"Vacation" day 6

When my grandma passed an year and a half ago, we helped clean out her house. Kate found on old crochet hook and got permission to keep it. My grandma used to crochet the most beautiful and intricate projects. She crocheted tons of doilies, table runners, baby blankets, etc. She always had multiple crochet projects going on at once and many of them would take months or years to complete. So, you can understand why receiving grandma's crochet hook was such a big deal to Miss Kate. Ever since then she has been asking me to teach her to crochet. Sadly, I am probably the only girl in my family that did not learn to crochet, so I could never teach her. I checked out books from the library, searched the internet for instructions and videos, but I just couldn't catch on. This is probably the one skill that I am completely unable to teach myself.

Knowing I was going to visit my mom for a couple weeks, I figured it would be a great time for Kate and I to learn to crochet. Boy was I right! We decided that learning to crochet was the perfect low-key activity for our first Sunday at my parents' house.

My mom helped Kate crochet a square, just to get practice of where to put the hook and how to hold the yarn. It was a little difficult teaching her because she is left-handed, but we decided to teach her to do it right handed so it would be easier for her to do it in the future without having to flip everything around to make it left handed.

It took me a while to get the hang of it and I felt really clumsy with my hands, but by the time I went to bed Sunday night (and I won't admit what time it was) I had crocheted an entire hat.Yeah there are a few mistakes in the beginning, but I was not about to pull the stitches out just to fix them. I'll just deal with them. Of course I didn't show my face in the picture. I was tired and my face definitely showed it!

I still think it looks cuter on a little babe, even if it is way too big!

"Vacation" day 4 and 5

On day 4, we actually had Grandma home from work. It was nice actually getting to see her and hang out with her. We spent most of our time planning for Deanna and Luiz's open house. We went shopping for all the decorations and food. We kept texting and talking to Deanna, because they ended up with a broken thermostat on their car in the middle of New Mexico. I really don't mean the middle, I mean halfway between the Texas border and Albuquerque. Yep, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing for a hundred miles, middle of New Mexico. They were supposed to arrive here around dinner time and they still weren't here by 12:30 when I went to bed. Poor guys, but they did make it at last, sneaking in during the wee hours of the morning. We were all so glad to see them!

Day 5 was spent getting the yard ready for the open house and lots of cooking. The kids played with Luiz much of the day. They were all excited to have a new uncle. I saw him more than once carrying one of my kids on his shoulders around the yard. The kids were in love. 

The kids found a garden cart and a hill and decided that they could make the two work together. The handle was a little bent, so the younger kids had a hard time steering, but the boys figured it out pretty quickly. 

When Kate tried steering, she ended up going right off the edge from the top and went straight into the concrete block sitting there. The picture below gives a better view of the side. Thankfully she didn't fly out of the cart and was only left with a few scratches on her knee when she slid in the cart during impact. Also, thankfully she was the only one in the cart at the time, so there weren't extra bodies to shift the balance or bonk heads with.

The kids still had a blast with it until the wheel finally gave out on them and they couldn't use it anymore.

V was missing her dad dearly that day and when I grabbed my phone to check a message, she started furiously kicking her legs and grabbing my phone to slobber kisses all over it. She now correlates my phone with daddy since we have been video conferencing him a few times. He took a break from his studying so he could talk to his little munchkin and she was thrilled! I've never seen such big smiles come from her all at once before. I asked Ryan to take a video of him talking to her so I could play it for her when she wanted to see her daddy again. Of course she loved it and thought she was actually talking to him.

We ended up having a family dinner that night out on the patio. The wind was a little gusty, blowing plates and cups across the yard, but by 7pm the wind died down and the evening was very enjoyable.

Biopsy results are in...

And everything is cancer-free! The spot on my nose just showed an ulceration, one on my head was a benign mole, and the other three spots on my old scar were seborrheic keratoses. Hooray!

"Vacation" day 3

On the third day, I decided to head North of town to let the kids see what exciting things we could find. We were curious to see how close we could come to the new windmills. We found a gravel road just a few miles out of town that brought us within 1/4 mile of a few of them. The kids thought they were pretty cool, but didn't appreciate the wind very much. I guess it's obvious why they chose the Snowflake area to put all these windmills. The wind seriously never stops.

While we were way out there, I wanted to show the kids a cattle guard, since they always ask about them when we drive over them but have never actually seen one up close. I really just did it because I wanted to see if Aimee would actually walk over it. She did with a little help. I'm proud of her for not freaking out over it. 

After we finished looking at the windmills and walking over the cattle guard, I took the kids to Holbrook to see the teepee motel that was the inspiration for the traffic cone motel in the movie Cars. The kids thought is was great. Jayke wouldn't put his camera down and wanted to take pictures of EVERYTHING! 

They even had old cars in parked in front of all the different "rooms". Jayke wanted to take pictures of them so he could show Ryan that there were a lot of cars that needed Ryan to work on them.

Jayke wanted to have his picture taken in front of one all by himself. He actually wanted me to take pictures of him in front of each of them, but I wasn't going for that. 

When we pulled out of the wigwam hotel, we were staring at this tire shop that was "just like the one in Cars" so we took a picture of it, too. Jayke also said he saw Doc's "office", but I was driving and couldn't pull over to take a picture. 

We also saw the dinosaur statues, which the kids thought were awesome.

When we were leaving town, Jayke spotted a butte that looked "exactly" like the one in Cars. Starting to sound familiar, isn't it?

So I humored him and pulled off the side of the road to take a picture, just for him.

After we got back to Snowflake, I took the kids down to see the temple.

Jayke was super excited about it and wanted everyone to have their own picture with it. When the other kids realized how small it was and that it didn't have a visitor's center, they quickly lost interest.

We went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to eat lunch and so I could take a (much needed) nap with V while the other kids watched a movie. 

With me a little more rested, I decided to let the kids stay up until it was dark. We played a little peek-a-boo, which brought about many giggles.

We spent the evening outside in the yard. Kate (did) and Aimee tried climbing the apple trees.

I just love the look on Aimee's face.

Kate thought climbing the tree was pretty awesome.

We rocked on the porch.

We sat in the grass, which was apparently a new experience for V.

An experience that she wasn't very fond of.

She was especially not fond of it this way. 

But this way wasn't so bad.

And this way was even better.

There were lots of games of tag with the cousins.

And even a little dancing...until mom got the camera out...and then there was just bashfulness.

But then Grandpa decided to give it a try.

And then it was okay to dance for the camera.

And then we rested with baby on lap

and conversations with Grandpa

in the cool evening breeze until Grandma came home from work. It was a good day.

"Vacation" day 1 and 2

With Ryan studying for boards, I needed to take the kids away so he would have an easier time studying. We ended up staying at my parents house for 2 whole weeks. At first it was a challenge trying to get the kids in a routine in a new location, but after everyone adjusted we had a lot of fun. 

The trip there was pretty uneventful. V slept for most of it, except when we stopped in Payson for a potty and drink break and then again when we were driving up the Rim she started getting fussy. She must have her dad's sensitive ears. :-( I tried feeding her at the top of the Rim to help pop her ears, but she was so curious about the noise that the wind made in the pine trees that she wouldn't have anything to do with me. 

The day we arrived, the kids mostly just played while I unpacked 2 weeks worth of stuff for 6 people. It was a ton! The kids had a blast with the cousins! I was so tired that first day that I ended up putting the kids to bed at 7pm. 

The next day started out great. We packed up a cute little girl in a moby and headed out for a morning walk. 

We went down to the "creek" and around the back road, making a circle back to my parents' house again. We found some wild roses near the creek. 

Jayke found a butterfly on a thistle. It sat so patiently while we tried to take a picture in the wind. We finally resorted to holding the thistle (very carefully) and then taking the picture. Still not the greatest, but I didn't want to carry the big camera around so we have cell phone pictures instead.

We finally reached the creek. It has dried out a lot since I was here last. It was small enough for us to jump over. 

I let the kids play near the old cottonwood tree. They were amazed at how huge it was.

They climbed up a section of fallen tree. There is something manly about climbing huge trees.

Kate was frozen with fear about halfway up. After taking off her hat she had no problem.

After the tree, we went to the neighbors old barn.

We found a huge tree trunk sitting along the old railroad tracks and the kids decided to play on it for a while. 

All the while, this beauty was happy as a clam.

We found the old railroad track bridge. I was surprised that someone had turned it into a path. I was especially glad that I didn't have to walk with all the kids across railroad ties way up in the air.

Ethan found the creek under the bridge. 

And Aimee has my fear of heights.

The kids discovered the sedimentary rocks (sandstone).

And saw horses everywhere.

We finished the day with a tired baby, exhausted mama, and hyper kids. Not a good combination. Especially with no daddy around to save the day. Even Grandma had a long day, leaving for work at 5:30am and not getting home until after 10pm. 

V had a hard time sleeping with all the noise and unfamiliar surroundings, so by the time she finally fell asleep that night she was tired! I was thankful to have a bed to sleep in and a nice comfy pillow after that day!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder....

Hi Everyone,  This is Ryan.  I decided to post on Heather's blog like she keeps bugging me to do.  I felt that maybe this is a great way to show her how much I love and appreciate her.  

Anyway, The past few weeks have been quite the experience.  I have been working really hard at studying for part one of my National Board Exams, and it has been quite stressful because there is so much information to cover in such a short amount of time.  Heather decided that she was going to take the kids, with her, up to her parents house for two weeks to give me more time to study, and make it a little easier to focus on the task at hand.  I thought this sounded great, and felt that it would help a lot, but BOY WAS I WRONG!  

I feel that having them gone has made me focus more on the fact that they ARE gone, and having to make sure everything is getting done around the house (dishes, laundry, cooking, etc...)   I am such a lucky guy to have a wife and family that are there for me, to make sure all the little things get done around the house.  

Heather is a wonderful wife, and an excellent mother.  I appreciate all the little things that she does on a daily basis that she never gets direct recognition for.  SHE IS AMAZING!  

Even though my school schedule is rather hectic, I try to help out as much as I can, with dishes here and laundry there, and occasional yard work, but since she and the kids have been gone this past week, I have realized how truly LITTLE I actually do to help in comparison to what actually gets done on a regular basis.  

I truly miss Heather and all the kiddos and I cannot wait for them to come home from Snowflake.  I miss being able to hug and kiss the kiddos, and especially Heather.  ;) 

I miss J's long winded discussions about his latest ideas.  

I miss E and his never ending quest to be a self sufficient hunter/gatherer with his homemade weapons.  

I miss K and her seemingly endless unconditional love for everyone, and all the ways she expresses it.  

I miss A and her expansive knowledge about everything that most 4 year olds have no clue about (my little genius), and her wonderful laugh that accompanies everything she says.  

I miss little V and her morning smiles and kisses, and her cute pinchable chubby cheeks.  I hope that someday she will actually laugh for me, but I know that day will come sooner or later.  

Most of all though I miss my wonderful eternal companion Heather.  I miss her smile.  I miss her warm embrace after I come home from a long day of studying.  I miss staying up late talking about nothing and everything at the same time.  I miss the fact that no matter how bad her day went, she is still smiling when I come home, and asks how MY day went and shows empathy when i have had a bad day too.  I try hard to ask her about her day, and give her the same level of support that she gives me, but I know she does a much better job than I probably do. 

In the past year, I have truly seen how much my family loves me and supports me in what I am doing, and I am grateful for all of them and everything they do to make my life WONDERFUL.  I look forward to spending an eternity with them, and can't wait till they come home from Snowflake so I can be with them again.  

My time spent studying for boards is but a small moment in the grand scheme of things, but it currently feels like an eternity.  I look forward to the day I can take my exam, and then give my family the attention that they deserve during our summer vacation.  I miss you guys.

6 months already!

I honestly can't believe how fast this little girl is growing up. I think it is going by a lot faster just because I know she is our last baby. Normally I can't wait for the kids to reach the next developmental milestones and see them grow and mature, but with V I just want it all to slow down. I'm trying to cherish every moment. Despite all my efforts, she just keeps growing. Quite opposite of what she was doing in utero! I still think it is fun watching her learn new things each day and sometime I wish she could just grab that toy on her own, but I really feel as though I am enjoying her babyness a lot more than I did with the older kids.

I just adore these moments. Moments when her belly is full and her eyes are too heavy to fight anymore. Light from the door bouncing across her head and lighting up our little corner. Early mornings when the sun's blue light is barely peeking over the mountains or late evenings when the golden light is reflecting off the neighbor's house. These little moments I gladly give up my much needed sleep just to see this beauty in my arms. 

Here she is. My little cutie at 6 months old. She's got her daddy's big smile and pinch-able cheeks. She loves to be held, but does not like anyone in her face. She gives great open mouth baby kisses and kicks her legs furiously when she's excited. She has the cutest bubbly laugh when her siblings do silly things. She no longer laughs for me and has only laughed for Ryan once. She can sit up with a little support, but tips right over when sitting alone. When she's tired and hungry, all she wants is a quiet room and plenty of warm milk. She is easily distracted and is very aware of things around her. She loves sucking her fingers and puts all of her toys in her mouth. She absolutely adores her daddy and will do anything to get his attention when he comes home. She loves blowing raspberries and also loves to chew on and stick out her tongue.

Her 6 month stats:

Height: 27.5", 95th percentile

Weight: 17lbs exactly, 75th percentile

Head: 42cm, 35th percentile

Ice Cream

Sunday evening after dinner, the kids start begging for dessert. At first I was reluctant, but in the end decided to let the kids have some. I checked all the freezers for ice cream or something sweet that we could give them, but came up with nothing. I remembered the kids watching cartoons and seeing a new product for a single serve slushy or something of the sort that you just squeeze for a few minutes to freeze it. It made me think that I could make single serve ice cream in ziplock bags. I decided to try searching the internet to see if anyone had a recipe for it already. Sure enough, there were plenty of them. Basically, all you have to do is put the ingredients for one serving of homemade ice cream in a small ziplock bag and put it along with ice and salt in a larger bag and squeeze for a few minutes until it hardens. 

The kids all complained about how cold it was, of course, and decided to put cloth napkins around the bags while they were squeezing. It looks like plenty of fun, especially since I didn't have to do all the work. 

After the ice cream hardened, I pulled the little baggie out and rinsed off the salt and let the kids enjoy their quick and simple dessert.

What did the kids think of it?

Awesome!

Too "salty", which was actually too much vanilla.

Yuck.

Pretty good.

I also had some and would have to agree that the vanilla was too strong with our skim milk, but maybe if we had used a higher fat milk or even a little cream it would have been delicious.

If you are ever curious and want to try, all you need is 1/2 cup milk, 1 1/2 TBSP sugar, and 1/2 tsp vanilla in the small bag and 1/2 cup salt (roughly) and two handfuls ice in the larger bag.