Halloween in August

Please don't tell Caleb that Halloween isn't for another two months. He is having entirely too much fun right now. If he isn't drawing pictures for me to hang up, he and Owen are playing the boy version of "dress-up". They go around with guns and are "Army soldiers" and I get shot/killed no less than 10 times while walking between the laundry room and the kitchen. They are usually camped out under the dining room table, snickering when I step on a "bomb" (aka - my dishtowels). Their 2nd fav. game of the moment is "lions". They are lion cubs and I get to be the "Mommy" lion. (I never ask to play - I just get assigned various roles.) The two lion cubs then proceed to "hunt" around my house. They go around first and place twisted up blankets everywhere that doesn't make sense (in front of the fridge, in the closet, behind the toilet - eww!). Next, they "stalk" their prey - the wily snakes of Africa. When they have had their fill of snakes, they come to me demanding some "zebra cereal".

These two can keep themselves entertained for hours doing this, so please, don't tell them that Halloween is a loooong ways away or I will send one of Caleb's one-eyed witches to get you!

Zion

On the way home from Arizona, Mark and I decided to spend 1 night in Zion. Neither of us had been there before and we thought since we were this close, why not? Zion is a hiker's meca but I did speak with a couple who live in a neighboring town and they said that at least 1 person dies falling every month. Just something to think about before you go traisping around the place. Unfortunately, I didn't run into this couple until Mark and I had dragged the boys along a dozen different trails.

Zion had some pretty cool stuff in it. Tunnels...

beautiful views...

trees growing in the oddest places...

and some very pretty cactus.

There was a lot of different wildlife in the area. Some things we saw were chipmunks, lizards, birds, deer and a fox.

Zion has a bus system that works really well. Because the roads are so narrow and traffic would easily occur, they have made it so that you park your car at a main place like the musuem or main lodge and then load onto the bus. The buses come every 10 minutes or so and there are 8 or 10 different stops that the bus makes. You can get off at whatever stop you want and hike around. When you are done looking around that stop, you just wait at the bus area until the next bus comes along. Since there is a bus every 10 minutes you never have long to wait. It worked out quite well.

The boys love the outdoors and they had a lot of fun walking around and looking at the different things. I told them not to touch the cactuses and within 3 seconds of my turning my back, Owen was crying. No surpise - he had touched one.

We did one easy hike that led down to a river. It was so peaceful down there and quiet. I loved it. Mark noticed something and brought the boys down to investigate.

Do you see this thing on my hand? It's a frog! They were everywhere. You would take a step and see all these little brown things jumping around. Caleb wanted to bring this one home but I told him this was a special frog that was waiting for his princess. I hope she comes soon.

All in all, this was a great stop on our journey and I hope that you get the chance to go someday as well!

That kiss.

It was magic. Magic, I tell you. It still is.

Two weeks past my 21st birthday and suddenly I was a Mrs.

I remember my Mom and Grandma crying and my Mom saying "Are you sure Honey? Are you sure Mark is the one?"

"Yes, Mom. I'm sure." is what I said out loud. What I whispered softly to myself was,

Yes, Mom. I'm sure because...

He is the holder of my secrets.
The weaver of my dreams.
The one who lifts me up and keeps me there.
The one who makes me feel beautiful.
He is the mirror I want to look into for the rest of my life.
The one I want to dance with in the rain, walk with in the forest, sing with in the shower.
He laughs at all my jokes.
He hugs away all my tears.
He is my other half and the one I choose to spend the rest of my life with.

Ten years have gone by since that fateful day and they have only served in making me love my husband even more and drawing us ever closer. He is still and will always be my best friend and my most favorite person on this planet.

I Love you Honey! Happy 10th Anniversary!!

Deer Park

On the day we were scheduled to go and visit the Grand Canyon, we got disturbing news. The president - as in THEE PRESIDENT - was going to also be visiting the Grand Canyon that day. We decided that is would be best to not go as it was going to be a media and security frenzy. Plus, Mark might have tried to talk health care with Obama.

We chose intead to go to Deer Park which is located right outside of Williams, AZ. It is a little park that is full of different kind of animals to look at and the best part is you get to feed the deer. This is not like Wallowa Lake where the wild deer look sick and will kick you for a Dorito. These deer were nice and the boys loved getting up close and personal.

Owen loved the deer spit on his hands and Caleb of course wiped it off quickly. Mark fed this buck while the boys told him it would look good mounted on our wall at home. Mark was proud and I was appalled. It's clearly not big enough to be mounted on our wall.

There were a lot of different kind of animals as you walked through the park. There were domestic animals like goats, pigs, birds that could cuss and bite your finger off, burros, llamas and dogs. Then there were animals like camels, caribou, wallabees, and monkeys.

I am a baby lover in any shape or form. This deer farm had baby deer, pigs and goats but the thing that really tugged at my heartstrings was the little baby wallabee. Here is doesn't look that small next to it's mama.

But when you put it next to the trainer, oh my goodness, it was so little and so cute and so precious that I devised a plan on the spot in order to take it home with me. I called out to it "Here baby wallabee, bee, bee. Here baby wallabee, bee, bee." I opened up my purse and threw my wallet and lip gloss at Mark who looked at me like I was crazy (I keep him entertained, I do). The precious little baby hopped closer to me and cocked it's little head to the side. It hopped a little closer. A little closer. And then the awful trainer must have gotten wind of my nefarious plan to steal the baby wallabee because she came and with one swoop picked it up and walked quickly away from the fence, throwing me a dirty look over her shoulder.

OK, that all really happened just in my head. I did call out to it but I stopped there. I didn't want to be a bad example for my children. But if they hadn't been there... Kye would have a new friend to play with.

For all you NAU alumni, I gave a shout-out as we drove by. This school was almost my alma mater but, as often happens, I met a boy and ended up going with him to Eastern Oregon University. I later married that boy so it was worth it, but in passing it, I still have to wonder at what adventures I would have had.

Sedona & Slide Rock

There is a beautiful place called Sedona that is a hop, skip and jump away from Flagstaff. You drive down a long, curvy road sandwiched between red mountains and as Mark and I were driving along in Big Red my mind kept flashing back to other times I had driven down that road. There was the time my Aunt Mona and I went and we were stuck in traffic for close to an hour because someone had chosen to jump off of Grasshopper point (not a good idea people) and a helicopter had to come and get the body out. Another time, my best friend Nicky and I had come to visit and we stalked a cute hiker up a huge hill only to be left behind and winded. There were many more memories flashing through my head but one of my favorites was when Mark and I were here 7 years ago. We had decided on a whim to go to Slide Rock which most of my family refuses to go to since it is such a tourist trap - but hey, I had Mark with me so I had an excuse. Look at how good my belly button looks in this picture. It is so small and tiny you can hardly see it. Sigh - those were the days. Mark and I are modeling Wal-Mart's finest swimsuit apparel and since they were out of bikini bottoms, I am wearing a pair of boys swim trunks with the mesh inside and all. (I still have them too - I don't really know why.)


Now, I want to tell you a big difference between Mark and I. While we are both adventurous, Mark is really the only one who is good at it. I am always willing to swallow my pride and dig deep for my courage and give things my best shot, but I almost always end up looking like an idiot. Case in point. When in Slide Rock, you do as the natives do and you slide down the rocks. Mark went first. With a great big push, he was off and ... running? Sliding? I don't know.

Whatever it was, he made it look easy. I think he must have been flexing his abs or something in order to stay that rigid and upright.

Next up was me. Now I'm thinking, Ok Miriah, anything Mark can do you can do better. Right? Riiiiight. I remember giving Mark a confident wave while pushing back the warning my brain was trying to send me. With a big push, I was off. I think my ab muscles failed me - they often do. In my mind I was looking like Mark did, but as this picture clearly shows, in reality, I was almost drowning.

Luckily, I surfaced and then decided sunbathing was the order of the day.

This year, with the boys, we decided to skip Slide Rock and head straight down into Sedona. We stopped at an overlook to peer at the canyon and spot cactuses.

Once we were in Sedona, I did take a lot of pictures but none of them turned out how I wanted them to and I figured that was OK. This way, you will have to go and see it for yourself. And you'll have to do the tourist thing and try out Slide Rock - make sure you do your sit-ups!

Home

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig. Our time in Arizona flew by and we had such a great time. Time with family and friends. Lots of talking, laughing and, since it was my family reunion, lots of drinking and eating as well. What can I say - it's a Mexican tradition.

On the drive down and back the boys did a lot of this:

and some of this:

It was great. Mark and I talked and talked (and I sang and sang). We have always been dreamers and planners and goal-setters and for us this was the opportunity to sit down and dream together. We have all kinds of plans now - just wait! We also had a chance to see some of the prettiest places along the way. Utah - these hills weren't alive with the sound of music - they were alive with color.

We had packed coolers full of food and we stopped at parks and neat places along the way. One of the places we stopped at was called Moqui Caves and it is close to Kanab, Utah (at the bottom close to Arizona.) A lot of western movies have been filmed around Kanab because it is truly a beautiful location. The caves had lots of history to them as well as dinosaur tracks and glow-in-the-dark rocks. The boys dug it so that's what counts. I sat around and stared at rocks and believe it or not, enjoyed every minute of it. The Caribbean is beautiful but it is an atmosphere that partly makes it so - nice beaches, pretty sand and lush vegetation. The Southwest is truly gorgeous all on it's own. The colors are so rich and vibrant that you want to take picture after picture.

I have lots more pictures but I am out of time so I'll post some more tomorrow!

Flagstaff, AZ here we come!!!

Lifelong Friends

This last weekend I had the privilege of going up to Wallowa Lake and spending time with some of the coolest girls I know - my girlfriends from college. One of them, Sarah, wrote about our history and connections on her blog here: Anderson Adventures. I don't want to copy her or "steal her thunder" (quick Sarah - what Friends episode is that!) but I do want to share some more pictures and stories about this awesome group of girls. Here we are 8 years ago on the cusp of graduation and entering the Read World. We worried about boys, bodies, and (in Jody's case) bathrooms. Even then we knew we were connected.

(Hailey, Me, Kylee, Sarah, Heather and Jody - May 2002)
Now flash forward to present day. We still are worried about boys (now husbands or soon-to-be), bodies (what the heck happened!?), babies (how did we all procreate so quickly!?) and (in all our cases) bathrooms. We were down in numbers as Hailey and Kelly couldn't join us but don't worry girls - we still felt like you were there. Hailey, you don't know it, but you got up early with me both Saturday and Sunday just like I knew you would and went for an hour long walk with me while the others slept in. And Kelly, you were right beside me as we all laughed at Fabio in the Stubborn Mule.

(Kylee, Me, Heather, Jody and Sarah)

What I love about our friendship is that we have been through a lot together and are always there for each other. I know that if something awful happened in my life I wouldn't even need to call - these girls would be there for me - just as I am there for them. I mean, look at some of the things we have endured.

The Amish Unit: Me and Heather got stuck with these two (who we still talk about and don't worry Jody - I made a copy of this picture and use the original to throw darts at!)

Numerous BBQ's at Sarah's house: Kylee, Me, Hailey and Elizabeth.

Bachelorette parties: Warning: May contain some adult content!!! The first picture is at the Greek Cuisina in Portland and Sarah and I along with Hailey (pink shirt) are getting down with our bad selves.

I'm not even going to say where we are in this picture but I'm telling you - I'll never forget it!

Weddings: I've been married since the cradle so the girls never knew me pre-Mark but we all went to weddings for Sarah, Kylee, Hailey and Heather. Jody and Kelly are next on the list and girls - WE WILL BE THERE!! This pic is from Sarah's wedding.

Baby Showers: We have also been to many of these but since I had been married the longest it was also my job to have the first baby so I did. Sarah, Hailey and Jody all came down for my baby shower and spent the night.

I love to look back on these pictures and think of all the fun we have had, the endless nights of talking and the countless memories we have created. But what I love the absolute most is that while some of the external stuff may change, like addresses and number of babies, the core person in each of us is intact and ever constant. Within a minute of seeing each other it's like we've never been apart. The stories change a little: giving birth, belly buttons, mortgages, in-laws and lifes unexpected twists and turns now dominate our conversations but our friendship never changes. These girls are a large chapter in my life and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Me and Hailey - Winter 2001

Sarah and I "The Boob Sisters". We are still killing 'em at pool!

Jody and Kylee trying to beat Sarah and I - they've been trying for years - it just ain't gonna happen.

Remember this night girls? Wasn't it fun? There were a lot of pics from this night but I am not going to include them all - you're welcome.

"Friends are the most important ingredient in this recipe of life"

I love you girls!!!