1/9-1/16

Birthday celebrations

My mom and Greg came up with Gabriel (our 7 year old nephew) to celebrate Jacob's and Dode's birthdays. When they were about two miles away, their pug Ramirez  started getting really excited. He was whining and getting really antsy. Gabe said to my mom, "I'm doing that on the inside." He told them he loves coming up to our house, especially for the birthday parties.

Gabe made a cute comment when it was time for Jacob to unwrap his gifts. My mom had given Jacob 18 five dollar bills. We're celebrating Gabe's birthday two weeks later. He told her he'd like seven ten dollar bills. He's a bright boy!

They also brought up another helmet for the motorbikes.  Miriam thought it worked pretty well for keeping her safe while she made pancakes!

 
My mom made Jacob a slide show movie of his life so far.  It's amazing how many memories came back as I looked at the old  photos.  My grandma was there when Jacob was born.  Shortly after I found out I was pregnant, she received the news that she had lung cancer.  She'd come to the hospital to be with me the day of his birth.  She'd thought ahead of time that when it came time for the actual birth, she'd be more comfortable in the waiting room.  A little before Jacob was born, he started having troubles with his heart rate and my grandma sat there anxiously watching that monitor.  I don't think she could even carry on a conversation with me, she was so worried.  When it time to quickly deliver Jacob with the help of forceps and a vacuum, she was right there concerned and rooting for him.  Once he was safely born, she had the biggest smile on her face.  She'd been there for me, been there for Jacob, and her countenance lit up the room. 

Looking at the photo of her glowing shortly after he was born makes me miss her so much. If our ancestors truly can watch over us from heaven, I know who Jacob's guardian angel is!


Charity

Anastaya gave a talk in church this week on charity. As she was preparing her talk, she kept asking me for help. I helped by quoting scriptures and telling her where to find them, generally. After a while, she said to me, "Wow! Did you just give a talk on this? You really know a lot about charity!" I didn't have the heart to tell her that being a mom has forced me to study up on charity over and over again.

She did a great job on her talk. She was nervous so she talked a bit fast at times but her talk was well thought out with a good introduction, middle and conclusion. I was so proud of her up there. I wanted to whisper to everyone there what an amazing girl she is and what she's been through, but look at her now.

Produce

One of my goals is not throwing anything away we receive in the produce co-op. In order to have more variety in the baskets, several people do the ordering. We sometimes end up with things I don't care for or usually eat. One of those things are parsnips. This time, as soon as we received them, I roasted them in the oven and ate them that night. A huge improvement over throwing them away a month later when they're soggy and gross. Another item we don't eat a lot of here are potatoes. Dode doesn't care for them so when I'm looking for a starchy side for dinner, I turn to rice or pasta.

This week, I've had potatoes roasted, potatoes boiled, and today used potatoes in a cake. I've noticed that eating a combination of potatoes and cooked barley at lunch keeps me full for hours.   Potatoes in a cake is not the healthiest way we've ever eaten them!  I had to laugh at myself. I ended up using three potatoes in the cake. I also made homemade ice cream and peanut butter sauce to go on the cake and ice cream.  I didn't think the cake was chocolaty enough but it was nice a moist.  The ice cream made a great treat topped with raspberries the next day.  Is there anything better in the world than homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberry sauce?

Fun, Dickson Style

We like to have unusual activities for the kids around here. How do these sound?

Grass (Mud) Surfing

You know what they say about the obsession between boys and motor vehicles? Take one riding lawnmower, hook a hard plastic sled (garage sale) to the back, and proceed to pull each other around across the lawn. Great fun for the kids, not so great for the lawn! It's been raining like crazy around here so each pass around the lawn leaves streaks of mud behind. I'm reminded of Elder Dunn's comment from the marriage and family relations Sunday School class. When a neighbor chided his father for his farming abilities, he told them, "You see, we're raising boys, not cows". We definitely are raising boys, not grass!

I couldn't get a photo of Isaac standing, here he is sitting

here he is falling!

                                             mud tracks from the fun


Extreme Lawn Tractor Rides

Our lawn mower gets way more use as a recreation vehicle than a lawn mower. Here's Isaac Colson enjoying some extreme lawn tractor time. Good thing he has a helmet on! It's so muddy out there he has chains on the tires (custom built by Dode) to help him get up the hill. They had to use this as a second motorized vehicles because they just can't seem to keep both trail 90's running at the same time. So, while one of the boys zips around on the motorcycle, the other puts around on the lawn mower.

The snowstorm that never was

We don't get much snow here. The weather service was forecasting a "snowmaggedon" with up to 12 inches of the white stuff. It was supposed to hit in five days. Dode spent part of a Saturday standing in the rain putting up our giant slip and slide so the kids could use it to extend their sledding hill. We waited excitedly for the snow. Then, the very next day, we got word that the storm was diverting and all we'd get was our usual winter weather, rain, rain, rain. The water slide sits on the hill mocking us.

        At least the ramp is ready for some extreme trail 90 riding!

                                 (just kidding!)

Stream Exploration

With all this rain (almost 4" so far this month), the stream beside the house is really moving a lot of water. Dode was tempted to get out the kneeboard and hook a rope to a tree so they could kneeboard on it. It's not quite as exciting, but the boys decided they really wanted to experience that swift stream. They found some plastic sheeting in the garage and with the help of some packing tape, they made some hip waders. They spent several hours on their project, trying one thing after another. They finally created a fairly water tight seal only to have the rushing water rip right through the plastic in a catastrophic failure.

                                                              ready to go!

More Calamaties

More Broken Items
Maybe I should just make a numeric list of all the things that are breaking around here!  The Wii gave up a little before Christmas.  We shipped it back for a price ($99) for Nintendo to fix.  Instead,  they sent us a new one.  The new Wii is better designed than our old one that kept overheating.  They've moved where they put the air intake to a much better place.  And it comes with a one year warranty in case it feels like giving up again.  So, a fix with a bonus.

The camera gave up this week.  Suddenly, all the photos I took had a nice rosey hue.  While some people like looking at the world through rose colored glasses, I don't like looking at photos that way!  Dode googled the problem and found that our camera is known to have issues with this.  Amazingly, Canon is willing to take our camera back and fix it, for free (and our camera is seven years old this month and taken 12,000 pictures!).  I'll be borrowing cameras from the kids for a while.  (Not too much of a sacrifice since they're running around with 1-2 year old cameras which actually work much faster than ours!)

Jacob's 18th birthday photo

When I went to make pizza yesterday, I found that the bread maker was not working.  Dode took it apart and found another plastic gear which had self destructed.  Curse on all plastic gears!  With a bit of epoxy, we fixed the problem and were soon back to enjoying delicious bread, rolls, and pizza from it.

And a big mistake
This week I received a friendly letter from the IRS informing me that I'd made an error on last year's tax return and would I kindly send them some more money, several thousand dollars to be exact.  I absolutely did not intend to be dishonest and feel terrible about it. 

We use two banks, one for our day to day expenses and one for our savings. It keeps our savings much safer when I have to visit two banks to transfer money instead of just sitting at the computer and hitting "transfer funds" while doing online banking.  I don't visit very often, usually once a month when I deposit the newspaper money.  I haven't been to the bank for several months since our newspaper money went to Disneyland, car repairs, and Christmas.  Since I needed to dig into the savings to pay the IRS, it was the savings bank I headed to.  It was at this bank that I experienced one small bright spot in all this unexpected stress.

As I sat at the desk with the bank employee, I reached into my wallet to pull out my photo ID, she said, "Thanks, but I know you Stephanie, I don't need to see that."  It felt like a perfect small town moment.  One more lovely thing about the IRS, they sent me a bill and let me know that there may be more penalties to come, to be determined at a later time.  I guess they like to keep you uncomfortable for as long as possible.

We get to call the poison control center
Elizabeth loves to smell things.  Flowers, freshly cut grass, the soap she washes her hands with wherever she goes.    She notices smells the rest of us take for granted. 

Tuesday night is our busiest night of the week.  We're trying to get all our papers folded before the kids go to youth night at church so Dode and I can deliver them while they're at the church.  It was 10 minutes before we were supposed to be leaving for youth night activities.  People were just finishing up their chores, changing their clothes, getting ready to head out the door.  Dode was heading out for a three hour meeting with the Bishopric and Stake Presidency.  I'd roped Jacob in to delivering the papers with me in Dode's place since the forecast was for snow that evening and I was worried I wouldn't be able to do it later.

Into all this comes Elizabeth, red in the face, in tears.  Tuesday night it was Elizabeth's turn to clean the bathroom.  She decided she'd like the smell the toilet bowl cleaner.  She tried to sniff it but couldn't get a good whiff so she gave the bottle a squeeze.  She sent a stream of toilet cleaner up her nose.  The main active ingredient in our toilet bowl cleaner is hydrochloric acid.  Her nose was burning badly and soon the white of the eye on that side turned red and started to tear up.  So at the last minute, Dode took the kids to their activity, took William with him to his meeting, while I got on the phone with the poison control center.

She had to immerse her eye in a bowl of salted water for ten minutes to rinse it and then lay down with her eyes closed for an hour to try to flush the chemicals out.  She was miserable.  I picked up William from the church and delivered papers with Jacob and got home to find out the poison center had called three times to check on her while I was gone (I felt like such a wonderful mom when I learned that!) 

I called the poison center back and they wanted me to take her to the emergency room.  I knew that would take hours and I just wanted to get to bed.  I also had no insurance card since all that information was in my missing wallet.  After consulting with Doctor Boma (my Mom), I decided to send her to bed feeling very sorry for herself and see what the morning would bring.  Her eye was back to normal, her nose didn't hurt, and she's just left with some stuffiness in that nostril.  The poison control center called one more time to check on her.  They're sure committed to those children!

My wallet is back, and we unexpectedly find something else!
While driving home from work, Dode stepped on the brakes and out scooted my wallet from under the seat of the truck.  Amazing!  I've wracked my brain and I know I didn't put it there.  Apparently, someone else did. 

That same someone provided Dode and I with a good laugh this week, and a fair bit of dread for the future.  We were having family scripture study and William was sent out half way through to brush his teeth and get ready for bed.   Once we were done, Dode started walking with him upstairs.  He noticed that William kept poking at himself in the underwear area so he took him into the bathroom to see what was up, thinking maybe he'd gotten his underwear twisted when he'd gone to the bathroom or maybe he was going commando.  Nope, everything seemed to be in order but something just seemed wrong.  He pulled the underwear away and checked front and back, nothing wet and nothing dirty.  He couldn't see anything and was ready to call it a fluke. But something had been keeping William from leaving himself alone, so in desperation Dode pulled William's pants down, still nothing wrong.  Dode pulled his underwear down and still could not find any problems and was pulling up the underwear when he noticed a sliver of silver poking out from between William's legs.  He'd brought a dead cell phone home from school (of unknown origin) that we'd confiscated earlier in the day.  While getting ready for bed, he'd taken it back and hidden it between his legs.  He was trying to sneak  it upstairs when his observant father noticed something amiss. 

When Dode found it, it was all he could do to not start laughing.  William was treating the whole things with perfect seriousness.  When asked what was wrong with his underwear, he'd assured Dode that nothing was, even when Dode found the hidden item, William still wasn't letting on.  Dode called me into the bathroom and told me to check William's underwear.  I thought I was looking for a rash.  William was just standing there, continuing with his innocent appearance.  I relived him of his underwear contraband and he went off to bed a very angry child.  We'll spare you the photo evidence!

1st broken item of the year

1st broken item of the year
The morning of Jacob's 18th birthday (Jan 5th), I went to do a load of laundry and discovered the machine hadn't spun the load that was in it from the day before.  When I reset it to spin, I could hear a bad noise from deep inside the machine and it didn't rotate.  Dode took the machine apart that night and found that inside the gear box, they'd used a plastic gear which had worn out.  He figured it would be about a $15 part (for $3 worth of plastic) and the biggest bother would be waiting for a new part to be shipped to our nearest Sears store.  We use Sears all the time for parts and since it was a Kenmore, we were confident we'd be back in business eventually.  He looked online to buy a new part and found he'd have to buy an entirely new gear box for $170.  Everything else on the washer is in great condition.  For $170, we'd get the washer running again but would still have that plastic gear inside waiting to break again.

Dode taking apart the old washer

                            broken gear, see the teeth that are torn off on the left hand side?

I was really wishing we had a spare washer waiting in the garage (I buy bread makers at thrift shops and garage sales when I find them because we go through 3-4 a year, and when they break, I need a replacement now!  I wish we had the same option for washing machines.)  I looked on craigslist but didn't see any washers for under $200 so I started looking at front loaders.  Getting one is my long time dream since I've heard they get your clothes cleaner, save electricity, and have an extra large capacity.  With 2-3 loads a day every day, that sounds wonderful! 

After spending about four hours researching front loaders that night and the next morning, I finally chose one.  It was not easy.  Even the machines Consumer Reports recommend come with very mixed reviews.  People often love their machines when they first get them, but soon encounter maintenance issues like leaks, electronic problems, and clogged pumps.   I chose one I liked at Lowe's, but it wouldn't be available until the 20th.  That was just too long.  I found another at Home Depot, for a little more money but it also would be over two weeks until it could be here.  I found one with good reviews at Sears the "Frigidaire Affinity  Front Load Steam Washer" (if you have this machine and love it, please don't rub it in!).  When I tried to buy it on line, I couldn't get the order to go through.  I ended up using the "live chat" feature and it took me a half hour to complete the purchase.  So convenient!  Not!  By this time, I had a pounding headache but would have a new washer in just seven days.  I figured I could handle going to the laundry mat a few times and was looking forward to those huge loads of laundry I'd soon be handling with ease.

But, all was not well in my world.  I felt sick inside.  It feels like we've been hemorrhaging money since September.  Disneyland, the veterinary bills associated with the cat dying, the van breaking down in Yakima, the septic tank pump getting clogged, Christmas, birthdays. For a family like ours that lives right at the edge of our income, it's been one thing after another eating away at our savings.  Now, here was another big hit.  Dode had told me the night before that I'd been wanting a front loader for a long time and here was my chance to get one.  (Just like he told me I'd been wanting the septic tank pumped for a long time and I finally got to get it done.  He's wonderful at trying to make me feel better about spending money.)

I called him at work to tell him I'd ordered a washer but just felt sick.  He said, well, then lets get another used one.  I looked on craigslist and low and behold, a bunch of washers had been posted since last night that were in our price range.   I cancelled the order with Sears and when Dode got home from work, we drove up the road a mile and a half and picked up our new washer and dryer and I'm back in business.  I'd told him I'd need to run by the cash machine to pick up money to pay for them.  He said, "Not to worry, I have cash in my pocket."  It turns out, he'd been carrying around a wad of cash since he'd pulled some out to buy me a birthday present.  He'd struck out on buying what he wanted so instead he took me out to dinner.  So, in a way, my new-to-me washing machine is a birthday gift.  So, the first repair of the year is a fail.  I hope it's not a sign of things to come!  I'm still reeling from the aftermath of all the stress of the almost purchase of the front loader.  Do I still want a front loader?  Yes!  Will I ever have one?  Unlikely!  Is that ok with me?  Absolutely, if it means not feeling sick inside!

our new (to us) washer and dryer

                                                   2 1/2 days worth of laundry

We'd bought a set, washer and dryer for $100.  We didn't need the dryer but since it was only our washer that wasn't working but decided to replace them both since the new washer is cream and the old one is white.  I figured I could try to sell our dryer on craigslist for a little and recoup some of our investment.  Once Dode got everything hooked up, we learned the dryer is broken.  Now, we have to resolve that with the seller!

Beware of Chili Peppers

Thursday night I made chili for dinner.  I cut up a pascilla pepper and wasn't careful about keeping free of the seeds.  Later, I got a phone call and while on the phone, I rubbed my cheek.  Big mistake!  My cheek was instantly on fire!  Once I got off the phone, I hurried to the sink and tried to wash my cheek with soap and water.  That was my 2nd mistake.  I ended up spreading the fiery pepper oils from the corner of my eye to under my nose.  I grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer (the hard plastic kind you put in a cooler to keep everything cold) and proceeded to make dinner while applying soothing coolness to my cheek.  But, the ice pack couldn't be everywhere at the same time so I started looking for remedies.  I tried vinegar, no help.  I tried milk, no help.  I turned to the Internet and someone suggested milk of magnesia.  I went upstairs and all we had were tablets.  I crumbled one up in a glass with some water and smeared it on my face.  It felt good right to begin with, but was soon burning again.  Back to the sink to try washing again with the same result, now my nose was also burning!  Back to the ice pack, still trying to make dinner.  Back to the Internet where some people recommended a paste made of baking soda and milk.  Finally, some relief, over an hour after the first burn.  The baking soda/milk paste cut a lot of the heat.  When Dode got home from work, he took one look at me and thought the baking soda paste were blisters and I needed to get right to the emergency room.    At least the chili was tasty!

Front Page News

Dode suggested after our Polar Bear Dip that I send a photo and short "press release" to the Arlington Times Newspaper.   I got a phone call Monday morning while I was at school with the kids from a reporter.  He asked me a bunch of questions and said he thought there'd be room for an article.  I told the kids there was a possibility we might be in the paper and they were so excited.  They could  hardly wait for Dode to get home with the papers Tuesday night.  It made it on the front page! 

Elizabeth couldn't stop jumping up and down with excitement.  Really, she would stand in the middle of the room with the paper in her hand jumping up and down then look at the paper then start jumping some more.  Anastaya had a smile as big as could be.  Isaac intently got to work reading the article.  A little while later, Miriam came up to me crying.  I asked her what was wrong.  She was sad because she'd chickened out and hadn't done the dip.  I think Jacob is disappointed as well but he's too cool to show it.  Throughout the night, Elizabeth kept getting excited all over again, with more jumping up and down.  The kids couldn't wait to show people they know that they're in the paper.  I ran into one of our friends who also delivers the paper like us, so she knows early on what's in it.  (She was also one of the people who came to observe the dip but not participate.)  She said the paper should run more of these kind of "small town news" stories.  We told her it's her turn to make the front page next week! 

It felt a bit surreal to be delivering the paper while in the paper. I think it helped give the kids some extra motivation to get the papers ready to deliver this week. They knew that with each paper delivered, they were spreading their "15 minutes of fame".   Isaac was my delivery helper this week and he kept pretending to shout out the window, "You really want to read it this week, I'm in it!" 

here they are pointing to their photos in the paper

Here's the link to the article if you're interested...

The reporter had to do a bit of detective work to find my phone number because I hadn't included it in the email.  He googled my name and found my blog.  From there, my "Year in Review" post had a photo with a caption about being an employee of the Tulalip Tribes.  He called up the tribes and got Dode's number from there.  Dode gave him our home phone and my cell number.  Dode laughed later that he should have told the reporter that I'm an employee of the Arlington Times (it's actually Sound Publishing who owns the paper and I'm an independent contractor for them).

One of our friends took the photo that was used.  He'd gotten a new camera for Christmas and this was an excuse to use it.   When he heard about the article he wrote to us, "That has awesome written all over it! I was thinking I’d have to take the plunge next year, but now that I’m a professional (albeit underpaid) I might just have to take pictures again."  His wife wrote in an email, "T.J. has already e-mailed the link to his family bragging about being a FRONT PAGE PUBLISHED PHOTOGRAPHER… and he has only had his new camera a few weeks!!! "

The other family that did the dip with us were also in the photograph.  The wife, Marcia, wasn't so thrilled to be featured on the front page of the newspaper in her swimsuit.  Her husband and son were disappointed they weren't!  (They hadn't made it all the way to the dock yet.) Typical of the differences between men and women!   Am I embarrassed to be there in my swimsuit?  Nope!  Sharon mistook me for Allison when she looked at the photo.  If I can be mistaken for a 13 year old girl, I'm pretty happy.
I'm hoping the article will spur some interest in the dip for 2012.  The kids' computer teacher said she thinks she'll join us next year.  Getting published in the paper sure kept the excitement of the dip with us longer this year.  We made the plunge on Saturday, and on Thursday they were still excitedly sharing the news of their fame.  It was so fun to see the kids showing off the newspaper to their friends and teachers.  It gave me a great feeling.  I do the polar bear each year with the kids to be a "cool" mom.  I felt like I was a really cool mom when I helped get them published in the paper.  How many families can claim that their fun activity made it on the front page of their local paper?  I felt like I'd given them a great gift.  I even gave the gift to Dode who made it in the paper for his third time!  (The 1st when he was the 1st baby born in Arlington in 1971, the 2nd when he was seriously burned, now a photo of him on the dock with his crazy family).

2010 in review

 Looking back over a great year,

Lots of playing

2 trips to the Great Wolf Lodge

February 

 and September

Spring Break in Ocean Shores where we broke tradition and stayed in a different hotel.

A road trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Nauvoo, Il that took us through 14 states
many I'd never visited before.  We camped for a week and a half in a rain storm that we could never escape for more than a few hours.  When we turned back west to Nauvoo, we finally escaped it!

A road trip to Disneyland

Dode got to finally play along side us!

A few changes

Got the trail 90's running
It only took us 14 years of owning one before we finally got it running.

I learned to enjoy sewing (amazing).

Our cat of many years died, leaving us a pet free household.

I started my own produce co-op (about 150 participants now).

Miriam began kindergarten at public school.

I learned to back up a trailer!

My cheat sheet, laminated and affixed to the back window of the van.

I started piano lessons

A few things stayed the same

Dode fixed the car, and fixed it again and again...

 

  Another year of cub scout day camp (a sports theme this time)

  We added yet another fun thing to the yard.

We hauled, split, and stacked a lot of firewood.

I read a bunch of books.

We threw a lot of newspapers out the window

54,390 to be exact!

A few things I loved in 2010

a house full of children

keeping up with Sharon and Lynn on Skype

 travel with the kids

Do I have to look like a hillbilly to do it?

kids who normally fight getting along

                                                                     
Trying on a new personality

watching them wiggle to the Wii

cousin time

more cousin time

Grandpa comes over, Grandpa eats, Grandpa sleeps, repeat with each visit.

15 minutes of sure bliss on It's a Small World, at least for Miriam and Elizabeth!

Some of the perks for being a Tulalip employee, a free ride in a police car!

one cool Dude

best re-purpose of an old church shirt

building a table with Dode

CUTEST swimsuit of all time!

I wish I had bought one in every size available

Every time I see her flouncing around, it makes me smile

Princess and the mattresses

solving our septic tank problem after only five years of trying

(Dode used these rocks to build a new drain field)

((We didn't know we'd have a new problem six months later that would require a professional to fix!))

Jacob finally finds a way to satisfy his sweet tooth!

solving car problems half way across the country without Dode,

Not even telling him about it until the next day so he won't feel bad

exploring the United States with the kids

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah

my first visit to Salt Lake City as a member of the church

scuba diving in our huge pool with an awesome aunt

 boat rides

cousin time in the jeep

more cousin time in the jeep

notice a trend?

I discovered that I really really really enjoyed Disneyland.

Can we go again next year if I'm a really good girl?

Pretty toe nails and

time at my favorite beach, Jetty Island

Life is full, life is busy, life is not all sunshine and roses.  We've got eight different personalities in our home, all struggling to learn and grow. 

We've laughed,

 We cried,

We fought,

We ate A LOT of ice cream,

  

We passed out from exhaustion.

 But I have a testimony that I'm exactly where the Lord wants me to be, doing exactly what he wants me to do.  He's given me gifts and talents uniquely suited to my life.  Some of those gifts he wants me to work on: patience, prioritizing, unconditional love can only be developed by doing hard things.  My children are always ready to help me as I try to develop those gifts.  I'm so thankful that I've got a great partner beside me every step of the way.  I look forward to all that 2011 will bring to our lives. 

Dode and I will each turn 40.  Jacob will turn 18 and hopefully just maybe graduate from High School before the end of 2011.  Isaac will begin High School.  Anastaya will become an official teenager.  The car will break down, the boat will break down, the lawn mower will break down, the computer will break down, the kids will break more things in the house, and Dode will fix it all.  We'll go on fun trips to put many more miles on the big van.  We'll laugh and cry and serve and love and through it all we'll be the Dorrel and Stephanie Dickson family.  Hooray!