Danny and The Dinosaur!

My Boy can Read!
I know he's six years old. He's known many words. But whenever I ask him to read he tells me no. So, I haven't pushed. Tonight we finished his journal (best idea for getting him to tell me what is going on at school-which he barely did through kindergarten)

Anyways, I told him he had time for one book, but tonight he had to read every word that I knew he knew and I'd help with the rest.
Opened the book and Jabren read away! I was gushing all over him! I called for daddy to come. All three of us snuggled up on his twin bed as he read to us! Big moment of excitement in our house!
We're pretty proud of him!
You know what the cool thing was
This is the book he read to us.


I vividly remember this story from when I was in first grade. I can remember reading it on the stairs at home; in my bedroom, in my class. When I see the artwork I remember how I felt about it as a kid. It totally takes me back to my mind as a child.

This is the book he chose to read tonight!

Cool how it ties my past with Jabrens big milestone!. Cool that my boy is reading! Three weeks ago a friend from church who taught first grade until this year told me don't worry about him not reading. One day it will just click! Yeah for click!

Jabrens Deep Thoughts!

I took Jamesen and Jabren to a Western Road Show at our Stake Center on Saturday - Josh was asleep/sick before we left. The boys were excited because they knew there would be pie afterwards.

After 15 minutes of singing and dancing they couldn't wait for the refreshments any longer.
They kept asking if it was almost over yet. I'd reply not yet.

So then when a pioneer scene came along, Jabren asked "Mom, do you know why I like Pioneeers?"

Oh, awesome, he's getting interested in the show! Or so I thought.
I asked, "Why?"

He replied..."Because there's Pie in it."

(Get it... PIE-oneers!)

My Sister and Hidden Treasures

The other day I was talking to Peggy, my older sister. I'm always telling her she needs to write down the happenings in her life. They are not ordinary. At least in relation to hardly anyone else I know...
Her life is like no one I know. Her world is fascinating to me.
The whole reason for posting is the story she told me yesterday...very cool.
She was heading out to pick up some free produce someone had offered her, when the door bell rang. Her boy came and said there was a man who wanted to talk to her. At the door she found a 90 year old man who asked if she was who he was looking for and she asked what he wanted.
He had been looking for someone who still "canned". She said she did. He then told her he and many of his elderly neighbors had a lot of fruit trees that were ready for harvest and everything was just falling to the ground.
He told her he would like to see someone use it but couldn't find anyone who canned anymore!
Of course Peggy was really excited...free fruit! Then he asked, "Would you be willing to can some for me and I'd pay you for it?" Are you kidding me! Definitely, except for the paying you part. She was just delighted to have someone search her out and make such a great offer. He's bringing her his jars!
Okay, so maybe this is just an ordinary story, but its not to me. Here's what I see.

A couple months ago I picked up my Ensign and read Elder D. Todd Christoffersons conference talk on "The Power of Keeping Covenants". Something he addressed was very powerful to me.
He talked about the Word of Wisdom and that as we live this commandment we will blessed with "great knowledge and treasures, yea even hidden treasures."
I think I've tried hard to live this one. As a kid I thought "oh, new scrolls will be found with new revealing scriptures or something" but as soon as I remembered theses thoughts the idea came that, "No, this knowledge is referring to the blessing of finding allergy ellimination for my family through NAET." My kids rarely get sick anymore. I'm not scared of disease or ill-health. Though this is one blessing...
I wasn't done learning, yet.
A few days later I went out to our neighborhood garage sales. I found this Champion Juicer. Jakes parents have one and would make Jabren "strawberry/banana Ice cream" back when he was allergic to milk. He still prefers this kind of ice cream. Anyways, I asked really non-challantely "how much do you want for this?"
They were selling it for a friend and said two bucks!
Are seriously kidding me! I was really calm and said "If it works, I'll take it."
This is a $250 mahine! Older people buy them when they find out they have cancer and juice veggies to fight it. Plus, I had just spent about that much on my blender for similar reasons.
I want my kids growing up with this healthy stuff so they never know anything but good health.

Back to the hidden treasures thing. Total hidden treasure! Two bucks. I've been learning how much is hidden in this packed scripture referring to knowledge and hidden treasures.

My mom, Jakes mom and my sister have taught me or lead me to everything I've learned about raising a healthy family. Oh, we have a long ways to go, but we're trying.
But, thats just it. If you're trying it seems the Lord just brings things right to you. Like to your door step.
This man was offering her free food. She's preserving it. She's as "GREEN" as it gets. She lives off her land, has chickens, has a compost pile, prepares and eats nearly every meal from her home-just like they did way back when.

And others have found her so she can live off theirs, too!

Book Club Epiphany.

If you read my last post this will make some sense, I think.
It was at book club last month that two people were discussing music as a major. They were talking about how hard a music major is, and that they never saw their room mates who were in music and that by the time they finished their degree their room mates were sick of music.
To me, it seemed their conclusion was that it wasn't worth it to major in music to just end up hating it. Although a lot of their points had validity; when they came to their conclusion I kind of spoke what came to my heart. As I spoke what came to me, I realized a lot of why I do anything that I do that is challenging or hard.
So, my conclusion...yes studying music is very challenging. I did it for a year and anyone who finishes is quite amazing in my mind. But I also understand some of the reasons why they would choose it.

Theres something amazing about letting your fingers create an emotion on a piano. Watching someone play the piano and evoke intensity and emotion is almost painful for me to watch because my it resonates with me so much that I want to play, too. I desire to play that way. It takes a lot of training It literally makes me ache with desire.
So, I told my book club friends that thought it may be very hard to get a pianio/music degree, it would be worth it to be able to have the skill to play amazing. Something so powerful.

As I said these thoughts, I realized thats why I've been willing to go through painful changes in my life (joining a cross country team in h.s., but I'm not a runner, trying out for a performance choir that 6 years before I was elliminated from,living on nothing in college to avoid debt, moving away from my family and all that feels comfortable to me.)
I really want to experience so much while I'm on earth. I don't want to be afraid to try. I want to succeed in whatever comes my way. Or at least gain greater perspective just through attempting and trying.
I told you it was deep. (Probably incoherent as well, but if you follow that...good for you.)

Deep Thoughts...not really.

I feel very detached to this whole blogging thing. Sure I've posted here and there, but my typical self shares a whole lot more than just "egg-rolls". Because I haven't been sharing my DEEP THOUGHTS I feel disconnected in some way. But from whom am I detached? You, I suppose...aren't you the one reading this.
But at the same time, my thoughts have been so deep, sometimes profound - at least for me it is, very personal and real all at once that I don't even know how to take on any one single topic. Any time in life when I've made major changes I do a lot of reflecting and learning through metaphors. Here's a few of them.
For example: like coming to this earth for a body and life experiences (me moving away from my family).
We have no recollection of our former life. (I can see one benefit of no recollection...no homesickness and missing our loved ones there. Also, I'm wishing I didn't have a memory of all the things I miss about home.

Okay, so I live between two nice African-american families, I'm one of two white women on my block. My son was the only caucasian boy in his class. I've always wondered what it felt like for African-americans, especially in places like my hometown to always stand out where they are...there were so few if any that I can remember. (sorry, maybe this is such a taboo topic I really don't know...but its in my head and this is my blog, and yadah yadah)
Last Wednesday I found out for myself. Every mom from Jabrens class at the kindergarten graduation knew who I was and remembered me and said hello excitedly saying "Hi, how are you?" like they knew me.
My confused face would render the next comment... "You're Jabrens mom, remember me."
Now most of my life I've always been the one reminding people of how I know them and that we do know each other. Then I wait for the "aha" moment when they get it. Never, really almost, never does this happen the other way around. And these moms are the nicest, most genuine, and happy people. They radiate and are so warm. I love it.
Well thats a glimpse of what it feels like to be a minority...no matter what the minority is. Everyone notices you and knows you. I didn't realize that I was the minority that for them they could so easily spot out in a crowd. I like seeing how the "other shoe" fits.
Another thought is how much one appreciates what they have when they're away from it.
Familiarity and family...miss it. And yet, experiences totally new things is so rejuvinating. We have a really fun pot luck group and all these LDS girls, from here, are talking in foreign language. At least for me it might as well be. They were talking about food and restaurants using terminology and food reference I've never heard of.

At the same time. I'm learning to cook new things and try flavors in cooking I never would have come to on my own. Love the flavors used in southern cooking. Creole seasoning, deep fat frying, I can't even think of how many times I've had a pecan something-bread, pie, on top of stuff. Then there's these crawfish boils. Haven't been to one yet, only invited, but couldn't go. Its a southern tradition. Everyone knows about them, I guess. They boil huge batches of crawfish with a lot of southern seasonings, then you eat them. There's a lot more to it, I think, but its tradition. Its fun to know there's been these traditions going on for years and years and I've never even heard of them. I love learning new cultural ways. I'm loving the new dishes and spices I'm getting comfortable with making.
Then there's the people in my life. I've made really good friends with people I can't imagine not knowing.
This is a tanget, maybe, but when I was a freshman in highs school my parents took in a 16 year boy from the Republic of Georgia as an exchange student.
Dave Uznadze was just like my brother and sometimes I would just try to wrap my mind around the idea that I would have no clue about him, his life, his family, his culture, if he hadn't come to our home. He had spent 16 years growing up half way around the world, at the same time as me. I know, duh. But, I liked that I had the privilege of being a personal part of his life-his sister, really.
So thats one of my other deep thoughts: how could I live my whole life and not know so many people from all walks of life? Wouldn't I love to experience all that life and people have to offer? Yes, I wanted this.
With all the challenges of emotionally readjusting to a new neighborhood, a house that doesn't feel like home, like home did in our little house in Nampa; not having family close: we've been blessed with wonderful friends that are becoming our new family, we're making friends with neighbors that I couldn't imagine that the Lord didn't play part in our friendship.
Everything has a reason, a season, and is a blessing to experience.
Sometimes I wonder why I was so willing to walk into all these challenges and new life changing experiences away from what I know and is comfortable. There are moments when I think "Oh, my goodness, I was so niave and so innocent to happily want to try this. WHAT WA I THINKING!"
Last week at book club I had a window into why?
Its a post all on its own. Read Deep Thoughts to come.

Egg Rolls!!!

I'm so excited to have a new dinner idea for the family that we all love. My friend Tiffany shared her home made egg rolls while I was at her house and they were so delicious that I wanted to try it out.
Then, later, my friend Arianne was hanging out with me and she asked me what was for dinner and she said she'd help me take on these egg rolls for my first time!
They were a hit and both husbands said this recipe was a keeper.
Here's the thing. They weren't that hard. If you've made chicken enchilada's you can definitely tackle this one!

Egg Rolls

16 egg roll skins
1 recipe pork filling
Cooking oil for deep fat frying
Bottled sweet-and-sour sauce or
chinese style hot mustard

Pork Filling:
Saute
1 pound ground pork
2 tsp. grated gingerroot
2 clove garlic, minced.
Drain fat when no longer pink

Add:
1 cup finely chopped bok choy or cabbage
1 cup chopped water chestnuts
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
Stir Fry 2 minutes more.
Combine in bowl:
2 T. soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sugar
1/2 salt
Add to skillet. Cook and stir for 1 minute; cool slightly.
Instructions for wrapping should be on the wrap package. If not, use 1/4 cup of filling across and just below center of egg roll skin. Fold bottom corner over filling, tucking it under on th the other side. Fold side corners over filling, forming an envelope shape. Roll egg roll toward remaining corner. Moisten top corner with water; press firmly to seal.
In a heavy saucepan or deep-fat fryer heat 2 inches of oil to 365' Fry egg rolls a few at a time, 2 to 3 minutes or til golden brown.
Drain on paper towels.
Keep warm in a 300' oven while frying remainder. Serve warm with sauce.

I think the pork and wraps were the cheapest at Walmart by almost a dollar. But I buy gingerroot at HEB/Winco.
I'd love to hear if you try this. Later we made just veggie ones with lottsa extra cabbage, bean sprouts, chestnuts and carrots. We used dried ginger and Tony Chachery's Cajun seasoning, too.
So delicious!

"Funny-isms"

Looking at the world through the eyes of a child can be frustrating at times, but also really fun! When they're beginning to capture words to use to express how they understand their world it can be really amazing how you realize they are using their little brains...a lot.
I don't typically write down the things they say, which is probably really sad. They say so many very funny things. So before I forget them heres just a little bit of the conversations at our place.

Last night while laying in bed with Dad, Jamesen says,
"Daddy, I'm still hungry...I want another piece of bacon." Jake says "Bud theres a piece of bacon with your name on it and you may have it in the morning." "Nuh, uh, Daddy. Pens don't work on bacon only paper. You can't write on bacon."

Tonight Josh got food on his chin. As he cleaned it he touched it and asked "Mom is this my bottom cheek?"
I asked "what do you mean, Josh" He repeated himself, then touched his upper lip and asked "Is this a upper cheek?" "No Josh, that is your chip, and this is your upper lip."
(I never did clarify where his "bottom cheek" was. Ever mentioning that part of the body was just a taboo when you were around my mom!" :-)

One More: Jamesen was standing in front of Josh when he sneezed all over him. Josh said "Hey, don't bless-you on me!"

When I think of others I'll add them.

Just Normal for us...Houston Living

So, we've lived here 7 months now and everyday life is different than we're used to but its becoming our normal.
So whats our normal...well let me explain a few occurrances of just this last week.
#1:
Wednesday night, the 21st - Ran over a 3 foot snake, probably a Western Cotton Mouth. It was thick and big looking. I turned the car around to get a good look at it. Next morning, I took the boys to go see it after dropping Jabren off, then had to take him to see it after school. By then it was just smashed...maybe I'm morbid for checking it out so much but it was huge. For all the near hits with animals I've had since moving here I knew it was inevitable.

For info on it check out: http://www.wf.net/~snake/moccasin.htm

#2:
Friday night, the 23rd- Went to the Houston Miller outdoor theatre - that offers free productions. Our Relief Society went to watch The Golden Dragon Acrobats of China. They were amazing and awesome, just wished the boys could have seen it. Absolutely incredible Here's a preview link if you want to see something amazing-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl8f2B9sVFY&feature=player_embedded.
Thankfully we were under the amphitheatre , because it down-poured. And its was completely free to the public...Houston is a huge supporter of the Arts-love it!

Okay but thats not the only reason for this #2, theres also what we watched happen in traffic on our way there. So, the drive into Houston has tollways, and regular freeways. I went with someone who had ez-tag for the tollways. Some of my friends, who I was going to go with, got stuck in traffic on the beltway.
As we drove above their road we saw tons of cop cars and a lot going on. Next to no traffic was moving and it was seriously backed up. We knew they weren't going to make it anytime soon.

So what was going on? We later found out. An unmarked semi truck was escorted off to the side of the road by the police. By the time our friends came to the scene (1 1/2 hrs after we passed it) the cops were escorting the truck off the main freeway and my friends took the same exit. The police drove to a bunch of coached buses with drivers waiting to drive away with the contents of the truck.
This semi truck was loaded with ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. The buses were there to load them up and send them back to MEXICO!!!

#3 Tuesday morning 28th - No warning except my dad had said something to me on Monday about there being heavy rainstorms coming right over us here. (He flies his airplane around, thus he keeps up on weather status'.)
I told him no rain, just a beautiful day. Well, 3 am Tuesday I awoke to extreme thunder, lightening, and rain. I lay there thinking "Well, now that its here, it'll be over soon". WRONG!!! I layed in my bed awake for almost two hours! (I usually sleep through most anything) An hour of it was intense Boom, rumble, crash, non stop lit up sky. So the other hour: down pour rain, thunder and lightening but at least it didn't feel like a war in heaven was happening over our house! I closed my eyes a lot hoping sleep would take me and it did for about 10 minutes before the little boys woke up just before 5 A.M. and thus our day began....Still rain and lightening, but it wasn't loud anymore.

Okay-here's the thing. Jake sat in traffic for 2 1/2 getting to work, cars were off in ditches. Some intersections in Houston were under 10+ feet of water. Schools closed for the day because teachers were flooded in. This was no simple desert thunderstorm. As water drained from roadways, they found fully submerged vehicles! Everywhere! There were so many lightening strikes they couldn't find where tornado's had hit on the radar even though they have strong evidence they did in area's east of Houston. Is this not crazy? This is insane! Our area was completely fine, and Jabren had school, but the news was full of vehicle recovery, passenger rescue, and homes that had had to rip out all the carpet in their homes because they had so much water. People interviewed on the news claimed the damage was far worse than anything Ike did to their area. Conclusion...at least hurricanes you get a warning time to get outta here!
Click here for a slideshow of the area flooding. http://www.click2houston.com/slideshow/news/19310359/detail.html
Thankfully, I didn't feel panicked. But it didn't even cross our minds to check the news to see if Jake should wait to go to work. It poured 10" during the night. To get perspective, thats about 4 inches away from my Idaho's yearly average-crazy.
So, I'm re-assessing what weather related activity precautions need to be made.
And finally:

#3: Swine Flu Fears:
So its in the news...usually whats in national news hasn't really come close to home for us. Well, our church leaders have been prepping us through church website info and local meetings that we should prepare for pandemics...so I'm thinking I should take more precautions. At the same time I'm thinking to myself "my kids rarely get sick with stuffy noses, colds, coughs or fevers." We'll probably be fine on this one since we haven't been to Mexico anytime recently. Then yesterday Jamesen had a good strong fever. (We haven't had one in so long I couldn't even find my thermometer) He was lethargic, and no appetite. So I'm thinking its just a fever, but "what if its not". So as I awoke in the night last night I start thinking what if its something worse, like swine flu...whats the worst case scenario...but its unlikely to be that so I told myself to chill out.
We've taken good care of him and all day today he's been fine, but as he sleeps right now I know he's not feeling good...maybe we pushed it too much today.
Then, today in Houston, the first US death to Swine flu was confirmed. A two year old boy who visited relatives in Mexico was sent back to Houston for health care.

(Not to mention, if I pulled Jabren out of school for a few days til the health scare calms down I could get fined $300-500 from the district for too many absences, already had a warning since he's missed 8 (2 for Idaho trip, 2 for family visits, and 4 for health related-my goodness, I mean really. This could carry on its own post but I'm not ready to go there....) Maybe they'd make exceptions considering our county has confirmed its first case today.

So there you have it...whats been on my mind, in my life and new world.

Please take this as just a place to unload. I'm not freakin' out or anything, so don't stress out on my behalf, please. It's just a different world, and we're adjusting and thats taking time and wanted to clue in anyone who made it to the end of this long rant on just what our life here is a bit like.

Spring Break with Grandpa and Grandma

Though we've lived in Texas only 6 months we've enjoyed many family visits here. Jakes Mom and Dad came and stayed with us for a week and we had a lot of fun with them and did a lot of different things. Though we've loved the weather here, it wasn't great for the first half of their visit, which meant some cabin fever for us all.
I'll try to do a slide show of pictures, since there's so many fun ones. This video is from our last day with them when we went to the Houston Childrens Museum.

It was so much fun for the boys and us adults. The museum is hands on fun for everyone.



This conveyor belt kept the boys busy for about 30 minutes and would have for longer if we would have let it. I need one of these at my house!
We thoroughly wore the boys out, and possibly us too. We went to San Antonio for the day and saw the The Alamo, took a boat ride on the Riverwalk and enjoyed good food. Another day we drove to the beach in Galveston. Too cold for even me to get in. The boys played in the sand and collected stuff on the sand.
The last day with Grandma and Grandpa here we went to The Childrens Museum and it was perfect for entertaining three busy and creative boys. Highly recommend it!
Besides the comings and goings we spent time at home and Grandpa did lots of fix it jobs around the house-which was such a blessing! It was such a pleasure to have Grandma around helping with entertaining kids with playdough and baking, to making food and helping with dishes. We were spoiled by them and enjoyed their company and having family with us...its so rare that we enjoyed it more than usual.

(Small world moment: On the way to S.A. I saw someone in another vehicle and I casually said "That guy looks like Uncle Wendall-Grandpa T's brother in law. Two weeks later we learned he was there on military business. The vehicle I saw was pulling an army ATV. It was very probably him!)