Happy Birthday Mom

1991

There is approx. 1 hour left on this, the day of my mother's birth.
But I couldn't let it pass without publicly thanking this good woman...

For giving me life.

For giving me 6 siblings whom I adore.

For supporting me in every dance performance (hundreds).

For staying up all those late nights to: sew my halloween costumes/prom dresses, type my papers (on a typewriter no less), or just talk.

I recently came across this quote and instantly thought of my mother:

"Whenever...temptations became most alluring and most tempting to me, the first thought that arose in my soul was this: Remember the love of your mother. Remember how she strove for your welfare. Remember how willing she was to sacrifice her life for your good. Remember what she taught you in your childhood...This feeling toward my mother became a defense, a barrier between me and temptation."

-Joseph F. Smith

This is the kind of mother she was.

Her goodness and sacrifice safeguarded me throughout my life.

Never underestimate the power of a righteous mother!

Thanks mom...

for everything!

All my love,

Erin

First broken bone...

...and it's not David, if you can believe it.

Cute Will broke his collarbone on Friday.

(I started writing this 2 weeks ago.)

He collided with another child while running at recess and fell on it wrong.

Nate was off work (three cheers for post-call Fridays!) so it was good timing if it had to happen, I suppose.

Although it did interrupt our day-long date to Goldy's (awesome breakfast!) and then Art in the Park (Boise's yearly art festival).

(Have I mentioned that life is pretty sweet with all kids in full day school?)

(I know what you're thinking...perhaps she should use a few more (parentheses) in this post. No problem.)

Notice how his right shoulder slopes at a not-so-natural angle...ouch!

Will has proven to be one tough cookie through the whole ordeal.

(One of the notable perks of being David's little brother.)

He's complained very little.

Here he is smiling for his x-rays.

And voila...

I texted my family from the E.R. and all the women replied "Oh no!!" (with 2 exclamation points) except for Dori who replied "Oh no!!!" (with 3 exclamation points).

It is clear to see who the most concerned sister was.

My brother Wyatt's response had me giggling:

"Running is too dangerous.
He should be hanging out on the roof more.
Nobody ever got hurt doing that."

Ahhh- I love my family.

Luckily the E.R. visit didn't take too long.
We were still able to get to Sun Valley on time for the opening dinner of Nate's work conference.
We spent a relaxing weekend there.
I, of course, have no pictures of Sun Valley.
Because I'm awesome like that.
But here are some pics of our journey home.
We took the scenic route.

Overlooking the Sawtooth Mountain range.

Getting in touch with our tribal roots.
Wait, where's Nora?


Oh that's right. There she is.


Redfish Lake.
This place is gorgeous.
In this picture, Nate is trying to decide where he will dock his boat (that we don't have yet) next time we come up.

He came to the dinner table last night and asked,
"Kids- would you rather go to college or get a boat?"
The decision was unanimous.
We'll start looking at boats this evening.

These pictures are totally undoctored.
Idaho really is just that beautiful.

It's actually not that funny.

Last night while I was at the church, Nate texted me this picture:

At first I wasn't sure what is was.
Was there an animal on our roof?

So I blew it up.
And OMGosh- there is my 6 year old son sitting on top of the roof.
Our 40 foot high roof with 10/12 pitch, to be clear.
(Go right ahead and start judging our parenting skills. I don't blame you.)
I quickly texted back:
What the h?
Which probably wasn't very appropriate for the church, but hey, I was typing as fast as I was thinking.


Apparently a good-hearted neighbor had seen David climbing out the dormer window and scrambling up the roof.
He quickly called Nate and said,
"Are you home? You're going to want to come outside immediately."
Nate ran out the door, looked in the direction of the pointing neighbor, gasped, told David to "hold still" (mostly so that he could get a picture), and then went and stood below the roof, and told David to "come down very slowly," which he did, crab-walk style. Luckily no one was hurt.


When I got home I went straight to David's room.
He wasn't really in the mood to talk.
But I got a few things out of him.
Why did you go out on the roof Davey?
-Jeesh, I just like view.
Do you know how dangerous that is? You could get really hurt or even die if you were to fall.
-Mom, you only fall if you get really close to the edge.
That's not true David. The roof is really steep. All it takes is one slip and you will fall all the way down.
-Mom, you just have to keep your hands dry.
(What??)


Look David- you've worn out the bum in your new pajama pants from sliding on the shingles.
(I thought this would really upset him because he has a slight obsession with PJ pants, and this pair happened to be new.)
And then I noticed it.
Another pair of pajama pants lying on his bedroom floor that also had a thread-bare bum.


(This is where things got a little more serious.)


David, how many times have you climbed the roof?
-I don't know Mom.
Did you do it before today?
-Yes.
Have you done it more than 2 times?
-Yes.
Like a lot of times?
-Yes.
(In tears now) David, do you have any idea how sad we would be if anything happened to you?? You have to promise me that you will never do this again.
I promise Mom.
No, I need to hear you say these words: "I promise I will never climb the roof again."



He said it.
And then I loved on him, said a prayer over him and sang him a song goodnight.
Well wait- he wouldn't let me sing the song. But I did get 2 kisses.
But only after I scratched his back for awhile.



Nate laughs when recounting this story, but I'm not quite there yet.
I spent hours lying in bed last night, wondering what else David was doing, unbeknownst to us, that might be putting his life in danger on a daily basis.
I probably don't even want to know.
He must have one very busy guardian angel.
I sent a hundred prayers up to heaven, thanking God for keeping our little guy safe.
And a thousand more, pleading with Him to continue to do so.

If I'm gray in the next couple of years, you'll know why.

Today is the day I will post about the Remodel

My family has threatened to disown me for not doing this earlier.
But today is the day.
The sky is blue.
The earth is green and glistening from the recent rainfall.
Everything smells fresh.
Today is a beautiful day in Boise.

The journey of the house...

Untouched- Sept 2010

Demolition Day- Oct 18, 2010

Goodbye roof

This was such a strange feeling- to be standing in my house that was open to the sky

The kids loved watching all the trucks and cranes.


2nd story added and the rebuilding of the roof:

Trying to weather-proof.

Alas, that did not go well, resulting in damaged carpet and hardwood floors everywhere in the house.

Stupid dark, menacing clouds. Stupid rain.

Some inside shots:

Front door and staircase

Upstairs bedroom. Actually this is our guest bedroom with a cute dormer window.

Enticing eh?

Well, get your bums up here then.

Working through the winter.

This was a cold day in January.

I felt so bad for the builders.

I didn't even mind that they built themselves a fire right there on my front lawn.

The kids didn't mind so much either.

Now to the details. This is where is gets fun.

Cedar shingles
Mmmm- I love the smell of cedar.

Barrel-roll ceiling over the entry

Rock and front steps

Front door.

Confession: I am a little obsessed with my front door.

I found the piece of leaded glass on ebay.

The moment I saw it I knew it had to be in my front door.

To me, the design looks like paper dolls holding hands.

It says:

"Come on in.

In this house you are always welcome.

You are always a friend."

Can you hear it?

The "M"- a little joke from our builders

It stayed up there for a couple days until they were able to come back.

I'm sure the neighbors thought we were total weirdos.

The herringbone brick inlays

A couple shots of the inside.

Disclaimer: it still needs paint, trim, light fixtures, decor, etc.

But at least you can get a sense of some of our living space.

Main living area

Front entry and staircase

Pictures from this morning.

Unfortunately, they aren't "after" pictures.

We aren't there quite yet.

(The cedar shingles will be stained charcoal gray. Trim will be white.)

The view as you drive up to the house.

My favorite.

We may just ask the builders to leave the port-a-potty when they're done.

What would the kids do without their outdoor bathroom?

They don't even have to interrupt their play long enough to come inside.

Such a sweet set-up.

From the BLM land next to our house:

Tree-lined

Excuse me- the kids just walked into the house carrying 2 dogs that I have never seen before.

Okay, I'm back.

One of the benefits of living out on a secluded ridge in Idaho is that there are animals everywhere.

Bunnies, squirrels, deer, hawks, dogs, cats.

The kids are in heaven.

I don't mind so much except for the mice.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.


From the carport:
Now on to the views:

A little peak from our corner of the world.

Columbia Village neighborhood

The view a mere 30 feet from our front door.

Same spot. Different angle.

Oh and incidentally, Nate and I had our weekly lunch date today and found a quaint little restaurant with the same name (Fork) as my favorite little restaurant in Philly.

It's like we were meant to find each other.

And the food was spectacular.

It's on the corner of 8th and Idaho.
Fam- when you come to Boise we will definitely have to hit 8th street.
Far and away our favorite little slice of Bo-Do (Boise Downtown).
Sidewalk cafes, boutiques, a farmer's market on the weekends.
So so charming.

Whoa- this may just be the longest post ever.
But now you can all get off my back :)

Making Me Laugh

Last night before bed, I was reading the Book of Mormon with the kids.

(Nate is out of town on a biking trip.)

We were in the book of Alma where Captain Moroni’s army has the Lamanites surrounded and Moroni stops the fighting to give them a chance to surrender peacefully. We stopped abruptly at this point and I told them it was getting late and they would have to see what happens tomorrow.

(We try to end each reading session with a cliffhanger in hopes that the kids will be excited to get back to it the next day. That’s good parenting right there.)

David: But Mom, we have to keep going. I want to see if the Lamanites all get dead.
Me: Well, I’ll read you the end of the story tomorrow. Won’t that be exciting?
David: But what if a robber gets into our house tonight and kills you?
I was laughing too hard to respond.

Nora: Mom, how do know what it is saying?
Me: Well, I’ve read the Book of Mormon enough to understand the language of the scriptures.
Nora: But Mom, those words don’t make sense…Anyways, are they real words?

Then on to prayers…

Will: Please bless Wyatt and Chelsea’s babies that they won’t have any weakness…only strongness.

Tess: Please bless Dad on his bike trip. Help him to not get any more scrapes, because those pictures with all the blood are gross. And help him to not break any bones. But if he does, please help him to choose a tie-dye cast.

Some totally random pictures that also make me laugh:

Snaggle-tooth Tess


Will refusing to wear his baseball hat any way but normal.

Winter hot-tubbing with cousin Tate

Notice how pleased Tess is with her creation and how unenthused Nora is about it.

:

A normal interaction between Nate and David.

(We are at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.)

one five

I love this shot of Nathan. I'm pretty sure that if I had just taken it from a different angle, we could have seen some pretty sweet crack action.

His name is Nathan.
Most people call him Nate.
At work, he's known as "Dr. McDreamy." (That is a true story.)
What do I call him?
"Nathe."
With an h.
Because I believe that every person should have a name for their love that only they get to use.

Nathe calls me "Er."
As in "air."
As in "you are the very air [Er] I breathe."
He's so romantic, that Nathe.

At a luau in 99.

When I was little I had this grand idea of what it would be like when I first met my future husband.
We would see each other from across the room and then...
Everything would freeze.
The orchestra would start playing.
And we'd gaze knowingly, longingly into each other's eyes.

I'm happy to report that that's exactly the way it happened.
At least for me.
Nate didn't really even notice me. (Even though we were paired as dance partners 2 min later.)
He certainly wasn't interested.
He was a 26 year old Phd student.
I was an 18 year old wide-eyed Freshman.
He thought I looked 13. (He was right.)
I thought he looked perfect: tan skin, dark hair, blue eyes
He preferred brunettes, and I was blond.
Thank goodness fate forced us together for a 6-week tour to China so that he could come to realize how smart, spiritual and ultra-deep I am.

Horseback riding in 2000


The way Nate tells it, I tricked him into marrying me.
Apparently, I booked the temple/reception center and gave him a deadline for proposing.
That may or may not have happened.
(Hey, I know how to get what I want.)

Feb 16, 1996
"The waist lines have grown a few inches (unfortunately) and Nate's hair has shrunk a few inches (thankfully).

Dear Nathe,
I think you are really handsome.
And the most amazing father to our children.
And you're great at fixing things (which is really handy).
And you're pretty much the most intelligent person I've ever met.
Basically, you're my favorite.
Happy 15th.
Let's make it eternity.
I love you,
your Er (air)