adventures with grandaddy

Last Friday, my Dad flew into town on business and the kids anxiously awaited for Grandaddy to visit! Here they are on the steps eating fruit snacks as patiently as they could.

And then he was here!!

He brought Bakugans! The kids were elated as they love them and have a little collection going.



The kids LOVE the goodies that he brought for them! Grandad could hardly wait to give them to each of the kids. Ryanna got a little pink book light, and she's actually always wanted one! She reads hours and hours a day, so this was perfect.
Carter loves his Bakugan. He constantly throws it and loses it. Who knows where it is, I actually think he lost it right after I snapped this picture.
Dawson got a "laser blaster" that can change the laser pictures. There's an alien ship, an astronaut, a smiley face and a pair of feet. He loves it!



We played with the toys for awhile. Grandad showed off on his Ripstick that he brought over from Shanghai. The kids got such a kick out of this! Seeing him wiggle and wiggle was a sight.



I love that my Dad loves my kids so much!
Then we went over to my most favorite restaurant in the whole world! Costa Vida!! Thank you for a delicious Sweet Pork Salad, Dad. Seriously, it's HEAVEN! It's also a small world, we ran into a couple of friends that used to live in Shanghai and were in my parent's branch. My brother, Aaron, actually was their Home Teacher! It was so nice to meet them, and they talked of how much they loved my parents.
Carter just liked the pop.

After we got done eating, we headed over to R. C. Willey to visit Donny at work. I'm so glad that I brought my camera, it made for some fun pictures. Dawson absolutely LOVED this bed. He kept asking if we could "afforded" it. Maybe someday, kid.

Ryanna loved this chair, it could twirl and go pretty fast. Sorry this is blurry, I was giggling at her little pose and the camera couldn't focus.
Carter was enchanted by this Sleeping Beauty Carriage bed and kept jumping on it. He loved playing in it and we kept getting the stink-eye from a passing salesman.
Ryanna loved it though!
They made a mess of the sheets and I had to fix it, of course, aforementioned salesman was still watching us. I don't think he liked my taking pictures either.


This was GREAT. The kids were so excited that they had this in the center of the kid's department. You could purchase this for your kids to play on, but because of liability, the kids couldn't play on it. It had TORT written all over it, Ryan said. But it was ironic!


But we miss GRAMMIE!! And Uncle Aaron. Hurry and come home, please?!

"you're on a loop"

It all started when Ryan tried to request a transcript from U of I to be sent to our address in Boise. It evidently was sent down, but then a yellow label with a forwarding address was slapped on it and it was sent back up to Moscow.

Confused, Ryan asked me, "Well, could you have possibly mixed up the addresses when you submitted that change of address form online?"

I huffed at him. "Yeah, right! Seriously, I did it really carefully and I swear that I entered the right addresses in the right areas. But I'll check it out."

I got on the phone with the national USPS Hot line. Got a gal, she really wasn't interested in helping me, I kept asking questions, she kept saying, "I don't know. I'll submit this form and then someone will be contacting you by Monday." I'm frustrated by this point, I just want my dang mail!

Then I called Moscow Post Office and talked to a supervisor there. He didn't know what was causing it and I kept probing and kept asking questions, pleading for answers. He got into the computer and exclaimed, "Hey! You're on a loop." I said, "Uh, yeah. I LIVE on one." And he said, "No, you're on a loop. Your mail is on a loop. It's being forwarded from Moscow and then to Boise. Then from Boise it's coming back here to Moscow."

I said, "Whhhhaaaaatttttt?! So now what do I do?!"

I called down to my Boise Post Office and got some supervisor who didn't know what I was talking about, she got another supervisor. I explained my situation (I got really good at explaining it shortly, sweetly and to the point). She had no idea what I was talking about and I explained it over and over. She got into her computer and said, "Oh! You're on a loop."

I said, "I know. How can I fix that?"

She said, "You'll have to go online and fix it or come into the office and fill out a form."

I was so frustrated and I said, "Are you kidding me??!!! I don't have a car, I have three kids and there's no way I can get down there. Now, help me PLEASE FIX THIS!" (steam is coming out my ears by this point)

She said, "Looks like this is what happened: You submitted a change of address form from Boise to Moscow, right? (right...THREE YEARS AGO WHEN WE MOVED TO MOSCOW) Then you lived up there for three years (yes, I just told you that) and the moved back down to Boise at the same residence you did before? (yes, yes YES!) And did you submit a change of address form from Moscow to Boise (over two weeks ago, yes) and get a confirmation of that? (YES). Well, you should be fine."

Here's what happened: (If you haven't figured it out by now)

My change of address request from THREE YEARS AGO was still in effect. Mail sent to Moscow was forwarded to Boise, then FORWARDED back up to Moscow. Since there's a change of address request from Moscow to Boise, the mail was being RE-FORWARDED back to Boise...and then sent back again. I know this by now. This has been ingrained my mind by now. I GET IT!

But then, she said that the old forwarding request from 2006 was no longer in effect. And I'll start seeing my mail..."for sure by Monday."

I called the U of I office again to explain why their documents were sent back to them. I gave them my inlaws' address to send it to.

Will SOMEONE please send me a letter to see if it gets here? Just for kicks? This is why I'm dropping usps like third period french. I'm quitting cold turkey.

Because, apparently I'm on a loop.

goodbye gadekens

For two years, Brandon and Ryanna saw each other daily. They played daily. They fought daily. A few teachers at their school even thought they were brother and sister! They deserved each other and love each other. They had to say goodbye and Ryanna was heartbroken to leave. Here's their story:

In August 2007, five-year-old Ryanna was getting ready for her first day of Kindergarten.
We were both so excited! We went over to her school, she stood in line and they hadn't met yet, but there was a potential friend in the picture. (Isn't that weird?! We didn't know them yet and yet he's HALFWAY in the picture! And notice how she's in stripes and he's in plaid).
See how little she is! (she's in stripes)

They were instant friends. Here is their class for their fist Barn Dance. Do you spy Brandon and Ryanna? (he's in plaid and she's in stripes)

We had play dates over the summer and had kept in touch. Then the first day of First Grade came...they were in the same class again!! (he's in stripes)


We started carpooling. It was such a blessing because I taught piano right after school and it was so much easier for us to split up the week and take turns carpooling. A HUGE blessing!!
Their second Barn Dance was a lot of fun too!
(Brandon's in plaid)


Ryanna passing out her birthday treats on April Fool's Day this year. Do you spy Brandon? (he's in stripes)
For Ryanna's birthday party this year, it was a costume party. Brandon came in his grandfather's uniform and was very proud to be in it. (neither are in stripes nor plaid!)

This is one of his beautiful mom, Stacey. She's such a sweetheart! This was taken at Eastside Park for Dawson's birthday party in September 2007. (I'm sure he's wearing stripes or plaid underneath his little jacket!!)

The day before we left, the kids got to say their goodbyes. They look so grown-up! (and I couldn't help but notice...the metaphoric change of their clothing--polka dots and solid shirts. No more stripes and plaid pictures. Sad!)
Dawson, Brandon, Ryanna, Wyatt, and Carter.


Ryanna sure made some really special friends in Moscow, especially in this past year. Stay tuned for more posts about Isaac and Colby! (why are all of her closest friends BOYS?!!)

first slide of the season

We got out the slip-n-slide yesterday and tried to teach the kids how to do it. It was absolutely HILARIOUS!

Ryanna would start waaaaaaay back and run run run and FLOP! She'd belly flop onto the slide and then not go anywhere. If she DID go anywhere, she'd veer right and land on the grass about halfway down the slide.

Dawson would also start waaaaaaay back and run run run also. Unlike Ryanna, he would have all this momentum and then THUD! Land on his knees. Bringing him to a complete stop. And he looked up at me like, "Why aren't I moving?"

Carter wouldn't run and slide. He would just run up and down the slide, getting in the way of the other two. He'd mostly play in the water at the end of the slide. And because neither of the older two would actually slide that far, Carter could play as long as he wanted!

Even when he would TRY his best to slide, he would just sit there. Didn't go anywhere!

It wasn't until a little later that I resorted to running behind Ryanna and Dawson and actually PUSH them down the slide. They thought that was great, as did I; but it's exhausting! We all had a lot of fun, though. After a while, they got the hang of it and started getting better at it.










The water that we use for the slip-n-slide is cold irrigation water. So it only took about 20 minutes and all three of their lips were quivering. I got this awesome idea.
I took the little pool inside and threw it into the bathtub, filling it up with warmish/hot water. I hauled it outside (YES it was very very heavy and I did it without spilling, thank you very much) and threw it on the grass. The kids called it a Hot Tub. So they were warming up in their little pool they affectionately called a Hot Tub! Needless to say, it wore them out and we had some summer fun.








Fun times! You gotta love summer and make-shift hot tubs.

gimme my million, please

There are some perks to living in a battery-operated world nowadays. Have you ever played games that start as board games and end up being electronic? One total flop in our house was Catch Phrase. You can't play that one electronically. It's annoying and dumb.

But once in a while you can find a seriously cool electronic game and love it. The one that we've played 4 times this last week is our ELECTRONIC MONOPOLY! It's so cool! Totally worth the $35 we paid for it. It's brought so much fun and giggles into our house. There are new icons you can be, new places to buy and instead of cash, you have your little credit card.

Ashley and Donny come over to play, which we love being so close to them. Usually the games end up being 3-4 hours long, which goes by so fast! The boys plot against we girls and visa versa. We have so many "house rules" that make the game even more fun. Why it always turns into girl vs. boy I can't figure out.

They came over the other night and brought Twizzlers and M-n-Ms. We started the game at 9pm and they didn't leave until 12:45am! And after a long and very intense game.....I WON! I actually won. I've never won a game of Monopoly in my entire life! Not sure if it was because I was ruthless or because they just wanted to go home to bed and let some things slide, but I WON!!

I ended up with over 111 million dollars. I so wished that was real.

toto, we're not in moscow anymore

I didn't think that I was as emotionally attached to Northern Idaho as I thought! I always thought of myself as a City Girl. (as "city" as Boise can get, I suppose) When I moved up to Moscow the summer of 2006, I thought to myself, "How on earth am I supposed to live without a 24-hour Walmart? How can the city just shut down and force you to not have a life after 9 pm?!"
Thus, I dove headfirst into my situation and found that it fit me quite well. It was a challenge, living without Ryan as he was in law school. It was hard to do most everything myself, with handling the finances, taking care of the house and all inside of it, while making sure that the kids are safe going to and from their various activities.

This is what I'll miss most about Moscow:
25- Dental Depot and Dr. Cole--as weird as it is for me to actually miss a dentist, I will miss mine! It was physically 67 steps from my front door. I was always in good hands there.
24- My friends-- I made such wonderful and dear friends that I won't ever be able to replace. We were all poor together and we made due with what we had.
23- Thursday night getaways--Ryan would make sure that he was home and I could run to the gym and Hastings without guilt. (I could make it from my front door to my gym in under 3 minutes...and it was on the OTHER side of town! Not even kidding).
22- The Palouse Mall--it was so small and the deals were always fantastic. I could load up all three kids, go shopping and then back out to the car within 10 minutes if I had to.
21- Moscow Family Medicine/Gritman Medical Center--they were within walking distance and they were always professional and helpful. Definitely recommend having a baby there. If the weather is good and I felt perky, I'd walk to my appointments.
20- Applebee's--the very limited amount of restaurants forced me to start enjoying this place and it has become the center of many fond memories--especially the vans of truthiness after it has closed...
19- Eastside Marketplace--where else can you go that your DMV is half the size of the only movie theater in town? And has an indoor playground where the kids can play and you can paint pottery.
18- My bank, my pharmacies, my routine checkers at Safeway and Rousauer's--they knew my name and always said hi. Seriously, it's Mayberry.
17- Dragging the kids off to law school and praying that we won't get a ticket just to drop Ryan's lunch off to him.
16- Driving downtown several times a day (it's the only way to and from anywhere) and not hitting any red lights. (or if you did, it was maybe a 90-second inconvenience)
15- Christmas lights in the winter--Downtown Moscow is absolutely magical during Christmastime. (but I STILL LOATHE AND DESPISE THE SNOW--all 5 feet we got this last year)
14- The Farmer's Market--we have many fond memories as a family of playing at Friendship Square and carrying our fresh flowers and produce that we bought at the market. There were signs that said that you had to leave your llama home.
13- Driving our "Loop"--we'd go to Pullman for a DQ Dilly bar and then go by the WSU bears, watch the planes come and go at the Moscow/Pullman Airport. (which is the size of a gas station, by the way--very small but busy)
12- Hanging out with the law school study group-- Peppercorns and Eddy the Puppy. Good times.
11- U of I Law school-- always choosing to screw over a class and it being Ryan's, and always having something under construction. At least they've always been consistent!
10- My little house in Moscow--. It didn't have a disposal, air conditioner, dishwasher or ventilation and it was horribly inefficient with the heating...and my heart broke as we drove away. I loved that house and was so in love with it. The natural light was incredible. I loved it. (we were incredibly fortunate with our landlords too, we always appreciated them).
9- How kids could play outside and as long as you had your eye on them, they were safe. There were more dog-people in the town than kid-people; so the parks were hardly ever busy!
8- Rousauer's Doughnuts--better than Krispie Kreme, better than gourmet. The best I've ever had. Delicious.
7- The Rolling Hills and the Palouse--it was "post-card picture perfect" every day. Beautiful.
6- The simplicity of Moscow--you got to one end of town in less than 5 minutes. If you had to go into "town" it was not a stressful thing and most of the time you walked.
5- The aisles of any given grocery store--the organic section was bigger than the dairy section. It was a hoot at first, but then I got used to it. Even shopped in it sometimes.
4- 1 1/2 hours from Hayden--Going up to visit my incredible grandparents was so much fun. We got to visit as often as we could and it was always nice to come away with full tummies!
3- Piano students--I'm going to miss them. They were such a fun challenge and it was so rewarding to see their progress. They were very much apart of my life.
2- My ward--my callings, the fabulous friends that I served with, the tremendous examples that have blessed my life and my heart forever. I cherish you.
The number ONE thing that I will miss about Moscow is:
1- Having Ryan gone all the time. (It's not what you think!) Since he was gone most of the day and some of the night, our hours spent together was very special. We had such quality time together and our marriage flourished and our friendship is healthy. (not that it ever wasn't) But Moscow did something to us that we can't explain. It was a magical and difficult time in our lives, but one that we wouldn't take back.

Moscow has gotten its "organic" meat hooks into my heart, and there it will stay.

Now being back in Boise, I'm suffering from some culture shock...what's with all this traffic?!

ring ring

There I was. In the kitchen, minding my own business when a sound filled the air that I hadn't ever heard before. Potentially could be a cell phone ring, so I grabbed the only cell phone that was in the house. (we borrowed my father-in-law's phone for the day so we could make our necessary phone calls) However, this phone was NOT the culprit.

The ringing continued as I dizzily glanced around for what could POSSIBLY be ringing. (I just awoke from a two-hour-nap as I was groggy) The basket that holds Carter's diapers and wipes was ringing, so I reached in and felt around to see what I could find.

I pulled out this cute little phone, and thought to myself, "I don't remember Donny's phone looking like THIS!" (phone still ringing at this point) I ran outside to where Donny was washing off his car in the driveway and asked him if he knew whose phone this was. He said he didn't know and I ran back inside.

It still continued to ring, and I was intrigued at this point; so I was just going to answer it. I couldn't figure out how to answer it. Yeah, that's how out of the whole loop I am with electronics.

I yelled for Ryan to come help me with this phone, because I thought that we had grabbed it by accident or something and it belonged to one of his siblings. (we just got done having a very jam-packed Holdaway weekend)

He came around the corner and asked me what was wrong. I told him that I found a phone, I don't know whose it was and what to do about it. He asked me what it looked like and pulled a matching green one out of his pocket.

He said, "Does it look kinda like THIS one?"

It finally dawned on me...this is MINE! I have a new phone and I love it. It's so cute and flips open to a little keyboard and I can text all I want. Oh, I have a husband that loves me so!