My time in Iowa

This blog is for me. It is what became a part of me, forever.

I cannot begin to count the number of times I pause and think about the time that I spent in Iowa. Like 8-10 times a day, at least. I cannot think of a more remarkable place that exists in all of the world. The saints that live there are like no other I have ever known nor do I think I will find elsewhere in all the world over. There is a piece of my heart that was branded in Iowa. When sharing some of my sorrow with my mother about the choice to have moved back West she in her wisdom said, "Amber, don't be sad for having left, but be eternally grateful for the experiences that you had while you were there." Sometimes Mom's just get it. And so I share a smidgen of the miracles that exist in Iowa.

The Glow

On an evening not long before we moved we had several ward members come to help us work on the remodeling in our basement. It was Ruston and Curtis Ford and Keith and Malia Gray. Two of the most salt of the earth, hope my plot is next to theirs in heaven kind of families. As I walked outside that night I will never forget the color of the sky. It was so beautiful. The moon was visible but the earth just seemed to exude a warm glow that night. I shut off my flash and took some pictures hoping to catch wonder of that night.

Friends that made life Zion

Keith, Mr. Dremmel Ruston and Curtis Drywall team

Miss Malia, my visiting teacher, my companion in the cornfields. Who else would show up and wrap bottle after bottle of food storage with me. A saint in every sense of the word. I can't count the number of times she showed up just to help. It was remarkable.

Dr. Who & the Mietzner's - They watched ours, we watched theirs

Jonathan and I are the best babysitters ever. We were "babysitting" Cameron and DeEtte while their parents were out of town for a week. They were staying at our home but I dropped them off with my boys at the pool in town. After swimming Cameron had decided to walk home to his house really quickly before heading back to our place. While at home he managed to wreck his parent's truck. Oh what teenagers don't manage to get themselves into, in such a short amount of time. I'll never forget the tremor in his voice when I picked up the phone and I heard, "Is Brother Jenson there?" Cameron was terrified and knew the wrath of his parents was going to sting. Lucky for him he had a whole week at our house before his parents would return. They had a week to simmer down before they got their hands on him. We loved him at our place for the rest of the week. He spent a lot of pensive moments staring at the floor while staying at our place. Jonathan and I just laughed when we saw the damage because we knew all

too soon it will be our kids doing crazy teenager things.

Iowa Cubbies

Every summer,

tail gate,

brats,

the entire Ottumwa Ward,

humid as h***,

baseball.

To be continued.....

Adam's Christmas Concert

That's my Adam

Melton the Warm Hearted Snowman - The first and second graders put on a play and Adam got to sing a solo part with two other kids in the school. He did a wonderful job. Adam loves to sing. He gets that from his Dad. He loves to sit at the piano while Jonathan plays and sing along. I think his favorite song right now is "Praise to the Man" that they learned for the Primary Program in church this year.

Gramps and Grams Olsen

Oh how all of my scheming is really starting to pay off. I new the move to Oregon was good for something. Wendy's oldest son Dallas turned 12 this past week and was ordained a Deacon on Sunday. Mom and Dad came to participate in the ordination and lucky me, what airport did they fly into? Medford, of course. They had 4 days off from the temple and they made a mad dash of it. They visited me for day, drove to Redding to spend a day with Wendy, back to Medford to fly to Seattle to see Cindi for a day and then back home to the temple. It was marvelous to be able to see them. I remember so distinctly sitting so many Sunday afternoons in Iowa having a small twinge to be in on the Sunday treats at my parent's home or to be surrounded by family just visiting. Sunday I did. We spent Sunday enjoying one another's company, celebrating Dallas' birthday, eating Mexican and participating in the ordination. It was fun to marinade in family just a bit.

On Dasher, On Dancer...!

We have had a rough couple of weeks with continuous colds and ear infections at our house. The past couple of days have been stay in jammies and survive days. The big boys were off to school and Andrew decided it was time to really get in the Christmas spirit. He constructed Santa's sleigh complete with a grocery sack full of toys to deliver to good boys and girls. We found a couple of Santa hats and he and I played Santa Claus in the kitchen while little Michael napped. Now it is quite a game the three oldest boys play. One takes turns playing Santa and the other two lay on the couch and pretend to be asleep. If they open their eyes Santa passes by, but if they are sleeping soundly he stops and fills their stockings full of toys. They have been such a hoot to watch pretend together.

Christmas Gifts for Teachers

I am posting this blog because I know how thankful I was when my sister sent the idea to me. It is a really simple and really inexpensive Christmas gift for teachers. I buy my frames at the dollar store or other "cheapie" place, the crayons I buy for a quarter a box during back to school and I have a bottle of elmer's glue laying around at all times. I made them for Adam's kindergarten and 1st grade teachers in Iowa. I decided to keep the tradition going for our new Oregon teachers. Adam's teachers have always LOVED them. I really like to give them to them at Christmas because then the boys get to enjoy looking at them in the classroom for the remainder of the year. I have it down to where I can whip a frame out in about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Michael's First Birthday

The littlest peanut has turned one! Seven teeth, no crawling and strictly bum scooting, happiest child I have ever had. Michael is the joy of our home. He is a Daddy's boy and soooo completely loved by his brothers. He loves to watch the dog through the sliding glass door, take baths, go for walks in the stroller, and read books. He has the curliest hair of the all the boys. I have to keep cutting off little curls that grow up around his ears. What a dumplin'.

Ma and the boys with the train cake. I swore I wouldn't be one of those mothers that killed the latter children's birthday's, but I am. Here is the last minute version of what do I have in the pantry... marshmallow's and graham crackers.

You would think he had waited his whole life for that one gift.

In Matthew's kindergarten play group they made Christmas trees out of ice cream cones. He wanted to give his to Michael. Matthew was so happy to give him a special gift. Michael actually enjoyed eating it more than the cake.

Picking off the marshmallows one by one. I didn't realize what a distraction those little devils would be. By the time he was done with marshmallows, graham crackers, and M&M's he didn't want much to do with the cake.

10 Years

Wahoo we made it! And by-jiggalahinks I think we enjoyed it. We had such great plans for our 10 year anniversary. There were endless places to go and things to do, but after considering our plans and options we decided to well, stay in town. I had one of my young woman come over to baby-sit and we went out to dinner. We found an amazing little restaurant in town called the Vine. The food was exquisite. I even had dessert. Simplicity really hit the spot for our 10-year.

We Got Booed

After family home evening we were gathered around for scripture study when we heard a crazy rapping on the door. We all jumped a little at the late night knock but opened the door to find a pumpkin full of fun delivered right from the Boo himself. We rolled in laughter as we tried out all of the trinkets we unloaded. Needless to say bedtime was postponed an extra hour to get all of our fun in, but we laughed and laughed and laughed. It was one of those nights where such an unexpected treat really hit the spot.

The boys had a ball re-Booing tonight. We need to work on our approach just a little, and our hiding techniques, and our remember to take everything to the door the first time so we don't have to run out of the bushes, drop the remainder of the load, and knock a second time technique. We'll get it. We're Boo-ing in training.

We really got Grandma's goat. She was our best eyeball model. If I didn't know better I would think she secretly hides away in her bedroom practicing this unusual talent. Another gift we didn't know Grandma had.

Go COUGS!

I would like to say that Jonathan and I had an amazing time at the BYU-Oregon game... but I would be lying if I didn't say it was a little crazy. We have this responsibility called parenthood which chugs with it 4 darling little pumpkins. Leaving them for any amount of time longer than an ol' hachoo in a hankie is a bit tricky. Not to mention the dead cell phone battery 1 hour after we left home, and the oil pressure episode coming down the mountain. Oh, and the no parking, stuck in crazy traffic post-game, and only $20.00 cash in the wallet spent it all at the pumpkin patch the night before detail. We made it, they did too, my backside was a bit frosty on the metal bleachers, what is football without a chill? BYU won.

Red

We had a lot of trees in Iowa but they were all oak. Right outside our current front door sits a row of maple trees with the most beautiful fall leaves. This has been such a treat.

Jonathan may look like he is winking, but while capturing the color of the leaves the dog refused to come home, he was awoken from his snooze in the big brown chair, and beckoned by his children to retrieve the runaway pup. His contacts were fuzzy and the need for sleep way too close to the surface. What a dad can't fix, even one eyed.

And remember these? The blessed testing center.

Organic Chemistry Revisited

It is crazy to believe that 10 years ago I was sitting next to my honey in an auditorium of several hundred pre-med yuppies pretending to not just memorize the essential organic compounds, but to actually understand the mechanics of the compounds thus being able to explain any chemical reaction and the outcomes that would occur. Ya, right. I have to be honest, secretly I really wanted to understand the mechanics so you could throw any reaction at me, but the fact of the matter was that I was sporting a flashy new diamond ring, sitting next to the man I was about to call my eternal smooch and his sidekick cousin James (that I am truly endeared to) and dreaming of life as an old maid on BYU campus. Wow, how the last ten years have flown. Now we are crammed in our little rental home here in Oregon trying to wade through boxes of old treasures that we no longer need yet remain attached to. One such box of treasures held our old Organic Chemistry notes and exams. It was a riot to flip through our old notes. Will we ever actually NEED the piles of old papers... nope, but somehow we become sentimentally attached to such silly stacks of paper. I couldn't help but share a few. The notes are nothing but jibberish to me now, but they bring back such fond memories of a decade ago. Maybe if I preserve the memory and a few glimpses I can purge the stacks that go with it. Funny what we wrap our hearts around isn't it?

"Maximum possible number of stereoisomers due to chirality centers is 2n where n=number of chirality centers... Cyclic systems similar (odd - no exceptions)..." Yada, yada, yada....

Honestly, page 1088?

Bye Bye Baby Locks

Ma chopped my hair just like my brothers. She has a thing about keeping it trimmed above the ears. Sheesh I can't even make it a year without the buzzer treatment. Style, flair, character... it doesn't exist around this house. It's all serious MTC business.