New Dr. Seuss Character

We were going through a box of hand-me-downs to find out what we needed for the winter and found a pair of tights from the Ashtons (thanks Ashtons). They are still a little big, as you can see. I decided she looked like a character from a Dr. Seuss book or something. Sorry the bottom's a little dark.

Couch Potatoes

I made a little chair for Kim when she was small patterned after one my mom had when we were little. I also made 3 others at the time for my nieces and one to leave at Grandma's house. After moving we downsized to a loveseat and found we needed another little chair to prevent arguments. Mom let me take hers home with me on our last trip. They really like them. Aren't they cute? The kids I mean!

Worry, Worry

Tonight I was changing a diaper and Glade was being a little sad about it. That makes it sooo much harder. From the other room I heard Kim's little voice saying, "Glade, don't be a worrious warthog."

Dr. Abbott

This weekend we got a little taste of what it would be like to be a medical doctor or Oral Surgeon. Since Ryan did the OMFS (Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery) rotation this last week, he was on call for the weekend. Sure enough, he got called in at 5:45 Saturday morning. Since we had left the car on base for our family outing the day before, we piled in the car and took off through the fog to drop him off. A drunk had run into a tree, lost a few teeth, and almost lost a lip. All kinds of excitement. The rest of the day was fairly quiet. This morning at 1:45 though, the phone rang for another call. This was a man that just blacked out and fell over. He had some facial wounds that needed stitching. Ryan got home and slept for a few hours before getting called in again at 8:00 for another drunk who got in a fight and got hit over the head with a brick. All kinds of fun. Lots more stitches on the head and in the mouth. Ryan has done more stitches in the last 48 hours than in all four years of dental school put together. After his next rotation with OMFS he will be an expert.

This week has been an interesting one. We have learned some things. 1. Oral surgery is interesting, but time consuming. 2. Drinking doesn't pay. 3. I'm glad my husband is a dentist and not an MD or Oral Surgeon. 4. Sacrament meeting by myself is no fun.

All in all, it has been an interesting week for him, a long one for me and the kids, and I think we are all glad in some ways that this rotation is over for a few months. Hopefully the phone won't ring tonight . . .

Kitsap Peninsula

Ryan went to the Kitsap Peninsula with a group of Oral Surgery residents to tour a nuclear submarine training facility and we met him there for lunch and an afternoon out.

We lunched at Red Robin and all shared a Mudd Pie (6 inches of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. They kids LOVED it.

They also gave the kids balloons, which helped with the wait. Glade absolutely loved his. Just look at that grin!



Then we went to the Naval Undersea Museum and enjoyed that. As usual, the kids have a very short attention span so we got separated from Ryan since he was reading a lot of captions.


Kim really enjoyed the actual submarine part where she could be the "pilot" and drive. It also had a console for firing missiles (never allow a 4-year-old to operate a nuclear submarine) and a periscope to look at.


After the musem we drove a little further North to a little town called Poulsbo. It had the cutest downtown and was on the water. We walked down by the boats and looked around a little bit.


We had planned to go to a splash park in Bremerton that I found on the internet. It was supposed to have wading pools and whales that spout 30 feet in the air. There was construction though and we didn't find it, much to Kim's dismay, so we headed home, crossing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge on the way. That is kind of an interesting story if you've got a few minutes.

It was great to have the afternoon together since Ryan had been working long hours in the Oral Surgery department this week. Neat destination too if anyone's looking for a place to visit.

Crafty Kim

Kim LOVES to do crafts. This is a craft we did with leaves and dandelions. She is always asking to do a craft and I need to get creative with things for her to do. Any ideas would be great!

Growing Up

I neglected (in the midst of moving, house hunting, unpacking, etc.) to get Glade's pictures taken closer to his birthday, but I did finally get them done. I am quite happy with how they turned out. I can't believe how big he is getting! He seems to be stretching up and turning into a little boy already. What a sweetie!

He LOVES balls. He will run after them and throw them and do anything with them. He also likes little chairs. This is the best way we got him to be still long enough for a picture.

Here's a cute, characteristic snapshot of Glade running around our "track".

Laying up in store

This week I have been super busy following the counsel of the prophets. Our ward ordered in bulk tomatoes, peaches, and pears. I have been preserving. I chopped/sliced and froze a box of tomatoes and two boxes of peaches. Let's just hope the power doesn't go out! I also spent all of Friday canning pears. I only got through 2 of my 3 boxes before I ran out of quart jars so I am making fruit leather with the last box. My mother will probably gasp in dismay since she never did it this way, but I canned them sliced with the peels on. The thought of peeling hundreds of pears did not appeal to me (no pun intended) so I left them on. If we can't stand them, we'll take them off before we eat them. I ended up with 37 jars.

Anyone who has ever done any canning should know what I mean when I talk about how much pride you feel when you look at a sight like this.

It is a lot of work, but for me it is fulfilling. Hmmmmm, almost apple season and as we all know, Washington is famous for apples. Apple pie filling, applesauce, more fruit leather, the possibilities are endless.

Labor Day

We decided about a week ahead of time to go out of town for Labor Day. Ryan won't get much time off this year, so we decided to take advantage of the 4-day weekend to head down to Crater Lake National Park. It was about 6 1/2 hours, but we did pretty well and got there at a decent time. We went through the park on the way to our lodge so we could get boat tickets at the Crater Lake Lodge.

On our way into the park. I think the name of this mountain was Red Cone. It's not nearly as impressive in a picture.


Mount Mazama was a huge volcanic mountain in Oregon that erupted several times. A lava bed built up underneath it and once it erupted again the bed emptied out and the mountain collapsed creating a huge crater 6 miles by 4 miles. This was filled with rain and snow melt so it is a clear blue. It is the deepest lake in North America and has no in- or out-lets.

Crater Lake from the Rim. This picture, once again, doesn't do it justice.


Ryan went for a road bike around part of the park. We also went on a boat ride, as mentioned above. We spent three hours on Wizard Island, which is from a volcanic eruption after Crater Lake was formed. It was pretty steep so we got a good workout after hiking a steep mile down to the lake's edge to get on the boat and hiking another mile up to the top of Wizards Island, which got it's name from looking like a Wizard's hat. There is a giant crater at the top that they call the Witch's Cauldron. Ryan hiked down into it, but by the time the kids and I were ready for a break so we had a little snack and watched him. The Ranger on our boat on the way to the island said they we could say we were "in a volcano in a volcano" since Wizard's Island is a separate volcano from Mazama. Kind of fun. Also, at this point our camera decided to stop working so we didn't get any pictures on the island.

Wizard's Island from the rim.


After a short rest we hiked back down and waited for the boat. There were giant volcanic rocks that were tricky for Kim to climb on. I couldn't believe how steep that mountain was, but it was a really neat experience too. We got back on the boat and rode the rest of the way around the lake. By this time, it was starting to get cold so they cut our tour short to take us back to the dock. The kids both fell asleep in the boat on the way back. They back up the steep trail to the rim. It was a strenuous day, but a good one. What a beautiful manifestation of God's creations!

Ryan, Kim, and Glade waiting to get on the boat.


Kim enjoyed a "comfortable" rest before the boat tour.


Heather and the kids on the boat.


The Devil's Backbone. Kind of a neat formation. You can see how steep the walls are. There is only one place in the park to get down by the lake.


Wizard's Island from the boat.


How blue and clear the water is. Looks like a swimming pool, but VERY cold.


We found a branch in Chiloquin, OR to attend on Sunday morning and enjoyed the small feel of it. The young adult speaker was named Deseret and we got to talk to her afterwards. We have never met anyone named that before. Kim's middle name is Deseret, so that was kind of fun.

I was glad we weren't camping when it snowed on us on our way home Sunday night.

We were lucky to find a room pretty close to the park. It was in an area called Union Creek. The nearest town was 10 miles away. It was basically a small lodge and group of cabins and a restaurant and ice cream shop across the street. The area was really pretty and we enjoyed it.

We enjoyed breakfast at the little restaurant across from our lodge on Monday and headed home, only stopping long enough to fuel up and use the bathroom.

One conclusion we have come to is that vacation is fun, but it is not very restful with kids. You sure have to keep and eye on them! It was a busy, but great trip.

ZOO

We made our second trip to the zoo recently. We decided to check out their aquarium. It was really cool. They had a huge section set up like the animals they have in the Puget Sound. We all really enjoyed seeing some of the local animals and thought the ocean part was cool.


They also had a huge display on seahorses. Apparently, camera flashes can kill them so you are not allowed to take pictures, but they had so many kinds it was amazing. We then went to a nearby park and grilled chicken.

Here's Glade with a giant leaf he found and carried around.


After cleanup we went down the hill to the Sound and discovered a really cool thing. There was this walkway that went for several miles. It is called the Promenade. People just go there to walk and enjoy.

It was a really neat place. Fun day!

O-Day

Apparently, in the Army they have what is called Organization Day (O-day for short). It is basically a company party with mandatory attendance for all servicemen and women. We decided to check it out. They had it on base at a park by the Sound. It was a little cold, but nice most of the time. We waited in a VERY long line for lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, etc. etc. picnic food. They had some races and other things. Kim did a cake walk that they had for the kids.

Still in the game and things are good!

She took this very seriously and got really upset when she got out. She was pacified when they gave her a gigantic cupcake though, so it turned out OK.

Ryan and Kim went out on the Sound on a ride-on kayak. Then we all went out on a paddleboat.

It rained a little, but not too bad. All in all it was a fun day and great to be together as a family.