Charley and Me!

As many of you know I worked as a graduate assistant and went to grad school for the past 2 years. It has been a fun but tough time for me. And through it all I have missed my Charley so much! I finished school on May 7 and I have been able to spend some quality time with Charley. He is the sweetest 4 year old that I have ever known. He will just come give you a hug for no particular reason other than that he loves you! I love it. He has been the perfect last child.

While Emma and Jack have been at school the past few weeks Charley and I have had some wonderful times together. We have built train tracks, lincoln log houses, little people land and read about a million and one stories but I have loved every minute of it. We have gone to Emma's play, eaten lunch together and done many grocery store trips (and maybe an expensive trip to Costco, How do you say no to the cutest 4 year old??). I can't express how much this time has meant to me.

Charley has taught me how to laugh at myself and life itself. He lives in a world where no one will damper his spirits. He loves life and I love seeing life through his eyes. He has given me a new outlook on life and I am grateful for him and the love I have for my little Charley. If you know Charley you know what an amazing spirit he has and his vigor for life. I treasure it.

In a recent scrapbook layout I created for Charley, I discussed the 10 things I love about him. Here are the reasons I love my Charley:

1. I love his Smile.
2. I love the joy on his face when I pick him up from Day Care! It makes my day!
3. I love his snuggles on Friday mornings after everyone leaves for school and work. He climbs in my bed and snuggles all morning with me. It makes my week!
4. I love that when he hears music he starts dancing....and he has no worries about who is watching. He has a rhythm that keeps on moving. I hope he keeps dancing.
5. I love that he can keep himself entertained for hours and hours, especially with "little people!"
6. I love that he loves his monkey, Curious George, as much as he loves me! (Picture Below)
7. I love that he doesn't know he is dirty, especially when he is playing hard.
8. I love how much he loves his brother, Jack. I love finding them playing superheroes!
9. I love his big brown eyes. They melt my heart every time.
10. I love that every morning he asks me for 'fruit snacks,' as if they are a breakfast item! Cracks me up every morning!

Having Charley in our family has been a wonderful time and such an eye opener to what is good in this world. It is an amazing experience watching your children grow up. They each have their own personalities and it is a different experience raising each of them. My mom was right, you have to raise each child in their own unique way. You can't have the same rules for each of them and sometimes they don't understand that, so that can get complicated. But I enjoy it so much! My children are wonderful and I wouldn't trade any of this journey for anything.

Enjoy the pictures of Charley and I over the last couple weeks. It has been a great 2 weeks and I look forward to the rest of the summer with my Charley! :)

Turning 40

Today is my brother, Dennis's birthday. He turned 40 years old. I am not sure why society has made turning 40 a bad thing. I think it is wonderful. Dennis has hit a milestone in his life. And he has done so much in his life thus far and I know he will continue to do wonderful things.

I admire my brother. He is the one person that really makes me stop and think about what is happening around me. Growing up I was very self involved and didn't pay much attention to Dennis. He is 6 years older than me and I just didn't care what he was doing. I wish I had. I missed out on many years with him.

In the past 5 years I feel we have become closer and I have gotten to know him as a person not just a brother and it has been wonderful. I am lucky to have him in my life. He is caring, loving, compassionate, and very intelligent. I don't think he realizes the lessons he has taught me. If you know Dennis, you know that he deeply cares about what he believes in and he stands up for that belief know matter what. He will debate you till the end of time if it is something he truly believes in. I love that about him. I love that he will do whatever it takes. I don't know that I have the fortitude to do that. I hope that I do and if anyone has taught me to fight for the good things in this world it would be Dennis! I love him and I am proud to be his Sister. Happy Birthday Big Brother! I love you.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

What sold me on our house on Cree was the image of my Outback sitting under the Colorado spruce in the front yard. It looked like it belonged there. With a little extrapolation, I came to think that we, too, belonged there. And we do.

However, over the years the spruce has gone from selling point to point of contention. It hates my lawn and does everything in its coniferous power to drive out the Kentucky bluegrass that lays under it's acid-dripping branches. This spring I had had enough and contacted Jonathan Zundel, of Zundel's Tree Service, to remove the offending arbor. He made short work of the tree, removing its branches and toppling the remaining telephone pole-sized structure in under an hour.



I took uncharacteristic glee in the killing of this plant. For me and my house, the removal of a living plant has always been met with some reverence and a deepened understanding of spiritual connections to the earth. Sappy, huh? (Get it? Sappy.) During the summer of 1994 my father asked me to help him remove a cottonwood near the front door of their house in Egin. The tree had been rooting away from the inside for many years and had become to unstable to handle the strong winds that can sweep across the high desert of the Snake River plain. My father, my nephew Hyrum, and I worked together on the project, with me in the tree trimming the large branches while the other two used ropes to guide the branches from hitting the house. After the tree had been defrocked, I set to work at its base, which was easily ten feet in circumference. While the chainsaw I was using only had an eighteen inch blade, it only had to cut through the foot or so of outer wood because inside of the tree was completely missing. Once I had made a complete circle around the tree with the saw, we used ropes to pull the remainder over and rest it on the ground.

I climbed on top of the trunk and looked over this life form that had been around for at least a century. I had the very real feeling that the tree was grateful for what we had done. I can't explain it any other way than that. It felt like the tree was thanking me.

So for me to go from that experience, to my most recent one with the spruce, really showed me how animosity can turn our feelings on their head. How easy it becomes to demonize things, or people, that we have issues with. I was literally smiling the entire time the spruce was being removed, reveling in its demise. I had allowed myself to come to hate the tree, thinking only of its draw backs and nothing of the shade it had provided over the years, or the protection from winds. I know it was only doing what it was supposed to do, and while I am certain that its removal was for the best, I do carry a little bit of shame in my attitude toward it. I would like to think it carries no hard feeling, but I'll never know. It got blocked up and carried away as firewood within ten minutes of hitting the ground. -- Jake

Life in Idaho

I thought it was time to start this blogging thing! I have been thinking about it for awhile since it seems to be the thing to do right now. And the more I thought about the more it seemed like a daunting task. I decided to do it today because we were in Rexburg today with family that we do not see enough and I realized it is time to keep our families informed of our life in Idaho. I decided on the title of our blog because Jake is the biggest fan of Idaho that I know. He truly loves his home state and what it has to offer.

So life in Poky is great! Jake and I are about to finish our semester on Friday and then it is time for summer fun. Can't wait. Although Jake is teaching some classes this summer and I am taking 3 classes starting June 22. But I do feel summer coming on and it makes me happy. Camping, swimming, family reunions, hot dogs, smores, playing in the sun all day. Just a few of the things I love about summer. The kids of course are counting down the days - 27 days left as Jack informed me this morning. They can't wait! I think they are most excited about not having to go to bed at 7:30 pm every night.

Well I think this is all for now. I will try my best to keep this up and hope you will enjoy hearing about our life in Idaho.