The Struggle Is Real

All this time off from school and our regular activities is messing with my head. Today I turned on the news to see what day of the week it is.

OCD

Watching his first full episode of "Hoarders" has sent my husband into a frenzy. "What are these four batteries doing on the table??!?"

The Spirit of Christmas

"To speak truth, sir... you said you were not as good as you should like to be, and that you regretted your own imperfection - one thing I can comprehend: you intimated that to have a sullied memory was a perpetual bane. It seems to me, that if you tried hard, you would in time find it possible to become what you yourself would approve; and that if from this day you began with resolution to correct your thoughts and actions, you would in a few years have laid up a new and stainless store of recollections, to which you might revert with pleasure."
- Jane Eyre

Modern Marvels

I'm sitting in a booth eating baked potato soup at a Shari's in Portland.

And I'm blogging. It's so cool.

Family Portrait

I'm sorry to say that after we spent the time and money to go and have our portrait taken, this ended up being the best shot of the night.

And yet... not sorry.

The Bells

C and H enjoyed meeting the bell choir tonight. Sweet little faces!

The M Nativities

In December 2008, we visited our stake's annual Festival of Nativities.  While we were there, a picture was taken of my daughter Rosalind, dressed in a lamb costume and playing with a toy nativity set, by a Columbian newspaper photographer.  It was published in an article a few days later, along with Rosalind's name and our names.

Mr. Marvin M, an elderly gentleman we'd never met, read the article. He liked the idea and wanted to share his late wife's handmade nativity sets with our festival.   He got out his phone book and tried to call every person named in the article.  We were the only ones who happened to answer.

Mr. M introduced himself and explained his idea to me.  Impressed by his generosity, I wanted to make sure he understood.  "You know that this is just once a year, right?" I asked him.  "They don't go on permanent display anywhere - it's just this weekend.  And would you want them back afterward?"

"No, I want to donate them so they can be displayed at this festival," he said.  "And whoever will make sure they're displayed, can keep them."

Finally, in March 2009, we drove to his home in Battle Ground to pick them up.  I didn't expect much.  I figured we were helping a sweet generous old man who loved his wife and wanted someone to love her things after he was gone.  I had absolutely no idea what I was about to walk into - a professional ceramics studio.

Mr. M was very feeble, but kind and funny, and appreciated our coming to his studio. 

Then we saw the nativity sets.  I was immediately humbled.  They were incredible.

He wanted us to take as many sets as we could carry.  We ended up with three, including the award-winning pink one, still standing next to its prize - a statuette bearing the words "Best In Show, 1988". 

"Are you sure?" we asked him again and again.  He assured us he wanted us to take them.

We made sure to invite him to our next nativity festival, in December 2009. 

For the rest of the year I looked forward to December.  It was fun to think of seeing Mr. M again, to take him on a tour of the nativity festival.  I was sure he would love it, and I wanted him to see that we had kept our promise.

The Monday before the festival, I loaded the boxes in the car and drove them to the church.  Several members of my ward helped me unpack the pieces from the boxes.  It had been seven months since the first time I'd seen the sets - and then for only about ten minutes.  We were all amazed with the detailed work on each piece, and the obvious care and talent that had gone into making these sets.  It was exciting to have them there at the church, finally.

I tried to call Mr. M to remind him about the festival and invite him to come with us.  His phone was disconnected.

I called several people in that area of town with the same last name, asking about him.  They never called back.

Monday night, we drove back out to his house, which looked deserted.  We knocked several times, but everything was dark and it was apparent no one was there.  We left a flier on his door and hoped he'd get it, wherever he was.

Saturday morning, with two days left of the festival, we drove out to see if we could find someone at home... we did.  It wasn't good news.

Mr. M passed away on September 13, 2009, just months after we'd met him and he'd given us the Nativity sets.

I mentally kicked myself for not keeping in better touch with him - not that I could have done anything about his passing away, but at least I would have known before now.  I tried to console myself by thinking somewhere, maybe he and Nellie knew about our little festival, and maybe they could come see their nativities again together.

A week after the festival, a reporter from the Columbian called me.  They liked the story and wanted to feature it and the nativity sets in the paper.  A photographer came over and took wonderful pictures of the sets (hideous ones of me).

After the article appeared in the paper, the Ms' daughter Linda Jones called me and introduced herself. She had seen the article and wanted to come over and see the nativity sets and take pictures.  Having never met her, I wondered if there would be more to her agenda - her parents had made these nativities, after all.  "Whatever she wants, I'll just give her," I thought.

She didn't want to take any of them. "My dad gave them to you, and you should keep them," she said.  She just wanted to take pictures, and she wanted to come to the festival in 2010.  Linda had obviously inherited her father's generous spirit.

We kept in touch all year, and last night I was privileged to meet Linda, her husband Walt, and Mr. M's sweet friend Faith, and take them around the church building to see the Ms' work.

They were very kind and gracious, and fun to listen to, as they toured the main room.  Passing by certain nativities, they recognized and mentioned the names of the companies the ceramic molds had come from.  It was quite educational.  Overall they enjoyed the experience very much.  I was relieved that they were happy. 

They said they would tell their friends about it, and we made plans to meet again next year.  I hope it happens.

The end... maybe.  :)

I'm Blogging From My Car

I'm bugged that my phone ate my post.
Here are the key points:

*A guy in the car in front of me littered right before my very eyes!!! He threw a smoking cigarette butt out the window. EW

*I'm currently unenthralled by, and in fact, quite sick of, Facebook. Have you ever eaten so much of something you loved that you got sick of it and never wanted to touch it again and even now, years later, you still gag at the thought of it? That's how I'm starting to feel about Facebook (!!).

(It was melted cheese curds for me.)

*Geni.com, on the other hand, is currently floating my boat. It's like Facebook with genealogy. You can't really waste a lot of time there, either. I daresay - DARESAY - that Geni will be the methadone that relieves me of my Facebook habit.

*Brennan helped me "build" my first Sim yesterday, and I can't decide how to feel about the fact that it's pretty fun. I was hoping to get some feedback from you.

That's it for now. "Sorry I'm not better-looking."

I love you!

And I love this - rock musicians talking about their favorite rock music. Bono loves Bowie. I knew I liked him...

And I love my husband's kissing all my lipstick off before he left for work. Silly man, I try to be pretty for you - but why bother if you're just going to walk off to the bus stop wearing my "Drama Girl" on your mouth?

"Do nuns wear lipstick?" is my question (you would have to see my Facebook profile picture to understand). So far I'm still in the dark. Something tells me they don't, which is one of many reasons why I'm not a nun. I look like a white piece of paper without lipstick.

That is all :)

Thanksgiving 2010 Notes

Notes to myself for next year... feel free to mock

News You Can Use

Apparently the jolt from a 9 volt battery can make you better at math, so let your kids lick away. 

Hubby: "I don't think that worked for me."

Annie P: "Told my kids once that they are robot and had to lick the 9 volt to recharge. Then they cried. In other news: I am a terrble mother."

Also: "Half-finished bridge" dreams are not my favorite way to wake up. Or dreams where I'm driving over bridges with car-sized holes in the floor... Oops!  There's a hole!

In last night's dream, I had Mom and Harrison and Carter in the car, and I knew the bridge was out, but I started over it anyway, almost went over the edge, and miraculously backed up and got us out of it.

Mom was disapproving for the rest of the dream. There was a lot of tsking.

Later: I was on the radio this afternoon! On the Mark and Dave Show - a favorite of mine - they were commenting about the FDA's proposal to cover cigarette packages with graphic pics of lungs with cancer and people dying.  

I pointed out that I would crawl through dog poo-covered broken glass to get to my ciggies, you think a picture's going to stop me?

I also said that if they're going to do this to the tobacco companies, they should play fair and make wineries and distilleries and breweries add pics of cirrhosis and drunk driving accident victims on their packaging (which will also have no effect).

Another caller said that seeing pictures of smokers' lungs in grade school influenced her to not take up smoking, so maybe some will be discouraged.  I hope so.

I kind of want to see how graphic "graphic" is.  

3:17 AM

I'm watching an episode of Law & Order: SVU about a murdered Mormon nanny in New York City. Whoever wrote it did their homework. 

"Oh my heck, that's so awful!"

The muddiest of buddies

Nathan L and C

 

My Beautiful Girlies

Cute!!!

We made Ugly Dolls in Beehive class tonight. It was Joni's idea. Loved it - we were able to talk about individual worth AND teach basic sewing at the same time. Sweet!

Whew

Watching TV.  A Viagra ad starts. 

Carter said, "Bob (our neighbor) has that." 

Hubby: "What??" 

Carter: "He has that same car, except it's red." 

Happy Columbus Day.

We'll be celebrating by wearing tunics, eating pasta, and enslaving and spreading disease to the local Neighborhood Toughs. Oh, and flying our flag ;)

Theory

Home phones exist primarily for the purpose of calling and locating one's lost cell phone.

I'm Rich

I'm thinking...

… of starting a family newsletter, just for my household, called “The Daily Nag.”

Included would be such motherly/wifely gems as:

“B, that fusty bedroom ain’t gonna clean itself… the Editor”

“Is, you have the most darling tiny forehead I’ve ever seen on a teenage girl, but I’d appreciate it if you’d pick up your rancid-smelling soccer socks from the dining room floor… the Editor”

“H, let’s stop waiting until 9:00 PM to announce that you have homework… the Editor”

“C, you were very well-behaved at the dentist’s office this week. Now get in the bathroom and floss like your life depended on it… the Editor”

“R, I realize you’re six and a princess and much more on top of current hairstyles than Mommy, but it would help if your hair met a brush every few days… I’m sorry you have such a tender head… the Editor”

“Bunny, dang! We’ve had the Nativity sets out since LAST YEAR. Are you ever going to get those boxes out of that rat trap you call a garage, so I can put them away?

“Wait, never mind, it’s September. Save this nag for January 2nd…. the Editor”

It feels great to get all of this out in the open, but I’m thinking it would be a lot of work.

It does help that I’m one of those lucky moms/wives who hears herself repeating the same statements day in and day out… maybe it would be more of a Sacrament meeting bulletin than a newsletter…

To save time, maybe I should just go around calling myself “The Editor” and call it good.

HOLY CRAP again

OK, we're still eating Mexican Chicken Soup, now as dip for tortilla chips. IT ROCKS.

Hey now, HEY NOW.

My Rosalind just scored a goal! GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL

Then she scored another one! It's a new era! Poor kid, she's usually the one tripping all over the field. Today she managed to trip one into the net!

LATER: I'm enjoying the rain, and reminded of the old 80s song, "Don't Dream It's Over" - "try to catch the deluge in a paper cup."

Went shopping with Roz. We found cute sparkly shoes.

I need these in my size

Bella: She looks like she's about to kill someone over that shoe.
"They're always after me twinkle toes!"

Twinkle toes

In my size!!!

Hmmmmm

New Fridge: Go Time

The recycled refrigerator that our landlord bought, and had fixed for us a year ago, is now dying. I found a deal on Craigslist for a fridge in the area and went with my friend Sariah to check it out. We ended up buying it, and it's been plugged in for about fifteen minutes and so far, so good! Hooray!

Basking in 80s Greatness

...and making my children watch music videos. I made Brennan watch "We Are the World" and "Sledgehammer".

These children escaped their mother's 80s madness by playing at the neighborhood park:

LATER: The Mexican Chicken Soup. It has fulfilled my every hope in life.

Chicken breasts - green enchilada sauce - black beans - sweet white corn, garnished with sour cream, cheese, olives, avocado and tortilla chips.... HOLY CRAP it's good.

Lounging in the grass

...with this one. She found Mom's glasses.

Wanna eat her face

She got mad when she saw this today. "I didn't want anyone else to see!"

Bad Influences

"The wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe. But the stupid man will just lie down on some seaweed and roll around until he's completely draped in it. Then he'll stand up and go, 'Hey, I'm Vine Man.'"

Jack Handey

Mark P: I'm pretty sure that makes me the stupid man.
Mel: I miss Jack Handey.
Jim P: My fave: Despair is like a cable that is buried just under the surface of the ground. You pull it up and pull it up, but that cable just keeps right on going, clear across a field, until you come to a bunch of guys who are burying the cable. Then just walk up to them and go, "Hey, have you seen Fred?" And they'll say, "Fred who?" And you say, "Fred of snakes?" Then cover your ears, because big laughs are coming.
Mel: “If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
Mel: "To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad."
Mel: One more: "If you're a horse, and someone gets on you, and falls off, and then gets right back on you, I think you should buck him off right away."
Me: "When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear."
Me: "Laurie got offended that I used the word "puke." But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like." 

Jim P: "If I had a nickname, I think I would want it to be "Prince of Weasels", because then I could go up and bite people and they would turn around and go, "What the-?" And then they would recognize me, and go, "Oh, it's you, the Prince of Weasels."
Me: "It makes me mad when I go to all the trouble of having Marta cook up about a hundred drumsticks, then the guy at Marineland says, "You can't throw that chicken to the dolphins. They eat fish." Sure they eat fish, if that's all you give them! Man, wise up.

Later: All the warnings in my youth about the evils of rock music have finally come true. Metallica just influenced me to run a red light.

Then Queen influenced me to park like this:

Can anybody find me somebody to park?

I walked out of the school and saw this car gingerly creeping around mine, trying to back out without hitting anything and I thought, dude, what's the deal? Then I saw how I parked.

Hubby: You did that? ha ha. I love it.
Me: I did! Do you LOVE me?
Hubby: More than ever now.

Beehive Advisor

I'm going to get along with those 12/13-year-old girls in my class juuuuuuuuust fine. Same maturity level! It has been really fun so far. Today was my first time teaching the Sunday lesson. Three girls were there today. I think we have five total.

Later: There will always be something good on TV as long as CMT keeps showing reruns of "The Dukes of Hazard." Yeeeeee-hawwwwww! Loretta Lynn was a KIDNAP VICTIM on the episode I watched today. She was so happy about being rescued, she sang "Y'all Come" for the folks. It doesn't get better than that!

Remembering "Let's roll."

Watching 9/11/01 news footage...at this point Matt Lauer is wondering if the first plane hitting the first tower of the World Trade Center was accidental or intentional, believing it was a small commuter plane, and lamenting the "damage" to the building. Still can't believe this ever happened. It's still amazing to me how quickly things changed.

Just watching this newscast go from "Uh oh, a plane went into one of the towers of the WTC" to the panic and the fear and the sadness...it was all of about an hour.

One of my dearest, oldest friends wrote a beautiful tribute to the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Makes me bawl every time I think of those poor people knowing what was happening to their plane, calling their loved ones one last time, and having the strength and courage to take the plane down before the terrorists could use it to hit anything else. Bless them all for their bravery and their love.

Shelly's note: "That Little People plane just hit me so hard. I had one of those planes. My kids had one. It says 'Thank you for saving our lives and for not hitting our school.' Actions that the passengers and crew took that day saved this school by seconds. Seconds."

Life has gone on.  I was at Roz's soccer game today and really wanted to backhand the vitriolic soccer mom standing next to me and screaming in my ear. One of my friends joked, "What would Jesus do?" The Lord was such an advocate for little children, I think He'd be a bit sad about some mother shouting at her 6-year-old daughter, "YOU'RE PLAYING LIKE A GIRL!!" I made a special point of telling her daughter how well she played after the game... I feel so superior now.

Sometimes we have to remind Roz to get her head in the game, but it was especially telling today that the other team's parents were all negative and horrible-sounding, and our cute happy little girls kicked their butts! YEAH!!!

Walloon

Word of the Day: Walloon. Use it in a sentence.

Rachel J: Before or after I google it?
Me: Before, of course
Rachel J: Dang it! Ok.....is this like balderdash? The walloon, indigenous to Costa Rica, has been known to migrate as far north as Nova Scotia.
Me: Perfect, yes, you've done it correctly.
Me: Before you scrape that gum off the floor, you'd better put on your walloon.
Stacey S: An ice cold pepsi cured my achy walloon last week.
Rachel J: No googling!!!
Me: My friend Walloon and her sister Roofine took me shopping yesterday. We bought - are you ready? - drawer knobs.
Heather M: The Walleye loved the Loon for a long time before he got the guts up to ask her out. They married, and that spring the first Walloon was born.
Me: That reminds me of "Fiddler on the Roof" - "A fish may love a bird, but where would they build a home together?"
Deirdre M: I have a graduate degree in Geography. I will abstain from this contest, because I know the Flemish will kill me if I participate.
Me: I love Google and Wikipedia. The word "Flemish" bothered me for I don't know how many years and I only had my World Book Encyclopedia from 1956 to assist me.
Dalene R: As I once lived in Namur, capitol of Wallonia, I am disqualifying myself from this fun little word game. Carry on!
Me: I love that there's a real place named "Wallonia". It sounds so storybook.
Deirdre M: Trivia question: Philippa of Hainault, consort of Edward Iii of England....
Walloon or Flemish. NO GOOGLING ALLOWED!
(actually, you can google, but the answer will still be murky)
Me: Holy poop! I think you and Dalene should be playing THAT game.
 Me: When I first saw the word this morning, I wondered if it was one of THOSE designations, like "quadroon" and "octoroon"...
Mel: The doctor finally found the brown walloon and removed it from his patient's body before he coded.
Mel: I love this game! More more more!

Then: Brennan asked Aunt Tawnee if she could make some tie dye T-shirts for him, in his school colors. She agreed and the shirts arrived today. She did a great job! Thanks Tawnee, you rock!

This is everyone's favorite

Later: Bella's soccer team won their game, 2-0. Yay!

When it rains, it pours.

I absolutely LOVE that Harrison had two girls show up unexpectedly to walk him to school this morning. Can we say "Hubby Jr"? He was still undressed from his shower! I had to rush him into his clothes because he had two chicks waiting in the living room for him. He took off walking with them... never saw such a huge smile. And he never looked back.

Carter has a new drug allergy as of today. He was prescribed a penicillin liquid for his eye thing, had to take it for ten days, and on day nine, he broke out in a weird, red rash on his neck, torso and back. It wasn't itchy, so he didn't notice it till he went to the bathroom.

So off to the doctor we went. It's an allergic reaction. The doctor told me the name of the disease and then said, "Now don't go home and Google it," so of course I went home and Googled it. It's potentially deadly. That'll teach me.

So Carter can't have any form of penicillin anymore... and possibly sulfanoids as well. I hate that I gave it to him for nine days. He was so good about it, too. But it did clear up his eye, so it wasn't all in vain.

First Day of School 2010

High schoolers!
Bella: 9th grade
Brennan: SENIOR YEAR!!

Elementary schoolers!
Roz: 1st grade (and yes she was upset)
Carter: 3rd grade

Middle schooler!
Harrison: 6th grade

The last time I was at home without kids this long was eighteen years ago, just before Brennan was born. Hmmm... can't say I hate it.

After school, the sweet relief that only the neighborhood park swings can bring:

He jumped out!!

Blue velvet shoe selfie

Then this other kid showed up.
Cute brothers 

Later: The first grader is tired and having an emotional breakdown. Her mother will not allow her to ride her bike down a busy street. MEAN. But she was so cute when I first picked her up. Her first words were "I missed you all day."

One more day...

...before school starts. We will spend quality time with the kids' wardrobes, take the kids to their various socials/orientations, and try not to stress about tomorrow. Oh, and take Bella to her soccer game.

Roz, with her knees tucked in under her shirt: "Mommy! I'm having a baby - tomorrow. I can't go to school."

Later she was looking for pants. I told her to put on shorts for now and she said, "But I want the pants with long sleeves!!"

This afternoon I dropped off Harrison at 6th grade orientation... surreal. Last week I was down the street giving birth to this kid. It's been a very quick 11 years. I'm having a hard enough time being at Carter and Rosalind's school without him. I feel like I'm missing an arm or something.

Love That Joker!

...only my undertaker knows for sure. 

Apparently the Red Cross is right and my blood *is* lacking iron! Ha haaaa!!

Not unrelated: I made the mistake of putting lipstick on Rosalind ONCE and now she needs it all the time. I secretly love it.

Bella is babysitting for our ward friend Mallory H tonight. I got this text from her: "The Hs have the cutest baby! She has tiny socks! They fit on my thumb!"

Donating blood today. Maybe.

Gee, I hope my Actifed habit doesn't stand in my way. (Hubby: "It's the meth you should be worried about!")

That silly Red Cross with its "you have to have enough iron in your blood before you can donate it" rule. The last time or two I've tried to donate blood, I've been rudely refused. Okay, just refused. Today was no exception - my iron is too low. (Awwww) But now I have a good excuse to tank up on hummus! Yay!!!

We're having a lovely pot roast for dinner tonight to celebrate my iron-poor blood.

In other news: HAIRCUTS for school!!

Guess what, it wasn't pinkeye!
Carter has cellulitis of the eyelid. Looks fun huh?
He's taking antibiotics and has been cleared to associate
with the public. Poor little eyelid.

Three boys under the scissors

Brennan :)

Harrison :) Cheese!

Carter :) 

STAT.

Today I have a boy with what looks like pinkeye, a girl with a nasty cold, a boy getting his middle school vaccinations, and two teenagers to keep happy. Cookies might have to make an appearance. Kaiser, as usual, is making me feel like the crappiest mother in existence. Thanks Kaiser!

Except look at these two little boys, who wanted a picture next to this sculpture. Just look at 'em. They make everything all better. 

Love the smiles and the Converse <3

This evening I served my first official duties in my new calling, Beehive Advisor, under Joni G. And it was really hard, too, hanging poolside with the young women. My life is pretty tough. 

In Lisa B's pool

SHORTAGE!!!

Who goes to Office Max and spends $4 for a package of notebook paper? Seriously? And may I also add that when I saw myself running to every store in town to get that one last school supply, I didn't think it would BE notebook paper? Everyone is running out!

Later: It's Date Night. Dropping off pizzas at home with the kids, then heading out with my man. Wearing the heels and a "Joan" from Mad Men updo. Yowza! 

FB ad: "Dry dog food is boring!"

... How funny, my dog always seemed so enthralled by it. And how would researchers even gauge this? Are they eating the dog food?

Roz wisdom: "Cavemen aren't modest."  I don't know. We were watching a movie and she came up with it from out of nowhere.

Me wisdom: ""Fever" is about the coolest song ever recorded."

Here are some pictures of my parents' grandchildren from this summer. :) 

My kids and Mel's kids in Long Beach, Washington

Bathing Po in my kitchen sink

Burying the kids at the beach: Roz

Carter

Zane, by Harrison

Zane, by Harrison and Carter

Harrison, Brian's leg, and THE SHADOW (me in a hat)

The Choice Is Made.

My new band's name will either be "Frenetic" or "Flying Dynamite".

Bella: Mine will be 4 kids and their dog.

Me: Daddy just gave me the idea of "Tink Pinders".

Huh.

I don't remember using up all the margarine. How many batches of cookies did we make this week?

Later: visiting beautiful Washougal, Washington.

Yay Me

I just woke up from one of those "wake up and smack your husband" dreams, but am refraining from smacking him. Such a good wife.

Katie, You Are Missed

Katie Nolan's body was found today. Katie and Melanie were close friends growing up together in Touchet, and Katie was one of Mel's bridesmaids. Here's the story from the Oregonian newspaper:

Remains of two climbers missing on Mount Hood were recovered today, eight months after winter storms forced rescue crews to end their five-day search.

A 30-member recovery team, coordinated by the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, carefully brought down remains soon confirmed to be those of Anthony Vietti of Longview, Wash., and Katie Nolan of Portland. In the process, the team closed a painful chapter for the climbers' families and the close-knit community of mountaineers.

"There are mixed feelings today," said Sheriff Craig Roberts, who went to Mount Hood to monitor the process. "Obviously, there is sadness because of the tragedy that occurred. But on the other hand, it's nice to have closure for everybody involved, particularly the families."

Roberts said he spoke to members of the Vietti and Nolan families, who expressed appreciation for volunteers who risked their lives in the searches last December, as well as during Thursday's recovery effort.

Members of Portland Mountain Rescue recently found remains thought to be Vietti's and alerted the sheriff's office. When the recovery team reached the remains Thursday, above 9,700 feet at the Reid Head Wall on the mountain's southwest flank, it found the second set of remains nearby.

The recovery team, which set out before dawn, took the remains by Sno-Cat toTimberline Lodge around 1:45 p.m., said Lt. Shane Strangfield, who coordinated the recovery. The Clackamas County medical examiner will examine the remains and identify them.

Vietti, 25, Nolan, 29, and Luke Gullberg, 26, of Longview, Wash., were attempting to climb Mount Hood on Dec. 11, 2009. A full-scale rescue effort was launched when the climbing party failed to return as scheduled.

On Dec. 12, search crews found Gullberg's body on a steep section of Reid Glacier.

What happened to the climbing party remains unknown. Searchers determined that Gullberg fell, then walked or crawled several hundred yards before succumbing to his injuries and the brutal weather.

Volatile weather conditions on the mountain made subsequent searches extremely difficult. Avalanche danger was so severe that even stable slopes had started to slide, making it impossible for climbers to head up the mountain. A storm system blanketed the mountain with clouds, posing a serious challenge to the Oregon Army National Guard helicopters trying to conduct an aerial search. Sixty-mph winds raged the entire time.

On Dec. 16, the search was suspended.

Strangfield said Thursday's recovery effort took advantage of a good weather window.

"It was real smooth," Strangfield said. "There were no injuries or problems."

He said the 30-member recovery team included members of American Medical Response Reach and Treat, Mountain Wave Emergency Communications, the Oregon Army National Guard, 304th Air Rescue and Timberline Lodge.

Vietti, Nolan and Gullberg all were committed mountaineers, united in their Christian faith.

Vietti was a member of The Bridge Church in Longview and worked at Island Lake, a Christian camp northwest of Seattle.

He went to high school in Montana and was a member of Olympic Mountain Rescue in Kitsap County in 2005. Vietti was a student at Lower Columbia College, where he made the dean's list for students who maintained at least a 3.25 grade-point average.

At the Longview church, Vietti was a youth group leader and often served as a driver at retreats.

Nolan grew up in the Pacific Northwest and lived in Portland for about three years. She was an outreach advocate for Catholic Charities' housing assistance program for homeless women. Sometimes Nolan headed out early in the morning to talk with women living on the streets.

She had begun work on a master's degree in social work at Portland State University and had traveled extensively, including trips to Peru and Nepal.

Gullberg, who grew up in Des Moines, worked as a sales clerk at an REI store in Tukwila and studied writing and English at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.

He participated in the Campus Crusade for Christ, belonged to a group called Climbers for Christ and listed the Bible as one of his favorite books.

Like Vietti, Gullberg was affiliated with Island Lake camp.

-- Rick Bella  

Questions

Exercise is going well. This morning I wondered, can I do more than two miles today? I ended up walk/jogging 3.18 miles today! Go me!

The Halloween candy is already out at WinCo! Does that strike anyone else as gross?

Summer Morning

Went for a walk early this morning.

Took this from a vacant lot in our neighborhood.
Hello Ptown!

CHILDWATCH: Two are playing Cooking Mama. One is cooking tacos. One is playing a computer game... and one is outside wetting himself....with the hose.

I'm home.

There will be no more roadkill tonight.

Taking a Family Reunion Break

We're still here at Fort S, and I met my friend Heather M, who lives nearby, for a quick pie date. I had marionberry pie a la mode. Heavenly. 

I love eating pie with my friend Heather, even when she talks about the movie "Calamity Jane" and gets the song "Secret Love" stuck in my head. 

It's About Dang Time

Look! I finally started the jeans quilt!!

Pinewood Derby

H is second from left, C fourth from left. My cutie boys 

Me again

Cute Smiley Girl

Just hanging out in the front yard with Mom

I'm fine. Everything is fine.

In the car after church

Donuts with Dads

Rozzie's sweet kindergarten teacher, Mrs. N, posted this message and pic on my wall today.

For Rosalind: Rosalind, we were so busy with the Firefighter and Donuts with Dad..will you PLEASE read your story to the class on Monday? You can do it RIGHT when you get to school! SORRY and I'm SUPER EXCITED to hear both of your stories!!!