Spokane!!

A few weeks ago, we went up to Spokane, WA to check things out. David was accepted into the Hospital Administration and Policy graduate program at Washington State U, so that was our reason for the trip. To see how we liked the program and the city. We are lucky to have family up there, my Uncle Dave and Aunt Suz live there, so we were able to stay with them and their kids Alex (who was in Utah visiting) and 6-year-old twins Morgan and Kyle. It was great being able to spend time with them, as we don’t see them as much as we wish! The kids did pretty well on the drive up. We got them light-up suckers (which kept them very entertained for a long time), brought plenty of books to read, snacks to munch on, and movies to watch. Emma did say “This is taking a long time” a few times, and Cal got restless a few times, but mostly they were great! Dave drove the entire time! I was impressed!

We got to Spokane on Wednesday night around 11:30 p.m., and both the kiddos were pooped! We put their pajamas on and they crashed. We talked to Dave & Suz for a little bit, and then we went to bed. The next day, Dave had a meeting and tour of the campus with the program’s dean. So while he was there, Cal and Emma and I explored the campus. It was a pretty campus and had plenty of things to keep us occupied!
Dave was very impressed with the program and the faculty. The dean answered the list of questions we came up with, and gave him a guide to the program and lots of helpful information.

After that, we went just down the street to the River Front Park, located in the heart of downtown Spokane. It was pretty crowded as preparations were being made for Hoopfest, the largest 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the world. The park was great! We saw the world’s largest Radio Flyer Wagon. We walked across the bridges to see the falls. We played at a park for tots. We at McDougherty’s, a yummy Irish pub (hey, everything’s a pub there…plus they had a sign outside that said “Family Friendly”, and it was!) across the street. We visited Boo Radley’s, a cool bookshop/gift store. We went on a tram ride overlooking the falls. We rode the carousel (and I got the golden ring, yahoo!).

That night, I ran to the store with Suz to get some groceries, we went home and made dinner, and we went to my cousin Kyle’s baseball game. He is quite the little slugger! Then we went back to their home and played in the back yard.

Friday, we went to Coeur d’Alene, ID, which was about an hour drive from their home. We ate Subway, visited this awesome park, and went to the beach. It is so beautiful there! I’ve been there once, but it has been years! The kids had so much fun playing together. Emma just loved playing with Morgan and Kyle, and they loved her and Callahan. That night, we went to the Noodle Bowl restaurant for dinner, and then to go get ice-cream. Then back to the house to play together, and when the kids went to bed, the adults stayed up and watched some TV and talked.

Saturday, we went looking at some houses and apartments for rent if we do decide to go up there. We did that most the day and found some things that would work. Luckily, the kids were way tired and slept most of the day. We also went to the Valley Mall in Spokane Valley. Saturday night, we went out to dinner and then drove to Missoula, Montana. We drove around the town, to see what they had, and then crashed at the motel we stayed at. Sunday, we just drove home the rest of the way. We drove a total of 1,500 miles on our trip. But it was a great time and I’m glad we went. Now, we just need to decide if we’re heading up that way or not. The dean told him just to let them know by the end of July. So I guess you’ll know then, too.

Family Day at the Zoo

Every year, we go to the Zoo, and this year was no exception! Here are some pictures from our "wild" day in June! Here we are waiting in line!

Emma ready to go to the Zoo!
Zuri the baby elephant, we had a great time watching her, she was so cute!

Stacy, Kaison, Me, Cal, Emma, and Tayla ride the train.

The monkeys! They're always my favorite thing at the Zoo!
What a great day together!

Bountiful Baskets!

Today I discovered the best thing since sliced bread! It’s called Bountiful Baskets, and I’ve heard about it from a few friends and family members who’ve participated, but finally jumped on the band wagon. It’s a food co-op that is run by volunteers (if you participate, you’re asked to volunteer once in a while), which provides many communities throughout the West with fresh local (when available) fruits and veggies. You order and contribute online between Monday morning and Tuesday at noon. Then, Saturday morning, you go and pick it up at the location where you ordered from (there are many locations in Utah). They have a list of all of those who have contributed, and you go sign it. You bring your own baskets or bags, and go collect from two laundry baskets five or six fruits and five or six vegetables. For more information on the program, check out their website at bountifulbaskets.org.

I love a good deal, and I love fruits and veggies and serving them to my family. Produce can be so expensive, though! But it doesn’t have to be!

For $15, check out all of the food we got…

A head of romaine lettuce
6 tomatoes
2 broccoli crowns
1 lb. bag of baby carrots
1 lb. bag of green beans
2 avacados
One 7 lb. cantaloupe
6 bananas
7 peaches
19 plums
3 lbs. red, seedless grapes
2 ½ lbs. of cherries

A little more information about this program:

It was created by two women, Sally and Tanya. Good job, ladies!

They say, "In the conventional basket we focus our buying as follows: High Quality, Low Cost and As Local as Possible… So, how hard do we try? Pretty hard! Most bananas are from Central America or the Carribean and are grown by a couple gargantuan conglomerate growers. We get all of our bananas from small farmers in central Mexico. This saves the co-op between $4 and $7 a box, keeps money with small farmers, and helps keep the carbon footprint small. Their slogan is "Together We are Changing the World One Dinner Table at a Time"

For each order, you do have to pay a $1.50 handling fee, and also if you’re a first-timer, there is a one-time $3 additional contribution fee. But still, for $19.50 for all we got, that’s amazing! This would have cost us double at the grocery store!

They also offer different things. We haven’t tried those yet, but hope to in the future.

Mexican Food Ingredient Pack $6.50 Contribution
These ingredients are sure to spice up your cooking this week! We’re hoping for tomatillos, Grey Squash, Serrano Peppers, Avocado, Cilantro, Mexican Limes, Garlic, Green Onions, Yellow Onion, and Jalapenos! Green Salsa here we come!

Tortilla Pack $10 Contribution
7 packs of tortillas – a dozen tortillas in each (Freezes well!)
3 packs 13″ Flour Tortillas
2 packs 6″ Flour Tortillas
2 packs 6″ Corn Tortillas
Flour Tortilla Ingredients – flour, soybean oil, water, salt, calcium propionate, baking powder, dough conditioner, tortilla stick no masCorn Tortilla Ingredients – corn masa flour, sorbic acid, cal pro, CMC, fumaric acid, guargum, enzymes, trace of lime

9-Grain Bread – 5 loaves $10 Contribution

Then they have other things, like this week they had granola and snack bars and a few other things available also, which are all-natural and I’ve heard they are delicious.

Are you hungry yet?

Back to blogging...Recent News

Back to blogging, now. Here's what has happened the last month....

First, an update on the kids! They are so much fun and have the best time playing together! They love to wrestle now and have boxing matches. They cuddle in the mornings when they wake up. Cal loves to hug and kiss Emma. Here they are laying in our bed together, both in practically nothing...

And giving each other hugs!

After Emma's graduation ceremony.

And now some updates on Emma... She loves doing art projects, especially messy ones!

Emma also likes to do makeup (looks nice, eh?), dress herself, and change outfits three times a day. It kind of drives me crazy sometimes, but I guess she is a girl!

Here she is with a toothy forced smile in the new dress her Grandma Di made for her. She also knitted a cute sweater to go with it.

Emma loves to be outdoors and go to the park.

And she love to be with her buddies. Here she is with Tavin Miller at the Safe Kids Fair.

And with the Gamble boys at the Drive-In, we went to see the final Shrek movie.

Emma just completed her first year of Preschool. Our neighborhood preschool went so smoothly, and Emma loved it! It was a really good experience. I loved teaching and Emma and all of the kids had a great time and learned a little on the side. We had a little graduation ceremony, as most of the kids were going on to Kindergarten this year. Here she is after graduation.

She's getting so grown up! Can't believe she'll be four in a few months! Emma has been trying my patience again, lately, while on the other hand, she’s so cute and so much fun! It’s like a three-year-old roller coaster every day. Her behavior and attitude is up and down, up and down. But overall, it's up, and I love this girl to death!

And now some updates on Cal. Cal has been starting to talk more now. The best is when we take pictures of him, he’ll say “Cheese!” And he has the cheesy grin to match it. It’s too cute! Other words he says on a regular basis- Dada or Daddy, Mama, Emma, ba ba (for bottle or drink), ball, bubbles, kitty, doggy.

Goes and goes until he wears himself out!

When he gets a dirty diaper now, he'll plug his nose and we'll all say "stinky"! He also sits on the little potty for fun and makes "tssssssssss" noises. He's a crack-up!

Cal started saying “Rock on!” in a rough and tough voice. He’ll do that when we turn on music, especially classic rock. This, while he has his “rock on” hands moving to the beat. It’s pretty funny. He also says “All gone” or “All done” now, and that’s so cute. He’s really talking now. And he’s been biting and hitting more…hopefully he’ll learn.

This is one of my favorite pictures taken lately! What a sweet boy! Also, since we figured out his allergies, he hasn't been throwing up very much at all, and his stools are more normal. He is also growing...over 19 lbs. now, though he's still not on the growth charts. We went in for his 18 month appointment, and he's doing well! He's still the size of a 9 - 12 month old, he's just a cute little guy! He also started going to nursery a few weeks ago, and loved it! They haven't had to come get us once!

As for me, the usual cleaning , laundry, cooking, and more that is a never-ending saga. Wouldn’t life be great if that stuff did it all by itself? But I guess it’s a part of living and learning! Here's a pic Em took of me in the kitchen!

I’ve actually been practicing a lot lately, which has been good for me! We had our Spring concert for Ogden Concert Band, with the Salt Lake Wind Symphony. They were great, and I get so much fulfillment being able to play and share music. I was designated the piccolo player, so that’s what I play now. I also did a recital, along with Katie Bills, Jasmine Draper, my mom, and our few students that we have. It went wonderfully! I was so proud of my little student Allison! She has done great for just having played since September! I also played in church, along with my mom that weekend, an arrangement of “Each Life that Touches Ours for Good” I put together.
I’ve also been scrapbooking a ton this week, as I just got tons of pictures printed out. So I’m like a scrapbooking machine lately. I did several horus today. Sunday’s a good day to do it.

I’ve been hosting, along with some friends, a few showers too. I love showers! The first was a baby shower for Jasmine Crosby and her baby boy Jacob. We did a Noah’s Ark themed baby shower. So we did everything in rainbows and Noah’s ark. So fun! And little Jake is such a sweet little boy!

Rainbow fruit and veggie platters.

The awesome rainbow cupcakes, looked neat and weren't very hard to make.

Jazzy opening some presents.

Sweet little Jacob!
The next was a bridal shower for Amanda Richardson. We had a “naughty or nice” themed shower. We had plenty of food, of course, great company, and lots of naughty and nice gifts! She is getting married on the 18th – I’m so excited for her and her Ted!

I’ve known Amanda since 1st grade. But we really became good friends in junior high and high school. During those years, some even thought we were sisters or twins, so we call each other “twinny”. What do you think?

I’m done now with my Gold Medal Schools state Health Department job. They have let all of the mentors in the state go, so I won’t be doing it anymore, which is kind of sad. I have really enjoyed doing it. The kids have been so much fun, and I really believe in what I was trying to instill in them – the value of exercise, staying drug/tobacco/alcohol free, nutrition, and staying mentally fit. The variety of the job was great, so many different things to do. I enjoyed the people at the schools I worked at. Here are a few of the bulletin boards I did (very amatuer, I'm sure the teachers reading this will be laughing).

And some of the kids, they're too much fun!
I'll miss you guys!

Dave is still enjoying his job at the U of U Orthopedic Center. He has been cross-trained already on everyone else’s jobs, and so when people go out of town, he’ll do his own work, as well as everyone else’s jobs. He’s received much praise also, as all of those above him have never seen what he does so caught up and ahead of schedule. So I’m glad he’s doing so well there!

And now, as a family, we've got lots of questions to answer. Where will be be in the near future? Your guess is as good as ours. We've been trying to decide what to do for graduate school and working and everything else. We've been making pro's and con lists, fasting and praying, weighing all of the options. Still nothing seems clear to us.

So, do we stay at the U, where Dave can build his career while going to school, and will get a half tuition break? The U doesn't have the best MHA program in world, but it would work. Plus, we could still be close to family and friends. The class schedle is pretty flexible, so that's good. But it's not Dave's first choice. But it's a great option, at the same time.

Or, do we go to Washington State University (as we say, the "other" WSU) in Spokane, which has a great MHA-Policy Master's degree, which is accredited. Plus, we'd get in-state tuition, through a Western States co-op program they have there. It would be two years. My Aunt and Uncle and kids live up there, and I've been. I like it, it's anice place. But, we'd have to move away, which would be okay. He can work FT there, also, as the classes are at nights. One down side, is if he can't find a job, the student health insurance we'd buy would be expensive.Or, we're thinking of waiting a year to see if we could get into Minnesota or Washington U (ranked really high with incredible job placement rates) with a better GMAT or GRE score. So we'll see here. Hopefully we'll figure it out soon!

Also, last weekend for Memorial Day, we went to visit the graves on Sunday night. We made little paper flowers on shiskabob skewers to put on the graves, which turned out cute. We talked about those who’ve gone before us and what they mean to us. I’m so grateful for all of those who have done what they did to put me where I am today, and for the legacy of faith there is in my family. Monday, we had a luau at my Aunt Christie and Rex’s house. We had grilled pineapple, coconut shrimp, chicken shishabobs, pina colada bread, coconut cake, and sherbet. We stuffed ourselves silly! Here's Cal going to town on the shrimp!

We jumped on the tramp, talked, played, and rode these awesome bikes! They’re my favorite, I love riding them more than the kiddos.

Then we had a cookout at the Ryerse parents home. We had hot dogs and hamburgers, and had a good time with one another. Here’s Cal with the rootbeer, a Ryerse classic! It was a good day!