Tell all the Truth, but tell it slant--

Father's Day Camping Trip

2010-06-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a camp out up the 11 Mile Canyon. Really, I think I'll just let the pictures do the talking for this post. The boys were in heaven--I mean, how could one go wrong, with fire, walking sticks, mud, boulders, wide flat rocks to picnic on, and rushing rivers to wade in? The whole thing was a bit Lord of the Flyish but very fun.

Back to civilization with two days worth of dirt to scrub off!

How we spend our days

2010-06-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

We've got a long stretch of summer ahead of us and being the newbies in town, we don't exactly have a hoppin' social life. Still, we are managing to stay busy and have fun. We have a neighborhood pool just down the street from us that we hit pretty much every afternoon, and in the mornings? Well, the first thing the boys do when the they roll out of bed is reading. Is it because they all love to read every spare minute just like their mother? Nah. Reading for one hour equals one hour of wii time, duh!

And then? THE SKATEPARK! We have this completely awesome skatepark about two blocks from our house. We usually go right after breakfast to avoid the heat and the teenagers. We bring scooters, bikes, skateboards, and anything else we can think of that rolls. The boys LOVE it!

THE MOVE

2010-06-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

We are here in Colorado and settling in. It is so lovely to be reunited with Todd. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder and I'm pretty much head over heels in love with my husband. I'm missing Norfolk somthin' turrible but, in the same breath, it is sooo nice to be finished with the packing up and the unpacking. Although I must say I did have an immense amount of help with the packing. For example, this guy pretty much single handedly packed up my books:

Todd flew to Norfolk and we drove across the country Memorial Day weekend. Some dear friends made the boys a goody bag for the trip and it was seriously a lifesaver. We got them to behave for a full six hour stretch just on the promise of a blue ring pop at the end:

Here are our little troopers taking a 30 minute leg stretch at a rest area in Kansas:

The highlight of our last day of driving? Getting a whole dollar to buy anything they wanted from the vending machine. Oh, the AGONY of choosing!

All three older boys were instrumental in keeping Baby Jude happy through the long hours, but this boy here was the absolute champion at it:

Baseball Boys

2010-06-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

I am terrible about taking pictures. My excuse used to be that my camera was too big and bulky. But now that I also have a sleek little point and shoot camera, I'm not sure what my excuse is. I have just one, ONE, photo of Jonah to document his baseball season this year (and it's not even that great of a picture, poor Jonah):

Reuben was a tad bit luckier. My camera happened to be in my diaper bag and my diaper bag happened to be at his last game of the season so I have a few more of Big Reubs to document his debut in t-ball:

Notice Reuben with his "Beth Batheball Buddy Bankths Bonney":)

And we musn't forget the die hard fan who went to every practice and game to cheer his brothers on:

Go Choppers GOOOO!

If you give a boy a camera....

2010-06-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

this little boy to be specific:

You may get a bird's eye view into his little 7 year old mind:

Paper Flowers

2010-01-06T07:04:00.001-08:00

Paper flowers make my heart glad! Pier One Imports is clearancing all of their fake foilage.

3 paper flowers are busy giving my coffee table a whole new look:

And look how those sprays of orange blossoms brighten up my mantle!

Yes, indeed--that was $7 well spent :)

Christmas Eve Merriment!

2009-12-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

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We had a wonderful Christmas Eve! We invited our pretend grandparents, otherwise known as Ms. Bea and Mr. Marvin, along with a little neighborhood friend to participate in the festivities. After a delicious lunch/dinner (linner?) at Outback Steakhouse, we made a quick stop at the dollar store so the kids could pick out presents for each other and then bee-lined it home to get ready for the big night. Todd helped the kids wrap each other's presents, while I started on the cinnamon buns. When the buns were safely baking in the oven afloat in all of their caramely goodness, we began my favorite night of the year by opening the first gifts of Christams and putting them on:

Then it was time to act out the Christmas Nativity. Faithful Todd read Luke 2 while our budding actors performed their parts of standing perfectly still. Being the only girl in the fam, I usually have to play Mary, so it was very refreshing to have our neighborhood friend fill in for me. Although Jude would not let me wrap him in swaddling clothes, he was very professional in his part as baby Jesus, beaming munificently up into Mary's face.

Next, we heartily sang our favorite Christmas carols and then off to the kitchen to enjoy ooey-gooey, oh so yummy cinnamon buns and hot chocolate in our new snowflake mugs.

Of course, we musn't forget Santa. He needs all the energy and comfort food he can get on his long, arduous journey across the globe:

The Stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there!

To bed, my little childlings and may your dreams be filled with sugar plums and all good things this Merry Christmas Eve!

Bad Habit

2009-12-21T19:10:00.000-08:00

I have this bad habit of wasting my time perusing the anthropologie website and salivating over almost every single item they have in their home section. I confess, I load up my "shopping cart" without a hint of discretion. Sometimes there are over 30 items in my cart at a time. BUT here is where you should be very, extremely proud of my perfect self-control: I never proceed to checkout. Never, ever, EVER. Really, that is admirable, yes?

On a side note--just in case you were planning on getting me a Christmas gift this year--I will give you a peek at the rug that is my heart's desire:

And, bonus, it only cost $1000. I repeat--it only costs ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS! Very affordable, darling :).

How to Behave and Why

2009-12-21T19:01:00.000-08:00

My kids are having a fabulous Chrismas full of wonderful and delightful surprises. However, if I wasn't a little bit of afraid of my children, I would cancel all their presents and give each of them their own copy of this helpful instructional book:

Let me tell you about MY NIGHT.......

2009-11-23T18:29:00.000-08:00

This evening, I had my nose out of joint. My little naughties were much naughtier than usual. The house looked (still looks) like a bomb exploded in it. Pretty much the only noises I heard all night were "Crash", "Whack", "Scream", and "I'm telling Mom!" I spent two hours making soup with one arm while holding the baby in the other. And then those rude little things refused to eat it and sat at the table saying "Ooh, this is so yucky, mom." Reuben managed to "accidently" tip his soup over so he didn't have to eat it while the others spread biscuit crumbs from floor to ceiling (exaggeration, not quite to the ceiling, but really, almost!) There was also actual punching at the dinner table. After dinner, I excused myself to go cuddle baby Jude to sleep. I instructed Jonah to go turn on the t.v. to the pbs channel for the kids, hoping against all odds to have 15 minutes of quiet so I could get Jude to drop off into dreamland. No such luck. Reuben had taken the batteries out of the controller and lost them so there was no way to turn on the t.v. For the next 30 minutes there was a steady stream of kids coming into my room to tattle tale: "Mom, Reuben filled the bathroom sink with biscuits and turned the water on." "Mom, Jonah accidently broke a picture and there is glass all over the living room." "Mom, someone peed on the floor and I slipped in it" (no confessors). And on and on it went. I finally got Jude to sleep (the smallest Crandall cannot fall asleep unless his head is laid snuggly on his mother's arm) and had dozed off myself, when I heard three happy, excited voices by my bedside. My sweet stinkers presented me with handwritten love notes, mangled biscuits left over from dinner and ice water (note to self: never, EVER, make biscuits again). And another surprise was waiting for me upstairs:

Well guess what, me wee boys, I love you, too! And you may count yourselves very lucky that I've changed my mind about our theme song for next month being "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas, cause I ain't been nuttin' but Bad!"

Baby Jude pictures--at last!

2009-10-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

My sister's best friend is an incredible photographer. I'm in love with her work (check out kristycefalophotography.blogspot.com). So when she agreed to take Jude's newborn pictures, I was thrilled to the tips of my toes. Kristy worked her magic for the price of a steaming bowl of chicken tortilla soup and some chocolate mint cookies (I definitely got the better end of the deal, yes?). Without further adieu--presenting Jude Larson Crandall!!!

Wasn't I meant to be upper crust?

2009-08-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

Today I was going through a box of old pictures in the storeroom when I ran across a very funny letter that I wrote years and years ago that someone (my mom) kindly had saved. As you you shall soon see, it is by no means based in reality, but rather a product of a child's very active imagination.

Here it is:

"Dearest Maxamillion,
Lamb Chop. Do please remind Edgar to take the mercedes in to fix that dreadful choking sound. Oh, and please instruct Rosalind to cancel the catering service for Saturday night. Their lobster dish is horrid and Cook can do just as well. Frederick has a violin quartet performance at the Governor's mansion at 2 o'clock this afternoon. There isn't a way in the world I could tear myself away from Mimi's charity luncheon, so I'm afraid you will have to go. Frederick depends on it. Take the helicopter if you must. Just one more thing, darling--call Marcel at the travel agency. Tell him it is imperative that we get Gateshead for the 20th. Really, our soiree will not survive without the tiered gardens. Dearest--thank you ever so much. I do hate to pile on such a list on your day off, but life must go on--musn't it?

With Tenderest of Regards,

Charlotte."

Tell me, wasn't I meant to live the life of a filthy rich socialite? What happened?

Echo Lake Fun

2009-07-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

It's been four whole years since the last time we stayed at the cabin. This isn't just any log cabin. My mom and dad along with all of the aunts and uncles and of course the grandparents helped build our cabin when I was two years old. The wood flooring in the cabin is from my dad's old elementary school. I spent all of my childhood summers here swimming, tubing, canoeing, swinging on the rope swing and sleeping in one the of the many antique brass beds lining the top floor. The miraculous thing is the cabin really hasn't changed in all these years--same furniture, same curtains, same rugs, same bed, same dishes... I didn't realize how much I missed the cabin until I walked through the door. It was so fun to share the joys of the cabin with my own children.

Here is a view of Echo Lake from the third floor balcony of the cabin.

The boys had a blast! They went swimming for hours every day, went for tube rides behind the boat, jumped off the platform, swung off the rope swing, caught turtles out in turtle bay in the canoe,and crawdads off the dock at night. Ezzie mastered the kayak and even took Reuben out for a few rides. For the Fourth, a few of my siblings drove out to the Indian Reservation and purchased illegal fireworks and we had quite the show from the dock! It really was a perfect vacation.

Family Pics

2009-07-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

We are back from a wonderful, fun-filled trip to Montana. It was 10 days of awesome! When I download the pics off of my camera, I'll post all about the cabin.

While we were in Montana, we had the opportunity to take some family photos, the first we've taken in nine years because of all of the sibs going on missions. Sadly, we were still missing our brother Ben and my Todd but it was still the largest group of family we've had in a long, long time.

Here is the Larson Clan:

The Mamacita and the Papa:

The Brothers:

The Sissies:

The Granchilluns:

The concerted effort to get all the grandchildren to look at the camera at the same time:

Candid shots:

Ezzie's birthday and Baseball

2009-06-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I certainly am an inconsistent blogger, aren't I? I could blame it on lots of things if I wanted: the craziness of getting ready to move next week, this long, drawn-out pregnancy (I guess it isn't really drawn-out. My guess is that the baby will probably make his entrance after the standard nine months), working my bum off as relief society president, baseball usurping our lives for the last two and half months...but honestly, the real reason is just plain laziness. The two hour naps I've been prone to taking every afternoon for the last 2 months have also probably contributed to my lack of motivation. Speaking of stolen afternoon naps...I have a clever strategy I use when I answer the phone to hide the fact that I've been snoring away only seconds before; I sing a few scales (La,la,la,la,la,la,la) before I say "hello", thereby banishing the groggy, tongue-slurred speech that is dead give-away.

Back to the topic at hand: I will always be able to find a million excuses for not blogging, but I've decided instead to look for reasons to blog.

One great reason is my Ezzie June's 6th birthday. I love this child. I have felt an especially tender connection with him since the day of his birth. He is sweet, sensitive, artistic, and just plain beautiful. He has an old, wise soul in that little six year-old body of his.

We have a tradition in our family that the birthday child is king for the whole day. He wears a crown and gets to order all of his loyal subjects around. We respond by bowing and saying, "As you wish, Oh royal King." Ezra gave all of us titles in his royal kingdom. Of course I was the royal Queen. Todd was the royal knight, Jonah was the royal Jack...and Reuben was the Royal Slave!

For the next part of this post I am going to gripe and complain for a bit. I can never say the word "baseball" without saying "grrrrrr" under my breath at the same time. When I say that baseball (grrr) has usurped all of our time for the last two and half months, I am not exaggerating. We found ourselves marking time at the baseball fields at least four days each week (I guess that is what happens when you have two players and they both have two practices and two games every SINGLE week). Gone are the days when kids organized their own practices and gmaes in the empty lots behind their houses. We live in a time where soccer moms and baseball moms, day in and day out, have to load up their kids, drive some distance to scheduled practices, wait on the field for practice to wrap up, and then drive their kids home or on to another lesson. And what's up with playing a sport 4 days a week for heaven's sake! Why does the sport have to take over the lives of entire families. What happened to the well-rounded child and what happened, for that matter, to unstructured free time? HUH?

Now that I've got that off my chest, here are some cute pictures of my little sluggers:).

And of course, let's not forget their little fans:

Easter Picture Woes

2009-04-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

Why is it so, so difficult to get one decent picture of my kids?

I mean, is it so hard for all three of my boys to look at the camera on the count of three and say cheese?

Apparently it is:

Just smile, dag nabbit!

Those smiles look a little forced, guys.

Things are finally looking up.

At last, 30 pictures later, one decent shot.

Sweet Brothers:

Thank goodness Mom is done. We are EXHAUSTED!

It's for the Birds

2009-04-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

There is a poor, deranged cardinal that lives in a tree near my backyard. As I am typing this post, I am hearing the rap, rap, rap as the cardinal slams his beautiful, red-feathered body against the french doors leading out to the back porch. This suicidal tendency of my scarlet friend has been going on several times a day for the last two weeks. At first I thought I was the one who was nuts. I would be cleaning the house and hear someone knocking on the french doors only to find no one there each time I came to look. I decided to get clever and I snuck up to the door very quietly the next time I heard the noise, and LO and BEHOLD! I caught my friend red-handed as he dashed away in a red-feathered flurry. Why does this poor, beautiful bird continually pummel himself against the glass? Does he like the color of my red-hued family room? Is he mistaking his reflection as a rival or a potential mating partner? Or has he just lost his poor bird-brained mind?

Speaking of birds--Our dear, dear mourning doves have returned. Jonah did a report on mourning doves for school last year, so we learned all about them. They are beautiful, graceful birds. The coo--coo sound they make sounds like someone in mourning; hence the name. A mourning dove pair mates for life. They stay faithful to each other until one or the other dies. Each Fall, they fly south; each Spring they return to the exact same spot to build a nest and have their young. Both the birds labor together to build a loose grassy home for the eggs. The father also takes a turn sitting on the eggs while mother goes to get food.

This is our third spring living in this house, and each spring our mourning doves build their nest in the exact same spot, where the porch roof meets the porch. The nest is practically eye level with Todd, so we get to see everything up close and personal. The mourning dove mother always lays two eggs. The new hatch lings are called squabs. They stick their little beaks in the beaks of their parents and gulp down regurgitated seeds. It is very fun to watch. The mother and father mourning doves are very protective of their young and they never leave their children unguarded until they fly from the nest. Last year, I sat on the floor of the family room watching the squabs try out their wings with mother dove gently edging them out of the nest. I was determined to see the squabs' first flight. After two hours, the squabs still hadn't flown the nest, so I gave up on them. Later that afternoon, I walked by the french doors and saw that the nest was empty.

Here is a picture I took this afternoon of mother mourning dove sitting on her eggs:

I can't wait for them to hatch!

Here is a picture of my three squabs trying to catch some rays last weekend after sliding down the slide into the kiddie pool:

Richmond Cannery Adventure

2009-03-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

I've got happy news! We finally have a year's worth of food storage, a 72 hour kit, and a two weeks supply of bottled water.

It feels so good to be obediant and it's a relief to know that whatever else happens in this crazy world, we'll be able to feed our children. We've been working on this goal for a long time. We first worked toward a three month supply. When we reached that goal, we focused on water and emergency kit acquisition. Then we saved and scrimped our pennies together (so long big screen t.v. dream) until we'd saved enough to get the nine months of long-term food storage.

Last Saturday, Todd and I pawned our kids off on some ward members and headed up to the Richmond cannery. We canned 1,100 pounds of wheat and beans in about 5 hours with some help from other cannery patrons.

As the boxes of #10 cans began to pile up, I became worried that we wouldn't even come close to fitting them all into our Acura Legend. Somehow, clever Todd managed to fit all 31 boxes into the car with literally NO room to spare. The trunk was stuffed, our seats were scooted as far forward as they could go, and boxes were piled from floor to ceiling in the back seat.

Before we climbed into our cramped quarters for the drive back, we saw that our poor car was so weighed down that it only had a 1/2 inch clearance from the road! Everytime we went over a bump or a rough patch in the road, we heard a scraping noise. Our muffler was in grave distress! We received many strange looks as drove home on the 64, but thank goodness, we made it home with no permanent damage. And so ends our food storage adventure.

A Sheepish Hello

2009-03-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends. I'm feeling, shall we say, a bit sheepish for not posting for almost two months. I do have an excuse, though. I think it's an excellent one. I'm pregnant. I'm finally wrapping up that dreadful first trimester and I can actually see beyond trying not to lose my cookies and my next nap.

The best part of February: My sweet Jonah boy was baptized! Here is his invitation:

It was a beautiful baptism and my pregnancy hormones made me extra emotional. Todd's parents and his brother, Boo and sister, Angela flew out for the big event.

Here is Jonah with friends, Marshall and Charlie,chowing down on barbeque beef buns after the baptism:

This is what Jonah wrote in his baptism memory book (I hope he doesn't mind me posting it): "After I got Baptized, I felt like I was perfect as Jesus. I felt like I was fresh out of the box. I felt like Satan (or Lucifer) was gone forever." (I love this child.)

Moving on....today I woke up to three kids deliriously jumping all over me. "Look out the window! There is snow EVERYWHERE!!!!" Sure enough there was! This is our first snow storm since moving to Virginia almost three years ago. I'll admit even I was excited at the 1 inch of snow on the ground. The kids begged me to get their snow gear out of storage in the garage and by eight o'clock, they were dressed and ready to go out and make snowballs.

ANTICIPATION:

Can we go out already??!!!

And They're Off!!!!

Later on, after the older boys were off to school, my neighbor invited Reuben and I to go sledding with her. "Sledding?", I queried, "Isn't Norfolk Flat?" Turns out, there are a few man-made "bumps" near our house at Northside Park.

Book Blitz

2009-01-19T11:08:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I went to the Walden Books going-out-of-business sale (Thanks, Janice!). I didn't go expecting to find much, but $50 and 20 big, beautiful hardback books later, I was feeling deliriously happy. I can't decide whether I'm more thrilled with the oversized coffee table books, the special edition read-aloud children's books, or the classics I picked up.

I grabbed book after book until I thought my arms would break and then asked permission to deposit them behind the sales counter so I could keep on looking. As I was carrying my third armload up to the counter, I realized that I had not thought out the logistics of getting all of my new loves, I mean books, out to my car. Thankfully, the sales associate was very helpful and offered to put them on a book cart and wheel them out to the mall loading dock for me.

Now my only obstacle was figuring out how to breeze through my front door loaded down with 20 new books without my husband having a conniption. An "Illustrated History of Guitars" book given as a peace offering seemed to do the trick.

Here is an itemized list of my purchases (try not to be too jealous):

* An Illustrated Directory of Guitars

* Best Ever Recipes for your Slow Cooker

* 500 Soup Recipes

* America's National Parks

* Portraits of North American Indian Life

* Old Yeller

* The Snowy Day

* The Iliad

* Stuart Little

* Little House on the Prairie

* Wee Sing Classic Rhymes and Lullabies

* A Passage to India

* Craft Fun Colossal Book and Kit

* The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes

* Animal Origami Adventure

* The Three Musketeers

* The World of Dick and Jane

* Magnetics on the Move

* Peter Pan

* The Practical Encyclopedia of Orchids

Can you see why I'm so delighted? One small example--I never in my right mind would pay forty dollars for a book about growing orchids, but I'm so glad to own it!

My Sissies.

2009-01-15T16:22:00.000-08:00

I just had to post these pictures of my sissies taken by Annie's photographer pal, Kristy Cephalo. Aren't these girls adorable? I miss them sooo much!

Sissies.

Clara Bethy--zee baby of our family.

Annabelle

My very favoritist poem in the whole wide world, ever.

2009-01-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

I love reading poetry. The right poem can make my pulse race, my teeth hurt, and fill my stomach with hard little fists of joy. "Sonnet" by Elizabeth Bishop is the quintessential "right poem".

To really appreciate this poem, you MUST read it out loud, in your MOST expressive voice (promise me you'll do it!):

"SONNET"
by Elizabeth Bishop

I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling finger-tips,
Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,
With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.
Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,
Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,
A song to fall like water on my head,
And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!

There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.

Crandall Christmas

2008-12-29T14:19:00.000-08:00

The month of December kind of sucked me under. I've finally re-emerged to the surface and am ready to join the blogger world once again. I wrapped up my classes on December 10th and I felt such an immediate sense of relief and freedom that my feet couldn't help doing a slight skip every few steps as I walked away from the testing center. I know bragging is unbecoming in a lady, but I'm going to do it anyway:). Drumroll........I received a 98% in my anatomy class! Jonah has been pretty proud of me for the last nine months. This past summer, his favorite way to introduce me to people was, "This is my mom. She is the best "human body describer in the world!". I still have 2 prereqs to go, but I've decided I deserve a break so I'm not taking classes next semester.

We bought our tree a little late this year. Todd loaded up a hatchet and the little boys in their winter garb and headed up to the Blue Ridge mountains to find the perfect Christmas tree. (Okay, maybe they didn't drive all the way to the mountains. Maybe, just maybe they found our perfect tree behind the Seven-Eleven).

Jonah and his pals helped all of the Hyde Park neighborhood get into the Christmas spirit by Caroling from door to door. I wasn't aware of this delightful activity until I answered my door to this:

I was impressed. Especially with little Stella playing her heart out on her violin.

I wanted a wreath for my front door this year. I found the perfect one at TJ Maxx (love that place!) for the right price and promptly hung it on my front door from a length of ribbon per Martha Stewart's intructions. I was so enthralled with it that I would run out to the sidewalk and look at it several times a day. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was crazy (maybe you think I am too?). I was enthralled with it right up until the day it started to rain and my perfect Christmas wreath began to bleed rivers of red down my front door.

Apparently, there are two categories of wreaths: the indoor kind and the outdoor kind. I wonder how I missed that important fact in my 30 years of living.

The night before Christams is my favorite part of the whole season. We have some really special family traditions centered around Christmas Eve. We eat gooey cinnamon buns for supper (Great-Grandma Jensen's secret recipe), we open Christmas jammies;

Someone's a bit excited.

We act out the Nativity Story:

Apparently, Mary needed to stretch her legs, so she let Joseph have a turn on the donkey.

And we sing Christmas songs—both sacred and secular: PRESENTING Yonah serenading us with his own rendition of "Mamacita, Where is Dee Santa Claus?" with his back-up dancers Ezerita and Ruvane! (It is at times like this, I wish I had a digital video camera to show you how truly awesome this performance was).

Then, we tuck the childlings snugly away into their respective beds so Santa can begin the long, laborious night of preparation.

The hit of Christmas morning was the GBOP--the Great Big Outdoor playball! It took Todd all of an hour and half just to pump up this ball (with an electric pump, no less). But it was well worth the effort. The ball was too big to push out the front door so we had to open both of the french doors in the family room, take it through the backyard, and then out to Hyde Park in front of our house.

The boys took turns climbing inside the ball while the other two rolled them around the park at high speed. It was hilarious!

High Adventure...in Walmart!

2008-11-29T09:32:00.000-08:00

What is black Friday? Having never experienced this monumental morning, I decided to venture out at 4:30 am to see what all the hype was about. Destination? Wal-mart. Goal? to leave the store with one ride-on power wheels jeep.

Ezra has been begging for one of these jeeps for almost two years now. Walmart's black Friday flyer was advertising them for $88. The small print underneath the picture: "Quantities limited. While supplies last", tipped me off that the chances of actually getting one of these jeeps was very slim, but I had to try, right? So the night before, I laid out some warm sweats and set the alarm for 4 am. Todd rolled over in bed, grinned at me, and predicted that I would still be snoring away when the sun came up.

Of course, I had to prove him wrong. Four hours of sleep, and a couple of snooze buttons later, I washed the sleeps from my eyes, threw on the sweats, ran a brush through my hair, and headed out into the cold, black morning--a girl on a mission. I pulled into the Walmart parking lot at 4:30 am on the dot. The first thing I saw? A line, hundreds of people long, stretching from one side of Walmart to the other. Apparently people had been camping in line all night. Now what could be worth a night on a cold, hard sidewalk, I will not venture to guess. I was tempted to just keep on driving--back home to my warm bed, but then I thought, I'm already here so here I'll stay.

As soon as the clock struck five, everyone started running. Running in a long line was definitely a first for me. As soon as rolled into the door, I bee-lined it straight for the toy section. Halfway there, I ditched my cart (for greater speed and mobility of course). At 5:05 exactly, I arrived at the toys. Alas, no power wheel jeep. Then someone tipped me off, "They're in the garden section". So up and away I went. I clocked in at the garden section entrance at 5:09. Of course, no powerwheel jeeps. A Walmart associate informed me that there was exactly four blue powerwheels and four barbie powerwheels and that they were all gone in the first minute the door opened. Bummer.

Since I was already there, I decided to stick around and see what other deals Walmart was offering (I know, I'm the typical sucker who gets pulled in by the door buster only to stay and shop). I bought a few things, stood in line for close to 45 minutes to pay for these purchases which really were not that good of a deal, and headed out to the parking lot. Once in the car, I looked over my receipt and noticed a few price descrepancies. I debated whether to just go home and come back later when the Walmart madness had died down, but ultimitaley decided I'd rather not make an extra, unneccesary trip. So back into the chaos I headed, purchases in hand.

After waiting in yet another line and taking care of business at customer service, I started to leave the store at 7:00 am, when I spied one of the lucky consumers who had nabbed a blue power wheels jeep standing in a check-out line. Now I have a problem with striking up conversations with complete strangers. I just can't help myself. I've always been like this. Even the weirded-out, "are you talking to me?" looks don't deter me. So, I approached the woman and asked her how she had managed to be one of the "lucky" ones.

Well...this woman told me that some Walmart associates had found a few more jeeps in the back of the warehouse that they'd accidently missed and she'd just picked hers up. As soon as I heard the news, I broke out into a full run toward the garden section. And there, surrounded by a Holy Light were two power wheel jeeps! At the same time, me and another woman placed our hands on the last two power wheel jeeps. Emotions were running high. I kind of felt like I'd just won the lottery. The other lucky winner was standing across from me with actual tears in her eyes! By this time, I no longer had a cart and didn't dare leave my precious treasure. I was in a quandry..what to do, what to do? At this moment, some Christmas spirit kicked in and a Walmart man offered to push the box along the floor to the hardware counter and keep it there for me while I ran to grab a cart.

To make a long story even longer, I left the Walmart store victorious! I was one jeep powerwheels toy richer (or $88 dollars poorer, however you prefer to see it) with the happy assurance that I had just made my little boy's Christmas. And so ends my marvelous black Friday adventure!

Colonial Boy

2008-11-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

Jonah was invited to a revolutionary war birthday party this past weekend. This family is known for their huge, elaborate parties and this party was no different. When I dropped Jonah off, I noticed that all four kids and the parents were dressed in colonial period costume right down to the powdered wigs. Jonah informed me five minutes before the party that he had to dress up, so this is what we threw together.

We wrapped the gift up in brown paper and I had to laugh when I read what Jonah wrote on it:

"TO CHARLIE, FROM COLONIAL BOY."

Bedroom Bandits.

2008-10-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

I have been very tired the past couple of weeks? WHY you might ask? Because of the BEDROOM BANDITS.

They slip into my bed in the pitch black of night without a sound. I continue to doze peacefully until a kick in my stomach tears me out of a deep, deep sleep. I remove a leg, sidle away, and fall back into dreamland. Then comes the little arm slung across my face. I remove the arm and move over a bit more. By three in the morning, I find myself clinging to the very edge of the queen-sized bed. at this point, I migrate to the couch. Usually, an hour or so later, I hear a shuffle as Todd stumbles to another couch to get one hour of undisturbed sleep before it's officially time to wake up. Night after night, the BEDROOM BANDITS usurp our rightful places in the parental bed. Any Advice?

Ode to BLEACH

2008-10-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, crayon marks
and dirt obscene.
Hello! White,
and sparkling CLEAN!

Family Pictures!

2008-10-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law Angelique (who besides being an incredible person, just happens to be the most amazing photographer I know) was kind enough to take oodles of pictures of our family this summer. Thank you Angelique! I'm pleased beyond measure with "the results". Here is a sample of her handiwork:

Dinner Doldrums

2008-10-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

I have a few friends (Heidi, Teresa) who are true gourmands. To them the terms ART and FOOD are synonymous. You know food is art and art is food (I guess not all art is food. Have you tasted Monet’s Water Lilies? A little soggy, but on the whole delicious and full of vitamins). I am not a gourmand. Unless a love for EATING delicious food counts. My eyes don’t light up when I see a kitchen. Oftentimes, my heart fills with dread when I notice the dinner hour is fast approaching. Last week, I bought a fun cookbook and some colorful cooking utensils—hoping to combat my dinner preparation doldrums.

Is my plan working? Surprisingly, yes! Last week I whipped up homemade donuts (with Reuben's help)

Mediterranean Pork skewers with Taboli:

And Triple-smoked Pasta (Eet waz so gouda!)

On next week's menu: Cobb salad, Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce, and Chipotle Salmon Tacos. Who knew a brightly-colored cookbook purchased at TJMaxx for $6.99 and one brave blue spatula could bring so much joy to the Crandall family!

How I wish....

2008-10-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

What I am doing right now:

Studying for my anatomy practical. Blast the pericardiophrenic artery and the left recurrent laryngeal nerve!

What I wish I was doing right now:

Reading a good book.....in that yellow dress......with that very pillow to rest my back against.

DELUGE

2008-09-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

We had our ward camp out this weekend. I love camping. I love the smell of woodsmoke and crushed pine needles. I love getting the end of my stick red hot in the fire and waving it around in the blackness of the night. I kind of love sleeping in the four man with my five member family (never mind, I don't).

We woke up this morning to the tat tat of rain on our tent. We waited for the rain to stop so we could get up and get breakfast going. It didn't. The rain came down harder and harder, and pretty soon, we found ourselves in a deluge--the last remnants of this week's nor'easter. Whenever I hear the word nor'easter, I feel like I should be out in my yellow rain slicker and cable sweater checking my lobster pots. A rain slicker would have been helpful at this camp out, also maybe a canoe.

No, this isn't a beautiful river meandering through a scenic byway....it is our campsite.

After several hours of rain, things did clear up for a bit. So while Todd was fishing on the pier with Jonah, I took the two littles down to the beach. Check out the boardwalk:

When we arrived at the beach, Ezra found a nice family of horse shoe crabs all lined up neatly from biggest to littlest taking a quiet nap together.

Of course, we weren't wet enough, so Reuben bee-lined it straight for the waves

Isn't it idyllic?

After a beautiful half hour on the beach, the rain picked up again, so back up the boardwalk we went.

FAUVES

2008-09-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hello, fellow blogger friends! I'm always the last to do anything even slightly related to technology, but here I am--no longer a shadow on the wall that silently reads your blogs and tip-toes away without a trace. This better be as easy as everyone keeps telling me.

So today, I learned a fabulous new French word--FAUVE. A "fauve" is a person who loves color. I am a fauve. I hunger for color. I actually salivate when I come across a perfect hue. I have a binder in my nightstand completely dedicated to and stuffed full of paint samples. The colors around me affect my sense of well-being. I love the french language. Why don't doesn't the English language have a word for we fauves?

Be patient with me as try to figure out how to post photos and all the other tricky blogger things (tricky to me!).