Goodbye Alpine, Hello Ephraim

Well....Ephraim here we are! We moved in on Halloween and watched the election unfold in a new home--a memory that will stick forever. It's new beginnings all the way around. Today, we are on Day 2 of a complete water outage here. Someone hit the main water line and they have been trying to fix it since yesterday afternoon.

Here is what I've learned in 4 days at the new home:

1. It's pretty cool when you can stand in the master bedroom and see every room in the house.
2. Don't under-estimate the frustration that comes from living next door to horses when your dog has a "thing" for rolling in warm horse poop.
3. A smaller house can get stinky when you can't flush toilets, wash dishes, or shower for 2 days.
4. How is it possible that we are in a smaller town but the girls are twice as busy as they were in Alpine? Hurray for cheer, musical theater and violin.
5. Intelligent, fun people live in small towns too. I've met the nicest people!
6. When I design my own home, remind me to put the light switches for the kitchen IN the kitchen (instead of one in the living room, one in the dining room).
7. This move reminded me that when you having nothing to do, it's the time to do all the things you said you would always do when you "had some free time" (banjo, write a book, start an online flyfishing store)
8. Fancy televisions require fancy technicians to set them up. And sometimes they still don't work right so you have to use the 10 inch TV from the dorm rooms anyway.
9. Be grateful for working washer and dryers!
10. Take what you own and cut it in half, then cut it in half again and you still own too much stuff.

THE ANNIVERSARY DINNER

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We celebrated our anniverary last night. Pretty interesting when you have no restaurants in town and the water isn't working. We melted ice cubes to cook with and made dinner anyway. A down-home anniversary with Gentry as our waitress. Take a look at the funny menu the kids made (click on the picture to enlarge).

The Halloween Tradition Continues

Yes, we LOVE our Halloween cookie decorating contest. What started with a simple Jack O'Lantern face, has evolved into a full out, anything-goes competition. This year, however, was the first we have seen the "Double Decker Hamburger" entry, utilizing 2 sugar cookies and a full pound of candy (or something like that). Zachary also made a Jantzen look-a-like cookie in honor of our missing family member, complete with a green tic-tac beanie. I think we only had one traditional pumpkin face this year. Thank heavens for Paige's rational mind.

All in all, it was another success. You know it's gotta be good if Zac would come! Some traditions just get better with time. This is one of them.

5 Wishes

My friend, April, gave me the best book for my birthday. It's called 5 Wishes. It's fantastic! The premise is that you are supposed to finish this sentence, "The main reason my life was not a total success is because I didn't_______". Come up with 4 or 5 items. Then turn them around into a positive action statement and live by it every day to change the outcome. Sounds simple enough...cough, sputter.

In the spirit of "keeping it real" (thanks Danny), here are my 5 Wishes :

The main reason my life wasn't a total success:

1. I didn't laugh enough and took life too seriously
2. I rushed through eachexperience to get to the future without enjoying the moment.
3. I was too scared to go after the (crazy) dream that lit me on fire. Always ended up playing it safe in work, relationships, life.
4. Gave in to what others though I should do/be instead of being true to myself.
5. I was too rigid and deliberate in designing my life and didn't allow or cope well with unexpected surprises.

I've turned those into positive statements for my life now. My new mantra:

1. I laugh often. I stop and smile. Others want to be around me because I find the joy in my life.
2. I live in the 'NOW' and enjoy each moment as it unfolds
3. I passionately and courageously pursue my passions a little bit every day
4. I am authentic to the real me, which gives my talents and gifts a free slate to blossom
5. I look at life as a big adventure, knowing wherever I go, I can make it a wonderful (and even magical) experience. Life will serve up what I need, and I will embrace the journey.

Now...for those of you who read my blog. What are your 5 Wishes?

JANTZEN!!

JANTZEN TODAY




JANTZEN 6 MONTHS AGO




I just got Jantzen's school pics in the mail. Look at my handsome boy! He looks so good---like the old Jantzen. I had to immediately blog so everyone can see. He is doing well and sounds great. I love the confident clear eyes I see in him now. Such a contrast from his demeanor 6 months ago. It's a good week!

Fall Leaves

HEY!! I DEMAND TO KNOW-- WHAT'S WITH THE SNOW??? YOU CUT MY FISHING SEASON SHORT!!

First things first---A continuation of the tennis success stories. Whitney ended up taking third in 5A State Finals. We are so proud of her! It is an incredible accomplishment. Now her poor elbow can take a rest from tendonitis and she can get some good recovery time. Shake and bake, Whit!!

I had a great weekend with my friend Fritzie. She came here on a hunting trip with her daughter and then stayed a few extra days with me. What a treat! We drove to Sundance over the Alpine loop, we went to the Rat Pat musical and out to dinner, and just had an overall nice time catching up with one another. It was like Christmas! The anticipation of having a few days to do nothing but have fun was well worth the wait. Fritzie is much older than I am but for some reason, she makes me feel much younger. She is a verifiable NUT. She toilet papered her hunting guides house and put cheerios in their beds. This story was met with shreiks of delight by me. I knew I'd found an audience who could truly appreciate the benefits of owning a remote control tarantula like myself. Finally, a prankster who I can share in some competition.

Now for the big move. Yes, it's REALLY happening. I think I'm finally getting my arms around it. My obsessive personality is getting plans in place so that it can be a transition with something to look forward to. I'm gathering art supplies to start some of the fine arts classes, and I've been looking into franchise fees to start a SubZero ice cream parlor. Who knows--maybe Ephraim has some hidden treasures I can discover there.

We got Jantzens' report card yesterday---HIGH HONOR ROLL! Wow! It's been awhile since I've seen those grades. It sure made me happy. Jantzen says he hates the predictability and structure of each day but I think it's a magic pill. He seems to be responding well to it all.

Still on the Boot Camp "high". Getting used to tomato juice, veggie patties, cottage cheese, tuna fish, and oatmeal. It actually sounds GOOD to me. What's even scarier, my old fishing staple, "Cheetohs", actually tasted terrible yesterday. Who am I becoming? I guess as long as a juicy, fat hamburger with tomatoes tastes good, I'm still normal enough (some would say I've never been normal enough).

Region Tennis Champs!

Kayla and Gentry

Seeing Jantzen Again

Canning up a storm
I'm short on pictures, but we're long on pride. Kayla and Whitney both took region in tennis this past week! Whit won in Varsity and Kayla in J.V. They will continue to State Championships this coming week and we are rooting for them both.

Still having some difficulty getting the home sold or leased...we're in eternal limbo. I've been working on fixing "stuff"--there's nothing like 7 years of deferred maintenance to keep you busy! I've been fixing toilets, patching walls, painting, trying to fix electrical problems (til I decided I could kill myself and hired it done), cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning.

Kev has been in Arizona or Ephraim. He took his kids on the road trip to Arizona where they stopped and did some hiking and saw the rim of the Grand Canyon. Pics are coming as soon as Kev comes home again. They had a GREAT time.

It must have done me some good to be alone for the week...I lost several pounds and a few inches from my boot camp. VICTORY! (I just want to know why it takes me a month of blood, sweat and tears and Kevin can lose weight in his sleep--NOT FAIR. In my world I get to create, men will gain weight and look worse as they age and women will lose weight easily and get better looking as they go gray).

How bout that stock market? UGH. I am trying to remember the reason I decided to be frugal and save all of my money all these years! We are burning dollar bills this month by the minute. That whole plan of spending what you earn may have gotten me further ahead! I could at least have had a few more trips or some fun toys. Bummer.

At least there's those snow-capped, beautiful mountains. They calm me. But still--somebody get me outta here! I need to go see another country. I'm getting fidgety! I keep hearing whispers to come to New Zealand, Argentina or Italy.

Our Road Trip to See Jantzen

We finally finished up our 24 hours of driving to finish the trip out to Bonners Ferry to see Jantzen. Hannah, Dazy and I loaded up the 4Runner and off we went. We passed the tempting Potato Museum, the Testicle Festival in Montana, Lincoln's 50,000 Silver Coins exhibit and a variety of other roadside delights and opted for the straightshot drive.

He was able to show us his world which consisted of beautiful wilderness (which he hasn't grown up enough to fully appreciate yet), a new High School which he attends, and a great pizza joint down the road. Bonners' Ferry and Sandpoint are both pretty small--you can't blink or you'd miss them.

He lives in a cottage at the end of a street, where there are 3 homes the boys live in. Each home is run by the boys--They clean it, shop for and make the meals, do improvement projects, etc. If they are on good behavior, they get one hour of television a day, and 5 minutes internet time. Other than that, they are out mountain climbing, fishing, doing homework, or working in the yard. I like the lack of distractions.

We got to steal him from his daily routine and go explore. Hannah insisted we drive 30 minutes to the border of Canada just so she could say she'd been there. We explored an old haunted lake with lilies floating on it and Jantzen discovered something that looked like a brain in the bottom under the dock. Kind of creepy. We hiked to a waterfall, and we went to SandPoint to the beach. Then we went with the boys up to the top of the mountain above the treeline to this pristine lake. It didn't matter what we did, we just had fun together. You know I was enjoying myself, because I didn't take my flyrod out of the car once. I ALMOST forgot it was there.

We were as happy to see him as he was to see us. And leaving was torture. We miss each other. I broke with my eating plan and had a jelly filled Hostess O just to feel better. Don't tell my trainer.