A Week With Friends

We had a great time this last week because of some special visitors.  Dwan, Elizabeth, Josh, and Grace came to spend the week with us from Las Vegas. It was so awesome.  

After a Tuesday afternoon arrival, we went sledding on Wednesday. It would have been a lot of fun, but the wind was rotten. It was terrible the way the wind whipped down the hill. As soon as I got the little ones out, they started crying emphatically and wouldn't stop. As Rinar was pulling the sled, Julia was lying face down crying her eyes out. She was not happy.

But we stayed for about an hour and had some fun. Our friends had fun and that is all that matters.  But we soon were done and then we got the heck out of there.

We headed over to Lake Tahoe and ate some lunch at some dive in King's Beach.  Then we went home and relaxed. Well, the boys relaxed. Elizabeth and I went shopping: Charming Charlie's, Walmart, and the Goodwill Bookstore.  Elizabeth was in heaven at the bookstore and apparently I have now been assigned to be her personal book shopper.  Okay, I guess I will if you are going to twist my arm.

Rinar went back to work on Thursday, and I had stuff to do, like co-op and violin lessons.  So they did their own thing. Then Elizabeth helped me clean up the house and get it ready for my monthly dinner group.  I was hosting this month with a theme of tapas.  We hung out with the ladies, while the boys (and Grace) went to dinner and a movie.

We finished off Friday by going on a long hike together. Brown's Creek Trail goes behind our house and it was perfect. The air was crisp, the day was beautiful.  Harry really wanted to go, so I decided to take him, as Josh (being a typical teenager stayed home with Julia). He is a pretty strong walker and he did well.  Harry walked all the way up the mountain and then either I or Rinar carried him the rest of the way. It wasn't so bad and he had a wonderful time.  I need to take the kid outside more. He loves it.

It was a joy to be able to reconnect with old friends. I hope we can do it many more times in the future.

Nature Walk

It has been a beautiful Sunday, after a couple of days of rotten weather.  The rotten weather is Heavenly Father's way of cleaning up His house, like sweeping, scrubbing, disinfecting.  Now everything is so clean and crisp and lovely.

In between General Conference sessions, we decided to go take a walk at Galena Creek Nature Trail.  It couldn't have been more perfect.  The kids had so much fun. They diligently looked for bugs and found quite a few. They also threw sticks and rocks and did a lot of jumping and screaming.

Then when we got home, we whisked the little ones off to bed for a nap. Since they had walked the whole way, nap time was much more easily accomplished today.

We need to go on hikes with more regularity.

A Clean Slate

I have been doing a lot of spring cleaning these past few weeks. Well, more like household castration, if you want to know.


I am rethinking everything.


What do I value? What is really important? I guess things that seemed so important before really are not so much anymore. Things like furniture pieces I have had forever, and living in a big house, and worrying  about having lots of friends.  Some things just really are not that important.


I am trying to let go.


It has been a lot easier to think about these things since we live so far away from civilization.  I feel like I have reached some sort of crossroad in my life right now and I need to decide which way I am going to go.  I still have not decided. I mean, I have goals that I want to accomplish, whether it is this year or 20 years from now.  But where do I go from here?  Where does my family go?


Not sure.


But until Rinar and I can choose our way, I am cleaning shop.  


I want clean and clutter-free, simple, but high-quality. I want to savor life and embrace new opportunities.  I am not going to sit around and worry about what others think.  I would not say this has ever really been a big problem, but I am guilty of getting wrapped up in it to a minor extent.  I just want to cherish what I do have.


After a heartfelt visit to Las Vegas and my ward family a few weeks ago, I realize that I am detached and aloof from my current circle.  I have made a few friends, but really feel no desire to put any effort into cultivating relationships with people. This is so completely opposite of who I am.  I don't like it, but I currently feel powerless to do anything about it. 


Therefore, my energy is directed towards boxes, closets, hidden corners, chests.  Everything is going to be scrutinized and I am going to let things go.  I feel like I need a clean slate and then I can reassess.


Hence, Goodwill should have a lot more inventory in the coming months.

Thursday Go Day

Thursday is our busy, on-the-go day.  Violin in the morning, co-op in the afternoon. 

Raef and Zach have violin lessons on Thursday mornings and it lasts from 10am to 11:30am.  That means, I have 90 minutes to kill with three little kids.  

One thing we do, probably about once a month, is hit the local Costco. It is not too far away.  It is usually pretty disastrous with Eli, Harry, and Julia. But it seems that they keep getting a little bit better every time I take them.

Here is Harry and Julia in the cart. Harry was being a real stinker and kept pushing on Julia and nuzzling her.  At first, she thought it was funny, but...

It started to really get on her nerves. I can't blame her. It would bug me too. She must be my daughter.  Harry still thought it was hilarious.  Why stop? He was having fun annoying her to no end.

We also go to the Discovery Children's Museum almost every time.  It has been such a blessing. It is only a mile away from their lessons, and it gives us plenty of time to play. Plus, it is usually pretty empty this time of the week, which makes it a lot easier for me to play zone defense.

Eli is climbing on the cloud structure. He can go all the way to the top by himself.

 Just today we went there and they had lots of fun. We visited the Spark Lab, the DaVinci room and then the <5 room.  And going along with the "Don't annoy Julia" theme...there was a little boy about her age that was following her around with a puppet and putting it in her face. She screamed at him and then pushed him pretty hard. The girl has had lots of practice pushing boys away!  I didn't intervene, but his mom did.  Julia took care of business and the pesky boy left her alone.

Cookie Crazy

When Raef and Zach go to their violin lessons, it is in the business center of their teacher's condo complex. There are a couple of bookshelves in there and I guess Zach took an interest in the books.  When I picked them up on Tuesday, he had a dessert recipe book in his possession. Dustin let him borrow it and he has been busy ever since.  He made Isabella's yesterday pretty much by himself. I helped him with a couple of little things, but it was all him.

Before he went to bed last night, he made a shopping list of new ingredients he would need for his next creation, Sour Cream Cut Up Cookies.  I can say the kid did 99% of it without my help.  Isn't that fantastic?

I am one proud mama.

Eli has been a faithful helper and sampler, and even Raef jumped in to cut them out.

 Zach is definitely a self-starter. When he decides he wants to do something, it will be done one way or another.  

The Make-up Artist

Julia did quite a number on Harry...with MY make-up, of course.

He looks like a very innocent, but deranged Joker (think Heath Ledger), or John C. Reilly's "Mr. Cellophane" from Chicago.  What do you think?

I don't think he realizes what she did, but she sure did. Mama was not happy.

A Little Violin

Look who has started to play the violin.

Eli is so excited to have his very own. He gets it out every time Raef and Zach practice, which has caused some conflicts with me.  As I try to teach him, he argues with me, telling me that Raef told him to do it this way, or Zach said to hold it that way.

I guess the kid is really listening, to everyone!

Eli is definitely a willing student. We have been practicing for about a week and he can stand in rest position and play position and he know how to put his violin in the case.

It is going to be a lot of fun when he will be able to actually play a song on his little violin. I can't wait.