We had a wonderful Christmas full of visits from friends and fun and family.

Everything happened just as it should and all of my stresses and fears just seem silly, now.

None were disappointed, as far as I could tell. There was one whisper of "Dad, it's pink!?" As L peered into the box containing the parts to his new beach cruiser bicycle. Oops, yes, sometimes there are mistakes. He was happy with the top hat, leatherman, and phone. Yes, a top hat. Our babes lists were very amusing this year. Ja received a monicle and unicycle, but not the segway or the bidet. Lu loves his watermelon, ipod and bowler cap and didn't even complain that he didn't get a "fancy sword" because he will share Dad's :) For at least the 10th year in a row, K did not get a puppy. However, she was happy with her books, music, mirror and dress.

R and I were surprised to not be awakened until 7a. Kindly, the babes had been awake for a while and just played and talked as long as they could stand it. I think Ja woke them all up when he came home from milking the cow around the corner. A friend and his dad had planned to go at 6:15a, but the boys went at 4:45a as a gift for the dad. Gosh, that sounds like it would make a good movie. Oh, wait, it did. Well, the boys don't know, they just felt really good doing it.

In the afternoon, we had family pics. New hats and all. I love them. Hopefully, you will see them soon. Thanks, Mom for arranging them for us all!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas Adam. My babes insist that is the name of the 23rd because "Adam came before Eve, you silly!"

I feel lost in the shuffle, today. I rose early and zipped around all day while the ones with the babes bathed and changed them repeatedly. Oh thank you , thank you, thank you! Yuck to the 12 hour bug! And yeah that it is only 12 hours. (Unless you are 1 and then it stays longer) :(

We got great haircuts just in time for our Christmas Day family photo.

We saw an old friend who reminded us that a little bit over a long time can really add up! It is so worth the effort!

We dropped off treats for R's co-workers.

We surprised our favorite Honamotive mechanics with a treat for great service delivered with integrity over the years when we picked up our car from the tune-up. They were speechless.

We enjoyed an evening at home with warm showers, loud voices and then sleeping babes and the cousins. Ahhhhh.

I still feel like I have a ton to do tomorrow. I have been online checking store hours and mapping a plan, but really have no desire to go. (Which is why I am in this predicament in the first place.)
Fortunately, like each day, the important things will get finished and everything else suddenly will feel not so necessary.

Merry Christmas Adam!

I know, 2 in one day. What is this world coming to?


Our home is warm, smelling of cookies (thanks to L and Alton Brown's sugar cookie recipe), and full: of people and love. The Greens arrived tonight after a 27 hour drive across the country, and we get them here. We are so lucky!

Last night I did NOT sleep on the couch. This year of being transient has been rotten for training Tr to sleep. She is 15 months old tomorrow and has maybe slept through the night 5 times. GRRRR, but, I know it is my own doing. Lately, she wakes screaming and will only be consoled by me. After about the 3rd time before 1, I am so exhausted that I just take her onto the couch and let her sleep in my nest (the space at the opposite end from my head where she is walled in by my legs:) ) That way, I only have to exert minimal effort tending to her in the night. Bad parenting, I know. Learn from me and don't start this. It will only exacerbate the problem and give you dark circles under your eyes. So, last night, I put forth more effort and let her stay in her bed and fuss while I was nearby and it worked. She realized she was ok and fell back asleep and then I did, too, in my own bed:).

Hmmm... What else do I need to let my babes learn...


This morning, I made 5 lbs of mashed potatoes with gravy before breakfast for a luncheon at R's hospital. Now I will clean up the potatoes and breakfast and start Hawaiian haystacks for "maybe 20" seniors lunching here after their first 1/2 day of finals. When I get that cleaned up, it will be time to prepare beds for the Greens who just drove into New Mexico on their way here. They said they only have 30,000 of their 75,000 bottles of beer on the wall until they arrive tonight. HOORAY!!!

I feel absolutely negligent. Our life is rich and blessed and silly and worrisome and stressful and blessed and I haven't been telling about any of it.

You have just entered my time capsule, and are going back in time. You know how to escape if you want, but if you are staying put for the ride, then hang on. It may be a bumpy one!

I love Veterans Day. Our cub scouts and their leaders started us out right with an early morning outdoor flag raising ceremony and then pancake breakfast. At breakfast, our lives changed forever when we had our first taste of the Petramalo's homemade coconut syrup. It has been a staple in our kitchen ever since. The parade in Mesa was short and sweet, and it was so fun to cheer for L in the marching band. We did get him to crack a smile!

Fall wouldn't be the same without our school Fall Festival. J was camping, so I only had the 3 youngest. K sat and painted faces, our traditional volunteer assignment. Wow, the kids who got in her line sure were lucky and so happy when they saw the artwork their 2 tickets had purchased.

The babes and I have been enjoying library story time, together. It is especially for 2 year olds and little siblings, so we fit right in. The 20 minutes of stories and songs are just right. We occasionally have friends there, and T loves some computer time to top it off.

Almost forgot. I turned 39! It was painless and fun. R took the day off and we went to an early temple session. I loved the time with him, there. We ran some errands with no babes, thanks to a wonderful sister.

Thanksgiving was spent with family. What a joy and what a blessing. The boys and I spent the evening before making pies. That was our assignment, oh yeah, and green beans. Yum. We made chocolate cream, banana cream, toasted coconut cream and key lime. Again, YUM!

The beginning of December brought a big deadline. College applications were due. Yes, K spent several busy hours filing them out, gathering information and using my card to pay various fees. I think she was glad for the deadline, as she had spent months prior agonizing over which schools to apply to. She decided on BYU Provo and Idaho and NAU. Right now, she wants to study vocal performance. I am excited for her.

One of my favorite parts of this season, is all of the concerts and programs. Some weeks, every night. Other weeks, we have a couple of days off. J had a band concert. And then, on another night, played his trumpet while the 5th and 6th grade chorus sang. Lu sang with the 3rd and4th grade chorus and mourned not being chosen for the solo. Maybe next time:) L played with one of the concert bands. K had multiple concerts and the always wonderful Holiday Dinners. Her choir will perform at the temple on Thursday at 7 if anyone wants to join us.

I enjoyed my first auction, and my second. He hee.

R is the all time king of online shopping! I am very impressed!

We are looking forward to the arrival of the Greens from Indiana. They will be staying with us through the Holidays. 7 in all, unless there are some Penwell stowaways:) Em has perfected the art of cake decorating and now "cupcakeing" We can hardly wait.

A few weeks ago L came home and asked...
L: Do we like Australians?
Me: Of course, why?
L: Can we get one?
Me: What?
The band is arranging host families for a group of students in January. Long story short, we will be hosting 2 of them and can hardly wait. It will be so fun and we are really looking forward to meeting you both, Jade and Georgina!

I have loved the cold weather and rain, and I love the warm days, too. There is just something for being able to send the kids out to play without coats. I love it.

Congratulation, to those of you who survived this torture. And if you didn't, I understand that, too. Errands tomorrow with 2 babes. Goodnight!

HOME SWEET HOME

It is absolutely true! 10 months and 2 loving homes later, we are in our new (to us) home. We LOVE it. We have 5 big bedrooms, a beautiful and useful kitchen, 3 showers in our 3 bathrooms, fireplaces up and down stairs, storage galore, and WONDERFUL yard, neighbors and ward. Did I mention R and I have our own room once again? Hallelujah! We have many boxes left to unpack, but opening them is almost as good as Christmas as we don't even remember what is in them all:). We are tired and busy and really happy. It is nice to have a computer working, again after the move, a week ago. It will also be nice when I have a chance to catch up on all that has been happening in the blogging world. For now, just this little update:


THE WESTS ARE HOME SWEET HOME!!!

A Laughing Place

Everyone's got one, I hear. For some reason, I hadn't visited mine in a while


Until this week.


Somewhere between the cramped sides, aching cheeks and streaming tears, I realized that I was once again laughing.


And it felt sooooooooo good.


I have a funny husband and I have funny children. I also have funny sisters.


I guess I am finally getting enough sleep that I can once again see humor in the world. And I am sure that it helps to know that I am MOVING INTO MY HOUSE ON NOV 2!!!!!!!! YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!

ZOO!

From Karli's point of view: When Mom was a toddler, her mom always took her to Reid Park
Zoo in Tuscon to entertain her while her dad was in medical school. So, going to the zoo often is something I've grown up with too. In fact, I've probably been to the Phoenix Zoo more than anyone else my age. And today, being Columbus Day, Dad had the day off work, so Mom and Dad decided to load up the 7-seater mini-van with all 8 of us (painful? yes) and go to the zoo. It was so packed that we had to park in the separate parking lot up the hill, and getting out of the car took 15 minutes with lunch packing, getting kids in the stroller, sunscreening babies, and then making sure we were armed with absolutely everything necessary for spending all day at the zoo. One thing about our family (well, my dad mostly) is we can't ever go at a normal pace. We have to run to everything to make sure we get to all of it. Disneyland, zoo, museums, D.C...running. By the way, it doesn't really work when both ankles are wrapped in Ace bandages, so I caught up to my family at the entrance. I think this was Tressie's first time to the zoo. She started yelling to be carried instead of in the stroller so she could see everything, and soon, she started pointing and Wow-ing at everything (whether animal or plant). The kids' favorite part was probably the petting zoo. Smelly? yes. Unsanitary? definitely. But it's all part of the zoo experience in my opinion. Also, Layton decided that the zoo has enough little turtles in the ponds and lakes and probably wouldn't notice if one little turtle went missing. The boys spent lunch trying to catch the turtles, but of course they put them back. Speaking of turtles, they also have these ginormous Galapagos Tortises. Apparently, when my mom was little, they used to give rides on these things! They're probably the exact same ones. Anyway, by 2:30 Tressie was asleep and the rest of us were just as exhausted. But we did it! We made it all the way through the zoo in just 4 hours!

HOME

We signed the papers and are once again home owners! It has been a long time coming and a longer process than I thought it would be. We get to move in in a few more weeks and we can hardly wait. I am sure the same can be said for our kind and patient housemates, also. We will be right where we wanted to be. The home is about 2 times the size of our previous home and will be personalized over time. That means, we will enjoy starting and completing projects together. I love the yard. There is a play area, garden, hen house, storage, trees, berries, and irrigation. It will be our wonderful bit of heaven.

We are all alive and well. As of my last post, we were infested, but we are now BUG FREE. Dang, knock on wood! In the midst of the worst of it, my Dear was on a week long deployment training in Virginia. (And had a wonderful time, I might add.) I had my 2 oldest to help me when I just had to use the bathroom or step out for quiet and fresh air, but it just isn't the same. You KNOW what I mean. He takes care of my heart and can comfort them when I can't.

Lucky for me, He arrived home just in the nick of time and had an extra day off to spend with ME! We had to celebrate, of course. 19 years is quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself. Given our current home sharing situation and the fact that we are in homework season, we didn't plan an evening out, but we had a few hours of the day to ourselves. Thanks, Kon. We thoroughly enjoyed lunch and errands alone, together. Those of you who know Him, know that my Dear can be somber and doesn't goof around in public. He was so intent on getting the mango mixed into His lemonade, though, that I teasingly suggested that if he blow through the straw, the bubbles, would be the perfect way to mix the beverage. Ta-da, it worked. I smiled.
And just now, I looked up from my post to see my Dear watching the computer screen across the room and dancing. He informed me that he just learned how to salsa dance! This is new. I love surprises. Especially when they come even when you have been married 19 years!

Encore's Booking Our Holiday Schedule!

Hello, it's Karli again. I'm just posting to let you all know about the singing group I'm in, Encore. We're a group of 18 juniors and seniors who love to perform! We are currently booking our schedule for the Holiday Season, so if you have any office parties or get-togethers scheduled and you need a group to perform, we are more than willing! Our focus is in jazz, but we also do more classical type music on the side. We are also interested in doing gigs outside the normal school-stuff year round, so if you are interested, feel free to ask. Any donations we receive for performing go towards furthering our musical education. Thanks so much!
~Karli

Curse the Bugs!!

The buggiest kind have invaded us.





STREP





Yuck!!!





3 on antibiotics. Not the pink kind, bigger guns for bigger bugs.





In the midst of it all, I did get a 3 hour nap and decorated 21 gingerbread men for my favorite teacher who happens to have openings in her pre-k, k, and 1st grade classes. (Check her out at academicaccolades.com) I never knew a teacher could be as amazing as Miss Rita, but Greta is and is a wonderful friend:)

BUGS!!!

It's not pretty, but we have them. Tried to get rid of them 2 weeks ago, and again last week, and here they are back.

Creepy-crawlies? Nope. The coughy, sneezy, runny-nose, fever, rash, runs (sorry), barfs, no-appetite, sore-throat, ear- infection, can't-sleep, headache, too-tired kind.

The 6 babes have all taken their turns with various combinations of symptoms, even having repeat "catchings". I don't think that's even a word, but it happened.

Luckily, we have a few days of healthy before the re-infestations. My 2 in elementary missed yesterday, and it looks like one will miss again, tomorrow. I couldn't take the babes to toddler-time at the library today with good conscience, so we stayed home and spared the public.

My favorite part of the day was when they NAPPED AT THE SAME TIME! I quickly tidied, lunched, checked my email for the much anticipated home appraisal which didn't come, and then had a treat. Imagine if you will... 2 chocolate-chip cookie bars, 3 scoops of Blue Bell vanilla bean ice-cream, coconut flakes, and QUIET. Wow. Moment of silence. It was delicious. The only way it could have been better is with carmel-syrup, but I couldn't find any. Simple pleasures to get me ready to battle the bugs.

Thank you for advil and tylenol, digital thermometers, puffs plus with lotion, barf bowls and kids who can aim, baby wipes, naps, dimetapp, pink medicine, Dr Lim, Dad and Ed, great insurance, big kids who help, diversional baths, and a sweetheart who saves me even when he is exhausted himself.

Home

Sunday evening is Visiting Night at Granny and Opa's house. Grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, treats, laughter and sometimes tears, swirl together. Yes, it can be messy with swirling treats :). The yard, remember is the same one we shared from January to June. Our 2 boy walked to each door on the back of the blue house, wiggled each knob, hoping to find one open. He finally gave up and climbed into the tree house to be eye level with the boys sitting on the monkeybars.

In the car on the way home T asked, "Where we going?"

Me: "Home. (Realizing that might be vague to him...) To G and T's house, where our beds are."

T: "GRRRR"

We all turned to look at him. T had never made this sound in the context of a conversation, unless we were talking about a ferocious animal. Poor guy was exasperated.


It really is interesting how perspective can change. 7 of us have been living in 2 rooms for quite a while now, with only minimal personal belongings and clothes and sharing one bathroom. (Yes, there are 8 of us! I am not counting Princess K. She has managed to have her own room in both houses we have shared. Lucky girl!) I have started to wonder if we really needed to sell, needed more space, or wanted. Somewhere in my mind, I guess I knew this would happen. On the morning we started packing up, I took a minute to record just how crammed into our space we were. For when I lost perspective. Yeah me! It's not for naught!

After his growl, I asked, "T, where do you want to live?"

The clear, sweet answer from my 2 boy... "In the temple."

Perspective.

She's sleeping now. I sat her on the floor, she lolled herself onto a pillow, and that was it. It is about time. For some reason, my baby girl has the idea that bedtime doesn't apply to her. She almost gives in at "bedtime". The others all relax, brush teeth, read scriptures, and pray. She'll snuggle with her eyes closed, but as soon as the last smooch is smooched, her eyes open. It's like she knows she has me all to herself. Just like 10 months and 10 days ago, I could just sit and stare at her for hours. Not very productive, I know, but I am smitten.

Last night was hard. One of the times I wished I were a superhero. Her cries were desperate and inconsolable. The worst kind. Pain that I couldn't fix. 2 of our 3 favorite docs were unavailable for house-calls, the other says take her in. Even as we sat in the ER she smiled shyly with tears spilling out of her red rimmed eyes. She was miserable, but so good natured. Just as dad thought, an ear infection is the culprit. Pink medicine, and big sister is not here to lick the drips. K has always loved that stuff!

In the ER we made friends. An unkempt woman came in at 11 with 3 small, rowdy boys. She walked to a corner and gathered them close and handed out lunchables. Did she just need a cool place to be? Did she have a home? She didn't check anyone in like the rest of us had. I felt bad when she started getting annoyed looks from others. The man next to her moved. This was my chance. Dumplin' and I moved over and offered a smile and some kind words. 3 boys can be a handful, and hers were so close in age. She was a good mother. Her husband was waiting to be seen. She had been told he might be finished at 10 and then 11, but he still hadn't seen a doc. She didn't want to put her boys to bed at home because she didn't want to wake them up again when she needed to pick her husband up. So, here they sat, wiggled, squirmed, giggled, jumped, skipped, and danced. Waiting. Entertaining my dumplin, and me.

My others were home in bed. Their dad is healthy. Family, friends, and church buoy me up constantly. Even in the middle of the night if I need. I am blessed.

I don't know how long we will be here in the Figueroa home. They have made us so comfortable we may never leave! The house hunt is fun, confusing, exciting, aggravating, exhausting. Bargain shopping at is best. Luckily, we feel at home and are so loved here. Thanks.

When I left the ER to come home, I saw 3 small, still boys and their mom. All eyes closed, and held tight. Now it's my turn. Goodnight.

Change is in the air

Our home sale should be final this week. We looked at a couple of homes on Saturday, and will see more tomorrow night. It is fun and surprisingly nerve racking. G and T promise they are not getting tired of us being here. We are so blessed to have them and the rest of our great families.

Good friends are blessings that our Heavenly Father gives us to help us through all the different stages of our lives. It is a blessing to remember old ones (TR), keep close ones, and make new ones. I love you all :)

Thoroughly Modern Millie

This is Karli again. I'm home and over the jet-lag. I have plenty of pictures, but i'm having trouble uploading them for some reason. Here's some from Thoroughly Modern Millie though. Layton and I were both in it with Actors Youth Theatre this year. Thank you to all of you who came and supported us. It was so much fun.

pin curls! they took hours...

take out the pins and....BOING!

Tucker and Layton...no comment :)

20's Flappers...oh yeah

high class 20's

Very exciting and fun. Sorry I have no stage shots...

K IS alive and well. We were beginning to wonder, having not heard from her since LAST Sunday. My dad felt bad that we have finally learned what it is really like to have a teenager. $ problems solved, so no need to call the parents. Hmmmm. We did end up checking on her and she is just sooooo busy seeing sooooo many amazing sights. I am glad.


Getting into church, today, was much harder than usual. K is in Austria. L, Ja, and Lu are with Granny and the aunts and uncles in Pinetop. R went early for meetings. I only had the babes. Tr and Tr fell asleep right before time to leave. I carried them to their carseats one at a time, loaded in The Bag and my nursery box and headed out. When I got there, I balanced Tr and Tr (still asleep:)) and The Bag and the box all in one load and locked the car and opened the door to the building! Of course when I got to our row, they both woke up. Dang. I was so looking foward to a quiet hour of testimonies. It ended up really nicely. With so few people in the ward, the regulars were not there to fill the time. It was nice to hear from so many who don't usually get up. I enjoyed each testimony even as I sat with R and we passed babies back and forth. With the recent color job, i'd like to think we almost looked like newlyweds! HAHA.

The boys are on their way home, now. K will be home tomorrow evening. All my little froggies will be back in the pond. Just the way I like it.

Thanks!!!

This is Karli, by the way. Just a few more short hours before I get to board a plane! Yay! So basically, before I leave, I just have to say I have the best, most talented aunts in the whole wide world!!! Because I'll be gone for my birthday on Sunday, they surprised me today with this gorgeous cake! Yes, they really made that themselves...fondant and everything. And as amazing as the outside is, the inside is even better! They used the chocolate cake recipe from NieNie's site. Absolutely Amazing!!!

my cake...

notice the resemblance to Bella's cake in New Moon...:)

That's all. :) I'm going to see if I can upload my pictures while I'm in Austria. We'll see. Tchus!

Where are we?

Hi all! Yes, we have moved from "the compound". We now live with our wonderful friends, the "Pinnteroas" (Pinnt/Figueroa) family. They have lovingly given us a couple of rooms for as long as we need them. It is wonderful here, and with their kids 20, 16, 15, and 13, our littles get a lot of attention. It is fun for us all. We are in the neighborhood kiddy-corner from Mt. View, so we are closer to everything we do, except family.
Loula and Matt welcomed Edson, #6 and their 1st son the weekend we moved out, so it was perfect timing. He is wonderful! Earlier that week, I helped Loula make 30 meals in a day to put in the freezer for the upcoming new-baby busy weeks to come, so again, perfect timing.
The rumor is true. (Not that one, I just have some weight to loose.) We do have a contract on our house. Nope, no exclamation marks or anything. Hopefully, all will go smoothly in the next few weeks and we will actually close as scheduled. I am aware that anything could happen in this market and economy, so we will just believe it when it happens.
And finally, Karli and Layton, along with some friends, are in a great musical this week at Legacy school in east Mesa. They will be performing Thoroughly Modern Millie, Monday through Friday. Tickets are still available for $12, so plan a date night and come on out. We are mostly happy and healthy, knock on wood, no complaints here. Now I just need to convince my sweet children... Have a wonderful day!

Pictures!

Karli's teaching me how to add pictures. Here's some from the things we've been doing the past 2 months...

These are the worlds funniest Mother's Day flowers. This was just the day after I got them and they really made us all laugh and laugh. The company felt so bad that they sent an amazing boquet of lilies that are still blooming as I type!

Here is Karli in all of her glory! Her choir did a great broadway review of CATS. I'm not sure if she liked the singing, dancing or doing the make up the best... It was so fun to watch.

Ta-da! Only a week after she learned to crawl and she is standing. This was a couple of weeks ago, so she's really good at it now.

I think her cousin is her friend for life for giving her this lollipop! It provided an hour of enjoyment and then I got to mop up a huge slobbery sticky mess.

This is the first time that Ron and his sisters had all been together with their cousins in 30 years. I love that family can get together and it's like they were never apart.

The Compound

Ok, so I told you this would be next and now I have other things to tell, so here goes... I grew up near Westwood. My family moved there from Washington state when I was 10 because my grandparents, aunts, uncles and most of my cousins were here. When I was in jr high, my family built a home only 1/2 a block away from the original one and that is where they still live, in the culdesac of Orange Street.
Last year, my parents decided to downsize from the 5500 square feet and bought the smaller older house next door. After a beautiful renovation/remodel, they moved in and my sister and her husband with their bouquet of 5 daughters returned from Pennsylvania and bought the Big House.
I know that sounds like a party, but it gets even better. My older brother with his family bought the house behind the pool and one of my younger brothers with his family live in the house behind the swing set. Block by block, all the fences between the yards have been taken down and the perimeter enclosed... yes, by white pickets:) That means lots of room to run and play!
At last count there were 9 adults, 15 children, 3 dogs, and 1 cat all calling this patch of heaven their home. They share a sandbox, climbing trees, 2 tree forts, a pool, a swing set and all the lawn equipment. There are lots of trees... pecan, peach, apricot, apple, orange, lemon, tangerine, persimmon, pomegranate, misc. shade, date, olive, and mulberry.
So the 8 of us have been blessed to live in the basement of the Big House since the end of January while we try to sell our home near Poston Jr High. We have loved playing in the irrigation, picking and eating mulberries, helping and living so near cousins and grandparents. This is an amazing time that our family will never forget.

Ramblings

Conference Sunday Tressie scooted for the first time, and then enough to blacken the pj'd toes of one foot, and wear a hole right through the other. The gummy bears on Jace and Luke's conference bingo boards were great incentive!

Easter Sunday, as I baked the egg and sausage breakfast casserole and helped ready the kitchen to feed 20, (Porters, Porters and Wests) , Karli announced that Tressie had cut her first tooth. Disbelieving, I felt for myself and then burst into tears. Unexpected, at least this soon. After all, she is the baby.

Attending Primary with my boys was a huge eyeopener! They can really be stinkers, in school too, apparently. What to do? Ron is a genius. He gently pointed out that the 2 in the middle don't have a schedule like the older ones did or the younger ones do. Hmmm... Boys who are acting out need more attention.

Nikki's ipod was heaven sent. Picture this: Ron and I and the 2 little ones at the Franklin spring sing, standing room only. A 2nd grade solo: the prince, a 5th grade trumpet accompaniment, no problem. We heard and saw it all thanks to an hour and a 1/2 of Disney Shorts and old Mickey and Donald cartoons. Not a peep out of Troy for the entire concert and he didn't even have his magic tall brother with him. First time. Now to get all the shows copied to MY ipod!

New calling for me: Nursery Leader. Yeah!

Tonight during family prayer, Tressie caught sight of the cool orange toggle on the knee of Ron's shorts. Again, the proper incentive. Hand up, knee up, very deliberate, she did it, crawled, and I got to see. I didn't even cry. I grabbed and "videoed", actually digitally recorded, after the prayer, so Karli could see too, when we pick her up from the all state choir concert in Tucson tomorrow. I miss her. She is having a wonderful time out of the nest. She will want to go again, I am sure. This is great practice for Austria. Now to figure out how to make a countdown for her trip...

Next post: The Compound

Justifications...or excuses...

Ok. This is Karli. Now I feel like I have to justify myself. I really do know how to do laundry...somewhat. I know how to sort stuff and how much detergent to use and where the fabric softener goes, which buttons to press, what settings to turn the knobs to...all that stuff. Or at least I did at MY house. Since Mom's a little slow with the whole blogging thing (she's determined to get better..last night was lesson #1: how to customize the background. hopefully tonight will be lesson #2: how to post pictures) a lot of you don't know that we've temporarily moved into my aunt, Louisa Porter's house. Well, she has 2 washers and dryers and 3 of them were full of clothes. The buttons and knobs are foreign to me...no little green Sharpie marker dots to tell me what settings to use. Note: I never opened the machines to tell which was which and I didn't read anything on the settings so I'm not completely stupid. I just chose to not put as much effort into exploring the machines as I could have. I admit it! I was being totally lazy because getting my laundry dry means folding laundy and I HATE FOLDING LAUNDRY! Most of the time I just end up laying on the floor next to the pile and falling asleep. It's just one of those things that takes forever and just happens to be a little bit necessary. Personally, I don't think I'll care that much when I'm in college and have no room for a dresser and am forced to hang everything in a tiny closet. I'll live.
But just for the record...I'm not retarded.
haha! she called me an "adorable child" thanks mom.

Karli, Karli, Karli...

Ok, so when I have time to blog, I never can remember how to get into this site. I guess it's not something my brain has thought important enough to remember, like for instance when it's time to buy ice cream. But, suddenly, when serious things happen, it's like the adrenalin kicks in and I suddenly feel the NEED to blog and the password is in front of my eyes...
I love when i read adorable child conversations in the blogging world. Well, I finally have one of my own to share...

Karli: hey mom, are my clothes dry, yet?
Me: not yet, but you could go put them in the dryers...
Karli: um...ok

30 minutes later I notice that the dryers are not running.

Me: Karli, did you put your clothes in the dryers?
Karli: (running to the laundry room) Um... no...which ones are the dryers?

OK, seriously, I promise her gpa is above a 4.0 and she is always really naturally good at everything, but wow! this left me speechless. could I really have neglected this simple lesson? I guess we really have alot of work to do before she thinks she is ready to leave for college. Yikes. These are even the basic washer loads in the top and dryers in the front. Wow.

If I knew how to post a photo, I would. I guess you'll just have to drive past our house to see the giant POD. We told a couple of people, yesterday, that we have decided to sell our home in hopes of getting a bigger one. We are going to store a ton of our stuff, because while a baby bed in the family room works for us, prospective buyers may not catch the vision. It's pretty adventurous and that makes a few of us nervous, but we decided to just go for it. So, if any of you are looking for a great 4/2.5, 2100 sq.ft home that is walking distance to wonderful k-12 and churches, look no further! I already asked our neighbors if we could rent rooms from them, but they were not thrilled with the idea... Cross your fingers for us!