oh happy day!

Trader Joe's is opening TOMORROW in Redding! I've just spent the last hour pouring over my awesomely cool Trader Joe's cookbook that my friend Lynn got me and made my shopping list. I seriously got so hungry just thinking about all my yummy purchases I'll be making.
I drop Davey off at school at 8:30am and then I'm heading straight there to get in line with all the other crazies for the 9am opening. I can't wait. This is epic. It's gonna feel like home as soon as I step in the sliding glass doors...

Has anyone seen this woman?

So Trav and I are driving along the 5 to Ashland, minding our own business, when we pull off to get some gas at a gas station/mini-mart/restaurant which are always clean, classy affairs.
I'm wandering around looking for the restroom when a waitress points me to the back of the restaurant. I push open the door and the first thing that greets me are her stocking legs sticking up out of a tub at an awkward angle. My heart was literally in my throat and I thought I was going to be sick. I slowly push the door open to reveal her complete person chillin' in the tub. It was seriously the most weird, creepy get up. I cowered in the corner debating whether or not I could "take care of my business" with her resting right next to me.
I still felt creeped out, but I whip out the camera b/c it's all just so strange. As soon as my flash goes off she starts screaming, "Help! Help! Leave me alone, please! Someone help me!" I about lost it and ran out. They have these huge speakers rigged up and it was insane, I mean, who thinks up stuff like this and carries it out?
After her screaming I had to seriously question the urgency of my bathroom visit, I decided I could handle it, but I didn't take my eyes off her the whole time incase there were any other tricks up her sleeve.
It took me a good several minutes and a distance of a few miles between us to calm down and recover. Never again, I will hold it!

Ashland

Trav and I stole away to Ashland last weekend just the two of us. It was one of the most restful, perfect weekends we've had.
We stayed at a great Bed and Breakfast, Anne Hathaway's, hidden behind the trees here.

We walked the town and drank the nasty water that tasted like eggs and sulfur but is supposed to be very healthy for you.

We went for a freezing bike ride where my cheeks and ears burned from the cold. Trav called it refreshing. You were either ice cold coasting down a hill or sweating profusely under all your layers going uphill. Thanks to my superb map reading we did a lot more uphill then necessary. Amazing race here I come.

We ate yummy food. This was my favorite, blueberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast. This is what drove me to keep riding my bike, so I could find this restaurant. Well worth it!

We slept and read a ton. Those two go hand in hand for Trav no matter where he is really. This is in a coffee house. He has to read twelve books before June 8 for his grad program he's starting, so he was my dream travel partner b/c he had to read A LOT. I finished a novel in one day, read lots of newspapers, and picked up a People magazine of course, which is now a rare treat for me...

We walked a ton. This is Lithia Park which is another special place in Trav's and my history. When we were at Simpson we drove up and spent the day in Ashland and saw a Shakespeare play. We brought a picnic lunch, it was raining out, and we ate it inside a tunnel at the playground in this park. I went to find it on this visit, and sadly, it has been replaced by one of those new fangled plastic playgrounds that you see everywhere. It's such a beautiful park to walk in.

Re-entry was rough for us yesterday as it always is. How do you step back into work meetings, making dinner, homework with the kids, laundry, etc gracefully? We did it by vegging out and watching numerous clips on hulu and youtube till we fell asleep. We're back in the game today!

Lazy Days

We look outside yesterday to find these two perched on the railing of our deck overlooking our fence.


Payton had her lifeguard rescue whistle on hand waiting for people to walk by. When she spotted an unsuspecting walker she'd give out a shrill whistle and a happy wave. Davey was also on the lookout assisting Payton.
I might join them next time and help create an even weirder name for ourselves in the neighborhood.

Long Day

We are in the middle of our fab southern cal trip to visit friends and family when the boys bust out in a major asthma episode! I was in denial for awhile not wanting to even CONSIDER leaving early. I threw everything I had at them, allergy medicine, pulmicort, albuterol, humidifier, and gatorade to keep them hydrated, but it just wasn't enough. So we ended our visit four days early. Payton cried, Jonah was furious, Davey was oblivious, and I was numb.
I'm a quality timer. I had lots of amazing visits and long talks ahead still on my trip that I had to forego. I had been looking forward to them forever. I did get a great Easter with family and got to see a bunch of friends already, so I was leaving with my love tank at least filled up partway. It was hard to leave without it on overflow like it usually is!
Lucky for us, my mum and dad said we could detour over to their house for a few nights here in Santa Cruz, a welcome distraction. It softened the blow of leaving. As Payton put it, "If we had gone straight home we would've been down in the dumps!" Who talks like that? She's so sweet and cracks me up.
It was a terribly long drive for me alone with the kids with my baby not thriving. Jonah improved with every hour on the road, but Davey was in awful shape the whole way. The inhaler wasn't helping. I pulled over and sat in the lobby of a hotel and gave him albuterol through the nebulizer b/c it has a bit more punch to it. It didn't help him at all. He was so weak and tired, could barely talk. I just kept praying we'd make it to my parents. Davey was so frustrated at one point he yelled at me, "Why did you just pick Payton first and make me the sick one!" Poor guy. It made me sad he thought I chose this for him...
Couple Davey's illness with me driving for eight hours in gale force winds the whole time. I had to keep a fierce ten and two on the wheel to keep us on the road, tumbleweeds flying everywhere, junk flying in your face and eyes when you get out of the car. One little girl asked her mom if we were all going to die at the hotel the wind was so scary. Payton voiced a hope that a tornado would touch down for us. I'm at my absolute worst when one of my kids is teetering on a hospital visit and I'm by myself, so I snapped, "I'm a little overwhelmed right now and the last thing I need is you wishing a tornado down on me while I'm trying to drive us home!" Good times.
Current status. Both boys slept peacefully through the night. Jonah's cough is loose and productive, he's over the worst. Davey's still asleep, I'm hoping he'll wake up to improved health as well. I'm just grateful we made it here, and things are returning to normal. I'm hoping I'll fill up the rest of my love tank here with family, long talks with my sister, and maybe catch a friend or two before we return home on Friday. It's a new day.

Love Lessons

God has been teaching me so much about love these last few weeks. I went out to breakfast with a dear friend last week and talked about how Jonah loves to cuddle at bedtime. He asks almost every night for one of us. Trav is good at being present and restful with the kids. He gets it. I'm embarrassed to say, but its a challenge for me, I go all day with the kids, and by bedtime I am crawling out of my skin for some quiet time alone. I indulge Jonah every once inawhile, but most of the time I tell him I would happily cuddle with him all day but night time I have stuff to do...
Then I started to think about how Jonah expresses his affection. He is a unique little boy, so bright, observant, but kind of keeps to himself in some ways. He doesn't freely hand out the "I love yous" or give impromptu hugs. I usually have to chase him down and squeeze one out of him. BUT, at night, in the quiet and the semi-dark of his room, he LAVISHES love, "I just love you mommy, you are the best mommy, I just like you mommy" and he talks on and on about his day or special favorite memories of his. God just burdened me so heavily for Jonah asking, "Why the heck aren't you doing this every night? Isn't creating space for Jonah to express and receive love one of the greatest priorities of being his parent? What kind of friend, husband, parent do you hope him to grow up to be? If you push aside this time with him, will he think that love didn't have time for him, that it's not that important?" Wow, it just became so clear to me all of a sudden. Then I spent the weekend at women's retreat learning to love well, and it just cemented this burden to love my kids' better.
One of my favorite quotes I got from another dear friend that did a mission year experience a long time ago. Their mission statement is, "Love God, Love Others, Nothing else matters". I've been writing that and rewriting that in my journal so much lately. I WANT to get this right with my kids, especially with little Jonah. If nothing else matters what else could be more important? I'll never be a perfect mom, but I can always grow and get better, my story's still being written!

Happy Birthday Babe

Today my love turns 36! We kicked off the day with an early breakfast at I-Hop before school. Frosted Flakes, Funny Faced Pancakes, stuffed french toast, omelettes, YUM!


Davey and Jonah both do not like to take pictures, they always have to make a goofy face or hide, and yes, I am totally that mom that gets upset and tries to argue them into taking at least "one normal picture", as if my nagging will induce a great, sincere smile out of them.
So this time I just went with it. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

It was so cool b/c while we were there, Trav and I just realized that it was literally fifteen years ago TO THE DAY that we sat in that I-Hop with Joel and Elizabeth after the Spring Banquet in '94. I looked over at the booth where we had sat that night remembering us young things, not having any idea that this was the real thing. We were in it for life! If we could've flashed forward these several years and seen us sitting there, still so good looking, with our three kids. Crazy! God is good.
The kids started a birthday journal for Trav for his gift. Each year they'll draw a picture and write a letter to him. I'm hoping it will be a great reminder of their development and love long after they leave us for homes of their own. I think we're going to start one for each of the five of us for our birthdays so we can all enjoy having encouragement and love lavished on us each year.
What do you get the guy who has everything? My gift to Trav is a ten hour drive in the rain with our three little angels to Southern Cal that shall commence sometime this afternoon. You're welcome babe:).

A Date with Joe

Jonah and I went out to dinner at the Olive Garden this week just me and him. It was such a sweet time. I feel like our relationship tends to be all about business, getting ready for school, doing homework, stop bothering your brother, stop talking about farts, pretty much just me giving a lot of instruction and correction. I need to carve out more time for us to play and just "be" together.
He LOVED going out to dinner, he made polite conversation, asked me what I liked about my day, charmed the waitresses with his shy manner. We went out to Coldstone afterwards and he offered me his ice cream with gummy bears b/c he wanted me to have a treat too. He told me I was nice and that he thinks he would like to marry me, but I'll be too old and people will see me so maybe not.:) I told him that was ok, that I was planning on still being married to Daddy, he asked if Daddy would be old too, and I said, "Yes, but he'll be MY old man". Jonah has such a sweet spirit, I just need to make more space for him to show it.