will see you soon

I haven't abandoned my blog. It's just been really busy with Christmas and all. I'll be back soon with updates and pictures.

planning christmas

Well, even though I'm in the middle of trying to catch up on my words for NaNo (I won't tell you how far behind I am--it's too embarrassing), I took some time out to put together my Christmas planner. I first heard about this idea from Flylady and OrganizedHome.com/OrganizedChristmas.com. Basically you put together a planner (or a section in your household notebook, again, ideas from these two websites) that is information central for all things related to Christmas.

These are the sections I have in my Christmas Planner:

**Getting the house ready (cleaning), broken down by room/area.
**December calendar with all known commitments already written in. I will write in other commitments as they come up.
**Gift ideas list for all the people we are giving to.
**Gift tracking form (with spaces for how much each gift cost, and if it is wrapped)
**A list of the special meals I plan to make throughout December, along with the specific dishes for each meal.
**A list of the cookie recipes I plan to make, as well as other goodies.
**I will have a manila envelope in there too to keep all the receipts so if something needs to be returned, I have the receipt handy.

I have also seen ideas for forms for if you're going to travel and if you need to ship a package. Google "Christmas Planner" and you'll find all sorts of ideas to help you have an organized, Merry Christmas, in a clean house and without breaking the bank!

I have already got my budget set and I am on the hunt for sales--food, toys, clothes, etc.

Now it's time to get started on all the handmade stuff.

nano

Well, we're a little over a week into NaNoWriMo and it's turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. I have to make time each day to write, but that's hard to do when I have a daily list of to-dos that's got 25 things on it and I'm always thinking of 25 more things to do. It doesn't help that Christmas is in six and a half weeks. [whoa, is it really only 6.5 weeks to Christmas?!?!]

The bigger problem I'm finding myself with is the temptation to edit. I spent a lot of my writing time today reading up some historical stuff on the internet. I'm trying to make everything historically accurate as far as the time line goes, as well as actual people, events, places, etc. That's not the point of NaNo. The point is to get the story out. Editing can come in December.

I think it's OK to go back and add something new that I thought of, but it's not OK to go back and change things to try to make it accurate. So that's my challenge.

Now that I've identified my problem, back to writing I go....

chores

[trying something new]

Since my children were about 18 months old, I have had them help around the house. We started out with simple jobs like helping to pick up toys, putting their dirty diapers in the garbage, putting their dirty clothes in the hamper, putting away pajamas, etc. Later I had them take their dishes to the sink after meals, make their beds, help put away laundry and other more advanced chores. For the past while, I have had a rotating schedule of kitchen work and housecleaning. We would rotate through a daily schedule of setting the table, clearing the table, unloading the dishwasher and loading the dishwasher. We also rotated through weekly housecleaning: dusting upstairs, dusting downstairs, cleaning the upstairs bathroom and cleaning the downstairs bathroom. I took care of mopping and vacuuming the floors. It worked pretty well most of the time.

This month I decided to do something different. Mostly I wanted a change, but also I want C&J to learn how to take care of an entire room. Also, I want them to learn that sometimes we pick up messes made by others. So for one entire week, each of us will have a kitchen job and be responsible for one room. This is in addition to their usual chores of cleaning up after themselves in the bathroom, taking care of their bedrooms and doing homework.

So, for this week, Christie sets the table and is responsible for the living room. That means that it is her job to make sure that the living room is completely tidied up each night. It doesn't matter if Alex's toys are scattered around or if Jordan's school papers are left out. She can ask other family members to pick up their own stuff, but it is her responsibility to make sure it gets done. Jordan's jobs for this week are to clear the table and to tidy the family room. Same rules apply. My jobs are to empty the dishwasher and tidy the bathrooms (both upstairs and downstairs). Steven's job is to clean the kitchen. Since that is a rather big job, the person who has the "clean the kitchen" job doesn't have another room to be responsible for.

On Saturday, Christie will dust and vacuum the living room; Jordan will dust and vacuum the family room, and I will clean the bathrooms (meaning, scrub the sinks, toilets and tub).

Next Sunday (11/8), we will rotate to the next set of chores.

Should be fun.

{organizing}

Recently I have started some small organizing projects. Some of them I have been thinking about for awhile and they've started to nag at me so I decided to take advantage of the time before NaNoWriMo starts and JUST DO IT.

One small project I did was go through my magazines. I had magazines from Martha Stewart Living, Country Sampler, Backyard Living, Creating Keepsakes, a magazine that we get through our banking/insurance company, and a few odd ones I picked up here and there. I also had several years worth of General Conference Ensigns.

I went through the MSL mags and tore out pictures/articles I wanted to keep. I did keep the entire March (gardening) and December (Christmas) issues. I did the same thing for the Creating Keepsakes mags. I kept all the Backyard Living issues as those were really thin mags and chock full of ideas/articles/etc. I wanted to keep. I tossed all the Ensigns (felt guilty about that but reminded myself that the current issue was the most important one, plus I could find all the articles online).

When I started, I had two 6.25 inch wide magazine holders full of mags and a few tucked in beside them. When I finished, everything I am keeping fit into one of those holders.

What I'm keeping:



What I'm getting rid of (recycling):

National Novel Writing Month

Also known as NaNoWriMo, it's a challenge for writers to write a novel of (minimum)50,000 words from Nov. 1 to 30. Steven has done it for a couple of years now and this year he convinced me to try it.

I'm still thinking about what I want to write about but I am thinking of writing a pioneer girl story.

We'll see how it goes.

I [heart] fall

I love fall! It is my favorite season! I mean REAL fall, not the sort of "fake" fall that comes when children go back to school. Around here, the end of August when school start is still really hot--all those nice jeans and long sleeve tops I buy at the back-to-school sales are too warm to wear, so my children go to school in shorts and t-shirts.

Lately the weather has been just gorgeous--cool (and even COLD!) mornings and evenings and very pleasant days. We've had a couple of rainy days and the mountain tops are dusted with snow and the leaves are changing colors. It really gets me in the mood to do projects around my home and yard.

I have spent quite a bit of time canning. I have made tomato soup, chile sauce, salsa, peach chutney, and peach jam. I have canned cherries and peaches. I have some strawberries in the freezer I bought early last summer that need to be made into jam. I want to make applesauce. A friend has asked to borrow my pressure canner to can beans--I would like to learn to do that. So apart from strawberry jam, applesauce and possibly beans, I am done with canning for this year.

Maceys had their big case lot sale and I stocked up. Right now all the boxes are in the garage. I need to re-organize my food storage room to move what's left from last year to the front and make room for the new stuff. I didn't buy everything I want to--some things (such as Swanson's broth, baking supplies, Jello, etc.) are cheaper in the holiday period between Halloween and Christmas. So I need to inventory those items and see how much I need to buy so when they do go on sale, I'll be ready! My big freezer in the garage is stuffed full. I've probably got three months worth of food in there!

I've been making a list of fall projects I want to get done around the house and yard before snow flies. Or at least before the weather gets REALLY cold. I need to change out the children's clothes; check and replenish our 72 hour kits; refill the propane tanks (our emergency cooking fuel--I used up all the tanks this summer with the canning and grilling); do final yard maintenance; clean up and organize the garage so Steven can park his car in there; and a whole list of other things.

And one goal among all the "to dos" is to simply step back once in a while (once a day at least!) and breathe in the fresh fall air and notice the colors and just enjoy the season.

One year ago....

One year ago…

I cannot believe that my baby is one year old today.

One year ago this weekend was General Conference. My doctor’s appointment was on Friday the 3rd. I was due on Thursday, Oct. 16th; scheduled to be induced on Friday, Oct. 10th. When my doctor checked me, I was 4 centimeters dilated. That surprised me because I had never been dilated that much that early with my other two babies. Steven was with me at the appointment and we all agreed I probably wouldn’t make it to my scheduled induction date.

Saturday the 4th we watched both sessions of General Conference. I was having some pretty intense Braxton-Hicks contractions all day but nothing unusual. I’d been having BH contractions for quite awhile. Steven and I both had the feeling the baby would come that weekend sometime. We had already arranged that Steven’s parents would take Christie and Jordan when it came time to go to the hospital. My parents were on their mission in Africa. Anyway, after the afternoon session, and having dinner, we decided to go do some errands—we were almost out of milk and needed some other things. So off we went. I think we went to three stores. I rode in the mobility carts because walking was so uncomfortable. Sometime while we were out my contractions became a little more intense. We started timing them and by the time we got home around 8, we decided maybe we’d better head to the hospital. While Steven helped C&J pack overnight bags, I called the Swains and the interpreter agency. Steven’s parents live in Draper and we agreed on a ‘code knock’ that would identify them so C&J would answer the door. After making sure they understood what to do, hugs and kisses, and a picture of me (practically the only picture taken of me while I was pregnant), we headed to the hospital.

I was admitted to triage, put on a monitor and then we waited. My contractions were still very uncomfortable but weren’t increasing in intensity or frequency the way I remember they did with C&J. We were there from about 8:45 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. We spent the time alternating between me resting in bed and walking around to see if things would get moving. Each time the nurse checked me, the dilation was the same. Finally, the nurse suggested we go home. She gave me discharge instructions and we went home.

I was hungry so I had a quick snack, then we went to bed. I don’t know if my contractions settled down a bit or if I was so tired I didn’t feel them or whatever, but I didn’t wake up til 10 am on Sunday. I only woke up because I had to use the bathroom very badly! Usually I wake up several times a night to go to the bathroom but I slept so soundly that I didn’t wake up at all! I was still tired, so I had a little snack again then went back to bed for another 2 hours. When I woke up at noon, I was feeling pretty good, so I suggested to Steven that we shower and get dressed and get over to Mom and Dad Swain’s in time for a late lunch and the afternoon session. He agreed with that so I went to take a shower.

I had barely gotten dressed when I started having back contractions. I had never experienced back labor with Christie or Jordan so that was really different! It was about 1:15 or so at this time. Steven was downstairs and I didn’t want to try to navigate the stairs, but he hadn’t showered yet so I was sure he would be up soon. So I lay down on the bed and started timing the contractions. Steven came upstairs and I told him what was going on. Over the next hour and a half, he got dressed, ate something, I tried to watch the Sunday afternoon session of conference on the internet, timed contractions and finally at about 2:45 I said we needed to go back to the hospital. So Steven called his parents and the interpreter agency, then he helped me out to the car and back we went. I was having pretty intense back labor
by this time and I knew that this was the ‘real thing’.

We got to the hospital and by this time there was no doubt at all that I was definitely in labor! The admitting nurse took so long to do the admitting stuff that finally I told Steven to ask if we could do all this later—I was sitting in a wheelchair practically doubled over. The funny thing about all this is that I don’t really remember having uterine contractions—I’m sure I did—but everything I could feel was in my back!

We got to a room and Steven helped me change. Then the nurse got me on the monitor again and called the anesthesiologist for an epidural and checked me. I was still dilated to 4 cm. The nurse had some trouble locating the baby’s heartbeat for the fetal monitor so she did an ultrasound and it showed the baby was transverse instead of being head down. So she called the doctor from my clinic who was on call (Dr. P) because if the baby was transverse, I’d have to have a c-section. Five minutes later Dr. P arrived, and did an ultrasound herself. In that time, the baby had flipped to head down! The nurse was flabbergasted and kept saying, “But he was transverse five minutes ago!”

We then had some time when nothing much was happening.

Then things got interesting. The baby’s heartbeat kept dropping low and then going back up. Finally it dropped so low that Dr. P got really concerned and decided a c-section was necessary. I was taken to the OR and given the heavy-duty meds while Steven and the interpreter got into scrubs. I don’t remember much of the time in the OR because the meds made me feel so out of it. I was awake and somewhat aware of what was going on but not really comprehending. We stayed in the OR for quite awhile—each time Dr. P was ready to drape and cut, the heartbeat went back up for a bit before dropping again. She did something to adjust the baby’s position and that helped the heart rate go up and stay up long enough that she was comfortable proceeding with a normal delivery. So we went back to our room where we waited out the rest of the time til I was 10 cm and ready to push. Pushing was fairly easy and not too long.

Our baby boy Alex was born at 8:40 p.m. on Sunday, October 5, 2009, weighing 8 lbs 2 oz and 19 inches long. After the initial exam and clean up we had our interpreter call some of our family members (we didn’t have phone numbers for everyone) to let them know and to pass the word along.

We then moved up to our hospital room on the maternity floor. By this time it was pretty late and Steven was exhausted from everything that had been going on the past 24 hours so he headed home. Alex got his first bath around midnight then we both went to sleep.

it hurts to see friends hurt

Yesterday (9/22) was one of my best friend's birthday. I actually met *A* and *L* in summer 1996 when I was living in SLC doing an internship. I lost touch with both of them for awhile...when Steven started working at Sorenson full-time, *A* was his supervisor and we have since become best friends.

Yesterday was not the best day for *L*. Two months ago, she was hit head on by a drunk driver. Thirty hours later, her husband was rear ended. Last Thursday he had hip surgery to fix some problems that apparently had been aggravated by the accident. So they have both had some serious challenges lately.

I knew that *A* would not be in any shape to do anything for *L*. And I was sure that that was really hard for him. So last week I contacted the other ladies in the "group of 5" that we socialize with, proposing the idea of a surprise party for *L*. Then I contacted *A* to work out the details. As it turned out, yesterday was not a good day for *L*. She was experiencing a lot of back pain, so we moved the party to *A* and *L*'s house so she wouldn't have to travel. 4 of our 5 were there--#5 just had a baby so we didn't expect her to come. We had a great time, just the 4 of us, with two new babies, laughing and talking and eating.

After the other ladies left, I stayed for awhile to chat with *A* and *L*. We talked about lots and lots of different things.

*A* started a blog to chronicle their family's challenges. See it here. I had known a lot about what was going on--I have spent many hours over at their house, just trying to find ways to help them get through all this. But I hadn't really realized how bad it was.

It hurts to see your friends hurt. For whatever reason. Another friend of ours, *MM*, was in a terrible car accident nearly 3 years ago. To this day, he is still undergoing various surgeries to fix his legs. In fact, he is scheduled for a major knee operation sometime in the next 6 weeks. Although we were living in Orem at the time this happened, the news reverberated throughout the Utah Deaf Community. I have seen friends struggle with infertility, with the death of a child, with employment, with finances, as well as health issues. And it's never easy. There's so much you want to do for them but you also know you can only do so much.

At times like this, what really helps is to remember the Lord's promise in 1 Cor. 10:13 that the Lord will not allow us to be tested more than we are able to bear. Although it seems at times that our idea of what we can bear and what the Lord knows we can bear are two very different things, still, the fact that we are going through what seems to be a terrible trial, and somewhat surviving, is testament to the strength of the human spirit.

I also find the Lord's response to Joseph Smith's pleading (when he was incarcerated in Liberty Jail) inspiring:

"My son [and I might add, my daughter], peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." (D&C 121: 7-8)

It felt good to do something for *L* to make her birthday a good one. I hope my eyes and heart will always be open to noticing when others need help (even if they don't ask for it) and to be able to give it.

wow, long time

It's been awhile since I've blogged here! I have been busy with keeping up with school, canning and other family stuff. Hope to post more often now!

more canning

More canning! Today (Friday, 8/28) I am making tomato soup! We haven't had any for a year because I didn't do any canning last year with a new baby due. So I have lots of things to make! I have already done 16 quarts of cherries and now I am working on tomato soup. For as long as I can buy tomatoes at the local farmer's markets, I will make tomato soup, chile sauce and salsa. I also bought 3 dozen ears of corn today that I will blanch and freeze. A friend is picking up a box of peaches for me (she got a box for herself) that I will bottle. I also have some strawberries in the freezer to make into strawberry jam. I would also like to make peach jam and applesauce.

One of the best things I ever bought for canning is my camp stove. Seven years ago, the Allen family gathered at Grandma and Grandpa Allen's home for what turned out to be the last apple harvest for our family. G&G had several apple trees. That year the apples were all pressed into apple cider. Everyone who lived in Utah gathered to their home to sort and wash the apples, take them to the cider mill and then to process some of the cider into apple juice. We had three camp stoves set up in the garage and 6 pots of water to process the cider. We set up an assembly line to warm and sterilize the jars, lids and rings; fill the jars; put lids and rings on; get the jars into the pots and watch them. It was pretty cool and I decided when the time came I would do the same. The first year we lived here I bought a camp stove and made tomato soup and salsa. I think that's all I made that year. Anyway it was great for keeping heat out of the house and so I am doing the same thing again this year.

starting up again

With the start of school, Cub Scouts and Activity Days will be starting up again. This past Wednesday was Pack Meeting and the ward had a BBQ at a local city park. It was a lot of fun and we had fun chatting with some of the neighbors. I am really grateful to our local ward for welcoming our children into their activities, even though we are not members of the ward. They have done a lot for us and it is much appreciated!

back to school

Well, we are back in school! School started on Monday, August 25th. I took Christie and Jordan to school and went in with them to see their classrooms and meet their teachers. Jordan is in 3rd grade and Christie is in 5th grade. Christie started 3rd grade at Westbrook and we just loved her teacher Mrs. Gertsch so we requested that Jordan be put into her class and he was! Mrs. G. wasn't in the classroom when we went in but since I've already met her it wasn't a big deal. Christie's teacher is Miss Blake. She seems really nice. Seems the 5th grade classes don't rotate among the teachers like they did when I was in 5th grade (eons ago, it seems) but the teachers do rotate for certain subjects. Each day this week Christie and Jordan have come home happy and excited to tell me about what they did that day. Looks like we're going to have a great year!

Landscaping

[one project done]

After a year of talking about it, we finally replaced the rock wall in front of the house, between the front door and the garage.

This is what it looked like before:



Terrible, huh? I never really liked it because I thought it was too low, and it looked really amateurish and not well done. Then Jordan started pulling some of the rocks off the top and it just went downhill from there.

Last night Steven knocked out the rest of the rocks and broke off the cement and Christie and Jordan hauled the rocks to the north side of the house where we will store them for awhile. We hope to do something with them.



After the rocks were all removed:



This morning the crew showed up and the first things they did were to remove the concrete that the old rock wall had been on top of and to dig the trenches. The first picture shows the pile of concrete that was dug out.





After the trenches were dug, they were filled with gravel.



The first few rows of stone.



A wet saw was used to cut the stones to make the corner.



Front view.



Side view showing the wall in relation to the house.



The dirt that was dug out to make the trenches filled the bed pretty well. We will probably add a few more inches of topsoil later. Now I need to research plants and make a plan for that flower bed. We probably will wait to plant til early fall so the summer heat doesn't kill the plants.

Next project is to replace the rocks on the other side of the front of the house with curbing. I hope to get that project done within the next week.

Day 3: Ketchikan

We arrived in Ketchikan Monday morning.

Facts about Ketchikan: It's the southernmost sizable city in Alaska. It has an estimated population of about 7,368, making it the 5th most populous city in Alaska. It is known as the "Salmon Fishing Capital of the World". It has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles. It gets an average of 152 inches of rain a year and an average of 37 inches of snow.

Side note: Through NCL, cruise passengers can book "shore excursions" in each town the ship docks at. K&S booked a trip for the whole family in another town. Steven and I decided we would explore Ketchikan on our own.

There's not much land between the water and the mountains so we got off the ship and the town was right there.

The Norwegian Star, looking at the back.



View of Ketchikan from the dock.



The sign welcoming visitors to the "Salmon Fishing Capital of the World".



We stopped at the visitors office and got maps of a walking tour. We went with 3 other siblings and spouses.

Ketchikan has quite a collection of totem poles. I learned some interesting things about totem poles. They were carved to honor deceased ancestors, record history, social events and oral tradition. They were never worshipped as religious objects.



The picture above shows the Chief Kyan totem pole. According to the sign next to it, the figures represent the Crane, the Thunderbird and the Brown Bear.

We saw totem poles all over Ketchikan and there's a Totem Heritage Center in town that houses a display of original totem poles.

This next picture shows a salmon ladder. It is a concrete structure that was built to help the salmon on their way up the creek to their spawning grounds.



This is a view of the Thomas Basin Boat Harbor from Stedman Street. The ships are docked just to the left of the harbor. There's a wooden street in front o fthe buildings to the right.



Creek Street. Ketchikan Creek runs through the middle and the buildings are built on pilings that overhang the creek. This was the "red light district" of Ketchikan.



Dolly Arthur was Ketchikan's most famous madam. This was her house.



Ketchikan Creek. See all the green moss on the rocks--this area gets over 100 inches annually of rainfall. The area is very lush and green.



Another view of Ketchikan from the docks near the ships.



Ketchikan is very hilly and some streets are actually built of wooden staircases. These are called staircase streets.




This is a view of Newtown (which is located west of the historic district) from the ship. You can see that there is very little land between the mountains and the water. We saw this in each town we visited. You can also see how the mountains are solidly covered with evergreen trees. We also saw this everywhere we went.

4th of july dessert

We usually have a BBQ to celebrate the 4th of July. This year I found a great deal on raspberries, strawberries and blueberries so I made this great shortcake dessert.



The recipe:

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons sugar

SHORTCAKE:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Dash salt
1/4 cup cold butter
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
Whipped cream, optional

In a small bowl, combine the strawberries, blueberries and 2 tablespoons sugar; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine milk and sour cream; stir into crumb mixture just until moistened.

Spread batter into a greased 9-in. pie plate (batter will be thick). Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 350° for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes; cut into six wedges.

Split each wedge in half horizontally. Serve warm with berry mixture; garnish with whipped cream if desired. Serves: 6

canning season has started

[ cherries ]

On Sunday (7/5), a ward member told Steven about a farm in Utah County where you could pick your own cherries. These type of farms are called U-pick or pick-your-own farms. The farm was charging .65/lb of cherries, which was quite a good price so I got a friend to watch the children and went there to pick cherries. I got about 25 lbs and today (7/7) I canned them.



This was my first experience canning cherries. I've done peaches, pears, apricots and applesauce before. Cherries are definitely one of the easier fruits to do, I think, because there's not much prep work to do. All we did was pull off the stems, wash them, and put them in jars with light syrup. We didn't bother pitting them.



Those 25 lbs of cherries gave me 16 quarts. I would have had 17 but I dropped the last jar as I was bringing it in from the outside stove. Glass jar + tile floor = one big mess to clean up. Ugh! I was mad that I lost that jar!




I would love to go back and get another 25 lbs but I have lots of other canning I plan to do so I need to think about my storage space and how many jars I have. But now that I know about that farm, I will definitely go back next year!

Day 2: At Sea and the Surprise Anniversary Party

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Our first full day on the ship. We woke up and had breakfast at the Market Cafe which was the cafeteria-style restaurant on board. It has huge windows so you can see outside.



Then everyone did their own thing until 4 pm when we had a "Family Conference", which was pretty much a sacrament meeting without the sacrament. We had prayers, songs, and different family members shared spiritual experiences related to the family. Steven shared the story of when I had the severe bleeding back in May and was told I had placenta previa and needed to be really careful. After we told Christie and Jordan what was going on and how we (mostly I) needed their help, they were very helpful and every night after that until Alex was born, they prayed that he would be healthy. He also shared how, during labor with Alex, his heart rate dropped and stayed low to the point where I came thisclose to needing a c-section, he prayed that everything would be OK and I wouldn't need surgery. His point was that he was grateful for the power of prayer.

We then headed to the Versailles Room, which is a French-style decorated restaurant for dinner and a surprise anniversary party.



The point of this cruise was to celebrate Steven's parents' (K&S) 50th wedding anniversary (actual date is in September). During the previous few months, Steven's older brother M and his wife K collected pictures of K&S's life from the day they were married to the present, including pictures sent from each family. All these pictures were made into a beautiful book that was presented to them, along with a box of letters and cards from their grandchildren, extended family members and friends. They were completely surprised by this!





Steven's older sister B announced to the room at large that we were celebrating a 50th anniversary and would everyone please join in a round of applause. Then several of the wait staff sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart".



Then one of the waiters brought a tray of root beer floats, which is our family's celebration drink. Someone in the family (can't remember who) made a joke that most people celebrate an anniversary with champagne but we celebrate with root beer floats!





A funny side note: Most of the ship staff (waiters, photographers, cabin stewards, etc.) that we met were not American. They all wear name tags with their name, position and country of origin. Most of them were from Asian nations. The waiter that brought the root beer floats had never heard of them! S (Steven's sister who arranged for them) had to explain over and over what they were, and then how to make them. We all got a good laugh when she explained the ordeal!

Day 1: Seattle

Saturday, June 6, 2009

We woke up and got ourselves ready. Some of us went to IHOP for breakfast while the other half went to run some last minute errands. Then we waited around in the motel room for the shuttle van to arrive to drive us to the pier in downtown Seattle.

Once we were dropped off at Pier 66, the first thing to do was have our tickets and passports checked. Then we went to drop off the luggage. Just like at the airport. Then we went through security, which included a health survey (concern about swine flu). After that, we were able to actually get on the ship. The ship's name is Norwegian Star, of the Norwegian Cruise Line (hereafter referred to as NCL). The Star had just arrived that morning from a previous Alaska cruise so the cabin stewards were still working on cleaning and stocking the staterooms. So we went to one of the restaurants on board for lunch. Once we were given the go-ahead to go to our cabins, we unpacked and then walked around the ship to get our bearings before heading up to the 12th deck which is where the observation decks are.



We departed Seattle around 4 p.m. The rest of the evening we spent on the observation decks watching Washington State go by, exploring more of the ship, eating dinner and visiting with each other.

Alaska: Unofficial Day One: Last Day of School and Flying to Seattle

Friday, June 5, 2009

We started off Friday, June 5th with the last day of school. They had a normal early out day. Steven went to work for the morning to finish up some projects while I did the final packing and cleaning. He came home at 12:30 or so and then at 1:15 we went over to school to take pictures of Christie and Jordan with friends and teachers and to deliver the year-end thank you notes.

Christie and her best buds


Christie and her teacher Mrs. Francis


Jordan and the boys from his class


Jordan and his teacher Mrs. Hanzon


After picking up Christie and Jordan from school, we went to Applebee's for an "end of the school year" celebration lunch. Then we came home to pick up their stuff then took the children over to my best friend Diane's home. She and her husband had the three children stay with them from Friday afternoon through Monday morning.

We then ran back home to get our stuff and headed over to the airport. We were a little behind schedule but fortunately getting through security didn't take too long and we had about 45 minutes to spare.

We flew on Delta to Seattle.


All except two couples had arrived that day (June 5th) so Steven's father had arranged for us to stay at a motel a few miles from the airport. We were supposed to call for the motel shuttle to come pick us up. Only problem was that we were flying alone so there was no one to make the call for us. I'm not sure how Steven's father thought we were going to handle that but then again, since a very young age, Steven's been expected to figure things out for himself so in a way, it's par for the course. LOL. Fortunately, a fellow traveler made the call for us and after about a 30 minute wait, the shuttle came. The funniest thing about the whole episode is that Steven's older sister Pam and her husband got on the shuttle at the same time! They had been waiting at the opposite end of the shuttle pick up area. We got to the motel, said HI to everyone, took a short walk over to a nearby 7-11 to get some food and then crashed.

End of Day 1.

The Last Week

It's the last week of school, and the last week before our Alaska trip! I can hardly believe the school year is over already! It will be a busy week--tomorrow (Monday) Jordan goes to Hogle Zoo with his class, and Christie goes on Wednesday. Thursday is Field Day and Friday is the last day of school.

I am so excited for the Alaska cruise that I can hardly wait! I don't think I've explained about this trip before. Steven's parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year and they decided to take their 6 children and spouses on a cruise to Alaska. They told us about this trip 2 years ago, right around the time we bought our house. Two years ago was our 10th wedding anniversary. We had always talked about taking a trip to Hawaii for our 10th anniversary, but with the news that Mom and Dad S. were going to take us on a trip, we decided to forego the Hawaii trip and buy the house instead (with a bigger down payment!). Now it is finally here! I have been doing some research online to see what there is to do in the various towns we will visit and it seems the biggest problem will be deciding what to do in the time we have!

My best friend will have our three children stay with her for the weekend, then my sister will pick them up and have them through the rest of the trip. Many thanks to these wonderful ladies for being willing to have our children stay with them!

The best part of it all? Our last night on board (6/12) will be our 12th wedding anniversary! We have some big plans to celebrate!

While I will be taking my laptop, it will only be for downloading pictures from the digital camera and keeping a journal. We won't have internet access (well, the ship does have internet access but it's not free) so I won't be able to tell about the trip til after we get back.

This week is already so busy---Friday will be here before I know it!!

feeling a little scattered

I've been feeling a little scattered lately. There's so much to do and not a whole lot of time to do it. Alex wakes up only once or twice a night, and after feeding goes right back to sleep, so I shouldn't feel as sleep-deprived as I do. Some nights I can't get back to sleep. Which then throws me off for the rest of the day.

I feel stalled on so many things. I have started and not finished so many sewing projects. Same thing with yard projects. And we are going to Alaska in a week and I have hardly started anything as far as packing goes.

I feel like I spend too much of my time juggling spinning plates--staying on top of really basic household stuff like dishes, laundry, keeping the house picked up and meals. I feel like I spend all day doing basics and don't really get to do the "fun" stuff like sewing, scrapbooking, gardening, planning summer school, etc.

I think I need a new plan of attack. I'll think about this and post my thoughts tomorrow.

happy mother's day

sometimes ya just gotta spoil yourself

I was out running some errands and decided to stop at Bath and Body Works. They were having a sale and I decided to splurge and get myself some shower gel.

I've used the Butterfly Flower and Apple scents so far. Love them!

[spiritual easter]

After the excitement of the Easter party activities on Saturday, it was time to focus on the spiritual aspect of Easter today.

We had a good Sacrament meeting (though I missed most of the talks--I was in the mother's room feeding Alex. Yes, we do have a TV there, but there were other mothers in the room and from where I was sitting, it was a little hard to see the TV).

For dinner, we had ham, au gratin potatoes, asparagus, and carrots & green beans. Then we had a special Family Home Evening focusing on the true meaning of Easter. I had 12 plastic eggs with a scripture relating to the events of Easter and a small visual aid in each one. I also pulled out the pictures from my Gospel Art Kit to add in some of the background information. Christie and Jordan are really good at reading their scriptures and we had a wonderful FHE. Our dessert was more of the Easter basket cupcakes from yesterday.




While Steven and I prepared dinner, Alex hung out in his high chair. This is how he often sits--leaning to his left with his right leg propped up against the chair:



The weather was perfect today--a beautiful, warm, sunny day with cool breezes. I could see some of our trees are starting to bud and some of our tulips are ready to bloom. Our yard is starting to green up and it all was a great reminder of the blessing of "new life" that our Savior, Jesus Christ, offers us through His Atonement.

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He suffered and died for us, and was resurrected on the third day. I know that as we strive to live His commandments, and take advantage of the wonderful gift of repentance, that the Atonement will have effect in our lives and someday we can live with Him and our Heavenly Father.

Happy Easter to all my blog readers and may you have a wonderful spring!