This is Halloween, This is Halloween

Happy Halloween from our

D O U B L E

r e d

D O O R S

Second verse same as the first

Do you know what I am?

I’m a person with a smorgasbord of widely annoying and quite dreadfully irritating qualities: I talk way too fast, and way too loud, my laugh is exaggerated and borderline nauseating, I interrupt during conversation, I finish other people’s sentences, I tell the same story over and over again, I’m unfashionably late, I’m harshly tone deaf but sing anyway, I get lost, I worry about things that don’t need worried about, I’m the queen of good intentions, sometimes I fail to follow through, etc., etc., etc.!

I also tend to gravitate toward consistency. It comforts me.

It’s the reason that I used the exact same calculator in my freshman math class as I did in my college statistics class. It’s the same calculator I use today; and I will continue to use it until it breaks or I lose it. The calculator does nothing but adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides. My statistics professor recommended that I invest in a new, more advanced calculator. I didn’t!

It’s the reason that I keep a dayplanner. I started keeping my first dayplanner in 1998. I was sixteen years old and a sophomore in highschool. I will continue to keep a dayplanner.

It’s the same reason that I try to blog semi-regularly. It irritates me to be inconsistent and to have a huge gap in my bloggy journal.

And it’s the reason that I’m going to repeat “30 pictures in 30 days”. I love more of the same. It makes me happy. It seems consistent. So for the month of November I will be posting a picture a day for thirty days just like I did back in April. And, just like I will do again in the future. Because I’m me. And consistency is one of my qualities.

I would love for you to join me if you wish. Do you want to? Jenni?

And in the meantime we will be pacing our lovely abode awaiting Halloween.

In the memo line I’m going to write "To Loves Eternal Glory"

I most definitely married up!
Aren’t I lucky?

You’d better believe I am!

A list, or five

{Edited to add: I thought I had published this post first thing this morning, but for some reason it didn't post. I'm sure it was bloggers fault, not mine. Because look at me...I'm brilliant}

*****

Fall activities we've been enjoying:

Painting pumpkins.

Jace buddies favorite words:
Muma and Mum.
Oh, how happy that makes me.
P.S. He still isn't walking.

Highlights from the weekend:
Dinner at Red Robin with the Francis Family and Matt, Traci and Charlotte.
Road trips and sleeping in a hotel. Always a treat.

::Brynlee took this picture::

Collecting leaves.
Bundling up for our daily {sometimes bi-daily or tri-daily} walk/bike ride.
Painting apples. {In the nude, of course.}

Miss Alivia's baby blessing. She's beautiful.
Seeing Spence's side of the family.
Getting welcomed home by these.

On the agenda for today:
Grocery shopping {check}
Laundry {check}
Raking more leaves. My maple tree and crab apple tree are both almost naked. {check}
FHE & making caramel apples. Yum! {check, check}

Kitchen update:Floors done.
Cabinets done{ish}.
I have a sink, dishwasher, microwave and refrigerator.
But, no stove.
What's left: painting, back splash, trim and molding and loads of finishing touches.

Hope you all have yourself a great week.

I know we will.

a (nineth) confession

Um, we had the swine flu. For about 2 ½ weeks we did. Right in the middle of honorary finals week. I wouldn’t recommend it.

No worries though. Now we are all healthy, wealthy and wise.

But only a little bit wise. And not one bit wealthy. But we are healthy and it feels so good.

Hair this cool takes hours of hard work

Based on the ever-so-accurate bedhead scale last night was a dewsey.

Wouldn’t you agree?

Addition

Katie wanted me to take a picture of her and Marie.

Easy enough. Right?

Well, when I was going to snap the picture...

Then...

The rest of the girls didn't want to be left out, so...

Then came...

Then slowly...

Some...

Others...

And then finally...

And now we return

October 18, 2009
Our weekend trip to SLC has ended.
We went to the Hogle Zoo, The Children’s Museum, The Clark Planetarium and dinner at the lovely Lion House.
Slept at a Hotel with a waterpark.
Kate has the hook-up.
Then we went to the Dinosaur Museum, the aquarium and Thanksgiving Pointe Gardens.
{Which we almost opted out of)
{I’m so glad we didn’t}
{IT.WAS.BEAUTIFUL. Breathtaking even.}
And we ate at Chuck-a-rama.
My family is always game for an all you can eat.
And somehow a few of us even found time for a quick trip to Ikea.

We spent the entire weekend with the family.
We had a ball.
We laughed a lot.
And took hundreds of pictures.

And now we are home.
With piles and piles of laundry.
Exhausted children.And loads of good memories.

I hope we do it again.
Soon.

:::car ride to SLC:::

:::this, my friends, is Jace's zoo face:::

:::You thought I was kidding? He didn't close his mouth the entire zoo visit. He loved it. And I love him.:::

:::Marie & Brynlee discovering:::

:::Livvie, Brynlee, me & Brookie in the helicopter:::

:::The two of us:::

:::The girlies:::

:::Spence & Brynlee:::

:::Business as usual:::

:::Three of my favorite guys:::

:::Brynlee & Brooke:::

:::Marie & Maddie gorilla climbing:::

:::al.most.there:::

This here family I married into

You might be a {insert my last name here} if…

…you believe that “Cherry Cheese Cream Cake” is one of the basic food groups.

…if, at last calculation, one plus one equals fourteen!

…if it takes two twenty pound turkeys and a eighteen pound ham to feed your family Thanksgiving dinner.

…if quality family time and an episode of the Simpson's are synonyms.

…if I refer to myself as Jill and you don’t even bat an eye.

…if you think fart is pronounced flatus.

…if you’ve watched The Christmas Story more than eight-seven times.

…if your immediate family is made up of 5 Canadians, 7 Americans and 2 honorary Germans.

…if your idea of a relaxing weekend is knocking down two walls, tiling the master bathroom and refinishing the dining room table all in time to be showered and ready for church Sunday morning.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Ya’ll!Hope you celebrated by making a “Cherry Cheese Cream Cake”.

::a few members of the gang Thanksgiving 2007::
::a few more members of the gang Thanksgiving 2005::

::and a few more members of the gang Canadian Thanksgiving 2007::

P.S. Andrew likes yellow!

an (eighth) confession

I can’t fast dance.

{You know like at high school dances where they play the fast songs and everybody is supposed to jump up and down and feel the beat and shake their bon-bon and all that jazz.}

Well, I couldn’t
::::and still can’t::::
do that.

But it didn’t stop me from joining in. I would dance so confidently and so HORRIBLY that it could almost past as talent..

Spencer can’t fast dance either. So if we ever find ourselves at a Highschool Sweetheart Ball we’ll just stand against the wall and act way to cool to fast dance. Together.

Alls I’m saying, that if the opportunity should present itself, I won’t have to pretend anymore.

Honorary Finals Week

Do you know what I hate? Finals week. (((shudder))) Ugg, I hate finals week. Why? Because it's finals week. Everything you've been planning to start planning to do (read: procrastinating) all semester long has to be done THAT WEEK. All those papers that you've been meaning to write? Ummyeah, there due. All of them. During one week. Every single lecture you've listened to & article you've read (or have been meaning to read) will be tested on. DURING ONE WEEK! Your final grade, the grade that appears on your transcript, the one that will be with you for.ev.ever gets decided DURING FINALS WEEK.

Not only that, but since its finals week, you'll get a cold sore. Guarantee! I got one every single finals week. And the cold sore will be a sure sign that you're getting sick. Not just "I don't really feel well" kinda sick, but "I'm pretty sure my head just exploded and I won't live to see another day" kinda sick. REALLY SICK! Plus, work will call. They'll need you to pick up a few extra shifts. Then your MIL, she'll call too. She's coming to visit. ALL WEEK. Why? Because its finals week and you have a test at 7:30 tomorrow morning that you haven't even started studying for. That's why!

Finals week makes my skin crawl.

Have you ever noticed that for three weeks before finals you're dead to the world? You don't receive a single house guest or phone call from even the closest of kin. But, during finals week, friends show up all over the place. People you haven't seen in years show up on your doorstep! And you love family. You love friends! So of course you're going to visit, maybe go to dinner, NOT studying for finals. That's for sure.

Oh, I hate finals week!!

Finals week is the time when your boyfriends dumps ya. Or your child gets the chicken pox. It's when the car breaks down or your Statistic book goes missing. It's when you run out of toilet paper. At two in the morning. And your roommates can't go pick any up. BECAUSE THEIR STUDYING FOR FINALS! It's when the kitchen starts to stink like something died in the garbage disposal. And the football players that live above you are blaring their rap music until 3am. But it doesn't wake you. Because you're already up. STUDYING FOR FINALS!

My mom always says her "nerves are shot". Finals week shoots my nerves!

{sidenote: Breah, do you remember when we stored the clock in the microwave during finals week because the constant ticking was about to push us both over the edge? Dang that clock! Got what it deserved if you ask me.}

Well, guess what? This last week Spence and I had commemorative finals week. Aside from all the textbooks, class time and, well, the actual finals…it was exactly like finals week.

Spencer took all last week off work (due to our final FORCED TIME OFF WITHOUT PAY). And our main purpose for the entire week was to get our kitchen back in working order. Um, it's Wednesday. Of the following week. And we have particle board for flooring. No back splash or upper cabinets (expect for now we do because the cabinet guy came and installed them before I posted this). And about 6 inches of Sheetrock dust on EVERYTHING in my house, including the sliding glass door and the cereal boxes.

But, we do have a kitchen sink. And a dishwasher. So I think that we at least deserve a C-.

::don't steal my camera and take random pictures of yourself pulling faces
unless you want it to randomly appear on my blog::

Other things that happened this week:

* Spencer turned thirty one! Thirty-one baby! When are you no longer a spring chicken?

* We celebrated "Happy 1^st Snow Day". To celebrate Spencer and I both picked out a new sweatshirt. His total was $52.98 and mine was $13.77. I haven't told him yet, but I still have $39.21 of "Happy 1^st Snow Day" money to spend.
* I love General Conference. It's exactly what you need during a commemorative finals week.
* Katie got a 100% on one of her English papers. And to celebrate she brought us all over a candy bar. I am going to suggest that she celebrate every good grade that way!
* Sarah and the kids came to visit. We went to Outer Limits and McDonald's (because we're classy and love our kids). Sarah brought me a Costco size bag of candy bars. I'm going to suggest that we make that a tradition as well.
* My Mom came to visit for a few days. She got the brunt of my "I hate finals week" attitude. Sorry about that Mom.
* Heard my Uncle Marks favorite primary song during conference. It was beautiful. Mom said Mark was sending us a message. And I agree.

Anyway, back to wiping off layers and layers of Sheetrock dust.

::Brynlee took this picture::

a (seventh) confession

It's comforting to know that I'm not consuming the world's chocolate chip supply single-handily. Please tell me that I'm also not the only one that…

Sometimes, when Spencer isn't around to witness it, I sneak a spoonful of Peanut Butter straight from the jar. Occasionally, I even forgo the spoon!

Do you?

::you'd better believe that I ate that
spoonful of peanut butter after the photo shoot::

Because I want to remember…

On Monday, September 28^th we spent the day remembering and honoring my Uncle Mark. I was pleased to be able to co-read Mark's life sketch with my mom. For the sake of remembering here are some of my favorite parts:
Mark was very interested in farming. When he was a small child he would make corrals on the grass in our yard. These corrals were intricate. He would use small sturdy sticks that he cut with his little pocket knife and Popsicle sticks for the fence posts. He would then take lengths of white string, twine, or colored yarn and make his fences just like Dad's barbed wire fences. His gates that he made were a true wonder, they could be opened and closed just like the real barbed wire gates that Dad built. He would place his plastic animals and farm equipment throughout his miniature farm. He made haystacks from grass or real hay and straw. He then began to ask mother or Grandma Harris to make him grain sacks. Mark would go out to the granary and fill these sacks with real wheat, oats, or barley. He started making his own grain sacks with mom's sewing machine when he was very young. He tied the corners of these sacks with string and labeled each sack. He made little tiny sheaves of hay and grain that he tied with string or yarn.

*****

One year Mark got a lasso rope for his birthday. Mark spent many hours learning to rope and he roped all of the animals on the farm including the pigs.

*****

Grandpa Harris often gave us some bum lambs that we raised with milk filled pop bottles and black nipples that fit on the pop bottles. Mark helped feed them and take care of them. He also gave them unique names. We had Pashe, LaLa and Jack Benny. He liked the black lambs best and he would choose the black ones for his special lambs.

*****

Grandma and Grandpa Harris would often give Mark a little pocket change for helping them when he was at their house and he would walk to Robbin's Grocery. He would buy a Grape Crush bottle of pop for 10 cents. His favorite candy bar was a Big Hunk for 5 cents. He liked the red penny suckers best.

*****

Our cats were a great source of joy to us. We would put them in our little straw cowboy hats that had drawstrings on them and swing them around. We were sure they enjoyed this very much. We were quite certain that they enjoyed being dressed in doll clothes also. It was not uncommon to see a cat or two come running in the yard with a little doll dress on and a cute little hat on top of its head.

*****

One of our cats had about 13 kittens and Mark named the white cat "Ethel" and the black cat "Regular". They were named after the gas tanks at Robbins Grocery. The white tank had Ethel gas in it and the Black tank had regular.

*****

Mark was liked by his classmates and earned the nickname of "Smiley" from them because of his happy disposition and good attitude. He was an excellent student and tried to help others excel in school also. He was often a friend to the friendless.

*****

Before Mark become ill, he had won a calf at the Calf Scramble during the Oneida County Fair and Rodeo. He cared for this animal until he became sick and he was so appreciative of the Mark Fan Club for purchasing his steer at the Oneida County Fair in 1971.

*****

Mark's favorite songs were I'm on the Top of the World by the Carpenters and Country Roads by John Denver.

*****

When Mark turned 19 in 1975 he wanted to serve a mission. Because of his limitations, he was not able to. However, he has had his nephews to serve for him. Mark was always so proud of his nephews for serving and wanted to know all of the details of their missions and their experiences.

*****

Mark received his GED in 1976. This was a huge accomplishment for Mark. He was very proud of completing this goal. Despite Mark's limitations, he also enjoyed many great times as a student at Idaho State University. He enjoyed the Institute classes that he was able to attend and the academic classes at ISU. He attended a few classes each semester from 1976 to 1978 and accumulated 28 college credits with a good grade point average.

*****

Mark flew to Boise several times to attend meetings. He was one, of a group of people, who represented those in the State of Idaho with special needs. Some of the things that were discussed in these meetings concerned handicapped parking, sidewalk changes to make the sidewalks more accessible for those in wheelchairs and making buildings and restrooms facilities more accessible for those with special needs.

*****

As a family, a great memory for all of us was our arm wrestling contests. Mark was usually the winner of these contests. He had tremendous strength in his left arm.

*****

Mark has always enjoyed conversations with his nieces and nephews. Some conversations have been face to face, over the telephone, and in the last years since he has lost his hearing, by us writing things on a piece of paper with a pen or pencil or a white board with dry erase markers.

*****

Mark was able to work at a job until December of 2008.

*****

Mark spent 39 ½ years in a wheelchair. He was 14 years old when he became ill.

*****

Mark has an angel mother who has cared for him all of his life with compassion and true motherly love and a very good father who cared for him with love and support and also provided the means for mother to do the things that she was able to do for him. Mark loved his parents and extended family. Anyone who was Mark's relative, was his friend. He thought of them often and always asked about them and their children or grandchildren.

*****

Mark lived a good life. He was a fine example to his family and friends. Mark will always be remembered by his family and friends as a man with a lot of spiritual strength, determination, self sufficiency, endurance, perseverance, a true desire to do good, and a man who did not let his trials in life stop him from achieving. Mark had a cheerful attitude and a great sense of humor and would not let physical limitations get in his way of enjoying his life. Mark had a sharp mind and a very good memory. Many of us were recipients of his priceless letters that he wrote to us with painstaking effort. Mark had a remarkable journey through life. Mark was a wonderful example, friend, brother, uncle and son. Very simply put--Mark is our hero and will continue to be throughout our lives and in the eternities.

*****

We know that life does not end now for Mark. We know that this is a new beginning for Mark that will be a peaceful and wonderful time for him. We love you Mark. May God be with you until we meet again.