State Fair 2011

I am learning to love being in Iowa. And one thing Iowans must be proud of is the State Fair. This year Nate and I helped construct a can display as a joint project with the Iowa Soybean Association, AIA, Canstruction and 4 local architecture firms. The reward for our time was some fair tickets, food vouchers and parking. That made the fair even more fun since we were able to come back another day with the kids and keep our spending below $40. (The State Fair is very expensive. As my father-in-law pointed out, they make it easy, everything costs $10.)

We met up with Nate's parents and his brother and sister-in-law and their baby boy.

If you ever go, the Butter Cow is nice but what you really must see is the Big Bull and the Big Pig. They are unbelievably BIG. I also love the pumpkins...one day I tell you! That 1200 pound gourd will be mine!!! Evander got to throw a frisby to the stunt dogs at the canine show and then he and Nate rode the sky ride across the park. Honestly though, Evander just wanted to stop and look at all the machines. Every day he asks me things such as: "Mom, when are you going to buy a combine?"...or "Mom, is it okay if I get a grapple skidder?"

This year we were prepared and brought a change of clothes so the kids could play in the water fountains. Jayne and Evander loved it, Caleb was content to keep me company in the shade.

Anyway, the kids were so good, and we all had fun. So I suppose we'll be going back next year.

Road Trip - Driving Home

The drive from Portland to Des Moines took 5 or 6 days. I have lost track. But we saw a lot on the way.

* We avoided a serious car accident during rush hour in Spokane, WA.

* We stayed a wonderful night and day at Hotel Seth&Brittiany. It was so nice to meet my newest sister-in-law, and to just hang out eating, talking and playing games with my brother.

* We learned that when a hotel is listed as "historical" it might just mean old, as was the hotel we stayed at in Miles City, MT. Even more incentive to keep driving through Montana's beautiful scenery.

* We saw Mount Rushmore, hiked through Rushmore Cave and drove through the Badlands. (Side Story: I am pretty sure that our tour guide in Rushmore Cave was happy to lose us. The tour group was 20+ people, including the 5 of us. I carried Jayne and Nate carried Caleb. After passing the point where you could choose to turn back, both Caleb and Jayne started crying, taking turns at it, inciting the other to cry harder, on and on. And it really does echo in those caves. Eventually, the group quit waiting for us and we just wandered to the end on our own. Anyway, this was a much different experience than when I went on the tour with Lindsay 9 years ago. Also, by the end of it, both Nate and I were rubber-armed. Hope they enjoyed it, it's not going to be happening again for quite awhile.)

* We visited North Dakota. For some time, we have been trying to come up with a reason to intentionally go to North Dakota. I have an old roommate there, but...not quite incentive enough. And really, why would anyone ever go there? So, since we were so close we went to Teddy Roosevelt Park in the Southwest corner of the state, and ate lunch on a very toasty warm HOT playground. And then on we went. It was flatter and more open big-sky-country-esque than Montana. You couldn't see AN-Y-Thing for miles.

The last night of our trip we stayed in Sioux Falls SD. And it was definitely time to be wrapping this trip up. Jayne had been running a fever of 102 for a couple of nights, throwing up some, but only at night. It seemed familiar, couldn't figure it out and then the rash appeared and I remembered, Roseola. We've seen that before. Anyway, the Falls at Sioux Falls were great, a nice way to end the trip. And then 4 hours later we were home.

The Road Trip - Oregon

I surely love Oregon. And my parents' house has become a fun place to stay. It may be small but they have expanded the living space into the great outdoors. Each of the last two times we've gone to visit tents have been set up in the backyard for visitors who won't fit in the house. And every night it seems there is a bonfire going out there. It's just naturally relaxing to sit around a fire talking. And going to visit family really is all about doing just that, sitting and talking, catching up on all the together time that is missed when living far away. Of course roasted marshmallows help any situation to be even more enjoyable.

Highglights of Oregon for me:
1) Lots of time with my big sister Corey who I've lived far away from for a VERY long time.

2) The beach - Ah...the beach. I love the water. And the day we went wasn't cold or rainy. The kids enjoyed the water and let us stay long enough to venture out to the tidal pools. Caleb crawled over to cuddle with his grandma and grandpa, Jayne ran into the water (with hands held), and the seagulls swarmed, stalked and attacked our food when they saw that all 8 of us (Corey, Mom, Dad, Me, Nate and the 3 kids) were waist-deep in the water, yards and yards away.

3) The temple - Nate and I hadn't been to any temple together in a year and a half, and I don't think we'd been in the Portland temple since our wedding 5 1/2 years ago.

4) My little brothers teaching Evander about Zombies, Wolverine and Cyclops - AND watching them run around the yard and play battles with him. I knew having a bunch of annoying little brothers had to pay off someday!!!

5) Mom and Dad a.k.a. Grandma and Grandpa - I love watching my parents be grandparents. It's fun and cute to see. I know I'm getting older when I don't think that they're old enough to be grandparents, because they totally are and I'm just in denial about my own age.

The Road Trip - Idaho

So, in Utah we saw my Grandma Evans, my Grandpa Cannon, Nate's sister Erin and husband Brent, my older sister Corey and her husband Tyler, and some friends.

Next we headed to Idaho to see my younger sisters. This was really an exciting leg of the trip since both of them had had a baby since I last saw them, and I had had one as well. We did very little outside of Kirsten's apartment while in Rexburg. But it was so fun to get all those little cousins together.

While in Utah I had had the feeling that it would be nice to be living there again to be close to family. But in Idaho...wow, that place is empty...I just thought it would be nice if Kirsten & Tatton and Lindsay & Karl move to the Midwest.

Lindsay's little girl was leading a group exercise class. She wanted everyone to stomp. If you didn't she would point at you and yell out, "Foot!"


Ever read the Shel Silverstein poem, "There's too many kids in this tub..."? Well, yeah...

The Road Trip - Utah

Living thousands of miles from all of my immediate family and Nate's older sister, it's a big deal deciding who and where to visit for our yearly vacation, especially since the yearly vacation only comes once every two years. This year, we decided to visit them all, well not quite, but close.

We rented a van, packed it full and headed off for 16 days and 5,000+ miles of driving. We feared that it would be endless crying and sleepless nights. And though there were those moments, they were not every night nor every drive. In fact, I'm very proud of how well the kids did.

We pulled out of Des Moines at 11:30 PM on Friday June 9th, turned around once for a forgotten item and then left for real. We made stops in Nebraska and Wyoming and made it to Grandma Evans's house in Springville, UT just around dinnertime Saturday night and just in time to eat the lasagna she had prepared. Evander, who loves Garfield by the way, decided it was his favorite food and ate it for every meal he had at Grandma's house.

While in Utah: lots of time hanging out with Grandma talking, Evander and Nate went camping up Hobble Creek Canyon right by a very swollen and noisy river, visited Grandpa Blaine in Payson and got to meet Bob the goat, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows at Erin and Brent's.

I was happy with how well Jayne took to Grandma. It was really helpful the first night when Caleb was having a hard time calming down to fall asleep. Jayne was absolutely content hanging out with Grandma, leaning up against her leg and "talking" to her.

Caleb loved Grandpa Blaine, though more than anything he loved stealing his cane. Best stick ever. He was so mad at us when we took it away.

On our way out of the state we got to see friends from our single days, Jill and Corey, see their home and meet their son Noah. So much fun.

One last night of crying...

...and now he sleeps. The day Caleb quit falling asleep to a bottle at night was a sad day for us. Since that time, about a year ago, we have spent at least 1 hour and up to 5 hours trying to coax, soothe and force Caleb to sleep. We never could figure out why he couldn't fall asleep and never found a consistently effective method for putting him down to bed. However, almost always...once he was asleep, he slept for the night. Last Sunday night though, something woke him up and from 2 am until some time after 6 he was awake. He didn't cry the W-H-O-L-E time but enough that neither Nate nor I could sleep. It compounded our concern about our road trip this summer to full-blown dread. Then, unexpectedly, Monday night he let Nate lay him in his crib and fell asleep quickly on his own. Each night this week has been the same. We put the other two to bed, spend some good 2 on 1 time with Caleb and then we lay him down. REALLY!?!?! I am holding my breath, hoping this lasts.

As long as I'm sharing great things about Caleb...He's standing! He stands up on his own everywhere now. He still feels insecure but he is so steady. He doesn't use anything to pull himself up, just slowly rises up and then raises his hands to the air and squeals. Yep! He's a champion! One day he's going to start walking without letting me know. I'll wet my pants when I turn around and am startled by him standing right behind me or something.

Reading books has become more fun with Caleb too. We've been trying for months to get him to touch the texture books. What he prefers to do is bend the pages to see how they move and to test the strength of the binding until it breaks. But we have had some success lately getting him to touch the fake feathers or fur. Tuesday night I was reading him a book called That's Not My Truck. Caleb did touch the wavy ridges on the cement truck after I did, but then he grabbed my hand and made it so my fingernail went up and down the ridges. Ever since then, that is what he has been doing. It is funny that his teacher has been doing "hand-over-hand" movements for at least a year to teach him to do things on his own. But the lesson he has learned is that he can use someone else's hand to do the things he wants.

Jayne's First Step

...was up not forward. Tuesday I looked over and there she was on stair #2. Caleb, sitting on the landing, stared at her in horror likely thinking, "What?! You've got to be kidding me!" The stairs have been his last refuge from a persistent and pesky baby sister who is now able to follow him ANYWHERE he goes. Since Tuesday Jayne has continued going up and now easily makes it to the landing without help. Time to barricade.