My Little Miss Orissa Is Turning SeVeN

Ok, when I said I was back, I must have meant sporadically and unpredictably back, 'cause here it is the beginning of 2015 and I am finally writing again. This is for a special purpose, you see, we have reached a milestone! Orissa is turning SEVEN! My precious baby that started out this teeny tiny...

My sweet baby girl was born at a whopping 1 pound 13 ounces. I only saw pictures of her for the first few months of her life, wishing and praying for her health and secretly (ok, not so secretly) that we would be blessed with the opportunity to be her forever family.  When she was four months old and finally over 4 pounds, her Gamma Mary and Grandpa Bob were able to bring her home.
Not long after that, our prayers were answered when one Sunday in April we were eating dinner at Clancy and Monica's house when my cell phone rang.  It was Bob saying they had a sweet baby girl who needed a mommy and daddy and they'd chosen us!  I hung up the phone and shared the news with EVERYONE in the house!  We then hurriedly and excitedly headed out the door to pack a bag and head to Montana to pick up this precious baby doll (or baby doll sized angel)!  With in a hour we were on the road to be united with her.

The years have since, seemed to have flown by on the wings of angels and we have loved every moment...even the frustrating ones have been worth it all to watch her become the beautiful girl she is growing into.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank my Heavenly Father for this precious daughter.  She is just the perfect sister to our wonderful little man!

Here is Miss O on her first birthday.  She enjoyed the chocolatey goodness of her cake.  She was still so tiny people thought she was only a few moths old.

By her second birthday, she was finally starting to get some hair on the top of that head of hers. And this is when she really started to show her love of all things eyewear!

At three she wasn't quite sure she liked all the attention when everyone started singing happy birthday...it stressed her out a bit. Mind you, she was all for the cake!  He hair was nearly long enough to braid!!

Four was fun, she definitely had her own ideas on what was cool and fun and her imagination was growing rapidly.  Just look at that beautiful curly red hair!

Five was fantastic!  She was in preschool and even had the hair every mommy of a girl wants...hair long enough to make "pretty".  She finally was excited about people singing to her and understood what the "day day" song meant!  This is the sock kitty her nana made for her!

And then, 2014 my little Miss hit kindergarten and had her first classroom birthday party!  I think I was more thrilled than she was, but I am a sucker for milestones!  When each new year rolls around and I look back at how much this precious gift from Heavenly Father has grown I am in awe that I get to call her my daughter.
My children are such blessed gifts in my life.  I love them both with all my heart.  The moment I laid eyes on them, they forever stole my heart.  I am thankful to Gramma Mary and Grandpa Bob for trusting us with such an amazing baby girl...for she will forever be my baby girl!
Happy birthday my sweet, funny silly beautiful little Miss Oriss, I hope you never stop being uniquely awesome!  Hugs from mommy!

Well, Look Who Decided To Come Back!

Oh how days can turn to weeks and weeks to months and well months to years. I really cannot believe what kind of slacker I have become! When I started this blog, I thought I would be blogging at least once a week! Hahaha, look how that turned out. Why am I back you might be wondering(or maybe not)? Javin came to me the other day and said that GreenDog wanted to hear stories from when he, Javin, was little. That made me think about where I have these stories recorded. In my hand written journal and here are really the only places. The blog is by far the easier place to find specific stories. I read post after post to him; I read for over an hour and he and Orissa sat listening. Javin begged for more and Orissa mimicked him. The next day he asked for more and I happily ablieged. They laughed at the stories and oohed and aaahed at the pictures. This is the point when I realized I need to get my act together and start posting once again. Too much has happened to fill in all the details. I will say, three years ago we moved from the hustle and bustle of the big city to small town (actually country) living. The kids are loving living out in farm country and my little man who loved riding with papa on the tractor has so many more chances now (he even has a couple of uncles who are happy to take him along)! Orissa even loves all the room to roam...just maybe not as much as Javin. Javin has completed kindergarten through second grade and Orissa finished kindergarten last spring. The summer has flown by with many hours spend in Isaac and Chelsi's swimming pool and many more roaming the countryside. There was even a couple of weeks where i was super sick and could hardly move...but that is over, thank goodness!Though, I will add that I was sick at just the wrong moment...I missed all the good huckleberry picking time and thusly didn't make it out to pick. My sweet sister and her family shared some with me, so all is right with the world. Now, summer has ended and my life has changed from all day everyday with my kids to a lot of time on my own. Just today they headed back to school. Javin is a third grader and Miss Orissa is in the first grade!! Oh how quickly my babies have grown up on me. Orissa loves school, and has since she started in preschool. This year is no different. I didn't even get a goodbye hug when I left her on the capable hands of her teacher ( not even a backwards glance). She spends half of the day in the regular classroom and the other half with the special education instructor. I was concerned that Javin wasn't going to be all that thrilled to go back to school. It isn't usually his favorite place to be stuck for hours on end. We headed over to his classroom and he met his new teacher (who had a treat on each desk for the kids...I'm sure that helped him he a bit more excited). He feels like one of the big kids because his class is in one of the portable classrooms. He is also now allowed to play on the big kid playground stuff! He even came home excited to do his math!! Woot woot!!

They have grown leaps and bounds since I last posted. Javin is still big for his age and people often think he is at least 10 years old. He is only about 6 or so inches shorter than my mum. And he makes sure to measure against her every time he sees her. Orissa is nearly the same height as her contemporaries, though weight wise she still has a ways to go. All the kids and teachers just love her and want to do every thing for her. So, basically, she has them all wrapped around her little finger(;

JAVIN tuned FIVE!

With Aaron being away all week working in Warden on the farm, it feels like I have no time to blog...and thusly I have missed blogging about Javin's birthday...so, nearly 10 days later I am finally getting it done!
I really have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that he is indeed five years old. It truly feels like last week that we got the long awaited call from the adoption agency. Oh what a crazy happy time that was. We ended up having only two days to prepare the nursery for his arrival. Adoption is a lot of hurry up to wait and then after (for us anyhow) over three years of waiting, there was that frenzied hurry up and get ready.
I remember getting to the hospital the morning he was born. We were there mere hours after he was born, and we could hardly wait to see and hold him. The adoption agent wasn't even there before us! We waited again to see him...luckily it was only a few hours this time! He was in the NICU for the first day because he decided to go potty before he was out of the womb, so they had to check for infections. At first they told us we would have to wait until the following day to see him because for each child born in that hospital there were only two arm bands issued. Jamie's sister had the second one. WE thought we would have to settle for the picture they took right after he was born. Oh how beautiful that picture is to me....to this very day! I cried, Aaron cried and we waited, and hoped something would change, something that would allow us to see him in person. After three or four hours of sitting full of hope and more joy than can be expressed in the human languages, Jamie's sister came down and brought us up to the NICU to see our little guy. We only were allowed a few minutes in the room with him on the day he was born, but there were precious moment to us.
We then went rented a hotel room and waited the rest of the day out! Come morning we were up ready and at the hospital before I would have thought possible...beings that I am NOT a morning person AT ALL! That was thursday morning, and it was much better than the day before. Javin was out of the NICU and we were given our own hospital room, and treated like any other parent of a new born baby. I was over the moon to have him in my arms, to feed him and change his tiny little diapers!
That was a day we shall never forget. There have been a few of those kind of days in our life together. The day were were sealed together as husband and wife, the day that Javin was born and the day we finally had him in our arms, the day we got the call from Grandpa Bob and Gramma Mary telling us Orissa was going to be our little girl, and the day that we were all sealed together as a family in the Spokane temple. those are the days that are forever etched in my heart!
And now here we are five wonderful years later. He is such an amazing boy. He is all heart and imagination! He is full of hugs and kisses and tells me at least a dozen times a day that he loves me. He sees the cool in everything, and can make nearly anything into a game. Every holiday is a time to be something else. For Christmas he wanted to be a dinosaur. And for his his birthday we wanted to be the Easter bunny! and so, the Easter bunny he was. Of his own volition he decided to have a costume birthday party! Well, when that was the theme on the table, we decided a costume party needed carnival games!




Thus we had a party full of games and prizes. But the piece de resistance was the cake. The much asked for and long awaited SHARK cake. Since the day after his fourth birthday, he started asking for a SHARK cake for his 5th birthday. Month after month he reminded me. And month after month I put off looking of a shark pan. Then around the middle of January I decided it was time to look. And guess what I found...Nada, nothing...they don't make a shark pan. Lucky for us Aaron and I had been watching the CAKE BOSS, and we were pretty sure were would be cool enough to make on all on our own. Off to Caroline's Cakes to get all the supplies for the project I went (and thanks to my sister Megan I didn't have to drag the kids in there). After spending more than I care to admit to, I came out with two half sheet pans, a tub of fondant and a can of edible spray paint.
To make a long story a bit shorter, Aaron came home from Warden and we went to work shaping and frosting and covering it with fondant and making it as sharky as we could. At 2:30 in the morning we finally finished our masterpiece! It was, I must say, pretty darn amazing! I am sure that is, in a VERY large part due to Aaron's artistic talents...he is the one who carved the cake into the SHARK!





The party was a hit the cake was fantabulous and the pure joy and huge smile on Javin's face when he looked at that cake made the whole thing worth it! I still cannot believe my little baby boy is now a handsome, mischievous and wonderful little boy! The time really does go by WAY WAY WAY too quickly!

The Tale of the "Tired-Not-Sleepy" Girl

Here I sit, tired, yet not sleepy, I was pouring over the watch instantly tab on Netflix and not finding anything to watch...then I went off to IMDb to play the click on the movie, find an actor/actress and thread my why along (see what they were in, click on a movie under their list...pick a different actor/tress...shampoo. rinse. repeat like) till I am so far off the topic I can't remember where I began.
This might sound REALLY lame and all, but this type of time filling activity is NOT an unusual thing for me. I know, what a life I lead! I don't sleep well, and there are times when I don't sleep at all for days, sometimes even weeks...right now it is one of my I sleep an hour or so a night for a few weeks in a row cycle and it is less than fun.
I find things to occupy my time. There is my frien-enemies, Netflix (always tempting me with the watch instantly tab...drawing me in and making me search for hours for the right title or the right actors in the film); Hulu with all those shows I ignore on regular TV but get pulled back into watching, cause, hey, there are only REALLY short ads that intrupt the show; and of course there is IMDb. I love this site. Yes I am a movie lover...or addict or whatever. I have seen more movies than I can count...trust me I have tried to list them all before, and after I get to three or four hundred titles listed I get bored! I can give a rough estimate of the number of movies/TV show I have see...I have rated over 2800 title on netflix...and I am always coming across more that I have seen.
Wow, this makes me really sound like a LOSER who REALLY likes to waste time infront of the tube. But, when sleep is NOT on speaking terms with you, there are a few things to choose from. You can read a book, watch a movie, or stare at the walls and ceiling...I choose movies and books (I have an impressive book collection too...and the number of books I have read is nearly as high as the movie count!). Ok, there is often a bit of ceiling watching that happens too, but that is after I have watched the movie, or read the book and THINK I can finally sleep, only to discover that I am once again staring at my lod friend mister ceiling!
Ok, where was I going with this? I hardly remember...it must be the tired part of this tired-but-not-sleepy girl mind. I have found, after two weeks of little or no sleep a night my brain is as dull as the unsharpened pencils that sit in the drawer by my kitchen sink. Oh...my favorite game, that is what this started out as...well, it's not really a GAME...just something I do for fun when I don't have a good book to read and can't find a title that strikes my fancy! I start out with a favorite movie or actor in the search field on IMDb and when the page comes up, I scan for a movie or actor I don't recognize, click on it find something interesting on that page, click and repeat...kind of like the shampoo bottles tell you to do, and kind of like the blonde joke about how to keep a blonde occupied. Only, sometimes I find out interesting stuff. Not important stuff, just useless pointless information about this movie or that actress or this sound track or that film location. Today I started with Val Kilmer...one of my ALL time FAVORITE actors...did you know for years he was the YOUNGEST person accepted into Juilliard's?...and ended up here writing a blog about my insomnia! That was of course after 20 or so movie title and at least as many actors, and a jump to facebook to see who has what to say about their day, then a jump back to netflix. I am telling you, if a person were so inclined to search my computers history and "cookies" all they would find is HULU, NETFLIX, FACEBOOK, IMDb, a few blogs and the WEATHERunderGROUND. I know, my internet searching habits are so random and unpredictable...what can I say...I guess I am just that awesome!
I don't have a genre that I watch the most, I watch whatever strikes my fancy, which is a different fancy all the time. I have found some AWESOMELY funny, QuIrKy, silly, strange, and cHeEsY...movies since I started getting netflix. One of my most recent finds was ASSASSIN in LOVE. Hilarious I tell you! Oh, and Randy and the Mob...there is even a movie out there called....wait for it(now this might only be awesome to those of you who actually know me in the real world)...I am the Cheese and of course Megan and I found Dragonslayer all thanks to first, my not sleeping and second to Netflix and their HUGE coffers full of movies of all classes and ages! And all the old movies and B films...oh I am a movie DoRk! I sometimes watch movies that other people have criticized, if someone says a movie is over the top cheesy, well you can almost bet I will give it a go (sometimes they really are that cheese filled, others just the right amount of cheese for me).
So, I think I have turned Javin into a MOVIE buff. He definitely has favorites that are his go-to but he loves finding new favorites. We can both get sucked into the movie section of the store for hours if you let us...sure we aren't always on the same page when it comes to movies, but hey, he is only 5! He was trying to convince me this evening (ok this later than evening, way past bed time night) that he wasn't tired and he should definitely watch a movie with me. I wasn't fooled...I may be a bit dull witted from lack of sleep, but even I can tell when he is full of bologna...three fits within a 10 minute period could convince anyone that tired was what he WAS...not wasn't! I did promise him a movie in the morning....so if I was the sleeping type that is what I would go do, to make sure he got to watch his movie with a non-muzzy headed mum!
Orissa hasn't succumbed to the movie madness. Which is good, not sure a whole house full would be such a good thing...hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!
Maybe next time I dither on about something with this sleep deprived mind that I must confess is all mine, it will be of more important things, like my StarWars book collection (hey, no judging, I read them not just collect them...and I have NEVER dressed up as ANY character from the books or movies) and all the other books that fill my home. But not today! I think my nattering is over for the time being (don't celebrate too loudly, the people around you might just think you have gone a bit looney)!
As a prize for all you who stuck it out, made it through the mazes of my murky mind I give you pictures...not much of a prize if you don't think my kids and my cooking are the greatest thing since ice cream...but hey, it's what I got!
I had to try my hand at strawberry rhubarb pie...I loves to eats it, so why not bake one all by myself? Ok, not all by myself I had this guy as a helper bee!
She is always mothering her "baby". I guess the kitchen cabinet makes a GREAT crib!
No judgement till you try 'em..these are some of the best brussel sprouts I have ever had!
I know, they are completely unrelated to the entire post. But they are not unrelated to the things I love the mostest...my family, food, photography and movies...see they fit in there! Or not, but I just felt like a blog post with out pictures is like an omelet without cheese. Sure you can do it that way, but isn't it so much better with the cheese?

Blog bLoG blog BLOG!

Someone has been guilty of dereliction of duty. Someone has fallen asleep at the wheel! This is a disgrace! I mean really, how many days? weeks? months? have gone by since someone updated this blog anyway? I will just have to have a firm talk with the guilty party and make them pay! I will make them pay for this abandonment of post! Wait, uh, oh yeah, um, silly grill, that would be me eh?
We are still alive and kickin'. I am still taking lots of pictures (and cooking...kind of combining two loves...food and photography),
and working hard to get my name out there in the Spokane Photography community...slow going really! Still attending to the kids as a 3/4 time single parent...and always wishing for MORE chocolaty goodness: recipes candies, and well, just chocolate, grood chocolate, to feed the hungry beast...aka my chubby belly ( which reminds me: a sad thing happened this week...I finished my Butlers Chocolate...as in, it is all gone, no more and there are lots of tears!)! I haven't even started making any holiday candy...I guess that is another duty I have neglected to preform...I, uh, I will have to make amends on that front also!
Javin is still full of life, energy, smiles and is VERY excited about the coming of Christmas. He says he wants to be a sharp tooth for Christmas...and every time we inform him that people DO NOT dress up for Christmas, he says, "I do Momma! I like to be a sharp tooth for Christmas!" He has, in recent months decided to become a soup chef and my little model. He is getting pretty daring with the spices and ingredients...never the same combination twice. And when we are out running errands, he will scout and shout new locations where he thinks he should be shot!


Orissa is still full of way too much attitude and is still as stinkin' cute as can be. Well, not at this very moment...right now she is sick with some sort of stomach bug and is making her displeasure for the whole thing VERY clear to anyone and everyone around (which is only Javin and I...but still)!! When she isn't sick and whiny, she has become very attached to any baby doll she can get her hands on. Orissa LOVES the kid kitchen at Nana and Papa's house and the doll house that Maama and Pumpa recently acquired!


Aaron is still on his grand adventure, hunting for a job in his field of expertise and working on the farm in the meantime. Out on the farm they are busying themselves with the grandiose task of turning the old barn into an office and/or apartment. I am pretty sure that a part of Aaron is glad for the manual labor...it had been several years since he has had to do "real" work! He is also still picking up a bit of freelance work here and there. We are ever hopeful that a job will make itself apparent soon! He has had a few bites from some companies around the country. Who knows, soon we could be traveling to a new home...ya never know!

Why Is It So Hard

I feel rushed, anxious, frustrated, worried, eager, and hopeful. My whole life has been turned upside down since my husband lost his job. I am at a loss for word on how it makes me feel inside to know we are in such a tight situation. I am, by nature a worrier who gets anxious pretty easily. I'm frustrated with the job market and with his former employer. I am eager for him to find new work....anywhere in this fine nation, and even hopeful that it will happen SOON. You can take all of those emotions and apply them to my desire for my portrait business to take off and be a bit of relief to our pocket book.
Not even sure I can write this post. It is not an easy thing for me to do. In the last four days I have really had to trim the fat. On Saturday we were headed out to Silverwood to watch my niece run in the annual cross country meet. We got in the car with our kids, our snacks and our cameras. The first stop was to be the Tire Store to pick up my parent who were headed that way with us ( they had to leave their car there to get the tires and oil changed). Aaron put the key in and turned it...nothing, nada, no clicking no engine roar COMPLETE silence. Instantly my eyes welled with tears. I mean come on, how many things have to go wrong before you just want to give up. I called mum, she said to call Clancy for a jump start. I tried his home phone...no answer then his cell...I had forgotten that he had a new number for his work. I tried to call Megan to see if they could help, but no answer on any of their phones either. Finally Clancy called back. He came and got it going! Oh the joy, with a bit of anxious mixed in...wasn't sure what was wrong or what caused the battery to be completely dead. It could have been a light left on, or the battery was just old, or the starter or the alternator. Too many options for a worst case scenario girl like me.
We mad it to the race with minutes to spare. We watched Maja run a great race! She was fourth on her team to cross the line, not sure what number in the over all race, but she did it in under 25 minutes! Then it was time to head back home to get Aaron and Dad back in time to go to the temple. We got back to the car to find that once again the battery was zapped, completely drained. Tears welled again as my brother-in-law came back to get it running again. We had planned a stop at Cabelas so my Da could check it out (he had never been to one and REALLY wanted to go), but that was scrubbed from our agenda. Megan and Shawn graciously offered to take him there instead. I was just too afraid to turn the car off again. So, with the car running for the time being, we we hit the road. We then got stuck ( like it was backed up for a couple of miles...yay road construction) in traffic near an on ramp...we had to take it the wrong way cause we had a little guy who HAD to go potty. Luckily, there were no cops to ticket us! We then drove around Postfalls looking for an alternative route home...so we didn't have to just get right back in the jam. We eventually found our bearings and took the back way home. Our time was getting away from us, so we had to take Aaron home, let him change his clothes ( and of course leave the car running)and head out to the temple to meet up with Da with EVERYONE still in the car. Aaron would have just scrapped the temple trip, but that would have meant Da was alone there.
We met Da at the temple ( after a wait fifteen minute wait with the car not so slowly eating away at the feul) and then headed to the Tire Store to have the battery in the car checked out. Let me just tell you how fun that part of the trip was...we again were caught in traffic (this time we were TOO close to the fairgrounds on the first Saturday of the county fair...woot woot). After being STUCK in the slow lane for over a half hour we made it to our destination! When we arrived, we got the kids out of the car left it running and went to talk to Kurt, the manager and Clancy's friend. He sort of chuckled when I told him the car was still running, upon his request for the keys.
After a half hour of running, screaming, and water spilling fun, he informed us that the battery COMPLETELY failed the test and needed to be replaced. Ugh. $150 that I didn't have was the price tag, which Mum so graciously covered for us. I can't take others money without feeling horrid and in debit to them, so I decided to make a trade, my iPod touch for the new battery. It wasn't brand spankin' new or anything...over a year old, but I knew my Da really wanted one. This made it so I felt better about that transaction then just letting them cover it. Now I am back to a life sans iPod.
Then today, I have been doing all I can to eliminate or reduce every expenditure we have. That unfortunately, meant we needed to cut the cell phones from two to one. Aaron needs his for his job hunt and any freelance work he can find....so now my life is down one more piece of technology. And like the bawl-baby that I seem to be lately, I did shed NOT A FEW tears over this loss. I am feeling a bit technology anemic at the moment, and there are times of tears especially when I can't just pick up the cell and call anyone I want,PLUS no angry birds to play...sad day...but on the funny side of this, my Mum and Da are both now hooked on it!
I also got rid of my Netflix account. Talk about a tragic day in my life. I know, trivial things in the long run, but here I am whining and over bummed about it.
I am not just trying rid the gushing out flow of money, but trying to promote my business and help take care of my family. I have no real idea how to get the clients to come, but I am trying. I feel I have a lot to offer them, yet, I am not a very gregarious person until you get to know me a bit...then I am a bit zany, crazy and in my own mind, very funny! I have a unique voice in the world of portrait photography and I want to SING it out from the roof tops, and share it with everyone! If you live anywhere near Spokane and want to have your portrait taken in the oft over looked wonders of Spokane....here I am, PICK me!!!
I will leave you now with just one picture of the cutest boy in all the world...nope, I'm not impartial I'm his mother....but come on, you know he is stinkin' cute too!




my post script: Please don't take this post as anything but my failings. I love my husband, He is a rock and a pillar to me. His faith is astounding. I know he is doing all he can to find a way to take care of his family and he is putting his trust in the Lord. I am one of those people who has a VERY hard time accepting help. I feel weak if I can't accomplish it all on my own. I know in my heart that I should be more willing to look to the Lord and those around me for the help I need. I AM working on this and...maybe that is a lesson I am to take from this trial.

My Sister and My Niece

My sister just opened her very own etsy store and she so graciously let me do the product shots for it. We had a blast taking the beauty shots for them...and my sweetie did the lighting for me. My niece, Maja was kind enough to be a second model for me...and I LOVED shooting her, photographically speaking(hehehehe). We first did the head shots, and then I convinced her mum to let me take her out and about and capture some more images at a location I have been dying to try out. I think the results were pretty fabulous...but hey what can I say I am a GrEaT self backslapper! I just love being behind the camera and finding beauty in places that to others appear strange, ugly or ordinary. I love putting the beautiful...aka Megan and Maja in areas that seem grungy or unusual.
I guess you will just have to let me know what you think!




For now I think I might have found my awesome (or at least what can possibly be my awesome). I know it is going to take a lot of work and practice...but work and practice with the camera is like play time in the rocks and dirt and mud for me...that only makes sense if you know that I have always wanted to be a geologist...except for the math part of the science of dirt!!
Ya'll have a great night!