May 15 - 22, 20102

We've still been sick this week. We push through in the morning, then crash in the afternoon. Hopefully we'll round a corner soon.

We had a fun day on Tuesday. We went to Ladybug theater, a stage play for preschool children. The play was Mother Goose nursery rhymes, and the actors let the children take part and be involved in the play. The kids loved it. Afterward we stopped by a café nearby and got a small treat, and shopped a second hand store and bought Anslie a little summer shirt, she has none.


On Sunday we enjoyed having dinner at Crismon and Vivienne Lewis’ home to celebrate the return of their son, Crismon Jr. from a mission in Australia. We also enjoyed hearing him speak in his ward that morning. He has a bright countenance and a wonderful goodness about him. Dinner was prepared by Vivienne (daughter), and was delicious! Fun to hear about the diversity of Australia. We wish Crismon all the best as he heads back to BYU this summer. After dinner, Mom Linton sent me to bed and watched all the kids, while I napped for an hour. Bless her.

I am so in love with my little people. Anslie is such sunshine, full of smiles, beautiful spontaneous laughter, so easily entreated, so quick to enthusiasm and excitement. Tyler is so anxious to soak up knowledge, to create, to be truly helpful. I find it so ironic that the adversary makes having children look so dowdy and dull, so limiting and restrictive, when really, as an adult, I can’t think of any other way to feel pure excitement, thrill, joy, and fun as you feel when you love a child and experience life again through them.

May 2010, part 1.

May has brought refreshing and welcomed sunshine. And lots of viral illness. Oh, it has felt sooooo good to open my windows and feel the light hit my face through them! We’ve made several trips to the park. We’ve also been sick on and off for two weeks. Fevers, upset tummies, upper respiratory congestion and crankiness abound. Me included. I think we’re finally at the tail end of it.

Last Saturday when Freeman returned from school we hopped in the car and headed for Mount Hood. I’d borrowed snow gear and sleds and there was still plenty of snow! The outing was a pretty classic family event with small children: lots of preparation, a long drive to get there, then once we were there they only lasted 4 trips down the *hill* (or 15 deg decline haha) before they were finished. We made a snowman and snow angels. But worth it. It was tons of fun. Anslie was hilarious. That girly girl was terrified to ride on the sled on even ground, but she slowly warmed up to it. Freeman is the sweetest dad, the sweetest. He is so good at playing with them, delighting them, and being tender with them.



The highlight of last week was a trip to the Rhododendron gardens with Teresa and kids. The flowers were in bloom and beautiful, and the garden is charming with waterfalls, ponds, twisty trails and ducks. Teresa and I had some good talking about our move to Texas and other various topics, between chasing children.



Friday night we took the kids on a walk around Gresham station. We stopped and watched the Max light rail and took our time coming home. IT was sunny, 75 degrees, BEAUTIFUL. Oh, summertime, how I have longed for you! Happy day!

April 2010, Utah.

The third week in April the kids and I flew to Utah for 6 days. My little sister is finally home from her mission in Australia, hurray! Dad was kind enough to donate some of his Southwest miles to get us to Utah. The kids were TROOPERS on the plane, stayed in their seats and happily drew pictures and read books, they are such good kids. It was so wonderful to see my seeeester! Hooray! Thanks, Meef, for being our chauffeur while we were there. We headed down to Dad’s once we arrived. On the way, we stopped to see our new cousin, Zachary Hatch. What an adorable little man! It was so fun to see Tanya and hold the first nephew I’ve got on my side of the family. I’ll embarrassedly admit that holding him made me cry. Babies are so special, especially ones that have your DNA and a familiar spirit. Joy! Fun to spend an hour with Tanya and Zach, and Steven returned home from work just before we left.



Denise, the kids and I enjoyed lazy mornings, working out together, going out to see the horses and animals…..and snow! On days 3 and 4 of our visit the snow started and we even had an inch that stuck! Steven and Tanya were sweet to come out Friday night, make us dinner, and hang out that evening together with ADORABLE Zach-attack baby love. He is the cutest! The kids LOVED going out to the barn and helping Grandpa feed the animals. That is, until Tyler got attacked by a chicken. We’re not sure why, but a chicken freaked out and started flapping its wings and screaming and Tyler. The poor little man was terrified, backed up against a wire coop. He was rescued, but the barn just didn’t have the same appeal after that.



We enjoyed our last night at Mom’s house. She made a tent with blankets under her kitchen table and the kids laughed and read, and I’m not all sure what, but they were definitely having a good time under there! I had a hard time pulling them away and finally got them in bed at 10 pm! Whew!

Here we are, again. April 2010.

Well, the blogging lasted all of two posts last year. I'm writing weekly journals, so no reason to not post some things weekly too.

Here's the lowdown on our April trip to Hawaii!



Alooooha! Freeman and I just spent 7 lovely days in Kauai. It was an adventure packed week! We stayed at the lovely Kauai Marriott resort, right on Kalapaki bay. The ambiance and pool can’t be beat, and it was soooo nice to have our favorite restaurant in the whole world (Duke’s), a beautiful beach, and our room, all on the same grounds! We could have never left the property and been perfectly content.


But leave we did. Sunday we enjoyed going to the Lihu’e ward church services, then spent the rest of the day driving to see the beautiful sights of Kauai and relaxing in our room.

On Monday morning we joined the local chapter of the Sierra club for a hike to 2 waterfalls. We enjoyed their friendly company and good advice about what not to miss in Kauai. We enjoyed getting to know a surfer from California, a Christian, who told us his conversion story and gave us some great Kauai tips.

The following day we rented a two man Kayak and paddled two rivers, Kahiliwai and Wailua. The first is more secluded, we didn’t see a soul the entire paddle! And halfway up we encountered dead boar in the middle of the river! Yikes. Needless to say, we were a little skiddish about getting out and hiking, considering the evidence of wild boars in the very near vicinity. The Wailua was a much larger river, we paddled it after the crowd had come and gone in the morning, and it, too, was tranquil. At the end of the paddle we hiked a mile into secret falls, where Freeman was one of two tourists out of 30 there to dare to jump into that cold water. Brrr! I got in long enough for a picture. We paddled back, priding ourselves on our speed as we went, agreeing to ourselves that being young is wonderful.

All that pride came crashing down the next day when we hiked the Na Pali coast. If you’ve never seen a photo of the Na Pali coast, stop reading NOW and google it. Arguably one of the most beautiful natural scenes on the Earth. There is an 11 mile hike along the coast that ends at a semi-secluded beach. We opted to not go the entire 11 miles, but rather only 4 to a huge waterfall along the way. We were glad we did the shorter trip as the trail was muddy and technically very difficult. In certain stretches it was like hiking over a pile of rocks, smothered in peanut butter. In Tevas. We were filthy by the end! And sore. We looked like 80-year-olds hobbling back to our car. I’ve never had so much pain in my calves in my life, and both of our knees were giving out on us! Wow. Immediate repentence for the pride of the prior day. Interestingly, we chatted with a couple at the parking lot who had gone the whole way, camped, and hiked back out. They had been disappointed to find a colony of hippy-ish folks inhabiting the “secluded” beach at the end. They saw a couple dozen of them, and were told they lived on the wild goats and flora and fauna of the area. The lack of showers and facilities on the beach was evident! We were glad we hadn’t gone the whole way.



At that point our adventurous spirits began to wane. The resort looked like paradise upon our return (though TRULY, Na Pali coast is a magical paradise! A hippie-inhabited paradise!) The following couple days we slept in, read on the beach, went exploring in some of the nearby towns. We did make the drive out to Polihale, a 17 mile stretch of beach on the south side of the Na Pali coast that requires some dirt road navigation. Unfortunately, it was cold when we visited this beach, but it was spectacular. 17 miles of white sand, turquoise waters, a sunset, and we only saw 2 other couples on the ENTIRE stretch. Unbelievable. We walked bare footed in the sand and gathered shells. The calves didn’t like that either, but well worth the effort.

Duke’s (the restaurant on Marriott’s grounds) deserves it own paragraph. Imagine the softest, flakiest, most moist and delicate white fish you’ve ever had, rolled in butter and macadamia nuts, sautéed, and served with a lemon beurre blanc and a perfect salad bar. HEAVEN. I do love good fish. And hula pie for dessert. Ahhhh.