Admittedly, I loved being a desert rat. Living in the desert southwest was full of the most amazing weather during what I knew to be the worst time of year growing up. The months of October through April are so beautiful in Arizona, the temperatures so mild and even. It was like the best of late spring and early fall temperatures of Idaho, but it lasts all fall, winter and spring long. I loved it. The tradeoff for this bliss was a lack of seasons. The only visible change in AZ during winter was the transition of green summer grass to green winter grass, this happens twice a year when lawns look brown for a short time while the new season’s grass takes hold. Halloween felt right, the weather turns from miserable hot to enjoyable all day and night long, but the signs of a season change were almost non-existant. I didn’t know how much I missed it.

This past weekend, we took our kids for a Sunday afternoon drive up through the Palisades reservoir, looping back through Victor on the circle drive home. I just kept snapping photos from inside the car, it was so pretty. The brilliant spots of color change were like touches of God’s paintbrush on the canvas of life. The drive itself brought back memories from my past and it felt wonderful to soak it all up. I’m so glad we did. This week the weather has turned. It’s raining with forecast of a cold front that will bring snow to some elevations. I’m glad we didn’t miss it, because seeing that spot of fall made me realize that I have been missing this season.

Transition seems to have become a way of life for us lately. One year ago we were in the process of moving from our AZ home to a condo in the San Francisco Bay. The move was a wonderful one for Blake’s career, and it provided us the opportunity for the next job that would allow us to live anywhere. What we thought would be a couple years turned out to be only nine months. We were moving again, this time back to Idaho to be with our families and to get our kids into an education program we wanted. I’m happy to report that this has been everything we’d hoped.

The summer was full of projects and family time as we mapped out the next steps. We lived out of a few boxes with most of our stuff kept in storage. This past week we have moved into a home only three minutes away from my parents. We feel it a miracle to have found it when we did and are so grateful for it. The only real downsides include the place remaining on the market so if it were to sell we’d have to move again, and it has as much grass to mow as there is at my mom’s. From earlier posts, you can read and see that mowing job is a three hour process. If I were Giligan, I’d be stranded every time I get on the mower! We borrowed my brother’s lawnmower to mow the lawn here Saturday and it took just over two and a half hours. Can you say lawn service?!

Last week at this time I was drowning in boxes and mess. There were times I wanted to just sit and cry. But true to the adage “it came to pass not to stay” I’ve finally gotten everything unpacked and put away, minus those few nasty office boxes that just seem to remain no matter how many moves and attempts to get through them come to pass. Things feels like home more every day. I’m really hoping our transition stage can come to a pause for at least the next year or two. I don’t love moving, and I’m truly tired of it. I’m in awe that even though we got rid of easily half our “stuff” when we moved from AZ to CA, we still have too much. While everything fits nicely in the new place with lots of room to spare, I look forward to a continued lifestyle of removing, simplifying and streamlining.

I took a few pictures for a friend this morning of the new place and thought I’d just post them here. It makes it easier to share with others later.



Dexter enjoys the sunroom at the front, where he can look out the windows. We enjoy the under the ground wire fence in the large yard so we can let him out without worrying. The kids are feeling like ‘the hot tub room’ is a good tradeoff for their pool in AZ.

Enjoying holding my newest nephew and caffeine free Mountain Dew confirm I really am back in Rexburg.

I couldn’t think of a better title because this one words sums up so much. Since we arrived a week ago tomorrow, I’ve had heavy breathing from full days, lots of work and peaceful evenings with deep breathing as I soak up the peace and calm I’ve only ever found here at home.

As I have many friends that have no reference for the pictures and status updates I’ve been sharing on Facebook about yard work and mowing, I thought I’d share pictures of my mom’s beautiful and LARGE yard to help explain that out of breath breathing.

That makes up nearly two acres of lawn. And if that mowing and tree maintenance weren’t enough, let’s not forget the garden!

And the weeding in the awesome and plentiful flowerbeds!

In the past six days we’ve also had a family outside BBQ, hotdog and smores night at the fire pit, a trip up to the dry farm to visit the old homestead, a few soaks in the hot tub, fun with firework poppers, girl’s camp, to say nothing of the cleaning, unpacking and even some haircuts and pedicures today!

It feels wonderful to be home.

I was just reviewing some pictures from our weekend tonight, and this one just begged to be posted. I’m not sure what was going through the heads of either, but these two have always given us reason to raise eyebrows.

What do you think they’re talking about?

Yesterday we took the kids out to see the beach. It was so fun to drive 20 minutes, enjoy new scenery and play at the beach. I think we’re all thinking we’re going to like it here!!

There was a fun area of organic fruit and vegetable farms along the drive, and I can see the workings of the next big event being the Christmas trees there. I have a feeling we’ll be going back soon!

We took in some beautiful scenery of the reservoir on our way back. The diversity here (of everything!) is so wonderful!

A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. First, we got a call that Blake’s grandma Faye wasn’t expected to live beyond a few days to a few weeks. This is a picture of her (front row, third from the left) in 2003, when Taylor’s adoption was finalized.

Last summer, we visited her at the nursing home where she’s been living for the past 2 years. Time and dementia have taken their toll on her. Time has given my little Taylor several more feet of height too, but note that the platinum blonde hair remains as true as when he was one. Personally, I’m just grateful that the pacifier isn’t still affixed to his mouth, there were days when I wondered if we’d ever successfully lose it. But I digress.

The point is, you think you understand what it means to endure, or what the phrase “Endure to the end” means, and then you reflect on the aging/exit process of this life and realize you don’t know anything about it all. This wonderful woman who has lived a full life and always been so vibrant and strong is powerless against the powers of death. I hate this reality, I really do.

So for the past two weeks we’ve waited for the call that would initiate the drive to Idaho. We’re still waiting. I’m not sure what to think about that. On the one hand I’m utterly amazed at the human spirit and ability to cling to life when it seems impossible. On the other, I’m saddened that relief can’t be delivered for this loved one. And so I find myself thinking it’s too much to process and must think on other things.

So on we go to my second arena of thought: Madrid, Spain.

Last week I left a closing line on my post of wondering what I’d be thinking this week. Well, I’m still thinking…a lot. You know how the hourglass works; tiny beads of sand stream through a tiny opening to fill the bottom of the jar - you know eventually it will get down there, but sometimes the process feels impossibly slow. That’s this process in a nutshell. The long and short is that this possibility is still on the docket and gaining momentum every day. Six months from now I could be living in Madrid. This is about the time I feel my eyes going blurry from input overload and I’m back to the same point of needing to think on other things.

So right now I’m distracting myself with blogging. It’s a good distraction and one that I’ve not had much time for lately (nor my garden or yard by the looks of things.) As I look at this picture from 2003 my mind is flooded with thoughts and memories. Where does the time go? It wasn’t that long ago that he was small enough to cradle in my arms, not that long since he wrapped his little fingers around mine moments after birth. My cute little Cidderbug is younger in this photo than Taylor is today. That adorable little spirit is just as vibrant, only now it’s blossoming into a beautiful young woman. It’s a lot to process.

November is already here. I can’t believe it. Here’s the second installment of Halloween fun at our house.

We carved some pumpkins on Monday night and a few more on Saturday:

I need to point out that this year Taylor was completely independent on drawing on and cutting out his pumpkin faces. He still requested help gutting the pumpkin as that totally grosses this kid out! But he sure had fun doing the rest himself. In fact, the next day I found he’d cut two eyes into another pumpkin all by himself. Not surprising, he’d done nothing more than cut the eyes out! He also made me put a big eye face on the mini pumpkin I put in the big mean pumpkin’s mouth. I wanted to put “x’s” on it but he said that was too mean and this little pumpkin had to show that it was going to escape. He’s got heart, that kid.

Taylor had a class party on Friday. His sister’s class are their reading buddies and they came down to decorate pumpkins with them. He opted to be a pirate for the school day because it was easier to put on and met the guidelines with no masks or makeup. He’s still a wickedly cute little pirate says I.

And here’s how the costumes turned out. This one is Cidnie’s, I created the pattern and used $1.50/yd clearance fabric at Walmart. I was pretty happy with the $6.00 investment for her entire costume!

Tay was most patient getting his face painted. It went better and faster than I’d hoped! Although I sure had a hard time finding him in the dark without seeing that platinum blond hair and pale skin!!

Mother Confessor meets Darth Maul:

We had a fun time Halloween night visiting with friends and neighbors while eating and handing out candy. The kids had a ball playing with friends and collecting bags full of treats. All in all, a most successful Halloween!

The passing of time really does sneak up on you. I was looking through pictures this morning and couldn’t help but see the serious growth in my kids just since these were taken when we moved into our new home only 3.5 years ago.

This is our fourth fall in this home. It doesn’t seem possible when it still feels like only a year ago at most. Yet here the calendar and pictures are telling me that what it feels like and what it is are not the same thing. Time really does sneak up on you when you.

Our first day in Idaho was Grandma Sherie’s birthday. Yellowstone Bear World was the first stop. Cidnie wasn’t going to get that close to her cousin’s house without stopping to pick her up. I think the two were in cahoots because Amy just happened to be playing hooky from school that day and was more than delighted when we showed up.

Taylor proved to be our entertainment on this trip. He was delighted watching the baby bears and his giggles became a bit infectious.

Then we moved over to feeding the fish and ducks where we missed a golden video moment. Taylor got right down between the railings to hand the swan a piece of bread and freaked when it reached up and grabbed it right out of his fingers. He jumped back screaming “Holy Crap!” several times followed by several “Did you see that?” questions and a final, “That was A W E S O M E!!” For future reference, swans have really long necks.

We paused for a bear picture on the way to the petting zoo…

Cidnie and Amy enjoyed petting the deer and feeding the animals. Taylor kept a careful distance between himself and most of the animals. Although he did get brave enough to get down to near eye level with one of the ducks and when it came to him for a handout he jumped up exclaiming, “It thinks I’m food!”

Our final stop was to let the kids play on some of the rides. Just when we thought Taylor couldn’t give us more giggles he put on his funniest show. He wasn’t too sure about any of the rides. He made the worker let him off the first round of the little roller coaster before deciding to go back later to stay on it. But the little lift ride left everyone within ear shot in stitches of laughter. You can see from the pictures how he has a death grip on the railing and when he started going up he yelled down to the worker “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!”

It was a fun start to our first trip to Idaho this summer. We got home to find Grandma had one BIG bouquet of balloons waiting for her. Taylor’s next highlight was sucking helium with Grandpa and singing Happy Birthday with chipmunk voices. It was so fun to be there with Grandma on her birthday. Wish we could do it every year!!

One of our most relaxed days on our trip ended with a trip to the Alamo and Riverwalk. It was fantastic!

Taylor thought museum part was boring. Imagine that coming from our six year old boy. *giggle* I, however really enjoyed it! Then we walked down to the Riverwalk and enjoyed the streets as we went.

The Riverwalk is a fun strip of restaurants, shopping and other business that run along the river. We ate dinner at Boudro’s based on Blake’s co-worker’s suggestions and we weren’t disappointed. We sat right out on the river where the kids enjoyed learning about the different tour cruises going up and down the river, and why you wouldn’t want to feed the ducks from your table.

Naturally we had to take the tour cruise after talking with one of the boat drivers parked next to our table for a while. We ended up waiting for a little longer than we thought for the next boat, hence the kids actually sitting…but it was great.

Then we hooked up with the cousins again for ice cream! Taylor said he was “girl locked” at the ice cream bar and I almost dropped the camera from laughing so hard. He smiled and said it was okay though. Those girl cousins are so much fun!

It was such a fun and relaxed day and evening. The Riverwalk is the highlight of San Antonio and anyone who doesn’t take it in while they are there will be truly sorry!

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