One Popular (assistant) Scout Master!

So Ryan has been gone all week. All week. He went to Camp Morrison Boy Scout Camp near McCall, Idaho. He swam in Payette Lake (even participated in the Polar Bear Scoutmaster watermelon challenge -- Brandt helped push him in), climbed the climbing wall, fired shotguns (he was 0 for 10 on hitting the clay pigeons), played at the archery range (he got 6 points out of 7 arrows), went rappelling on some impressive cliffs nearby, rafted down the Salmon River (again), did some whittling on several walking sticks for himself, Roderic and Sabrina, and lots of talking with boys.

Last Sunday I made him a CD entitled Scout Camp 2008, with the following songs:

• Ahab the Arab (Ray Stevens)
• The Bare Necessities (Harry Connick, Jr.)
• Don't Worry Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin)
• Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)
• Forever Young (Alphaville
• Guitarzan (Ray Stevens)
• I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)
• In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel)
• Johnny B. Goode (Marty McFly and the Starlighters)
• Jump (Van Halen)
• Mission: Impossible Theme (Lalo Schifrin)
• Power of Love (Huey Lewis and the News)
• The Saga Begins (Wierd Al)
• So Long & Thanks for All the Fish (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)
• Theme from Rocky XIII (Wierd Al)
• Yoda (Wierd Al)
• You Gotta Dig a Little Deeper (Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver)
• Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (Ric Ocasek)

They listened to it on the drive there, and sang the songs throughout the week. Today, for the drive home ALL 4 scouts chose to drive in the truck with Ryan instead of Scoutmaster Keele's Toyota. Just so they could listen to the music (and sing along). There you have it. Ryan is one popular assistant scoutmaster.

Take a trip with me...

...down memory lane!

I have been having so much fun remembering and commenting on cool memories about all the people I know with blogs who are doing this, so I thought I might as well join the fun and see what you remember about me. So,

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Camping with the Christensen's 2008

I have a hard time thinking that Ryan should go to work for 2 days in one week, when he is already taking 3 days off, especially if those 2 days are Thursday and Friday. When his sister planned a Monday-Wednesday family reunion, I took it upon myself to organize a camping trip with my family for Thursday-Saturday. Shanda and her family and Cortney and his family and my parents and Carson came up to Lava Hot Springs to play with each other. It was so much fun! I can see us getting together yearly for a camping trip (maybe we'll skip the years when we have our big vacations planned, though).

We started our festivities in Soda Springs. Roderic and Hyrum were SOOO excited to see "The Dinkey Engine" at the park while we waited for the others to arrive. We ate lunch at Caribou Mountain Pizza and Grill - yum. Then we saw the Geyser go off. We went out to Hooper Spring to try some straight from the ground soda water. Everyone had a taste, even Sabrina, who despises carbonated everything. Yuck. It tasted like iron and blood. (Ryan brought home a bottle of it.) Then we went to Eastman Drug to try the same soda water with sugar and flavoring at the original soda fountain. Strawberry Cream Soda tasted delicious.

We stopped at Historic Chesterfield Township. It's a Mormon ghost-town. Neat. Shanda and Dad thought it was a great place to stop and learn some history.


Camping at River's Edge campground in Lava Hot Springs left a lot to be desired. Their website said they had showers and toilets. In reality there were 4 commodes and 2 showers for women - I assume the same for men, but I didn't see those first hand - to share among the 87 camping sites. Talk about lines. We had 2 sites to share among our 4 families. Right up against a rock cliff, with a small stream and lots of rocks. At least we had shade. The thing that gets me is that they charged $20 per tent per night. If we would have all crammed into one tent that is all we had to pay, but since we had 4 tents we got to pay $80 per night. For a crummy rocky site, with no grass to play on. Just down the way there were camper trailers and 5th wheels who got to pay only $35 per night - and their sites had grass. Annoying.

One good thing about our campground was that it was right on the River's Edge and they rented tubes to float down the river. All day Friday we drove to the east end of town, got on the river and floated until we got to our campsite. The kids had a blast! The parents had a blast! I didn't take any pictures on the river. Shanda, will you post some please?

Another good thing was that we got to hear and see trains every hour during the day (and I'm told they came by every 2 hours in the night, but I didn't hear those; a perk from having slept alongside Highway 89 for 2 nights, I guess). Have I ever mentioned that I have 2 boys who are completely in love with all things train? EVERY time Hyrum would hear the train whistle, he would stop whatever he was doing, get really excited and start stomping his feet and pointing and shouting "Da do do do do do! Da do do do do!" Even Shanda's 2 year old started showing excitement by the end of our stay.


All in all, it was good food, good company, good times.

Gibby Reunion 2008

Ryan's sister, Genette was in charge of this year's Gibby Family Reunion, which was held at Bear Lake. We camped in tents at the KOA in Garden City, Utah. Our tent was perhaps 10 feet from US Highway 89. Needless to say, we were startled awake multiple times during the night by cars, trucks and semis (with their engine brakes). I swear we could hear them coming and going for 2 miles. Memo to self: if we ever stay at this campground again, we must stay in the unshaded campsites, far away from the road!

Sabrina got sick on our drive from home to Bear Lake. Puking multiple times in the car. We're not sure if it was food poisoning or a real disease. She was really weak and lethargic. She just laid on a blanket on the ground while we set up our tent, ate dinner and had family home evening. She really wanted to feel better on Tuesday, though, so she could go to the cave. And she was.

We all went to Minnetonka Cave near St. Charles, Idaho. It was so cool! (40 degrees) I carried Hyrum most of the way in the sling. Roderic walked a bit and then convinced Ryan to carry him. Approximately 440 stairs (one way).

In the afternoon, we went to Bear Lake and played on the beach and rode on Glen & Genette's wave runners. Boy was that fun. Surprisingly (not really) the children all loved playing in the sand. They constructed an amazing waterworks with dams and canals, then a hot pool. Once when a dam broke, Robbie shouted to his cousins, "Dam it! Dam it! Just dam it!" All of the mothers sitting close by heard this and were just laughing. What proper word usage. Too bad we didn't capture that moment on video. Hilarious!

We had a fun time, but we sure missed the Jones family!

It's Not Easy Being Green

When I was a Junior at Northridge High School, I got to write a research paper for my English class. I still have it in all it's dot-matrix printed glory. My chosen topic was on Recycling. It was as though it was meant for me! I was completely amazed that recycling wasn't more popular. There was only one recycling center (30 minutes away), but my mom and I would wash our tin cans, remove all the paper and put them in bags and take them to the recycling center along with our newspapers. I don't think this lasted for more than 1 year, though. What a tedious process. I learned that SLC had a curb side recycling program and I wanted to know why my city (8th largest in Utah, at the time) didn't have one. It still doesn't, by the way.

Upon moving to Boise, we discovered that we had curb side recycling, and they paid us $1 per month to use it! Now they've upped the discount given to $2.30 per month. I'm still amazed at how many people (in my neighborhood) don't. Used motor oil, paper, plastic and cans all recycled at the curb. At the fire station a few miles from my house, they have a glass-recycling dumpster. When I ask people why they don't participate, they use the same excuse. It's not convenient enough. What?!?!? But, I digress.

Last summer I was reading on Nisa's blog when she was writing about going green. She mentioned "The Simple Living Guide" by Janet Luhrs. I was intrigued, so I researched it on Amazon.com and then put it on hold at the library and checked it out a few weeks later. I read a part of it, but I just couldn't get into it. She was talking about such things to live simply like using time wisely, getting out of debt, nurturing relationships with family members. There was nothing earth shattering, just common sense stuff that I've been doing all along. So I stopped reading it.

I think Nisa also linked to another website with tips on how to be "greener" that included purchasing these designer bags to take to the grocery store. There is no way I'm going to pay big bucks on a grocery bag, but it got me to thinking that I could make my own bags and then I remembered the bags Ryan and I bought at the rinik (outdoor market) in Ukraine in 1998. I had been using them as swimming pool paraphernalia bags. Now they get used double duty. I discovered that the grocery stores I frequent (Winco, Fred Meyer and Albertson's) all offer a discount on using your own bags, then Freddie's had a 2 for $1 sale on their reusable bags. I figured soon the bags would pay for themselves so I bought a couple. I've had trouble remembering to take them each time I shop, but I'm doing better. I can put my whole 2 weeks worth of groceries in 5 bags! I'm sold.

This summer I've been doing a lot of swimming laundry. With Ryan's nieces and nephews here for a week, then Roderic and Sabrina taking swimming lessons through Boise Parks and Rec. for the past 2 weeks. A lot. Love the pool, need towels to dry off, but come on. I had had enough. So, I bought a retractable clothes line, installed it on our shed and put the hook on our house. After seeing how easy (and quickly) it was to hang out the swim suits, I decided I wanted to dry more outside. The retractable clothes line is up to 40' and I was using maybe 10', so I put another hook on the shed. It fit a whole load of towels. And I rediscovered that it is relaxing to hang laundry out to dry. I've done it before. My grandmother had a clothes line at her house in Aurora, New York that I got to use the summer I stayed with her. Hanging laundry was not an optional chore then (the clothes dryer was only to be used on rainy days). I remember running outside with Aunt Rachelle to get the clothes off the line fast before the rain picked up. I'm not sure that I'll hang my clothes out to dry every time, but I'm glad I have the option. Especially for my big blankets. And all of those towels.

And now for some cute kids:

Sabrina doing the back stroke and Roderic showing off his 'superman' hands.

Mixed Up Lyrics

I love to sing! I've loved singing for as long as I can remember. Once, when I was about 5 and I was riding in the back of our Chevy El Camino to pickup my older siblings from school and my mom told me to either stop singing or move to the very back of the vehicle (she was listening to talk radio). I moved. Also, when listening to my Walkman and doing the dishes (age 10-15), my siblings would ask me to stop singing. Could they really hear me? I could hardly hear myself over the music!

Sometimes I don't know what the words to the song are, but just sing what I think they are. Here are a few lyrics of what I sing. Can you tell what songs they're from?

1. The heart of rock 'n roll is to beat ya.
2. She seems to have an invisible Tuff Shed.
3. I know this church is true.
4. Cleaning product from the kitchen.
5. Now the Czar, Now the Czar.

Other times, I purposely change lyrics to songs. Like singing "We are the Champions" with the letter P at the start of each word. This is a jingle from 1982. My older brother and sisters changed the words, but I sang with gusto every time they would start into it.

Tab, Tab Cola what a sickening drink.
Tab, Tab Cola for ugly, fat people.
Tab, Tab Cola is poisonous to drink,
Tastes tart and 10 billion calories.

(Here is a youtube video of the original commercial.)

Happy Independence Day

This is the first time in years that we've been in Boise on July 4th. In years past we've gone to Layton to celebrate with our extended families. Let's face it with the morning parade, the annual Gibby family BBQ at Uncle John's, a Symphony concert in the park complete with cannons during the '1812 Overture' and an amazing fireworks display, who wouldn't want to celebrate there? The fact that Boise has had only a parade at 6:30 pm (the hottest time of the day) didn't keep us here, either.

Well, this year, our ward activities committee planned a Flag Raising Ceremony and Pancake Breakfast for the morning of July 4 AND several local businesses (Channel 6 and Idaho Statesman) got together to plan and host a fireworks display at Ann Morrison Park. Ryan got to work with the boy scouts of troop 136 on the Flag Raising, the pancakes were delicious, and there was a bike parade for the kids. We did some swimming, ate steak and corn on the cob for dinner, then went to the park with the Hansen family to see the fireworks. Roderic and Stockton love to wrestle! The fireworks were amazing. I was very impressed. And we had a perfect spot on the grass to lay and view them. Hyrum even liked watching them!

As Ryan and Roderic were decorating their bike for the bike parade, BoiseBroadway Quartet came and serenaded them with "Daisy Bell." They thought Roderic's bike was pretty cool. Which it is.

Still my favorite

A couple of weeks ago, I opened my email to find this letter from shutterfly.com:

Dear Malauna,

We'd like to thank you for being one of our favorite customers with a free 20-page 8x8 photo book (a $29.99 value). Use it to hold onto your spring flings and birthday celebrations for years to come.

Your free photo book will be applied at checkout.

Order yours by June 24, 2008.

Needless to say, I quickly made a book about our family camping trips in 2007. I paid only $8.14 for shipping. Gosh, I LOVE shutterfly!

Idaho Suzuki Institute

Last week, Sabrina (and I) got to attend the annual Idaho Suzuki Institute. It was held on the campus of Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa. They had onsite child care available and I used it Monday afternoon; the rest of the week I had either a paid babysitter or friends who volunteered to watch Roderic and Hyrum.

If you were to ask Sabrina what her favorite part of the week was she'd say "Science class, except for Monday." (when the teacher didn't show up), and "The lunches were so good!" (She (we) enjoyed eating a chocolate/vanilla twist cone every day). I found it really remarkable that she would play her violin in classes for 5 hours a day (standing up the whole time in 4 of them) and then come home and practice. When we went to her lesson with Mrs. Hines this week, Sabrina showed much improvement to her.

I took some video footage of her repertoire class on Thursday. There is power in hearing 17 violins played in unison. This song is "Hunter's Chorus".




Due to my brother, Colter, leaving for a mission this week, we didn't stay for the final string concert on Friday. In years past, that concert has been amazing. All of the participants come up onto the stage when the songs become their playing level, so it ends with all of them playing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in unison. Wow.

We did stick around for the Enrichment classes recital on Friday afternoon. Sabrina was in the beginning fiddling class. They played 3 songs, "French Waltz" (a waltzed version of French Folk Song), "Rubber Dolly" and "Twinkle HoeDown". Her favorite? "Rubber Dolly," of course.



The only complaint I have is that we don't have any friends (or family, get working on it Shanda) who go to Institute. Lindsay, I think we should look into going together next year. Either here or in SLC. Emma and Sabrina would have a blast!