Memorial Day Weekend

Up in the great Northwest we enjoyed something that hasn't happened in over 30 years. All three days of Memorial Day weekend were not only sunny but with highs in the 70s. Can we say, "OH YEAH!!!" So what did we do when my sister Heidi and family from too hot Eastern Washington crossed the Cascades to visit? OH YEAH, we went outside!

Saturday we went down to Seattle. Vicky and I took turns at the Seattle Temple. While I was in the temple Vicky and the boys went to Ikea, and I ended up running into one of my most favorite mission companions, Todd Skouson (from Arizona). Small world isn't it. He and I had lost track of each other. Now he is married, has an eight month old girl and lives in Beremerton, WA.

After the temple we met up with my sister and her family (the Segos) at the Seattle Mariner's game.

The roof was open at Safeco Field for the beautiful Seattle evening.

The Sego clan.

It brought back great childhood memories to see the "Kid" (Ken Griffey Jr.) back in a Seattle Mariners uniform again.

The "Kid."

Two year old cousins Breton and Benjamin at their very first Mariner's game.

I think Vicky and I have something for major league baseball and Memorial Day weekend. When we were on our honeymoon in San Diego, just after Memorial Day weekend, we went to a San Diego Padres game.

After church on Sunday we enjoyed a walk in Whatcom Falls Park. Bellingham is a very "green" city in many many ways. We very much enjoy the many beautiful green parks Bellingham offers.

(Signs of a good walk.)

That night we enjoyed steaks (kudos to my sister for sharing their winter cow,) grilled outside. OH YEAH!

On Monday, Memorial Day, we drove down to Deception Pass State Park on Whidby Island and played in the sand at the beach. We hit the tides just right, which were the farthest out they would go this month. Not only did we enjoy the sand, but also tide pools filled with sea creatures.

This is the lighthouse sand castle that my neices, nephews, Benjamin, and I built together.

Vicky and I capped off this fun filled full weekend with staying up 'til 1am packing for our summer trip to Juneau, AK. My company shipped some of our belongings up a few days later, but to do so we needed to have our items ready to ship Tuesday morning.

Now it is late on 31 May. We leave tomorrow afternoon, 1 June, for Juneau, AK. Vicky and I have mixed emotions for this trip, but overall are very excited for the adventure. The Lord has blessed us with a family, the Mitchells of Oregon, to stay in our home for the summer. And also with great help and generosity from others in our ward.

Hopefully in Alaska we will get to see some whales and bears!, (but not see them too closely.)

Then and now

Four years ago Paul and I looked like this:

We were younger, skinnier, and had plans and dreams that have grown and changed along with us over the past four years.

Now we look like this...


and have these...


and I really couldn't be happier about the direction our lives have gone.

I wish I could find more expressive and meaningful words to say how I feel about the man I married and the four years of life we have shared together as husband and wife than I feel blessed, but that's the bare truth. My life is rich and full, and I feel safe and secure, mainly because of the wonderful person, and good husband, that Paul is.

Happy anniversary, Lovey!

Benjamin's Favorite Things

Benjamin loves to read books, and one of his favorites is Freight Train by Donald Crews. I found our copy at Goodwill for 79 cents. He "reads" it to himself over and over. Here's a sample:

Is it Batman or Teeth?

A couple of weeks ago Benjamin was wearing this shirt:


I asked him to tell me what was on his shirt, and he responded, "Teeth!"

At first I thought he was thinking of the pointy bat wings as teeth, but after considering the shirt for a minute, I realized that he didn't see the black Batman image, but rather the yellow part surrounding it. (Can you see the "teeth" in the picture above?)

This morning Benjamin was wearing the shirt again, and Paul and I were remembering how funny it was when he said it was teeth. Benjamin, wanting to participate in the joke, looked down at his shirt and laughed, "This is my teeth shirt!" I walked behind him to look at the logo from his perspective and yes, it definitely looks like a funny mouth with teeth!

Popcorn Popping

Several weeks ago, when I was either excited that it was spring or hoping that spring would hurry up and arrive (I can't remember which), I saw this fun and simple craft on the blog Serving Pink Lemonade. Benjamin liked it so much that he asks to make another one about every other week. So far there are only these three (two made at home and one made in nursery), but I have a feeling there could be more of these on the wall before spring is through.

I was impressed with him for not eating any popcorn with glue on it, but most of the stuff he grabbed from the bowl went into his mouth rather than on the paper. I thought it was fun too, so I helped fill in the gaps.

Of course, the several cups of popped corn was more than enough for a couple of popcorn trees, so what did we do with the leftovers?

We made caramel corn, of course!

This recipe came from a woman in my ward when I was a kid. My mom has the recipe typed (with a typewriter) on an old index card in her recipe file. I wish I had a copy of that, but this (rather dirty) page you see is from the cookbook I made myself when I went to college.

First, measure five cups of popped popcorn into a paper grocery sack.

Next, put 2 Tablespoons corn syrup, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 4 Tablespoons butter or margarine into a glass measuring cup or other microwave-safe container.
(When Paul and I were first married, I tried making this recipe using a plastic bowl with a lid that I assumed was microwave safe (because I didn't have a paper bag), but the candy got so hot in the microwave that it melted the entire bottom of the bowl and filled our apartment with burnt plastic smoke. I learned my lesson and now only use glass to be on the safe side.)

Microwave the ingredients in the glass measuring cup for 1 1/2 minutes on high power, then stir. Microwave for 1 more minute, and stir. Then stir in 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla. The mixture will get foamy. Pour it over the popcorn in the grocery bag, fold down the top of the bag, and give it a good shake. Stick the whole bag in the microwave for 1 minute, then shake it again. Microwave 1 minute more. Shake it one last time before carefully dumping the popcorn, which will be very hot, onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Let it cool for a little while, and then enjoy!

You can experiment with different microwave times with the paper bag. The longer you microwave it and the more powerful your microwave is, the more dark and crunchy your caramel corn will be. I've reduced my microwave time to thirty-second intervals in the past, resulting in gooey, chewy popcorn, which was good also if you don't mind it sticking to your teeth.

This is a really easy, simple recipe that makes a good, inexpensive treat in minutes. And who doesn't love some good caramel corn?

April Showers Bring May Flowers

This is our backyard ...
Vicky and I have been greatly blessed to live in an area where moisture is in abundance. And with that abundance comes lots of green. And most things that are green also have flowers.
In this blog post are pictures of flowers in our yard. Not all of them are posted here and not all of them are ready to bloom. Most of these flowers were planted by others and are being enjoyed by us. And hopefully the flowers we have added to the yard will be enjoyed by others to come.
Recently I celebrated another birthday. One of my gifts (pictured below) was a wildflower book. I am not sure how I got so lucky to receive such a great gift, but I did. The gift actually came as a surprise, but a good surprise. Previous to my most recent birthday I was on a hike with my boy scouts in the woods. As I hiked up this steep trail with my ever-getting-heavier backpack I kept noticing a beautiful white flower (unfortunately I have not included a picture in this post). I stopped to take a closer look. While enjoying the simple detail of this flower and wondering what it's name was, from behind me one very intelligent 12 yr old scout said, "That's Trillium." I right then and there wanted a wildflower book. Two weeks later my wish came true. And yes Trillium, or Western Wake Robin, is in the book.
For as long as I can remember there has always been a fascination of flowers inside of me. When I was young my parents always planted a wide variety of flowers. In addition to our vegetable gardens we always had flower gardens throughout the yard. Each year additional flowers were grown, some more exotic and tropical, others more plain and traditional. But each flower had it's own beauty.
As a boy scout, my father was the scout master. So guess what we learned about while hiking in the mountains of Washington and Utah? That's right, flowers. There were all shapes, sizes, species, and colors of flowers pointed out. Some bloomed yearly, others multiple times each year, and others once every seven years.
So maybe there is something in my genes which is drawn to these delicate creations. Maybe I'm a softee and not as manly as others may think I am. Maybe I am odd because I love to buy Vicky flowers not just because I know she will like them. But rather I too really like them and enjoy finding new colorful species to share with her.
Or maybe there really is something more to these beautiful and often unique plants which blossoms inside of me. Some power which speaks to my heart. A power which entertains my mind. A power which draws me to a greater appreciation of One who loves me more than we could imagine. The One who each day helps me to blossom as I allow myself to be nourished by Him.

How beautiful it is to flower.

Fun Family Visit

Last weekend we enjoyed a fun visit to Utah. My older brother, Jason, was graduating from college and we felt it was important to support him in his achievement. Jason is probably the most intelligent person I know and I have looked up to him ever since I can remember. He's been working on this bachelors degree for roughly 10 years, and I am very proud of him for sticking it out. Jason and I even took Statistics 221 together from BYU Independent Study. (That was the hardest and worst class I ever took. After full days of work and school, we spent many evenings one semester trying to work on that class. It sure seemed like most of our time ended with us lost and confused, bored-out-of-our-minds, and either exploring on Google Earth or sharing fond memories of the past ... Both of us did end up passing that class though.)
Jason was part of the first class to graduate from UVU (used to be UVSC, but the state college is now a university). Since he's been in college he has gotten married, bought a house, had three kids, and was the head branch manager for a very large company. And he was one of seven students older than 30 to graduate from UVU.

Pretty fitting to honor Jason, President Monson came to the graduation and spoke.

In the audience were the other members of the First Presidency as well.


After the graduation song had finally finished replaying over again and over again and over again and over again and over again and over again and over again and over again and over again it was time to go back to my parent's home to enjoy family time. I love spending time with family more than anything else in the world. Whether its with me, Vicky, and the boys, or with my whole family, parents, siblings, and all the kids, I love it. (Wow there were a lot of commas in that sentence.)

Rhett likes swinging.

Benjamin likes to ride pink lawn flamingos.

I even had helpers to help me blow out my birthday candles.

The visit was very enjoyable. Many late nights, a trip to the fish tanks at Cabela's, and lots more time with family. This was a fun trip and a welcome short vacation.