Goals for 2013

I am ready for a fresh start this new year. 

I haven't picked up my camera in 2 months.

I haven't blogged in 2 months.

There are a million and one reasons why but the main reason is because I haven't squeezed the time in to do it. 

But, it's a new year and that means anything is possible right?

Mark and I are big goal setters. Always have been, always will be. 

It's how God made us and I'm so glad He did!

Mark and I usually go out to eat and sit down with hot drinks and discuss our plans for the year. Where to focus our money, our time, our attention. 

We talk about different areas and create goals for each different one. 

This freaks a lot of my friends and family out that we actually sit down and do this, but I find it soothing. Without direction I am lost easily. Very easily. 

Here are my goals for this year. Some are ones that Mark and I have together but some are mine alone. 

Spiritual Goals:

*Choose one book of the Bible to read per month or 1 Christian study book 

*Do a marriage devotional with Mark

*Facilitate a Dave Ramsey class

Marriage Goals: 

*Go out (just Mark and I) at least once a month

*Look for only the good in each other and show more grace for faults

Children Goals:

*Continue to pray with them each night and record it in our prayer journal

*Work with them on their chores around the house - remodel how I expect things to be done

*Do "boy stuff" with them even if Mark is not around (i.e. learn how to shoot the BB gun, build legos, and throw a football)

Home Goals: (these are definitely the both of us)

*Put in the pump for the creek and get the pasture sprinklers going

*Fence the pasture and plant grass

*Put in the sprinklers for our yard

*Plant grass and begin to landscape

*Put in the shed and chicken coop

Health Goals:

*Run in 4 5k's this year

*Run a 10k

*Participate in either a Tough Mudder or Warrior Dash or Dirty Dash

*Run at least part-way up Doomsday Hill during Bloomsday

Financial Goals:

*Now that the house is built, restart our retirement accounts and boys' college accounts

*Pay cash for all Home Goals

*Increase income by renting out pasture this year (to non-crazy people preferably)

That is all for now but I'm sure that more will come up as the year goes on. It's always fun to look back though and see what goals were accomplished and what ones weren't. I have a plan now and I 'm ready for 2013 to start!

What are your goals?

Life with these monkeys is always fun! 

Caleb is tackling 3rd grade (I can't believe it!) and Owen is officially in 1st. 

I love that they are both with me at school all day. 

It works out great! I get to see them at some recesses, all the assemblies, in the hallway and sometimes at lunch as well. What a perfect way to spy!

Caleb "thinks" he has a girlfriend. 

Owen "thinks" he has 12. 

We have had many talks about girlfriends and how they are not allowed, but Caleb still blushes bright red if you ask how a certain girl in his class is doing and I still overhear Owen telling Caleb how "all the giwls just wuuuuv" him so I am thinking that our little talks are going in one ear and right out the other. 

In the interest of education, Mark and I have encouraged (and even participated in) some experiments around the house with the boys. Owen finally, finally, finally had a loose tooth. He was over the moon and wiggled that thing like crazy. I think he was just excited about the idea of some money from the tooth fairy. That and the fact that he was actually going to be like the other big kids (Caleb). 

He asked Mark and Caleb if they would help him pull it out. 

Being the great father and brother that they are, they very enthusiastically said "YES!

You will have to ask Owen the rest of the story!

Another soccer season came and went. The boys were on the same team this year (Hallelujah!). That meant we only had soccer 3 times a week rather than 6 like last year. 

The best game was when both boys scored a goal. It was perfect. Owen scored first and Mark and I were talking strategy on the sidelines on how to congratulate Owen without making Caleb feel bad and then Caleb scored so we could just be super excited for both of them. Much easier that way!

Here's Caleb dribbling to the goal...

He shoots...

He scores!

Here is Owen scoring... he is so short I couldn't see past all the other players... use your imagination...

This is what he looks like dribbling.

Great ball control and all heart.

The boys had a great season both of them and I really enjoyed that fact that they got to play together. Wrestling started tonight for Owen (yeah...thoughts of ringworm are already dancing through my head) and Caleb chose to do basketball this year. We bought the boys a hoop from a friend of mine so they have been out shooting quite a bit in the driveway. 

Mark and I joined the gym about a month and a half ago. I was tired of running in the dark with steak knives hidden in my sleeves to defend myself from "attackers". I tried to run with Kye a few times but after about jerking my arm out of socket when she smelled a cat, I decided she wasn't the running partner for me. So a gym membership it was!

The boys have loved it as well. We have taken them swimming a time or two and the boys have discovered Zumba. They love to do the kids zumba class and if we time on Tuesdays or Thursdays Mark and I take them. 

Mondays Owen has guitar (which is going great!) and while he has lessons, Caleb does free art lessons at the same place. It works out perfect! 

In all their spare time, the boys are perfecting their new obsession -

Risk.

The two of them will play and sometimes a game will last as long as a week. 

Other times, they will convince Mark to play and he teaches them all kinds of sneaky strategies. They are learning quickly!

Mark

Time to get caught up! 

Life has been crazy around here but only in the best kinds of ways.

School, soccer, zumba, running, guitar, art, school, weights, family time, friend time. etc. 

You get the idea!

Here's what has taken up most of Mark's time (and not in the correct order!)

Since he has been back from hunting Mark has focused on the garage. He has starting to build a workbench and he also made me a corner storage pantry for canned foods. He has had a ball and I love the fact that our garage is getting more organized. 

He has hung up our extra molding.

And our bikes.

I took this shot 3 days ago and it is finished now but for the top (and I of course have already organized and stocked it full of food!). 

This is what I see when I pull into the garage now. 

Mark is still finishing up projects in there but he is loving this project because we are on y $40.00 into it since he was given most of the wood. 

Before the garage project it was hunting season. And hunting season lasts forever. 

And ever.

And ever. 

I swear it. 

Hunting season starts in August with scouting trips and this year Mark drew an antelope tag as well so he was gone ah-lot. 

When he blew back into town he did take the monkeys out with him a few times.

Owen still loves every minute of it but Caleb is ready for a lot more action. Bow hunting isn't the easiest thing in the world and I think Caleb wants a little more shooting.

Towards the end of the season I was pretty much begging Mark to just kill something since we needed meat and I didn't draw a doe tag this year. He obliged me and shot a buck. Nothing spectacular but it was something dead so I was happy. 

Yeah! That was the end of hunting season! His mom was with him when he got this fella. 

Before he got the buck he was off hunting for some wily antelope. Mark, his Dad and Mark's friend Tyler headed down to southern Oregon. 

I have been told the whole story a few times now but honestly all I can remember is this:

They walked up hill.

They walked downhill.

It was really, really hot. 

Like in the hundreds kind of hot. 

They were all tired and starting to feel discouraged.

But then they saw them.

The ones they marked for death. 

Mark shot an incredible, amazing shot that killed his antelope. 

Then he walked uphill.

Then he walked downhill.

Then he got lost. 

But then he found his animal and brought it back on a 4-wheeler.

Then he came home to me the next day. 

(For more details please see Mark)

Throw in some work, Round-Up week, and being a great Dad and husband and you have Mark's current events for the last two months! 

Next up is Caleb and Owen!

Back in the Saddle

I have decided that exercising and blogging are a lot alike.  

The thought of both cause me to shudder at times and my mind instantly races down my mental list of excuses as to why I cannot do them. 

"I'm waaaay to busy!"

"My children need me!"

"There are blackberries and huckleberries ready to be picked!"

"I must go yard-saleing!"

"I have to plan my menus for this week, compile a grocery list, organize all my coupons and then go to the store!"

"I have to finish reading ____________ (insert title here)!"

Whoops! I didn't mean to let that last one out. Mark never allows me to use that one so I have to secretly whisper it to myself as I walk away from the pile of laundry that needs to be folded and put away. 

This month hasn't been too busy. In fact, it has been our slowest month here yet and I have greedily loved every minute of it. I have had friends over for blackberry cobbler and wine. We have gone to movies in the park and for walks late at night. Our little family has just been having fun. So perfect I can hardly stand it.

That is my most current excuse by the way. Life is too perfect for me to sit down on the computer and write down some random things while I throw in a couple of pictures to document the experience. This morning though, I finally received it - my letter welcoming me back to school. My little "perfect" bubble was popped and I had to wake up to the reality that I do have a job and it is starting to call my name. 

While going through my 547 random emails this morning that have clogged up my work email, I decided to take a break and come on over here to post a little something. Because just like exercising, once I suck it up and get started, I really like it!

Here is what we did on my birthday this year.

My birthday has always had the luck of happening during the Umatilla County Fair. As a pre-teen I would always beg for money to go to the fair and my girlfriends and I would go ride the rides, eat yummy-but-greasy food, and stay up way late (plus we would stare at all the cute boys of course!). It was a blast each and every time. In fact, Mark and I have a funny story about a time we ran into each other at fair but I will have to share that another time. This year, Mark had to go help patrol the fair so I decided to take the boys and wonder around a bit with them. 

They had an awesome time! We ran into Aunt McMolly and Brody, Gabe and Ailsa who were all showing stuff at the fair and we also met my parents and little brother Zachary later that evening. Every hour or so we would also run into Mark and get him all caught up on every little thing that had happened in the last hour since we saw him (the boys can talk an awful lot if you let them!). 

They told him all about the exotic animals that they were able to see and Caleb casually mentioned that he was brave enough to touch the snake while Owen was not. Mark asked me if I had been brave enough also and I informed him that my bravery was not to be called into question, but if I had touched that snake, then my intelligence was the thing sorely lacking. (Owen later wanted to go back to prove his manhood but I enticed him away with the promise of cotton candy).

The next time that we ran into Mark, the boys informed him that they had inhaled a corn dog each, along with a red slushy and cotton candy. The tattled that "Mommy" had tried to get them to eat alligator but they wouldn't no matter how good she said it tasted. They also told him that Mommy didn't share very much of her elephant ear and she even growled when a stranger got to close to it. "Mommy" explained that she only eats elephant ears once a year...

An hour later we ran into Mark again and the boys were talking over each other in their excitement to tell him all about the games that they played. They also told him how they now realized the fair is an expensive place because after 2 games that Mommy paid for, they were on their own paying for them. They then asked for a raise in their allowance (which was denied). 

After that hour, my parents and little brother showed up along with the ride bracelets that my parents had purchased earlier that week for them. I, for some silly reason, was thinking the kids would be happy with the "little kid" rides that they had always enjoyed. Nope! The next time we ran into Mark they were jumping up and down telling him how they went on this ride and that ride. I couldn't believe that my boys were ready for those rides yet but they both had a blast and even though I was expecting vomit from Mr. O, it never came. 

As the night progressed, the boys had more and more fun. In fact, when Mark walked by now they would just wave on their way to their next ride, barely slowing down. I would stop and talk briefly since I was weighed down by the 3 snakes and giant gopher thing that Owen won, as well as leftover elephant ear and slushy. 

We ended up leaving around 11:15 and the boys passed out within 2 minutes of me starting the car. They also gave me a surprise birthday present the next day! 

They slept in until 8:20 (unheard of!) and told me I was THEE best Mommy ever. 

Happy Birthday to me indeed!

Now, to get back to those emails...

Summer...and the color yellow - 2 of my favorite things!

Then followed that beautiful season...Summer....

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape

Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

July Book Review

I always feel like I should get so much reading done over the summer but I find with the weather being so nice, we are just never home!

I did manage to squeeze in some reading thanks to our beach vacation and camping trip so here are my July book reviews. 

  After reading a book by this author last month, I decided to try another one out. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I think I liked this one just a smidge more than the other one. It is a fantasy book but the fantasy part isn't heavy handed at all. The main character is a man who when he was a boy, had the soul of a wolf magically placed into his body against his will. He has battled against it his whole life and finally becomes resigned to the fact that he can ignore the wolf and just live his life. He is sent by his patron (the king's right hand man) to investigate the actions of the prince. He arrives to find the prince dead, killed by a young woman whom the prince had magically infused with an animal spirit as well. From there the story takes all kinds of twists and turns that are both clever and unpredictable. The main characters are likable and the story is never slow. I gave this story a 7 and a half.


When Mark and I were first dating I read This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness - both books I loved. I was very excited to see this one on the bookshelves at our library and I couldn't wait to start reading it. The story is about an older man who is in a car accident that kills his wife. They were famous magicians together (think David Copperfield and Harry Houdini) and soul mates as well. Upon her death, the man decided to no longer practice magic until a young woman enters his life who is astonishingly just like his wife when he had first met her. Same looks, same characteristics, same background, everything. The kicker is, she wants to learn how to do magic tricks and seems to have a natural ability. This story is full of strange things though. When she does certain tricks, other people far away are affected and the question of who is this girl and is his wife really dead all come into play. I personally didn't enjoy the book as much as I though I would and even had a hard time staying with it but that could have been because I tried to read it in 5 to 10 minutes stretches whenever I could. I am only going to give the book a 5 right now but I might have another go at it this winter. 


 This is a book that I have been wanting to read for a long time. I really enjoyed Animal Farm in high school and I wasn't disappointed with this book at all. What amazed me was how many things in the book are still referenced and talked about today. The story is very thought provoking (of course!) and your imagination can't help but wonder what if? It is sad in a similar way that Animal Farm bummed me out at the end but it is such a look in the mirror at what society is like that when you put it down you aren't thinking sad things, you are wondering how can I change things? I really liked this book but I love the story of how Mark's cousin had to read this book before his wife would marry him even more! That's a woman who knows the importance of a good book!


 I had heard so much about these books that I finally just had to read them to see what all the fuss was about. People were using words like captivating, scintillating, and provocative. When I was at a used book store I ease- dropped on a conversation between two ladies and how these were the best books they had ever read. So I really had no choice in the matter - I had to read them! Hmmm... what to say though. I know that many will disagree with me but I must admit I just wasn't that impressed. There are so many things I didn't like about the books: it's a twilight rip-off with a lot more sex, all the two main characters do is fight and f*^# (in all kinds of ways of course), the plot lines are seen from a mile off and they really aren't that good, etc.  (I'm probably going to get some major heat for saying all those bad things about these books!) I did read all three and I though the first one was the "best" of the three but I am only going to give these books an overall 4. 

I am a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella and I first read this book a few years ago during my annual Wallowa Lake retreat with my college girl friends. Hailey had brought it along and I quickly took it over and read it during the 3 days we were there. I loved it! It is hilarious, silly, and a perfect fast, funny read. I have reread it probably at least 4 times and each time it still cracks me up. I give this book a 9 - not because it is clever and thought provoking but because it always puts me in a good mood when I read it and makes me laugh out loud. Important qualities in a book for me!

July Photo Challenge

This last month was a lot of fun as far as picture taking was concerned! 

I had plenty of time and even though I didn't get all the shots I wanted to, I still had lots to choose from. 

Check out Sarah's pictures at her blog also!

Water:

I think I had the wrong category in my head for this one all month long because on Sarah's blog the category says: Lakes, Rivers, Streams..etc. Oops!

This is Owen getting ready to be drenched at the pool.

An Insect:

I couldn't choose between the two (sorry!). This pretty butterfly hatched right by my flower pot and we all just happened to be outside when it happened. Beautiful!

Joy:

This is a repost of a picture (from Owen's birthday) but of all my pictures this month, this is truly the only one I have of true, heart-felt joy. 

Something Patriotic:

Something Sad:

While this picture evokes feeling of sadness for all the brave firefighters that we lost during 9/11, I had an amazing picture of the apartments that burned down - the sunset was right behind and it was a gorgeous photo but alas, I have looked everywhere and cannot find it.

Here are next month's challenges!

1. Something tiny

2. Something you found

3. Looking down

4. Somewhere you went

5. Something that begins with the letter I

Have fun Sarah and I'll see you in a few short weeks!