Our 1st Sports Day for the Summer

Braden and his buddy discussing their long jumps, and deciding on their plans for the shot put and javelin events.

Braden has a great, and consistent arm.  Brit has realized this from playing catch with him.  I was surprised that each "shot put" ie. bean bag he threw they all landed within a few inches of each other, as well as getting some great distance.

Sasha is like her Mommy she couldn't decide which arm to throw with.  I guess after the first two didn't get the results that she was wanting she opted to try out her left arm.  We'll see what she decides on.

With a little encouragement (ie. competition) from a good friend of hers she discovered that she can handle the glider on the playground by herself, both directions.  My little girl is growing up.

After the sports and a little playground time many of the kids decided that they really wanted to get wet.  I figured that this would be the case since it was the first real "summer" day we have had so I dressed the kids accordingly.  They have been begging all day to go to the splash pad.  It was so much fun to watch them run around.  Braden was even running around having a great time until an older girl decided that he was a great target and got him in the face.  He decided after that the place to be was behind the "gun" that got him.  All the kids had a great time, I think we will be spending a fair amount of time there this summer.  Hopefully in some swimming lessons as well.  Have a great summer!

Saturday we decided that we would take a short break from the yard sale.  I saw a sign at the beginning of the week (while following a detour route - twice because I turned the wrong way, oh well) advertising a historic train museum with train rides that was going to be open that Friday and Saturday.  We decided that it would be a really fun surprise for the kids since they have both been loving trains recently, anything to do with them.

It turned out to be a great break for all of us.  I could have spent hours taking pictures, and visiting with some of the cute older gentlemen that were playing, um I meant "working" there. They loved what they were doing.  The man pictured below was in the caboose using a telegraph for fun.  I asked if his fingers were getting tired.  He told us that he could never get tired of it, but that he could do it 7days a week, 365 days a year.  He was so excited when I asked if I could take his picture.  I didn't get a picture of his belt buckle, but it was a replica of a Morse telegraph switch.  Here are a few of the pictures from our afternoon with the trains.

 

  Unfortunately the museum is only open on occasion, we will definitely be going back during the fair when they are open again!  We could hardly get the kids to leave, they really loved it.  Here is a shot I got of Braden pouting as we were trying to get him to leave. 

   

Thank you Historic Railway Society for making this such a great experience!

Photo Class Week 2

I have the opportunity to take a photography class from a good friend, I am so excited to be learning a little more about how to get some great, at least better pictures, I want to share some of my favorites from our weekly assignments here for anyone that might be curious.  This week our assignment was to focus on creative exposures, and know what story you are wanting to tell with each picture.  Some have worked out, and others... lets say I am actually deleting pictures from the computer.  For anyone who has seen how many I have on here that are not something that you would ever print you know that isn't something that I do very often, or very well. 

We have had a busy few weeks getting ready for yard sales. On the 12th we held a yard sale here at our place with about 6 families on this round. We had planned on holding it for two days (a two day yard sale is customary for this area), though the weather Friday was uncooperative (thankfully we had anticipated this a few days in advance and decided to just make one day out of it. Saturday was a beautiful day for it, I think every one that was there for the majority of the time ended up with a sunburn. I guess that is what we get for spending the entire day out in the sun on the first day that there was a "real" summer day.  When it was all said and done we did a decent job, we loved being able to participate with some good friends.  It was great to get some things purged from our house that we weren't using any more.  One of the last things that we did was to dump out the ice from the cooler on the driveway, Braden thought that was the greatest thing ever.  See for yourself...

        

        

Braden spent a good half-hour "ice skating" (in his words) in this little pile/puddle.  He was throwing the ice up in the air, sliding around on the ice and then the water, and jumping (the last shot is courtesy of Sasha).  Sasha has been having a great time taking pictures (actually both of the kids are loving taking shots with my camera.  They only get to with my help at this point).

It was really motivating to get me to continue purging through the week.  I am so excited to keep going, and am looking forward to continuing to clear unnecessary things from our house, and allow them to bless others.

Here is a shot from later in the afternoon this past Saturday June 19th, week two of yard sale madness.  We had over twelve families this time around.  This picture is from later in the afternoon, you should have seen what it looked like in the morning.  We had people shopping from before we opened until a little after 3:30 in the afternoon.  Sunburns week two, again another beautiful day, only one for the week.  We are feeling really lucky to have had two great weeks, and to have purged a good amount from our accumulated storage that we no longer use or need.

(from Ari Anna's blog)

Feeling Renewed

It was wonderful to be able to get so much out of Sacrament Meeting today.  (Last week I went to see Sasha in her first Primary/Mother's Day program, unfortunately I didn't really get much out of the talks - thanks pain meds.)  As the High Councilman spoke today he related an experience from his youth of learning to play basketball.  His brother in helping train him required him to wear a weight vest with 32 lbs of lead sewn into the pockets, as well as some ankle weights with 16 lbs of lead in each one.  This visual of wearing a weight vest which he related to our challenges through life, especially those that really make no sense at the time.  These eventually allow us to reach heights that we never thought possible for ourselves really hit home for me.   He was relating it to many types of challenges, and addressed callings specifically, though for me I was thinking of it more in relation to my current period of surgery and recovery.

I don't remember ever wondering "why me" when it comes to my birth defect, it has always been part of my life, while it has presented it's challenges I have tried through my parents and others encouragement not to let it stop me.  Now as I am going through my recovery from this surgery it makes more sense. In a physical way, while many may deal with long term issues from procedures similar to mine it appears that (through a blessing from the Lord) my body has developed other ways of dealing with drainage to keep my arm from developing excessive swelling.   My therapist thinks that because of the compromise that I have always had my body knows how to deal with the lymph vessels and nodes that are now absent from my right axillary region.

Another thing that really struck me today was a passage of scripture that was printed on the front of our program 

 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy

laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28

When I have read this passage in the past I think I have always thought of physical burdens, or burdens that others may carry, but not in a way that it really applied to me.  So for today I need to thank our two wonderful children for being well behaved through the Sacrament, and for Brit holding onto them (so they wouldn't bump my arm as well).  I was able to really feel the spirit touch me today as I thought about this and the atonement of Jesus Christ.  I realized that all of the burdens that I "labour" under are things that my Savior has taken on himself, and if I will just allow him to he will help me.  I am so thankful for the insight that I was able to gain today.  Now I need to find ways to increase my faith and reliance on him that I am able to take him up on his promise.  I am so thankful for these Sabbath days of rest that my spirit may be renewed.

I just wanted to write down a couple of my thoughts of gratitude and appreciation for unexpected blessings in my life.  I am so thankful for so many who have been so helpful to my family and I while I am recovering.  Thank you so much!

"Children learn to smile from their parents."
-Shinichi Suzuki

This is something that I need to remember, and work on.

Nativities From Around The World

I have had the wonderful experience of being part of our stake's Nativities From Around the World for the past two years. We had gone our first year here, thought it was beautiful, but didn't really imagine what could be involved. One of our dear friends was in charge last year and asked me to help out a little bit. I found that I loved being involved and felt blessed to be part of it again this past year. I am beginning to realize how much really goes into putting it together. The annual event is accomplished by hundreds of hours of service by many wonderful people, as well as many donations/things lent by many. Without everyone it wouldn't be what it is, a great gift to the community, a beautiful reminder of what the Christmas season is all about. Even Sasha and Braden were able to help out this year. We stopped by one of the last afternoons, there was final touch work happening, and they were able to help set up the poinsettias. They absolutely loved being part of it. While I was helping with some of the things our friend who was in charge of the children's area let Sasha and Braden spend time in there. It was one of our highlights of the season, they talk about it often. Sasha loved being Mary, and Braden now loves being the cow when they are acting out the Christmas Story. Here are a few pictures from our experience this year. Sasha wanted to take pictures of some of the displays - enjoy.

She loved the "purple" table, I think I have over 10 pictures of it.

We need your help

Our friend Misty is offering a contest on her blog, she said that she has been looking for something fun to do for her clients. She came across another blog that was offering a contest and has decided that is what she wants to do. She has chosen 25 of her favorite shots from this past year's photo shoots (ours is one of them, #8) and is asking for votes. The photo with the most votes by Friday January 8, 2010 by 11:59pm (PST - I'm guessing) will win a free photo shoot. She is also going to give away a free photo shoot to one of the commenter's (chosen by random.org), which can be used by yourself or given to someone else if you don't live close. Misty is our good friend who has been helping me improve my photography skills, and we were lucky enough to have her take our pictures this year as well. We are asking that you might be willing to take a moment and go to http://www.mistyalger.com/blog/ and vote for our photo - #8 Castle Kisses. Thank you for your help in advance.

edit - the link has been fixed

? Our Family Christmas Tradition?

Apparently we have been counseled to create our own family traditions and Braden has decided that he has one that he wants to be part of our annual Christmas routine. He has decided (on his own) that a tradition that he wants to share with our family involves his annual hospital trips at Christmastime.

His first Christmas he decided that going to the instacare while we were in Salt Lake would be lots of fun. We got ended up with a nebulizer, and were in the ER at the hospital back home within a week.

Last year he decided that if he was dehydrated enough then we would take him back to the hospital. Since we stayed over Christmas Santa visited him in the hospital in Utah. He must have decided that he really liked all of the attention that he gets while he is there, or something.

Tuesday he decided that he really wanted to pull out the big guns this time. He had a mild barking cough sporadically through the day, so I called the doctors office to have him seen (since Sasha had been though it last week, and his history with croup). I was told that the practitioner didn't feel that it was pertinent to see him. He was doing just fine when we put him down for bed. I started working on some Christmas projects and Brit headed out to play some basketball. When he got home we talked for a little while then heard a little coughing from Braden's room. Brit was going for the humidifier when he realized that the coughing wasn't stopping, Braden was really struggling to breathe in. We ran him outside to see if the cold air would help. I checked his chest for retraction, it was prominent. I called 911 for help. When the medics arrived he was "cianotic" ie, turning blue. We are thankful to live within a couple of blocks of the fire station, and for their quick response! (even though it felt like a long time - I'm sure it does anytime there is an emergency). We are very thankful for the Racemic Epinephrine that they quickly got into his system. Then we got to take our first and hopefully last ambulance ride to the hospital. After a couple doses of steroids and a couple of hours of monitoring we were able to go home. His energy level is back up, he is probably feeling a little jittery from the meds, other than sleep schedules being really out of whack things were back to normal by Wednesday.

He got his new buddy "Cotton" on the "amulanc" ride, and has hardly put him down.

Thank you to one of our good friends for being willing to come over when we called after midnight so someone could be here with Sasha so that she didn't have to be woken up. Thank you to others who stayed up waiting to be informed of the events of the evening and more than willing to jump in and help in anyway they could.

I am smiling in this picture because Braden was breathing ok by now, and we were at the hospital.

His new buddy "Cotton"

If you have any opinions on Braden's idea of great holiday activities please share with him, maybe we can change his mind.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful time this Thanksgiving. We were able to keep a secret from the kids for a couple of months that Grandpa and Grandma "Anesen" were coming to see them. When I picked them up from the airport I found out that they almost didn't get here, apparently the weather was such that they were going to land in Lewiston (that would have thrown off plans for dinner a bit). Thankfully the fog lifted enough that they were able to make it. We had a wonderful dinner with some close friends, and their family. Thank you "Nock-nees and Dao" for inviting us to join you, it was wonderful. I forgot to take my camera on many of our excursions for the week, so you will see a few of the things that we did. Friday we got some of our Christmas shopping done (not at 4am), we picked up our sitter for the kids, met Mom and Dad for dinner, and then were able to see Lion King. It was an amazing performance! We would HIGHLY recommend going if you have the chance. Thank you Ann and Stan for the recommendation, and opportunity to go.

We heard that there was a great light display in Coeur'd Alene at the resort. We decided that it would be fun to walk around and see what they had. We got really bundled up, thankfully we grabbed a couple of extra gloves, blankets, scarves, and hats to keep everyone warm. It was a long cold walk around the boardwalk, the kids were so focused and loved it! Thank you Grandpa and Brit for carrying the stroller up and down the stairs so we could walk all the way around and see that lights. It was beautiful. We could have taken a cruise to the other side of the lake to the "North Pole" to see another light show and meet Santa and Mrs. Clause. We decided that wasn't in the budget for this year, maybe another time.



Braden wasn't to sure about the giant reindeer, snowman, elf, nutcracker, and moose. Sasha thought that they were really neat. We stopped inside the resort to see if Santa was there to visit. We found his sleigh, and Sasha went to work directing desired photos in the sleigh. (our budding photographer)

We happened to be there when the Dickens Carolers came through singing. (Braden was "glued" while they were singing, he is our budding musician.) It sounds like there are a lot of great things that you could enjoy while you are there. There was a beautiful display of a gingerbread house that the kids were fascinated by. Braden thought that this (see picture above) was the best way to see, not to mention that it is now his favorite way to ride the stroller.

Thank you for coming to class with us, we had a wonderful time dancing and rocking with "Gamma and Gamma Anesen"

Who doesn't love an early Christmas?

She loves her new clothes, and wears them often
(all the time if we would let her)

Braden loves his boots, and has worn them often. (Tonight I think he was the only one with warm toes while we were caroling in freezing temperatures.)

Thank you so much for coming, we miss you and are excited to see you again soon.