Happy Together

Craig's parents took us to Red Robin the other day (thanks again, Tom and Donna!). I ordered the Pub Burger, which came with onions fried in ale (is that bad for a pregnant woman?), cheddar and Swiss cheese and was served on an onion bun. It sounded splendid to me, but I have to admit, I found it a little disappointing. Craig ordered the guacamole bacon burger. And like we often do, we decided to trade bites. And his burger was so good, I was immediately even more disappointed in my own choice. As I was savoring that swapped bite, Craig commented, "Actually, I kind of like yours better."

"I like yours better!" I exclaimed, and then paused. "You want to just switch burgers?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

So we did. And we both smiled in delight at each other through our stuffed mouths and our delicious burgers. I don't usually even like guacamole that much, but wow that hit the spot.

The funny thing is, the more I think about this dinner, the more it seems to sum up these last five years. It's not so much that things always go perfectly in our life together, but that together, we always find the way that makes us both so happy.

I don't think I've ever posted pictures from my own wedding here before. Do you mind indulging me for a minute here?

Photo by Tom Smith, exiting the temple

Photo by Janine Hogan. Perfect Seattle sunshine.

Photo by Bob Hansen. I love how the temple looms large in this one.

Cutting the cake. Also by Bob Hansen.

Happy 5th Anniversary, Craig. Thanks for always keeping me smiling.
I love you.

Affirmation

I kept coming across articles on-line today that felt like they were attacking my faith, both from the inside and outside. These things don't shake my testimony, but they are upsetting to me. It's hard seeing people (both members and non-members) misunderstand things that are so important to me.

Over lunch, then, I was reading through the BYU Alumni magazine (which I adore and which I highly recommend to all you BYU grads out there), and found this quote that was perfect for me this day. It's from Dr. Henry Eyring, a well-known LDS chemist in his day and also the father of President Henry B. Eyring, and was quoted in a devotional given by BYU professor Ross Spencer.

"So this, then, is sort of the picture that I would give you and end on the note that I can't see any difference between the kinds of arguments that you make to support religion and the arguments that you make to support science. I understand, of course, that there are contradictions of all kinds in science, and there are contradictions between science and religion, and there are contradictions between various parts of religion in every human mind (but not in God's mind; in a billion years you'll have all your problems solved, if you can wait)."

That summed up an aspect of my own beliefs so well. Yes, I understand there are contradictions everywhere we look in the world today; it seems that you can't read one scientific article without finding its opposite somewhere else (even on issues not as politicized as global warming!). And yes, I know that people-- Mormons and everyone else-- are far from perfect. But more importantly, I understand that none of us know all there is to know yet. And I trust that all problems can and will be solved and resolved some day. I think it will be wonderful when we can understand everything: how the earth works and the meaning of life in all its intricacies. But these things will be done according to God's timetable, and probably not a moment sooner. And that's enough for me for now.

Really?

Craig and I were looking at baby names on-line the other day and one of the names listed was Tarzan.

Who would actually name their kid that?

I dare you to.

Dreams

I should be asking someone their permission for using this cartoon. My apologies to Ron Morgan for being too lazy. I like his cartoon, for what it's worth.

I'm not using this cartoon in reference to any of my beliefs-- political, religious, or environmental. No. Nothing like that. I'm using this in reference to the seemingly never-ending project that is our basement. (And I'm praying that I'm not jinxing our luck by even writing about it this early.) But I think the end is indeed near.

We've got people coming to measure for carpet today. (True to form, the guy was supposed to be here two hours ago but I'm going to bite my tongue and not rant about how frustrated I am about that. In true passive-aggressive form I'm trying to decide between forcing the poor sap to listen to Glee or opera the entire time he's here, if he ever shows up...)

All the drywall is up. All the drywall we care about for this project is spackled and sanded, three times over. The big room is all painted. Both new windows are in. Trim still needs to be added to the smaller of the two. One of the two closets is assembled, and it didn't take Craig very long to do, so the second should be even faster. The plan is to order carpet today, and then we should be able to finish up all these other things before the carpet is ready to be laid. Our house will be turned upside down once more while we move everything out of the rooms-to-be-carpeted, but that should just be for a couple days. Three at the most. And since Craig always helps everyone move, I'm hopeful that it shouldn't be too hard to get a few men in the ward to help him move the heavy stuff. I did manage to help him carry our couch upstairs back in February, but I wasn't pregnant then. I think this time around I'm justified in playing the pregnancy card and leaving that work to the men. Right? I'll do my part and order a pizza for them.

I'm beginning to really savor the idea of having it finished: Not having to wear shoes just to go downstairs. Having carpet (and NEW carpet! of my own choosing! imagine such luxuries!) underfoot, rather than cement flooring that is littered with nails, spackle, dust, and pieces of drywall and 2x4s. Being able to do laundry without having to first move all of Craig's tools off the washer and dryer. Same thing for getting into my freezer. Putting my big bathmat back on the floor of the laundry area so that if I happen to drop something on the ground, it will stay clean, rather than being sent right back to the laundry hamper in worse shape than it was to begin with. Not having all of the kids' toys stored in my living room. Not having dusty footprints all over the rest of the house because I'm the only one who knows to leave her shoes on the stairs (I guess Japan trained me well for stuff like that).

Actually, the idea of a living room that stays somewhat clean is looming larger and larger in my mind. It sounds so incredibly wonderful. Putting the TV back downstairs where it belongs. Taking all the extra furniture out of the extra bedroom and scattering it around to the rest of the house. Getting to cuddle with Craig in the love sac while we watch TV again. Not having a couch in my kitchen, which would ALSO mean that I can open all my cupboards again (only one has been blocked, and it's not one I use very often. But still).

I'm getting really, really excited for this project to be over.

The end is near.

And the carpet guy just showed up. Time to put on some Aida!

Seattle Mariners

On a Monday evening, we went to a Mariner's game with my parents. It was family night, so the tickets were fairly cheap. And based on this, I can only surmise that the Mariners are secretly a Mormon team, right? Anyway, both of my kids have been to baseball games before (poor Bentley's first baseball experience was at Yankee Stadium when he was about 8 months old, but we won't hold that against him!), but this was the first time going that they were old enough to have much of a concept of what was happening, which meant it was a lot more fun for all of us! I loved holding Bentley on my lap and pointing out Ichiro to him and explaining that the guys in white were the good guys and we cheer when they run around the bases. So much easier than trying to keep him from chucking binkies at the people sitting in front of us, which mostly what I remember doing during his first ball game (for Yankees fans, everyone was very gracious about that; it was after we left that people began throwing beer bottles and my whole family decided to call it quits, too. Boo on the Yankees).

It was also Craig's first time to get to go to Safeco Field, so I was excited to show it all off to him, too! (Random bit of trivia: when Safeco Field was built and named, my Dad was working for Safeco! I still think that's cool.) Craig also got to experience garlic fries for the first time. Wow.

Here's me (obviously) on the ferry ride over. Behind me is Bainbridge Island, my home.
Don't you love those trees towering over all the houses?

And the same shot, but with Craig.
If you zoom in, you can barely make out Seattle peaking out behind Bainbridge.

Love this picture. Perfect summary of what I love about baseball.

Kendra pulling one of her many silly faces. This girl is becoming quite the clown.

Kendra was as amused by Bentley as by the game. But it's a start!

Partway through the game, Craig decided to find out if the kids could meet the Mariner Moose (who they kept referring to as the Deer. Oh, well). I never would have thought of this, but it turned out they had a Moose's Den just for this purpose! So we dashed around the stadium and made it there just in time for the last meeting, during the top of the seventh inning! And we even made it back to our seats in time for the seventh inning stretch!

I wish I could tell you about the awesome win the Mariners pulled off, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. So instead, I'll share this video of Ichiro so you, too, can appreciate how great he is.



You gotta love these guys!

Feisty

I've already mentioned that I'm impressed with Lucky's blossoming personality. I got another taste of it the other night in the form of an all-out tantrum at three in the morning. I didn't bother turning on the light to see what it looked like on the outside of my stomach, but it felt like lava bubbling up under my skin. You've seen a newborn who's completely upset and hysterical, but lacking any sort of coordination? I'm pretty sure that's exactly what was going on. It made it really hard to sleep. This is the sort of thing that would normally worry me, except this happened right after Craig rolled over and kneed me in the stomach. Between a kick to the head and mommy's adrenaline rush as I shoved Craig's leg away before I'd even completely woken up, I suspect Lucky had every reason to be a bit upset.

Keep sticking up for yourself, Lucky.

I told Craig that if this happens again, we're getting a king-sized bed.

He said last night he kept waking up every time he moved his legs in order to make sure I wasn't near him before he moved. Good husband.

Sequim

We were in Seattle during Sequim's Lavender Festival. (Did you know there were so many awesome festivals in the Great Northwest?) Apparently Sequim (which is pronounced like "Squim") has perfect conditions for growing the best lavender outside of France. It's an odd patch of land near the mountains that manages to avoid most of the normal Seattle rainfall, so it's pretty sunny and really close to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. (And for all you Twilight fans out there, it's really close to Port Angeles.)

I don't love big crowds and I figured it would just be rough on the kids, so we opted to go see the lavender a couple days after the actual festival. We had lunch at the Chimacum Cafe on the way, and then enjoyed walking around the fields of lavender and breathing in the fragrant air! It was lovely!

At the Purple Haze Farm. (Is that a drug reference?)
Look at all that purple! So pretty!!!

It looks like Bentley is smelling the lavender, but I think he's actually looking at a bumble bee...

Artsy shots, courtesy of Craig. I really like these.

I want a hammock swing just like this some day.

We're eating lavender ice cream, which is actually really good!
Think vanilla with bits of white chocolate and lavender.
Yum.

They also kept a few chickens and peacocks at this farm.
Kendra was thrilled.

Overlooking the sandspit. I love water.

Looking straight across, you can just barely see Canada. My mom wanted to sing "Oh, Canada!" but I made her stop. I like my own country too much to bother singing about Canada.

Is there anything prettier? The sun was sparkling off the water just perfectly.

There you have it! Next time you buy anything lavender-scented, see if it came from Sequim!

Poulsbo

Poulsbo is a quirky little town just across the water from my island. It's where we had church all growing up (until a building was finally built on Bainbridge). You just drive across the bridge over the Agate Pass, through a short stretch of the Suquamish, the Indian Reservation (made clear by the huge Casino with flashing lights and the illegal fireworks stands) and then you're in Poulsbo, which was settled mostly by Norwegians. It's a cute little place right on the waterfront, with lots of docks filled with boats and weird holidays like Viking Fest (held in the middle of May to celebrate the signing of Norway's constitution). You can buy bumper stickers that say, "Honk if you like lutefisk!" and there's an office building for the Sons of Norway.

We headed over there on a grey Monday morning in order to get breakfast from the Sluys' Poulsbo Bakery. Craig and I got breakfast there the day after we got married, so it seemed like something we just had to do. First we grabbed some hot chocolate at Starbucks (what's Seattle without a trip to Starbucks?) and then stood around inside the bakery enjoying the smells and trying to make up our minds what to buy. We should have come back again for a post-dinner dessert-- their brownies and cookies were awfully tempting, even first thing in the morning! The kids wanted to try the maple bar man (think gingerbread man, but maple bar), so I told them they had to split it. Even then they couldn't finish it, although Kendra did a great job of smearing it all over her mouth. Craig got a maple bar and a cinnamon roll, and I settled on a scone (even though it had raspberry filling) and a doughnut. My mom was nice and got the sour cream doughnut I'd been eyeing and offered to share a bite with me.

We found a bench and sat staring at the boats bobbing on the water and enjoying our food.

(Notice the wooden cutout of a viking boat in the background? I'm not making up the stuff about Viking Fest!)

Typical Kendra after any meal, really, but this maple bar man was particularly messy.

When we finished, we figured we had better do at least a little walking so we wouldn't feel like complete gluttons. We walked along the waterfront until we came to a small park and let the kids run around for a bit. In addition to the regular park equipment, Bentley found a driftwood log that he loved climbing, and eventually Kendra had to join him.

Climbing with Teddy in one hand, a car in the other, and a look of sheer delight on his face. That's my boy!

Here you can get a better idea of how high up he was.

Kendra on the teeter-totter. I'm assuming Craig is holding down the other end, but I'm not really sure...

My Mom and I quickly find ourselves sitting again. So much for our healthy "walk!"
And no, I don't know why I can never sit like a normal person...

Kendra tries climbing, too.

Next time you need an excuse to visit the great Northwest, I think Sluys' Bakery and Viking Fest should be all the reason you need!

Houston

We flew to Houston on July 7th and stayed with Craig's brother and his family for a little over a week. Considering that Jeni (our sister-in-law) is in the throes of morning sickness (which, in her case, should really be called all-day sickness), I thought it was awfully nice of them to welcome us into their home! I won't go into all the details of the stuff we did because that would take too long, but I will show you lots of pictures!

The kids were really excited to ride a plane. They did this last December, too, but I don't think it made as much of an impression at the time...

One of the places we went was the Houston Children's Museum. It's a lot of fun, but if I had more money than I knew what to do with, I would rent the place out so we weren't trying to elbow other people's kids out of the way the entire time! As it was, everyone had a great time and Donna and I managed to keep our growling-at-other-kids to a minimum. Remarkable self-restraint for a Mama and Grandma Bear!

Bentley was really excited to wear the hard hat provided in a construction zone.
I think it's a good look for him.


Kendra wanted to wear a hard hat, too, but her head was a little too small for it.

Kamryn demonstrates the awesome gloves the construction workers could wear.

Kendra (after giving up on the hat) is anxious to at least help out with the building.

The kids enjoyed playing with the puppet theater, also.

I painted a sunshine on Kendra's face.

Here Grandpa is helping everyone make Chinese yo-yos. (That's Maya, looking up at the camera)

Kamryn models clothing from Singapore (or was it somewhere else? Now I can't remember...).

Maya takes a motorcycle ride with Grandpa while Lindsy waits patiently.
(She could have taught some lessons on manners to the other kids there!)

We took a lunch break at Chuy's (YUM YUM YUM) and most of us ate so much we were ready to go home and nap it off. Except Bentley. He, Daddy, and Grandma and Grandpa headed back to the museum where they could play with the water toys outside and get really wet.

I love this picture of Maya. She's just a couple months older than Bentley and she is just like a little nymph. She cracked me up the entire time we were there!

All the cousins together!

It's really hard to get everyone to hold still long enough for a picture...

Those are the best of the pictures I have. We also went to the beach, which I loved. A water park (Schlitterbahn, for those of you familiar with the Houston/Galveston area), which I also loved, but it wore me out trying to keep track of my kids the entire time. It was interesting to learn which slides scared which kid, though! And, perhaps best of all, we played a lot of Beatles Rock Band. I loved every minute of it.

We also ate a lot. Between restaurant stops (fabulous BBQ in addition to Chuy's), and a day-o-grilling, Jason also managed to make crepes and chocolate-peanut-butter cake for my birthday (normally this would have been more in Jeni's domain, but Jason very kindly filled in for her while she was sick). It was all Fabulous. I may never have a figure again. But I sure enjoyed myself!

Thanks, Jason and Jeni!!

This Time I Mean It!

(Anybody want a peanut?)

I know I've talked about my intentions of potty-training Bentley before. But this time we're really doing it. Really. We were going to start this morning, but then he got so excited hearing about it after church that we actually began yesterday afternoon. So far, today, no accidents and my fingers are still crossed. (And the accident yesterday was at least on the linoleum, so it wasn't exactly tragic.)

I'll pick up some more stickers for his sticker chart later today, but we have plenty for now. Bentley has been promised a Buzz Lightyear toy once the chart is filled up, so he's very excited for this.

Wish us luck!

Taking Chances

I'm going to be completely obnoxious and brag about myself. And the worst part is that most of you probably won't be impressed by this at all. But for me, this is kind of a big deal. Do you mind humoring me by pretending to be impressed?

I made spaghetti sauce. From scratch. Without a recipe. And it actually turned out pretty good.

Now if you know me at all, you know that I am NOT a chef. And I never do anything without a recipe. If I don't have a decent (and easy to follow) recipe, then the food may as well not exist for all I can tell. So this was stepping outside my comfort zone on all kinds of levels. And to be perfectly honest, for all the people out there who have told me that home-made spaghetti sauce is so easy to make, I've always been pretty happy with the store bought kind. (Not only am I not a chef, I am also not much of a gourmet consumer, either. It turns out.) It would never have occurred to me to make spaghetti sauce from scratch.

It all started when I stepped outside to talk to my neighbor. She was gardening, and I wanted to thank her for watering my own garden while we were away. My neighbor, Margie, is a great talker. I'm a pretty good talker, but this woman puts me to shame. In the course of our conversation, she mentioned that I'd had one really big zucchini growing in my garden, so she'd gone ahead and made it into spaghetti sauce and even her grandkids liked it. Well, another monster zucchini had grown up since then, so I asked her to repeat what she'd done so I could try it, too. That was the closest thing to a recipe that I got.

So here's how it worked. I peeled and seeded the zucchini (did you know that when you let them get too big, their seeds get too big, too? I thought they just stopped growing at the size you find them at the grocery store! But this thing was a foot long and some of the seeds were the same size as watermelon seeds-- icky!). I sliced it up, and threw it in the crock pot with a can of diced tomatoes, a diced onion, and some Italian seasonings. I had no idea how much to put in, so I went with a teaspoon. It felt like a good safe amount. Then I added some salt and garlic powder, and then on a whim (remembering how my mother-in-law doctors up store-bought spaghetti sauce), I added some sugar, too.

After letting it sit cooking all day, it occurred to me that I had sliced the zucchini, but I probably wanted it diced or even minced. So I scooped it all out of the crock pot and mashed it up with a potato masher and then put it back in. Nice. I told you I wasn't much of a cook! After letting it cook for a few more hours, Craig and I both sampled a bite and were pleasantly surprised that it tasted all right.

With that approval, I decided it was worth adding meat to the mix, so after church today I browned hamburger and added that to the mix. But then it looked too much like a load of meat with some stuff added in and not enough like sauce, so I added a can of tomato sauce and a little more Italian seasonings and let it all heat up again. And voila! Put it on top of noodles with a little Parmesan cheese and it was pretty dang good!

I liked Craig's reaction best: "I'm not sure if this sauce is really this good or if it's just because I've been fasting all day, but this is tasting really good to me." The lesson here is obvious: always try new recipes on Fast Sundays. They'll be a hit no matter what!

Anyway, for those of you out there who actually know something about cooking, feel free to add your suggestions for making it even better. I'm pretty sure my garden will be producing plenty more zucchini before the summer is over so I'll have plenty to experiment on. And if you're here in Manassas and want a zucchini to try it out yourself, just let me know!

Introducing Eliot

I feel like I've had so much to blog about that I've been quite remiss in not introducing you to this little guy sooner!

Nearly a week ago, on Monday, July 26th, my oldest sister Leah gave birth to her first baby, Eliot Paul Bentley Madden!!! Leah managed to have one of the smoothest first deliveries I've ever heard of, producing a perfect little baby boy in just six hours and without any medications! Wow. I am so jealous. Eliot was born with a great set of hair (he must have gotten this from Brian, since Leah didn't have any hair until she was about three!) and weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz (both my babies were 8 1/2 lbs, so apparently I need to learn what Leah was eating her entire pregnancy and copy her...).

Pictures say a lot more than words here, so I'll let them do most of the talking:

My sister Tracy sent out this picture. So perfect!

Mother and son contemplate each other.
I don't think there's any moment quite like meeting your baby for the first time...

Love the fact that even though he's so tiny, he still had plenty of chub on his arms and legs.
So cute!!!

Very proud Papa. Brian is going to be such a great Daddy!!!

Chubby legs!!! I love them!!!

So this is my newest nephew! I can't even say how excited I am that Leah and Brian finally took the plunge into parenting! Congratulations, you guys! We're so happy for you!!!