My Loveys

There is absolutely nothing I love more than being a mom. Life is good. The End.

White River West

Last weekend, we went tubing at Mt. Hood. It was the first time for the kids, and the first time Doug and I had been on the mountain in the snow since before we had Sterling. Yeah, we don't get out much anymore. My parents brought the cousins up with them, so my kids were thrilled to see them and play in the snow together.

There is a whole lot of pink goin' on here!

Sterling and Jared took turns pulling eachother up the trail we had to hike to find a good hill.

Novie got the better of two grown men in this snowball fight.

Papa showin' Hylti the ropes when it comes to a good snowball (to throw at Daddy, of course).


We finally caught up to the Rowes who had been there playing for a while, despite us all leaving town at the same time. Lots of kids+long car ride+hungry baby= mind numbingly slow progress. Most of us camped out at the bottom of the hill and watched as the others went up and down.

Baby fell asleep off and on while being carried in the back carrier, but mostly I just sat in an innertube and held him while he slept. He didn't much care for the wind in his face, but he was such a little trooper and was very good.

The pile of snow to the left is actually Larry's dog Remi. I had to look at this for quite some time to figure out what it was.


Proper snow for a proper snow angel!


Doug and Larry played just as hard as any of the kids.


It was almost time to go and I still hadn't been down the hill, which was fine with me, but Doug pressured me into going. I'm not much of a thrill seeker. At all. I always picture how things will go wrong. In this case, the image of me hitting a bump, catching air off the tube and flying face-first into a rock-hard snowbank, thereby rendering me a quadriplegic for the rest of my life was forefront in my mind. Doug finally guilted me into it by playing on my motherly sensitivities. Evie wanted another ride before we left. So we went. And I contemplated my own death the whole way down.

Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but let's just say it's not really my favorite thing.

Note about the movie: The first clip is Doug trying to take a picture of himself and the baby, but he has the camera turned on and doesn't realize that the baby is silent-screaming.

Then Doug threatens to kick us down the mountain if I don't go.

Then Doug comes back to Sterling who goes down the hill, losing his sled, Jared comes down right after him (almost hitting him) and carries the sled with him, and then someone else comes flying down and almost hits Sterling again, and carries the sled even further.

Unfortunately, when Doug panned back to Sterling, he totally missed Larry taking the dog on the tube down the hill. The dog did not care for the ride, so he jumped off and Larry ran over him with the tube. I'm pretty sure Remi will never get on another innertube again.

The sun began to go down, so we went back to the parking lot. And since Larry does nothing unless he can go big, he had the generator set up and they cooked hot dogs and chili and hot chocolate.

Mr. Attitude.

And here's a couple more pictures of the fatty grub, for good measure:

My little copper haired, red eyed vampire baby sitting in his new Bumbo. Aunt Shell found it for him at the Goodwill for $3!

Yes, those cheeks are as soft and delicious as they appear on film.

Chunkin' Punkin' and Other Aesthetics

Well, it's official. The baby is a fatty. No one would expect less from a Church baby, but nevertheless, we are always surprised when they go through a year's worth of clothing sizes in 10 weeks. At Elam's two month check-up on the 16th, he weighed in at 17lbs 1.5oz and is 25.5" long. I wondered why the baby carrier seemed so unusually heavy!

We love the pudge, though! (And he loves us!)

Doug likes to hold the little man every chance he gets since he's gone all day. So much so, that he's willing to go to extreme lengths to multi-task.

Doug decided to grow some facial hair, which was totally fine with me since I love it. However...

...I woke up one morning just as Doug was about to leave for work and when he turned around I saw this: a Fu Manchu. No bueno. I stared at it in horror for a minute or two before I came to my senses and said, "Honey! You can NOT wear that to work! You look like Chester the Molester!" He did anyway, of course, like any self-respecting man would, and then came home and enumerated all the compliments he had received from his co-workers. (Uh-huh. Just smile and nod.)

He finally shaved it on the third day (a bit longer than Tim McGraw's 2.7 seconds, right?), but only after he was assured that I got photo worthy of Aaron Rodgers:

Luckily, the sole princess of the house seems in a fair way to redeeming the family name in the area of beauty. Doug walked by the bathroom on Sunday and saw this and had to do a double-take. Little Miss was carefully shaping her eyebrows and eyelashes with her clear mascara. Her cousin, Novalee, apparently has a "doll house full of makeup" she said, after playing there one day, and she wanted her own makeup. I was frankly hesitant- 1) because of the potential mess and 2) because she is only 5, people! Upon reflection, however, there didn't seem to be any harm in pink glitter lip gloss, some clear mascara, and a fruity Princess Ariel roll-on perfume stick. And now I am glad. It is teaching her the vital importance of caring for her personal appearance, and, let's face it, knowing that you look good is a great part of having self-confidence. All good things! In any case, she's a 5-year-old cutie-patootie! With some adorable sass to match!