Places to go, people to see

I'm excited to go home but I know this trip will be a little different than previous ones. The last time I was home was almost 3 years ago. Scott was 6 months old and I flew out for my brother's wedding and Ryan stayed home. I had a little one to take care of so I wasn't out as late or as often but Scott went everywhere with me and slept in his car seat a lot. This time, we'll be going as a family but there are still places to go and people to see. Here are a few things on my wish list:

• Seeing family: It's been 8 months since I've seen my dad. Last time I saw my brother he was getting married. By now, I have an adorable nephew I've never met. I also really want to see my grandma who has had two heart surgeries recently and my heart aches that I haven't seen her in almost three years. I also want to see some other official and unofficial family members that I miss.
• coffee with Nicole and Paul. They were my church/missionary buddies
• snuggling on the couch with Kristine. She is my forever friend and we have lots of fun memories together.
• Hume Lake and Buck Rock Lookout, maybe even a memorial bike ride. Hume is where I went to summer camp. And the ride from Buck Rock to the lake is rough (yes Tony, I would likely puke as usual) but in memory of a precious friend of mine who taught me a lot in his life and in his death.
• the class reunion of course. 10 years has passed, which doesn't seem like a lot when you're a mom to 2 kids.
• hanging out with Becky. A junior high and high school buddy that took a different path in life and we didn't talk for 6 years probably. Two of those years I prayed often for her and it was so good to get back in contact with her after she cleaned her life up.
• Riding wave runners on the lower river and/or heading up to the lake.
• Will there still be fresh fruit?
• Checking out the Fresno State campus, buying a new tshirt and visiting with Dr. Nef who I've kept in touch with over the years.
• Katie, Cori, where are you? Will you be in the area so we can get together while I'm home?

I'm sure there's more but my lunch is about over so I better head back to my office!

Trip to Californ-i-a

I started thinking more about the trip to California. Lots of stuff that I don't want to think about but I have to:

Airline tickets $475 x 3 persons (thank you God that Bethany is under 2) = $1425
Rental Car for 10 days (picking it up at 7pm, drop off at 9am counts as 2 full days) = $300
Mailing out clothes ahead of time (because you can't check squat for luggage anymore) = $50

We're looking at spending over $2000 easy and that won't even cover everything. We'll have food, fuel, and hopefully some fun packed in there to pay for. For trips like this, its too bad that we don't agree with debt. It would be so much more fun to plan if we could do everything the way we want and not worry about the price.

I'm glad that we won't have to pay for hotels or that would just add to the agony. Between family and friends, we should be good on space.

I can't wait to go home and see family and friends and check out a few places that I miss.

Week in Review

Here are a few pictures from recent weeks.

• I survived VBS, or better yet, they survived me.
• By time the week was over both of my children had colds and weren't taking naps.
• I managed to get my back out of place on Saturday somehow and could hardly move.

With that said, I had a great week and a wonderful weekend. My little ones were such a joy to play with. To see their faces light up, watch them dance to the music and play in the canoe was refreshing. The last night Scott joined the bigger kid class since that class was missing a few kids. He loved it and was perfect for Tracy. At the Friday night program Scott was in a mini-skit with Tracy's class and watching him act as a "Levite" in the good Samaritan story made me forget that the role of the Levite wasn't an encouraging one. My kid was so cute, I forgot about the story all together!

Our weekend was good too. Ryan was off for the weekend and though he was gone till early afternoon, I was glad to have some time with him. I spent the day trying to balance cleaning with kid time and enjoyed accomplishing both. Saturday night we spent time as a family which was exactly what I needed. Nothing super extravagant but good quality fun time. We took a picnic to a nearby park and after eating our leftovers from lunch, we played on the toys with the kids. It was fun and it was free (except for the $2 burger we ordered for Scott since we knew he wouldn't eat crab wraps). Sunday afternoon we spent helping some friends move into their new apartment, a week after getting married. That was fun to feel helpful.

Tonight, I'm looking forward to a night of snuggling and watching a movie with the kids and planning our family trip to CA... there are lots of details to work out.

Update from the land of Oz:

Okay, I'm not really in the land of Oz, but it sounded like fun. I'm actually kinda sorta at home. I'm actually working in a nearby office this week helping them with some contract paperwork, planning and reporting. It's an hour drive from my house but fortunately I get to stop at our area office (about 7 miles from my house), get one of their vehicles and head to the flat lands. My miles and time driving are all on the government dime. Here are a few highlights from this office experience:

• I already know the staff here. I made plain to the boss here that I didn't appreciate feeling like I was expected to answer the phone when the secretary was out. HELLO, I'm NOT the secretary and I don't even work here.
• Planning is so much easier when working in the flat lands.
• Being able to work [almost] interrupted allows me to get a lot more done.
• This office is much smaller and I'm working about 3' from the next guy compared to having my own corner to hide in at my regular office.
• The boss here is receptive to change and makes a point to ask me if I need anything. I appreciate a little feedback from him.
• People here cuss like sailors... maybe worse. Lots of swearing and using God's name in vain, which I don't appreciate.
• Woo hoo, I might be saving a few dollars on gas this week.

I'm starting my day early and ending late (which is normal for me) to give me more time here. I get back to town just in time to pick up Scott and head to Vacation Bible School. Here are a few highlights from my week with the 3-Pre-k kiddos:

• I quickly learned that God has not gifted me to teach 12 preschool kids!!!
• I had one little boy pee his pants twice last night... and he's potty trained.
• The creators of this material must not have realized that 3 and 4 year olds can't read.
• It is way cool to hear Scott rattle off the different verses for each day.

With the hours I'm working followed by VBS with preschoolers, it shouldn't surprise you that I'm whipped each night when I get home. Last night was the first night this week that I was able to stay awake while Ryan and I prayed together before bed!

Front Page of the Paper

A few days ago I received an email from a friend who saw Scott on the front page of the paper. I saw Meghan take a picture of him at Sweet Corn Days and gave her his name and age but was so busy that night that I forgot all about it. The news from Vanessa was exciting and I was eager to see the paper myself.

This morning a friend who works in the building and lives near the same town as I dropped by my office. The following conversation occurred:

D: [with a proud tone in her voice] do you know who made the front page of the paper?

me: [with an equally proud voice] MY son did

D: [with a confused tone to her voice] your son?!?!, no MY son did

me: [realizing that her son must have made the paper] cool, I'd heard Scott made the front page but maybe it's not on the front page.

We walked to the break room together where she proudly had the paper folded in half displaying Matthew with his grand champion beef cow. Debbie flipped the paper in full view and sure enough, there was my little cutie pie on the front page of the paper, just below the newspaper banner. How cool is that?

I took the paper and scanned it for Scott's scrapbook but also so I could show him off here. After a few minutes I decided against sharing the scanned newspaper. Most of you know who I am and where I live but for the rest of you, I'll just keep quiet on the location we call home. Really wanting to share the picture of my cute kid, I called up the paper (gotta love small towns) and asked Meghan to send me the photo. Thanks to Meghan for sharing the photo of my kiddo so I can share it with all of you.

yes, my son was eating watermelon at Sweet Corn Days. I think he ate 4 or 5 pieces that size.

6:40am Phone Call

I answered the phone this morning prepared to hear my mom ask me to bring milk for Bethany (yes, we still have frozen breast milk stored up). It wasn't my mom. It was Debbie, a friend who I work in the same building with. She was asking for my husband. I was confused. Ryan is their veterinarian but why would she call him rather than call the clinic and let it transfer? I heard a few bits of the conversation but what I found worth of sharing was when he said "find the cat, kill the cat, cut its head off, bring it to the clinic and we'll send it in". Having been around him long enough and familiar with different veterinary issues, I knew that meant an issue of rabies.

My poor friend was asleep at 4am when she heard glass crashing to the floor and her son screaming. She thought someone was in the house. No, it was a farm cat that managed to get inside. In the process it attacked Matthew and bit him multiple times drawing quite a bit of blood. Debbie wrapped up his wounds and sent him off to work. My guess is that some time today Matthew showed up at the clinic with the head of a dead cat!

How's that for a fun story from the the countryside?

Potty Training

We're finally getting the #2 issue down. That kid of mine knows that he needs to do his business on the toilet but will ask for underwear so he can poop in them. It's obvious he has to go but will LIE and say that he doesn't. It has been my prayer for a while that my children will be honest and trustworthy people. I best keep praying for that! In the mean time, he's at least learned to potty on the "little" toilet at my mom's. Still has to be dumped into the "big" toilet but better than the alternative.

Fun at Work

Thoughts from today's outting:

• When a client introduces you to his wife and says "this is who I call up at the office all the time for assistance", don't expect her to be thrilled. Maybe she expected me to be 60 or extremely homely looking. As it was, I was dressed for the field and not to go out!
• Just because the track hoe made a path through the field, doesn't mean you should follow it. There may be partial logs that you get hung up on.
• When you get hung up on the above mentioned log, it might push the engine up which affects the fan and makes a horrible noise.
• Thank God client was home and heading out to the site.
• Skid loaders come in handy for "towing" type of needs.
• Contractors can be liars and (what's the word I'm looking for here) . No, he's not the cheapest contractor around. No, he can not buy us lunch, even if he is just trying to be nice.
• 5 hours in the sun = red face
• Bug spray helps with the sweat bees. Those darn things were about to make me crazy!

5k walk/jog

I did a 5k on Saturday with my friend, Renessa. I haven't ran in several years for the most part and didn't run that day either. We speed walked though and it was rough on my lazy legs. We jogged part too. It felt so good to exercise and to have some time with my friend. She lives 2 hours away and when I do see her, we're busy chasing kiddos. It was good to catch up. Maybe next time I ask her to walk with me, I'll be prepared to keep up with her!

*Yesterday my legs/hips hurt so bad I could hardly walk. I was dreading a day in the field today. Thank you Lord for bringing rain that brought me back to the office. It's not too often that I prefer to sit on my rear!

* A big thanks to Ryan for entertaining our kiddos all morning while I walked and piddled around in town!

I love my mother-in-law but I'm sure some of the wise-cracks I say to her don't speak love at all. I entered this contest to win the "Daughter In Law Rules" book. Cross your fingers...

Dead Phone

I've been wanting a new cell phone. The one I have is 6 years old. The car charger died and can't get a new one. The phone doesn't stay charged the best. But, because it still works, there's no point in spending money on a new one. Until Friday. I plugged it in at work, charged it till the charge was completed. Took it off the cradle and it was turned off. That's screwy but not a total surprise. I turned the phone back on and it instantly said that I needed to change the battery and died. I could not get it to turn back on. So, I mentioned it to hubby. He chuckled and said "maybe for Christmas you can get a new one". I think he was half kidding and half serious. Our budget is tight all the time but super tight this month. Like $50 in our account to last us 10 days - tight. What's the point of paying for a cell phone service when you don't have a cell phone? Might as well cancel the service, right? Only, I want a cell phone so I can feel safe driving 25 miles to work. One of the guys was at our house and said that you can buy them off the internet and get it hooked up. Well maybe that will work now but when I brought my cute little phone otu here from CA six years ago, they wouldn't do that and I had to buy a new one. Times have changed I guess. I'll have to save up some money to get a new phone unless someone has an old one they want to donate to me.

August is Almost Here

I can't believe its been almost two weeks since I've written anything about family life. I'll try to do a quick recap:

• Scott is potty training. Yes, he's wearing big boy underwear now and loves it. However, he hasn't figured out how to do #2 on the big boy potty yet. Last night was an adventure when he sat on the toilet a million times but wouldn't go (even when bribed). Yet, a few minutes later, while running around without underwear, he decided to poop. Yes, he was pooping while he was running. I'll spare you the rest of the details but let's just say that I wasn't thrilled about the situation.
• Bethany is jabbering up a storm and repeats many words, although not clear yet.
• Bethany has this wave she does when she says bye-bye that will steal your heart!
• Scott loves his sister but also loves to keep her away from his toys. He's a pain about it for sure. Eventually she'll be bigger and tougher than him and he'll let her do what she wants.
• Stayed home with the kids last Friday. They love their new pool which is more like a puddle than a pool but they seem happy.
• Things are crazy busy at work. I could spend all my waking hours there and still not catch up. Lots of flood relief work out in the warm, humid weather. I love it, even if I sweat like crazy, but am worn out when I get home.
• Ryan has been working solo for the past 9 days. Good thing they weren't swamped! Being on call every night wears on you even if you don't have to go out a ton. We're glad Steve is back.

Looking forward. August will be a busy month. We have lots of stuff going on in the next few weeks. September will follow suit I'm sure. I thought we'd picked a date to go home to CA only to find out that the class reunion is scheduled for the weekend before. So, I was tentatively thinking that weekend. Only to realize on Sunday that the reunion weekend is the same weekend I committed to an inner city missions trip. Arrg. Anyone wanna take my missions trip spot so I can go to my class reunion? And on top of that, I'm wishing I could make a trip home by myself to spend a few days with the girls.

Seine

Seine (noun) - 1. a fishing net that hangs vertically in the water, having floats at the upper edge and sinkers at the lower.

Some days, I do really interesting things and today was one of those days. A quick stop between appointments at the local trout hatchery and I caught a glimpse of an interesting project. When we had all the flooding, the hatchery flooded. Fish were out of their raceways and downstream. Fishing near a hatchery recently has proved to be quite a catch. Today, the guys were using a seine to gather some of the fish from the overflow pond and put them back into the raceways. The trout are raised at the hatchery and then put into nearby cold water streams. In previous seining events, they've gathered over 25,000 trout. Today was another venture to save some fish to be returned to the cold water streams. It was really cool to watch it all happen. Check out these pictures:

First you start with the seine which is weighted on the bottom and has the floaty things at the top. You line one edge of the pond with it.

The boys swam the end of the seine across the pond to create a huge net

Then you begin to pull your net in, hoping its full of fish

Once you have the fish in a confined area, you can begin to fish them out. In this case, they were removed with a net, put into the trucks that usually deliver them to the stream, taken to the raceways and put back into their homes.

How Busy Am I?

Each morning and evening I drive along a beautiful row of shrubs along our driveway. The shrub is called "Bridal Veil", I think. Recently Ryan mentioned to me that the shrub is dying. What? How did I not notice that? I drive along side of it twice a day. I'm outside playing with the kids in the yark every few days right up near the row. I love plants and kinda have a green thumb, how could I not notice? How busy am I that I wouldn't notice a 200' long shrub row that was 90% dead?

Saturday when I was out pulling weeds, I paid some attention to the shrub row. Sure enough, it looked like it was dying and moving right down the row. As I took a closer look, I saw that it wasn't really dead yet. And it wasn't a disease, rather it has provided a tasty snack for some bugs. So, yesterday I was telling my coworker about it and we decided that I needed to find the bug and kill it before it killed my shrub. My DNR forester buddy told me that if something was eating it, I should be able to find the pest. Oh, great, like I was going to find some tiny bug in the shrub... its kind of like finding a needle in a hay stack.

Last night was supper was in the oven and the kids were about ready to make me crazy (those are a whole seperate post), I went out to hunt the pest. And you know what? I found it and lots more like it. The shrub was covered in millions of little beetles. Dangit, how come I didn't see those on Saturday when I check out the shrub? I collected the pests and some of the shrub and brought the jar into the office. My forester buddy identified the pest (you would think he's an entomologist, not a tree guy) and told me of the chemical cure. Tonight, I'm off to find someone who carries the chemical cure so I can kill the Cottonwood Leaf Beetle before it kills my Bridal Veil.

Thanks!

Thanks to Jody for her assistance in updating my blog. I hope it looks a little more like me now.

Contest

I'm not one for contests online to earn a few bucks. But I received an email weeks ago about a poster contest through my agency. When I read the slogan for the poster, I immediately thought of the perfect picture to use. I just submitted the poster I designed (keep in mind, I'm not a graphic designer but I'd love to be) this morning. The deadline is fast approaching. I'm hoping to hear in the next month if I'm the lucky winner of a $300 cash award (granted it will be $150 by time they take out taxes). Whew, I'm nervous and super excited. I hope mine stands out amongst any others and gets chosen!!!!!!

I used this picture that I took back in January of 2003 when I was in Nicaragua on a missions trip. We were teaching the locals how to compost and garden so they could feed themselves rather than starve. It was a sad situation but encouraging to teach them to provide for their families. The little girl was a daughter of a couple that came from Oregon to help with the class. The man was a local leader (educated engineer) that was there to learn. Amazing experience.

Help Wanted

A few things I need help doing:
1. If I create a fun picture for the top of my blog, how do I get it to replace what's already there?
2. How do I get the list of labels to show up in the margin?
3. I want to categorize my links. When I try this in the template, it doesn't work. In fact, if I change the text saying "links", it goofs it up.
My fellow blogger friends, please help

Funny Conversations with Scott recently:

Scott: Daddy, God made everything, right?
Ryan: yes, son
Scott: Then, can he make Grammy a new Zackery (Grammy's teacup poodle that died last year)

Scott holding a green bean in each hand:
left hand: Do you know you're going to get eaten?
right hand: yep, we're going to get eaten...
he proceeded to have a detailed conversation about being veggies and getting eaten.

me: Scott can you carry this into the other room?
Scott: yes, mommy. I'm strong like everybody.
He frequently talks about being strong like everybody because we ask him to eat his meals and drink his milk/juice so he can grow big and strong.

Scott: [takes something away from Bethany]
Bethany: [screams at him]
Scott: oh Bethany, you're being naughty. Go drink your nini bottle.

4 Generation

I've been working on Bethany's scrap book lately. I had a picture of generations of Buitenwerf's. I asked Ryan if he wanted to write a little something for that page. He came back downstairs an hour later with a very cool page to put in her scrap book. Only it was 3/4 of a page long and I was thinking something that would be 2"x4". I saved what Ryan wrote to be used later in her book. Saturday was the perfect opportunity to capture a 4 generation picture to be used with the history. With one wiggly baby and lots of cameras taking pictures, this is what we came up with:

And since we were taking pictures, why not take a few more right? This picture is Ryan's paternal grandparents, Ryan's parents and us.

Update from the Office

I updated my "Another Day at the Office" post with pictures. Click here to check those out.