Hawaiian Holiday

I should have just forgotten my camera, for all the pictures I did not take. Here are just a few: 

Bellows Air Force Station. Mont ran around at full speed through the surf for about 30 minutes; 

back and forth, back and forth, kick kick, cha cha cha. 

A lagoon or two down from ours, we were walking with the kids down to see the hammerhead sharks at the I'hilani Hotel and try the buffet at the Disney's Aulani Hotel. On the way back, to keep Mont motivated to keep moving, we had told him he could "run through the dark trees" .. and he did. The entire walk home, all three huge lagoons, he ran and ran and ran, even circled (multiple times) around  the "dark trees" - he thought it was the most adventurous thing ever. In North Dakota when it is dark, it is either snowy out, or very late in the summertime, so nighttime is always a "new" thing for him to experience when we are farther south than our current living coordinates. :) I couldn't believe his little legs had that much running power. It was hilarious!

come see the moon

The kids still love the moon with all their hearts lately, and when it rose so big and bright like this, they asked me to come see and take a picture. I love what they love, so I could hardly say no! :)

White Christmas

It's no surprise that it snows a lot here in the winter, but it's always a cute surprise for the kids when they wake up to big snowflakes falling all around. Mark was upstairs with the kids while I was getting ready for the day when he had this candid moment with the kids. I love this picture he took of Mont, arms outstretched in excitement over the snow and of the season. Wish I felt this way over the snow even after Christmas too!

Squadron Christmas Party

Emmy and Mont surprised me with their bravery every time we saw Santa, no matter where we saw Santa this year. Even here at the party they went beyond Santa and even bounced around on the bounce houses that in the past have been far too intimidating. Maybe they really are getting older and braver and stronger. I was happy they got to have so much fun. And then we got sick... I am not to the point in parenting where "I don't care if my kids get sick, let's let them have fun." When parents bring themselves or their kids who are still sick to parties, I get mad... because then it's too late and my kids have already gotten their germs. We all got sick after this party. Experiences like this make me think I will always have this mindset. And I hope I do. I can't understand the people who come around without any regard for other's health! Merry Christmas. :)

Ward Christmas Dinner

End of November I was contacted by our Bishop's wife, asking me to be in charge of decorating tables for the Ward's Christmas Dinner on December 15th after church. Of course I accepted the "challenge" but goodness, did I stress over the budget: $70 for room of about 250+ people. All through our trip to Utah, I worried about getting to stores and getting things at wholesale, and when nothing seemed to be working out, I decided to do the simple approach. 

I spent a total of $32 on: 

ribbons

cranberries

burlap 

For Free: 

pinecones from our yard (summer collection)

pine boughs cut from our huge Christmas tree!

mason jars from a friend who hadn't used them for canning this year

white butcher paper from under the church's stage, unused for a long while

I haven't mentioned the delicious pine smell! It welcomed you as soon as you opened the door to the gym.. and it was SO Christmasy. Hallelujah!

When I began laying things out on the 'demonstration table' for the people who showed up to help, I was nervous.. is this going to be enough?? is it pretty? is it nice? is it what I hoped for?? Well, they loved it right away. Oh, I was relieved! And I admitted to myself, I liked it too. 

It was simple, understated, warm, colorful, and still festive. I was approached by our Stake's First Councilor, later after the dinner was done and he had nothing but nice things to say about the table decor. I can't tell you how nice that was to hear. I have never taken on a 'job' like this! ha He and his wife had grown up in a Lutheran church, and he said that these decorations were so "classy" (he said - he is a pretty stylish guy, so I took it!), and that you could bring anyone here to the dinner and they would feel at home and welcome. I'm tooting my own horn pretty loudly, and you might be thinking these don't even look that great! Yikes! Haha So I am going to sign off and say this was a fun project, and I was happy to be the one to do this after all the stress over it in the beginning.

our little elfin friends

Before December had rolled around I had seen this blog post, and decided that this might be a fun way to bring some Christmas magic into our house for the kids. I don't hate the Elf on the Shelf, don't get me wrong, I've laughed at quite a few of the antics I've seen pictured around the internet! We actually did some of the silly ones for these three little ones. We called these three our Kindness Elves. Pretty soon though, the kids were just calling them "The Elves"

They came with a letter (that I had typed up in haste the night before), introducing themselves and delivering some "nice list" pajamas. Sorry this is the worst/best picture I took of the letter by tree light:

Every morning the kids would run upstairs to see where the Elves had moved and done during the night before. There were one or two mornings we heard them running up the stairs talking about the Elves and Mark bolted out of bed to hide them until he could stage them. Whoops!! thankfully that only happened twice, I think. ha ha!

live nativity

The two wards that meet in our building/town, every year has put on a silent live nativity.

I drove in earlier that day to set up inside for the hot cocoa that they serve when people are ready to warm up after they last more than a few minutes in these negative degrees. The volunteers are members who sign up to do 30 minute shifts in long johns and costume garb, probably wishing they were huddling next to the livestock standing by to stay warm! It is a beautiful, humbling, reverent sight to behold. We didn't stick around for it that night because we were unfortunately under the weather as it was, even without standing outside in negative temps.

While I was driving away, Brother Renfrow (I visit teach his wife, whom my children love dearly because of her chickens, turkey, other fowl and rocks) was parked outside with the stable. It was just too much; I had to snap a quick picture.

This nativity has been drawing quite a crowd from town and the surrounding areas, with even quick write ups in our local papers. Very fun to have ties to something like this.

Mommy, can I touch the moon?

Yesterday while Mark was flying, I took the kids late to the commissary (at dinner time, when it is already dark) for an emergency diaper and milk sort of run.

On the way home, while we bundled in our coats and held tight to whatever could warm our fingers, Mont and Emmy noticed the moon. Typically we are inside with lights on at this hour in the winter (and in summer they are asleep before it gets dark), so seeing the moon is always a big deal to their little selves.

Mont: "Mommy? Can I touch the moon?"
I tell him not right now, sadly, because it is so far away, and it's dinner time. But maybe he can go when he gets bigger, like Daddy. "Maybe Daddy can go with you to touch the moon. Do you want him to go with you?"
Mont: "Yes! I do want him to go with me."
"Okay, then you will have to work really hard in school and grow really big, okay?"
"Sure, I can. Why do I have to work really hard in school?"
"Because you have to be very smart to go into space. Did you know that?"
"Why do I have to be really smart, Mom?"
"There are lots of buttons in space."
...
"If you go into space you will be called an astronaut. Do you want to be an astronaut?"

.... Practiced saying it a few times. Emmy also joined in here...

"Yes, I want to be an astronaut."
Emmy: "I want to be an astronaut too!"
I asked Emmy. "You do? Emmy you are a brave girl. You want to touch the moon too?"
"Mhmm!" (that's a big yes, in Emmy-language)

We circle a LOT in conversations in the car. What came next made me smile about as big as moon is wide. Emmy told Mont again that she wanted to be an astronaut, which made Mont take over the answer side of the conversation (typically mine or Mark's role). He proceeded to tell Emmy how hard she will have to work in school to become very smart so she could go into space. I believe they have their first career goal, and my air-force-wife-heart melted and burst and got nervous and melted again.

I love these two. How much you ask? Easy. To the moon and back.

the nutcracker

If I were a bettin' woman, I would bet you that my kids love the Nutcracker Ballet more than any other children out there! But I'm not, so I won't. BUT I will say that they do, absolutely, love it. We have two Nutcracker Ballet films we watch interchangeably, and Mark's parents gave us a Nutcracker Ballet mechanical music box that the kids have been enchanted with since they were old enough to hold their heads up at Christmas. 

This year, I put it under the tree so they could enjoy it at their leisure, and it was going so often! We had to move it back to the "less exciting" spot, but they still love to watch the dancers spin to the suite.

Thank you Stacey and Marty for something so treasured!

early turkey

We flew out to Utah the week before Thanksgiving for an Early Thanksgiving, with Mark's younger brother and his sweet wife. They were reunited in October after a probably too-long 6 month deployment. They were going early for a friend's wedding, so we took advantage and went out early as well. Glad we did! It was a lot of fun, and lots of toys and laughs and wrestle matches.. Unfortunately, these are the only pictures we got. Fortunately, they are of some pretty great people. :)

Oh good, she smiled after all!! 

rake 'em up

I'm a big believer in giving little people little jobs, like putting clothes away, helping me load/unload any sort of appliance, groceries, weed pulling, etc. So when we were going a little stir crazy from the coming cold weather, we dressed up and headed outside for some good old fashion yard clean up. The kids loved it. At first.

Look at these colors! So soft and mellow compared to Summer Brilliance.

Mont telling me he was too cold to rake any longer. Oh Mont, it is going to be a hard winter for you..

But he perked up enough for another moment before getting to go inside:

Quasimodo/Emmybowdo: Bows under hats don't work all that great I'm figuring out! ha ha 

But she still had enough 'umph' to take a chance to roar back to her Montster brother:

squirrel, crocodile, skunk and ghouls

Halloween, 2013

Base trick or treating ^^ 

Squadron trick or treating ^^ 

What are the odds of two squirrels at the same party!? Granted, one has wings. Emmy still loved it. And this is about as good of a picture we ever get these days with Emmy girl; 

she hardly ever looks at the camera! 

first day of preschool

Mont has been excited to start preschool since the beginning of summer. So the morning of, he was so compliant with all of my requests/orders. haha Getting an okay picture of him was a different matter entirely. 

He doesn't wear a uniform, but I dressed him up anyway. I read somewhere a mom dresses her kids up nice every first day of school, and when her son asked "Why?" She replied, "So that your teacher will love you." I thought that was so funny I decided to do the same, so that one day when Mont asks why, I can reply with something just as fun. Even though his teacher would love him (or any student!) in mud and leaves too. She is wonderful. 

 There we go! 

Emmy was a mess all morning long without her best friend at her side. She cried the entire time, and no distraction was worthy of stopping her tears. She worried and fretted for the entire two and a half hours of preschool. She did much better the next time, when my neighbor came along as a distraction. 

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

When we first drove through Winnipeg, we checked into our haunted hotel and then kept driving on up to Winnipeg Lake... where I did not get in. ha! But Mont has no fear yet, so he changed happily into his suit and waded around like a natural water lover.  

Mark took all these pictures of us and the only one of myself I approve of, 

I'm not even looking at the camera! ha Maybe one of these days. :) 

Assiniboine Park (pronounced: a-cinna-boyne) 

Went to the Winnie the Pooh museum at Assiniboine Park, then also the Winnipeg History Museum (VERY cool, and very huge! and yet no pictures!)

the little silver notebook

I have been afraid to click over to this little sad and forgotten blog the last couple months.. I'm not even sure who even checks in on it any more. Google Reader has gone off the radar, and things for blog-hood just don't look that bright anymore. It's a sad realization. Though, I'm still a frequenter of my favorite blogs, but even my friends' blogs have been harder to check in on for me. Time seems to swiftly go by these days in these warm summer months, where enough time cannot be spend out doors, listening to the cicadas and bumble bees collecting nectar near our backdoor. My computer and phone are mostly put to use with instagram and pinterest, where projects, thoughts and works are being projected into the world of cyber-space at an alarming rate.

Veering down the other prong in the cyberspace-fork-in-the-road, where things don't move quite so quickly, my laptop of 7 years has gone to sleep and won't even think about waking up (going on two months now). When I walk into the Apple Store with my eyes narrowed and a determined smile on my face to talk it through, they actually have the gall to call my still-used-in-movies-[probably as a prop]-computer, "vintage." It has outlasted all of my desires for a new computer, and has worked ever so valiantly to produce all sorts of electronic goods, be it newsletters, blog posts, letters, journal entries, photo-books, or other fun and imaginable things.

I was at the point of photo-collection where my next photo-book project was in the works, (of course) and now I have to think of a way to get them all off the hard drive. Plan A is to get a new laptop in a couple months, and have someone with very thick glasses remove the data from storage and put it on the fully-memory-loaded computer. It wasn't even a virus that took my sweet little silver baby. It was just too much pressure on the Starting Disk (whatever that means... it even was sweet enough to warn me for, like, 3 months while I clicked and re-clicked the "ignore" button. oh dear..) It will probably work just fine once I get all the photos and music off of it. Mom, I think it will finally be time that you have a 'new' vintage computer all of your very own. ; ) You'll love it like your own, I'm sure.

Signing off until the next update,
Jayci R.

The Winsteads

One of the few times we actually have taken a photo when we have had guests over for dinner. This family has been very dear to us for a good long while, as Colonel Winstead (far right) has been Mark's boss, the Group Commander for our base. Mark served as his Executive Officer for the past year and some odd months, going through the refiners fire of OPRs and extensive other things (of which I have no idea what to call them). Col. Winstead was the epitome of a good, patient boss. He taught Mark so many things about what it takes to being truly a good leader; he was very wise and calm, even when everything was crazy in the office and in the wing. This man and his family are absolutely wonderful. He retired when his time was up at this base, and he and his wife have gone on to traveling and warmer weather. Their children are just as sweet and kind, and their son is so devout a Catholic that he hopes to become a Priest and serve within the Vatican City itself. And sweet Sarah, who has an innate gift with children, wishes to become a teacher. Dodie (isn't that a cute name??) has been a mentor for myself and a friend as we have been serving as key spouses the last year and a half. We miss her and her entire family dearly!

4

August 6, 2013, Mont turned 4 years old 

Boundary Waters + Soudan Mine

My fuji camera barely saw the light of day at the Boundary waters, so here is a compilation of pictures from both phone and camera:

Gearing up for our canoe trip - canoed for about 3 hours on the waters (not sure what the life jacket is doing in the air):

Oatmeal Cream Pie break (for the kids) while watching a bald eagle:

Lakes sort of... gross me out. HA! I love being near and on them. But in? I have to leave that to the kids. Fish... alive and dead.. that brown thing by the duck? What is that?? Lake.

Soudan Mine was incredible. Mark and I were as excited (maybe even more so) than the kids. It was unreal! Something I never thought I'd get to experience outside of the movie theatre or novel:

Mont making the "ch-chh-ch" noises of the mining carts we rode in: 

Emmy was a lot more nervous than Mont, and wanted to be held almost the entire time. It was pitch black at one point when they turned off the mining lights just so we could feel the utter blackness and depth of where we were. It was insane! 

Mont and Max checking for sparkles on their hands after rubbing some rocks:

At a wolf refuge. Emmy, ever the animal loving Snow White:

Mont aka Mickey Rooney meets Iron Will: 

Our sleeping arrangements. Mark with Mont on the bottom (with access to the fan), Emmy and I above. It was tight, hot, and full of mosquitoes. While we loved the trip. We really didn't love the itching.

Back to North Dakota... home sweet home.