Chris, Lacey, Dallon, Jace and Conner!

Don't give up on me!

2011-04-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know its been almost a year since I've posted anything. We've been SOOO busy, and we've had some computer technical difficulties. I lost at least a couple of months of pictures when we had a virus problem (I am so ready for a MAC).

So here's the deal, I will resume posting, and I'll get caught up once my job is done in about 5 weeks, and summer has started. So hang in there, we've got some news for you all, and we've taken some great pictures in the last year.

Love you all, and I'll be back soon :)

If I wasn't such a slacker...

2010-07-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

...then you wouldn't have to spend so much time getting caught up! But since I'm a known slacker, the next 5 posts should adequately cover the last 6 weeks :)

So on Sunday morning, this crop duster was keeping me from getting an extra hour of sleep, but the boys (and that includes Chris) were having a great time watching it fly back and forth in front of the house.

That is our mailbox in the picture, just to give you and idea of how impossible it would be to sleep through this!

The view from our front window is so perfect, it looks like a picture hanging on the wall.

So Conner is getting to be such a big boy. He has been experimenting with walking for a couple of weeks now, and he has 4 teeth (after a couple of months of teething, poor thing!). He is lots of fun, and is all about trying to climb up on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! I have been amazed more than once at his climbing skills--hopefully there are no ER visits in store for us anytime in the near future.

Now that summer has FINALLY arrived, we are loving the sunshine, but unfortunately our back yard has been flooded for the last 3 weeks. Apparently because of the very wet spring, and then the over abundance of water available for irrigation, the water has no where to go and our back yard has become a lovely swamp. I can't send the kids or dog outside without fully expecting them to be a mucky mess when they come back in. Thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa who took Dallon and Jace for a week so they could go outside without all the hastle of trying to stay dry, or get cleaned up when they come in. We'll see how the rest of the summer goes, and hopefully we'll be using our back yard some more when it dries out (hopefully before school starts again!).

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

2010-07-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

Dallon and Jace had a fantastic time with Grandma and Grandpa last week. I'm sure they hardly missed me (sniff, sniff). I'm so glad they got to get out of the house and have some good times that we can't do at home. They started the week with waffles for breakfast.

COOL OLD TRAINS--JULY 5TH

STORY/CRAFT TIME AT THE LOCAL LIBRARY--JULY 6TH

COOL NEW TRAINS

OREGON ZOO--JULY 7TH

petting zoo

the boy who stares at goats--but he didn't kill it

cool dinosaur exhibit

baby elephant, was born last year, so cute

CHILDREN'S MUSEUM--JULY 8TH

cute little veterinarians

SPRAY PARK FUN--JULY 9TH

TOY STORY 3 IN 3D!!! JULY 9TH

We did a 4.5 month long countdown to the premier of Toy Story 3. We had to go the day it opened or Dallon would probably have experienced a psychotic break. Unfortunatly the nearest theater with 3D technology is more than an hour away. Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa found the time to take them, and they loved it all over again!

We picked the boys up on Saturday, and they have been bored out of their mind since. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, hopefully we can do it again next year!

Independence Day

2010-07-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

Rocking those Old Navy shirts with Grandma and Grandpa.
At the Haines 4th of July parade. They also have a pretty big rodeo (relatively speaking).

Hoping to come across some sugar being tossed at random.

After the parade, Dallon and Jace left with Grandma and Grandpa to go to their friends' cabin for their annual BBQ. And then they headed back to Forest Grove. It was really strange to have them leave, but I only cried for a little while, and kept myself busy so that I wouldn't spend too much of my time missing them. They had a lot more fun than they would have had at home.

a week with Grandma and Grandpa

2010-07-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

So Grandma Sally and Grandpa Charlie came for the Independence weekend festivities, and also to pick up Dallon and Jace so that they could spend a week with them in Forest Grove. I was really looking forward to having an opportunity to shampoo my carpets, sleep in, and get a few things done around the house while not tripping over too many toys.

Over the weekend, we had some fun. We went to the Sumpter Valley Railroad and rode the old steam train. This was a hit with the boys, and the dog seemed to like it, too.

Restored late 19th century narrow rail car. Very cool, but I can't even imagine riding thousands of miles across the country like this! The ride was actually really relaxing though, the movement of the car over the rails and the noise was actually quite soothing--I practically fell asleep, and Jace and Conner actually did.

Baker City MotoRally

2010-06-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

So we knew there was a motoRally in Baker every year, we didn't know how big it was! And it seems that you see and hear bikes rumbling through town all year long.

We found some really cool rides, and some that looked really comfy, too!

Bikes lined up all up and down main street, it was pretty impressive.

I think that is a keg on the back, I wonder if that's legal?

Conner enjoying the warm day and all of the excitement. Cute baby!

Dallon trying not to smile.

And Jace sneaking a ride in the stroller. We'll have to check this out every year, they had some great custom bikes and I even found a really great elephant ear!

Helicopters

2010-06-13T15:16:00.000-07:00

One of the first things I learned about Chris when we were first dating was that he loved helicopters. He got to ride in one of these for work, and then arranged for us to go back to the airport with the boys and have a good look at them.

Dallon at the controls, I don't think I would trust him with it quite yet.

Jace enjoying the ride.

Wow! So many buttons and levers can be really overwhelming for little boys who generally have to touch everything.

These helicopters are so tiny, I would have died from the anxiety if I had to actually go up in the air in one! But for those much braver than me, it is probably a lot of fun.

End of School Year 2009/2010

2010-06-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

The end of the school year was bitter-sweet. We will really miss Dallon's Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Cutright. I have never met anyone who was more perfectly suited to be a teacher and Dallon has benefitted so much from her and his aid Mrs. Brown.

They had an end of school party for their class planned, but because the weather refused to cooperate, we had to have the party in the gym at the school instead of at Mrs. Brown's farm. Bummer! The kids didn't seem to notice though, and they had fun eating hot dogs and running free in the gym for a couple of hours. I brought Jace along with me, his school ended the week before, he had fun playing with Dallon's classmates, too.

Silly Salamander

2010-05-28T16:23:00.001-07:00

Continuing with our amphibian catch and release program, we had a new capture yesterday. When I went out to roll our garbage to the road, I found this western long-toed salamander under the garbage can. He was barely moving (it was only a couple degrees above freezing out there), and I'm surprised I even saw him. I haven't seen a wild salamander in years, and was not expecting to see this one.

So I picked him up, put him in a mason jar with a little room temperature water to warm him up, and the boys had a great time learning what a salamander is.

After Chris got home from work (so we could give him a full report) we took Mr. Salamander outside and released him near where I found him that morning. Maybe we'll be seeing more salamanders over the summer and be able to catch and release a few more new friends.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Conner!!

2010-05-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

On May 21, 2010 Conner had his first birthday...I'm still a little shocked that it has already come and gone. What a year we had! On the 19th I took him for his 1 year dr visit. He was almost the same weight (22 lbs) but had shot up in height, 31 inches (85th percentile). He was really unhappy about the shots--and so was I, so hard to watch cry.

I made Conner's cake, and I had to be creative with what I had in the house. I knew he would like Mickey (I don't know why but he loves that Mickey Mouse!) so I just made it work with what I had. I went for a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Toodles look. I don't know if I really pulled it off, but they looked pretty good considering.

I made two cakes, one for Conner, and one for the rest of us.

We went to dinner at our favorite pizza place (Primo's in La Grande). Their salad bar is great, the pizza is whatever you want, and Conner loves their pasta salad. [sorry about the side ways picture again]

We actually did cake and gifts on Saturday morning. (We were having a rough Friday night--teething and whatnot). There is his big Mickey from Charlie and Sally.

Waiting patiently, not really getting what's going on.

What a good little boy, not trying to peek into the gift bags like his brother there!

More Mickey stuff! Notice the Mickey ears on Dallon and Jace.

These are from Grandpa Mark and Grandma Cindy--Lightening McQueen and anything CARS is always popular at our house. He especially loves the cup as you can see :)

Dallon beating Conner to the candle. (Yes my hair is wet in this picture, it's actually like 7:30am.)

Yum! That looks sugary!

So Many Grandparents, So Little Time

2010-05-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a road trip on the 14th of May. We headed out that afternoon for Washington. We crossed the river at Cascade Locks (my first time on one of those flimsy looking bridges crossing the Columbia!) and stayed the night in a hotel. It was a nice place I got on priceline. The only problem was that the search I put in for an outlying area of Kelso/Longview took me farther south than we had planned, landing us in Washougal. It actually ended up being pretty convenient. We had a shorter drive on Friday, and our hotel was right on the river. So we went down to a nearby dock and park to play and watch the boats and barges.

Conner got to try the new umbrella stroller I picked up. The one I used for Dallon and Jace had a broken shade and was generally worn, but it only cost $13 when I bought it so it wasn't heartbreaking.

Bianca REALLY wanted to go play with her boys, who were running around wild after having been couped up for 5.5 hours.

Jace trying not to get his picture taken.

Sorry this one is sideways, not sure why, but I had a little too much to post to worry about it!
Anchors away!

The next morning we headed to Kelso to visit Grandma Ruth at the home she was staying in for the weekend. Aunt Chris went to a wedding in Spokane, and we decided Grandma could use some visitors while she was away from home. She is one tough lady! She told us when we got there that she had rolled out of bed during then night--yikes! She was helped by a passing nurse, and she was fine when we saw her.

It was actually a nice warm weekend--I know shocker! So we put her in her wheelchair and took her outside. It was a little difficult trying to have a conversation. Grandma is slowing down a lot (I think she is 94 this year?) so it was hard for her to repeat herself. Chris couldn't hear her voice very well, and she couldn't hear mine. So we had some confusion, but enjoyed our time anyway.

After visiting Grandma Ruth, we grabbed some lunch and headed to Portland for a quick visit to Grandpa Bill and Grandma Dottie. We had a nice visit with them as well, spent in the back yard enjoying the sunshine. Bianca particularly enjoyed the birdbath.

Dallon and his pal.

Grandpa and Jace.

Grandma is not supposed to lift anything more than 5-10 lbs, but that baby was apparently irresistible.

Enjoying the grass.

And some early birthday presents!

A stuffed Woody doll and a new Toy Story 2 book will be well loved at our house! For more of our weekend see the next post.

Using Our Zoo Membership!

2010-05-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

After visiting Bill and Dottie, we met Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Sally at the Oregon Zoo. They bought us a zoo membership for Christmas that is good for dozens of zoos, including the Oregon and Boise Zoos. Our boys love the zoo, and it was great that it only cost $7 for all 7 of us to get in! We were a week too early for the dinosaur exhibit they will have this summer, but they had a few things out to look at, like the remote control dino.

Looking at bald eagles. After watching "The Squeakquel" they were excited to see real eagles (the mascot in the movie is an eagle).

A wing-span of 2 boys.

Cute little hatchlings.

Salmon fishing.

They didn't quite all fit at the same time.

These two are truly my children, they LOVE cotton candy. So when took a sugar break.

Going on safari. He's looking right into the cheetah exhibit.

This penguin would come up to the window and actually try to play with the boys, they could have stayed for hours, but penguins are too smelly for me!

Two of these things are not like the others....

We went to Red Robin after the zoo, and had them sing happy birthday to Conner. I'd have posted some pictures, but I'm a little overwhelmed today! I'll get some on here later ;)

After a long day, we headed to Forest Grove and stayed the night with Charlie and Sally. They gave Conner a big stuffed Mickey for his early bday present, and we eventually settled down for bed.

The next morning we took our time getting up, and headed on our way. The trip home seemed like it would never end, but we made it.

More birding

2010-05-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

Despite the FREEZING spring we've been having (we've had snow on and off through the month of MAY!!) I am still seeing more birds around the property. I saw hummingbirds 2 days in a row. The first day was a female calliope hummingbird (smallest hummingbird our here), and then the next day I saw this male calliope trapped in our enclosed porch. It was snowing outside, so I think he flew in when the sliding glass door opened and the warmth was irresitible. Taking a picture of the poor little guy was just as irresistible for me. So he was a little stress while I quickly took a couple of shots. You can see how tiny he is on this nail (try not to look at the cobwebs).

I've also seen another golden eagle flying outside, and I saw a great blue heron fly over the house. I also saw some sandhill cranes a couple of miles down the road. I also saw a Lewis' woodpecker for the first time. I've seen a Black-headed Grosbeak in the yard recently, too.

On another wildlife note, I've been seeing pronghorn antelope in some fields just off the freeway on the way to La Grande. Mama's and babies mostly.

I'm excited to see what truly warm weather will bring! And even more excited that we might get some warm weather at all.

I'm Dreaming of a White....Cinco de Mayo?

2010-05-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought spring was finally here, I woke up this morning to a thick blanket of freshly fallen snow. And its still snowing!! So Happy Cinco de Mayo, and hopefully someone somewhere is enjoying some warm weather :) I went out later and took some unusual pictures in the snow.

Long Overdue and New Family Member

2010-05-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

We've been busy with life, and this blog hasn't been a top priority for a while. I'll have to work on that. I've been neglecting my camera as well. So yesterday I took advantage of the opportunity to take some nice pictures of the boys and Chris' new horse. Chris has wanted a horse since he was a teenager, and he has been thrilled that we found a nice 10-year-old buckskin gelding. All three boys love to watch the horse (who we sometimes call Buddy or Bucky or Horse, whatever comes to mind--he really needs a name). Last night they got all cowboyed up and went outside. Chris rode a little while the two boys watched from the fences. It was perfect for some nice pictures.

Chris and his new best friend.

Jace watching from the stands.

We have a few trees/shrubs that are flowering. I decided to take a few pictures while I had my camera out, and play with them a little.

Yesterday we went to town and finally went to the Baker Heritage Museum. We were afraid that the boys wouldn't enjoy it, but they did great and seemed to enjoy it a lot. It was a great museum, and I'm excited to go back. For the last month or so Chris has been working a lot of overtime. He did a couple of 70 hour weeks, which were really hard on all of us. It was wonderful to have him home with us yesterday so we could go out and have fun together, it was a great day.

Conner will be having his first birthday in 3 weeks, and I've got to figure out what we'll do for him. I can't believe how the time has flown! Generally things are going well, and I'm making some great plans for summer vacation so we won't just drive each other crazy all summer long :) Hope we'll get a few chances to make some visits to family and friends, and you're always welcome to come to Baker, too!

Latest update!!!!

2010-04-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Thought it was time to do a little update, so here it is......................Please come visit us if you wish to see the rest of this update. Thanks, Arvidson's

It must be spring...

2010-03-30T13:07:00.001-07:00

....because I'm seeing more birds!

Today this Lazuli Bunting kept trying to fly throught my kitchen window. His mate was a lot smarter--she sat in the tree and watched him go for it...I think I can relate.

I've also seen pine siskens, and yesterday I watched a rufous-sided towhee rummage around under our trees for a couple of hours. We also saw a long-billed curlew, and I'm expecting to see more and more songbirds as the weather warms...I'm so excited (I'm also such a nerd).

Out like a lion...

2010-03-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

So March has come and gone so fast, and I've taken lots of pictures, but I've neglected to share them like I should. So here is a big long post for you to catch up a bit. I bought St. Patrick's Day shirts for the boys, and Conner cried every time I tried to sit him up so you could see what his said. Since you can't see it, it said, "Mommy thinks I'm charming."

Conner and his plane. He got it for Christmas from G&G Christensen. He loves this thing, and is now using it to stand up, and climbs all over it.

Gotta love that tongue...he can't seem to keep it in his mouth.

Miss Bianca loving the sunlight coming through the windows. It has been wonderfully warm, and the sun has been out most days. I love that!

Last weekend we met up with my brother Colton and his family, and my sister Kaylee and her husband Nick in Boise. We ate great food, stayed in a hotel for 2 nights, swam in the pool, did mini golf, go-karts, bumper boats, and shopped at the mall. After they headed back to Pocatello, we headed to the zoo to use our membership (it was great to have free admission! Thanks Grandma Sally and Grandpa Charlie!).

Here's where that out like a lion pun comes in. They have an African Safari exhibit with lions and giraffes.

That is one cool looking pheasant.

Jace giving us the grumpy face. He was generally grumpy most of the time, but he perked up when appropriate.

"Why are you taking my picture, Dad?"

Digging for fossils.

Trying not to like it too much.

Look at that kid in the prairie dog exhibit!

Big cat!

New this time was a bit of a petting zoo. Goats and sheep with brand new babies--it opened the day before we were there.

When I told them this was a dragon, Dallon said it should have wings--um, yeah most imaginary dragons do have wings, but not real ones.

Jace riding the Dallon tortoise.

Jace tortoise.

Cool dragon trainers.

This one looks like Dallon got bucked off, so I had to post it.

2 headed meerkat alert!

Riding a camel.

Just hatched.

Well, April will be here in a couple of days, spring break is over, and Easter is in just a few days. The countdown to summer has begun--now if only I can figure out how I will be able to survive it!

Happy Birthday Jace!

2010-03-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

Jace is 4-years-old! We had a party for him on Saturday while Grandma Sally and Grandpa Charlie were visiting. His party had a train theme (Thomas the Train) and I'm pretty sure he loved it! He especially loved all of the gifts and being the center of attention :)

(Dallon may have had just as much fun "helping" Jace have a birthday.)

A little stroll down memory lane. Jace on his 3rd birthday. Attached to his cowboy hat, and into all things boy--dirt, animals, and big machines.

Jace at 2-years-old. This is right after I bought him that cowboy hat. I think he wore it every day (even slept in it) for over a year. Gotta love it. He was so cute and chubby.

Jace's 1st birthday. Loving that first taste of his cake. He has always been very funny, even as an infant. As a toddler he learned to use his facial expressions to get a rise out of people--and boy was he good at it!

What a cute baby he was. I took these when he was about 2 weeks old.

Just got home from the hospital. He had more hair than his brothers and a rosier complexion. He definitely has his own look (Dallon and Conner look so much alike to me).

Brand new baby Jace! Thankfully they were able to wake me up from a deep sleep so I didn't miss it!

Agent Arvidson

2010-03-06T13:19:00.001-08:00

We went to the Dollar Store, and Dallon had to have the "FBI Agent" set. It came complete with dark shades and a cell phone. He had a great time capturing his "suspect," cuffing him and interrogating him in the hot seat. He called it in, and soon got the OK from headquarters that he could release Jace (although I think Jace was a little sad about it--I think he'll be a repeat offender). They both played their rolls very convincingly, Jace even put on a sad face when I took the pictures. Too funny.

A few more pictures...

2010-02-25T11:17:00.000-08:00

Jace wanted his picture taken after he saw the pictures I took of Conner. So he posed in front of the window (which wasn't ideal lighting, but it worked for him). He'll be excited to see them on the blog. He wouldn't put down the granola bar he was holding, in fact he was trying to get me to take a picture of it. We're going to have to work on our photo composition.

Bright-eyed as always.

Happy to be able to climb up and look out the windows to watch the birds, cats, or whatever else might be out there.

I know that the name of this bird sounds bad, but I was excited to see it and that I could remember what it was called (probably because of the name)--its a hairy woodpecker. This was right outside the window, and he stayed around for more than an hour. I started a list on the left side of the blog for the birds I see out here. Its spring and we should start seeing more songbirds soon (we've already been seeing Robins for a couple of weeks now). We've seen a bald eagle twice now, flying over the field across the road from us. In other wildlife news, we saw some raccoons the other night. One was right outside our back door on the other side of the sliding glass door, and there were 1-2 more in a nearby tree (it was very dark, and we were trying to count eyes as they moved around with a flashlight shining in their direction). We were a little concerned about them becoming pests or perhaps being a threat to the dog, but we haven't seen them again. I'm excited see the wildlife this summer (especially the birds).

9 month picture attempt

2010-02-23T11:35:00.000-08:00

At this stage of the game, Conner is constantly bonking his head on everything in sight. He is soooooooo busy!!!! He's still army crawling, but can also get up on all fours and move a little that way, too. Army crawling is faster, and therefore, his preferred mode of transportation. He is all over the house, pulling himself up to stand (today I found him standing in his crib after his nap). He's a pretty happy little guy most of the time, and very determined to get where he wants to go--which makes picture taking quite a chore.

Today I decided to give it a shot (note the pun) and this is what we ended up with.

Lovin' that fire enginel

choo-choo

hmmm...so serious (looking at the toy I have that he obviously wants!)

and every time I gave it to him, it went straight into his mouth...

but we still got a couple with and empty mouth...

I also wanted to throw in a couple of cute picts of him in the tub. He LOVES the tub. He gets really excited when we go in the bathroom, because maybe he'll get to take a bath. Unfortunately his excitement also makes it hard to get him undressed, and he gets a little frustrated until he's finally in and splashing like crazy.

I have a feeling he's gonna be a handful when he's walking.

*In other news, Dallon is doing really well in Kindergarten. He's keeping up academically with his classmates, and we've noticed an amazing improvement in his social skills (although its not always the good things he brings home). He has learned how to be bossy to his little brother (who of course will not be bossed around) and has learned to then tattle on him when he doesn't comply. At least he's doing things kids his age typically do.

*Jace is doing really well in his early intervention class. He's learning all of his preschool concepts, as well as getting much needed speech therapy--which is going very well. His speech is getting clearer, and he is expressing himself without being as physical. He has come a long way in the last few months in that area--and he should catch up to his peers before he goes to Kindergarten.

*Chris has returned to work, and is functioning well there. We are still trying to cope with his hearing loss, but we are beginning to accept it, and are trying to figure out better ways of communicating with each other.

*I'm finally getting some more sleep--Conner has been my worst sleeper at this age. He is finally only waking 1-2 times a night (instead of 3-4 a couple of weeks ago). We'll keep at it, and soon I won't be as sleep deprived anymore.

Hope all is well with everyone! I will try to get more pictures posted of all 3 boys soon.

8 months already! And he has an eye for danger.

2010-01-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

Unbelievably, Conner is now 8 months old!!! He seems to have grown overnight, and I'm not too happy about it. Maybe because he's #3, I feel like it went 3 times as fast (or maybe its because of some other factors like moving, holidays, hearing loss, etc may have contributed that).

He's sitting up, rolling and army crawling EVERYWHERE!! And he is only interested in things that he shouldn't be! He loves cables and cords of all kinds (he pulled my scentsy candle warmer off the counter and thankfully it missed him!). He loves trying to get his hands on the dog and cat (thankfully they are so sweet and seem to like the attention). But his absolute favorite danger--the wood stove! He loves the thing. I have to block it off, or he's for sure headed for it. What am I going to do when this kid is walking!!!!

Such a sweet smile he has. It reminds me so much of Dallon.

And so chubby! Look at those cheeks, and of course he still has some food on them :)

Conner trying to get the cat this morning. She was enjoying a nice warm spot by the fire, and didn't seem to mind that Conner was following her around the room. She just laid down and let him check her out.

She has been the most wonderful cat. She's moved with us more than a dozen times and in 3 different states. She doesn't scratch, bite or hiss at my kids, she tolerates the dog, and catches mice. She is lovable, but not too needy. When we leave town, we leave her food and water, and she takes care of herself. What's not to love?

I need to take some nicer pictures of Conner soon. He's changed so much since the last ones I took. I just need life to give me a little break, so I can clear my head enough to remember :)

Sleep trouble...

2010-01-15T09:43:00.001-08:00

So Conner has been having some sleep issues. I think its a result of our 2 trips to Idaho in just a few days, and a growth spurt just before that. He's been basically refusing to settle down. I take him up to his room, turn out the lights, walk a little to calm him, swaddle him, turn on the white noise machine, and try to put him down. This use to work within 5 minutes. Now he squirms in my arms while I walk, fights and squirms out of his swaddling (which I've given up on completely now), then starts screaming when I put him in bed. I pick him up and put him back down a few times, and he's all keyed up like there is no way he's going to close his eyes any time soon--and he doesn't.

I end up giving up, and trying again about a half our later, only to get the same results. He falls asleep in random places (like his high chair yesterday), and doesn't sleep longer at night to make up for it. The last week has been pretty tense around here.

But today is a new day! For some unknown reason, today I went up with him, turned on the white noise, gave him a hug, laid him in bed (happy), and left the room to listen. After about 15 minutes he hadn't cried, so I went in to check, and sure enough he was sound asleep! Why do children do these things to their mothers? I was about to go insane because I had no idea how to fix what was wrong, and then just like that its gone (and apparently he didn't need me to fix it). [sigh] I guess I just need some more sleep and a chill pill.

Chris goes back to work!!!

2010-01-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

Yes that's right! Chris is going back to work. He got the call this afternoon. They said he could stay here, and any arrangments for his disability will be made with his manager in Boise.

After all of the worry and stress of not knowing, and expecting the worst, we are TRULY grateful and very excited that he will be at work tomorrow. After 6 weeks of being at home, deaf, on steroids, stressed, and a little depressed, things are definitly looking great today.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us/him and supported us through this. We really appreciate it, and it definitely made a difference to us.

On a different note, we returned late last night from a quick trip to Idaho to see my baby brother Berik off for his mission. He is headed to the Missionary Training Center in Provo on Wednesday, and then he will fly out to his mission in Minnesota about 3 weeks later. He seems so grown up--he was only 6 when I left for college--now that he is 19 and headed out on his own, it seems so strange that he isn't a little boy any more.

Good luck Berik! We'll be thinking of you, and we know you'll do a great job.

From Son Up 'till Son Down

2010-01-06T14:55:00.001-08:00

So I finally took the advice of a few friends and started an etsy shop. You can check it out at

http://fromsonuptillsondown.etsy.com/

Yes, that cute baby in the pink hat is Conner :) Thanks Whitney for the inspiration for the name of my shop.

In Remembrance of December 2009

2009-12-31T11:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, it seems like this happens every year, I take hundreds of pictures during December, and only post once or twice. So suffer through all of the pictures in this post if you dare.

Dallon had his first School Christmas Program this year. The school fed us dinner, and then the whole school (k-12) preformed. Bands, classes, choirs the whole nine yards (although I think the way Chris heard the bands was not much different than the rest of us! Nothing like 6th grade band!).

Wait, stop on this one!!!! Look, both of them sitting down, smiling AND looking at the camera, priceless...

Jace trying to entertain Conner while we waited for the program to start. Conner looks more than a little concerned--I can't say I blame him.

So Dallon walked on stage, looking pretty confident. Sang a couple of lines, and then....

decided to transform into a small transformer and do all of the choreography in miniature on the floor...once again, priceless.

Song number 3 was combined with the older kids, he lasted a few lines before transforming again, at which point we could no longer see him behind the other kids.

Santa visited the program, and boy was Dallon stoked!!! Jace refused to go up, I think it was because he was tired and there were so many people.

Grandma and Grandpa Christensen came for a quick visit to bring the boys their Christmas presents a little early. The trucks, trailers, and 4-wheelers were a hit with Dallon and Jace.

And Conner's Winnie-the-Pooh plane was all he ever wanted apparently.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa...it was a nice visit.

On Christmas Eve, we were invited to go sledding with our neighbors up by the Anthony Lake Ski Resort. It was soooo much fun for the boys, and Chris had a pretty good time, too. I mostly held Conner and took pictures (it was hard to pry a sled from the kids).

Getting ready.

He's on a little snowboard here, and he's not really moving...it just looked like a cool action shot!

Daddy and Jace coming down the hill.

Jace kept saying he went "fast" and wanted to "go fast" again. It reminded me of a movie...

Baby Conner all bundled up, but not well enough when you aren't moving around on your own. I ended up taking him to the car and warming him up before he fell asleep in his car seat.

Getting ready to go fast!

If you didn't want to lose your sled to another kid you had to stay with it even while on a break.

Mush! Mush!

Heading up the hill, looking professional.

And back down again....

Hot dog break before heading home.

This is the view on the way down the mountain on our way home...our place is on the other side of the hilltop in the middle.

Anticipation...getting ready to open their night-before-Christmas presents.

Transformer pajamas! They put them on, and went to bed so Santa would have to pass us by :)

Christmas morning in their new jammies, and I think they've spotted some toys!

Dallon is really into Bakugans. I still haven't caught onto what the hype is all about. Just little plastic balls that spring open into creatures I have no clue about...I must be getting old.

Jace and his Mater the Greater stunt set.

Ho, Ho, Ho! Yes he decided that stockings should actually go on your feet.

Our tree, looking pretty reflecting in the windows.

Conner got a Mickey, and a soft stuffed elephant. We'll see if he likes them.

And Dallon had a birthday! Grandma Sally and Grandpa Charlie came over from Forest Grove, and they brought the pinata with them. It was loads of fun. We invited a few neighbors over, and ate cake, ice cream, and candy.

If you made it to the bottom...CONGRATULATIONS!!! December was memorable for sure. And we're hoping that the New Year will bring great things.

Happy Birthday Dallon!

2009-12-26T16:17:00.000-08:00

Six years ago today, we welcomed Dallon into this world. He was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen (and I'm sure that's because I'm so biased). He was a wonderful baby, and has grown to be a very sweet and loving boy. He has more challenges than the average boy, but he is so very special because of it. He is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received!

Dallon's Birthday! December 26, 2003

One year old, and loving that birthday cake.

Two, and not terrible at all.

Three.

Four.

December 2008 in Ohio, getting his service dog Bianca.

Five!

Fall 2009. Kindergarten.

For those who missed our Christmas card and letter...

2009-12-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Another year has come and gone, and for once we are sending out a Christmas card and letter!

Eastern Oregon has treated us well these past few years. Dallon will be 6 the day after Christmas, is in Kindergarten and is loving it. Bianca is his buddy at home, and she goes to school once a week to visit him and his class. He has grown so much and in so many ways. He’s making lots of friends at school, and they think he’s pretty cool because his dog gets to come to school with him.

Jace is 3-1/2, attending a preschool and is learning so much. He is almost as big as Dallon (they weigh almost the same and Jace is only 2 inches shorter than Dallon now). He is all about having fun and being a rough and tumble boy. He plays really well with Dallon now, and they are so fun to listen to.

Conner is our new addition, born on May 21st. He is a wonderful baby. He is laid back and happy almost all of the time. He puts up with our crazy lives without much protest, and seems to just enjoy being wherever we are. He’s nearly 7 months old and is rolling, sitting up, and growing like a weed!

We moved to Haines, OR (Baker Valley) in September. Chris transferred with Williams Natural Gas to his position here. It is beautiful here! We are loving the country life, and have made lots of great new friends, although we are really missing the ones we left in Hermiston.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Holiday Season,
Merry Christmas
From The Arvidsons
Chris, Lacey, Dallon, Jace, Conner, and Bianca

Better late than never

2009-12-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is some video of Dallon at the Children's Rodeo this year at the Pendleton Round-up. His cowboy partner is a team roper named Randon Adams. I included little clips of him doing a bull ride, steer roping, barrel race (my personal favorite), and a horseback ride. It was a little difficult to get a clear view of him in the other events because of the large crowd. He was soooo proud of his trophy, and still is. I hope he'll get to do it each year (they are eligible until age 9). Enjoy!

Annual Christmas Tree Excursion!

2009-12-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

The wonderful thing about living in Eastern Oregon is that Christmas trees are cheap and easy to find! Every year we make a little trip to the mountains to pick out the perfect tree (preferably within 15 feet of the road!). This year was great because the ride to our destination was so short (because it was just up the mountain side from our house) and because we have Chris home and could go anytime we felt the urge. So on Friday afternoon, we took advantage of the sunny, but still chilly 12 degrees, day and packed up the boys and dog and headed out.

We didn't see another vehicle! The snow was powdery and soft, and the sun warmed us nicely.

Dallon and Jace admiring Daddy's work. Great job Chris!

Tasting that irresistable snow.

Trying to help pull the tree to the car, I'm sure Daddy appreciated the effort.

I tried to show Dallon my best snow angel, and he took advantage of my vulnerability and chucked a snowball at me! I'll be more prepared next time...

Baby Conner in his bear suit. Can't believe he's already 6 months old, rolling, sitting up a little on his own, and over 20lbs! He's so sweet, a wonderul baby who takes everything in stride--like being toted around in 12 degree weather!

Another taste of that irresistable snow!

I think the dog had the most fun. She ran around us, eating the snow, diving into the deepest snow, and looking like she could do it all day.

2009-12-05T15:21:00.000-08:00

It is that special time of year when I start to feel all sappy and tear up when I hear certain Christmas songs on the radio. I decided to post of few pictures from previous Christmases. I can't believe how much my boys have grown! Dallon will be 6 the day after Christmas, and I cannot believe it was that long ago!!

We have so much to be thankful for, and I am reminded of it especially at this time of year. We have been truly blessed, and although not everything goes as planned, I know that everything in life happens for a reason. I have so much, I don't know how I let myself complain about the things that aren't perfect!

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you find many opportunities to give and share with your friends, family, and even strangers.

Christmas tree 2008.

Dallon with Santa in Ohio.

Santa (Todd Davies) Christmas 2007.

Jace, Christmas 2006.

Chris' hearing

2009-12-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

OK, so that everyone will be informed and we won't have to answer everyone's questions individually, here's a note about how Chris lost his hearing and what we're doing about it. Chris has had noise (tinnitus) in his right ear since about 2002, but it stayed about the same for a long time.

He took his job with Williams Natural Gas in 2006, annual hearing tests are done on their employees due to noise exposure. Between his 2008-2009 tests he had a significant progressive loss in both ears, most likely due to noise exposure even though he was using ear plugs and muffs for protection. His co-workers do not have similar losses. Williams began an investigation to determine if this loss was work related, and they decided it was an OSHA recordable incident, and a claim has been filed for him to receive workmans comp for the percentage of the loss they determine is work related.

Then in July Chris had a fever for a couple of days, not extreme enough to go to a doctor. A day or two later he woke up and could not hear out of his remaining good ear--leaving him with only his ear with tinnitus to hear out of. He was put on a round of steroids and antibiotics and tested for any viruses that may have attacked his ear. They did not find anything unusual in his blood tests, and the steroids did nothing to undo the damage.

Just before Thanksgiving Chris felt a change in his ear that left him hearing lots of distortion like he was in a tunnel. It improved, and then came back a couple of times, but was getting worse on Thanksgiving Day. On Friday when we woke up, I rolled over to say something to him in bed, talking into his good ear only an inch or two away with a normal voice and he couldn't hear/understand anything I had said. The tinnitus had completely drowned out and distorted what little he could still hear. We went to an urgent care clinic, and they gave him another round of steroids and antibiotics.

Monday we went to Boise to see a specialist. His losses do not fit any known diagnosis. He has no family history if this. The progressive losses, noise related losses, and sudden losses are not usually experienced this way in such a short amount of time. They ran more blood work to check for autoimmune disease, but his hearing loss is not typical for autoimmune inner ear disease. He is on short term disability from work until he is able to get hearing aids in January. They are ordering him custom high powered aids that will hopefully drown out or diminish the tinnitus so that he can hear over it.

The doctor told me that we will probably just rule out hearing aids as a good solution so that he can fulfill the requirements to be a candidate for cochlear implants. The implant technology is great, and our insurance covers it pretty well, so we are hoping that things will move along quickly so that he can hear again soon. He is missing out on a lot, and it will be VERY difficult for him to not go to work.

So we will be doing lots of projects at home, going out into the woods to find a Christmas tree, decorating, Christmas shopping, etc. We'll try to keep him busy so he doesn't go insane.

Quick and Overdue Update

2009-11-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's been a month since I last posted! So sorry. We've been busy, and I've been sick, so here are a few of the things I missed.

Halloween! Jace and Dallon were Megatron and Optimus Prime for Halloween. They were really into trick or treating, of course. The weather was actually very nice on Halloween, considering we had just had snow a few days before.

Conner was really confused by what we were doing, but he was a great sport. I think I should have picked a less gender neutral costume for him. Every single person who made a guess, guessed that he was a girl. Hmmm, is it a compliment when someone tells you your baby boy is too pretty to be a boy?

We carved a few pumpkins this year, but we didn't get to it until Halloween. Dallon drew the face on the one on the far left all by himself. He calls them "angry" pumpkins. It was nice to not have to worry about anyone destroying them while we were gone :)

We've had a little snow a few times already this year. The first good snow was in October, and Jace was super excited to make a snowman.

We also had a birthday in October. Happy Birthday Chris! Look at all of those candles!

We don't have big plans for Thanksgiving this year, just time at home enjoying good food and a day off!

Happy Thanksgiving! I know I have much to be thankful for.

Family Pictures!

2009-10-26T07:10:00.001-07:00

So I've been itching to try family pictures again, this time with Conner and Bianca in them. Our last try was only semi-successful at best. This time we asked one of Chris' old co-workers in La Grande (Dan Jensen) to help us. Dan is a great friend, and just happens to be a photographer! Our kids are familiar with him, and he is really great and relaxed with them (which can trick them into forgetting that we've got a job to do). We met up on Saturday in La Grande at EOU. It happened to be the first nice day in a long time. We just walked around campus, checking things out, throwing leaves, climbing on stuff, whatever it took to get all of us in the same shot. Jace of course was TOTALLY not complying right away, but luckily he went along with most of our ideas after he calmed down a bit. So out of well over 200 shots, here are a few that turned out! Enjoy, it may be the last time for quite a while!

Pumpkins and Turkeys

2009-10-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

We got out this weekend and went to a pumpkin patch just outside of La Grande. It was soooo windy!!!! But we had a good time, and they had lots of great pumpkins.

They had a cow and a steer next to their store, and the steer was mooing for the kids. Jace thought it was the coolest. Dallon with our wagon full of pumpkins. He kept saying we were going to go home and make "angry" pumpkins (because apparently all jack-o-lanterns are angry).

Bianca making sure all of the pumpkins got in the car ok. We'll probably wait until next weekend to do our carving, and I'm sure that will be an adventure in itself.

Last night we had a flock of wild turkeys wandering around the house. They have been all over the "neighborhood."

That's a LOT of turkeys!

Conner is already 4 months old!

2009-10-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

I have been planning to take pictures of Conner for quite a while now. But with all the craziness, I hadn't gotten to it yet. When I looked at the calendar and realized he was almost 5 months old, I decided to get my act together. I took these this morning, trying to squeeze in as many as possible before he got too upset about it. The first few picts are my favorites. I had a hard time keeping his hand out of his mouth, but other than that he did great!

What can you make with 100lbs of apples?

2009-10-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call from someone in our ward that they were getting apples. Every year they get apples from a grower in Walla Walla who sells to one of our neighbors and her daughter who lives in Pendleton. I was told they were usually 20-25 lbs boxes and they had lots of varieties. I asked for a box of Fuji and a box of Gala. The next day I got my apples and found out that they were bushel boxes (48-50 lbs)! They were beautiful apples, and I was planning to make some applesauce/baby food and can a little for deserts or just for eating out of the jar.

If you've ever wondered how much that many apples can make, here's a picture of almost all of the finished product. My friend Charie (thank you, thank you, thank you for coming over and helping me with this, with a baby on my hip I couldn't do what I needed to get this done!) did most of the hard work (chopping, running the peeler, corer, slicer, etc). I mostly cranked the sauce maker, did some stirring, and kept the processer/water baths going. I ended up with 8 quarts of chopped apples in syrup for my freezer, 14 pints of baby food, 12 quarts of applesauce, 8 quarts of pie filling, and 6 quarts of sliced apples in a light syrup! I can't imagine how long this will last us, but I think I'll order again next year and do some canning for Charie :)

dogs, cats, birds and kids

2009-10-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

Chris went deer hunting over the weekend, and we had an eventful weekend without him. It was general conference weekend, so I didn't have to worry about going to church without him, and I recorded the sessions to my DVR so I could watch without so much interruption. I did some more unpacking and took some pictures.

Yesterday morning I was going out to the car when something caught my eye. I was in the covered porch, and I had seen some frogs and other little creatures in there before, but when this little bird flew up at me, I just about wet myself! I'm not sure how he got in there, but he seemed OK.

I grabbed my camera and immediately went into bird-watching mode (something I've been doing a lot lately). Looking for markings and noting size, shape, etc. This little guy is a yellow-rumped warbler. My cat decided to try to give me a hand with things. She didn't seem interested enough to be a threat, so I took a picture of her with the bird. I ended up having to scoop the little thing off the window sill and release it out the door to get him to leave. And within a few seconds he was perched just outside the door again. Apparently we're friends now.

I took these this morning. Our silly cat thinks she can be inside whenever she wants now. Every time we move we let her spend more time inside so she won't run off. It has worked well, she has moved all over the northwest with us over the last 9 years. She is great with the kids, never scratches and they can catch her. Conner loves to stare at her, but this is the first time I've caught her snuggling with him while he was sleeping in his car seat. She likes to nap in his car seat, too.

Bianca loves the new place, but she doesn't like that I take her outside on a leash all the time. We don't have a fence up yet, and she has made a break for it a couple of times and has been found rolling in manure and other gross things. She likes to sit on a couch or the bean bag and gaze outside--I can just see her dreaming about running wild and free.

Dallon and Conner snuggling with Bianca.

Anthony Lake

2009-09-28T10:16:00.001-07:00

Update! It was just pointed out to me that I forgot to include any pictures of Bianca!! I had almost 500 pictures to go through, and I guess I figured she'd just end up in a few. So here are a few of her on our Anthony Lake trip. She was off leash (yes I know we're bad, but I love to see her just be a dog once in a while) and she's usually behind the camera on our outings (because I have her on leash and the camera). She loves going everywhere with us, and she doesn't get to play in the water much (because we have to wash her afterward) so she had a fantastic time smelling everything and getting wet, dusty and muddy (and then we get the pleasure of her fresh aroma on the drive home).

About 10 miles up the highway from us is Anthony Lake. There are camp grounds and a ski resort. There are several other lakes and reservoirs around our area, and I'm excited to get out and see them. Anthony Lake was beautiful! We were there in the evening and the sun was slowly setting behind the mountains.

Conner loving being outside and watching all of the commotion caused by the boys and dog running and jumping all over the place.

There a lots of hiking trails and we took one up to a small lilly pond about 1/4 mile from the boat ramp. The boys and Bianca loved the dirt and mud and rocks and everything about it.

Cool log bridge, I was a little nervous but no one fell.

We'll be planning a few camping trips next year. Its so close and will be easy to do a few times a year for just a night or two.

5 Little Speckled Frogs...

2009-09-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

So the wildlife around our new place is great. In addition to the deer, elk, wide variety of birds, and way too many insects, we also have an abundance of frogs. We will catch one and put it in a jar for a while to watch it and talk about it. Jace is really into the frog thing. Every time we go outside he wants to look for frogs.

Trying to share the view.

Proud frog hunter.

The silly thing didn't want to leave the jar when it had a chance, so we had to try to convince him to go.

Gentle persuasion.

I think he thought the frog would jump right out to him if he just put his hand out for it.

Dallon looking in the "frog hole" for more frogs after we let the last one go. I have a feeling we're going to have many more frog adventures.

Dallon's Rodeo

2009-09-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Every year at the Round-up they have a Children's Rodeo for kids with special needs ages 5-9. Dallon was able to participate this year, and hopefully he'll be able to do it a few more times. This year was their 25th anniversary, and next year is the 100th anniversary of the Round-up, so the kids got some extra cool stuff.

For the rodeo they are paired with one of the rodeo contestants. Dallon was paired with a cowboy named Randon Adams. Randon is a team roper who won big last year and won lots of money at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in 2008. The first event for the kids is a "bull ride." I loved that Randon had him wave his hat!

Next was steer roping, and Dallon got some great pointers.

Then on to the Barrel Race--I was cracking up! I have some video of this also, so I'll post it when I get a chance. Hahahaha.

Then they rode on a wagon around the arena.

Jace and Chris watching Dallon's great perfomances.

We didn't get a good picture of Dallon doing the Goat Un-tying (they untie a ribbon on a goat), and then after that they went to ride a horse. He loved it.

Jace didn't seem to get what we were doing there, it was hard to pick Dallon out of the crowd sometimes, but he had fun playing in the dirt and watching what was going on.

After the rodeo the kids get their prizes. This year they got a hat, a lariat, a trophy, a children's book, a belt buckle, a signed photo with their cowboy, a few small toys, a t-shirt, a bandana, a Round-up baseball cap, and some other little things. And this was a completely FREE rodeo!!

Dallon was very proud of his trophy and took it for show and tell the next week.

With our participation in the rodeo, we also get free tickets to the big rodeo afterwards. So we stayed until the kids were ready to go. It was great fun, and I hope we get to do it again.

Great job cowboy Dallon!!

Keeping boys busy and out of the way...

2009-09-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

A big THANK YOU needs to go out to Chris' mom and dad for keeping the kids occupied over the weekend we moved, so we could get things cleaned up and pack all of the little things that we wanted to do ourselves. The boys had a fantastic time.

The went to a children's museum in Kennewick. They were the only kids there most of the time. There was a puppet theater, lots of costumes, a castle, and just about anything you could think of that kids would love to play with.

Dallon the fireman.

Jace loving the train set-up.

Dr. Dallon taking good care of Grandpa Charlie.

Jace the fireman (notice his cowboy hat on top of the firetruck).

Funny costumes.

Jace loves dinosaurs!

The boys also went to the Dress-up parade for the Pendleton Round-up. Unfortunately, Dallon was coming down with pneumonia again, and they had to end the day early so I could take him to the ER. We caught it earlier this time, so he only needed a breathing treatment, and no anti-biotics or IV. He is on a daily allergy treatment and has a puffer for when he's not breathing well. Its scarry how quickly he comes down with it! We're really going to need to watch him through cold and flu season this year.

The Big Move

2009-09-28T09:16:00.001-07:00

So we finally moved! 2 weeks into the school year, and after 2 months of Chris being home on the weekends, we are finally all in one place again! The big moving truck was a big hit with the boys, and the movers were great for me--I'm so glad I didn't have to pack.

Boxes boxes and more boxes--we'll have plenty for the next move :)

Dallon and Jace don't normally pose, I was shocked to see them actually posing and smiling in the SAME picture!

The new place, YAY! It was rainy, but also nice and cool.

I took these pictures on one of our first mornings in our new place. This is the view from the front window. The sunrises are amazing here. And if you look closely you can see a couple of deer in the field.

Dallon cuddling Conner in our new place. He loves that baby brother!

School Days are here again!

2009-09-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

(Jace and Dallon eating lunch in the cafeteria.)

So school is here again! Its a big relief for me since I've been a single parent for most of the summer. It will be nice to have some time to get my house unpacked and in order without all of the little people running around :)

(Dallon writing his name)

Dallon started school on Aug 31st at Powder Valley School in North Powder. We stayed in a motel down the street from the school for the first 2 weeks before we moved into our house. Dallon's Kindergarten teacher is AMAZING! He goes to school from 8-1:30 Mon-Thur. On the first day of school, the special ed teacher found me and told me she had looked at Dallon's file and felt that he would benefit from a 1 on 1 aid, so they were going to hire one for him! What a change from where we were! Powder Valley changed from a public school to a charter school, and they are doing really well. It is K-12 and there are only about 15 kids per class (last years graduating class was only 12).

Jace also started school. He is going to the Early Intervention classroom in Baker City. Its about 18 miles from our house to school, and thankfully they made arrangements for him to ride the bus from our house. He attends Tues-Thur from 9-11:30. His teachers say he is doing great. I'm hoping his speech will catch up this year, and next year I can put him in a regular preschool.

(Conner wondering why we're just lingering in Jace's classroom)

Jace doesn't seem to like his picture taken lately, but his expressions are great anyway!

Country Road, Take Me Home...

2009-08-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

So this is the place we will be living in when we move. It is a rental (none of our attempts to buy worked out, which has actually turned out to be a good thing). Our move-in date is set for Sept 15th. The house has a Haines address, on the way toward Anthony Lake Ski Resort. Its 4 beds and 2 baths and sits on about 2 acres. Just above the property is a Fish & Wildlife elk/deer feeding ground.

The views are BEAUTIFUL!! The utilities are dirt cheap, and the price is great (only $800/mo)!

It has a recently updated kitchen and bathrooms, and practically new carpet. I am stoked! We'll have lots of room, and we can easily afford it while we save and look for something to buy (if we ever want to after living this cheap!).
------------------
Dallon starts school on Monday (Aug 31st) and Jace starts pre-school on Sept 8th. Its a little complicated with us not in our house yet. We'll be staying in the hotel with Chris for the first couple of weeks of school, and we'll be home in Hermiston on the weekends (school is only mon-thur so we'll have long weekends). I'm getting very anxious to get moved and settled. With both Dallon and Jace gone to school, Conner and I won't know what to do with ourselves in all that silence (I'm sure it will be enjoyed at least for the first few weeks).
-----------------
Remember, visitors are always welcome, and there's plenty to do year-round!

THE BABY IS NOT A TOY!

2009-08-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

Dallon LOVES baby Conner, but unfortunately he also thinks that he's more like a toy than a real person. These picts were both from today. Dallon thought Conner might look good with Transformer stickers on his arms (which is apparently where transformers prefer to have their Autobot or Decepticon emblems). He also thought that sunglasses were the perfect accessory. Conner is a trooper, and actually seems like he enjoys the attention--even if its a little rough sometimes. I guess as long as he doesn't try anything with something especially dangerous (like knives or swimming pools) I think Conner should be OK.

We had a great time at McNary beach today, I wish I would have remembered my camera! We'll have to go again, the boys were covered in sand and were loving the cool river water. I was a little anxious trying not to take my eyes off of them, so even if I had the camera, I might not have used it...Oh well, next time we'll bring Daddy.

As Summer comes to an end...

2009-08-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

...I wanted to post a few more pictures of our trip to Portland and mention some of the other activities we've been up to lately.

This is a picture of Jace and Bianca in the back of the Yukon on our way to Portland. Jace, of course, is CONSTANTLY picking at his face (especially his nose). Thankfully, his little nose is finally almost healed. He has a huge scar starting on the bridge of his nose between his eyes and goes all the way down to the very tip of his nose. Now he only has a small scab left and it seems to be healing--and he isn't picking as agressively at it now.

Dallon is not impressed with having his picture taken these days, but I caught him with his guard down (distracted by the movie playing).

Chris is also not enthusiastic about having his picture taken.

Conner in his favorite position--upright and almost free of any assistance! This can't be good. But darn it, he sure is adorable.

Yes, I bought him this shirt.

Dallon playing with Grandma and Grandpa's "old school" little people toys. They still have lots of their kids' old toys, and the kids love them!

Hello?

After Chris and I left for the reception (and after a lesson or two on service dog handling) Grandma and Grandpa took the boys to the park.

They actually stopped at a couple of parks, and then they saw a blow-up Spider Man bounce house set up for a birthday party. The birthday girl invited them to play, and they were worned completely down and ready to relax when they got back to the house.

On our way home the next day, we stopped at Chris' Grandma Dottie and Grandpa Bill's house. This is the first chance they've had to meet Conner, and he was in good form with the smiling and cooing and all the charm that goes with it.

Dallon and Jace watering the plants and themselves and anything else (like filling the bird bath to overflowing).

Dallon was "angry" and I decided to join him. He has been struggling to get out of his "angry" attitude lately, but we try to make the best of it.

Grandma and Grandpa enjoying great-grandson #7.

Grandpa with great-grandson #1--giving hugs good-bye.

***

We headed home shortly afterward, but had a good day or so visiting in Portland.

***

Since then, we have gone to a "free movie" in Washington (it was Monsters vs Aliens--and it was much better than I expected). We went with some friends, and the boys had a great time (except for the tantrum that Jace threw in the lobby on our way out). We also went to the Umatilla County Fair last week. We looked at the animals, had some cotton candy, rode a few rides (which surprisingly Jace didn't like) and headed home. Jace got stung by a bee (probably because of the sticky cotton candy on his hands) and he was ready to head out when we left. I think Dallon would have stayed for hours.

***

This week we are going to a birthday party at the beach by the river, and I think we might head up to another free movie on Thursday. Chris is in Caldwell for work, and will be home on Friday this week, YAY!

***

Next week is the last week before school starts! I can't believe how fast this summer went. It was rough, and I was mostly a single-parent, but we made it! We'll be moved into our place in Baker soon, and I won't know what to do with myself all day. Dallon will be at school from 8-1:30 M-Th, and Jace will have school 3 days a week, too. Round-up is coming up, and Dallon is going to 'perform' in the Children's Rodeo--it should be great fun!

***

We'll that's it so far...I'll be better about posting when we're all moved and I finally have some quiet time (at least until Conner is crawling!).

Happy 10th Anniversary!!!

2009-08-12T22:52:00.001-07:00

It is amazing to me that we have already been married for 10 years, it does not seem that long ago. I was trying the other day to remember what it was like before I had Chris around--and I truly could not remember. We've been together 12 of our 30 years of life, so I guess that could explain it. I look around and see other relationships that seem like so much work, and am so thankful that ours has been relatively easy (not that life has been that easy, but staying close to each other has not been much of a challenge at all).

I'm sure the next 10 years will go by with surprising speed, and we'll find ourselves looking back on 10 more years of life that will have challenged us--but I'm sure we will still be just as close if not closer by then. Happy Anniversary Chris! I love you and need you more everyday, and I could not have asked for a better companion to share this life and on into eternity.

I didn't get much of a chance on our anniversary to post much, but I did get the little tribute to my marriage up just before midnight on our anniversary. Now I want to add a little more and let you all know what we did to commemorate it. The weekend before the big day (which fell on a Wednesday) we went to the Portland area. My cousin Rachel was having a reception that weekend--and since I had 3 cousins and my sister getting married this summer, I was glad I got a chance to get to at least one of my cousins' receptions! We dropped off the kids in Forest Grove with Grandma and Grandpa, then headed south to Woodburn.

(Conner, Rachel, and me at the reception)

(Conner and Daddy at the reception)

After the reception (which was lovely! Rachel looked so beautiful and very happy) we headed to Lake Oswego to have a fancy dinner and to drop by the Portland Temple. We were too late to visit inside the gates, but this temple is so beautiful--and it has a lot of significance for us. We visited this temple nearly once and month together with our small singles branch before we got married.

On Wednesday, Chris came home from Baker a couple of days early, and we just spent the night together eating take out and watching a movie. We've been so very blessed over the years, and we have so much to be thankful for today.

Our Little Cutie

2009-07-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

A couple of videos of Conner. Sorry the second half is so dark--bad lighting. And sorry its not centered, be glad I got most of his face most of the time ;) I love Dallon's "little piggies" toward the end.

Baby Conner is 2 months old!

2009-07-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

I took a few pictures of Conner this morning. He was 2 months old on Tuesday! I can't believe how fast it has gone by. We've been so busy with moving, and since he's number 3 things are just a little crazier than they were with the last two. I don't get too many chances to take his picture with Chris gone all week, so I decided to make the time this morning. I'll try to get a couple of good videos of him too. He's smiling and cooing, and sometimes it seems like he's trying to laugh. He's very sweet and social. What a wonderful addition he has been to our little family.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-07-24T09:02:00.001-07:00

We had ourselves a busy week! On Monday morning, Chris left for Baker City at 4am. After work he headed to Boise because of an employee meeting there on Tuesday. Me, the 3 boys, and the dog headed out at about noon to meet up with Chris in Boise. The company paid for us to stay in a nice hotel. My plan for Boise was to meet up with my friend Crystal who has moved to Alaska and was in Boise to visit her sister who was going to the temple. Crystal and I were roommates in college and I hadn't seen her in 2 years! It was great to get to see her for a few hours on Tuesday.

*****

Dallon had been sick for about a week on and off. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him, other than an allergy that he has had every year at this time since we moved to Hermiston. On Monday night at the hotel his breathing was strange, and then seemed really difficult. His whole belly would move violently with each breath in his sleep. He was burning up under his shirt (but not his head or hands) and his heart rate was very fast. We decided he needed to go to the ER which was very nearby (St Lukes). They found that he had fluid filling one of his lungs and his vitals were not good. They put him on an IV and pushed fluids--which made a big difference--and then did blood tests and an x-ray. He had asthma symptoms and pneumonia and is now on antibiotics and has a puffer for when he has difficulty breathing. I think his allergy was the cause, but we don't know for sure.

We left Boise on Tuesday night and headed back to Baker City. We stayed with Chris in the hotel room he's been living in during the week. On Wednesday we did some funner things for the boys. We stopped and looked at some Indy cars that were being shown off at a tire store.

I also took the boys to the park while Chris was at work. There is one big park in Baker, and it is really nice (lots off shade trees and toys).

Sweet merry-go-round.

Dallon has been hiding from the camera lately, I guess he decided that since he was feeling better he'd humor me a bit and smile.

Jace is so strong, and only wanted to push.

Jace has been refusing to smile for the camera too. I've also been a little reluctant to take his picture because of how he's been picking at his nose and chin for the last several months. It gets almost healed up, then he digs at it again--maybe I need to invest in some mittens and duct tape.

He sure is cute though!

Dallon loves to make silly faces and be dramatic when someone is watching.

We also looked at another house while we were there. This is the view from the front yard/driveway. Those are the Elkhorn Mnts in the back ground--its such a beautiful area. The house is on 4.5 acres and it has a lot of potential. We've not had good luck house hunting so far, and we're trying not to get our hopes too high again, but this would be a great place to raise our family.

Independence Day

2009-07-02T10:25:00.001-07:00

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

It's nearly Independence Day, and being a big fan of liberty and the Constitution I thought I should make mention of it. I truly believe that our Founding Fathers were inspired men--mostly self educated, exceptionally talented, and brave men who risked being punished for treason to fight against the most powerful and feared military power of their time. What a remarkable thing they did for us. A wise man once said:

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. "--Ronald Reagan

I would suggest for everyone to read a transcription of the Constitution at least once from beginning to end. I intend to do all I can to pass freedom on to my children.

Teddy Roosevelt in 1916 speaking briefly about liberty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYn5FJnvrZk

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves."

Baker City here we come!

2009-06-29T16:11:00.001-07:00

So a little information for those of you who aren't up to speed with our move. Chris has taken a transfer position with Williams to Baker City. We are so excited about Baker--it is a beautiful small town in the mountains. I'm excited for the climate change (I don't do well in the heat here). Chris starts working in Baker on July 6th! Its coming up fast, and I'm not really ready yet.

*****

We are being relocated by the company, so we are receiving lots of great moving benefits--like movers to pack our things so I don't have to! We've moved like a dozen times in the last 8 years, and I'm ready to not be the one who has to pack everything up again. Our house is for sale, but if we can't sell it, the company will buy it from us so we won't have to stay until it sells. They also help us with our closing costs and moving expenses.

*****

We haven't found a place to buy in Baker yet, hopefully we'll find a place soon so I won't be stuck in Hermiston with all 3 boys by myself all week for too long.

*****

I'll try to keep everyone updated, I know I've been slacking with my posts this month. Hopefully I'll make the time a little more often over the summer :)

A visit with Grandma Ruth

2009-06-29T15:59:00.000-07:00

Chris' Grandma Ruth just had a birthday this month. We had been wanting to visit for with Conner for the last couple of weeks (he's a month old now! Time flies). But with weddings, moving, house hunting, and all that comes with it, we have had some really busy weekends in the month of June. Chris decided yesterday morning that we just needed to make a day of it and not put it off. I'm so glad we went. She is still the wonderfully positive and lovely lady she's always been, and I so wish we could see her more often.

Jace telling Grandma about something hanging on the wall.

Dallon loved Grandma's ride! Chris rolled around with him for a while. The boys were good while we were there. We took her some flowers we cut from our yard (hopefully not too many bugs in there). We enjoyed our nice visit with his Aunt Chris also. She has moved in with Grandma because she needs someone with her 24/7 now. Grandma is so lucky to have such a wonderful daughter who is taking such great care of her at home so she doesn't have to leave it to be in a nursing home.

My sister is married!

2009-06-29T15:43:00.001-07:00

So my baby sister is married! I can't believe it. When I left home (almost 12 years ago) she was only 9 years old. She has grown into such a beautiful person, and I'm so lucky to have her in my life. She was married on June 20 to Nick Soderquist (also from Pocatello). We met Nick a few months ago, he is a great guy and I'm so happy for Kaylee.

We arrived Friday night for their reception in Pocatello, and we drove through a big storm on our way. They were so lucky, it got a little windy and no rain! Then on Saturday at the Salt Lake Temple where they were married, it was cloudy and threatening to rain, and it sprinkled for a while, but they got most of the family pictures done before it really started to come down.

Unfortunately, I was too busy with my 3 boys to get out my camera at a time when there weren't dozens of people gathered around her--so I stole a couple of pictures off of my brother Colton's family blog (thanks Whitney!).

My brother Colton and his little girl Andee, my brother Berik, and my Dad (Mark).

A couple of Kaylee and Nick's engagement pictures.

Boise Zoo

2009-06-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

On our way to and from my sister's wedding we stayed in Boise over-night. After one of our stays we went to the Boise Zoo. Its a nice little zoo, and the boys had fun out of the car for a couple of hours.

Super-cool slide.

Diggin for dinosaurs.

One of the things I really like about this zoo is all of the animal statues the kids can climb on. And do my kids love climbing!

Ginormous Bengal Tiger. The boys were not at all afraid.

Penguin exhibit.

This elephant is spraying water--Dallon would not leave it alone! He kept going back to it and we practically had to drag him away. The kid loves water, and combine that with an elephant and it is apparently irresistable.

So we took Bianca with us, and we were pretty careful to keep her out of sight of lots of the animals. I had heard that a dog is very stressful for the monkeys--so we avoided taking her near them. And we tried to keep her from seeing most of the animals so she wouldn't be stressed. However, we did have a couple of incidents. There was a squirrel that was running down the path in front of us--which is like torture to a dog with hunting instincts! She barked at it, and we had to stay put for a while before she was settled enough to continue without searching out that darn squirrel. The other incident involved the lions. The lions are new, and we were unfamiliar with how the exhibit was set up. So I tried to walk Bianca around and past the exhibit (so we didn't have to walk all the way back around the other way) and we went pretty quickly. However, one of the lionesses (you can see her in the picture above--Chris took this picture before she spotted us) spotted Bianca and got up to stalk us! She was practically running to the glass as we hurried by. Thank goodness Bianca didn't see her! It was really a very creepy feeling for me to have that huge lioness hunting us...I'll take the extra exercise and go the long way out next time.

Dallon the big brother

2009-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

Dallon LOVES baby Conner and asks to hold him a lot. He talks about how cute the baby is, and will tell me about all of his cute features--like his toes, his "3 eyes" and tiny hands (sometimes his counting is a little off). I haven't been taking a lot of pictures of Conner lately, things have been a little crazy with the move, the new baby, a wedding, and a little too much time in the car. I'll try to do better in July :)

A few pictures of Conner

2009-06-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

He will be 2 weeks old tomorrow! I hate how the last weeks of pregnancy go so painfully slow, and the first few weeks of having your baby in your arms goes by way too fast. I took these pictures today. He was really unhappy after about 10 minutes, so I'll try to get more later. (I just updated this post with a few more pictures that I took after he fell asleep.)

Conner Paul Arvidson

2009-05-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Introducing Conner Paul Arvidson

Born May 21, 2009 at 1:01pm

7 lbs 14 oz 21.25 inches long

Conner has finally arrived! He is doing great. He's gaining weight, eating and sleeping well, and has all of his fingers and toes :) We went into the hospital on Wednesday night, and on Thursday morning the Dr. helped him along by breaking my water. We had a very uneventful labor and delivery, which is always a good thing.

Dallon and Jace came to the hospital and met their little brother later that evening. I don't think they fully understood what had happened, but they seemed very excited about the baby. The boys spent their time during the day playing with Grandma and Grandpa who came over from Forest Grove for the weekend to keep an eye on them for us. They had a great time going to their school party, visiting the Children's Museum in Pendleton, and seeing the replica pirate ships docked in the Columbia River.

We came home on Saturday afternoon. The boys had made a birthday cake for Conner with Grandma. They were excited to see me at home. I was worried that Jace would be jealous of the new baby and not want me to hold him. I was surprised that he would get angry and protective of Conner when anyone else held him. He says its mommy's baby and demands that they give him back to me.

Bianca is obsessed with the smell of the new baby. She checks out everything that is his.

Conner reminds me so much of Dallon, only blonder. He is very alert when he is awake. I caught him wide eyed last night and got a few pictures of his cute little face. I'm hoping he is blonde and brown-eyed (then I won't be the only brown-eyed one in the family). He is very sweet, and doesn't need to be held to fall asleep. He's very calm and has been very tolerant of the noise in the house.

Jace has been trying out the baby things. This little dome was a little small for him, but he thought it was fun.

Quick Update

2009-05-18T13:40:00.001-07:00

Generally things are going well, I'm getting around alright most of the time (although I have my days when I can hardly move). Dallon and Jace have their last day of school on Wednesday followed by a school party on Thursday. They sent home a letter that said to expect water games (it is supposed to be almost 90 degrees today) a petting zoo and other fun stuff. It will be a fun day for the boys. I have been so impressed by the excellent job that their teachers have done for my boys there. Jace will be continuing to go to pre-school there next year, and I've just finished with all of Dallon's transition meetings for him to go to Kindergarten next year. The school district has been very open and inviting about Bianca coming to school, and I'm excited to be able to take her when I'm NOT pregnant anymore!

Dallon is still obsessed with Transformers. He thinks we need to stop at Walmart everytime we drive by just to get Transformers. He set up his guys and wanted to do a photo-shoot with them. He LOVES to take pictures of his toys. If he gets one of our phones, we find videos and photos of his favorite toys filling up the memory :)

Still no baby Conner. His due date is 2 weeks from today, making me 38 weeks along. I've been having pre-labor/early labor for the last 3 weeks or so which has resulted in a very slow thinning and dilating process. The same happened with Jace, so I guess I'm just one of those lucky women who have weeks of early labor :) The bright side is that it should mean that when things really get going it should be relatively quick (from 3cm to delivery with Jace was a total of 4 hours). Hopefully we won't go too much longer considering that Conner is likely more than 8 lbs already! My next dr appnt is on Wednesday, and hopefully I'll still be making a little progress (so all of the sleeplessness and discomfort hasn't been for nothing!).

I had a baby shower last week. It was great. My neighbor Missy and my good friend (and college roommate) Ann-Marie threw it for me. They were so sweet, and did a fantastic job. We were so lucky to already have some friends here in Hermiston when we moved here, and we've been so very lucky to have made so many more great friends in the last 2.5 years!

Hopefully the next time I post, it will be with pictures of Conner!

Attempted Family Pictures

2009-04-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

So we tried to get some family pictures taken, but we had a little problem--and although he's really cute and we love him, he absolutely would NOT cooperate. This is one of the few shots we got of Jace when we went outside for a little while after trying to take some pictures inside. My cousin Kara took the pictures, and I really wish we could have gotten more shots with all 4 of us, but you take what you can get!

While we were outside, we got a couple of shots without Jace crying about it, but they were fleeting moments, and both boys wanted to play and not pose.

Dallon was loving the posing, the only problem was that he thought his little helicopter was the one who needed his picture taken. But we got some really cute pictures of him anyway.

We'll have to try again after Conner arrives, and long before he's big enough to be uncooperative! Its hit and miss I suppose, maybe the next time we try will be better. All in all I'm glad we at least gave it a shot. Its been 2 years since our last family picts!

2 Boys, a dog, and some sprinklers!

2009-04-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

I took this video a few days ago. It was warm, and Chris got the sprinklers going for the first time this year. The boys had a little too much fun, and Bianca went crazy biting at the water and getting good and smelly (she's still a puppy at heart).

In other news, Bianca had a birthday on April 18th! She is now 2 years old, and I'm so impressed with her at such a young age. I can only imagine how fantastic she'll be in a few more years when she has more experience and is even more mellow.

I'm still a grumpy pregnant woman. I'll be over it soon enough. Its so sad how the last few weeks of pregnancy seem to last forever, but the first few weeks after bringing your baby home fly by way too fast. I'm nesting like crazy (probably because I'm afraid he'll come unexpectedly early). I went through baby clothes today, and am washing and sorting them. I also washed and put together the bassinet. I've been feeling the urge to clean, but I just don't have the energy to keep up with everything--so I'm a little frustrated, and trying to prioritize.

All in all, things are going great here. The boys will be out of school in a month. Chris is working a regular schedule, I've been released from my primary calling (for the time being at least), and Conner is almost here! We are so very blessed.

Happy Easter and Tracking

2009-04-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Belated Easter! Here's a recap.

Easter morning--the Easter Bunny dropped off some candy and a small toy for each boy.

So we don't get really into the festivities for Easter, but we do like to color some eggs the day before and the boys were really into it this year.

Dallon inspecting the eggs in their coloring cups...he had to put each one in more than once.

Jace showing off one of his eggs.

TRACKING PRACTICE

Today we went to practice tracking at Hat Rock State Park which is just off of the Columbia River. The tracking went well (especially considering how long its been since we've practiced and how many ducks and geese were around to distract her!). We stopped and threw some rocks in the water, and the birds thought we were throwing food and came by to check it out. It was a nice day and it was a nice little outing.

Cute little boys, but not so nice to the birds. They thought it was fun to aim for the birds--and the birds didn't seem to care if they got hit!

Dallon in a few shots, in the top right hand corner he's trying to imitate the pose of the transformer on his jacket. He's a little obsessed with transformers these days and likes to refer to himself as "Bumblebee Dallon".

Jace was hamming it up for the camera as usual. He has a big scab on his chin from a run in with our coffee table and he has started to pick at it.

We will be going back to this spot more often now that it is getting so nice out.

To Conner from Mommy

2009-04-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

So I decided to make something special for Conner, and I chose this crazy quilt. Unfortunately it turned out more yellow than I had originally intended (I thought the circles would "cancel out" more of the yellow than they actually did), but it is still very cute and was fun to make. Here are some pictures of it at different points during the process of making it.

Basic layout before any stitching......

All stitched together with hand embroideries done (click on the picture to see it larger for more detail)....

The finished quilt after washing all of the pencil marks off. I'm pretty new to actual quilting (as opposed to tying quilts) I used my machine to quilt it, and it took some practice before I was feeling confident that it would look OK.

I should have used the blue material I used for the backing instead of all of the yellow, but its too late now. I do like it, and I'm excited to put it to good use on our new bundle of joy.

Museum of Ancient Life

2009-03-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

This is a very belated post, but I had lots of pictures to go through and other things on my list to do. While we were on our trip to Idaho/Utah we went to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point just south of SLC. ( You can read more about it here http://www.thanksgivingpoint.com/visit/museum_of_ancient_life/about/museum_facts.html ). It was one of the only times we got our camera out while we were on the road (which is sad, because we should have made more of an effort to get more pictures). So here are some highlights from our visit. The first thing we did was attend the 3D movie about dinosaurs--Jace was glued to the screen, but Dallon was a little scared and covered his eyes a few times. Then we headed through the exhibits.

You could build your own dinosaur with different heads, legs, tails and horns/spikes. Very fun, and the boys were really into it.

What a masterpiece!

Both boys seemed to really enjoy the minatures and hands-on exhibits, but who can blame them!

Jace assembling a model skeleton (the best he could, I had a hard time with it!).

Model skeleton assembly table, we worked at it for a while before we all gave up and went on to other easier things :)

Jace loves dinosaurs, and especially liked the real-looking statues they had there.

Dallon showing us how his teeth look like the ones on display...

The Utah Raptor--scary! I didn't know that they never put the real bones on display at museums (not even in cases). Everything you see is a cast of what they have in archival storage.

Bianca came with us, and she seemed not too impressed by the museum. But she was a trooper and attracted quite a lot of attention.

In front of the museum we took a chance to take some pictures of eachother before we went inside.

Other than the museum, we did some other activities while traveling. We visited another 4 Paws family who is waiting for their training date in December. They live in Lehi, UT and we met through the 4 Paws yahoo group. They were a wonderful family, and I'm so glad we got to meet them! We plan to go back for another visit when we are in UT for Kaylee's wedding in June.

-----------------------------------------------------

We stayed a couple of nights at the Red Lion in Pocatello, which turned out to be great fun. We had Jeremy and Liz Branson's family and Colton and Whitney come over and swim with us. Dallon and Jace had too much fun, and were wiped out after more than 3 hours in the pool! We also all picked up a stomach virus while there (as did most everyone else in Pocatello it seemed!). That cut back on a lot of our play time, but we survived and were all feeling better before we headed to Utah. We visited lots of family and friends and stayed busy. We didn't get to do everything we wanted, so when we go back for Kaylee's wedding we'll get to see more family and maybe do a little more playing--and with a new baby too!

Birthdays and Babies

2009-03-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

So our little Jace is 3! I can't believe how fast it went. I am looking forward to the end of his terrible 2s (and probably 3s) but I'm doing my best to try to enjoy it while I can. He is such a charming little man, even with all the attitude. He can't seem to part with his cowboy hat lately--but that's fine with me, its cute and someday it will be too small.We had some cake and ice cream and some gifts for Jace on Saturday before his birthday. Chris' mom and dad drove over from Forest Grove and spent the night on Saturday. He must have blown out his "fire" at least a dozen times, then he bent over and took a big lick out of the icing on one side.
He got some fun gifts and immediately wanted to open them.

And Dallon was a big help when Jace wasn't staying on task with the unwrapping! They both had fun playing with new toys.

Dallon has suddenly become obsessed with Transformers. I'm not sure why. When I went to the store to get Jace's bday present, I saw a transformers jacket and pants on clearance in a size Dallon could wear. He wore it everyday for the next 4 days! I guess we'll have to get some more transformers things.

I am now over 30 weeks along, and on Monday I had an ultrasound to check for fluid levels (because I had a strange loss of fluids several weeks ago) and to check the size of the very large Conner growing inside me. Fluid levels were good, and Conner is in the 85th percentile for his gestational age. If I go all the way to 40 weeks with him, he will be well over 9lbs!!!! I have had lots of contractions already--all day every day regardless of what my activities are--so I'm hoping that means he'll be coming early and not so large! Jace was 16 days early and weighed 7lbs 10oz, Conner is measuring bigger than Jace did. I'm trying not to stress too much about it. The great news is that Conner is very active and healthy and I am feeling ok with only minor discomforts like heartburn, soreness, and sleeplessness. My blood pressure is low (sometimes a little too low), my blood sugar is great, I'm not gaining too much or too little weight, and generally my prenatal visits are boring--which is a good thing. I took a few pictures of my big belly, I realized I didn't have any from the last 2.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T10:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Chris is working today, so we are going to have lunch with him at work. I'm picking up Subway because it was the first meal we shared together when we started dating more than 11 years ago!

Dallon had a pajama party on Thursday at school for Valentine's Day. I took Bianca for the last 45 minutes or so. He loves having her there, and gets really excited to tell her what is going on in circle time. She is doing great at school. (The blue strap on her face is her "gentle leader." It works like blinders for a horse--it just keeps her focused when she's working in a new place with a lot of distractions. We'll only be using it until we're confident she won't need it anymore.)

We went outside with the class for the first time on Thursday too. Typically Dallon's class is the only one out there, but because of class parties and a change in schedule for the day there were 3 classes out there! It was a little overwhelming for me, but Bianca did great. She calmly just let the kids pet her and poke at her. Dallon kept an eye on us, but went off to play most of the time. He loves to pet her ears (as you can see from the picture above). I'm excited to see how she changes things for him at school.

Jace is giving me that mischevious look of his in this picture (first thing in the morning). Its such a typical look for him I had to post it. I took him up to the ESD on Monday for some evaluations, and I am having his hearing checked in a couple of weeks. His speech is still a little unclear, and although he is increasing his vocabulary daily, he is still behind. So he will start going to school the same time as Dallon. It will be a nice break for me, but it seems strange to send him to school--he's still a baby to me. They will re-evaluate him on a regular basis and graduate him as soon as he doesn't need additional services like speech therapy anymore.

Bianca has become very comfortable at home. She's found a new place to hang out at home. The window seat in the boys' room is the perfect perch to watch people, animals, and cars go by. It is also a nice napping place apparently. The boys really love her, and Dallon asks for her to sleep with him every night now.

Bianca goes to school

2009-01-27T20:37:00.000-08:00

We had our first meeting with representatives from Dallon's preschool, the bus company, and the school district for Bianca. It went very well. We did a general presentation on how we plan to transition Bianca into the classroom, and what kinds of accomodations she'll need in the classroom. We showed them what she can do to help Dallon with behavior/emotional problems and her tracking. Everyone seems very excited to have her there. We've been really lucky to have such a supportive group of educators here. Then yesterday Chris took Bianca to the last 15-20 minutes of class and introduced her to the kids and teachers. She was a big hit, and was very well behaved.

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We plan to gradually increase the amount of time she spends in the classroom, and during that time demonstrate to his teachers how to handle her on their own. It will be very gradual this year, mostly because we've never done this before and don't want to rush into it and make too many mistakes right off the bat. We're hoping that by the end of this school year she will be transitioned into the classroom without us having to be there for her at all. We'll see how it goes!

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All seems to be going generally well around here now that we've settled in with Bianca and recovered from the holidays. My sister Kaylee has announced that she is engaged and is planning her wedding for June 20th in the Salt Lake City Temple. We are very excited for her, and are already making our plans to attend. Thank goodness gas prices are down!

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Jace is talking more clearly each day it seems. I think he's had a lot more to say before now--I just couldn't really understand it. I am taking him in for a general speech evaluation and hearing test in a couple of weeks just to see if he needs (or could use) a little extra help in that area and to rule out any hearing problems. Now that we are understanding him more, his physical behaviors are subsiding little by little. Hopefully he'll be ready when the new baby comes!

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We've apparently decided on a name for the new baby. His name will most likely be Conner--and since Chris has been teaching the boys how to say it, I'm guessing we won't be changing our minds unless something major happens. I explained to Dallon that there is a baby in my tummy. He seemed really confused, but he talks about it now. Today he said his tummy hurt because there was a baby in it. Apparently there's still some confusion we need to work through in the next 4 months.

Baby Boy Arvidson #3 Due the end of May

2009-01-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

Dallon back to school

2009-01-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

So Dallon was dying to get back to school. He had only been for 1 day in 6 weeks! So on Monday he was very excited, and woke up saying, "its time to get ready for school!" When he came home on Monday, he brought home a big poster board with his name on it, and a letter explaining that he has been chosen as the "superstar of the month." So we are supposed to decorate his poster with things that make him special, and he can take things to school to share during circle time. I'm still brainstorming things he can take (that aren't too tempting to play with!) and we'll definitely use this opportunity to introduce Bianca to his class.

He also resumes speech therapy on Friday. He really needs all of these additional sources of stimulation (mostly because they require going somewhere other than here!). He's been pretty angry and frustrated over the last week or so before he went back to school. He still seems a little out of sorts, but hopefully he'll get back into the swing of things quickly.

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Jace and I are doing some "preschool" at home on the days that Dallon is gone to school. Just puzzles, books, and songs for now. He doesn't seem to enjoy doing craft/art projects--only occassional coloring pages. He likes the busy activities that he can "experiment" with, so I'm digging up all of my best stuff for him. Hopefully the additional structure and stimulation will take some of his attention off of tormenting Bianca, and give us some time to spend one on one.

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Chris is doing his last night shift tonight before his next 4 days off. This weekend it will be the first time we've had a chance to go to church all together since before we went to Ohio. When his day shifts fall on Sundays it gets a little hard for me, but its only 2 weeks in a row before he's back.

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I am starting a program called FlyLady (flylady.net). It is a program to help organize the "chaos" in your home. Basically they start with little things you add to a daily routine, gradually building on it. The nicest thing about it for me is that they tell me what to do every day--so I don't have to plan out when to do things like clean out the closets or declutter my kitchen. Its going well so far!

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Hope you are all starting out 2009 with great anticipation as we are!

Christmas and Birthday

2008-12-31T14:54:00.000-08:00

Let it SNOW!

So its been a really busy couple of weeks for us. Because of the snow and road closures, we didn't get to go cut a tree this year. Instead we hit a local tree lot, it was still only about $20 (a tree permit is only like $5). The boys had fun decorating it.

I bought the boys Lightening McQueen light-up stockings when they were on clearance in July--they were a big hit too. With all of the excitement (and expenses) over the last few weeks, we decided to keep it simple this year.

Chris and I didn't exchange gifts or have stockings (although a couple of anonymous stockings arrived on our doorstep on Christmas Eve from a "friend" perhaps Santa). We gave the boys new PJs and fleece blankets. Santa brought Dallon the toy he begged for for months--the "Mater and the Ghost Light" Screamin' Banshee! Santa brought Jace an army helicopter, jet, and flight crews. It was soooo nice to keep it simple this year. So much less stress about how much we spent, or when we could get to the store and back without the kids seeing!

The boys also got some great gifts from family members. Jace is a dino lover, and also enjoyed some books, stuffed animals, and cars. Dallon got Handy Manny stuff! He is a Handy Manny fan (from Playhouse Disney on the Disney Channel).

The day after Christmas is of course Dallon's birthday! And boy was he into it this year! This year I really reflected on the year he was born. It started snowing just before Christmas, which we spent in Pendleton over the mountains from La Grande. Then on Christmas day we took a very long (2 hours instead of 45 minute) drive home on the snowy roads. I was in labor by the time we got home! He was born on a Friday, and his bday fell on a very snowy Friday this year.

We invited a few friends and had a snowman theme. We decorated cookies, made a craft, opened gifts and the kids played for a while. It was only about a 1.5 hours, and I'm so glad the weather and the holiday didn't keep us from having a good turn out. We had 8 kids and several parents there. I can't believe that he's 5! Where did the time go. He got more Handy Manny stuff, and lots of other great gifts from family and friends. Thanks to everyone who sent him a little something extra for his bday!

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We've settled in nicely with Bianca. The first couple of weeks were filled with "testing." We've been trying to be really consistent, and it seems to be paying off. We went tracking a couple times since the weather has improved, and yesterday she did great. I'm still getting use to having a dog follow me around the house. She and the cats are doing alright--only a few not so pleasant run-ins. Generally things are going really well.

So Happy New Year to all of our family and friends.

May this year bring you all great challenges and blessings as 2008 did for us! We're hoping to be able to travel a lot more in 2009--gas prices are much better, and we're no longer fundraising. So hopefully we'll be seeing many more of you in the months to come!

Dallon got to meet Santa!

2008-12-19T12:35:00.001-08:00

On our last day of practice at the mall in Ohio, I decided to take Dallon to see Santa. I wish Jace could have been there, but he was already home in Oregon with Chris. Dallon was very excited, but of course had difficulty answering Santa's questions about his name and age. I don't think he told him what he wanted for Christmas, but we got some very cute pictures out of him!

Trying to tell Santa how old he is.

Santa gave him a little stuffed dog, and Dallon quickly named it Bianca. This was the first time he's gotten a chance to see Santa at a mall instead of a ward Christmas party. It was fun, and surprisingly we didn't have to wait in line that day--which was why we hadn't gone with both boys before Jace and Chris left.

2008-12-19T11:50:00.000-08:00

We are finally home and settling in, although it still seems a little unreal to think about all we've done in the last 3 weeks. Since we didn't have a computer with us in Ohio, we were unable to update our blogs. Coming home less than 2 weeks before Christmas made it even more complicated for me to get to the computer and try to tell the LONG story of our adventure. So this is a watered down version starting from the beginning.
Dallon and I flew out of Portland on Friday Nov 28th, the day after Thanksgiving. We arrived late that night (very early on Saturday). After a little rest, and with it being a nice day out, we decided to head to the Columbus Zoo.
The zoo was massive! I heard later that it usually takes more than one day to see it all. We only hit about 1/3 of the exhibits before the crowds started pouring in for their nightly "wildlights". The zoo was covered in Christmas lights and playing Christmas music. Once the crowds came in, it was too much for Dallon, and we were pretty tired from our travels anyway. Above is a picture of Dallon with the world's largest python named Fluffy.

Dallon eating the cookie he got to decorate in a building where they had model trains of all sizes set up in little villages.

He loved the aquariums that we got to see, and this alligator snapping turtle especially caught his eye.

On Monday night Chris and Jace arrived, and early Tuesday we headed to 4 Paws for our first day of training, and to meet Bianca! After what seemed like forever, it was finally our turn to meet our new dog. She came out happy to see anyone with treats. Dallon really enjoyed being the treat giver. She didn't get much time with us before it was lunchtime, but after lunch we did our first obedience work with her. The first day was not what we expected! We didn't realize that we actually needed to build a relationship with our dog before she would willingly listen to us. That's where the treats came in handy.

We did take her back to our room with us that night. And we had a great time playing with and getting to know her.

Each day was a little different. The first couple of days were all about obedience. On the third day we started tracking and going to the mall for our public access work. It was quite a scene to see our group along with all of the kids and 11 dogs in the mall!

Jace being a show-off in the mall play area. He's such a ham!

We also continued our obedience work each day, some in the morning at the training center, and we were required to practice on our own each night. It was amazing to see the change in Bianca once she got to know us. She bonded with Chris really quickly, and soon was picking our Dallon and Jace in a crowd.

Tracking was an experience. It was cold, wet, warm, windy, you name it we did it at least once. One morning while we were waiting it was snowing, and each snow flake was so perfectly formed, we had to take some pictures. It was beautiful, but I don't know about living in that unpredictable Ohio weather all year!

Waiting to go tracking. The boys weren't too sure about having the dog squeezed in with them in the back seat. She would get SOOOO excited about tracking--which is what we want, so we didn't discourage the over-excitement when she would get really anxious waiting for our turn.
Jace and Chris had to head back to Oregon on Dec 10 because Chris had to be at work on the 11th and 12th. So for the last 3 days, I had a couple of volunteers come to training with Dallon and me. It turned out to be a great test of Bianca's tracking skills. Since she didn't know the volunteers, we knew for sure she was tracking Dallon's scent those last couple of days--and she pulled hard and knew what she was looking for!

Graduation finally come on Dec 12th. We did our public access test at the mall and got ourselves ready to go so we could head to Columbus after graduation was over. We did the final paperwork to make Bianca officially Dallon's certified service dog and waited for everyone else to complete their paperwork. It was very hectic, but we survived.

More graduation pictures.

On Saturday morning we got up early and headed to the aiport. Our flights were long, and extra cramped with a dog at our feet. But generally it went very well. We arrived in Portland at about 1pm and after being picked up with Chris' mom and dad, going to his grandparent's house to pick up our car, getting packed up and fed, we were on the road a little after 2:30pm. We made one quick stop, and as we were driving into Hermiston the heavy rain turned to snow, and it hasn't really stopped since!

This is our 3rd winter in Hermiston, and 2 of the 3 have had a significant amount of snow--which is not that typical for the area. Dallon went to one day of school this week, and the rest of the week was cancelled. In total we've gotten over a foot so far, and it is supposed to start again on Sunday and continue until Wednesday.

The boys and dog have been loving the snow, and it really makes it feel like Christmas. We did a little shopping, but not much since we've received so much already this year! We are in the Christmas spirit, and have gotten our tree up and decorated and are happily awaiting a beautiful white Christmas this year!
Happy Holidays, and a huge THANK YOU to everyone we know and love. We are so blessed to have known and been connected to such generous people.
God Bless, and Merry Christmas!

We are home!

2008-12-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

Yes we made it home, and Bianca is with us. We are still busy getting life back together at home, so I don't have much time to post. I'll try to get a post with some picts together in the next few days. Just know that we are safe, healthy, and happy with our newest family member. We traveled well with only a few small mishaps and nothing major.

It is shocking to suddenly be home with only 10 days till Christmas! We have much to do, and adjust to. We'll try to stay in touch over the next couple of weeks, but I don't expect life to feel normal until well into the new year.

Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas, and thank you for all of your love and support!

Ready to go! And Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T07:02:00.000-08:00

We've worked out all of our funding issues, and today I am making the last reservation. We are so blessed! A trip that was originally supposed to cost more than $5000 is now costing us just $3000. We have been able to work out every problem. It has been amazing to see so much generosity from everyone around us. We are so lucky to know such amazing people. On Sunday several people at church gave us donations, and we went home with over $700.

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One family who has 4 children and have been struggling with a job change gave us an envelope that said, "We wish you the best of luck with your training. May the Lord bless your family. After hearing about your needs, our children rushed to their banks to contribute. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity to share." Inside was $108 and several quarters, nickels, and dimes. That family moved to Boise on Monday. They were in the middle of a lot of their own problems and stress and they took some of what they had and shared it with us.

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Dallon and I fly out on Friday afternoon. I am anxious to get going. I'll try to find a computer to post to while we are in Ohio to keep everyone up to date. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has helped us on this journey. We are overwhelmed by how blessed we are to have been able to accomplish the the task of raising over $15,000 in only 8 months. We will never forget this experience and the lessons it has taught us about faith, gratitude, service, love and hope.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Dallon

2008-11-26T06:54:00.001-08:00

Each child going to training receives a letter from their dog. We were the only special needs placement, so we were the only ones to know who (and what) our dog was before yesterday. We were the last in our class to receive our letter, which was fine because we already knew who our dog was. This is the letter we received late last night from Bianca.

Dear Dallon,

Finally. I thought it would never be my turn. Well I guess someone had to be last but really those guys sure took their time! I am so excited that finally I will get to meet you. I have been dreaming about you every night. Really it has been cool because while everyone was waiting for their matches I kept humming to myself and thinking there are advantages to being special like knowing who your match is months before the rest! I am so glad you looked at me and decided to accept me as your partner. I am so blessed to have you. I have been working extra hard because every time when I am working I am thinking, I am doing this for Dallon! Now all that hard work is coming to an end and we will be together and all will be perfect. How cool is that! I think you already know I am a Black Lab and my birthday is 4-18-2007 and I am a girl. I don't have to ask if you mind because you picked me just the way I am so I know you do not mind I am a girl. See ya really soon, up close and personal and a kiss in your face! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo Bianca

Poor Jace!

2008-11-19T07:20:00.000-08:00

So apparently we aren't finished with injuries at our house. First my foot, then Dallon's arm, now poor little Jace. Yesterday we started our first fire in the wood stove, and although Jace acted like he understood that it was hot and dangerous (he would walk wide around the area, and seemed cautious) he ended up touching it anyway. I'm guessing he tried to put a toy on the top of it, and burned both wrists and the palm of one hand. I was a wreck trying to find all of the "hurts" and he fought against all of the first aid I tried to do for him. He wouldn't stop rubbing his burns on anything and everything and cried constantly for an hour. I broke down, called Chris, and we were lucky enough that the Dr in our ward was still at his office and was willing to see us at 5pm so we didn't have to wait 2 hours at the urgent care clinic or the ER. By the time Chris got there, Jace had already popped some of the blisters with his rubbing--so we were glad we didn't have to wait forever to get him into a Dr. He fought the bandaging really hard, but once they were on he seemed like he understood they made him feel better. These are pictures from this morning, he seems content to keep his bandages on and has been smiley and happy since we got back from the Dr yesterday. We go again today to have them look at the burns and cut away any extra skin so Jace won't pull it off and make things worse. I'm hoping he'll keep those bandages on until this afternoon when we go in.

Halloween, a week late

2008-11-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

The boys were 2 Musketeers this year (it would have been 3 if Chris would have been up for it). I made their pull-overs, and got the foam swords at Walmart. They thought it was great!

Jace would say "keteer" with an angry voice and swat you with his sword. He was way into the character.

Dallon was loving it, too. He had to have a belt to hold his sword so he could pull it out dramatically to fight.

The day before, Dallon's class took their annual pumpkin patch field trip. Chris had the day off, so we all went. Dallon picked out a nice pumpkin and loved they hay ride.

Dallon and his classmates.

They had a corn maze this year, so we walked through it. After we made it through, Jace decided he didn't want to stop and kept wandering off back down the path.

Looking for a way out!

The weather was great for Halloween this year. The boys did their thing Trick or Treating and loved eating the candy as they went.

In Search of the Great Pumpkin--or a least a good one!

2008-10-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

So we took a little trip to a local pumpkin patch yesterday morning. The boys had a good time, and since it was morning on a weekday, we could just wander and look at the pumpkins.

Dallon enjoyed looking at each pumpkin, but had a hard time picking one.

Jace was so proud of his pumpkin, and he didn't put it down. I thought he was going to poke his eye out with that stem!
So many pumpkins, so little time.

We'll get some more pumpkins for carving, but the boys had a great time picking their own.

Check-ups

2008-10-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

We took the boys for check-up appointments with a new doctor yesterday. Dallon did pretty well, although he wanted to leave the whole time. He sat still and let her check his ears, eyes, heart, lungs, etc. Jace on the other hand--he wanted nothing to do with that doctor! He squirmed and kicked and fought the whole time. We weren't due for any vaccinations (thank goodness for that! Jace would probably throw an even bigger fit next time.) Jace isn't due for more immunizations until he's 4--hopefully by then he won't be so difficult.

Both boys were healthy and growing/developing well. Dallon was around 40th percentiles in his weight and height. He weighs about 37lbs and Jace is catching up fast at about 36lbs! Jace is close to 90th percentiles for height and weight. He's already wearing the clothes that Dallon has just grown out of, and I'm afraid that they will be wearing the same size soon and I won't be able to do hand-me-downs anymore!

Dallon's arm has healed well, and he's adjusted to his school schedule well. At school on October 1st his teacher randomly asked him "What happens in October?" and he spouted out "Halloween!" I have no idea how he knew that answer, or if he just got lucky--I'm pretty sure he had no idea what "October" meant. We had his annual education planning meeting, and it went well. He has made great progress, and he is reaching almost all of his goals. We made some new goals and talked about what needs to be done to include his Autism Dog when we get her. They are very open so far, and don't seem to think there will be any problems getting her into the classroom with him this year or in kindergarten (as long as we don't have any issues with fears or allergies and parent complaints).

All in all, things are going great. We are getting ready for Halloween and are enjoying the fall weather which has been really mild this year so far. I'll post some more pictures soon!

New Hair Cut

2008-09-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

I had grown tired of caring for my long hair. It has been 2 years since I chopped off 12 inches for Locks of Love, and I can't believe how fast it has grown back. It is also really thick and heavy now. So I decided it was time for a change. Here's a before.....

And after....

I think it was 4 or 5 inches she cut off. and I dyed it back to its natural dark brown. Much better! I was way overdue for a cut.

In More Recent News

2008-09-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

Dallon started school on September 8th. He was SOOOOO excited to ride the bus. I decided because of how badly he wanted to ride last year that it would be OK and it would save us some gas money.

He did great on his first day of school. The only big drawback to the bus is that they pick him up first (at about 7:45am) and drop him off last (at about 12:15) and school is from 8:30-11:30. So he's on the bus for about 1.5 hours! He seemed ok with it. He goes to school Mon, Wed, and Thurs.
Then the next day (Tuesday-no school) he was playing and he fell off the couch. I think he tried to catch himself with his left hand. He complained right away about it, but not that seriously. Soon he was playing again, but he seemed to favor it a little. He took a nap and woke up complaining a little about his arm. I set up an appointment with an orthopedist for the next day. By morning he seemed just fine, no complaints--so I sent him to school. At school no one noticed anything wrong. He had no swelling or bruising and he didn't react when you poked and played with his wrist/arm. I decided to take him to the dr. appointment just to be sure. While I was there, I was thinking I was just wasting my money. The doctor came in and only touched his wrist for a couple of seconds before he said he knew for sure it was broken. SO GLAD I DECIDED TO TAKE HIM! He broke both bones just above his wrist. The cast comes off on October 2. He was not happy about the cast at first (he tried to get it off) but he's fine with it now.

Lately we've been sick. Jace came down with an awful stomach bug on Friday, and is still having issues. Dallon came home from school yesterday sickly (he was fine when he left), and Chris and I have both been feeling a little under the weather. We had our Primary Program on Sunday, and I was glad I was well enough to take care of my responsibilities there.

All in all, we're doing pretty well. We're trying to make some plans for our trip to Ohio to get our service dog Bianca, and we're gearing up for the Holiday season (I've already got the stuff for our Halloween costumes I'm making this year).

Sorry I've been so bad about posting lately, I'll try to keep up with it better for the next few months!

We also visited great-grandparents

2008-09-23T11:14:00.001-07:00

On the way to Forrest Grove we stopped and visited Grandma Dottie and Grandpa Bill, I forgot to bring in my camera. They seemed like they were doing well.

After the zoo we drove to Kelso to visit Grandma Ruth. She seemed happy, we brought her flowers, and the boys had a good time playing with their tools in her house.
Dallon being Handy Manny with his new tools.
Jace taking a turn while Dallon was busy with something else!

We also got a chance to visit with Aunt Chris and her son (Chris' cousin) Derrick for a while. Its been a long time since we've had a chance to see Derrick, it was nice to chat for a while.

It was a nice trip, and we headed home the next morning.

Sorry its been so long

2008-09-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, we went to Portland and to the zoo on August 18.

The boys loved the animals, and we had a good time.

We met Brian and Ashley and their 2 boys, Austin and Elliot there and brought Grandma Sally with us.

Me holding baby Elliot.

Brian and Austin.

This is the best donation trick I've ever seen. You give the bird a dollar and he puts it in the jar for you!

Foot Update

2008-08-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

OK, I had my follow-up for my foot yesterday. There was some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I did not re-injure my Jones fracture! The healed fracture is solid (the Dr. was very surprised by this, it is apparently very uncommon) and was not what was causing the pain and swelling in my foot. The bad news is the real cause. There is a joint just next to my old fracture that was likely distressed by the fracture and has become inflamed. So I don't need surgery, but I have a bad joint in my foot that cannot be permanently fixed. I can do preventative things (much like taking it easy on a bad knee) as well as take anti-inflammation medication when it flares. If it gets really bad I can receive cortizone shots to relieve it.

The Dr.'s surprise over the Jones fracture reminded me of the story surrounding it. In July after I graduated (1997) I stepped on someone's foot during a volleyball game (I wasn't running or jumping, I just stepped on the edge of the other person's foot). I felt a snap and could not continue playing. The next morning I was x-rayed and the break was significant. Five weeks later I was in Pendleton at my required physical to play collegiate volleyball. The orthopedic surgeon who saw me x-rayed my foot again, and from that x-ray compared to my first he determined that the break had not healed in any significant way (which is common for a Jones fracture). He said to come back in 3 weeks for another x-ray, if there was still no healing going on he would recommend surgery.

So here I am 500 miles away from home for only 2 weeks. I had only a few friends (none of them close), and no life outside of volleyball (school was still a month away). So I turned to our branch president for our little young adult branch (for those of you unfamiliar with these terms, a branch is a small congregation--we only had maybe 30 active members of our branch because it was only for young adults). I set up a meeting for the following Sunday after church. I told him what was going on, and I asked him for a priesthood blessing. He then told me a story that I didn't expect. He referred to a story in the New Testament (John 9) about Christ healing a blind man. He focused on how the blind man had faith to be healed, and how afterward his faith was tested and he was healed spiritually as a result of his physical healing. I had read this story before, but had never seen it in this light. He gave me a blessing that I would be healed, and although I had some doubt I did my best to have some faith.

At my follow-up appointment the new x-rays showed "substantial healing" which was a big surprise, and was enough healing that he cleared me to play the same day. This recent experience brought back a lot of memories, and the results of my x-ray yesterday was a big reminder of how I changed as a result of that event in September 1997.

Sorry to get so sentimental, but I had to share. I think that the months during and just after my broken foot changed and shaped my life. I met Chris, and by December I was convinced that he was the reason I randomly decided to go to Pendleton for college--the experience with my foot prepared me to be able to listen to the promptings that lead me to where I am today. Its strange to say, but I am so thankful for that broken foot.

9 years down, forever more to go!

2008-08-13T10:13:00.001-07:00

On August 12, 1999 we were married for time and all eternity in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.

We were only 20 years old, and now that seems so young. But we knew what we had was real and lasting, and that we were ready to be married.

I am lucky to be married to a man who is my perfect match.

We are conveniently opposite, and identical in the most important ways. We have a truly close friendship, and in a world where relationships like ours are rare I am daily grateful that we found each other.

The last nine years have been full of twists and turns. We've gained some weight, changed jobs, and lived in 3 different states within 18 months. We've also learned a lot of lessons, become the parents of 2 special boys and have spent a lot of time just being together. The ups undoubtedly outweight the downs.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY...I LOVE YOU CHRIS!