Greenup is upon us...

We are in our "Spring" season but Greenup is really what it's all about. Spring means the snow has melted long enough for the buds to come out and the leaves to be raked. Everything is still baren and gray or yellow or brown. There's no blooming or blossoming or green grass. Then suddenly Greenup happens and it's summer. Everything is either green or blossoming, almost overnight. The longer I'm here, the more excited I get for this time of year. Everyone gets excited and pitches in to cleanup their house, neighborhood and community. We're all happy to do it because we celebrate Greenup. It really is a feeling of anticipation that surrounds this time of year. It helps that the sun comes up at 5ish and sets at nearly 11ish.



Cannon had some training to do up in Talkeetna, AK. We joined him for a night and had a great time. Talkeetna is the town that mountain climbers start and stop at before/after they head out to conquer Mt. McKinley. Some don't survive the climb and never come back. For folks who don't want to climb the mountain and just want to take a flight-seeing tour or have crazy adventurous river rafting experiences, this is the town to come to. I just loved the quaint little downtown area. It's one street with log cabins that have been turned into tourist shops and dining places. There's a small city park, the forest service building and a few hotels and that's the downtown area!

Cannon was working with the mountain rescue rangers who actually rescue McKinley climbers who are injured or dead. It was totally fascinating to watch them go through their rescue drills. It's not something anyone gets to see everyday. Just watching them hitch themselves to a rope attached to a hovering helicopter and being lifted off the ground 1000 feet, flying around in the air, then landing was enough to make me nervous. Once the helicopter picked them up, they were mocking through the air. I can't imagine going through the actual experience of rescuing someone off of a dangerous mountain who's hanging off a cliff or trapped in a crevasse in arctic temperatures with the fickle elements switching in the blink of an eye. We watched the rangers practice using various first aid gear, body bags, back supports etc all while being suspended in the air. These are the types of guys who lead expeditions to Everest and McKinley SEVERAL times a season, when they aren't on call to do rescue missions. Incredible. Cannon gave one of the rangers a ride down to Anchorage and I fixed up a halibut dinner for him so that we could listen to his stories. He was the most humble, unpretentious guy and yet his death defying stories were mind blowing. To him, it's all in a days work. And he's like, our age. Early 30's...

Cannon went on a bear hunt with some friends and returned yesterday. Up here a lot of bear hunting is done by boat because there aren't a lot of roads. He and his friends went to Prince William Sound and had a blast crab fishing, eating, shrimping, eating, halibut fishing and occasionally looking for a bear. Surprisingly, they never saw one. Then again, the bears are probably just waking from hibernation. He brought back a bunch of fresh prawns and cooked them up for Mother's Day. They were the most delicious shrimp I've ever had. Cannon really wants a boat now. Yesterday he said "Boats bring families together." He's really got it in his head that we need a boat. If only the cost of groceries, insurance and power weren't so expensive, we might could entertain the thought of buying a boat.

The weather is nice enough that Caleb and I did yard work, went to the zoo and went on our first bike ride. I'm laughing my head off at all the people in Utah and Idaho crying about snow. Ha, ha, haaaa!

In other news, Caleb is taking very small steps toward potting training. He's got #1 down great but going #2 is a fiasco. However, he has started taking his diaper off after going #2 and depositing the treasure into the toilet and flushing. He just started doing this. So he knows that it goes in the toilet, which is progress. He just doesn't want to give up the comfort of lying on his stomach, in private to do his business. Mercy.

I got my first real Mother's Day gift from Caleb today. A colored picture. I haven't saved much but I'm saving that. I love being a mom. And I was so happy to talk to my angel of a mom today. She is the sunshine in our lives. I want to be like her.

So that's the news in our neck of the almost-summertime woods.

It's been a great Mother's Day.

Little Jaunt to Fairbanks

I'm inside with finally a few minutes to blog. I've got homemade hot fudge bubbling on the stove. It smells good but it is going to taste even better. Outside it is warm enough that the boys are out back cleaning some snow off the deck and clearing branches. It is finally starting to feel like Breakup is ending and Greenup is around the corner. With May here in a few days it had better be blooming and blossoming soon!

Cannon was in Fairbanks for 2 weeks and we joined him for a few days. I love Fairbanks but someone who loves it more is my old roommate from college, Hailey! She was visiting her folks and so we made a play date to let our kiddos meet and play together! The kids got along well and it was so weird to see them in real life. They are cute in pictures but totally adorable in person. Hailey is a dear friend and I've always admired her. We got to sneak away from our families one night and go out to dinner. What seemed like a 15 min conversation was really 3 hours and it was so wonderful to catch up. We reminisced and laughed and mostly joked about our current phase of "haggard-mom-phase" that we are going through! It was so comfortable to talk about real life and the monotony of every day stuff and to validate each other as we asked "Is this what being a mom means?" Ha, ha!

Caleb is talking so much and we are still tackling the potty training stuff. He is pure sweetness. Such a good kid. I feel like Cannon and Caleb are my tender mercies, like they are specific blessings from God, just for me. As I type this, Cannon has just bathed Caleb and is playing the harmonica while they read a book. I wish I had a tape recorder to record every minute of the day. The sounds of Caleb copying everything his dad says, the sounds of them rough housing, the sounds of the harmonica, the laughing and squealing (by Caleb)...all of this wrapped in the smell of hot fudge. This is what home is about.

Heavenly Hawaii

Happy 3rd Birthday Caleb!

I'm exhausted. There might be some misspelled words but oh well...We had a great little party today and I can't believe how fast a day goes by when a birthday party has been the main event. I had planned on keeping things low key but woke up this morning so excited for Caleb's birthday that I felt helium balloons, streamers and party favors were a must! Cannon was able to get a later flight so that he could enjoy Caleb's big day with us! We were sooo happy about that. He's packing as I type this. They tidied up the rooms and I ran to the party store. I decorated a cake, they blew up balloons. Then the kids and moms arrived and we all had a great time! Caleb is asleep and I'm wishing I could be asleep right now.

We had such a fun time opening presents yesterday with G & G Stoddard on Skype. Caleb played all day long with his toys and woke up wanting to play, rather than eat breakfast. He's usually pretty good about breakfast, but not today.

Sunny and super cold!

What a great day to play at the park! It's freeze-your-face-off cold but the sunshine is blinding and brilliant!

Cannon is in Louisiana. To check out what he's up to down there, click here.

In other news, before he left he taught Caleb how to play a game on the computer. Caleb has enjoyed matching Thomas the Train cars and flying a space ship on the Super Why sites.

The biggest highlight of my week has been a very cute care package that arrived today from my sissy Heidi. You're the BEST sissy, Heidi-Ho! Thank you! We've been enjoying all the goodies and treats. If any of you have a head cold (like I've got), her amazing ginger candy will clear it up faster than Michael Pelps can swim a lap. And it tastes good too!!

p.s. If any of you drive a Mac and use the Picasa Web Album/Blogger stuff, can you tell me how to view things in the "Library view" and where the "photo tray" is hiding? I'm tired of posting slide shows.

The Iditarod Begins...

...tomorrow. But today was the Classic Iditarod Start in Anchorage. It actually starts in Willow tomorrow and 1,000 miles later ends in Nome. Anybody who races in the Iditarod is half crazy and half super-hero. I couldn't stand the baren, blistering cold, lonely, no-running-water, gotta-feed-my-dogs-before-i-eat-each-day, standing on the back of a sled business--for 1,000 miles. I don't think I'd even camp overnight on a friendly summer night by myself in Alaska, let alone the dead of winter. Crazy. Heroic.

Speaking of roughing it, we enjoyed watching the mushers ride by and enjoyed the beautiful dogs as we sipped hot chocolate and ate donuts, comfortably warm in our camping chairs.

Next year if any of you are visiting us on Mar 8th you can plan on joining us at 10:00a.m. to comfortably watch the competitors of what truly has to be the most rough and rugged race ever known to man. It's good times!

No TV Day

Once or twice a week the TV stays off. We don't get any channels but we do have lots of movies and I have one playing in the background as a distraction for Caleb while we play or do chores or whatever. Yesterday the TV* was off and so I had a little shadow by my side all day. There were lot of projects and messes. While I was working in the kitchen he was in the flour. He took the magnets off the fridge and put them in the flour and called it "alphabet flour". I let him play until he was covered from head to toe and then we vacuumed the whole mess up. We went to a friend's house to play and Caleb continued in his mess making, slathering baby cream all over my friends pleather couch. But the best part was that her 4 boys were in the room with him while he was slathering...they were playing video games...so he went unnoticed. Ha, ha, ha!!! We were fortunate to get it all cleaned up but what way to end the day. I didn't get much done yesterday BUT I think there is value in keeping the TV off now and then. If nothing more, it helps me hold in high regard those mothers who raised their children without a TV in the home, back in the dark ages.

Standby for photos of the Iditarod mushers...the Classic start of the Iditarod is Saturday morning.

*We have an old TV, not a flat screen. This year we qualify to apply for the PFD and will be anxiously waiting for the check in October so that we can squander what should probably be the beginning of Caleb's educational fund for a brand new LED screen. Admit it, you'd do the same.

Cannon's Liberty Counsel Rant (see prior entry)

...I've been wanting to unsubscribe to the Liberty Counsel fluff for quite a while but never got around to it. I foolishly accepted their email updates, not knowing what I was really subscribing to. Cannon said it better than I ever could have. It doesn't mean we aren't conservative, because we are, but we are going to vote for the best candidate no matter what side of the aisle he/she sits on.
Good night and good riddance Liberty Counsel!

The Liberty Counsel

This is Cannon, A few months/years ago Kate subscribed to this email deal called "The Liberty Counsel" Because I am in a Hypocratic mood today, I decided to send them a note to see if I could get them to change their minds just like they want to get me to change liberal minds. Every time I get one of these emails I find it offensive on both sides of the aisle, but mostly the punctuation aisle and they must have had a sale on exclamation marks in the sentence store that they never seem to run out of. So I sent them a note:

I am down with preserving the sanctity of the family but will not continue the Liberty Counsel because Every time I look in my junk mail to read your view on how my government is operating I feel like I am reading a message from Al Qaeda that was intended to inspire suicide bombers to strap on their suicide vests and "get to the work of changing political minds." Battle cry's are a great marketing tool, but come on, every time? Do your editors think that if we can yell Allah Achbar loud enough to enough people that we can convince the other side to join our cause. "They don't understand us...we must yell louder!!"

If you are going to fill my junk email box with half truths and hear say and not back it up with anything but fear and terror that my country is going to hell if I do not respond to your junk mail then I say to you...Unsubscribe me. I hope that your mother taught you better than to simply convince other people that you are right in your position by taking the other half of the truth and spinning it back to the uneducated populous.

As I re-read through your constant battle cry vernacular, I notice that the only part of which I would like you to "battle for my family values is the example of how not to persuade with gentle kindness and scientific reason. It is a very thin pancake that only has one side.

As I re-read the junk mail that I get from me it is littered with requests to call or fax my congressman and have them return my country and family values to me!!! I would like the Liberty Counsel to return my Junk mail box to me. I hope that I do not raise my son to be so short sighted or narrow minded as to think that the position which can be inflamed with the most ineffable punctuation wins. The family values I want for me and my neighbors is to never talk like they write to anyone.