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.