So That's What Did It

At dinner at Candice and Matt's tonight, Harrison came forward with his idea that my screaming in pain when I broke my foot was actually me screaming out of anger because he and the other kids hadn't picked up the toys in the hallway (which caused me to break my foot). All this time he thought I was mad instead of in pain. Poor kid! I traumatized him!

Brian: "He had seizures for a YEAR because of that!"

Harrison busted up laughing. Oh, the looks on the S family's faces :)

The Obviously Exhausting Sport of Bowling

But first: This morning I went for a walk.

Looked over a bridge.

Looked over the other side.

Took a pic of this old lady.

And now, our story.

Our first "kids bowl free" coupons of the summer have arrived! Hubby took the three youngest kids bowling today. What a good daddy.

Don't you point that finger at me.

To bowl properly, one must take advantage of the lounges by
LOUNGING on them

A wonderful time was had by all. :) 

"You come up this instant... or I'll get the hose!"

First: here are two necklaces Brennan made.

Awesome, huh?

And now, a tirade.

THEY FOUND US! WE DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND US!

It's that time again

It's not that I don't want my children to watch scripture-based cartoons (although I do wonder how putting Jesus and Nephi on the same level as Scooby Doo and Bugs Bunny messes with their little heads); it's that I HATE THIS COMPANY.

We've had several unfortunate run-ins with the Living Scriptures people. It all began in Utah, when we lived in Logan and made frequent visits to Kristy in Salt Lake. Their kiosks were in every mall you walked into and they were MERCILESSLY annoying solicitors. Like, don't even walk by them, don't get in their line of vision, or you'll get stuck there for ten minutes before you end up telling them "no" fifteen times.

Then we moved here, and they were making the rounds door-to-door, which was infinitely worse. I know they're just nice kids, usually newly returned missionaries, trying to make a living - it's the company making them do all this stupid stuff. One day I was working in my garage and this kid calling me "Sister _____" walked into my open garage door while my back was turned - I almost had a heart attack. I thought since he knew my name, I must know him, but alas, he had learned my name and address from a probably harried ward member who just wanted him off her porch. I was sufficiently creeped out by this kid that I was inspired to complain to whoever sent him my way.

I emailed the Ward Email Lady (this was before Facebook) asking that she please email the other ward members and ask them not to give our name to any Living Scriptures people in our area. This touched off an email explosion the likes of which I had never seen. "I don't want them here either!" "Quit sending them to my house!" "These people are shysters!" And the stories of people being ripped off, trapped into contracts, bothered on the phone, at the mall, in their garages - just from people in my ward, never mind the rest of the scripture cartoon video-watching world - were most impressive. Not good, Living Scriptures.

Another guy came to my door and tried to guilt me into buying these cartoons. I told him that with our tight budget, the cartoons weren't a priority and he was AGHAST that I would say such a terrible thing. "How can they not be a priority?" he wept into the frame of my front door. "They're very affordable! Even people living in TRAILER PARKS can afford these!!"

Uh, what? Did you just disparage trailer park people to me? I COME FROM TRAILER PARK PEOPLE.

I called the company's 800 number at that point and told them that if they ever darkened my doorway again, they would be hating life, and I think I scared enough members of my ward with my Living Scriptures wrath that only my darkest of enemies would dare send them to my house again.

It's been over ten years, and we've moved several times. But today: another cute young 20-year-old calling me "Sister _____" showed up at my door. Hence the sign, and the nasty email I wrote to their company. I may have to call them again if this kid doesn't take my sign seriously.

This concludes my tirade.

Fortunately, Hubby rescued all involved by whisking me off to dinner at Who-Song and Larry's. It was a lovely evening and we sat outside and watched the boats and a nearby cute fussy baby. I think Hubby was afraid I would start trying to make friends with the baby's family so I could play with him.

Us

We enjoyed a lovely drive home and I went to bed at, like, 8:30. I love being old.

Superman ate a pickle.

...while standing in his mom's room,
wearing a sweatshirt.
It was sour.

LATER THAT EVENING...

Roz's Activity Day leaders threw a fun Mad Hatter Merry Un-Birthday party. We were all asked to wear silly hats. Thanks to Grannie, we had several to choose from.

Roz is in the straw hat with black band

Hubby as Captain Jack Sparrow;
me with the Salem hat

Cute girlies

Rozzie and Daddy

Us

Joni G and Missy K of the Primary presidency
(two of my most favorite people ever)

Later, Harrison and Carter played ultimate frisbee with the stake young men, and Bella and I played ultimate Hangman in the Relief Society room with the Laurels in lieu of our scheduled activity, a spa night. I worked more on FrankenBlanket. It was a fun evening.

Happy Saturday 2: Willamette National Cemetery

A couple of years ago, we learned that the Saturday before Memorial Day is a good day to visit our national cemetery. Also, the Farmers Market is open on Saturdays and has gorgeous flowers for sale. Hubby and I made a quick bouquet run in the afternoon, and I cut some flowers from our yard. Then we met Ernie at the cemetery (he's been working on a project in P-town).

Carter getting to work

Carter and Bella

Roz and Carter

Harrison watches

Bella, Brennan, Ernie

Hubby

Me! And flowers from the Farmers Market.
And Brennan's legs.

Gran

Poppy and Grandma Keithler (Ernie's camera)

Grandma Keithler's sister Rose and her husband Kenneth Austin

This is our cousin Gwenda Knutson's husband.
Gwenda was the daughter of Edith Eldred (Wilson) (Hull) Layton,
and Edith was Grandma Keithler's first cousin on her Clark side.
Not confusing at all, is it. Neenaw says his nickname was "Swede".

 Some shots Hubby took near Swede's grave... it was a beautiful evening.

After we visited everyone that we had time and flowers for (Aunt Marguerite's husband Uncle Ralph and a cousin of Grandpa Carl's are also buried here), we went home for dinner and games. It was fun to have Ernie come over. 

Ernie is good at this Wii bowling stuff

Roz loved playing with him.

A very happy evening, indeed.

"How was your anniversary?"

We had an interesting anniversary celebration. First there was the car, which decided that today was the day to have the starter act up, so we drove around to Les Schwab and various other car places to figure out what was going on. It was now 6 PM and nothing else was open, but we did spend enough time inside Les Schwab to have the tire smell burned into our noses so bad, we could taste it. That took us to Burgerville for some dinner – I seriously wanted some onion rings to kill the tire taste, but apparently at Burgerville, onion rings are “seasonal” because they only use Walla Walla sweets. WHAT??? This is a burger joint! Where are the dang onion rings! Hubby was amused by my temper tantrum.

Following the Burgerville trauma, we went home. By now the kids had trashed the living room, so we made them pick it up before we left for our night on the town. First we headed to Target and bought the 2nd season of the TV show “Arrested Development” on DVD… it was on sale. Hooray! We love that show! The cats are suffering from a flea infestation (which means we soon will be, too) so we bought some flea collars and a new kitty brush, and a $2 green T-shirt for Bella. Then it was off to our favorite book joint, Barnes & Noble, where we had fun browsing and I bought a Mary Engelbreit magazine. Finally Winco, where we bought groceries and a Cyrus O’Leary chocolate cream pie for our anniversary dessert. We are tired out and ready to collapse. Ah, the joys of being married 14 years.

Green Eggs & Ham Breakfast

What do green eggs taste like? They taste, strangely enough, like regular scrambled eggs with just a hint of mint. Just kidding... all they did was throw in some green food coloring. We had an awesome time this morning celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with Harrison and the kids at school. Hubby even won a $25 gift certificate for food from a local restaurant (the one that provided breakfast)! Our friend Christi D also won one, so we joked that he and she could go on a date together and it would be free. What a lovely thought on your anniversary. *wink*

After we ate, we went back to class and the kids heard "Green Eggs and Ham," and each got to pick out a new book as a birthday gift. Our friend Kailyn D, who helps in class, told us that Harrison, when it was his turn to choose, seeing all the "little kid" books, he asked if there were any chapter books instead. Hubby whispered to me proudly, "That would be Big Sister's influence on him!"

It was a very enjoyable morning. We took lots of pictures of Harrison and his friends, his teacher, and other friends and ward members who attended with their kids.