2 teeth were lost! Caleb lost one of his two front teeth while playing with classmates on his field trip. This was a good thing, as it was so loose that it was literally pointing straight out (No lie!). He still hasn't put it under his pillow, but is saving it in his sock drawer. I had to convince him that the tooth fairy will only come and take it if it is under his pillow. Right now he just thinks it is too cool looking to part with. Kaitlyn lost her first tooth EVER while she was in kindergarten. She cried at first because it scared her, but then was excited to be getting so big. She placed it under her pillow as soon as she got home from school as the prospect of money is much more exciting to her than a cool looking tooth.
I bottled peaches! No that is not a misprint - I seriously bottled peaches & peach jam - and I seriously loved it! This was my first time bottling anything, as I made a promise to myself when I was young that I would never bottle anything. Don't ask why as it is a complicated answer, but oh the naivete of youth. I'm finally learning to never promise myself that I will never do something based on ideas that I honestly know little about (buying the minivan starting breaking me in to this new doctrine of "never saying never", as I had also once swore that I would never own a minivan). Needless to say, oh the practicality of adulthood. I must also say that I did it with 2 of the greatest girlfriends. We had such a fabulous time. Chelsea & Maureen - you both rock!
Kassidy and I went for our first run together! How cool is that? Hopefully it will become a regular activity. I told her that running is such a great thing to do together, because we can do it together for years to come. "That is until you are old and get arthritis" she told me. Very true, yet not something I enjoy being reminded of.
With the economic chaos swirling around these days, I just thought it would be nice to think about the simple things that make life good.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
September 24th
My little sister will probably want to kick me for putting this here, but she says things so well that I had to do it. My mom married Lynn Balmforth when I was seven years old. The next year they gave me the best little sister ever - Kami Balmforth. If you know her, then you know why I say that. She is strong, smart, talented, and down right hilarious. Lynn died right before Easter in 2000. Though it's been over 8 years, it still hurts like hell. One of the hardest parts about him being gone is watching my mom and sweet little sister without him. It hurts when people you love die, and it hurts even more watching people you love live on without them. So here is a little tribute from Kami to her dad, and I just had to share it. Kami, I love you! Just an explanation to those who didn't know Lynn, he collected pennies. Jars and JARS of pennies.
september 24th...
i don't like to reminisce about my dad. he's dead, i miss him, yada yada yada. i don't like to end up in a sobbing mess. i don't like it when my mom cries. i don't like to be out of control. but a few things have happened recently so he's been on my mind quite a bit, way more than i prefer. so obviously i need to purge. this summer mom and i tried to kill two birds with one stone by visiting dad's grave and then traveling to bear lake. don't try that, because it takes you about a bazillion hours in the wrong direction and then you just end up pissy and not really in the mood to memorialize a loved one. we got to the cemetery and went to stand by the headstone. it's actually a pretty cool little cemetery out in the middle of nowhere. although at night, i bet it's totally creepy. mom is good not to make me stay for very long. there really isn't much you can do there. but as we were getting in the car, i noticed that there was a penny on my seat. it wasn't there before, the car was clean. i don't usually indulge in beliefs beyond what i can see, but i like to think it was his way of saying hello and that he's at least aware that he left us too quickly.
my uncle also found some video clips of him singing at family parties and such. i have mixed feelings about that. i had forgotten what his voice sounded like. i had forgotten what it was like to hang out with my dad. i'm grateful to have the memento, but it doesn't feel good. i still don't know about that.
i miss my dad terribly. i miss the way he would tickle my chin when he got home from work. i miss the way he would poke his head into my room at night and say, "i sure love you." i miss his pocket protector and how my face would smush into it when he hugged me. i miss the suspenders. i miss how he smelled. i miss the way my cats always loved him more than they loved me. i miss the way he would file things. whatever he could find, as long as it could be put into a manila folder (with a typed label of course) and filed, it was worth something. who knows, you may need that all important article on UFO's in the near future.
i'm angry that i never really got to have a grown up conversation with him or ask him certain questions. even if he had to make up the answer, he'd still have one. i'm angry that he told me that everything was going to be fine. even though he was hard to live with, i still wish he was here. tomorrow is my dad's birthday. he would have been 75 years old. three quarters of a century with more experience and wisdom than i can imagine at 29. i suppose that's why it's bugging me so much this year. 75 is a milestone. dad and mom would have been married 30 years this year. so many things that i feel like i should have been able to share with my parents. i would have bought him some kind of awesome tie and a shirt because he never bought anything for himself. he would have pretended that he didn't want a party, but would be in the middle of it all if we threw him one. he would break out the old spice for the special occasion. he would play the guitar. he was good at that.
september 24th...
i don't like to reminisce about my dad. he's dead, i miss him, yada yada yada. i don't like to end up in a sobbing mess. i don't like it when my mom cries. i don't like to be out of control. but a few things have happened recently so he's been on my mind quite a bit, way more than i prefer. so obviously i need to purge. this summer mom and i tried to kill two birds with one stone by visiting dad's grave and then traveling to bear lake. don't try that, because it takes you about a bazillion hours in the wrong direction and then you just end up pissy and not really in the mood to memorialize a loved one. we got to the cemetery and went to stand by the headstone. it's actually a pretty cool little cemetery out in the middle of nowhere. although at night, i bet it's totally creepy. mom is good not to make me stay for very long. there really isn't much you can do there. but as we were getting in the car, i noticed that there was a penny on my seat. it wasn't there before, the car was clean. i don't usually indulge in beliefs beyond what i can see, but i like to think it was his way of saying hello and that he's at least aware that he left us too quickly.
my uncle also found some video clips of him singing at family parties and such. i have mixed feelings about that. i had forgotten what his voice sounded like. i had forgotten what it was like to hang out with my dad. i'm grateful to have the memento, but it doesn't feel good. i still don't know about that.
i miss my dad terribly. i miss the way he would tickle my chin when he got home from work. i miss the way he would poke his head into my room at night and say, "i sure love you." i miss his pocket protector and how my face would smush into it when he hugged me. i miss the suspenders. i miss how he smelled. i miss the way my cats always loved him more than they loved me. i miss the way he would file things. whatever he could find, as long as it could be put into a manila folder (with a typed label of course) and filed, it was worth something. who knows, you may need that all important article on UFO's in the near future.
i'm angry that i never really got to have a grown up conversation with him or ask him certain questions. even if he had to make up the answer, he'd still have one. i'm angry that he told me that everything was going to be fine. even though he was hard to live with, i still wish he was here. tomorrow is my dad's birthday. he would have been 75 years old. three quarters of a century with more experience and wisdom than i can imagine at 29. i suppose that's why it's bugging me so much this year. 75 is a milestone. dad and mom would have been married 30 years this year. so many things that i feel like i should have been able to share with my parents. i would have bought him some kind of awesome tie and a shirt because he never bought anything for himself. he would have pretended that he didn't want a party, but would be in the middle of it all if we threw him one. he would break out the old spice for the special occasion. he would play the guitar. he was good at that.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
A few things I've just got to say
So, I've been a political junkie since High School, and various aspects of this Presidential Election have been like a dream come true for me. Now with the nomination of Sarah Palin to the VP position on the Republican ticket, there are a few things that I just have to get off my chest. I am absolutely sick and tired of the "feminist establishment" out there telling me that because I happen to be a stay-at-home mom and pro-life that I am somehow NOT a feminist. They are now employing the same techniques to discredit my belief system that they themselves fought against for nearly 40 years. I am grateful to those strong women who have gone before me clearing the way for choices and freedoms I now enjoy that women before me would never have dreamed were possible. I happen to be incredibly lucky to have 2 amazing women as my mom and step-mom who helped me to believe that I could do anything and achieve anything. So, let me set the record straight with the "feminist establishment" (not that they would actually read this, but it sure does make me feel better). I am INDEED a feminist. To be more specific, I would consider myself to be a Cultural Feminist, meaning that I believe men and women are intrinsically different, but these differences and their contributions to society should be valued equally. So to Sarah Palin I say, you go girl! And to the so called establishment I say, take a look at the strong women I am priviledged to know who are raising sons to respect and revere womanhood, and daughters to embrace and be empowered by their womanhood, and you will have a glimpse of how these woman are literally changing the world in a way that your ranting, raving & protesting never will. Yes, these are the women who are changing the world, and I am proud to among them
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Teton Valley Rocks!
We went up to visit Mike's parents this weekend. It had been way too long since our last visit, so all 5 of us were mighty excited to get to Grandma & Grandpa Ricks' house at the base of the Teton Mountains. Before I married Mike, my exposure to Idaho had pretty much been limited to the Pocatello area, which I didn't find all that exciting (sorry to all you Pocatello fans). I remember the first time I visited Mike's childhood home in Driggs, Idaho. We got there around midnight so I had no idea how incredibly BEAUTIFUL it was until I woke up the next morning. For those of you who have never been to Teton Valley - it is absolutely amazing. The beauty of the mountains surrounded by rolling farms and small towns is the best stress reliever that I have ever found. Mike and I joke that even the clocks run slower there. It has become as dear to my heart as my own hometown, and now I get to watch my children take advantage of all that it has to offer. For the entire weekend they filled their days with throwing rocks, riding horses with their Uncle Tim, and "swimming" in Grandma & Grandpa's hot tub. It is a beautiful, serene, and simple place. Visiting has always helped me to look at my life from a new perspective, and I always leave with a strong desire to SIMPLIFY! If you haven't been there, boy are you missing out!
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