Turkeys

Things to be thankful for:

A little leatherhead. And a movie recommendation.

The fat and happys.

These turkeys hanging out on Grandma's feather bed. Who else grew up thinking it was cool to sing along with John Denver?

Look what the littlest turkey discovered!

And just for giggles. Can you guess what his favorite show was this summer?

Obviously, We've Taught Him All He Needs to Know

Long in the Tooth

A few weeks ago my name appeared in our local newspaper.

Unfortunately, it was in the "Past Pages" section. Does it get any worse than that?

Can you guess which one is me?


Actually, it does get worse. Sadly, this not the first time my name has appeared as a historical tidbit.



***Just a few minor corrections: My paper "The Confusion of Black and White in Othello," won the Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Humanities Paper and the Outstanding Sophomore Paper for the entire university, which had a student body of approximately 27,000 (not the sophomore class). My name is even on a plaque at the Lee Library. I force my children to pay homage to it every time we're in Provo--a pilgrimage of sorts.

But on the bright side, I've got a opportunity to toot my own horn and reminisce about when I was something other than Gabe, Jake, Nate, and Pete's mom. When I wrote outstanding scholarly papers with titillating titles like: "The Federal Crack and Powder Cocaine Distinction for Sentencing: Slamming the Door on Equal Protection" and "China's One-Child per Couple Policy: A Violation of Human Rights." You know you're good when your titles include colons.

So now I'd like to know. What achievements appear in your "past pages?"



P.S. Can you tell somebody learned how to scan?

Pics of Pete's Blessing for the Fam

We blessed Peter on November 2. He was so heavy it took a lot of men to hold him (can you believe that tub of love is only 9 weeks old?). So great that all of my sons have been blessed by their father and both grandfathers. And Pete slept slept through it all. Perfect child.

For the record, Dan gave him the name "Peter Matthew" and conscientiously omitted the "which you shall be known by on the records of the church" phrase. We're cool like that.

The grandparents.

Pete's girlfriend Nora.

Green Halloween

Our family was a Big Green Help this year for Halloween. Do you recognize our recycled costumes?

Gabe is Lightning McQueen.

Jake is Buzz Lightyear (the last time he'll fit in this spacesuit, boo hoo).

Nate is "just a racecar driver," meaning that is all he wants to be.
Pete is a little chick who brought his own treat.

Buzz chilling to infinity and beyond with Princess Aurora and Tink.

The boys and Sparky.

Buzz wants to drive this.

Too tweet.

Cupcakes I made for Gabe's school party. I stopped myself from grabbing them out of the trash when the first-graders took one lick and tossed them. Ingrates.

Lucky Seven

My firstborn turned seven on October 26th. What a baptism by fire he gave us. There really wasn't anything easy about Gabe in the beginning. From his conception, to his delivery, to his projectile-vomiting with severe acid reflux and severe colic, to his congenital glaucoma. We are still amazed we had more children.

Here's a list, not all-inclusive of course, summarizing Gabe's good luck.

(One week old; don't be fooled by his cuteness)

1. LUCKY that he was ONE TERRIBLE BABY. Gabe was such a fussy and needy baby that I spent hours holding him each day. I remember looking at my red-faced little monster one day and thinking, "What is wrong with him? Should I look at his eyes to see if he's sick, sort of like feeling if a dog's nose is wet?" And then I noticed a slight cloudiness in one eye. "Probably just the light," I thought. But it wasn't, because the cloudiness was there the next day. Even though I could only see the cloudiness in certain lights, it nagged at me. So I put it on the list of things to ask about at his 2 month check-up.

(February 2, 2002 after first surgeries)

The moral of the story? Because Gabe was so awful, I noticed his eyes. Because we caught and treated his congenital glaucoma early, Gabe has minimal vision impairment. Unbelievably lucky boy.

(Fall 2006)

2. LUCKY that he has TWO DOGS. And he's already raised puppies. Isn't that every boy's constitutional right?

(Winter 2005)

(Summer 2008; the haze is uncharacteristic for Tahoe, but California was afire)

(Chumps, August 2008)

(Pete, October 2008; really need to get all boys in one picture)

3. LUCKY that he has THREE BROTHERS. Ready-made playmates and best friends, not to mention future serfs.

(Spring 2007)

(Summer 2008)

4. LUCKY that he lives close to FOUR GRANDPARENTS. Who all came to his birthday party. Who do sleepovers, take him fishing, visit his school and his ward, take him camping, take him to movies, and even do boring things like shop at Costco with him.

(October 26, 2008)

5. LUCKY that his favorite birthday present has nearly FIVE HUNDRED PIECES. And his Dad was patient enough to put it all together. And his Mom has her buyer's remorse under control.

(Summer 2003)

(Summer 2007)

(October 26, 2008)

6. LUCKY that cars have 6 CYCLINDERS. Because he LOVES cars. His first sentence was "Look at that car!" He recognized more car insignias at the age of 3 than most adults. He loves the way they sound, the way tires smell, and the way they go fast and crash. He's obsessed with Tony Stewart. And Lightning McQueen. He claps at the beginning of NASCAR races.


7. LUCKY that he has had SEVEN BIRTHDAY CAKES, and only one that he didn't like (before we discovered he's a chocolate only guy).

(Summer 2008)

Happy 7th Birthday to my sweet, brave, spiritual, funny, lucky Gabe.

Thanks for making me a mom.

Did I say week?

'Cause I really meant month. And I've had this post title in my head for the last week Sara, so no plagerism going on here.

Here's the rundown.

Dan's grandma died October 13, which necessitated a quick trip to Apple Valley. Quick in the sense that we drove down on Friday and back on Sunday. The driving--not so quick. Good thing our boys are really good in the car. Even if Nate was so, so sad: "Mom, I can't believe you changed my whole life! I just want to go home." Highlights included:

**Spotting the "Astrid Wash Bridge" near Barstow (we laughed and laughed; see my attempt to document the bridge sign at 80 mph):

**Forgetting our church clothes (hanging in the closet) and hurriedly buying replacements at The Mall of Victor Valley. It was not an easy task in such a locale.

**Meeting new cousin Pearl:



**Watching two of my boys stretch and execute earthworms at the graveside service. I'm pretty sure Great Nana would have gotten a huge kick out of that.

Then we had Gabe's birthday on the 26th (more on that in a separate post) and the whole Halloween thing (again, more coming later). I love Halloween, but when did it become a three-week long celebration? We had the ward party, the three school parties, in addition to the actual trick-or-treating. And that's not even counting the elders' party and the friends' party that we missed because of the funeral. Next year, I'm setting limits! We also squeezed in a trip to the dry pack cannery to stock up on food storage, and Peter's blessing on the 2nd (you guessed it). And we just got back late yesterday from Nate's EUA at UC Davis (yep). I'm already halfway through the parent-teacher conferences this week, so I've got a little time to download my photos. So please be patient, I'm hoping to be writing very clever posts with lots of pictures soon.