The Service Family

The rest of our trip to North Carolina

2011-10-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

I've been busy and blogging lately is a chore, so I don't do it. So much has happened and I need to catch up! First, I will finish with the rest of our trip to North Carolina. So after we left the campground in Kentucky, we drove all day and made it to the Thousand Trails campground in Advance, North Carolina about 30 minutes before they closed the gates. It was dark and probably around 10PM. It was CRAZY humid even at that hour and we put the tent up with only the lights of our suburban. This is when we first saw fireflies! The kids went running around chasing them and trying to catch them. It was a little weird when I first saw them because I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. It almost looked as though someone was walking in the woods moving a flashlight back and forth. They were the coolest little bugs and we haven't seen any since! Bummer.

It was really hard to sleep with the humidity and we tried unzipping all of the covers to reveal the screen to get a breeze - but there wasn't one. :(

We packed up and drove straight to Fayetteville, North Carolina and stopped in at a realty office. Why? Because we were homeless and had nowhere to go and unpack after being on the road and living out of suitcases for 2 and 1/2 weeks. We looked at 2 houses that day, one that wasn't ready and was in the process of getting work done and the other smelled of animals and the garage was flooded (with carpet flooring) as the water heater was left on and running. That's all we had time for so we made our way to hotel....

INDIANA & KENTUCKY

2011-08-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

So I forgot to mention a strange experience I had at Carthage. The tour guide brought us to the first room on the main floor where food was prepared. I tried to pay attention to what he was saying but I got really dizzy and it felt like the floor was moving. I've had this happen a couple of times this summer where I get dizzy for a second, then it passes. But at Carthage, it didn't pass right away and it was very intense. I didn't know if I was going to black out or not and I almost said something to Anson, but it passed. Then when we were taken upstairs to the cell room, it was dark and there weren't any windows, I felt it again, but not as strong. As I walked into the room, I had to walk really slow and hold onto things and then lean against the wall as the tour guide spoke. Again I thought nothing of it.

When the tour was over and we were in the car talking about our experience, Anson Sr. said Ammon had whispered to him while in that first room (where I felt dizzy), that he had felt like the floor was moving. It turns out that we all had felt that! But me and Ammon were the only ones that felt it up in the cell room. I don't know what to make of it. I talked with my mom who had visited Carthage years ago and she said she never felt that.

After Carthage we drove a a few hours and stayed in a hotel right on the border of Illinois and Indiana. The boys thought it was okay to go to the fitness room at the hotel and let Ashton try and run 12mph on the treadmill. Here's the result:

That morning we took off and drove all day to a Thousand Trails campground in Park City, Kentucky. We had the worst time finding it, but once we did, we set up camp and the kids hopped in the pool.

It was so hot and humid that Anson and I jumped in too. It cooled us off and was very relaxing. We watched bats fly above us and the insects, bugs, crickets and whatever else came out at night chirped (or whatever bugs do)so loud it was almost hard to hear somebody next you talking. We saw a couple of them and they were HUGE! After we swam, we drove into town and ate dinner at Pizza Hut. Our server had an accent and she kept calling Anson Sr. sweetie and honey. She was young too. It's just the way they talk there but that would get really annoying! They were very pleasant and nice though.

On the way back from the bathroom, Anson Jr. spotted this praying mantis. It was HUGE!

The next morning it was sooooooooo HOT & HUMID that after I showered and toweled dry, I would immediately get wet again. Now matter how much I toweled myself off, I would get wet again. It was so frustrating. It was the worst! After 30 minutes, I finally got dressed and we headed to North Carolina.

ILLINOIS

2011-08-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

Our first stop in Illinois was to the LDS Visitors Center in Nauvoo and then up to the Nauvoo Temple. I got a ton of pictures of the Nauvoo temple but it was hard to get it at a good angle.

It was 101 degrees while we were there and it was miserable. We walked into a few places like Brigham Youngs house, the print shop and John Brownings home, which were okay but the guides wanted to tell us every little detail about the history and on and on and on, and we were trying to get through as fast as we could because we wanted to make it to Carthage before it closed. Here's are some pics of the few things we saw. The boy's favorite - the home of John Browning - inventor of the machine gun and worlds greatest gun inventor!

The Print shop where "The Times and Seasons" and "The Nauvoo Neighbor" was printed.

Before we headed out of town we stopped at the overpriced gift shop.

We headed to Carthage, a half hour away, and made it just minutes before the next tour started. The took us in a room and played a short video of Joseph Smith and then took out to the actual Jail. Our tour guide said that the jail had eventually been sold to a couple who bought it to convert to a house, and the one of the only original things left of the house were the doors. They kept the one with the bullet hole in it and allowed visitor's to come and look at it. The church eventually bought it and tried to restore it back to how it once was.

We were allowed to take pictures, but I felt weird doing it to be honest. I can't describe the feeling I had there, but I felt it as a sacred place and a place of reverence, not something that should be photographed. I was okay with taking pictures of the room itself, just not my family standing in front of the window where Joseph Smith fell to his death.

We saw this beautiful butterfly in the gardens as we were leaving.

Ashton picked this butterfly off the grill of our car and asked me to take his picture! Haha!

We got lost in some cornfields as we left Carthage and saw Children of the Corn!

NEBRASKA and IOWA

2011-08-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

So when we couldn't find a hotel in Cheyenne, Wyoming we just kept driving and driving and driving. Anson wasn't tired and the kids just kept watching movies. Finally we pulled into a rest stop late at night/early morning somewhere in Nebraska. Anson took a cot out of the trailer and tried to sleep next to the car. It was so humid we had to roll the windows down, but it was too loud to sleep because we were right off the freeway and the very last vehicle before getting back onto the freeway, and whenever somebody drove by us (usually semi-trucks) it shook our car and was crazy loud and bright with their headlights! Nobody slept and Ashton complained and complained. I waited it out because I knew Anson was really tired, but he couldn't sleep either and got wet from being outside...so after that fiasco, we started the engine and kept driving.

I tried to stay awake, but dozed off a few times. We drove through most of Nebraska at night but it got really foggy and started messing with Anson's eyes, so once again, we pulled over off the freeway this time and drove down a gravel road a little way and pulled over next to some cornfields and tried to sleep there. I fell asleep a few times but kept getting woken up by cars zooming past us! I'm not sure how long we were there, but after a handful of cars zoomed by us, he decided to leave because he was afraid we were going to get hit. The sun was starting to come up and it was still a little foggy, but we continued to drive. This is the only picture I have of Nebraska. (Lovely, I know).

We drove for who knows how long and Anson got tired again, so we pulled off at another rest stop somewhere in Iowa. As soon as we stopped Anson hopped out of the car and started dry heaving. His body was exhausted. At this point it was really hot and the boys and I got out of the car so Anson could hop in the back seat to lay down and get some rest. We went under a gazebo with a picnic bench and people watched, went to the bathroom, walked around, and looked at a map. I tried to keep the boys occupied, but it was miserable outside and I was really tired. Finally Anson got out of the car because he couldn't sleep and we went to the nearest Marriott (friends and family discount) which was in Des Moines and checked in early around noon. Finally! I was a upset that Anson didn't book a hotel earlier, he was exhausted, I was exhausted and the boys were exhausted. His reasoning was - why pay for a hotel for only a few hours? It seemed like a waste of money if we got into one around midnight just to checkout at 11am. Whatever. Pay the hotel. So it was nice to check in early and relax the entire day. As soon as we got there, I took the kids swimming at the pool there so Anson would sleep. We got back to the room a couple of hours later and the bed looked so inviting that...I don't remember anything after that. I fell asleep.

The next morning we headed to Illinois!

WYOMING

2011-08-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

We left Utah Saturday morning of July 30th with the intent to stay at a hotel in Cheyenne, Wyoming. When we got into town we called around and every hotel was booked due to a concert and a rodeo that night. We called up the KOA (Kampgrounds of America) to see how much a tent site would be and they quoted me $77!!! What?! That's how much a hotel would have been! Anyway, we went to a grocery store there in the area, stocked up on food, got dinner and got back on the road.

Before we left Wyoming we went to the Wyoming State Penitentiary, after we stopping for gas. It was just up the road and we figured, why not? The kids got to stretch, be goofy, and see some wildlife. That deer was right there on the front lawn of the Penitentiary and didn't budge.

Oh, I forgot to mention that when we first pulled off the highway and started heading into town we passed a car in the parking lot where two older kids were in the car waiting for an adult and the younger one, probably a 9-10 year old girl climbed on top of the car and her older brother maybe 12-13 got out and started yelling at her to get down, but she stayed up there. It was funny and my kids were like "Where are we"? Then on another street on the way to the hotel, two guys were standing in a parking lot in between cars facing the street and peeing! Who does that?! I guess the further east you go the weirder people get.

Here are some pics of Wyoming through the passenger side window going down the highway at 70mph!

UTAH

2011-08-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

From Idaho, we headed to Magna, Utah to stay with my brother Josh and his family. We got there sometime around 4PM and Josh took us down to the Great Salt Lake where the kids braved the smell of sulfur and dead animal and went into the lake. We went back to Josh's, picked up JoAnna and went out to dinner.

The next morning we took the boys and headed to Temple Square and walked around all day looking at all we could in that short amount of time. We went to The Beehive House where Brigham Young lived, The Joseph Smith Memorial building, The Conference Center, the LDS Museum, and the Visitor's Center. We went back to Josh's, ate dinner and visited the rest of the night.

Moving Day and Beyond! Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

2011-08-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

I think while blogging about our trip cross country, I'm going to take things slow and not rush through them, blogging only a few states at a time. There's so much to write about and pictures to upload it gets to be overwhelming...so here goes:

After days and days of hard work, little sleep and lots of stress, we packed everything up and took off Saturday, July 23rd, around 5PM. After Anson Jr. came home from Trek that is. (and what's left of his straw hat).

Here's a picture (HDR) I took of our vehicle when the sun was setting. (At a rest stop somewhere in Oregon).

We made it as far as Ontario, Oregon that night (at 2AM) and pulled into the only hotel in that town - The Budget Inn. It was ugly and disgusting but we were so tired and really didn't have any other choice. You see the bright blue of the doors? That was the color of our bathtub and toilet.

The next day, we drove from 10:30AM-6:30PM almost running out of gas along the way)...to get to our reunion in Ashton, Idaho at The Squirrel Creek Ranch. Anson and I had a room with a King sized bed, our own bathroom and a balcony we share with a room next to ours. The kids slept on cots we use for camping. The kids went exploring, saw some albino buffalo and got bit up by mosquitoes right away. The had fun firing their BB guns, playing with their cousins, paint balling and running around.

The night before the end of the reunion I drove down the street and took a picture of this abandoned farm house as the sun was setting.

After we left the reunion, we stopped at this other abandoned farm house and I got some pictures of it.

So much blogging to do.....

2011-08-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

BUT, I'm at a point right now where blogging is such a big chore! Sometimes I really enjoy it and and other times I just don't feel it. It comes and goes and right now it's gone! Hopefully I'll find it soon.

No more furniture

2011-07-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a week since we sold our dining room and living room set. The house felt so empty, but now it's filled with piles of boxes headed to storage, boxes for the D.I., and boxes of things we're still sorting. One week before we leave and our house is a complete disaster! How did we manage to accumulate this much stuff? I mean seriously. There's no reason to have all this useless stuff and I'm glad to be getting rid of it now so that we don't have to lug it around for the next move.

Crazy Camping Trip

2011-07-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

So we have less than two weeks before we start our journey towards the East Coast and we are not going to take Anson's piano cross country. He's going to store it at his mom's house, so the piano that she has is going to Anson's sister's house. We get the wonderful task of transferring them both and since Kathy lives pretty close to the beach we decided to take the opportunity to go camping one last time here the the Great NW! I'm not going to go into detail, but let me just say that it was a big pain to do and we still have a piano sitting downstairs.

We didn't get to the beach until about 6:30PM and started setting up camp. After we had everything set up we went to plug in something and it had the wrong kind of outlet. We found another site that had the right power source, packed everything back up in the trailer and moved. Instead of taking down the tent and setting it back up, Sr. and Jr. carried it up the hill and to our new site. It was pretty funny!

The pool was closed for cleaning that day which the kids were disappointed about but by the time we got done setting up camp they would have had only 45 minutes to swim before the pool closed. The plan for that night was for the kids to sleep in the tent, Sr to sleep in the trailer and because I didn't want to leave the boys alone, I was going to sleep in the tent with them. We were watching a movie in the trailer and I started getting tired so I went to go lay down. I can't remember why, but Sr. said that everybody is going to sleep in the trailer now (maybe he thought it would be too cold). So once again, we take everything out of the tent and switch it with stuff from the trailer. (food, microwave, tv, table, etc.). Once we were all situated the wood smell of the trailer (because it was new and hadn't been cured yet) started bothering Anson...but had bothered me all night. Needless to say, we didn't sleep so well. The boys had no problem though. The next morning I had a terrible migraine and no medicine. The "store" at the campground didn't open until 10AM, so I hopped in the front seat of the car, where it was quiet and dark and napped off and on until my medicine kicked in. I was then able to get up and shower and eat.

After lunch we headed down to Cape Kiwanda where the kids love to climb the sand dunes. We had a lot of fun but weren't prepared because we didn't bring food or drink. I would have loved to have stayed longer though.

After Anson Sr.'s nap time, he and I headed up the dunes and took some pictures of the beautiful view.

After the beach, we went back to the campground and played some putt putt golf.

That night we roasted marshmallows, made s'mores, and watched another movie outside by the fire pit. It was a great day and night.

We all slept better in the tent and packed up and headed for home by noon. Originally we planned on staying an extra day, but we ran out of food! We could have gone to Fred Meyer's in Tillamook but the kids wanted to go home....oh well. Sr. and I wanted to stay the extra day, but the kids won. All in all it was a nice trip.

Corier/Tolman Reunion 2011

2011-06-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went to the Corier/Tolman reunion at Camp Bethel near Humptulips, Washington. We left our dog, Lucy, with Sarah and her family, took the kids out of school Friday and head out for a weekend of fun and relaxation. We sold our RV a few months ago, so we decided to bring our tent (instead of stay in the lodge or cabin) and pitched it right next to my parents tent. Anson bought he and I padded cots to sleep on, and we brought our electric blankets and small portable space heater to keep warm. And we did stay warm! Unfortunately my parents froze all night, so we gave them our heater the second night and they were able to stay warm too.

Saturday we went to Ocean Shores and let the kids go go-carting which is something they do every year. We decided not to go to the beach though because it was pretty cold and we didn't feel like dealing with sand and the kids always seem to get wet when we tell them not to. The boys weren't to disappointed that we skipped it.

Later that night we had an auction. People bring stuff to auction off and we use that money to buy all the food for next years reunion so it keeps the cost down. I brought a framed 11x14 picture that I took of the Portland, Oregon Temple and that went for $38. I only meant for 1 to auction, but people asked if I had more which I did in the car (unframed) and bought the remainder 3 I had for $30 each. That's great and all but that money went into the family fund. Kind of sucks because we won't even be here next year for that reunion and it would have been nice to make a little money to pay for the printing of those pictures but whatever. I know better now.

The kids had a blast like they always do playing on the swings, playing frisbee, capture the flag, canoeing on the lake and whatever else they did. It's total freedom for them all weekend. We did have an incident of Ashton falling in the lake when he was trying to get out of the boat and onto the dock. He came back to the tent completely drenched from head to toe and covered in mud. Luckily the water wasn't too deep and from what I was told he was wearing a life jacket. Somebody falls in the lake every year...

It was fun but I was ready to go home. Here are a few pictures I took on the road from that weekend.

A Home For Lucy

2011-06-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

There is a little over 7 weeks before we move and you would never know it. Our house and garage are still packed full of furniture and STUFF, but we have one major thing crossed off our "to-do" list and that was to find a home for Lucy..

We all love Lucy and don't want to get rid of her, but once we're in North Carolina, we want to do a lot of traveling and don't want to bring her with us. It's a pain to have a dog sometimes! And the boys did not want to give her up, but was okay with it - if it was just for the year we were in N.C. and that they would be able to get her back in the end.

Almost everyone in my family in Vancouver already has a dog, Adam, Sarah, Luke and my parents, so I'm guessing that they wouldn't particularly want another one, I know I wouldn't. My brother Josh lives in Utah and he has come up for a couple of visits since we got Lucy almost 2 years ago and really liked her. He mentioned that if we ever got rid of her or if she ever had puppies, he'd be interested. So I talked with him about housing Lucy for a year and he said YES!

We are going to miss that little Goose!

Hiking to Ponytail Falls

2011-05-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to go out and take pictures yesterday, so I looked around on the internet and chose to go to Ponytail Falls in The Columbia River Gorge near Multnomah Falls. (I really needed the practice of shooting waterfalls and by the pictures you'll see that I need even more. I was very disappointed by how they turned out.)

We took the Historic Hwy past Multnomah Falls, past Horsetail Falls, and past Oneonta Gorge. The drive was so unbelievably beautiful. Right off the Hwy was Multnomah Falls then a little ways down the road, again right off the Hwy is Horsetail Falls. These are huge waterfalls. It was just amazing. So we kept driving past these beautiful falls and discovered we went too far and had to turn around. The directions I got from the internet apparently sucked, so we decided to pull over at The Oneonta Gorge and sight see. The trail was crappy and there was a log jam preventing us from going any further, but I took a few pictures of the area.

Then we drove down the Hwy past Horsetail Falls, to the Oneonta Falls Trails thinking that is where we would find Ponytail Falls. So we hike to what I later find out is Oneonta Middle Falls.

By the time Anson and I reach it, the 3 boys are nowhere in site. There are lots of trails leading to different waterfalls on this hike and we didn't even know which way the boys went. It was so frustrating. We ALWAYS tell them to stay where we can see them....but they never listen. So once Anson and I get to Oneonta Middle Falls, he tells me to go ahead and find the falls I came looking for and he'll take the other trail and see if the boys went that way. I proceed up the trail and a couple of minutes later I see all three boys heading back down the trail to where I am. I try to call Anson to let him know but I didn't have cell service. Anyway, I told the boys what happened and they start making their way in the opposite direction of me to "go find" their dad. They wanted to separate from me again to go get lost again. Sorry, that doesn't work for me. I let Anson Jr. go and made Ammon and Ashton go with me. They weren't happy, but neither was I. We walk, and walk and walk and this trail seems never ending! The internet told me it was only going to be .8 of a mile from the trail head and I swear that we have been walking for 4 miles. That's not very far, but when you do it mostly up hill on a crappy, rocky trail that winds and curves...it seems like forever!

So finally, we reach Ponytail Tails Falls and it was so beautiful and LOUD. It's really cool because the trail actually goes under the falls.

Ammon and Ashton sitting under the falls.

Panoramic of Ponytail Falls.

I wanted to stay there and enjoy it more then I did, but the Anson's had band practice that night and it was getting late. I asked somebody at the falls if the trail circled back around because there was NO WAY I was going back the way I came. He said there was a parking lot not too far from the falls and pointed me in the right direction. Sure enough .8 of a mile it brought us down to the parking lot in front of Horsetail Falls.

But it wasn't the parking lot where we parked. I finally get cell service and tell Anson where we were, so he drove down and picked us up. By that time it was 5PM and we headed home.

So, moral of the story is: if you ever want to visit Ponytail Falls, park at Horsetail Falls!

Anson and I both had a great time even though we were separated and the kids complained about being outside walking when they would rather sit in the basement playing video games on their day off. Other moral of the story: When one wants to spend some time photographing beautiful places - leave the family home.

Tick, tick, tick....

2011-05-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

If you asked me a couple of months ago how I felt about moving to North Carolina, I would have smiled and said, "I can't wait"! Since then, North Carolina and many other states across the south were hit with a tornado outbreak. North Carolina averages 19 tornadoes a year, a lot if you ask me, but more than 60 hit over one weekend last month! 60!!! And they weren't in some remote part of N.C. either, they touched down and killed people in Fayetteville...the same city that we'll be calling home in just a few months. That's pretty scary.

I didn't have any fears about moving there until this all happened. I'm still excited about traveling across the U.S. and seeing cool places along the way and the adventure it will be for our family, but it's not going to be all fun and worry free like I have dreamt it to be.

We're still talking about what to do with our dog Lucy. We don't want to take her with us because it sucks traveling with a dog. We won't be able to stay in hotels along the way unless we pay a huge fee, and once we get to N.C. we want to spend our weekends traveling. If there was somebody who would watch her for a year and then give her back to us - that would be the best option. We haven't approached anybody with that idea yet but time is ticking...

Update for the last couple of months.

2011-04-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ammon had a birthday on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day and he turned 12 years old. He didn't want a party so we just celebrated at home. He's such a good kid, very responsible, very funny and gets straight A's. He goes to school with a lot of Russian kids and does a Russian accent VERY well. He gets shy when I ask him to do it around other people but when he does it's hilarious. He got braces on the day before his birthday and within a couple of days his front teeth were already straightening out. He hasn't allowed me to take a picture of him yet, but I'll get it.

A couple weekends ago, we took the boys and drove down the gorge to Beacon Rock and climbed up a rock. I had never been before and wanted to take pictures so I carried my tripod along with my huge camera bag with extra lens up a 848 foot rock. BAD IDEA! I wasn't in a bad mood when I started, but once I got going I realized I made a huge mistake by bringing the tripod and bag. Anson and the kids took off without me because I was slower...duh...and I enjoyed my time taking in the view and taking pictures along the way. Once I got to the top it was so disappointing. It was only a small area where only a handful of people could fit and then the view of the gorge was blocked by a couple of trees. I didn't even take pictures up there. We went back down and my shoulders were aching and let me tell you - I was sore for a week and a half because of that camera bag. Not fun.

We also had a garage sale last weekend to just get rid of the small stuff and Anson's music/lighting/sound equipment. We didn't even have our dressers, tables, beds, sofas and everything else and we did very well. We had non-stop traffic and at times we had so many people it was overwhelming! Anson couldn't believe that nobody bought this mask...I think he was happy about it and will keep it, unless it find it's way into the donation pile....shhhh.

What else, what else. Oh, Anson Jr. got his learning permit and started driver's ed. I'm not going to lie, it is stressful to be in the passenger seat while a 15 year old boy is behind the wheel and just learning to drive. At least his has until January of next year to practice, practice, practice.

I'm sure there's more but I'm tired, so that's it for now.

I am going CRAZY!!!

2011-03-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

I just want to sell, donate, organize, and clean already! I am going crazy because it's so overwhelming to go through everything we've accumulated over the past 16+ years! I just want to get rid of everything now! We have to keep the big items, like couches, tables and beds until July, but I feel like I'm at a stand still! Anson wants to garage sell EVERYTHING, so nothing has left this house yet! I feel that if we don't get at least $5-10 per item then it should be donated. I think that's pretty reasonable and we'll just end up taking it to the D.I. anyway. I'm just trying to save some time! AAHhhh, it's frustrating!!!

Blessings

2011-03-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

Anson Jr. came to me over a year ago wanting his patriarchal blessing but I told him to wait until he was a little older. In December he made an appointment with the bishop and then on Sunday we met with the Patriarch.

As soon as I walked in and sat down and before the Patriarch even spoke I felt the spirit so strongly that it was almost hard to breathe. We talked for a little bit, he got to know Anson Jr. a bit and then preceded with the blessing.

I felt the spirit even stronger then before and tears immediately began streaming down my face as the patriarch began speaking. Anson Jr. is an amazing young man and has a great future ahead of him. I feel honored to be his mother. I thought there were a lot of similarities between Anson Sr.'s and Jr.'s blessing and on the way home Anson Sr. expressed the same thing. It was such a great experience. Anson Jr. has been really cute checking the mail for the last couple of days hoping to get his blessing, but I told him it might be a little while. :)

Update: He got it in the mail this afternoon! That was fast!

We're moving....

2011-02-28T14:43:00.000-08:00

to Fayetteville, North Carolina y'all!

Anson will be doing his internship there for a year and then we'll move back here. I have done a lot of reading about NC the last couple of days and I'm REALLY excited to move there! There's an island where wild horses run free, lots of shipwrecks underwater and on the beach, Blackbeard's hideout and much more! I cannot wait to get a change of scenery and take some pictures - not to mention visiting New York, Washington DC, Florida and everywhere in between!

We have a Service family reunion at the end of July in Idaho and from there we plan to go to NC. Nothing's set in stone, but that's the plan for now...which means that I will miss my Corier family reunion in August. I think it's more important to get the kids settled and a little familiar with the area before they start school.

I will use this blog to update friends and family while we're gone for that year - so I'm sure that I'll get back to posting regularly again.

Oh, I need to brag about Anson for a second. Last years doctoral students from Ansons school all waited a year to turn in their internship applications and only 4 from this years class including Anson. Many of them had interviews but Anson was the ONLY one from the two classes to get matched! Pretty awesome! He amazes me everyday. I can't wait for this new chapter in our lives! It is going to be a great adventure!

The Oregon Zoo

2011-02-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

I went to the zoo yesterday to take some pictures and invited my sister Sarah along and her two kids Kenzie and Chase. We weren't prepared how cold it was and I think we all could have used a heavier coat, a hat, and gloves. We were there for 3 hours walking around and saw most every exhibit. I was a little bummed that there were no zebras or giraffes this time around because I love giraffes. Here are some animals we did see. (Click on the picture to enlarge it).

Watching the elephants feed was the highlight of the whole zoo experience for me. They are so massive, but seem so gentle. Some zookeeper's went into there area, to clean up after them and the elephants got in a line, grabbed the tail of the elephant in front of them with their trunk and walked around their habitat. It was the cutest thing. When the zookeepers finished cleaning, they fed the elephants who would take the grass and bring it to the water, soak it, wring the water out with their trunks, then eat it. It was so amazing to watch them. They are magnificent creatures. It kind of sounds weird, but I felt honored to be in their presence.

And here are some pictures of Sarah, Kenzie and Chase. I LOVED the underwater aquariums!

Etsy!

2011-02-04T23:03:00.000-08:00

I have an Etsy store! It's very small right now and I will be adding more things as I design them, but it's finally up and running! I'm sure I don't have to tell you what I'm selling, because you probably already know! Fine, I'll tell you anyway. I'm selling tshirts, hoodies and sweatpants - mostly Twilight related with some Hunger Games mixed in there too. I have some other designs that I've been working on completely unrelated to Twilight so check back often to see what I come up with! Here's the link!!

http://www.etsy.com/people/ParamountPacific

My Birthday!

2011-01-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

I thought Anson was going to be at school on my birthday, but since he had his interview in North Carolina he was home. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to spend the day with me because he had a counseling appointment and a massage scheduled.

So when I was planning what I wanted to do for my birthday, I wanted to go to a movie - alone, which, I was kind of looking forward to, then I was going to pick up some flowers, and go out to dinner with Anson later that night. I also wanted to donate blood because it had been years since I last donated. Instead, my mother calls me the night before to see what my plans were and she wanted to see the movie with me. We went to see "Life As We Know It" and we were the only ones in the theater. Then, it turns out we had forgotten that Anson Jr. had an overnight camp out up at Mt. Hood and didn't want to leave the younger two boys home alone, so we picked up some pizza and a movie. I also bought myself flowers which I have really enjoyed! Oh and I don't like traditional cake so I picked up some strawberry cheesecake. I was the only one to have some though, I guess nobody else likes it! More for me right! :)

I wasn't able to donate blood that day - I ran out of time, but I look forward to doing it on Monday!

Here are some pictures of my beautiful flowers!

If I could...

2011-01-19T22:08:00.000-08:00

How cool would it be to travel the world spending time in the most beautiful places on earth taking pictures and exploring the world around you? I came across a photographer's blog a little while back who conducts workshops all over the world and I saw that he was doing one in the Olympic National Park...one of my favorite places - ever - (and right in my own backyard). It would be amazing to go there with someone who knows the area, and knows the right light and locations to allow for the best possible images. To spend four days visiting wildflower meadows, rainforests, rugged seacoasts, mountain peaks, and seeing wildlife would be a dream to say the least. Since my birthday is in just a few days, I've been thinking of things that I would like to do for it and attending that workshop would be my dream day, if money wasn't an option. Instead, I'll probably take an adventurous trip down to the movie theater, which I'm okay with because someday, I will attend one of these workshops or conduct one of my own! (Not really, but it sounded good)!:)

North Carolina & Indiana Update

2011-01-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

Anson booked his flight for North Carolina and we went out to Kohls today and bought a new sweater for the interview. Anson was advised against wearing a suit or dark colors because last year some hopeful interns made a bad impression by looking stuffy. Good thing I went with him because he picked out some pretty questionable things! :)

His interview is Wednesday morning but I'll be taking him to the airport late Monday night. He'll be excused from his classes that week and the following week when he interviews in Indiana. It's going to be pretty busy for him, not only with the flying back and forth, the jet lag, and the time zone changes, but he's also working on the first 3 chapters of his dissertation that is due in the beginning of February! He's been pretty busy with it and has been feeling really guilty about not spending as much time with the boys or giving me the attention I need.....which is alot! He's pretty much been working non-stop and once he got back from Seattle last night he went straight to the table to work. I laid across his lap, looked up at him and asked if he remembered me, his wife, and told him if he would carry me around on his hip for the rest of the night then I would appreciate it! No such luck. Oh well...

It is pretty exciting to be this close to him being done with everything though! For almost 4 years he has commuted to Seattle every week, sometimes twice a week. I can't sleep when he's away. I try to delay it for as long as possible, which isn't good when I wake up at 7am to take Anson Jr. to seminary. Some nights I only get 3-4 hours of sleep, but that should end soon because he'll be completely done commuting at the end of April! It will be so nice and something I REALLY look forward to!

Son Silhouettes

2011-01-14T19:44:00.000-08:00

I just came across this photo and thought it was so cute. This is Ashton reluctantly posing for me so that I could test out my silhouette taking technique. He's such a cutie. He asked if I would be paying him for "working".

I can't wait to do more silhouettes without the giant tree branches in the background. Here's an interesting silhouette of Ammon and our dog Lucy.

I've been thinking....

2011-01-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

Last year Anson forgot my birthday and since then I haven't let him forget that he forgot! In his defense he was at school in Seattle and working on a huge project...but still, my feelings were hurt. A long time ago somebody told me that if I didn't like something, change it. And that's how I'm going about celebrating my birthday this year. It's next week and I'm not going to sit around and wait for somebody to say or do something for me, I'm going to go out and do something for myself. What? I don't know. The kids will be in school and Anson will be in Seattle (during the day at least) and I'm going to have some fun. It will most likely be wet and raining so whatever I do will be indoors. It won't be anything big, maybe just a movie by myself...(is that lame?) or a trip to the Portland Art Museum.

Holy AEB!

2011-01-06T19:38:00.000-08:00

I'm a slow learner...especially if I'm learning something on my own, which I'm doing now. I learn best by being shown, so this whole "figuring out how to use my camera thing" is frustrating at times but it's also exciting. The more I use it, the more I want to discover what else it can do and that has been really fun. I wish there were more pretty things here in the Northwest to look at during the winter because I would spend all day taking pictures. Spring and summer can't come soon enough. Until then, I try to make the best of it.

So back to slow learning....I just found out that my camera has AEB! Auto Bracketing Exposure, where all I have to do (after I set it up) is push a button and my camera continuously takes 3 bracketed shots: Standard, decreased exposure and increased exposure. And here I was manually changing it and taking 1 shot at a time. Things just got a little bit easier and that makes me happy. Here are some recent pictures that I've taken using this technique.

1 + 1 = CRAZY!

2011-01-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

I started another blog. Not a new one, just another one. I know how crazy that is, but I've been having a lot of fun with it so far. I'm taking part in a 365 Day Photo Challenge, where I take a picture a day for a year. I just thought it was a cool idea. Plus it helps me to be creative everyday. Not only do I have to find something to photograph, which is the hard part but I also get to edit it, which is the best part! Here's the URL. Check it out!

http://myprojectthreesixtyfive.blogspot.com

My New Obsession!

2010-12-31T20:29:00.000-08:00

HDR Photography! It's a technique that allows a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image, different then current imaging methods. I take three photographs at different stops, merge them, and then process them. Here's a little of what I've done so far. The subject matter is not that interesting, but HDR makes EVERYTHING a little more interesting.

One busy week!

2010-12-31T13:06:00.000-08:00

It started with Christmas. Actually it started with our trip to Great Wolf, then Christmas Eve and finally Christmas. But it's been a week since I blogged, and a lot has happened.

I think this is the first year that the kids didn't wake up just a few hours after I went to sleep. Ashton was the first one up at 8:30AM! Have you ever heard of such a thing?! It was my Christmas miracle! :) Anyway, since we took a trip to Great Wolf for Christmas, the kids only had their stockings and a few presents to open. Their big gift was an XBOX 360 with Kinect. Later that afternoon we went caroling at a retirement home with some friends of ours and their family. It was better then I thought it would be. I don't sing PERIOD. (Unless I'm in the car or at home...only around family). I don't sing at church and I don't even pretend to sing and mouth the words. What's the point of that? To show people that you're singing? Who cares? I certainly don't. But another Christmas miracle. I sang at the retirement home. Weird. Something came over me and I felt like singing....not very loud and not the right words, but I sang.

Afterward, our friends invited us to dinner and we headed back to their house. Usually when I eat at somebody's house (which is SO out of my comfort zone) I offer to bring a green salad because I'm a vegetarian and I don't want them to feel obligated to cook me something vegetarian. That can get awkward and gross. She didn't do anything special and I had corn and a roll. This family was laid back, fun to talk to and we had a good time.

Then on Wednesday the 29th, we went to Pacific City Thousand Trails where we used our free cabin rental before the end of the year. We stopped at Best Buy on our way out of town to exchange the XBOX/kinect because the console opened and scratched the disc it came with and we had to return the whole thing which was lame.

On our way to the beach, which was only a 2 hour drive, we encountered, rain, sleet, snow and sun. It was a beautiful drive to and from and most of the pictures I took were out my window at 60mph.

I did manage to use my tripod that I got for Christmas ONCE while there, but a whole lot more since I've been home. It was a quick trip but it's always fun to get away.

Some pics of our cabin...where I did not sleep. The bed was a full, I'm used to a King. It was only a 6 ft mattress, wall to wall, no stretching room, with a bunk up top. I got claustrophobic and had to switch spots with Anson, then kicked the walls all night. :)

This is where we parked the van and walked the rest of the way down to the beach.

9:30am behind our cabin.

Anson Jr. on the beach. Haystack Rock in the background.

Snow along the pass.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-25T13:53:00.000-08:00

My mom's Christmas tree.

Skype-ing with Mike and Keiko in Japan.

Ryan and his creepy trenchcoat.

Great Wolf Lodge

2010-12-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'm exhausted!

Designs

2010-12-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

Anson is almost done with his schooling and will be be a Dr. It's very exciting but he will be a Doctor and what am I? I don't have a degree or anything and was feeling pretty inadequate. I brought this up to him a couple of days ago and he told me that I was a graphic designer. I laughed because I'm not a graphic designer. But he said something that changed my mind. He said that I don't have to have a degree to be a graphic designer or make big elaborate designs and reminded me about a graphic designer neighbor who designed cereal boxes of all things. He said that there are thousands of people all over the world, walking around wearing my designs on clothing that they bought at Dazzled By Twilight. I would say that I'm a pretty successful graphic designer. Here are the most popular designs. Team Jacob and Team Edward of course! (Click image to view larger.)

Cupcake decorating

2010-12-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

I love making Gingerbread houses with the kids, but they take up a lot of space, the candy gets icky and we just end up throwing them away anyway. It seemed like such a waste. So last weekend I made cupcakes instead and let the kids decorate them.

Santa's workshop with a twist....

2010-12-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

I have been so stressed out! Last week was HORRIBLE. We have been getting so many "special orders" from Dazzled By Twilight this season because they are out of stock on a lot of merchandise and everybody wants their stuff by Christmas. The bad part about that is, I got 10+ e-mails of what people ordered, with their addresses, and got so confused when I had to order the clothing through our supplier in Portland that I ordered stuff that I didn't need, forgot stuff that I did need and then our supplier screwed up giving us sizes we didn't need, left out sizes we did need, forgetting stuff I ordered and then giving us the wrong thing. It was a disaster. This all happened on Friday, but despite of that, I was able to complete about 20 orders and get them shipped. Most of the items were of "Team Edward", but the rest were of different designs with only 1 or 2 items of each design. It was a pain. Tomorrow, because of all the mess ups, I have to go back down to our supplier and get the rest of what we need and exchange the stuff they gave us and get the right stuff. I have to go get it, print it,ship it and make Ammon's Dr. appt. at 3PM! On top of that the kids are on their holiday break and it's so hard to get work done while making sure they don't kill each other. Tomorrow is going to be STRESSFUL, and hopefully I will get to relax for a day before we head up to Great Wolf Lodge...

My workshop or my own personal hell?

Internship Update

2010-12-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

It kind of sucks that we have to pay for the plane ticket to North Carolina for Anson's internship interview, but whatever. He has another interview! Well it's a phone interview at first, but if that goes well I'm assuming they schedule a face to face interview. Anyway, the phone interview is for a facility in Indi-freakin-ana. I'm not sure which city, but man, why couldn't he get interviews in Arizona or somewhere this side of the US?

We are still waiting on a few more acceptance/rejection letters before we know if these are our only options. He interviews well but these places interview like 20 people and only choose 1 or 2. I guess the only advantage of moving across the US is to see what it's like beyond Utah, Montana and Wyoming because that's the farthest I've ever traveled and it would be nice to see what else is out there.

Fun facts about Indiana:

Santa Claus, Indiana receives over one half million letters and requests at Christmas time.

More than 100 species of trees are native to Indiana. Before the pioneer's arrive more than 80% of Indiana was covered with forest. Now only 17% of the state is considered forested.

Historic Parke County has 32 covered bridges and is the Covered Bridge Capital of the world.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-16T10:34:00.000-08:00

Anson Jr. is the most difficult person to get a picture of. He's always making faces so I picked the best one out of the bunch I took. He really isn't mad, he just looks like it. So there you have it!

Looking back on the pictures all the boys made crazy faces. Here's another version of our Christmas card...

Internship Interview

2010-12-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

Anson has been getting one rejection letter after another and was convinced that he wouldn't get an interview for this first round of picks. BUT today he got an interview for......North freakin' Carolina, all the way across the US on the East Coast! His interview is in late January so we won't know anything for awhile.

What do I know about North Carolina?
Nothing, but here's something from the other Carolina!

And here is Jimmy Kimmel

trying to make sense out of what she said.

Funny stuff! But there is nothing funny about possibly moving to either Carolina!

Fun Facts about North Carolina:

The Outer Banks of NC hosts some of the most beautiful beaches in the country.

The first English colony in America was located on Roanoke Island. Walter Raleigh founded it. The colony mysteriously vanished with no trace except for the word "Croatoan" scrawled on a nearby tree.

Krispy Kreme Doughnut was founded in Winston-Salem.

The Venus Fly-Trap is native to Hampstead.

Grandfather Mountain, highest peak in the Blue Ridge, is the only private park in the world designated by the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve.

Pepsi was invented and first served in New Bern in 1898.

North Carolina has 1,500 lakes of 10 acres or more in size and 37,000 miles of fresh water streams.

My Art Evolution

2010-12-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

I used to loved drawing, painting and other forms of art, but in the last couple of years my "art" has changed. I haven't enjoyed drawing for years because it takes so much time and you have to be so precise and accurate. It just wasn't fun anymore. The same goes with painting....it took a long time and the clean-up afterward sucked. I didn't enjoy that anymore either. So, I took up photography a couple of years ago because it was quick and easy. I didn't have to create anything. The art was right in front of me and all I had to do was push a button! I have come to realize over the last couple of years, that the type of photography I enjoy is nature and landscape but it wasn't until yesterday that I came across a photography blog of a "natural light photographer" and it hit me... That is exactly what I am, a natural light photographer!

Everything makes so much sense now. A couple of years ago, Anson bought me portable lights and umbrellas. What a great gift, right? But I didn't like them and took them back. Anson couldn't understand why I would do that. He really thought I wanted to do portrait photography but I didn't want to do that kind at all. I didn't want to deal with taking equipment somewhere, and blah, blah, blah. That was taking all the fun out of it, but I didn't understand that at the time.

Now I finally have a name for what I enjoy.
It feels really good to come to a realization like that!

Weightloss Update

2010-12-07T11:09:00.001-08:00

I lost 3 more pounds!
That's a grand total of 5 lbs. folks!
Yea me!

P.S. Jogging on the treadmill yesterday was the easiest it has been since I started last Monday. I hope it's just as easy today. Time to put some tunes on and sweat!

American Pickers

2010-12-06T17:19:00.000-08:00

I hardly ever win anything...really. So when I came across a blog that I follow called, Junk Sophisticate, who were actually contacted by the show American Pickers to giveaway their complete first season on DVD, I entered. It wasn't hard. All I had to do was leave a comment on their blog or facebook wall and mention something about the giveaway. I thought it would up my chances of winning if I actually mentioned my favorite episodes, which was "Mole Man" from season 1 and "Hobo Jack" from season 2.

If you've never watched the show before, two guys drive all over America looking for and buying collectibles and antiques. It sounds boring but it's not. They explore people's homes, sheds, barns and outbuildings and find all kinds of cool stuff. They meet a lot of unusual people who have a lot of unusual things.

Mole Man was a guy who dug tunnels underground and reinforced the walls with cinder blocks, old doors, furniture, and anything else he can scrounge. It's really amazing to see just how long the tunnels ran and how deep they went. That's a place I would have loved to have seen in person....as long as I wasn't alone with Mole Man.

Hobo Jack (season 2)was a pretty cool episode too. The American Pickers didn't drive down the driveway area to Hobo Jacks place because it was really muddy and they thought the van might get stuck. It was a heavily wooded area and the guys began walking down the long driveway. They heard music as they walked and it got louder and louder until finally they saw Hobo Jack sitting on the back of a car strumming his guitar and playing the harmonica. How cool would that be?! Hobo Jack turned out to have quite the collection too!

Season 3 premiers tonight and I'm very excited!
Anyway, long story short....
I WON the Season 1 DVD set! :)

I found the episode with Hobo Jack.
There are two stories on this episode...Hobo Jack is the last one.

I Heart Faces - Self Portrait Challenge

2010-12-05T21:49:00.000-08:00

I Heart Faces, a blog that I follow is having a self portrait challenge and I thought that I would participate, since self portraits are something I like to do every once in awhile. This is a self portrait that I took last Friday.

Look what I got!

2010-12-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

I think I blogged about this at some point, but just to refresh your memory, I entered a photo contest with my Credit Union and won 1st place and $200. Remember? Okay, good. Every year they make a calendar and put 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in it as well as other entries. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting, worried that they weren't going to do it this year because it was so late in the year, but it FINALLY came in the mail today! I was SO EXCITED!!! They sell for $10 at the Credit Union and all proceeds got to Doernbecher Children's Hospital. How great is that?! Anyway...

Here's the cover:

1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

And the back cover.
There was some steep competition this year!
My favorite is of that barn on the back cover.
Soooooo pretty!

Will we stay or will we go?

2010-12-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

Anson has officially applied for an internship! Tacoma is the closest and everywhere else is SO FAR AWAY! The other places were Florida, Ohio, Nebraska, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii, Arkansas, Texas and 2 other places that I can't remember right now. I am so scared and nervous about it. I think we'll know by mid February if we need to start packing..... :(

I'm a little sick to my stomach.

Haven't been feeling it.

2010-12-02T10:48:00.000-08:00

December is here and I'm sure most people put up their Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving, but I just haven't been feeling it. I don't like extra things bulking up my living area...like a 7ft Christmas tree. I'm really thinking about getting my sons 3 ft tree I put in his "outdoorsy" themed bedroom and just let the kids decorate that. Is that bad?

So yesterday I MADE myself decorate a little bit - for the kids. I added some snowflakes and bows to my chandelier hanging above the dining room table, put some stockings up, tied red bows around all the candles and did a couple of other decorative things....it hurt just a little. :)

I'll post pictures a little later. (I'm dying to take pictures of anything at this point.)

All I Want For Christmas...

2010-12-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

...is to lose 10 pounds! We are going to Great Wolf Lodge again this year for Christmas and I have to be bathing suit ready in 22 days!

We are also planning a trip to Hawaii sometime between February and May so I will need to lose more than 10 pounds. It needs to be more like 30+ pounds total. I'm so tired of wearing clothes that will hide certain areas and dressing for that reason. I would love to go into a store, find something that I think is cute and buy it, instead of going in and finding what will hide my love handles. I was 138 pounds in high school...according to my first driver's license, which sounds like a lot, but I'm 5' 8". I know I won't get back to that weight because I'm not a little girl anymore. I want to keep my curves and just lose a couple dress sizes. I would be happy being a size 10 again. That's my goal and I think it's realistic.

Here's the thing. I have never needed to diet. I didn't need to exercise after having my first two boys. I was young and "bounced" right back. I was a little older when I had Ashton and I don't know what that kid did to me but I have never been able to recover as far as weight goes, since I had him 8 years ago. Now I'm 35, my metabolism has slowed and I realize that I have to exercise regularly and I need to watch what I eat...a little bit...or at least when I eat because I stay up pretty late and do some munching during that time. That stopped as of Monday. I also started exercising - REALLY exercising. I started....jogging! I don't jog. I've always been a walker but I have some friends on Facebook that post how many miles they run in a certain amount of time and it's impressive and has really motivated me to start.

I have been eating better for a couple of weeks and everyday since Monday I jog a mile, walk until I complete 20 minutes, stretch for about 5 minutes (stretching is the BEST part of exercise), then I get back on the treadmill and walk for another 10 minutes, to total 30 minutes. I don't know why I do it that way, but I do and it works for me. THEN, I do the 20 minute Windsor Pilates DVD. I LOVE PILATES! I also will switch it up and do the basic Tae-bo workout or the Cindy Crawford's Shape Your Body workout.

And the best part is....I've already lost 2 pounds! :)

My treadmill.
I've probably had 3 or 4 treadmills
but this one is my favorite.
It has a soft cushion,
power incline and folds up.

Ashton's Award

2010-11-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

I found a card in Ashton's backpack from his teacher letting us know that he was going to get an award at his school assembly today....and that it was a surprise. His award was for "being responsible and getting his assignments completed on time." Good job Ashy!

I got a new camera!

2010-11-29T15:32:00.001-08:00

Anson and I were at Best Buy a few weeks ago and bought a camera. He's been wanting me to get a new camera for quite some time now and I didn't really care either way......until recently. So we bit the bullet and bought a package deal. I got the Canon EOS Rebel T1i which came with a 55mm lens, a 55mm-250mm zoom lens and a carrying bag. The bag is huge! I don't like carrying it around.

Anyway, I have only been able to use my camera a few times because this NW weather is keeping me inside! I can't stand it. Here are a couple of pictures that I have taken so far - nothing spectacular, but whatever.

Slacker!

2010-11-29T15:03:00.000-08:00

I have not been feeling like blogging for awhile - not sure why, but I'm going to do better.

A Birthday, Back To School and Bowling!

2010-09-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

My parents had a Labor Day BBQ the Monday before school started on the 8th so I decided to bring cake and ice cream over to celebrate Ashton's birthday. He turned 8 years old on the 10th!

Ashton loves playing video games, shooting BB guns, basketball, and playing with Lucy.

This year we have 1 boy in elementary school, 1 in middle school and 1 in high school. Ashton is in 3rd grade and 2 days after school started he turned 8 and brought cupcakes and juice to share with his class.
Ammon is in 6th grade.
Anson Jr is in 9th grade and started seminary this year too. Luckily for him it's at his school and starts at 7:30AM. His school doesn't start until 9:35AM.

Saturday the kids were going NUTS and driving us NUTS so we took them bowling. Anson Jr. told Ashton if he beat him then he could have his phone. The 1st game they tied and the 2nd game Anson won by 9. Ashton was a little disappointed.

Chehalis Washington Thousand Trails July 2010

2010-09-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

Anson Jr. went to EFY up in Tacoma at the end of July for a week so we decided to camp all week. We went to the Thousand Trails campground in Chehalis and had lots of fun.

The boys did a lot of swimming!

We saw a lot of wildlife!

We did a lot of biking...and walking!

We had a lot of campfires.

We did some treasure hunting.

We went on a nature trail and had a great view of Mt. St. Helens.

And this beautiful place is the adult lodge where people must be 18 years or older to partake of. We would set the boys up in the trailer with a movie and Anson and I would come down here for an hour or two and relax. It was quite nice.

Mt. Adams video

2010-08-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

Anson Jr. climbed Mt Adams a few weeks ago and we were just sent this video.

Sainara Mike, Keiko, Yamato and Ren!

2010-08-06T16:30:00.000-07:00

Mike, Keiko and their boys were moving back to Japan and we had a get together to say goodbye at my mom's house.

Seaside, Oregon - Thousand Trails

2010-08-03T22:12:00.001-07:00

In the middle of July we went to Seaside Oregon for a couple of days. Anson Jr. was climbing Mt. Adams with the youth so it was just us and the the two youngest boys. Lucy has a hard time with long RV rides and I find her in some weird places when I'm not the one holding her by my window.

The kids spent a lot of time at the pool, but I don't have any pictures. We also played foosball, pool, ate ice cream at the social, and watched a few movies at night. It was a nice quick trip.

Anson Jr. when he got back from the climb. He didn't apply sunscreen nearly enough! He made it to the top and had a good time!

And this is him a couple of days later! Ewwwwww!

Rock Doggies ROCK the 4th!

2010-08-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago Anson had these costumes made to start doing some shows for kids. He had big hopes for the "Rock Doggies" but I kind of poo pooed the idea telling him he was WAY too busy to take this group on with everything he had going on. He did get really busy with school and put it on the back burner. The Rock Doggies came to life on July 4th 2010 and played on the family stage at Fort Vancouver. It was on a Sunday and the people who were supposed to be in the costumes couldn't make it, so he got family to help. Anson Sr is the dog in the orange shirt, Anson Jr is in the green shirt, Ammon is in the red shirt and our niece Megan is in the pink shirt. They had a pre- recorded CD that they made prior to the show and all they had to do was look like they were talking and playing their instruments.

The kids LOVED them before they even went on stage! And people were taking pictures like crazy!!

To hear what the Rock Doggies sound like go to : http://www.myspace.com/rockdoggies

Afterward we went to my parents
house for a BBQ and fireworks!

Uh oh!

2010-08-02T00:16:00.001-07:00

I was getting ready to catch up on some
blogging and for some reason my
computer isn't reading my SD card!
I guess I will have to postpone
blogging for now.

My Graphic Design Projects

2010-06-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

For our texture assignment we had

to make texture using just text.
This first flower is an actual picture that
I took a couple of years ago. The
flower on the right is just text.
It says the word "flower".

This is a close up of the text flower.

The midterm project was a book of all
the projects we did up to that point.
This was my cover and some pages inside.

Spring Quarter 2010

2010-06-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

I decided to go back to Clark College a year after I had attended my last class in the Spring of 2009. I don't know what I was thinking! I signed up for Intro to Graphic Design and English 101. I REALLY don't know what I was thinking when I signed up for English! In high school I think my grades were C's and D's. Didn''t like it and didn't get it, but it was required for the degree I wanted and all my fun classes ran out, so that's what I was left with.

It was one of the hardest things I think I have ever done. Seriously. I wanted to drop out a couple of weeks in, but Anson talked me out of it. We had to write 4 papers in 11 weeks, I think - 3 analytical papers of all things and then one argument paper. I just wanted to die. I am not a writer. I have a hard time getting out what I want to say in everyday conversation let alone in an English paper that would be graded! I had a lot of anxieties about this class and was really out of my comfort zone. It took everything I had mentally to get a paper written. I would work days at a time on just that as life went on around me. It was horrible! BUT I managed to leave that class with an A-and I got an A in Intro to Graphic Design. I have 44 credits total now, 10 A's and 2 A-'s.

Dance Festival 2010

2010-06-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the Mackenzie Stadium here in Vancouver for the 2010 dance festival. For the past 6 weeks Anson has been practicing for it and we were finally able to see what he had learned. There were about 2000 youth from 7 stakes and the different age groups performed different dances.

Here's Anson and Ashton waiting

for the show to begin!

Chalk drawing

2010-06-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

I went outside because I was feeling

a little creative and did some
chalk drawing. Ashton saw me
drawing Nemo and decided
he wanted to draw him too! :)

It took him awhile to start
but he didn't give up!

How cute is that?!

Just a funny little story...

2010-06-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

The other day Ashton was talking about
what he wanted to be when he grows up
and he couldn't think of the word
"Paleontologist"
so he said, "When I grow up,
I want to be a Dinosaur boner"!

Happy Father's Day to....

2010-06-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Thank you for making me feel special.
Thank you for holding me while we watched
The Dukes of Hazard and ate sprouts. Yum!
Thank you for seeing my beauty and
taking pictures of me as a child.
Thank you for recognizing my talent at a young age
with my Abraham Lincoln drawing.
Thank you baptizing me.
Thank you for going to my wedding.
Thank you for driving down to see us as often as you do.

Thank you for being in my life and in the lives of my children.

I know I can't thank you for everything,
but I wanted to thank you for
being important in my life and
thank you most of all for loving me.
Happy Father's Day Dad!

Thank you for loving my mom and taking us into your home.
Thank you for your patience as our families blended.
Thank you for giving me three new
brothers and a new sister.
Thank you for all the camping trips we took.
Thank you for helping me find my first car.
Thank you for introducing us to your extended family
(Grandma and Grandpa Corier, aunts uncles and cousins)
and making us feel as though we've always belonged.
And thank you most of all for taking us to
family reunions so that I could meet my future husband!
Happy Father's Day Dan!

Thank you for the very first kiss
behind the school in Idaho that started it all.
Thank you for sitting with me in the gazebo
as we overlooked the ocean and fell in love.
Thank you for asking me to be your wife.
Thank you for giving me 3 beautiful boys.
Thank you for going back to school
so we can have a greater future.
Thank you for the never ending hard work you do for us.
Thank you for telling me how beautiful you think I am.
Thank you for loving me unconditionally.
Thank you for your patience with me.
Thank you for your example to me and the boys.
Thank you for the continual fun we still have together.
Thank you for being so dangerously good looking and
thank you for making it so easy
to fall deeper in love with you everyday.
I love you Anson. Happy Father's Day!

The Quinault Rainforest

2010-06-15T21:30:00.001-07:00

We had a Corier/Tolman Family Reunion this last weekend in Humptulips, Washington near Ocean Shores. On Saturday, most families head to Ocean Shores to do some shopping, play at the beach, drive go-carts and have ice cream. Anson and I are really tired of doing that and wanted to take the boys to the rainforest since we had such a wonderful time when we went to the Hoh. This time we went to the Quinault Rainforest, which was only about 20-30 minutes away from our reunion site at Camp Bethel. I can't believe we had never been there in all these years! Here are some pictures of our time there!

Blooming Irises

2010-05-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

The irises in my front yard started
blooming a couple of weeks ago.
I noticed that their are a ton
of irises in this neighborhood!
Somebody loved them and went crazy!

How cute is Ashton!?
I wanted to take his picture with the
dandelion puff (I don't know what it called)
and this is the pose he gave me!

I can't talk about irises without playing this song. It's from one of my favorite bands, The Goo Goo Dolls. The song is called "Iris."

My grandma's baptism

2010-05-25T00:30:00.001-07:00

On May 15th my Grandma June was going to get baptized....again. Apparently, the record of her baptism was lost so she had to do it again. I traveled with my sister Sarah and her family up to Snohomish while my brother Adam and his wife Ann rode his motorcycle up. (Poor Ann!) It was a quick trip, but it was so nice to see my grandma, Aunt Sandi and my dad and to also witness my grandma's baptism.

My dad and grandma.

My nephew Chase, brother Adam and my Aunt Sandi.
(can you believe she's turning 50?!) She looks AMAZING!

Anson Jr gets back on stage!

2010-05-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

We had a ward fundraiser and Anson's band Three Hole Punch was asked to play during dinner. Instead of getting everyone together, Anson thought it was best to just have Josh, Blaine's son to play bass (who was also the bassist for Squish) and Anson Jr on drums. They never practiced before the event until that day and Anson Jr had a great time getting back on stage. I was happy to see him up there. He said he missed it and I hope he will want to do it more often.

The Hoh Rainforest

2010-04-22T17:09:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Anson and I left the kids with my brother Adam and left to Forks, Washington. Three Hole Punch, Anson's band was going to play at The Twilight Lounge for a Sock Hop.

On our way up to Forks we drive through the Olympic Forest and it's the most beauitful place EVER! I really love trees and this place has the best! We have driven past the rainforest a half a dozen times so this time we decided to stop. It was amazing. I think we walked around for about 15 minutes and then had to head back, but those 15 minutes was enough for me to want to go back and stay for hours.
We saw a couple deer in the actual forest, about 10 feet away from us. They would look at us once in awhile, but they were mostly interested in the grass.

On our way back to the highway we saw a herd of elk and then a couple of miles up the road we saw another herd. It was crazy cool! That place is like the Yellowstone of Washington state.

We got to Forks a couple of hours later and went straight to the lounge so Anson could set up his keyboard and do a sound check/practice. Then we headed downstairs to "The Lodge" restaurant and ate dinner. After dinner we headed back up to the lounge. Anson and the band played and I sat with my friend Samantha who also has a husband in the band.

Sometime after midnight we headed back to our hotel. We have stayed at almost every hotel in Forks. If any one plans on going, stay at The Pacific Inn. It is the best quality at a low price. That is where we are staying from now on. In the morning, we headed back to "The Lodge" and ate breakfast. This is Anson's breakfast!! YES BOTH PLATES! They are a new restaurant and have a little work to do on portion sizes. A breakfast should not cost $12.99, but considering everything he got, I would say that it matched what he got.

It was a nice weekend for us to get away, but we had to leave our puppy Lucy home by herself, because no one could/wanted to take her. I set out some potty pads by the back door and my mom checked on her once. I was surprised when we got back and she actually used potty pads and had no accidents anywhere. She's such a good dog and was very happy for us to be home.

Pacific City in April.

2010-04-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

The boys were on Spring Break all week and Anson and I had to catch up on some screen printing. He decided to take Wed., Thurs., and Friday off from school so that we could do something with the boys. They had been cooped up in the house all week. I felt bad, but we had to get work done. We tried to get everything shipped off on Wednesday, but didn't quite make it. On Thursday, Anson got the RV ready and packed while I finished the rest of the work.

We finally headed out of town around 1pm. We decided to bring Lucy and she just HATES car rides. She was stressed out the entire 2 hours! I felt bad. I don't think we'll be bringing her with us next time.

One of my favorite things to do on our way somewhere is to take pictures from my window. These are some pics from our way out of town.

It's a great way to spend the time. It makes it go by so fast. Here's another one I shot from my window as we passed the beach. It was such a beautiful day when we arrived....little did we know what weather was to come.

These are pictures from the deck from the lodge at the Thousand Trails campground.

The first thing the kids do when we arrive is to go swimming. I didn't feel like swimming, so I walked Lucy around and read a book back at the RV. When the kids came back from swimming, Ashton had a wound that looked like it could use a stitch or two. Anson Jr, had thrown a snorkel at him and cut his lip open. We found some butterfly bandages in our first aid kit and that seemed to have closed the wound. Our other option was to drive 30 minutes to Lincoln City where there was a hospital to see if he needed stitches or not.

After that fiasco, the kids settled down to watch a movie and Anson and I decided to go hot tubbing. The campground was pretty empty, so there weren't many people there so we had the hot tub to ourselves and when we got to hot, I jumped in the pool and did a little swimming. Afterward, we made our way down to the beach. The sun was setting and it was close to 8pm at the time. Anson and I left just in time. It was dark by the time we walked back to our RV.

The boys look so comfy under the electric blanket.

The next day the kids went swimming again and had the pool all to themselves....again.

They left the pool to do an Easter egg hunt that Thousand Trails put together for the kids. It was only Ashton and a little girl in their age group so there wasn't much competition.

Ashton found the golden egg which was the prize egg and he won the big Easter basket full of goodies. He also won a plastic rabbit full of jelly beans but gave it to the little girl. He's such a good boy. We suggested it of course and he could have thrown a fit, but he was happy to do it.
Next, the parents hid the eggs for the older group which consisted of Anson Jr., Ammon and 2 other kids.
Ammon found the golden egg and won the Easter basket. Anson Jr. found the other prize egg and won the rabbit full of jelly beans. There were also hard boiled eggs in with the plastic eggs full of candy, so we went back to the RV and made egg sandwiches for lunch.

The whole time we were there it rained, and rained and rained. We got a few breaks but it was also crazy windy and hailed a few times. We decided to pack up and leave a day early and hit snow along the pass. Note to self next time we decide to go somewhere: CHECK THE WEATHER!

We still had a great time and made lots of great memories!

Ammon's 11th Birthday!

2010-03-23T10:50:00.001-07:00

Ammon's birthday was on March 17th on St. Patrick's Day and he just loves that!
The Sunday before his birthday we had family over for some cake and ice cream.

He got some Oreos and once everyone left he discovered
someone had opened them and ate half of them! He wasn't too thrilled about that.

He loved getting so much money! Look at that face!

An airplane from Aunt Jeanette!

We got him a metal detector and he didn't
waste anytime time going out to use it...
in our front yard!

They found some sort of rusted metal.
Ammon doesn't like his "treasure".

The next day we decided to go to Esther Short Park
and see what we could find...which was nothing much.
Just some junk.

The next week we went to Klineline and he found a knife.
Lovely.

Holy Cow!

2010-03-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

It's been 19 years since I stopped eating meat!
I don't remember the exact date that I became a vegetarian,
but I was 16 years old!

I'm not making a statement.
I'm not an animal rights activist.
I don't even like animals..
I'm not doing it for any reason other
than it being a part of who I am.
It's hard to explain.

People ask if I will ever eat meat again and the answer is
only if I was starving and it was all there was to eat.

I think that the way farmers are raising animals and injecting
them with hormones and antibiotics is not safe or healthy.
I think that eating flesh is disgusting....
almost cannibilistic.

I highly recommend watching this movie.
I even grocery shopped differently after watching it.

Getting older sucks!!!

2010-03-02T19:10:00.000-08:00

I saw my Dr. today and she said that I need to go to Physical Therapy once a week to strengthen the part of my back that is injured. She said it will hurt and not be fun. Looking forward to it....

Dangerous curves ahead!

2010-03-01T19:27:00.001-08:00

My back was feeling good.....until yesterday at church. Those benches in sacrament meeting killed it! I couldn't stand the twisting and turning trying to get in a comfortable position so my back wouldn't hurt--but ended up leaving in the middle of the meeting and stood in the foyer. It was feeling a little better by the next class, so I decided to go. I sat down on the metal chair, bent to put my purse down and felt a sharp pain. It hurt so bad, I ended up leaving that class and stood in the hall. It continued to hurt and standing became painful so I got in my car and drove home. I did some stretches the chiropractor recommended and that didn't help, so I laid in bed until I had to go back and pick up the kids. The rest of Sunday I spent in bed. I felt so bad because Anson had to pick up my slack.

I painfully tossed and turned all night. Not only was my back killing me but I had a migraine that wouldn't quit. Anson, my sweet, sweet Anson got the kids off to school this morning for me. I stayed in bed a little while, then showered, dressed and got ready. It's the weirdest thing. You can actually see that my body is twisted. I called the chiropractor as soon as they opened and got in 45 minutes later. He popped a few things but couldn't straighten me out. What the heck did I pay for anyway??? LAME! I'm worse off now than when I had to first see him 3 weeks ago! He wants me to go back tomorrow, but I also called my family physician and made an appointment for tomorrow as well. I may need an x-ray or there may be a bigger problem than what my chiropractor can fix. I really hope that's not the case though. At the very least I'm hoping to get my insurance to cover my chiropractic visits. I'm paying out of pocket and it's getting expensive!!!

I hope to walk out of the office looking like this tomorrow!

I'm going back to school!

2010-02-27T16:28:00.000-08:00

After a looooooooooong year off, focusing on the screen printing business, I enrolled back in school! That's the good news. The bad news is that all my fun classes are over like art and photography. Now it's time to get down to work and actually finish getting my Associate's degree.

Last Friday I went in and took my English/writing test to see what level I am at. It was the second time taking the test, but I got a 99% which means I can take English 101. I'm not too thrilled to take it, because I hate English, but it's required....just like Math. Uhg. I took that test once and I don't even remember what I got on it but I know it wasn't college level and wasn't even close! Math is THE worst thing ever. The only thing I need numbers for is a phone number. That's it.

I have decided that from now on to take only classes that are required for the Graphic Design degree. I am signed up for Intro to Graphic Design, Art in the Twentieth Century and English 101. I think it's 13 credits and it is a lot, but if I want to finish, I need to do more than half time. If I work REALLY hard, I may get done by the time Anson gets his Doctorate in 2012! :)

In other news, Anson kind of made up for FORGETTING my birthday. I will never let him live that down...ever. Last Friday he picked up an elliptical for me. I found it on Craigslist and he got it that same day.

We don't really have room for it in this house, so we put it by the back door in our dining room. Classy, I know.

Photoshop those dark circles away!

2010-02-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

Anson is having an article written about him for Vancouver Family Magazine and needed to submit a picture. I took this picture of him a couple of years ago. He looks washed out and those bags under his eyes kind of make him look mean! So I opened Photoshop and went to work!

I went into color balance and added a lot more yellow and a little bit of red. I also took out the bags under his eyes and softened it with the blur tool. I took out the little stray hair sticking down his forehead and filled in the um...ahem...*bald spot*. It all took a couple of minutes!

And here is a side by side!

Click on this picture to see it bigger.

Photo Restoration

2010-02-16T08:28:00.001-08:00

I asked my mom if she had any old pictures that were in horrible condition to see if I could restore it. She gave me this picture of my grandma, Mimmer. It was going to be a big challenge because it had been through a fire. I wasn't sure I could pull it off because of the bad damage in the middle of the picture.

It took longer than I expected it would, but I think I got it pretty close to the original.

And here is a side by side.

Loving Lucy

2010-02-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

Pretty much ever since we got Lucy, Anson and I have been going back and forth as to whether or not we should keep her. There's pros and cons to having a dog. The kids and I have really come to love her, but Anson has been stuffed up and had sinus problems. I love my husband more than I love my dog, so I finally said enough with all this talk and just acted.

I put a note on facebook and I immediately got a response from Ryan asking me to take it off because he wanted to talk to Sarah about it and would give me an answer later that night. To my surprise he said he wanted her. We brought her over to their house Saturday night and said our goodbye's.

Sunday morning I woke to Ashton crying his head off saying , "Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, I want my Lucy". I found him on Ammon's bed with tears streaming down his face. He was inconsolable. I stayed home with him from church. Later that day we went over to Sarah and Ryan's to visit Lucy. The next day when Ashton got hom from school he called for Lucy. Lucy always greets them at the door and rolls on her belly for rubs. It's really cute!

Anson and I were torn! We didn't want to ask for her back, but we knew we needed Lucy home and she needed to be with us. MIRACULOUSLY, Ryan called Anson Tuesday and said it wasn't working out and he would drop Lucy off to us a little later that day!!! She came back to us with lots of kisses and tail wags. She missed us as much as we missed her. She was a little different when she came back, but today she is back to her old self and we couldn't be happier!

15th wedding anniversary!

2010-02-01T17:02:00.000-08:00

Our wedding anniversary was on January 28th but was uneventful so I never posted anything. Anson was in school up in Seattle so we just sent a text saying happy anniversary. I always imagined that we'd go away somewhere exotic and romantic for our 15th or do something really special. Oh well, maybe for our 20th. Anson should be done with school by then! :)

It was also Anson Jr's 14th birthday that same day. I picked up pizza and made him a cake. He insisted that he put his own candles on and light them himself. We sang happy birthday, ate some cake and ice cream and/or had root beer floats. Like I said. Pretty uneventful...

It's a beautiful day for a walk!

2010-01-27T21:18:00.000-08:00

I've been walking around my neighborhood these last couple of days and always see things along the way to take pictures of. Today I brought Ammon's camera that we bought him for Christmas. It's smaller than mine so it right fit in my pocket and I wanted to test it out. I took a lot of pictures along the way, but these were the best ones. I wasn't happy with the quality of the camera at all. I like my camera better...even though it's a dinosaur! All the pictures with the exception of the first are from the park near my house. It has a really nice walking/biking trail and beautiful mossy trees. I love mossy trees! These are nothing like the ones in the Olympic Forest, but they'll do.....for now.

A year older...so what?

2010-01-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

I've been having back problems and they all started when I was chasing my puppy Lucy around the house wearing socks on wood floors. Normally I take them off, but for some reason I didn't this time...and it cost me big time. I slipped and went down hard! My back has NEVER hurt so bad! I even had to spend two days in bed just lying down. I even went somewhere with Anson and decided to stay in the car because he wasn't supposed to take very long. Right. He took awhile and I really needed to use the bathroom, so I decided to get out of the car. That was a HUGE mistake! It was SO PAINFUL and I couldn't stand straight up and walk at all so I got back in the car. Anson came out probably 10-15 minutes later and I told him what happened. He actually had to help me up and walk me to the bathroom. I felt like an OLD LADY!

Wednesday was my birthday and Anson had scheduled a massage for that morning. It was a GREAT massage! One of the best! I spent the day thrift store shopping and found a couple of good finds. I also decided to pick up pizza for lunch and brought home enough for dinner as well. Later that night I took the kids to get an ice cream cone. It was a pretty uneventful birthday which they all have been most of my life. I got a lot of birthday wishes from friends and family on facebook and Ammon and Ashton made me cards.

THIS YEAR ANSON FORGOT MY BIRTHDAY!

He was in Seattle at school which I can understand. I never said a word about it when he got home yesterday afternoon. He only found out when his brother Rob called to wish me a Happy Birthday! All he said was, "I'm sorry I missed your birthday". Um, I forgave the fact that he forgot, but now that he knows he forgot what is he going to do with that information? Apparently NOTHING! That's what makes me mad. He didn't say let's go get dinner, let's go see a movie, let's pick up a cake and ice cream, or let's celebrate....NOTHING. What is wrong with him... Now I'm just hurt. Oh, he finally said "Happy Birthday" to me today. Gee, thanks. Last year for his birthday I organized a dinner at a restaurant and surprised him with his family and my family all waiting there. He's like "What do you want? It's not like I have a whole bunch a money to spend on you." It doesn't take money to make me feel special. Now he sees that I'm mad and wants me to tell him why I'm mad. I can't though 'cause I'm not talking to him!!! He really doesn't get it!

I just had to vent. I'm done.

2010!

2010-01-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to update a little bit. We had snow last week and I never posted the pictures of the boys playing outside. It seemed like it snowed all day. It was really beautiful to watch and it wasn't expected at all. It was a nice surprise.

Christmas Eve at my mom's house.

2009-12-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

Every year for Christmas Eve, we go over to my parent's house and play games, eat dinner, have a little program about the true meaning of Christmas and then open presents.

Ashton , Hannah and Kenzie playing some sort of game.

Ammon, Ashton and DadAdam and Kenzie.

Ammon, Ashton, Kenzie and Hannah.

Megan and Kenzie.
(Lots of pictures of Kenzie! She gets around apprarently!)

Megan and Hannah.

Look behind Megan's head!

Anson Jr. and his new hoodie.

Ammon and his new remote control car.

Ashton and his transformer trucks.

Sarah and Chase. His new bike was a tad too big!

Kenzie and her Easy Bake oven.

Luke and dog Izzy.

Dan and mom.

Sarah and her SNUGGIE.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T10:24:00.001-08:00

This is the Christmas card I sent out this year. Anson's picture is a couple of years old, but I never got around to getting them all together to take a Christmas photo this year.

This is a letter that I wrote just in case I sent the cards out early.
Everything was last minute, so this letter was never sent, but you can read it here.

Dear family and friends,

A lot happened this year! I’ll start with the kids first.

Anson Jr. turned 13, Ammon 10, and Ashton 7! They sure are growing fast. Especially Anson Jr.!!! He only wears a pair of jeans for a couple of months before I need to go out and buy more. He has already passed me in height and is gaining on his dad. He is still attending the art school and loves it. He is taking American Sign Language this year and wants to take Spanish next year….in HIGH SCHOOL! I still feel like I am high school so how could I possibly have a child that old?!

Ammon is doing awesome in school too, of course. Social Studies and Math are his favorite subjects and he’s very interested in geography, particularly Norway. He recently purchased a phrase book in the Norwegian language and his room is decorated with world globes and travel books.

Ashton is a little smarty too. I was worried at first when we decided to put him in school a year early, but not anymore. He learns quickly, is good at math, spelling and reading. Ammon tells Ashton that he reads better than a lot of kids in his 5th grade class. Ashton also LOVES video games. Ammon and Ashton both got an award at their school assembly last month. We are so proud of all of our boys and thankful they are healthy.

Angela went to back to school for 3 semesters in the 08-09 year and did very well in the art program. She had 2 photographs and 2 drawings selected to be displayed in The Archer Gallery for the student art annual. She also had 3 art pieces selected for the college’s art and literary publication. (You can view her pieces online at: http://www.clarkphoenix.com/gallery/visual/index.html (Go to page 7. Mother, Olympic and Yellow are the titles of her work). Her trictograph, “Yellow” was chosen from that publication to be made into a greeting card by the college. She and Anson also have a screen printing business where they work out of their garage. Most of their business is done for the “Dazzled By Twilight” store in Forks and Port Angeles, Washington.

Anson Sr. still commutes twice a week to Seattle where he attends school. He just recently passed his Comps and is officially a Psy. D (c) (which means he is a candidate to become a Dr. in Psychology. He started his practicum this last fall and is doing therapy and testing in 2 different clinics here in Vancouver. If that wasn’t enough, Anson was able to fly to Utah and play keyboards for the Mitch Hansen Band. While there, they did played events and did radio interviews and television interviews too. AND, the most exciting and recent thing is that Anson published his first book called, “The Littlest Acorn”. http://www.paramountpacificpress.com/Top_Selling_Books.html

Other things that happened this year are that we bought a Thousand Trails membership and an RV which has been very enjoyable. We also had a little girl! Her name is Lucy and she’s a Chihuahua! She’s still a puppy, but she’s very smart and learning quickly. AND we moved…only a couple of miles from where we were, but what a difference! We love it here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Littlest Acorn

2009-12-20T10:08:00.001-08:00

Two years after Anson wrote "The Littlest Acorn",

it has FINALLY been published!

Snowball fight!

2009-12-15T10:16:00.001-08:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T19:15:00.001-08:00

Today was the first year in a long time that we have been all together as a family so we decided to go up to the church and take family pictures. We used my camera at first and saw how bad the quality was and used Josh's instead. These pics were from my camera so they're a little blurry.

The Mitch Hansen Band

2009-11-25T12:16:00.000-08:00

The Mitch Hansen Band, from Georgia, is a Twilight based band that play a lot of Twilight events around the country. Anson had the opportunity to do sound for The Mitch Hansen Band at a couple events up in Forks, Washington. He would M.C. the shows as well and get the audience up and dancing and just have a good time. The Mitch Hansen Band and Anson exchanged CD's and Anson said that he would play keyboards for them since he noticed that they don't bring a keyboardist on tour, but have one on the CD.

Long story short Anson was invited by MHB to play at a big event in Utah called The New Moon Experience. Anson left last Tuesday and didn't get home until late Friday night around 11pm. Back in Utah, they did radio and tv interviews and played a several shows. Anson had a great time and hopes to be invited to do it all again soon!

Award Assembly

2009-11-24T16:21:00.000-08:00

I was contacted by Ashton's teacher early last week letting me know that he was getting an award at the next assembly. I was really proud of him because it was for working really hard to follow directions and listen. For those of you who know Ashton really well, know that he has a tough time doing those things. Later on that same week, I was contacted by Ammon's teacher saying that he was getting an award at the assembly as well! Ammon has always been a great student and has the self discipline to get his homework done every night. I never have to ask him to do it. He just does it. Great job boys!!!

Squish Book

2009-11-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

I have been spending at least a month working on a Squish book to document Squish from beginning to end. It will be a great thing for Anson Jr. and all the band members to look back and see how much they accomplished at such a young age. In one of Squish's early television appearance Anson Sr. was interviewed and something he said was that these kids can take it as far as they want to take it. There were some members, who's passion and drive was stronger than others, but if they weren't all on the same page it wasn't going to happen. I know that if they all wanted it bad enough, they could have gone further and possibly even have some songs now on Radio Disney and touring nationally. We put so much of our time, money and effort into these kids and towards the end we saw that we couldn't do it all on our own. Anson was so busy with school, but he was picking up kids for practice and dropping them off and then every time we had a show he would have to pick them up again when he should have been setting everything up and on and on... He just didn't have that time to focus on the band and still do well in school. I think most of the kids were burnt out and weren't excited anymore to play in front of people and it showed on stage. That's when we knew we had to stop. We just stopped booking them for things and still to do this day we get calls asking if Squish would like to play at this event or that festival. Like Anson said, they took it as far as they wanted to take it.

This book has been so much fun and it will be something tangible that people can look at to see all the amazing things Squish accomplished in such a short time. I don't think people realize exactly what they did when you're actually telling them about it. These kids were making money. They were getting paid for the shows they played. They were selling CD's and t-shirts and walked away from every show with money in their pockets! I think that is rare. Hopefully these kids will appreciate everything that was involved in getting them to where they were. Their parents played a big part in the success of the band as well. We had a parent who cashiered at the merchandise table, one who organized the line at the autograph table and made sure it ran smoothly, one who brought snacks and water for the kids and one who helped set up and take down the sound system. It was a great experience and is well worth the time I am spending on the book project!