Following in the footsteps of our Father

This week at school the kids had "take your children to work day". This isn't really ever going to be a possibility for our kids, soooo after Camdyn's soccer game we headed out to Beaverton for a surprise visit. They LOVE to visit daddy at the station. I think Brody looks like he could get used to this kind of work!
The girls love playing on this old fashion fire truck. Isn't it adorable?



Earlier this year Todd was promoted to Lueitenant and is now stationed at Firehouse 67 in Beaverton which houses both an engine and a truck. This means 8 men at the firehouse, plus the Captian and the Chief are on the same shift. 10 guys in one house is a lot. Many personalities to mesh with and lots of cooking! Todd wowed them with Cumin salad and yummy bread the other day. That's a lot of salad to make!
It just so happened that when we pulled in several of them were right in the middle of a very important volleyball tournament. I think losing team had to do dishes:> The game was interrupted by a call....so it was quickly brushing off the sand and heading out (the above photo leaving the station).
No matter how many people call this a cushy job (volleyball, recliners, workout room, Kelly day's, super fabulous retirement, pensions, 401K's and medical)....the fact is, a firefighter risks his life when responding to a 911 fire emergency. How many 9 to5 businessmen do that? More firefighters die in house fires than commercial fires because of the fact that there are just MORE housefires. One year he did the Stair Climb for MS in Seattle. 69 flights of stairs in full gear breathing oxygen. Now, I love to climb stairs....but not with an added 50 pounds of weight on me! Wait, I did that up and down for 9 months and gasping for air after one flight of stairs.
We arrived as dinner was being prepared. Briskets yummm. I made the crew two batches of kettle korn for an evening snack.
I wonder if they have assigned recliners? "Hey Jeff I had that chair first"....or how about "I outrank you move over".

Dang, I forgot to document Todd going down the firepole. Not many stations have them because they are single story. This is one of the largest and it does have one. It's really cool lookin' too, and they really do use it....otherwise it's running to the back of the station, down two flights of stairs and around to the rigs. Another time.

This has been a special behind the scenes report by Stacey Lake

tiny hole in the skull

I'll blame this one on our bad weather....Kennedy went outside to watch the hail storm around 8:30 and when she and Griffin started playing back and forth with the front door, somewhere on the doorhandle dug hard into her forehead. I hear Griffin apologizing and then screams from both he and Camdyn as blood is drippind down her face. I run down to see what is going on and calmly look at Kennedy while yelling at the other two to knock it off since thier cries were scaring her more than anything. It's just a tiny cut but since it was an open little wound, sure to scar I had to be sure. Emailed this picture to Todd who suggested I take her in to Urgent Care.
Two hours later (we got there at 9:30 and left at 11:40) Kennedy was all dressed up and ready to "get this over with". She did great through the shot and the stitching.
Even the Dr. was amazed at what a brave little girl she was. I offered her a late night treat on the way home and she was happy as could be.

I told her this would be our own little adventure, just the two of us. She didn't think it was going to be much of an adventure, but in the end she was pretty pleased to have a treat and get to sleep with mom. She even woke up the kids to show them her stitch.

One mans junk is another mans treasure

Dang, I wish I had taken a picture just now of my front room in the height of my "de-junk this entire house" kick. It's either move or down scale in a major way. For now I'll have to settle for down scale. I gather bags for the DI every month and still more accumulates! In my front room which serves as our office I just went through each and every drawer, pulling our papers left and right. Junk, donate and organize or rearrange. Todd hates the "mess" it makes when I deep clean. Good thing he's working the next 72 hours. He especially doesn't love it when I start going through all his clothes that he never wears. Ryan doesn't mind that part so much :>

Too bad my sissy's and aunties don't live near by cause I have some good stuff that I want out of here! I'll think about hanging on to it if mom is driving up. The last time they came I sent home boxes and boxes of clothes. That Jeep Liberty is quite deceiving!!

Does anyone suppose I inherited Annie's love for deep cleaning?? I remember coming home from school and mom would have our rooms spic and span, detailed and cleaned from top to bottom every few months. We were in charge of regular bed making and pick up but that woman happily did the rest. I even recall the times we girls would take it upon ourselves to switch rooms or rearrange when mom and dad were away. Dad would say "pick up your rooms girls!" and we'd go over to the wall and try to lift it up with our hands. We thought we were pretty clever.

Refridgerator compulsions

After viewing the post of my mom's fridge, I decided to do one of my own. It's a known fact amongst Annie's girls that we always had condiments growing up but never had milk! For some reason she must have thought the 6 of us in one household would not finish it off before the experiation date. Many mornings I'd wake to pour a bowl of cereal only to find about 1/4 cup left at the bottom of the gallon! Our outside fridge usually contains 4 reserve gallons, plus the two we keep inside. Our neighbor, who has no children, saw us unpacking our load and remarked "I wouldn't even know what to do with that much cheese!".

One of my "things", "quirks" , "compulsions" whatever you want to call it.....is a CLEAN fridge. I love to get my hands on a fridge and do a clean make-over! It's a sickness. Now, I don't keep flowers in there because unlike my mother, I have food that takes up most the room :>

BUT I can't stand crumbs of any kind or sticky messes. Pudding spills, pop! spills, those pesky dried milk crumbs that fall from around the lid, and the bits of pieces that fall from grapes or apples into the crisper. Annoying. I take my bins out often to soap them down. And yes, I do notice other people's fridges :> I also can't stand the crumbs that fall into the silverware compartments or the fact that they never get wiped down.

Spaghetti and Geese

Saturday we had the warmest day of the year. Todd got in a nice long 10 mile run, Griffin had a team soccer run on the trail and ran with Todd 5 miles, Camdyn ran 2 miles while Kenna biked. I rode/ran, Camdyn had a soccer game and then we headed out for another fun outing downtown.

Can anyone tell me who this lovely lady is? I just love all of Portland's statues. Wouldn't an Amazing race based on Statues alone in Portland be a blast? They range from Washington Park, Pearl, Park Blocks, Pioneer Square to the East Bank and all in between. Maybe I could cook something up when my Rose Festivus visitors come.

After eating at Spaggy Factory....again :> We found this new secluded beach on the West side of the Willametter river. Feeding the geese that came and took it right out of their hands was a big thrill. Played in the fountain before heading back.

Word to your mother

The other day, I'm inside (probably cleaning up after above kids) and I hear a knock at the door accompanied by giggles. I answer the door and what do I find but the neighborhood gang-stahs having a good laugh at the surprise look on my face. Can you tell from the road that once again it was a rainy day. See what being cooped inside all winter and now spring can do to a group of girls?? You can't see it but they even had fake moles drawn on their cheeks.

Just one bite?

This is Mr. Boy. He likes to crawl, drink milk bottles, and bite every once in awhile. Griffin and I have gotten the worst wounds as we tend to be around him the most. Sometimes he'll just lean into my shoulder and latch on. It hurts! I say "no bite Brody!" and put two fingers against his lips, but the kids only hear that and want him to bite them so they can reprimand him as well. Not working.

Great Wolf Lodge

I posted my pictures out of order....Scroll down for the description of where we are below........

This is part of the Beartrap landing kiddie area. Brody and Kennedy got a kick out of this area and Kennedy loved getting dumped on by the lifeguard waterfall (below). This is the way they large 4 man tubes get taken to the tippy top of the Howlin Tornado ride (up the blue conveyer belt to the right). The first time I went down was at night with Griffin. It was pitch black because the actual tube is outside. I couldn't see anything and no idea a HUGE drop off was coming, plus I was sent down backwards. I was hanging on and screaming for dear life. No wonder Camdyn started crying when I told her I wanted her to come down it again with me. One time for her was enough. I made Griffin go down again with me right before it closed since the line was shorter. He was freaked out to go backwards to....luckily a third party on our float took it for the team.

Those of us that reside in the NW know that there is not alot to offer in the theme park/water park arena. Could that have anything to do with the rain that falls 10 months out of the year? This theme hotel opened up two weeks ago and we thought we'd check it out over the break. It's called Great Wolf Lodge. Guests that stay overnight are given passes to the huge indoor waterpark for 2 days. It took only 90 minutes to get there, and was completely sold out. It's a very large lodge and carries the outdoor "wolf" theme quite charmingly inside and throughout the waterpark. There is nothing quaint about the surroundings outside the resort itself and of course anything to purchase inside the lodge is about 3 times as much. I packed up half the fridge (big surprise) since we had no idea what would be near the lodge. I made lunch, dinner and breakfast for us all (I was pretty creative with using the microwave to warm the yummy foods I'd brought from home). We did venture out to DQ for dessert ( I thought of you Jamie :>)

The first day we got there at noon and played/swam with a break for dinner, arcades and dessert, then back down till closing 10 pm.

For an indoor park I was impressed with the largeness of it all. There is a wave pool, a darling kiddie area, a HUGE 4 story tree house Waterfort (above) with 2 medium size waterslide and a 1,000 gallon Tipping Bucket. That is what is coming down on the kids above. My favorites were the double tubes we took we took the kids down in on the larger tube slides, and the Howlin' Tornado Adventure Ride.

We're glad we came during this Spring Break since the weather was crappy-ola.....But this place is not cheap and a ton can be saved by coming mid-week and not during Spring Break. Luckily with Todd's schedule that is not a problem for us :>

Why do wasps want to be in my hair?

On our first day of Spring Break we went on a hike and packed in a picnic. Sweet little Kennedy felt something in her hair and shoed it away only to be stung by the culprit wasp. Immediatly the howls began. The next day while at work, I was summoned home by a very upset Griffin. Her hand had swelled up and was hard to the touch. She complained of itchiness and couldn't move her fingers. He was worried that she was having an allergic reaction. On day 3 Todd called her pediatrition who said to mark with a pen where the swelling ended and wanted her to come in. We hate wasps!!

I believe we had one nice day of weather and that was on Thursday. After loading the bikes in the truck we parked at Omsi and rode across East Esplande to the Steel Bridge. Played in the Salmon Street Fountain, fed the birds and rode to Spaghetti Factory and had a yummy dinner. Rode back along the waterfront back to Omsi, which took about 30 min. Griffin and Camdyn are great little riders. It was probably too far for Kennedy plus she had a gimp hand so she rode in the trailer. We all saw a 7 pm show at OMSI--Grand Canyon Adventure (even Brody did great). Then walked along the water and looked at the beautiful city lights of Portland. Aren't I lucky to live in my favorite city?

Line upon On-line, precept on precept

For the last several weeks and even longer than that.....at least a few months if not the past year and maybe even longer than that my computer has been on the fritz. Pretty much I wanted to throw it through the window. I just stopped logging on becuase it was so bogged down. Come to find out we had about 1/4 the memory capacity we were trying to use and so it always froze up....for undetermined amounts of time. I think the breakdown on my dad's birthday was the cincher for deciding to throw out the old and get updated. I'm a penny pincher and hate to buy something that doesn't "seem" necessary. Now that this is up and running I realize what fools we've been. Why did we wait so long? We are on Spring Break and are trying to fill the days with fun outings for the kids, but as soon as we resume I look forward to catching up on sissy's and cousin posts. I think Sara is the only one as slow as I was to post. Sorry Sara, you might be on your own. I know I'm not in Jamie's camp, because I keep a handwritten journal and I'm still just not on the computer as much. But perhaps I can learn a thing or two from her!
Jo, what was that song from? Debbie Diary or Saturday's Warrior? How come they don't act those out anymore?

Griffin, you're not the mother!

That is what Camdyn is always telling Griffin when he's attempting to create order in our house. I bribed her with a dollar to be good while Griffin was in charge this week and it worked! Smitten with Brody, that is what Griffin is. He is there in the morning to greet him into a new day.....that is if he can beat his sisters to the punch. Usually what happens to poor Brody is that his door is opend amidst crying and wailing and tears over who was or wasn't the first one in to get him up out of bed. The novelty wears off quickly as he is then dumped into my arms or set on the floor to fend for himself and we finish getting the kids ready and out the door.
Griffin babysat for me today while I worked at the Orthodontist office for 7 hours! He had all 3 of the younger kids and did such a great job. He's 11 going on 21 I swear! I came home at lunch to feed the kids and change Brody. He had changed a dirty diaper that morning and put him down for both of his naps. There was one incident that occured that sent me straight home 20 min sooner than I was going to leave. He called to say Kennedy had been stung by another wasp and was throwing up! (Allergic reaction? I didn't know and he was crying). I rushed home to find her at the nieghbors sipping on a cup of juice curled up in front to the tv. Lost in translation from Camdyn to Griffin to me was that her wasp bite from yesterday was "swelling up". It did look pretty bad. All in all he did exactly what I woud have wanted him to do and had the house spotless. What a great kid. I thought it was sweet that both he and Camdyn were crying for Kennedy and her poor finger. It's now spread onto her hand and looks quite puffy and sore.
The last week in Feb. we had glorious weather. I took the kids on a couple of hikes and it was warm out. We hiked through the trails to get an ice cream and played outside all day. Griffin and Caleb Browning have been friends for about 8 years. They got baptised on the same date and are in the same class together this year in school (per my request). He is a good example and a very polite kid to have in our home. I love that they can entertain themselves outside all day long without the need of video games. That is my criteria numero uno in a friend.....But alas Mr. Rain came back.......
And just this last week we had snow flurries and hail. The girls think it's so fun to go jump on the trampoline in the hail wearing skirts and tank tops. Kids!!! They were frozen red when they came in. It was so cold in fact last week that I actually decided to for-go my run and swam laps at the club instead. If you know me well, that means it had to be really cold!

Who you know

Todd and I were just commenting the other evening, watching the Blazers from our 8th row seats, how fortunate we are to have friends in high places. We would not to be able to do tons of the activites we do if it weren't for the generosity of good friends. In the last few months alone we have been given many tickets from Ryan Gibson (top ticket sales agent in the NBA employed by the Trailblazers)..I took the girls, Ashley May and the Clanton sisters to Beyonce,Todd and I have gone to the Blazers a few times. Six tickets to the Wiggles came last week and even more offers we had to pass up.

Tonya from work gave us 8 tickets to the Winterhawks (her hubby is asst. coach) which we took the kids and the Lindhorsts to 3 weeks ago. They loved it! The fighting and penalties especially. The Lindhorsts have also generously invited us along to enjoy thier box through Bank of America to see the Judd's, B@B cirus and the Incredibles on Ice.

I braved the Wiggles on my own with 5 kids and fared pretty well. But there's no way I would have spent $300 on those tickets! That's crazy talk.

a>

St. Easter's Day

When was the last time that St. Patrick's Day and Easter were one week apart? My kids are happy with any reason to celebrate.

I was happy to know that the did in fact know the reason for Easter. Kennedy's preschool has Christain based teaching in their crafts and music. She learns a lot from there as well as in Primary and loves her teacher Sister Zundel at church and Miss Tracy at school.

Todd ended up working more in one week than he'd ever worked before. Thursday, Friday and Saturday (home for 12 hours to sleep Saturday night). Then back to work Sun and Monday 48 hours, off Tuesday then Wed. and Thursday another 48 hours. Our Easter was quietly spent at home, which was fine by the kids and myself. Easter bunny did well. He got the girls jump ropes and snowglobes. Camdyn's broke 2 days later....no surprise there.


Our green dinner was a hit! I dyed the Chicken Broccoli Casserole and served up any other green vegie or dish I could think of and just added green food coloring to everything else. The hats came from the $1 section at Target. I should have bought more!

The girls has a Princess Party and watched Enchanted while Griffin spent the night at Chandler's house. We had wands and crowns, ate appetizers and watched the movie on pillows and blankets they brought from home. What a cute movie!

The girls helped me set the table for our princess party....this was taken after all the cute food got eaten :> We made Easter gifts for the kids' teachers this year. In them we had soap that Camdyn made last summer in Utah with Annie, candies and a pass along card from church with an Easter theme. That was the easiest way to send the message of Savior and his gospel and what a perfect time of year to pass it along.....

So it's back to blondish as Kennedy would say....or did she call it whiteish? I can't remember. Anywho the brown just wasn't me, plus it wasn't dark enough and I was too impatient to try it a few more times to make it stick.....maybe another time. I like change and this is an easy way to get it. Now my hair needs some TLC.

When I pick up Brody from the kids club I hear comments like "Well, he sure doesn't look like you." (sarcastically speaking). I think he looks like a Skeen boy might have looked had we girls had to share our childhood with a brother. The thought of that is wierd. Where would he have slept and played? Our barbies took up all the room, as did our floral wallpaper.