. When she got home and Marianne woke up from her nap we decided to go bowling. The bowling alleys in Abq. have a kids-bowl-free program that we all love. I had a whopper of a score - 109 in the first game (beat by Beau at 110, he had a ramp and bumpers), and 114 in the second game (beat by Jacob at 115, who also used a ramp and bumpers).
After bowling I decided to stop and get us pizza because it was late enough that I didn't want to make dinner, and Rus was out of town at scout camp and I hate making dinner when he's gone. So we picked up our pizza, went home, and dug in. Bekah and I got into an argument about a dumb cup and I wound up on the front porch eating my pizza because I didn't want to hear her complain. The boys came out and ate with me and she went to her room to cry. When I came back inside I asked Bekah if she had taken the pizza to her room with her. She said no, that she'd only eaten one bite of hers and had left it on the table. I have never been more angry at our Rus's dog Colonel. He ATE her pizza! ALL of the pizza that we had left on the table! I was mad at him and Bekah and myself. So Bekah had a peach for dinner, and a birthday cookie for dessert.
Here she is, mostly recovered from the pizza-trauma:

We stayed up together and watched Kitt Kittredge, an American Girl movie that we had gotten in the mail from my sister (Amy was totally inspired - Bekah had just asked me that morning if we could rent that movie).  
Bekah had asked me months ago if the Kinghorns and Goolds could come over for a birthday dinner of sopaipillas, cake and ice cream. We decided to wait until Sunday when Rus would be home from his trip. It was a great dinner and we really enjoyed the company.

 Bekah wanted a Lalaloopsy cake. This was the best I could do:
Happy birthday, you amazing girl!
And in case any of you are wanting to get out of town for a weekend, Bekah will be baptized on Saturday, August 4th. We'd love to have you!

July Fourth - Four Year Old Beau

Last week we celebrated the Fourth of July and Beau's fourth birthday...and we were lucky enough to do so with grandparents. We have lived in New Mexico for seven years now and I cannot imagine enjoying Independence day in a place without fireworks. I know many places in NM banned fireworks this year because of fire danger, but luckily the folks in Hidalgo county realize that there's nothin' much to burn down there (at least nothing worth cancelling their annual show)...so we decided to head down to Lordsburg for the Fourth, celebrate Beau's birthday in Sierra Vista, and then enjoy church in Safford where Dave and Stacy Hartman blessed their third baby girl.
My mom was seriously desperate to get my dad to relax and enjoy the holiday, so she took him to Lordsburg to enjoy the festivities with us. We also got to enjoy the company of Rus's sister Emilee and her husband Chip. The food was good and the fireworks were great, but the company was the real treat. (Or maybe Louise's caramel popcorn was the real treat...mmm). Emilee is a recent graduate of cosmetology school and she applied her expertise (and lots of hair product) to my mom's hair. My mom is not one to be afraid of schooling the Faux.

Rus and his dad caught wind of my dad wanting to buy a gun, so they loaded up the armory and took him shooting so he could get a feel for what kind of gun he wanted. My dad has never owned a gun, probably because there are people in this world like Rus's dad, who have owned or still own every good piece ever made. Luckily they had nothing to say to each other at this point because it's hard enough for two semi-deaf people to have a conversation...throw in sound protection and you'd better know how to read lips...

Lucky you...you get a true glimpse into my corny personality...How do you throw skeet?

We had planned to take the kids swimming at the city pool but it was surprisingly overcast all day and cooler than normal. We set up a slip-n-slide instead.

I've already shown you how Marianne and her dad share a special gene that allows them to suffocate themselves with their upper lips...turns out Emilee and Roger share that trait...too bad Marianne wasn't feeling like joining in the fun. I think she was too busy wondering why all those people looked so goofy.

 We headed to the fireworks show at dusk and parked on a dirt lot with a front row seats for the show and the newly acquired Lordsburg Fire Department ladder truck. Of course Rus's dad knew the man in charge of the fire truck, so he let us and our kids over to get a peek inside.

The kids got restless for fireworks so Rus and his dad and my dad set off a few of their own. I was worried that Marianne would hate the noise but she didn't - it startled her but then she seemed to love the lights and colors.
Here's a picture I love of Bekah enjoying her sparkler.

 Before we left on Thursday, Nana took time to help Jacob make a blanket with an octopus on it...

 And blanket-capes for Bekah's latest fixation - her little cat and elephant stuffed animals. Nana is so awesome!

Fastforward to Friday - Beau's birthday. He decided to go see a movie at the theater instead of going swimming, so we saw Madagascar 3. He also wanted a transformer cake and so I decided to make pound cakes from a mix and then cut the finished loaves into cubes so he could build his own. (If you're thinking I'm lazy, you're right...) It would have worked out perfectly, too, if I had remembered to add the eggs. Ugg. He didn't seem to mind too much though.

For his birthday he got some money from Nana that he bought four little transformer toys with, an Imaginext dinosaur from Cutesy, and a Trio set and Blocko set from Rus and I. I think he made out like a bandit.

Another great thing about being four is that Beau can finally be done wearing his braces at night! We've really been slacking the last six months just making him wear them every other night (or every other other night), so to be totally done is a very happy thing! Here he is on the last night he had to wear them...doesn't he look happy!

On Saturday we decided to take a hike up in Ramsey Canyon. After lots of whining from my kids I finally turned to my dad for reassurance and said, "we all whined a ton when we were little and we turned out okay, right?" He just chuckled. I don't know what that means. We didn't whine? Unlikely. We didn't turn out okay? Hmm...Here are some pics from the hike:
I think Rus was saying, "Take it quick, I can't suck in my gut much longer."

And here is an attempt to get a picture of the crazy people that rule my life. They're loud and crazy and dramatic...and all mine. Forever.

The end.
P.S. We had a great time at the baby blessing but unfortunately didn't take any pictures. But it was great to visit and eat. And Marianne had a crush on Rus's buddy Clint during church. I kid you not, that child leaped onto Clint's lap at least a half a dozen times, a totally unnatural thing for her to do to anyone but me and Rus. It was awesome.