s'mores

S'mores. What more can I say? They're not my favorite (I've played "chubby bunny" one too many times to enjoy marshmallows anymore) but the kids LOVE them. We had my mom over to BBQ on Saturday night, Memorial Day Weekend, and as a treat for the kids- decided to make s'mores. It was windy and the smoke kept blowing in everyone's eyes. And the kids still haven't caught on that they need to hold their marshmallows down by the heat- they hold them about 2 feet above the flames -but a good time was had by all. Even by Liam, who declared that the cooked ones were "yucky" and would only eat everything separately.

"I have to what?"

"You have to hold it over the heat."

"Hmmm."

How Liam eats s'mores...

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Your 'killing' my marshmallow!"

Burn baby, burn...

Death to the marshmallow. (I like watching them explode...)

jason's 31st

Jason's birthday has rolled around again! This year was a much smaller affair than last year. Instead inviting practically everyone we know over, we just had Jason's parents and my parents and brother over for spaghetti and meatballs!

I'm amazed we got as many around the table as we did!

Grouchy and Crazy... otherwise known as Evie and Katie

Time for presents (and fuzzy pictures.)

Jason loves food, so the kids and I got him a

big bag of veggie chips, granola, coffee,

coconut dates & mixed nuts from the natural foods store!

Ahh, coffee!

Somethings funny.

New clothes!

alligator farm

In May we went to the Alligator Farm in Alamosa, CO for a field trip at the end of the school year with Katie's entire little school. Lots of bugs, snakes, big fish, fish tanks and tons of alligators!!! And it was incredibly windy! But the kids still seemed to have a good time! Liam was especially taken with the alligators. As they were laying still in the sun, he thought they were sleeping and kept trying to wake them up. Here are some pics from the day.

Jack & Liam looking at some sort of creepy crawly.

Evie & Katie

All the kids taking turns touching an alligator

"Look Momma! Cats!" Umm, not really son.

BIG fish

One of many

Oh..rats...

See...really windy!

Mrs. McCabe and all of her students (plus a couple of extras that got in there)

mother's day 2010

So this year for Mother's Day, I wanted to have my mom and Jason's mom over for brunch. I love to entertain and any excuse to decorate is a good one! Unfortunately my parents couldn't make it up from Arizona at the time, so we just had Jason's parents - Ruth & Don - over. Jason wanted to make sure that me cooking and cleaning and preparing brunch for everyone was what I wanted for Mother's Day and strangely enough- it was! Here are some pics of the good time we had and all the yummy food!

Getting food ready!

Pretty decorations!

Table setting!

The kids table!

The girls & I!

Me and all my kiddos!

Jason's mom Ruth!

Time to eat!

Don was pretty excited about the food!

Yumminess in the following order:

Breakfast Bread Pudding

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Roasted Tomatoes w/ Garlic & Spices

Homemade Spinach Quiche

Maple Roasted Bacon

Roasted Potatoes w/ Rosemary

Some pretty good food!

The "Mothers"

jonah complex

There's something I've learned from my parents- it's location, location, location.

A good location for your business to thrive is smart.

A good location when buying (or building) a home is a good plan.

A good location to raise your family is a wise idea.

My parents have always moved us to places where all of those things are possible: steady work, affordable housing, good for families. So as Jason and I have been looking at places to move, I've had these 3 things running through my mind.

But I've also been thinking of places I do NOT want to move. Hot places, cold places, out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere places. I do not want to move to Maine. It's on the opposite side of the country from family. I do not want to move to Chicago. Jason lived there as a kid and one of his neighbors...well the guy killed his grandma with a crossbow and then proceeded to chop her up and dispose of her as he (and his mom) traveled cross country in an RV. Yea. Jason doesn't want to move back there. Understandably.

I also don't really want to move to Phoenix, Arizona. But so far it's the only place that God has cracked the door.

So now I feel like Jonah. I do not want to go there.

It's hot. Really hot. I see one of the perks to being saved is not burning in hell. If you asked me what hell on earth looked like I would probably first say childbirth, next would be living in Phoenix. My brother lives there (not in hell...Phoenix) and the other day he posted on his Facebook page that he really liked the weather there- it's cloudless skies, warm temps, no rain, no wind. I like rain, wind and cloudy skies. I realize that Phoenix gets the extreme- very windy weather, flash floods from sudden rainstorms. But I am not so excited about extreme weather either.

Yep, I'm Jonah. I (me, myself and I) would like to move to Astoria, Oregon.

Ever since I watched "Goonies" and then "Kindergarten Cop", I've thought it would be cool to live there.

Or Whidbey Island, Washington.

(We've sent resumes to jobs in both places.) I was looking at pictures of Whidbey and I almost cried. I do love the ocean. And trees. And green. And I do love rain. I could even love lots of rain....

I'm kind of hoping God doesn't let a whale swallow me. It would look funny in Colorado. But if I'm not careful, I will let the "whale" swallow me. I will let my wants consume me. I used to listen to this guy called Patch the Pirate when I was like 5. He told cool stories with a Godly twist. One of them was about not being a "Me First" because you might get sent to Me First Island- where you were never first. I don't want to be a "me first." So I've really been praying about being open to where GOD opens the doors.

I've already conquered the fear of moving itself. I've lived in Pagosa for 13 years. It's the longest amount of time I've ever lived in one place. I have friends here, a church family I love, a house that's tiny but enough, I love the weather in the summer (could totally do without snow though.) I've learned to deal with the fact if I want to go to Target it's an all day trip since it's 2 hours away. There is no Gap or Old Navy, nor a mall or a Walmart here in Pagosa, so I am the eBay queen. Shop Victoriously? Why yes, I do...online.

But I'm ready to go. So is Jason, it's always wise when you're married that both of you feel ready to move and are willing to do so at the same time.

I'm ready to see what God has for me in another place.

I'm just having a hard time letting Him pick it.

oscar follow up

Ok, I said that I'd update a few days after the Oscar ceremony to tell everyone how I did and if I won. Well, I lost. By 1. No, by 2. I got 15 out of 24 correct and the winner I was told got 16 out of 24. It's taken me weeks to blog as I have been processing and working through my loss and feelings of grief. No, not really- I'm kidding. Though honestly, I was pretty disappointed I didn't win- again. I changed a lot of my choices the day before I submitted my ballot and if I had just stuck with what I had picked, rather than panic and change tons of things, I would have won with ohhhh, something like 23 out of 24. I was kicking myself through the entire telecast. I felt somewhat better that a few of my choices (that ended up not winning) were the same as the guys who write for Entertainment Weekly and the LA Times, etc. They get paid for picking the winners. They have to feel even stupider than I. So this year, I will now have to pay to attend the movies. Just like everyone else.

I also said that I'd blog about the winners, so here's my break down of who I chose and who ended up winning and what I think about that.

Best picture
My pick- Inglourious Basterds

Who won- The Hurt Locker

Ok this was an epic fail. I "thought" too hard about how the new voting system would work and I bombed. This was one of my last minute changed answers.

Best actor
My pick- Jeff Bridges

Who won- Jeff Bridges

Yea.

Best actress

My pick- Sandra Bullock

Who won- Sandra Bullock

Yea again.

Best supporting actor

My pick- Christoph Waltz

Who won- Christoph Waltz

Well, at least I'm getting the actors right.

Best supporting actress

My pick- Mo'Nique

Who won- Mo'Nique

4 out of 4 is good.

Best director
My pick- Kathryn Bigelow

Who won- Kathryn Bigelow

That was amazing. First woman ever to win the best director Oscar. She looked really nervous.

Best animated feature
My pick- Up

Who won- Up

That one was the easiest choice.

Best foreign language film

My pick- The White Ribbon

Who won- The Secret in Their Eyes

This is a case of one film winning a bunch of awards all year and then not winning the Oscar. I never saw either film. Probably never will.

Best screenplay (original)

My pick- Inglourious Basterds

Who won- The Hurt Locker

IB should have won. Period.

Best screenplay (adapted)

My pick- Up in the Air

Who won- Precious

What the heck? Where did that come from?

Best music (original score)

My pick- Up

Who won- Up

Ok.

Best music (original song)

My pick- The Weary Kind

Who won- The Weary Kind

I listened to 30 seconds of the songs I could on iTunes. Glad I did.

Best art direction

My pick- Avatar

Who won- Avatar

YES! (sigh...)

Best cinematography

My pick- The Hurt Locker

Who won- Avatar

This was on of those winners that those paid people were probably upset about too.

Best costume design

Brynn's pick- The Young Victoria

Who won- The Young Victoria

So glad.

Best documentary (feature)

My pick- The Cove

Who won- The Cove

Well at least I got one "artsy" film right...

Best documentary (short subject)

My pick- China's Unnatural Disaster

Who won- Music by Prudence

Bummer. But I enjoyed watching the 2 producers fight it out to who gets to speak. The Academy only lets one producer from each movie actually talk.

Best film editing

Brynn's pick- The Hurt Locker

Who won- The Hurt Locker

You're probably sitting there thinking- why didn't she stay with her original pick for Best Pic for The Hurt Locker? Well, right about now during the ceremony I was thinking that too.

Best makeup

My pick- Star Trek

Who won- Star Trek

Can a person get all the "little" awards correct and still win?

Best short film (animated)

My pick- A Matter of Loaf and Death

Who Won- Logorama

Turns out it took ten years to make. They probably won on that fact alone.

Best short film (live action)

My pick- The Door

Who won- The New Tenants

Again, the movie that wins most other awards doesn't necessarily win the Oscar.

Best sound editing

My pick- Avatar

Who won- The Hurt Locker

This really surprised me.

Best sound mixing

My pick- Avatar

Who won- The Hurt Locker

And it was with this one being announced, I knew my ship had sunk.

Best visual effects

My pick- Avatar

Who won- Avatar

DUH.