Happy Birthday, Brookie Cookie!

WARNING: If you don't know Brooke Hinckley, this might be a little boring for you. But the pictures are priceless so do take a peek!

Wow, freshman year of college was a LIFETIME ago. I was one of the lucky kids who wasn't quite smart enough to go to fall semester at the Y unless I went for summer term too. So, I did. I was so scared to go because I didn't know anyone and I didn't know any of the roommates that I would be stuck with. Well, summer term was when I met Brooke and Mica. It was the most fun that I ever had in one semester at the Y. The three of us are still good friends to this day... we're just spread across the country!

So, I actually don't have any pictures from our first summer semester because they are all put together in a cute little scrapbook. And I didn't feel like scanning the entire thing. So here are a few from sophomore year when we lived in the Glenhole. I mean the Glenwood, sorry.

Girls take pictures of the dumbest things. Like our feet. But, we had good reason... they are all different colors! This was the summer that I was a lifeguard at Seven Peaks so I was as brown as I'll ever be in my life. Brooke is well, probably the same as she'll always be :) She's in the middle. Mica is on the left, the nice natural olive colored feet. Brooke and I were always jealous.

Brooke, our roommate Alyssa, and me.
Ahhh... the road trips. This one was up to Brandon's house in Idaho. Doesn't he look thrilled to have us? He's the tall guy. Well, I had fun anyways, especially when I fell off a horse after he got his foot stuck in barbed wire. Brandon wasn't too happy with me about that. Don is on the right. What ever happened to that guy? Or Brandon for that matter?Going to Brooke's house in Snowflake. Remember the wild horse standing in the middle of the highway on the scary Indian Reservation, Brooke? Like I said, girls take pictures of the strangest things. But, I'm glad we did because now I have something funny to post about.Me, Jaden (sp?) and Brooke. The lucky little fellow is Brooke's nephew. Ah, this was fun. I think we had a ward talent show, and it just so happened that Alyssa was a fantastic dancer and choreographer. So, she put together a pretty good song mix including "I Like Big Butts (where we naturally stuffed our behinds with pillows and shook it), the love song from The Little Mermaid and that one song where two women are fighting over some guy. What was that song again? That was the part Brooke and I got to do. Brooke has always been fabulous at lip-syncing. Here we are doing the country song part of the mix. What were the other songs on there, Brooke? Why didn't we TAPE IT? We performed it with the guys that we hung out with: James, Brandon, Zach (well, Alyssa still hangs out with him every now and then :), Don and Mike (right?) Brooke and I fighting over our guy. Were we fighting over James?We probably got all gussied up to go to the grocery store. Don't worry,Brooke, I cropped it above your showing midriff.Another road trip to Southern Utah with Scott, Mike and Bryce. Sheesh, Mica and I are scandalous. Good thing you have sleeves on, Brooke. Hey, isn't that my shirt?Ben & Jerry's: our source of sanity (and the freshman 15:). We were freaking out to see a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Shop in a mall in Vegas.She is no longer Brooke Jones, but Brooke Hinckley!
Mica, Brooke and I went to get pedicures right before her big day. My mom, Destroy (who was 15 months old) and I flew out for her wedding.
The BEAUTIFUL bride. I loved getting to come to your wedding!
The last picture we had together (No, that sounded bad. She didn't die :). We were out in Utah for spring break during Aaron's first year of med school. Destroy was 3-4 months old and Brooke had just gotten home from her mission in Missouri, right? I guess we didn't get any pictures together last time I saw you right after Ellee was born, huh?

She is and always will be one of my favorite people on the earth. She is SOOO sweet, can't say no to anyone and will do anything for you. My favorite part about her, though, is her unbeatable sense of humor. This girl could make me laugh for hours. Happy Birthday!

Miss-scale-ain'-he-us

1. Aaron figures that he making $5 an hour these days as a not quite board certified physician. The term I'm looking for... oh yes. Slavery.

2. Search has gone to bed at 4 pm the last two Saturdays in a row, and hasn't woken up until 6:30 am. The word I'm looking for... oh yes. Heaven.

3. Monday night for Family Night we had a lesson about the pre-earthly life. We struggled through it thinking that neither kid had gained anything out of it amongst their fighting and innatention. But, in the closing prayer Destroy proved us wrong. "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for people, Miss Carly (his cute 20-year-old preschool teacher who he has a little crush on), books... and Spiderman." He then proceeded to mention everything we had talked about in the lesson. The parents were dumb-founded, open-mouthed, staring at each other during the prayer. Destroy was smothered in hugs after that.

4. A few weeks ago this guy came into our house and announced that he wanted to start a garden. It took me a few minutes to realize that this guy was my husband. Those of you that know Aaron know that he isn't a handy guy and that he really doesn't like doing projects around the house. In my mind I was thinking, "Is it still April fools day?" and, "OK, which gun is he trying to weasel his way into this time". All said and done, we have planted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, peas and green beans. We plan to do pumpkins, corn and... well I think that's it. He knows more than I do so you can ask him.

5. Search has found a new love for diving into the pool. We go down into the deep end, he puts his hands above his head and dives in. He's pretty good about kicking himself up but I usually have to help fish him out. Hopefully a video to come on that. His older brother watches but won't try it. Destroy loves to be under water. His favorite game to play is the game where we go under water with him, hold up a number of fingers and he counts them while we are under water. After we come up, he tells us how many fingers he counted. They also love diving for rings. Goggles have made a world of difference for their swimming.

6. Last week Destroy gave a talk in church. It was a total of 12 lines and I promised him that if he could memorize them, we would make cookies after church. He colored the visuals, cut them out, and glued them on sturdy paper. He even wrote letters on the back of the pages to help him remember the first word of every line. He did a great job even though he needed a few prompts! And, of course, he makes the bribery known to all the teachers in there by announcing right after he sits down from his talk that he now gets to make cookies with him mom after church.

7. Search has become a lover of starfall. It's a great website for readers of all ages. Search sticks to the alphabet letters but he can maneuver around the website easily now. Destroy likes the beginning reading stuff that they have. This website comes in really handy during dinner to keep them occupied. Thanks Nicole for the recommendation!

8. I'm so lucky to have Poison Sumac (they don't have Poison Oak out here). I think I got it while dumping our yard waste out into the forest behind our house. I guess it serves me right for dumping our weeds out there :) Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was Poison Sumac until I had been scratching the crap out of it all day. It's so much fun now that it's spread all over my arms and legs. Lucky, lucky me.

9. Search and Destroy are very excited that we have finally started recycling. Destroy tells Search that he gets the cans and paper and that Search can have the glass, and "and, um, what's the other one, Mom? Oh, yeah, plastic". Indiana makes it very difficult to recycle. We have to pack it out and take the various recyclables to different places around town. Bless Oregon and all those other states who give you one big bin to throw in all in. But, of course, your tax money goes to all those poor souls who have to sort it all out.

10. If you've read this far, I'll finish boring you now. Right now.

ZOO

I think we've been to the zoo like 5 times in the last two weeks, thanks to Alli who gets us in for free with her membership. I'm such a free-rider :) Thanks, Alli. I usually take Search while Destroy is at school (I know, mean, huh) so Search and I have to make sure that there is no evidence of a zoo trip anywhere in the car to avoid jealousy and tantrums from a-fore mentioned brother.

Look! Thing One is actually looking at the camera and smiling at the same time! Too bad the giraffe isn't... (Looking, that is. I don't think giraffe's can smile).
Wow! Thing Two is ALSO looking at the camera! A marked day in history.
Where are the otters?

Whoa! There they are! Hello!
The zoo here has a pretty cool shark pool. You can pet the sharks as they swim by and the crazy thing is that the sharks actually like to be touched! Some of the sharks think they are dolphins and try to pull some crazy tricks. The polar bear was actually moving around one of the days that we went. He was paddling around with his front paws, back and forth, back and forth. Poor bear, he must be so hot in the humidity here.

The walrus exhibit has to be my favorite, which is why I don't have any pictures. I'm always watching them. They are very social and they like to be right up against the window playing with the kids. Don't worry, this one's not real.
Search and Destroy with pals: Brandon, Taylor and William. Not pictured (due to prime poking/squeezing/licking opportunity from Search): Baby Oliver.

The penguins are so fun to watch. I love how they blast out of the water onto the rocks.

The penguin exhibit in on both sides of a hallway with a tunnel under the hallway for them to swim through. The cool thing is that the floor is a window and you can watch the penguins swim under your feet.

Aren't they cute when they do this? Luckily they held hands long enough to get my camera out!We are monkeys. Ooh Ooh, Ahh ahh! So we go to the zoo to see the animals. But you know what the kids want to see? No, not the animals. They want to watch the diggers working on an exhibit.
The mighty grizzly bear! Roar!

Questions

Does anyone know of a good kid's SPRAY sunscreen that isn't greasy?

And I'm looking for a new face wash, relatively inexpensive. Any recommendations?

Oregon

I decided to go to Oregon sans the camera. I just figured that I would use my mom's and then burn the pictures to a disc before I left. But, seeing as how I was a bit strapped for time before I left, I didn't get them. Oh well, here's what I will tell you about our trip.

1 Bloody Nose. You have to understand that the kids were so extremely excited about going on an airplane to visit their Nana and Grandpa Duck that they literally could not contain their spasing. They were bouncing all over the airport as I was avoiding the "can't you control your kids?" looks everywhere we went. As we get into the security line, I have my license and boarding pass ready. I look down at the stroller just in time to watch Destroy throwing his head back into Search's nose. Search turns around to look at me while inhaling for his first scream as blood comes trickling out of his nose. So, now, I have a screaming, bleeding toddler who I have to carry, a spasming kid in the stroller threatening to leap and all of our shoes, jackets, bags, stroller, etc that have to somehow get up onto the conveyor. And of course, no help from anyone around me. I will spare you the details of the rest of our trip but I will let you know that I am never traveling alone with my children. Ever.

2.5 Books Read. I love going to visit my mom and dad because I have more time to read! My sister in law recommended this one. I'll let you know how is ends :)

Speak is a great book. I actually saw the movie first because I was renting anything with Kristin Stewart in it just to check her out :) I think she'll be a great Bella in Twilight. Yes, I realized I'm obsessed.A friend of mine recommended "the princess books" to me recently by Shannon Hale. I really like her writing style and her books are very clean. Ok, I didn't read this one while we were gone, but I've read it since I got home. It's really cute. For those of you Jane Austen lovers out there, you would probably like this book. It's a fun, quick read.
3 Pair of Rockin' Summer Shoes.
Yes, I realize they are a bit expensive, but seriously. Look at the toes on those puppies! None of my children will get stubbed toes at the playground this summer. I've learned from experience to buy a good pair of shoes once, instead of a pair of cheap ones twice. And I got some cutesy ones too.

9 Cousins Played With. My brother Jake lives in Medford with his three kids so Search and Destroy have instant cousins to play with while we are there. Aaron's sister, Deanna came up with my Mother-in-law and her two kids for a day from Chico while we were there. She has two boys also, so the four of them had a blast together. Search especially had fun terrorizing her youngest, Lincoln. Watch out, Search. He'll be bigger than you some day :) Three days before we left my mom and I decided to take the kids up to Washington so that they could see their other cousins and surprise cousin Jenny on her birthday. Uncle Dave is away in Iraq but we got to see Aunt Laurie, Brett, Jenny, Luke and Sophie. A seven hour drive up to Washington easily turned into 10 with "Mommy, I need to go potty". And then 20 minutes later, "Mommy, I need to go poo". And then the worst, "Mommy, I already went". And so on and so on.

3 New Summer Cuts.

Search mostly just got a choppy cut to shorten the shag a little. His hair has to stay long because he has two very not cute cow-licks right next to each other in the back. And, sadly, almost all of his blond was cut off. Man, this kid has been through the spectrum in his life with hair color.

Destroy got a buzz. His hair looks cute super short because he has these blond streaks in front that get hidden when it's long. He also has an adorable cow-lick in my opinion. Yup, me too. Have I ever mentioned that I HATE hair? Not just mine, but ANY hair. It's nasty. One day, when I get to create my own world, I will make sure that not a hair can be found! But at any rate, I am happy with my haircut. Even though it's a HAIRcut.

1 Cute Necklace Finished.

My mom could open her own bead shop with the supply she has. She's very creative and talented at beading. She's always giving me great ideas while I'm making a necklace. Beading is quite addicting actually so it's probably a good thing that I'm a cheapskate and won't fork out the money to get started on my own. All I need is another addiction:)


1 Fun Summer Bag Finished.
I found some sweet fabric before I left so I brought it along and made a bag while I was there. This picture doesn't show the colors very well but it's all different shades of green. Cool fabric.

1 Happy Daddy/Hubby to See Us.

The day we got home was absolutely beautiful so we played outside until bedtime. And they were very ready to run. Somehow our two flights got switched to three. Talk about a long day of traveling.

Normally when the kids and I make our annual spring pilgrimage to Oregon, Aaron gets really bored and lonely. But, this time he was really busy. Not only was he working a lot but he also had USMLE step III to take and a lot of other things going on. Like a list of stuff to do from me :) He also bought an AK (another gun) while I was gone. How good can it get? Your nagging wife leaves and you get to buy a gun?

But what could be better than coming home to this!

And this!We have flowers all over our yard that weren't here last summer. With the exception of the last two days, the weather has been gorgeous. We've made it to the zoo a couple of times this last week and we've started the long process of making our yard look decent by removing all the dead leaves and plants. With the help of these flowers it will be looking really nice in a few weeks. I've decided that daffodils are a weed here. I see them everywhere! But, I'm not complaining. They are really pretty.

Anyways, we are happy to be home now. Destroy was happy to go back to school and Search begs to go too. Next fall, little man, and your turn will come.

Tagged: the memoir

THE RULES:Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you like. Link to the person who tagged you in your post. Tag six more blogs with links. Don't forget to leave a comment on the blogs you tagged inviting them to play along!

Megan's memoir:

Scattered puzzle pieces: understanding, patience, inspiration.

I tag: Rachel, Julia, Brooke, Danielle, Nicole, and Amelia. This is only of course, if you want to do it. I thought this was an especially fun one!

We're Back

Well... I didn't take my camera to Oregon. So future posting about our trip (in pictures) might be minimal. But, I will post a few things later! We are happy to be back and we were warmly welcomed by the gorgeous weather we are having! I love it!

Last night I checked out what's going on with the Twlight movie. There are a few "trailers" out there. I don't think any of them are official but there are some clips of the movie. This one has to be my favorite. You'll see why!