FAST FALLING FALL

This year in the Norwest, mother nature took the calendar seriously. The Autumn equinox began September 21 at 1:30pm.  Although we have been enjoying lovely summer weather with relatively hot days (for us) and warm nights that allowed lingering on the deck long after nightfall, at exactly 1:44 pm on that day it started to rain and continued to do so for the next 3 days.  Even though today the sun has re-emerged it began with a crisp morning, lovely warm mid-day fading to a cool evening. It is back to sweater time.

Autumn is my very favorite season in the Northwest.  The colors are gorgeous, the cool air invigorating, the sun is out most days, but with just enough rainfall so that I don't have to water my newly planted grass seed.  We are still a long way from a frost, but a fire in the fireplace in the evening feels good. 

There are certain landmarks that signify the arrival of fall at our house. I made my first pot of homemade soup for the season. I bought pumpkins to decorate the front deck. I wore boots to church on Sunday rather than bare legs and sandals.  Which also means that my razor is officially retired for the next 9 months- no more shaving my legs.

 The change of the seasons means it is time to freshen my pots on the deck.  In fact I have changed them out all together.  I have replaced my black chairs with my newest scavenged white wrought iron ones I got at a flea market and repurposed into planters.

I am so looking forward to cool evenings snuggled in front of the fire with a great book and a cup of hot chocolate.

SMOOTHIE CRUSH

 

This is Jared's usual breakfast.  He has the official title of "Smoothie Master". I don't think he ever makes the same smoothie twice.  He has 2 smoothie books for inspiration: "The Smoothie Bible" and "The Green Drink Diet".  He is fearless in combining things, and somehow it always works.  And yes, that is a whole mandarin orange peel and all.  As you might imagine, we go through a ton of fruit and vegetables in our household.  I should have Costco stock.  At least I have the executive membership so that I get the maximum percentage  refund at the end of the year on my purchases.

 

All this infusion of fruit and veggies has kept Jared supplied with the energy he needs to go to college full time, work about 30 hours a week, walk dogs for 2 different clients multiple days a week,  work out at the gym every day, spend time with his girl friend and still find time to do his own laundry, and chores for his mom. And I can't remember the last time he had a cold or the flu, which is a good thing because I don't think he has time to be sick. 

THE FAMILY HOME

 

This is the home where our children grew up. In a couple of months we will have lived here 28 years. I can not believe we have lived here that long. 

 Of course, I can not believe Rachel will turn 27 next month either.  I can still remember her insisting on blowing out the candle inside the jack-o-lantern on our front porch on her birthday when she was 2 years old. This is where she grew potatoes in the garden every summer, and would take a brown paper sack of them to give to her teacher in the fall.  This is where her Thundercloud Plum tree that she picked out at the nursery when she was little is planted. When our dog Kobe was a puppy, it was here she slept in the kennel with him the first few nights so she could let him out to go potty every couple of hours. This is where her Tolo dinner for 12 in high school was held. This is where we hosted her wedding reception in the back yard on a beautiful August night with lights twinkling in the trees.

I have just as many memories of Becca, who is 24, in this house. The sound of her laughter is embedded in the walls of this home. I remember her obsession with the "101 Dalmations" movie when she was 2.  She had dalmation pajamas, swim suit and back pack. When she wasn't pretending to be a dog herself, she trained her little brother to be a dog and do tricks.  Before we got a real dog of our own, she had a pretend dog named "sparky" that accompanied us on family hikes in the woods. Becca adored animals but ended up getting asthma from having our guinea pig "Blackberry" in her bedroom. As a result Becca became allergic to most animals.  Blackberry moved to the elementary school and became the classroom pet in Becca's first grade class. It was on our driveway that Becca learned to ride a bike and roller skate. She grew pumpkins in the garden and created her own "catch and release" program for every spider she found in the house. She and her best friend Carly were the wait staff for every formal dinner her older sister had here during high school, until she started having her own posse here for Tolo/prom dinners and that job got passed down to her little brother. Becca has helped me paint every room in this house. She loves to entertain and has cooked and decorated for every event this house has ever hosted (especially Rachel's wedding reception!).

Jared is turning 20 in 2 weeks, and with that milestone this house will be done with teenage inhabitants.  This house saw him get his head stuck in the bed frame under the bed when he was learning to crawl.  This is where he dropped a quart glass jar of molasses on his foot as a toddler that exploded his nail right off his toe. This is where he would wrestle with Dad and his sisters until "somebody got hurt".  This is where being the youngest meant bodily damage.  As an infant his 7 year older sister who was holding him tossed him because he started to spit up, mom forgot to close the gate on the stairs and he took a full somersault trip down to the landing in his walker where he split his lip, and another sister let go of him on the hardwood floor where he face planted and broke his nose. This is where Jared hosted airsoft parties in the greenbelt behind our house and his high school friends congregated after school for cookies and xbox. This is where Jared planted his own herb and vegetable garden.  This is where Jared was continually mowing the lawn and edging the ivy.

This where Sam who is 20 started coming after school as a visitor with the rest of Jared's friends for cookies and xbox and became a part of the family, literally, moving in his junior year of high school. This is where he learned to cook. This where he made life decisions like joining our church, going off to BYU for college and leaving on a mission. This house became a home for him, probably the first one he ever really had.

As Chuck and I enter the grand-parenting years it is wonderful to look back on all the great family activities this house has provided. Summer evenings eating dinner on the front deck and as dusk fell watching the neighborhood bats search for dinner.  Watching a resident family of raccoons waddle through our yard every night at twilight to dine in our garage on the cat's kibble. Putting up the tent and sleeping in the back yard in the pre-sport court years. Playing roller blade hockey in the driveway. Lots and lots of pickleball and badmitton on the sports court.  Getting in the hot tub as a family when it started to snow to watch the flakes come down. Lots of time in the family room downstairs in front of the fireplace watching movies, especially "Father of the Bride" with Steve Martin (Dad's favorite movie). Sunday evening family walks around the neighborhood.

Our kids are all grown up and semi out of the house, but even when they are all gone this house will always be their "home" and welcome them back.

MARIE'S POTS

My good friend Marie was hosting a backyard dinner for the wedding party of her son Will who would be married the next day. As mentioned before, Marie and I do a swap- she does all my sewing/mending and I keep the pots on her deck updated for the seasons. She had 9 large cobalt blue pots in her backyard left over from her daughters wedding some years ago that needed some attention to spruce up the back yard for the BBQ. I was anxious to help out. She also asked that I decorate with some of my garden art, which was convenient because I had a lot in the cobalt blue color.

After the event, I had Jared go back with me to take pictures before I took all my totems and ceramic flowers home.  Unfortunately her back yard is so shady the dark blue items didn't really show up and we did not get good pictures.  Even the decent ones Jared was able to take things were in half sun/half shade which makes photographing difficult.

It is always fun to decorate for weddings.  Our family has often talked of starting a family business as wedding planners.  Between all of us, we have a lot of expertise. Rachel being a Home Ec major and teacher is an expert in all things cooking, sewing and décor design. Plus she worked in a bridal shop for some time so she can measure you for a tux or press your wedding dress with ease. Becca with her major in communications with an emphasis in graphic design has already designed wedding invitations for friends.  Plus she has worked for New York Cupcakes, baking and decorating all those cupcakes! She and I have done all the decorating for several friends wedding receptions which turned out well.  I enjoy the decorating for receptions, and Jared has a quality camera, taken many photography classes and has a great eye.  He is always my go to guy when I want good pictures of something.  With Chuck's sales and marketing background he ought to be able to get this enterprise off the ground.  None of us are in a position  where we want to start this business yet, it is consideration for the future when we are all living close to one another and ready to make a career change.

BEING A SINGLE PARENT

Nate recently traveled to California for two and a half weeks for his job, leaving Rachel home with the kids. I remember how being a single parent feels, Chuck having traveled out of state for work frequently when our kids were small. But a week at a time was the longest I was ever on my own, and that was tough.  I don't know how military families do it when spouses have to be gone for months, sometimes years at a time!

It is lonely and exhausting to have the kids 24/7 like that with no break.

 Of course there are some advantages. Especially with preschoolers: you get up in the morning when the kids do, and go to bed whenever you like. No decent meals to plan, kids love pancakes for dinner.  You can stay in your pajamas all day if you want.  If the kids do happen to go down for a nap at the same time, you can take one too instead of using that time to tidy the house.

Spending all that uninterrupted time with the kiddos usually requires racking your brain for new ideas to keep them entertained. Rachel came up with a good one: the couch slide.

DISCOVERY MUSEUM

 

This is Evelyn operating the crane at the Discovery Center, a children's museum in Salt Lake City.  Rachel has a membership to the museum and takes the kids there most Tuesdays. 

Douglas tried his hand at it, but he wasn't quite strong enough to lift the load of soft rubber blocks that had been loaded into the bucket the crane was supposed to raise.  You can see Evelyn's hand inching into the picture anxious to help her brother get the job done.

However, Douglas had no doubts about how to operate the mini bulldozer with the bucket on the front.  He ran that thing all over the room.

Rachel did some construction herself.  She made a tunnel out of foam blocks for the kids to crawl through. Douglas thought it was cool and used it for it's intended purpose.  Evelyn thought it was more fun just to knock them all down.  Every construction site needs a demolition crew!

The reason Rachel always attends the Museum on Tuesdays is because that is the day they also have a story time/craft activity. Here Douglas is listening as the book "The Gingerbread Man" is being read.  After the story all the kids made their own gingerbread man out of foam, sequins, buttons, pom poms and LOTS of glue.  After they dried the kids can take them home.

It was a great experience for me to hang out with Rachel and the kids and be reminded how infectious childhood wonder can be.