go East then West



Adam-Ondi-Ahman

This is my family and my brother's family.  Gary and Julie have 3 boys.

Their oldest is serving a mission for our Church in Colombia for the next two years.

Ryan and Joel are still at home.



Carthage Jail

Colorado is pretty close to the center of the country. So we thought we should take advantage of that and go see some Church History sites before moving back to Washington.



Winter Quarters Temple

 

 

We had a great time! Our trip was two fold...experience the history sites and find the best BBQ in the area!

 

 We went from Colorado through Nebraska and Iowa to Illinois then Kansas and back to Colorado.  Then from there we went through Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and then Washington. 

Missouri River

 

 

 

If you are wondering...it was 50 hours in the car...together...with movies...cousins...snacks...pillows and blankets. 

 

 

 

I can safely say that my kids don't blink an eye when we say we will be in the car for a couple of hours.  Go figure!

Granger Street in Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo Temple

Sean loves hats!

 

Baptisms for family members in the Nauvoo Temple

 

 

First BBQ to try on the list.  Brisket was very tasty!

 

 

Kameron, Ryan, Joel, Sadie and Sean

 

 

 

Oklahoma Joe's is the best BBQ!!

 

I love this painting of it! The building is shared between Oklahoma Joe's and a small gas station.

Most evenings, the line is out the door. 

That's nothing...on the weekend...the line is out the door and around the block! 

It was amazing!

 

 

 

Our last two nights were in Kansas City. Home of Oklahoma Joe's and the Great Wolf Lodge. Between the water park and a Six Flags amusement park, I think we tired them out! 

 

I really enjoyed everything we saw, did and experienced together. 

Isn't that what it is all about?!

Doing things together as family!

The Farm

quail on Grandpa's chimney

Years ago my two oldest brothers took over our family farm. Those of us not farming, still consider it a family farm. So when my kids and all of the nieces and nephews are old enough, they go the farm in June and work together to harvest the first cutting of hay. This has been going on for several years now, and even though some kids may grumble about the long hours on a tractor, or the heat of they day, they have some great memories they can talk about with their cousins. Here are some highlights...

Woods' barn



Kittitas Valley facing Northwest

Baling as long as they can

With Timothy hay, it has to be very DRY to bale. So when the windy hot weather has dried it, they go out and bale it up as long as the dry hay will let them. Once the dew sets in, it is time to stop. This year they stayed out as long as 10:00pm.
The boys had many long days on tractors....like 8-10 hours.

 

The Rope Swing

 

 

Fourth of July annual kickball game--so many boys!

{Cousins making friendships}

Aunt Jessica, Sarah and Sean

Cousin Joel eating his pie...and loving it!

Kaleb on a tractor with the baler.

A local 4-H group in the Kittitas valley made these Barn Quilts as a fundraiser for their group.  The quilts are beautiful additions to the old and new, stately barns around the valley.

Ryan, Kameron and Kaleb [friend of Kameron's visiting from Colorado]

Taking Bull Grease off of skin with Aunt Susan's grainy-Mega-Soap

Climbing Grandpa's Trees

Nicole and Stan's little girls, Mikelle and Hailey...Trevor peeking in behind Sadie

Manual labor at it's best.  Taking off the roof of an old milking barn.

 

There are just some things that can only be learned by good ol' work.

The kind of work that comes from a farm.

 

Summer time snapshots

I realized that I have not posted anything in quite some time.  It has been a very crazy summer and I ALMOST feel like we are settled in the house.  But not quite.  I had a goal to paint the interior.  You know, a fresh start, lighten and brighten, make a new look, etc.  I am nearly ready to start.

 

Enjoy the pictures!

 

Pirates and treasure! This Sand Castle was outside a great furniture store in Sumner:  The Old Cannery. We found some very inspiring book shelves in there and since my brothers are taking down an old barn, our lofty dreams are to salvage some wood and create something like it. 

We brought the trampoline out of the forest and look at that...it's getting used! Sadie is trying out my ipod shuffle--so she is dancing to music. Joel is wheeling one of his air soft pistols--unloaded of course, and Sean is doing Sean stuff.

 

Sean and Guster and I on a walk. Too cute!

 

Kameron turned 17 this summer and we had a bunch of friends over.  It is not surprising that it turned in to a water fight. His good friend Tanner is on the roof with him.  It reminded me of all the water fights we had with the boys and their friends when they were little. ... :Sigh:...

Kaleb's longboard got highjacked one night.  It was strung up for while and on the large Zucchini is says:  :We killed your board."

It just makes sense for a little boy to be playing in the water and making mud, don't ya think?

We had such a wonderful summer of SUN! So we took advantage of every day we could to be outside doing something.  Sean is laying on his tummy and just chillin' there, kicking his legs.  He must of been there for a good 20 minutes. 

 

Sadie loves the zoo!   You can feed these cute little guys.  It was a little starting at first when they fly to you, but it is so fun to have them close.

 

Kaleb finishing his first leg of RAGNAR...

 

We did it! Ragnar!

 

Go Kaleb!

and I have the sticker!

 Sean's pool, hot tub, puddle?

The only way to eat watermelon...Way to let your inner self out, Joel!

 

More to come...

 

Our home

We are officially back in Maple Valley, Washington!

This small community is in the foothills of the beautiful Cascade Mountains, with some spectacular views of Mount Rainier.

 

 

(I like the how I captured the sunlight streaming through the trees...I will reflect on that photo when the sun gets covered up by clouds sooner that I want to think about...)





We have live in a quiet neighborhood on 1/3 of an acre, nestled up to 80 acres of forest and trails. The kids LOVE the forest. So much to explore...so much to build forts in...and so many blackberries to ward off with their landscaping machetes.  

                                                                  

We are settling in...with many boxes and artwork still in the garage or under the stairs. I want to paint the interior of the house, but that won't happen until September when the kids are back in school.

So nothing is up until that little beauty--of a job is done.

 

 

 

The yard looks pretty good this time of year.  Unlike many of our neighbors, I value my plants and so I water my lawn and garden.  Occasionally in the summer, you will see signs in a few yards with brown grass that say

--I am dormant, it's ok!--

 

I don't buy it. My yard is a huge canvas that I can put color here or there and move it around --any time I want to.  So we water...

May the sun keep shining on us!!!

 

 

 

 



{Less is More}

I have mentioned before that my High School Art class was probably one of the best classes I took.  I had really no idea what I was doing when I stepped into class as a Sophomore.



 My teacher didn't really lecture us about much.  She would show us techniques --like contour drawing-- and then let us go try it out on our own.  Carolyn Johnson had the best hair for loosing pencils in! She tended to have a couple stashed away behind her ear or in her bun. I remember this because as she circled the classroom, she'd fish for a pencil in her hair and if she didn't have one, she'd take yours and then demonstrate the technique for you for a time and then give it back to you. I liked this approach.  I like visual learning and to see her do it, pulled it all together. Contour drawing is unique because, you look at shapes and draw them, not looking at your paper, only the line of the object you are drawing. If you do it correctly, and not look at your paper or pull your pencil, the beginning line and ending line don't always match. You draw what you actually see, not what your brain thinks it should look like. It is an awesome drawing technique!



Another significant principle I learned was that when you make a 3D drawing, you need shadow. However, the shadow is not black. Black is not a primary color, or a color of the rainbow and if you look at a shadow, say on the backside of a leaf or something, more than likely it has read and blue in it.  Black is flat, adding other colors gives it depth.

Last, {Less is More}. Don't overdo things, let your natural eye fill in the gaps. Too much, creates confusion and doesn't let your eye rest on the painting/drawing.

So what?  From these three lessons I have found myself looking at life differently. When situations arise, I find myself pausing to look and trying to see it differently. To see color in the shadows. To not take my eye off the subject or my direction, no matter if I can't quite see the end result. To not clutter my life with stuff and with activities that keep me crazy busy. To look at the scriptures and lessons of life and see the color or meaning found in them.

The next time your kids ask you why they have to take music or do art...and they say they are no good in it. Tell them that is OK. You don't have to be good at it. You just have to do it and something may stick with you for the rest of your life. 

{Art} it has become part of my character and I wouldn't want it any other way.

comes to a close

Our year of {Colorado Adventures} has come to a close. We have moved back to the land of the green, Maple Valley, Washington.  It was a very difficult decision to make! Through prayer and a lot of faith, we feel like this is right place for us right now. 

 I LOVED the sunny days!

The wild, red, rocky terrain is amazing!

The big cerulean blue skies are  AWEsome!

I loved the thunder and lighten storms and the dry heat. 

Keno says I am solar heated, so I really liked feeling warm the vast majority of the time. 

I liked having snow and then liked when it melted.

I really liked the open feeling of the place. Probably because you could see the distant Rocky Mountains from just about anywhere.

 I caught a rainbow on one of my runs. I love it!

Beautiful!


We'll see you again at another time, Colorado!

That is a nice Boulder...

Since the house we are living in was on the market on Sunday, and showings come at any time, we decided to go on a drive to Boulder, Colorado. 

 

Since spring has sprung, the grass and leaves have come out and it is BEAUTIFUL in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. 

 

Boulder Colorado

I am not going to lie to you, I like the area around Boulder.  I could live there. It is snuggled right up next to these huge mountains.  It is a college town...Colorado University...and it reminds me of several college towns that I have been to.  It isn't too big, but is has it's own Mall...so you know it has made some statement to have one of those. 

 

 

I understand that is it a liberal town.  Maybe more than Seattle! More of a Portland mentality. Kinda hard to think about, actually. 

But I liked the old craftsman homes with big trees lining the streets

{yah, those homes are in the 2.4 million range.  Anything with a point in the sentence is big, and out of my range.  But it makes a great atmosphere I a town!}

 

On our way back, we went through the Rockies to a town that just appears.  One bend in the road, no town, the next, a Casino town.  Pretty much that is what goes on there. It is called Central City.  It has an old part of town that is pretty genuine updated - old west looking.

Central City, Colorado

Sadie was pretty done with the whole car thing by the time we left Boulder. So we put MegaMind in the DVD and here are their mesmerized expressions.

{I am pretty sure Kaleb could quote 85% of that movie - it's a talent}





 Not a bad Sunday afternoon drive.  Keno is nervous about our upcoming road trip to Nauvoo and Kansas City.  I told him he just needs to lower his expectations a lot and it will be fine. 

{Not to mention using his noise cancelling headphones!}