Rambling

About 6 years ago, my dad decided to raise chickens for eggs. He ordered some exotic chicken varieties and built a chicken palace. Why do I call it a chicken palace? Because it is on wheels, so it can be moved around his back yard AND because it has carpeting. My grandpa was so impressed by it, he built a similar one for himself. When my parents were getting ready to move to Nebraska a couple of years later, they sold the palace and the chickens. Could you imagine moving cross country with live chickens? I can hardly imagine that sort of a trip with a dog! Well, Nebraska didn't work out for them, and they are living in their same house, so my dad decided once again to raise exotic chickens. He's got ones that lay green eggs, brown eggs and white eggs. Some are white and some are black and some are brown. Some have feathers on their feet and others have crowns on their heads. He had 3 roosters with this bunch, but he killed them because he doesn't want the noise that comes with roosters. Did you know that they "cock-a-doodle-doo" all day long, not just at dawn? Apparently there are rules that say people can only have dogs and cats as pets. Fe' was asking me about Dad's Chicken Palace, so I had Ryan take some pictures last weekend when we were visiting. He's got it with a 2x6 around the bottom of the whole coop, which keeps out unwanted predators. The roosting area is where the carpeting is. They lay their eggs onto carpet that is on an incline, so the eggs roll down to an opening that is accessible from the outside of the coop (which means you're less likely to be attacked while gathering eggs).




These two boys of mine would sure like a dog. Roderic with Buddy at Grandma Christensen's house (who was being watched while Uncle Jason and Aunt Shanda were at DisneyWorld). Hyrum with Toto at Grandma Gibby's house.




Rain mixed with snow fell in Boise on Friday night. Ryan was at Stake Young Men Retreat (I mean camp out) in Garden Valley, so it was just me and the kids. The snow falling was really beautiful. It reminded me of last month when Ryan had a camp out on the first weekend that it had rained in months. They cancelled all of the soccer games that weekend, so I was expecting them to do it again this weekend (even though EVERYONE knows that soccer games are only cancelled due to lightening). They weren't cancelled. Sabrina's game was at 9 am. It was foggy. And cold. If the girls kicked the ball with the right spin, the ball would stop and spin on the snow until someone stopped it. The game ended in a tie 0-0. Tessa asked if she could come with us to watch the game, so we brought her along. I think she had 5 layers of shirts/sweaters on. Roderic's game was at 11 am. The snow had melted by then and the fog was gone, but the grass was SO wet. He didn't like it. His feet were wet and cold. His game also ended in a tie 3-3. He scored a goal (for the other team).



At one point during Sabrina's game, Roderic wandered far enough away that I needed to go get him, so I asked my friend Jeanette to hold Hyrum. He didn't make a peep, but this was how his face looked:



Ryan bought a steam juicer yesterday morning, so we finished juicing the grapes we brought home from his parents' house and the ones off of our vine. Lets just say that this process is much nicer because we have an hour (while the fruit steams) to work on other things. (Unlike Tuesday afternoon when we were working for hours and hours on end and when we took a break from grapes, no more progress was made.) We got 32 quarts put up yesterday and another 12 on Tuesday. Fresh grape juice tastes delicious! Good purchase Ryan!




Roderic has become obsessed with chess, and it is affecting the whole family. Tonight while we were finishing cooking dinner, this is how the kids occupied themselves.

Family, Soccer and Vanity

Living away from family, really makes me appreciate the time - regardless of how few minutes - that we get to spend together. Like this past Friday night, when my sister and her family stopped by while they were on their way from Portland to Bountiful. My house is just about the halfway point. I made them a delicious Chicken Stir-Fry. Roderic got to show his cousins Lego Chess. Sabrina got to play Bears with Aanja. Ryan got to show off the 5 minute movie he made about Scout Camp this year. They got to refill their water bottles. It was great fun. Then after about 50 minutes, they got back in their Grand Cherokee and continued on their journey. I asked Milaka to NOT call me when they safely arrived in Bountiful because I most likely would be deep asleep.







Yesterday was "RecFest." Which means all of the games are played in the same location, professional team photographs are taken, there are bounce houses to play on, and food vendors are there. What it also means is that those who play in the afternoon are most likely going to have their game delayed because the morning games went over time. Sabrina's game was slated to begin at 1:30 pm. We arrived about 1:10 and noticed that the teams on the field we were supposed to play on were just having half-time. When we met up with other team members, we learned that there was still another game to be played before it was our turn. Fortunately, our coach and the coach of the other team decided that we'd rather play on time instead of wait an entire hour, so we went over to another field and played there. There were no goal nets, so we put flags in the ground to mark the goal. It was a smaller field than they are used to, and they only had the penalty box marked, not the goal box, but they played well, and Sabrina even scored a goal! I was really glad that we were able to come up with this solution and not have to wait another hour before playing.


Did you know that the State of Idaho requires all license plates to be changed every 7 years? We learned this two years ago when we got the annual renewal notice for our original plates - the ones we got when we first moved to Idaho, 1A K6796. We could have paid extra money to be able to keep the same number, or pay the regular amount and be issued new plates. We opted for the less expensive route. I'd forgotten about it again though until 2 weeks ago when we got our renewal stickers in the mail for the van. It included instructions for what to do if the new plates didn't arrive before the old plates expired.

Wow, has it really been 7 years since I've been proclaiming to the world that I'm a 10 COW wife? I cannot tell you the number of times that I have been stopped, at the grocery store, at the gas station, at the parking garage, at soccer games, at the Boise River rafting drop-off, in the foyer of the church buildings; and been asked what it means. Do I own cows? Did I sell 10 cows to buy my van? Did I grow up on a dairy farm? I keep meaning to put the extra copies of "Johnny Lingo" in the van and give them to the people who ask me about my license plate.

About a year after I got my vanity plates, my brother-in-law said he was driving around Utah and saw a Cadillac with 10 COW license plates. I still claim to be the original, though. This spring when we were in Oregon, Ryan parked next to this plate that looked remarkably similar:

It's Always Fun For Everyone...

When Grandpa Comes!



We had the pleasure of hosting not one, but 2 Grandpa's and 2 Grandma's this past weekend! The occasion that brought them here was Roderic's first tumbling recital.



Roderic waiting to perform at his recital. The Blue Dolphins

Roderic has been taking "Tumble Rhythm I" from Wright Foot Forward dance studio this past year. Mrs. Wright is an amazing teacher for young children. She keeps them moving, learning and having fun. Her studio does a recital in the spring. On a stage. In sparkly costumes. With an audience of parents and grandparents (according to Roderic). Roderic was so excited to learn that he was going to dance on a stage with curtains. He asked if it was the day for his recital weekly for 5 weeks. He asked both sets of grandparents to come see him perform. And they both said yes!

As luck would have it, Sabrina's soccer team played in the Championship game of the Idaho Rush Select Classic tournament that same day. And it didn't conflict with Roderic's recital, so we were all able to go and cheer for her team! The game was tied 2-2 after regulation, then they played 2 5-minute overtimes. Finally the game ended in a shootout. The Sharks beat the Blue Dolphins by a score of 5-3. I had butterflies in my stomach, telling myself that this was my 3rd grader playing, not a professional troupe of athletes. Not even playing for a college scholarship. They were playing for fun.



Grandma & Grandpa G and Meggan brought presents to celebrate Sabrina and my birthdays.



I made a cake to celebrate Grandpa C's birthday. Roderic got to help blow out the candles. (I love Ryan's facial expression in that picture!)



My kids sure do love "The Pied Piper" (Uncle Carson)!

Sunday mroning Hyrum decided that he needed to chime in his gratefulness of his Grandpas coming and learned to say their names, "Bamba!" Now we have a picture of them as the background on our computer and he says "Bamba" every time he sees it! It's good we'll be visiting UT this weekend, so he can see them in person again.

Due to unforseen technical difficulties, the video performance is not yet available. Check back later.

Randomness tied together

So I've had 4 or 5 posts swimming in my head this week, but I haven't taken the time until now to type them down. The kids are in bed and Ryan is at the Temple.

Sisters:
Last Sunday night, I went to a fireside that our Stake Relief Society put on, entitled "Sisters All Are We". It got me to thinking how much I love my 3 sisters.

• We sing Barbershop together. We've done some hilarious renditions of songs at weddings with altered lyrics ("In the Good Old Summertime" for Holly & Bob and "Last Night on the Back Porch" for Keturah & Brook)
  
• Growing up, I would take their clothes from their closets and wear them. There are few advantages of being the youngest sister.
  
• Milaka was not only my Bradley Childbirth Instructor, but also my "doula" when I had Sabrina.
• Shanda was game in planning a trip to Europe to pick up Keturah from her mission. I provided the cheap plane tickets. She provided the cheap hotels.
• Keturah helped me go to the store on Valentine's day 1995 to buy a gift, after Ryan had called and told me he had something to give me. (It was the book "Believing Christ". I made him sit in our front room and write something to me on the inside cover of the book.)
• The first quilt I ever pieced together was for Shanda's oldest boy. She gave it back to me when he was 2 because she said it meant more to me than to him.
• After Keturah and Milaka got hooked on watching "What Not to Wear", shopping together became even more enjoyable.
• We all went to see Harry Connick, Jr. in concert in SLC after eating at the Melting Pot.
  

I really love my sisters. Its hard to live far away from them. I'm happy I get to see 2 of them this month. FYI this photo was taken of me and my sisters at Lagoon in 1991.

Soccer:
Can you believe the soccer season has started again? I thought Sabrina's coach was kidding in his email three weeks ago that it was time for practices to start up again. (There was lots of snow on the ground at the time.) He was serious. For the first two weeks of practice, they met in our church gym and played. This week they were outside at the elementary school and the first game was today! After a warm front pushed through here for the last 2 days, we got back to cold, wet weather. It said it was 40 degrees this morning, but felt like 19 with the rain. Ryan stayed home with the boys. I got to be the line judge. Sabrina played defender and goalie. The ending score was Blue Dolphins (Sabrina's team) 7, Red Devils 2.

Quilting:
So my last quilting class was on Tuesday. We learned how to make binding and bind the quilt and how to blind appliqué with a machine. Really cooll stuff. My sewing machine has sat on a corner of my kitchen table for more than a week now because I REALLY WANT TO QUILT MY QUILT, but that hasn't ever made it up to the "Better" list. Perhaps this week? Probably not due to our trip to Utah on Thursday for Allison's wedding.

Volunteering at School:
Last year, Sabrina entered a musical composition in the school's Reflections contest. She won first prize. It went to be judged at the district level. She won first prize. It went on to the state level. She won Honorable Mention. After the award ceremony for the state prize, she was bawling because our school had just stopped being members of the PTA, so we would not be eligible to participate in Reflections again, and she would not be able to win any more medals. In steps Mom. I single-handedly created, organized, etc, etc, etc the 2008 Trail Wind Elementary School PTO Art Contest. The entries were due last Friday. The awards ceremony was yesterday. There were 124 entries in 6 categories. Sabrina entered a musical composition. She won first prize. (I was not the judge.)

Transmission:
We got to get a new transmission for our 2002 Honda Odyssey. As the service manager at Larry Miller Honda said, "Your transmission needs to go to heaven." Driving home from Roderic's tumbling class last Monday, I couldn't go faster than 25mph. Even with the engine doing 3000rpm. Then the malfuction indicator light turned on. Then the TCS light turned on. Then the D (for drive) light started flashing! It was scary to drive the van like that. The good news is that it was part of a recall (that I don't remember hearing about but my neighbor with a 2001 model does) so we paid $0.

Pipe Organs:
Yesterday afternoon, Sabrina's violin teacher organized a special treat for all of her students. We were invited to Immaneul Lutheran Church downtown for an organ demonstration. In their group lessons they've been talking about Bach and she thought it would be neat for the students to get to hear Bach's music on his primary instrument. I learned so much. Did you know that they control the volume on pipe organs by opening and closing shutters that lead to a room with pipes in it? Did you know that every rank has one pipe for every key on the keyboard? Did you know that organs can get out of tune? That church's organ was out of tune. Aparently there is no organ tuner in Boise, they have to fly in from SLC or SEA. Our ward organist is holding an "Organ Workshop" to teach interested people to play the organ. It begins on Tuesday. I'm planning on going.

Now if you've gotten to the end of this, and still don't see how all of this randomness is tied together, please realize that I typed it thus it is together.

She shoots and...

She scores!!!

A shout out to Sabrina and the Blue Dolphins for winning 2nd place in the 2007 Idaho Rush Select Fall Classic! [I was just so pleased that I actually caught this goal on video! The boys didn't come to the game (naptime), so at least they got the highlight film.]