wild mountain

Happy Birthday, Davis

2011-06-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

To a great member of this amazing family tree. We are so proud of you, Davis. Thank you for being such a kind, thoughtful soul.

We love you. Can't believe that you are 16 years old. Hope this year will be full of a driver's license and all kinds of new responsibilities. I love this age. There are so many new things to do.

Thought you could use a little help stepping into the dating world. The Mormon kids in Denmark have no idea how to date..they call it American Dating. Even though they would like to try dating, they end up going everywhere in big groups. It may take a few years, maybe a life time to learn all you need to know about girls.. but here are a few suggestions- 100 suggestions- that might help you find joy in this effort..

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday, dear Davis...

Happy Birthday to you ! (you have to sing this outloud as you read it)

I know you are probably sound asleep tonight...we still have an hour here before midnight..but you have been on our mind today..hope your day was full of happiness and surprises. Can't wait to see you, a grown up 16 year old..at the end of July. Much love from Sacramento.

Love, Grandma and Grandpa W

Warrior Dash

2011-05-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

Nick, Kathy and Scott ran in the Warrior Dash race today. It was fun to watch and sounded like it was fun to run, too. More photos on my facebook.

Happy Birthday, Lila

2011-04-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Lila,

Well today is a big day for dear, sweet Lila. Happy Birthday,Lila. You have been such a fine member of our family. I wish that we lived closer so that we could celebrate with you and be with you as you share all of your many talents with your friends and family in Ames. We watch your pictures as you grow up way too fast..having such a good, full life. I am so glad that you were able to come to see us in Odense. I loved having you especially, in our center learning to play crud and meeting our good friends from Denmark..even our mission president. I know that you know how much that experience meant to us. It was so fun having you sleep on our floor and enjoying the many tender mercies that Heavenly Father gave us while we were in that “Fairy Tale” town. I miss being there.

We had friends who went on missions while we were in Denmark. They went to Siberia and the Philippines.. one of the coldest places on earth and one of the most humid places on earth. We were on what is called the “Garden Island of Denmark.” Every season was full of beauty and color. There are no toxic plants or animals in Denmark- no rattlesnakes, no cactus, not even bears..(although I would like a few bears). Parents send their children there from all over the world because they think it is one of the safest places on earth to go to school. We had no screens on our windows and we kept them open most of the year. It was such a pleasure to serve in this peaceful, beautiful place. I am so grateful that you got a taste of what it was like to serve there. I hope that you have a fine day, ..you are already truly blessed. Thank you for your sweet spirit and for sharing it with all of us. You are such a wonderful gift to our family. You have many of the talents that your mother has. We love you so much and enjoy hearing about your good life.

Hope you have a very fine, and delicious birthday. Wish we could send you a Princess Cake …just had one of them with Stephanie last weekend on her birthday celebration- a late fun birthday at her new house. We love and appreciate you Lila, can’t wait to see all of you at the end of July or first of August. I think we’ll have a day dedicated to Denmark Days..maybe learn to make some aebleskivers and play another game of crud. See you there.

We love you and wish for you such happiness as a new teenager- what a step, Love Grandma and Grandpa Wilberg
(notes from e-mail to Lila sent April, 2011)

Ps. Thought this picture of our naked man in town square in Odense was a good way to celebrate your step into the world of teenagers. He looks better wearing snow but he was always there every day as we drove by him on the way to our mission. I was offended by him when we first arrived in Denmark but I learned to appreciate him as he was dressed for every season- snow, surrounded by flowers during flower fest, and then used as a slide during the hot summer days by the children of Odense. Hope that you will continue to enjoy your sweet life as you step into the sometimes confusing world of teenagers. You will have memories that you will never forget. Much love to you Lila, Grandma B

Chicago, baby!

2011-02-26T05:34:00.000-08:00

Just to get you in the Chicago mood.

Duh...meaning Awesome!

2011-01-31T09:17:00.000-08:00

I started to re-watch this Office episode an thought, "duh, why didn't I catch that the first time!?" Ricky Gervais filling in when Steve Carell leaves at the end of this season. I would love it! I hope they do it. I think he's the only one that could possibly fill Michael Scott's shoes. Thoughts?

You should all make these

2011-01-24T06:48:00.000-08:00

My friend has a business selling treats like cake bites and her new thing is selling kits to make these cute little houses. I thought they looked pretty cute and fun Snickety Snacks

I liked Stephanie's link- sorry to bump it down. I was going to comment but get lazy because I can't always do the word verification thing

I will survive

2011-01-22T13:37:00.000-08:00

My friend put this on facebook and I thought it was fun. There are several others by these two and they are all entertaining.

It's Birthday time for Nancy

2011-01-14T17:00:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY pretty NANCY! Wish we could all be there to celebrate.
(These are two of my favorite pictures of you)

Have you seen Made by Joel stuff?

2011-01-10T23:32:00.000-08:00

I came across the website, Made by Joel, tonight and had to look at everything 'til the very beginning! Amazing!! I can not tell you how much I love his ideas. My two oldest kids were in love. We are trying a few of his projects tomorrow.

Just look around. I think you'll love it too.

Christmas Highlights

2011-01-06T06:38:00.000-08:00

Here are some highlights of our Christmas. I'm going to put a bunch more on facebook when I get a chance...which might be April because I feel like I'm 3 days behind in EVERYTHING! Laundry, clean and whatever else. Anyway, here are five of my favorites. Santa Train! I love doing this with Nick and Emily and Nancy. AWESOME! Way better than waiting in line at the stinking mall. I don't think I'll find a Santa train in Albuquerque. :(

Christmas Morning. This photo was so cute of Scott and baby fish mouth. We had a great haul.

The Sunday after Christmas we decided to do a quick, last-minute trip to New York City, baby! This is mostly (all) my doing. I've always wanted to see NYC during December with all the Christmas crazy and man, it didn't disappoint. Here we are in our hotel room. Yeah, it's just our hotel room but I loved this picture...oh, and I got new glasses.

Look at the size of those balls!(...I am so not classy...) There were these HUGE ornament balls in a water fall along with a huge string of Christmas lights (not seen here but I'll put them on facebook.) So cool. Can you see the MILLION people there? Man, this place was PACKED!

The Empire State Building a la Christmas time. Awesome! We all went up it and it was a bit chilly, meaning face-stingingly cold and hair-do-destroyingly windy. But awesome, still the same.

This trip was tricky with the huge snow storm that passed through there just two days before and with our two strollers but I'm so glad that we did it. Very fun.

Let's see all ya'll's photos of your happy holidays.

("Happy Holidays...is what terrists say. Merry Christmas! LINK 2:36)

The stockings were hung....

2010-12-24T14:36:00.001-08:00

They are finished!! We still need to embellish the pink one. It is Sasha's and she wanted to help, but they are hanging and ready!!
I miss you all like crazy!
Merry Merry Happy Christmas.
xoxoxo

House pretties

2010-12-23T10:42:00.000-08:00

Second post today!!!

I wanted to show you some of my favorite decorated spots around the house.

Snowflakes in the kitchen Out the kitchen window, by the sink, just makes me happy!
Nativity on the piano

fish ornaments and sparkly beads

the top of our very tall tree

hanging advent

top of the entertainment center

Are you ready for the big day? I'm not. but I'm blogging anyway!!

A Circus

2010-12-23T10:33:00.000-08:00

Gretta planned a circus for me to watch the other day. She planned it all with Simon who did exactly what she told him. It was very cute. There were hats. There were stunts.
...And more stunts.
Arrows were shot.
Drums played.
And more costumes.
Kids can be so fun!

did you get this?

2010-12-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas is a birthday!

2010-12-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

Steph and I were just talking about this song. Every Christmas is a birthday!

I love the sound of this duo. I've been checking them out. Pomplamoose (What the heck does that mean?). Just pretend it's not a commercial.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I wish we could be all together!

Happy Stinkin' Birthday Kath!!

2010-12-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

I wish I was there like crazy!! Have lots of fun and eat an extra piece of cake for me. You're awesome!

Happy Birthday to a girl for all seasons-

2010-12-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

We are in Utah, leaving this morning for Sacramento.. but wanted to wish you a
very Happy Birthday today. Love your enthusiasm for life, your willingness to try anything once, your great, creative ideas. Thank you for being our girl for all seasons..It is such a pleasure to have you with us. I will call when we get home..until then have a wonderful day and know that we love you. Love, mom

crocheted hedgehog

2010-12-14T18:38:00.001-08:00

this is what my hedgehog should look like when i'm finished:

Works is progress

2010-12-14T17:09:00.001-08:00

Hello? Is anybody out there?? This poor blog has been neglected by us all. I am here to revive it! For today at least.
Saturday I decided to make new stockings for us. I went to the thrift store and found three sweaters to use. Two were wool. One wasn't. I also used an old JCrew sweater that I loved and saved for just in case. I washed and dried all the sweaters. The wool ones felted perfectly! It just made me happy. The washer did reek of moth balls. YUCK! Must have been the thrift store ones.

This one is wool and shrunk like crazy.

This one was only partially wool and felted only a bit.

The red is my JCrew sweater. Isn't it cute? I might get a pair of cozy socks out of the sleeves as well! I have two more from a different sweater, not shown. I will try and finish tonight and show you soon!

What are you working on?

I love this map.

2010-11-14T17:37:00.000-08:00

Who wants to buy me this map? I LOVE IT!!!!! Check it out. Wouldn't it be great in a kid's room? Or MY room. This site is really cool as well.

Christmas Gifts 2010

2010-11-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

I will try to add some sort of chart but this year for Christmas gifts this is how it goes:

Wilbergs have Brooks
Rices have Ricks
Hromikos have Wilbergs
Brooks have Rices
Ricks have Hromikos

The Universe is cold, man, really cold. And blankets

2010-10-21T06:03:00.000-07:00

Hey! I'm getting dooped! I've been gradually chipping away at the poundage that I piled on while pregnant. (that's alotta p's). I love using my "LoseIt!" app for my ipod touch. It's awesome. BUT every time I enter in a slightly lower weight it lowers the amount of calories I can eat! What the heck?!? The universe is sabotaging me! Whatever...

As a side note: Seth is almost 7 months old and is already grabbing a corner of his blanket and bringing it to his face and nose. Do all kids do this? Every one of my boys has had a blanket that they cherish and love and cuddle with right up to their faces. With variations as to what part of the face they rub with the blanket corner. Here's a detailed list:

kid 1) Jake-his nose (He also still pulls the corner through is fingers)
kid 2) Sammy-his nose, mouth and even his tongue!
kid 3) Cameron favors his ears. He literally shoves the corner as far as possible in that little ear.
kid 4) Seth-yet to be determined.

Do your kids do this? Just curious.

Phili

2010-10-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

It seems like I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd quickly put some photos up of the Philadelphia trip we went on about a month ago. Liberty Bell. On the 2 hour drive from here to there we kept hammering into the boys heads why we were going to Philadelphia, ya know, the Declaration of Independence, the Liberty Bell, the beginnings of our awesome country, cheese steaks.

Yo, Adrian! There was a line of people doing this in front of the Museum of Art, and of course we had to do it too. SEE THIS.

One of my favorite things we saw was this street called Elfreth's Alley. The term "row houses" came from Philadelphia and this is the oldest residencial street in US. Tiny homes right next to each other. It had been trashed over the years but when 1976 was aproaching, the city knew they needed to fix it up for tourisim. Lucky us! It was so cute. You would all love it.

Carrige ride around Independence Hall. Awesome. FYI: tip alot...more than you think...then more than that. I don't think we tipped enough. We just didnt' know! How they heck are you supposed to know what to tip a carrige driver?! Anyway, very cool and not too expensive. Like that Book of Awesome: Seeing a real van Gogh, AWESOME! (Awesome Blog)

There's a big fued as to who has the best Phili Cheese Steaks in Philadelphia between Geno's and Pat's. They are right across the street from eachother. The lines were crazy and the kids were riding on their last patience so I waiting in line at Geno's while Scott stayed in the car. They were pretty good but I couldn't resolve which was better because we only sampled one.

Fun stuff! Nice that it was only 2 hours away. The museum was a little tricky with the kids but we still had fun. Awesome!

QOTD=Author Unknown

2010-09-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

Gretta was reading poems from a book to Sasha. One was by Author Unknown. Sasha said, "hey! That's the same person who wrote Ooey Gooey!" (one of the poems we have been working on!)

2010-09-01T09:04:00.000-07:00

Our faces totally made me laugh. Wish everyone could have been there

Good Bye Summer

2010-08-29T16:41:00.001-07:00

We didn't do any big vacations this year, but we did do a few fun things. Here are some pictures from our fishing outing. We went to Sly Park Lake for an afternoon. Not one fish was caught but it was fun just the same! Don't you just hear the Andy Griffith Show whistling here?
She was such a patient, waiting fisher.

This was the week after scout camp and he was so enthusiastic about the fishing!

I watched as Vaughn did all the help with fishing poles. I think this is my favorite picture of this trip! Sadly, his hair has been cut. I miss it! Goof balls!

Happy Birthday, Tina!

2010-07-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

Yay, Tina!

Happy Birthday!

You can vote now!

Whatta think?

2010-07-27T16:54:00.001-07:00

Okay, I made an executive decision and this is what I came up with. Blogger has got a TON of new lay out and background choices. Really easy. I hope you like it...or will at least tolerate it. :)

So come December one of you gets to change it up. Who wants to do it?

2010-07-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

how do you guys feel about changing our layout here? I think just ONE of us should pick a layout and we stick with it for 6 months or a year and then another person picks. What do you think?

Earthquake in DC

2010-07-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

At 5:04 I sat straight up in bed- the house was shaking. I first thought something had hit the house. It was very quiet. I looked out the window and all was still. Then I thought maybe I was just shaky from low blood sugar and needed to eat. I couldn't get back to sleep so went online. From facebook friends I found out we did, in fact, have an earthquake today. 3.6 magnitude with the epicenter 3 miles from my house. It was amazing. All reports show many people felt it. I have a friend online who posted a photo of the devistation we have experienced. Glad everyone is ok

Stuff that Doesn't Go in Ears

2010-07-09T04:54:00.000-07:00

The next time you venture out to the grocery store to replenish your pantry with pasta, you might want to check for a warning on the box because, in case you didn't know, you should not put uncooked spaghetti into your ear...or anybody else's ear.

Last night I was looking forward to go to a Relief Society "summer foods" activity. I feel like I haven't left my house much this week...well, actually I really haven't left my house much this week, except to go to Target and I went with all 4 boys and it was crazy and I didn't have any room in my cart for stuff because my cart is full of kids and I left sweating.

Anyway, I really wanted to go to that activity. I had even made 2! dishes for it! One of the dishes included spaghetti in the recipe. While waiting for the pasta to cook, Jake asked me for the lone spaghetti stick that survived the boiling pot of water. I handed it to him then went to get prettied up for the night. Right after I put some concealer under my tired, I-have-a-3-month-old-that-keeps-me-up-at-night eyes, Jake comes running into the bathroom rattling off something that I couldn't hear very well because Cameron was totally screaming. Jake was just trying to help! He wasn't trying to hurt Cameron! He wasn't trying to make him cry...or bleed! Jake said he was just trying to get some ear wax out of Cameron's ear! Cameron was freaking out because Jake used a piece of that uncooked spaghetti to get the superfluous ear wax from Cameron's ear! It was still there when I checked him out! I pulled out the piece of pasta and the tip was covered in blood! And blood was dripping out! Scott grabbed Cameron and took him to the urgent care closest to our house. Needless to say, I didn't go to the activity BUT Jake didn't puncture Cameron's ear drum. He just scratched the skin inside the ear...and Cameron can still hear...so that's good.

Anyway, we are glad that everything was okay.

Oh, the adventures of having children...or is it "the adventures of having boys"? Either way, kids keep your heart rate running at a quick pace, don't they?

Stuff

2010-06-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

I thought I would update a little and post some photos of our newest cutie and some photos of projects I've been working on. Here ya go: Seth is smiling a ton lately. We love it.

He, like most babies, is a bio-polar baby, where he's happy one second and screaming at you the next. But he actually is pretty happy.

One of my good friends here made Seth this sweet onesie! Hilarious! We love it.

This is a growth chart that I just finished. I've wanted one for a while and that friend that made Seth the tie onesie happened to be creating one herself so I copied the idea.

I like the idea of being able to move it where ever you go. I bought this awesome fabric from that awesome fabric story about a mile away from our house. Very cool stuff.

I even attached a pocket on the back for a pen. Although I still need to make the first marks of the kiddos heights.

My other project: Little boys ties are kind of hard to find, even harder in mini size so I found a super easy pattern on line and made all my boys matching velcro ties for Father's Day. I didn't want to be left out so I made myself a fabric bracelet. I really like 'em. Scott didn't even mind that his was velcro, too. I might graduate to make him a real tie one day but that won't be any time soon.

I really love the fabric, also from that awesome fabric store. It's a batik type which I'm always drawn to when I see it. That store has 100's of beautiful batik fabrics. The results! Here they are, at church on Father's Day. What a good looking bunch, huh?

Here we all are. This stump in the front of our church building is perfect for taking photos.

Lose it!

2010-06-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Since Steph posted about one of her recent favorite things I thought I would share one of my recent favorite things.

This is an applications (or app) for an ipod touch or an iphone. It's called "Lose It". It is awesome and was FREE!....okay, well, you have to have an ipod touch or an iphone and they're like 25o bucks but aside for the 250 bucks, it's FREEEE!

It helps you loose weight (duh). You first put in your height, weight, age, your desired weight and how much you want to loose per week; 1, 1 1/2, or 2 pounds. It figures how many calories you can eat each day to lose weight. It has a huge library of food, most anything I eat is in there. It also keeps the food you enter in a different personalized library of food for you to find again, quicker. It also has a huge library of exercise. You enter in your exercise and it adds the calories to your intake so you can eat more and still technically lose weight. I LOVE IT! I've had it for about 2 or 3 weeks and it's great. It makes me more aware of how many calories are in something and helps me want to exercise more so I can eat more. It also helps me be patient. I'll get to my goal weight, loosing a pound a week, at the end of this year. It helps me see that it doesn't happen overnight like "The Biggest Loser".

I just hope I don't get bored or tired of it. We'll see. I'll keep you posted. But, as of now, it's my newest favorite thing.

Negro Bar=River FUN

2010-06-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

We went to Negro Bar on Memorial Day and had a picnic dinner. Then the kidletts played in the very cold water. Some of them lasted longer in the water than others. I love these huge rocks they got to play in and walk through.

Gretta being a crazy, mad girl!
Too Cold!

I love how dark Simon's eyes are.

My once dark brown eyes are now very green.

Simon's hair is crazy long now. I was loving it for awhile but now that it is in his eyes, I think it's time for a trim.

A fun time was had by all!

A New Fav

2010-06-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to start posting about products we love or use, so here is something new to me. I got this Jane Gel eyleliner at Rite Aid about two weeks ago because it was cheep and I wanted to try a liquid/gel eye liner. I can not tell you how much I like it! It can be thin or thick, stays on great and will probably last forever! The best part? It was only around $5.00! (the link charges more, so I would just pick it up at a drug store if you want to try it out.)

411...I rinse and wipe the brush daily to keep it nice and smooth but I don't know if it is necessary.

Gretta is nine

2010-06-11T01:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some sweet pictures of Gretta Girl on her birthday. She wanted me to teach her how to make an apple pie recently, so she got this cute apron and a little french baking kit on her birthday.
She also wanted a Betta fish. Sorry to say the first one died and we need to get a new one already. Darn fish!

We made a beautiful pie the other day. I'll put it on the food blog soon.

I cant believe she is nine already! What a fun, funny and cheerful girl she is!

I also put a little post on our food blog.

2010-05-17T17:29:00.001-07:00

Max and I often tell stories about 'Snax Snilberg: The Rottenest Boy in the World"

This photo is my friend's little boy- she said she thought it seemed awfully quiet. This photo made me laugh a lot- kind of looks like a little tiger

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos at our end. Hope you like them, Mom!

Jake is on a t-ball team. For Cameron's birthday Jake, Sam and even the birthday boy colored a sign.

Cameron celebrating his 2nd birthday. He got 3 gifts, two of which were sort of from when I was a kid: A classic See-n-Say and a little book illustrated by Richard Scarry.

Three out of our four cute boys.

Kid #4.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! None of these kids would exits if you didn't!

2010-05-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!

We wish we could see you today!!!

We would blow up some balloons!!

We could open some gifts!

We might share some chocolate......

...or possibly some other treat!

We could play you a song...

We would even share this Cotton candy ice cream we tried this week. But we all agreed that you would not like this flavor. Holy Cow! Would you look at the color??? It was like eating a scoop on neon play doh.

Jonah would also like to play you this song.

We love you and miss you! Happy MOM'S Day!

XOXOXO

happy mother's day!

2010-05-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

happy mother's day, mom! isn't it amazing that your mothering is now extending to 15 grandkids? i hope you feel honored on mother's day, even though you're far away! we can't wait to see you!

happy mother's day to all you other moms, too!

love you!!

(i took these pictures as "school" pictures because we never order them and i wanted to have a framable, portrait style picture. i only had to take about 50 before i had three decent ones. aren't they getting big?! and isn't iowa green?!)

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T05:31:00.000-07:00

Some photos of my crazy kids, and some virtual flowers from this spring when our magnolia tree was in bloom. Hope you have a good Mother's Day, Belva! Thanks for raising a man who makes me breakfast in bed (I hear them in the kitchen now ;0)

Random Winter pictures

2010-05-04T09:53:00.001-07:00

I have failed the blog lately and I dont want it to die so here are some pictures I liked from December and January. I also posted on WildmountainFoods! Yippeee!

This is unfortunately typical of Simon.

Simon is 2!
Love this action shot of these two. Jonah turns 12!

Here are some goofy pictures in the car as we go to see Christmas lights.

Enjoy!

House!!

2010-04-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

Good News!! Our house offer got accepted by the owners! Now, since it is a short sale, we just have to wait for the bank to accept the offer which could take 4-6 months. Here's hoping for it going through fast!

PS my email is dead this morning. Yahoo won't let me do anything. Annoying!!!

2010-03-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

Hey All! Here are a few project that I've been wanting to do before I have no time to do anything! These first little onesies are done by making a freezer paper stencil. Check out how easy it is to do HERE. I made them for a friend of mine that is having her fourth boy just like me.

So this one is a quote from the movie Elf. I think it's funny.

From Kung Fu Panda. A cartoon that my kids (and therefore, I) have practically memorized. And really, there shouldn't be any charge for awesomeness or attractiveness. At least I won't charge you for mine. :)

This is from Tommy Boy. I though it appropriate for a house full of brothers.

I just finished this heart that I found HERE. Very simple and elegant, I think.

Here's little baby boy quilt number 4. I really love it. Cameron does too. It was difficult to get this photo because, once layed out, he's rolling all over it. I love the fabric from the Stitchin' Post. (Really? Do I have to call it "Stitchin'"?)

The magic of 3-D ultra sounds. I think he looks like one of ours!

Check that grin out! So funny! Already making sarcastic jokes, I'm thinking. We are looking forward to seeing him in real life.

p.s. I have to say that blogger makes it so difficult to put a bunch of photos on here and also moving them around. Why does it have to be so dumb?

Grandchildren Observations

2010-03-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

Thank you for the Birthday pic. It has been a great week. Soon I will post some of our pictures on wildmountainabroad.

Observation number one: A while ago I found these lovely little pictures and was stunned at how much our little grandchildren look like their parents. Every so often I think I will publish here-- some of my observations and grandmother advice for the fam. Hope you don't mind. You know that I have lots of bright ideas and advice waiting to be given. .. and I am sure that you all remember every bit of advice that I have ever given you.
Here is observation number two.

Today I discovered that the Brooks family has a new biblical name for our soon to be born... Seth Matthew Brooks. We have a Samuel the Lamanite, and Jacob (father of the House of Israel and brother of Nephi) already in the family. Cameron must be a biblical name that is in the other plates not yet translated. Thought you might want to know how amazing "Seth" is in the family of man. Here are some quotes that I found from Gospelink.com. about him.

1. Seth is the son of Adam.

2. Modern revelation provides additional insight into the life of Adam's noble son, Seth: He
"was a perfect man, and his likeness was the express likeness of his father, insomuch that
he seemed to be lik unto his father in all things and could be distinguished from him only by
his age." (D&C 107: 43 ; Moses 6:10; Gen. 5:3)

3. Seth was second only to Adam among the great patriarchs who met in the valley of Adam-
ondi-Ahman, three years prior to Adam's death (D&C 107:53).

4. He was an obedient son who "rebelled not, but offered an acceptable sacrifice, like unto his
brother Abel." (Moses 6:3)

5. Seth was born when Adam was 130 years of age (Moses 6:10; Gen. 5:3-5)

6. Seth was "ordained by Adam at the age of 69" (D&C 107: 42)

7. Seth lived to be 912 years old and was survived by his son Enos, whom he taught "in the
ways of God." (Moses 6:13, 16)

8. President Joseph F. Smith saw Seth as one of the "great and mighty ones" assembled in the
"congregation of the righteous" at the time of the Savior's visit to the spirit world following
his crucifixion. (D&C 138: 38, 40).

I think that if you decide to name our new little baby- Seth... he will surely live up to his great name. It has been a pleasure, so far, having Samuel the Lamanite, and Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes in our family. Welcome, in April, little tiny Seth --the son of Adam.

Happy Happy Birthday Beautiful Mom!

2010-03-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Mom! We were thinking about you all day! We hope you had delicious ballers (is that what they are called??) on your birthday! Much love to you yesterday and every day.

Snowmaggedon- the twin blizzards of 2010

2010-03-07T05:01:00.000-08:00

Just a few photos of the twin blizzards we had in DC in February 2010. Within 5 days we had over 36 inches of snow. That's a lot for an area that gets maybe 10 inches a winter.

You'd think being snowed in you'd be so bored that you'd have a lot of time to do projects you've been putting off. You'd be wrong. Your mind and body kind of shut down. The days merge together. You spend your time between the couch, the bed and the kitchen foraging for food. Luckily we have a well stocked food storage with plenty of chocolate and snacks. I realized somewhere in there I was going on day 3 with no shower.

Luckily we never lost power or heat (which means never ending videos and video games)Once it started melting we did have a problem with icedams in the gutters, which gives you spectacular icicles (see that one in the photo of Max) and the water backs up and starts leaking inside. Like on top of our TV and through our light fixture, messing up our brand new paint job and giving Emily an eye-twitch as she started having flashbacks to the Flood of 2009.

All in all, it was a lot of FUN (I thought) to be forced to slow down and spend some time together.

Obama-Rama

2010-02-13T15:26:00.000-08:00

Zac's scout group had a chance to go bowling at the White House bowling alley this afternoon- pretty cool

Healing Hands for Haiti

2010-02-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

I hope it is ok I put that blog button up there- my sister and I made it for the Utah Hospital Task Force and they are in my thoughts constantly lately.

I don't know if you have heard of them. A friend of a friend went in to offer to help them. Her experience is in social network marketing (using blogs and facebook, etc) and 6 hours later she still had not left and had found out she would be on a plane 5 days later. I am obsessed with following her and her progress.

They put out the call for volunteers to go to Haiti. It is amazing the response. They had over 700 people volunteer to go, including return missionaries from Haiti to act as translators, medical personnel and construction workers. They sent 1 plane so far and the return flight brought back 53 orphans to be placed in Utah homes. They are not an LDS organized group but the majority of them are LDS.

It is amazing to me. The visiting teaching lesson this month is on being self reliant. I think the church takes it to the next level. Not only are we to be self reliant, but when we are we are then able to share with those in need. And another benefit of missionary work- all those translators already trained and experienced in the culture.

Anyway, I think they are a worthy cause and I wanted to share. I am feeling very grateful for my warm house, clean water, clean clothes, car that works. My healthy body. My healthy and happy kids. Our big trauma this week was canceling cable TV. Kind of puts things in perspective.

Hope you are all well and warm
Emily

Sammy- good bye tonsils

2010-01-22T22:08:00.000-08:00

To our sweet Sam... Hope that you are feeling full of popsicles and ice cream today after having your tonsils out. We have been thinking about what a wonderful little (or big) boy you are and how happy we are that your operation went well. You are a very special little boy and we want you to get well as soon as you can. We will keep praying for you...that you will be up and around soon playing with your brothers and entertaining your mom and dad. We love you so much, Grandma W --

Fancy Nan

2010-01-19T00:52:00.000-08:00

Happy, Happy Birthday to a "Woman of Letters"-- a sophisticated lady named "Fancy Nancy."
Through the years she has read many important books and written and edited many amazing papers. Here are some great pieces of literature in honor of our birthday girl... A collection of very deep and important poetry.

Welcome to the "Classy" world of silly poetry.

I found this old book at a thrift store years ago, called "The Goops". It is a book of manners for little and big children, written by a well educated graduate from Berkley. He also wrote "I never saw a purple cow. I never hope to see one. But I can tell you anyhow, I'd rather see than be one." He was a little embarassed that his most successful, memorable writings were these two masterpieces- The Goops, and "I never saw a purple cow." (Click on these pages to see them more easily)

I'm glad these two little girls, who love to "lick their fingers and spill their broth on table cloths
are not really "Goops."...aren't you ?

But these five children, I am not sure about. I read "The Goops" to them many times when they were growing up, and I still think that they "gug and gumble" their food. I also read the next poem to them as well. I am sure at least one of them loved to tease every little monkey in his family. I think that he would tease the devil himself, if he had a chance. (sorry about the use of "he" in this story. I guess you know who you are.)

The message of the monkeys teasing a crocodile is a great story about not getting too close to the evil side of the world. Read this one to your children with great drama and sadness when their little brother is eaten up and it will scare them (for several minutes) into behaving like good little monkeys.

Here is fancy Nancy, Kreative Kathy, and Joyful Jake sitting on a chair full of wonderful words.

I think this post has inspired me to become the great poet and writer that I was meant to become. (Is that good English, Nan?)

I don't think that there was ever a day in our family when there wasn't a little bit, or a lot of "Name calling" that went on..and on..and on. Sometimes we charged a fine for each bad name, sometimes we sent them to their rooms or outside in the cold, sometimes we had them go to separate rooms with "an adversity book" to write down in their own words- what they had done to start this war of name calling. I am pretty sure that Nancy does not call people bad names anymore. But maybe she could keep a frog in her pocket to remind here to watch her tongue.

I am so glad, that in this serious world, that our family has never grown up. We love to play. This is one of my favorite pictures of Nan at our annual turkey shoot. We get up early and stuff a turkey for thanksgiving, then after our feast, we stuff brown paper bag turkeys and go out for a turkey shoot. We take bows and arrows, darts, and even b-b guns. We have killed many paper bag turkeys in our day. This next poem reminds us how important it is to never grow up.

My mother read this poem to me many times when I was six. It was written by the famous "Winnie the Pooh" author- A. A. Milne. I was six when I was given his little book "Now We Are Six." Jake is now at the ripe old age of six. What a landmark in his life. I hope that he stays six for a very long time. (Or at least until we return from Denmark)

Nancy is a world class traveler. She has played in France, in Spain, in Egypt, in Jordan, and even in Provo, Utah. We hope that all of our family will come to Denmark before we leave to play with us at Tivoli, and Lego Land. We just discovered that we are only a few hours from a world of lego people. I think it is one of the seven wonders of the world.

This is Nan with two of her sisters, Kathy and Stephanie. When they were little, almost every Christmas we would read the next poem- "King John's Christmas." It is about a real King John who was a terrible, wicked, not so smart king. (1199- 1216 AD) His reign was one of the most disastrous reigns in English history, earning him the nickname "Bad King John." In 2006, he wasselected by the "BBC History Magazine" as the 13th century's "Worst Briton."
People love to write about "Bad King John." Shakespeare wrote about him in the "Life and Death of King John." Sir Walter Scott wrote about him in his romance novel, "Ivanhoe." He was a villain in "Robin Hood" by Sam De Grasse (1922). Even Walt Disney loved this wicked king in the movie "Robin Hood." He is portrayed as a spoiled, simpleminded man in the 1966 movie, "The Lion in Winter." And now you know more than you ever wanted to know, about the story behind A.A.Milne's Christmas poem..."King John's Christmas."

I made the mistake of putting page four before page three in this post. I'm not sure how to edit these pictures so skip down to page three and then read page four. Sorry.

Read page three below and then page four above. Are you confused yet?

A happy ending for the "Not So Nice" bad king John.

Through the years, Nancy has tried hard to learn how to be frugal. Robert and Nan are saving for their first home. She carefully saves her budgeted monthly personal spending dollars for a beautiful scarf or fancy shoes. She is still- "Fancy Nancy" after all. This little poem is one that we read to each other as the family was growing up. It is the key to prosperity during our financial crisis or should we say, our political crisis.

Love this picture of Max. He looks like he is beginning his life with great love for the things of this world that really matter.

Nan and Robert love exotic, tasty, nutritious meals. It is very fun to start with fruit and cheese, tasty homemade soup, and Robert's homemade bread when you visit their cozy, comfortable home.
(no matter where they live).

Reading this poem makes me hungry for a little snack.

This is a picture of Nan and Robert in Jesusalem. What an amazing site. They have had many great adventures together since they got married. I am sure that there are many more to come.

They are always planning ahead. This little poem reminds me of the windows

of opportunities

that open when you bring a good cast iron frying pan with you, just in case.
If "you're shell is cracked, and your yolk runs out" there is always another happy solution to yourproblems. There is such meaning in "Silly Poetry."

Nancy is a very serious, studious girl. She has always had a good mind. She is a busy, hard working, responsible daughter. All of our children are serious, studious, smart, busy, hardworking and responsible. (Except for one, of course- and you know who you are.)

Our family would never think of being silly, shallow, lazy, irresponsible, or having no bright ideas.

This is a picture of Nan and her three sisters... getting pedicures together in a recent trip to Washington, DC. Sorry Nick is missing in this picture. He is one of our hard working children who has no time for manicures and pedicures. He is one of our most serious children.

I found this old valentine written in 1887 about four sisters. I thought that it's flowery language, and serious tone would fit in this post of serious, silly poetry for Nancy. It must be read outloud to get the full impact of its message.

Happy Birthday to both Robert and Nancy. It has been a wonderful year full of many serious, and silly things. Stay happy and continue to enjoy the great things of this life. We miss you both. Hope to see you this year in Denmark. We have lots of new pictures to take, and many new things to discover in the land of the Vikings...a place, by the way, that is full of silly sculptures, and private Danish jokes. You'll love it. See you soon.

It is snowing outside today. We love the weather here in Denmark. One day can be full of rain, snow, sunshine, and beautiful, dark clouds. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has given us so much weather... and so many seasons. I have learned to appreciate the many changes in our lives. Thank heavens for daily surprises. Thank heavens for the little things in our lives that make us smile. I hope some of you have a few silly poems from times past that you could share.

Lots of memories are wrapped up in the silly little stories that pop into our heads.

So here's to Nancy Lynn Wilberg Ricks. Happy Birthday from your "Next to Perfect" parents who have raised four beautiful daughters and one handsome son...with 14 1/2 perfect grandchildren.

Thank you for being so fancy. We love you, Mom

Note: By the way, to show you how fancy Nancy is...the background for all of these silly poems is from Nancy's first quilt that she designed and is now sewing together at Kathy's in her spare time. Aren't you impressed ? Good job, Nan.

2010-01-14T07:05:00.000-08:00

Pom Poms

2010-01-12T15:41:00.001-08:00

Crazy fun found Here!!

Congratulations Glen and Tara !

2010-01-11T12:50:00.000-08:00

I Hear there's a new man in the family !

Happy Birthday,Little boy..

Born January 8th, 2010.

Weighing in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces.

21 inches long.

He looks like a talented artist to me, maybe a runner, or an opera star.

I think all Marcusens were born ready to paint a mural, design jewelry, take professional photos, create culinary masterpieces, and decorate perfect gingerbread cookies.

What a great family you have been born into. Much love to you, sweet little boy. You are a very lucky new Marcusen. You have no idea what great things are ahead of you.

Love to you and Tara, too, Glen. Congratulations and have a wonderful few months getting acquainted, both day and night, with your talented little bundle of joy. Love, Belva - your wonderful grandma's sister.

Spontaneous House Remodel

2010-01-01T05:03:00.000-08:00

In September we came home from church to find a pipe had broken in the upstairs shower and our living room ceiling had fallen to the floor with water pouring out. We had driven separately so I was not present when Nick walked in on that scene. He may or may not have said a few bad words- first hand accounts vary.

After several hours with a wet-vac we called insurance. They sent a water restoration team immediately within an hour. These photos are after they were done with their part of the process (5 days to dry it out and pack out all our items)and when the contractor first got going.

We spent 6 weeks in a hotel and another 2 at my mom's house. There we got to celebrate Max, Abby and Nick's birthdays as well as Halloween. We still speak fondly of Maria who was the woman in charge of the complimentary breakfast buffet every day and the happy hour appetizers M-Th.

We finally arrived home to piles and piles of boxes to be unpacked and everything covered in dust. We had a little bit of identity crisis as we were unsure quite how to spell our name- variations include Willberb, Wilbert, Wilbury, Wilbub

Our spontaneous renovation included:
new flooring in all bathrooms
new carpet upstairs and down
new drywall main floor and basement

A few extra surprises were:
new roof when we figured out it was rotten in the skylight installation
new wiring throughout (several areas damaged by rodents chewing
new fusebox as it was discovered a plant growth throughout the breaker box

Very few of our items were damaged but we did get a new couch. Note the fashionable 'Belva' placement of our table behind the couch. Nick added a few leaves to make the table larger.

Our basement is still packed with boxes to be opened and I need Carl to come for a week or two to finish up some final touches that were left undone when our contractor ran out of money- mostly plaster and paint touch ups. Replace the broken shower head in the basement. Hang new curtains & rod since the workers thought it would be a good idea to put ours out on the deck for the 6 week process. I have a list.

Final cost (close as I can estimate) is
contractor 27K
water restoration 10K
hotel 2K
new pipes, wiring 5K
damaged household items 2K
grand total of: approx 46K

Insurance covered most of it- I can highly recommend USAA

Her Morning Elegance

2009-12-31T12:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun video of a sleepwalking girl! You may have seen it already but we really liked it! (I couldn't get it post here so I just gave the link!)

Happy Birthday Kathy- Thanks for the memories this year

2009-12-15T23:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Kathy, Happy Birthday to you !!! Hope you have had a great day.
Love this picture of you with Tina..what a year we have had.

I have an advent calendar on my wall with little clothes pins to remind me of the days of December. Yesterday, we arrived at your lucky number. I spent most of the night last night trying to put this on the blog. Finally, I have been successful.

It is snowing this morning for the first time this winter. Christmas has come to Denmark- even with the threat of global warming and the world dying of what ever the disaster of the day is.

Everyone is glued to the Copenhagen Event. We heard the other day that three percent of the Danish people are church goers. They are almost all Christians but only 3 percent attend their beautiful empty churches. I think that if we all spent a week celebrating the birth and life of Jesus Christ we may come up with some real answers about how to save the world. So much for my little soap box. Just wanted to wish you a happy happy birthday and a wonderful Christmas. These little christmas treasures I found at the local gen brug...thrift store..where we have found many only Danish Christmas decorations.

This year has been full of wonderful memories. Thank you so much for coming to mother's funeral and sharing a week of wonderful experiences. What a great event. I am creating several posts for wildmountainabroad. They will be finished in a few days. I will never forget that very special week.

Thank you for coming all the way to Denmark to visit us. I thought for your birthday, I would put a few pictures in memory of that event. What a fine thing it is to have family come to visit us here. We loved having you and learning about Denmark with you.

Hope that you had a good taste of this beautiful place.

Loved visiting Hans Christian Andersen, our local hero. This fun outdoor musical play, starring Hans Christian Andersen, only happens in the summer. It was great to go there with you.

This is my favorite statue in Odense. We go past it everyday on the way home from the center. Sorry that you both lost your legs here... but you must remain steadfast.

Even in a fairy tale town, we discovered a place for us to act out Hans Christian Andersen stories..like the princess and the pea, the ugly duckling, and maybe Scott will act out the Emporer's New Clothes for us. The little store below is a sweet little tourist shop where I go for danish treasures. The restaurant by the big tree is very old with a courtyard that is always decorated for the season. I have lots of pictures of this place in Hans Christian Andersen Village.

Remember the Ballers...The Danes love ballers- made of bread or covered with chocolate. This poster tells us how to make them. I hope to come home as an experienced abelskeiver and baller maker. I ate five ballers last night at the center.

This modern goat and gardens are at St Knud's Kirken (King Knud's Church) right in the middle of town. I love the mix of modern and old here in Odense.

Remember visiting our mission office in Copenhagen? It is only a few blocks from the temple.

Imagine finding a fancy scrapbooking store right next to the Hans Christian Andersen Museum and village. It is owned by one of the members of our ward. Imagine a scrapbooking store owned by a Mormon.

Every statue I've met, here in Odense, has become my friend sooner or later. I've grown accustomed to this "he-She" statue..noone really knows if it is a he or she. It is also right in the middle of a very old town square. At times people complain about his nakedness but then they see the children playing on him and just think of him as a fun slide. You can see how shiny he is. That is from all the little children, old and young, who can't resist this inviting, not so modest statue.

I am glad that you could meet our friend Kim and his girlfriends son, Steven. They have had some hard times lately finding things that will help Steven want to stay in his boarding school without causing trouble. He is a great polite boy but he has lots of problems in a boarding school setting. I wish that more Danes could enjoy a family life with their children at home instead of boarding schools and nursery schools to fill the gap. (a little too much politics there, sorry)

Remember climbing in the trees, and all the mazes and precisely trimmed trees and bushes. The Danes love to trim anything that is green. We have discovered square trees, round bushes, bushes shaped like pigs, cows, even Hans Christian Andersen's sunshine paper cuts are made into carefully manicured bushes.

More tree climbing. What would we do if we didn't have such unusual castles, and play equipment in Denmark.

There are many small castles all over our Island. Some are owned privately and we can only visit their beautiful grounds. Others are shared with the public at a price. This one, Egeskov Castle, is owned by a creative family. They charge high prices to come to see the castle, and then lots of little museums and mazes. The grounds are beautiful but the museums are odd. There is even a little museum for a spark plug collection... a small cabinet of small toy trucks, a motercycle museum, and lots of odd little unrelated wonders. My favorite part was looking down on the beautiful round gardens and mazes. My least favorite part was the little wooden doll up in the dark attic that has to stay there or the whole place, it is said, will fall apart. Spooky !

Looks like that little ugly doll is doing a great job taking care of this beautiful, strange castle.

Hans Christian Andersen was one of the first people to go to the opening of Tivoli. He was born in 1805..so you know that this place is pretty old. It still holds the charm of beautiful gardens, and colored lighted chandeliers all over the park.

You and Scott came to Denmark on the hottest few days of the year. It cooled down just after you left and now, we are enjoying a white winter snow. Love the weather here. Every day is full of clouds, sunshine, wind, and rain...That describes one day of weather. Love these little tivoli wagons meant for tired children. We were hot and tired by the time we found them.

We are going to Tivoli again this weekend to enjoy the beautiful Christmas lights. We will take some picture. I am looking forward to this little Christmas adventure. Tivoli to me is a graceful, colorful garden, that just happens to have some rides, cotton candy, and a dinner menu. Our missionaries have a season pass so we don't have to pay an entrance fee.

We know that you couldn't resist this tivoli airplane ride. It was worth the wait. Next time, get a day pass so that you can go on all the coveted rides. We need to think big.

I'm glad that you were just the right size to go on this scary ride. And that you returned home safely.

I am still not sure what this play was about but I loved the giant puppets and all the running around in a colorful display. I am often not sure about these celebrations until after they are over.

What more can you say about colorful flowers. It was a good day for beauty.

More beauty.

Then the lights came on. No one, not even Disneyland, does lighting better than Tivoli. Can't wait to see what they do with Christmas. Halloween is also a great place for Tivoli. It becomes a haunted garden of lights. Something new for Denmark. (No trick or treating, except for little Icelandic Children who go out in costumes with trick or treating bags at friends homes).

More lights and time to go home to Odense. Tivoli, of course is in Copenhagen. We live across the fifty dollar bridge on another Island. You have to cross over a bridge to get to anywhere in Denmark. But this is the most expensive and longest bridge that we have. (except for the bridge to Sweden..and we don't plan on going there anytime soon).

We live about two hours from Tivoli, and Copenhagen. Thank you Kathy for the great day in this Old Fashioned Disneyland of Denmark.
Thank you for the great memories of your trip. Loved having you.

Something else happened on your birthday yesterday... See through our Christmas window?

I took this yesterday. In the far corner of the window you will see a little Icelandic pony. He has two best friends- two big black horses- that live out in our backyard and belong to the neighbors.
He has been sick. They have had him for many years and discovered by his teeth problems that he is older than they thought. He is thirty five years old and cannot eat well.

This was his last sunrise. After I took this picture, his owners (members of the church) took him to the vet where he died.

We will miss this little pony and so will his friends.

This has been a season of farewells, and joyful reunions. Thank you Kathy, for being a part of our lives. We are looking forward to seeing you, Scott and all those little boys during the summer. We love you and appreciate all you do for this family. Have a great week !

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas from our home away from home. It is full of light, trees, and Christmas cheer. We look forward to seeing your birthday and Christmas pictures. You are truely blessed to be surrounded by family in DC. Hope you are feeling well and that you have time to enjoy the fun and sweet spirit of Christmas. I miss our Christmas Carols and American Christmas displays and celebrations. We really know how to fill the month with good cheer. I now really believe in Santa Claus and appreciate the frenzy as well as the peace and plenty of our unique American Christmas. Have a good one and don't worry about the small stuff. (sorry about all the mispellings- I want to get this to you before your next birthday)

Thank you for all the considerate and kind things that you do to help us all. You are such a great mom and talented leader. Keep up the good work. See you this summer.

Love, Mom and Dad

Straight No Chaser

2009-12-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

I thought this was a fun 12 Days of Christmas. Made me laugh. I think Scott secretly wants to join an a cappella group...maybe "Here Comes Treble" with Andy Bernard. :) The second one is for Robert because he has a version of that song as his cell ring.

Sunday Sweets

2009-12-06T22:02:00.001-08:00

Amazing!!!!!

Found these on Cake Wrecks today! Aren't they beautiful? We want to try and make something similar but more bit sized. I was thinking cake balls or truffles. But gluten free cake balls didn't taste to great. Any other ideas?

2009-12-03T04:09:00.001-08:00

2009-11-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

B is for...

2009-11-16T15:20:00.001-08:00

Okay! You all can chip in and get me this tee because we are having a BOY!! And we are very excited! It's crazy to be a family of four boys. As a young person, I don't remember thinking about if I wanted to have boys more or girls more but I know I didn't think I would be a mom of a house full of just boys. We are happy just the same!

....and he's healthy...but you know you really only wanted to know if it was a boy or girl!

Lovely Grandma Richins

2009-11-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

Our sweet Grandma passed away this evening at the age of 95. She was a mighty lady and forever the hostess. She lived an incredibly active and full life right up to the very end.... but I still think it was too soon.

Grandma Belva Margaret Parker Richins 1914-2009

Our Halloween

2009-11-03T10:18:00.001-08:00

Here's Jake and Sam at Jake's kindergarten's Halloween party. I thought masks were not allowed at his school so I cut out the face of Yoda. I was wrong. Masks were allowed but I know Jake wouldn't like wearing something covering his face so I was glad we cut it out. I think it looks pretty cool. Jake is using "the force" here...surprised you didn't know that. "Weapons" were not allowed at his school so he couldn't use his light saber...good thing "the force" was allowed.
I love this photo of Sam showing off his glow-in-the-dark costume...that I painted, thank you very much. Someone asked me if I used a stencil. What?! Of course not! Anyway, I love Cameron in the back there trying to escape his stroller prison.
Is he a cute bat or WHAT?! Made this one too. It was very easy.

Scott took the boys out trick-or-treating in a light drizzle. But they still got a lot of candy. Sam started wailing and wanted Scott to say, "trick or treat". Scott would not do that and after a while Sam got over that.

Our Jack-O-Lanterns! Nancy and Robert came over and we had fun having them with us for Halloween! Jake got a little pumpkin from a school and wanted that one and the one we bought him to be pirates. Sam's is the smiley one and mine is the one that got the swine flu just a few days before Halloween. Oh, so sad. Blaaaaah.

Here's Nancy's! She did a great job! I love the quirky look. I made a stew in a pumpkin that night, which was mildly tasty but fun to see. I didn't take any photos of it. Nancy did, though.
Candy, candy, candy!

Jake was happy with his results.
Sam was happy, too!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy, Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeen!!

2009-10-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

I just found a funny little post on The Emotional Life of Candycorn and it made me and the kids all laugh!

Party Like it's 1999

2009-10-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

So we had a little Halloween Party with a few families this past weekend. I was a Retro Mom in a party dress. Jonah likes to be a goof in pretty much every picture. We had three other families over. One of the games was to make a mummy out of your mommy.

We ate Zucchini Soup and mummy dogs and other treats as well. (Gretta took a ton of food pictures, but we haven't downloaded those yet.) We decorated Monster cupcakes and cookies.

Lots of cupcakes, cookies, candy and noise!

Simon's mouth looked like this the entire evening, the little sneak! He is crazy for any kind of treat! He did not have time to dress up for this party! Jonah was Captain Underpants at the beginning of the night but there is no photo evidence!

Gretta works hard on her monster cupcakes.

Retro Mom, an angel and a princess at the end of the night.

See Jonah's awesome Lego shirt? I stenciled that a few weeks ago at a friend's house, using freezer paper. I love parties!

Quote of the day...

2009-10-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

Overheard in Sasha's prayer tonight.

"Please help Mom to remember to make a huge breakfast tomorrow. Please help Mom to have fun downstairs. Please help Mom not to break anything."

I guess I need a lot of help.

Love these!

2009-10-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

How fun are these? Found on Etsy, Here.

Getting Ready

2009-10-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

We are all very excited for Halloween around here! On a recent Family Night we went to our usual place for squash and pumpkins. Sasha was very prepared this year with a list of types of pumpkins we needed. It read, "long pumpkin, short, tiny, big!" She was very efficient as she checked them off her list.
Simon likes to help too.

This is was what Simon thought of the camera in his face.

And this is Simon practicing his Halloween get up with black marker. He may need a little help with that! Deja vous!!

Crazy!!

2009-10-08T00:44:00.001-07:00

Welcome Ollie and Penny.

Look what we got last week?! We rescued a brother and a sister from a woman who rescues puppies. She had about 60 when Vaughn picked these two up. They are Labrador retriever, terrier mix and should stay fairly small at about 25 pounds. Vaughn picked Jonah up from Scouts last Wednesday and the puppies were in a covered box in the back seat. Jonah even carried the box into the house for Vaughn, having no clue what was in the box!! Jonah was so stunned that he just stood there in surprise. He knew we were going to look at puppies but he thought it was supposed to be the next day. The girls were just as stunned! It was so fun to see their reactions.

They are very sweet puppies and keep each other from being sad.

Her official name is Penelope Mango.

His official name is Oliver Smudge.

(He has the smallest dusting of white on his nose)

Everyone is very happy about the new additions.

In 1914 a Great Lady was Born..

2009-10-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

My mother was born on the same day as my father (one year apart). Her birthday is on August 29, 1914.

There is a sturdy brick home that we pass on the way to the outreach center

that was built in 1914. Every day there are fresh flowers in the window. It reminds me of my mom.

A few weeks ago, many family members gathered to celebrate her 95th birthday. There was a "Fish Feast" at the old "Oyster Bar" in downtown Portland. We went to this restaurant many times when I was a little girl. Thanks to Margaret's hospitality, Mother can't stop talking about her wonderful birthday weekend.

There were great breakfasts, barbecues, a daliah festival, and lots of little children bringing in eggs, going in doors that were supposed to be closed, and loving their great grandma with a shower of "we love you" cards.

I have been doing a little research to find out what was happening in 1914 when mom was born. Probably the most significant event of 1914 was the beginning of World War I.

1. Imagine- if this were to happen now, while we were in Europe. In July, Austria and Hungary declared war on Siberia. During the month mother was born Germany declared war on France. Then Britain entered the war. Japan delcared war on Germany and bombed China.

This was also the year when the bra was invented. I don't think that had any connection with the war.

2. In 1914: Arizona and New Mexico had just become states (in 1912) two

years before she was born. We would have at least four boys who

wouldn't be citizens of this country if this hadn't happened. --Cameron,

Jacob, and Sammy Brooks were all born in New Mexico and Jonah

Hromiko was born in Arizona.

3. Tinker toys were invented in 1914 and erector sets and Lincoln Logs

were favorite toys. Tina, Stephanie, and Kathy are holding one of

our giant tinker toys. Below I am reading to Nan, with Stephanie and

Kathy listening.

4. Ocean liners (Floating hotels) were the rage. Both the Titanic and

Lusitania sunk during this decade. It cost $60 for a twelve day cruise.

5. The song "Aba Daba Honeymoon", a favorite cousin's camp song, was

written in 1914. Charlie Chaplin was becoming famous, and Movie

stars were wearing lipstick, and showing their legs. 30 million

Americans went to a movie every week.

6. Henry Ford discovered how to mass produce affordable cars. It had

taken 14 hours to build one car. With Ford's assembly line, it took one

hour and thirty three minutes. Up until that time, cars came in many

colors. Ford discovered that black paint dried faster than the other

colors...so all his cars were painted black for speedy delivery.

What didn't Mom have when she was a child ?

1. She had no deodorant - It wasn't invented until 1941.

2. She had no fingernail polish - invented in the 1920's

3. What would she do without frozen foods. Birdseye invented it in 1928.

4. There were no ice cube trays (invented in 1928)

5. Can you imagine mom without a cake mix on the shelf? (It wasn't

invented until 1949.

6. She never tasted a chocolate chip cookie until 1930.

7. She had no band aids (invented in 1920)

8. She didn't even have sliced bread..Professionally sliced in 1928.

9. Ball point pens were not invented until 1930. I don't know how she

survived without scotch tape. (invented in 1930)

10. There were no traffic lights until 1928.

11. Thank heavens for the 1950's when "Peeps" and credit cards were

invented. Simon is eating his Easter peeps in the picture above.

Happy Birthday, Mom. What a wonderful, long life you have lived.

To all of you who read this blog, I hope that you will forgive me for creating an on-line album for mom's birthday. I would usually make a hard copy and give it to her in person. But here we are in the middle of Denmark, so this album I hope will be read on her new Apple Computer.

The posts that follow are a collection of pics that I love--of all of our family.

from the Richins, Marcusens, Camerons, and Wilbergs. (when you finish each chapter--just click on "Older Posts" for the next set of pictures.) Hope you will enjoy them as much as I have. If you want to see them up close...just click on them. Love to you all, Belva

Family Album- The Richins Family

2009-10-03T12:24:00.001-07:00

1. The William Dwaine Richins Family: Dwaine, Margaret, Janice, Harold,

Bill, and Belva.. Front porch on on new home- Tandy Turn.

2. Mother's sisters- Donna, and Arvilla, Mom the graduate, and Grandma

Gee.

3. Grandma and Grandpa Gee, me the graduate from BYU, and Carl.

We were newly married. Dwaine and Margaret well educated. Janice

in green.

4. Bill and Harold page.

5. Ginger and Kelly, Kelly and Eric, Eric kissing a llama, Ginger and Bill,

Bill with little Kelly.

6. Harold and Bill's dog, Jonathon, Khai, and Harold and Kathy.

A lot of campers, water rafters, and outdoorsmen who travel all over

the world. Nice to have you back on the mainland, Harold and all of

the family.

Family Album- The Marcusen and Cameron Family

2009-10-03T11:49:00.001-07:00

1. The Marcusen Family: Janice, Dick, Margaret, and Glen and a little red .
beatle.

2. Janice and Margaret, Dick and Janice, Margaret, Janice and Glen,

Janice with baby Margaret, Janice and Margaret having fun, and

Grandma Richins with Margaret for Christmas.

3. Harold, Glen, and Janice. Glen. Little Glen, serious Glen,

and little Glen with glasses.

4. Kevin and a Nicole hug. Kevin and the dog. Handsome Kevin.

Kevin the scare crow. Kevin and Nicole smiling. Fourth of July

with Margaret, Nicole, Kevin, and Marina.

5. Lovely Margaret, Marina a sunset, the Cameron Family on the beach,

Nicole pondering, Margaret with bees, the rest of the family.. a rooster,

and a goat.

6. Margaret and her buggy, Nicole hugs Gretta, Nicole and Marina with

great hats, and little boy Glen..how cute.

7. Dick and Carl, Glen and Nick. Glen and Tara on the fourth of July,

Glen with Grandma and Grandpa Richins at Sisters, Glen in the

Kitchen making a great breakfast.

What a great family ! A life full of musicals, flowers, vegetables, crazy

goats, chickens, and many talented, enthusiastic people. Thanks for

the memories and celebrating so well, Mom's Birthday. We love you.

Family Album- The Wilbergs

2009-10-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

1. The Little Boys and Girls of the Wilberg Family: Simon, Zoe with Emily,
Cameron, Jake and Sammy, Jake, Max, and Sam with a lovely face, Max

and a little boy from long ago- Nick.

2. Nick and his masterpiece, Grandma Richins with Tina, Tina with a bear made by Grandma Richins.

3. The Nick Wilberg Family: Nick and Max, Emily and Zoe, Zach and Max, Abby.

4. Nick and Zoe, Max and Zach, Emily, Abby and Zoe.

6. The Berrett Rice Family: Berrett baptizes Adam, Tina, Happy Birthday

Davis, Tina and Berrett, Lila, and the Rice Family busy reading.

7. Lila on the fourth of July, Lila and Davis with hair, Adam relaxes,

Adam and Lila ready for Halloween, Adam hanging on.

8. The Hromiko Family: Vaughn Baptizes Gretta. Vaughn, Simon Jonah,

Sasha, and Gretta. Stephanie, Gretta, and Sasha. Sasha the cat with

ears.

9. Gretta is baptized (love those little feet), Jonah growing taller,

Faces- Stephanie and the girls, Vaughn and Simon. Gretta and

Sasha resting in San Francisco, Simon by the chicken coop.

10. The Scott Brooks Family: Sammy (those eyes), Little Cameron,

future Presidents- Sammy and Jake. The Whole family (one is

on the way).

11. Jakes first day in school (a hard day for Kathy). Celebrating Jake's

birthday with a light saber cake by Kathy, fourth of July in the Nation's capital, Kathy with little Cameron on his birthday, and Sammy and Jake watch the birthday candles on the spectacular cake.

12. The Robert Ricks Family: Riding on camels, Pyramid watching,

Nan and Robert visit the middle east. Jordan was their home this

summer.

13. Robert and Nan, Robert shoots a turkey at our Thanksgiving turkey

shoot. Three faces of Nan, Nancy and Stephanie at the Golden Gate.

This is a letter that I wrote for Mom's birthday book. I thought I would publish it here so that all of you, who were not there, could read a few memories about our early life in Eugene, Oregon. (Click on each page and you will enlarge it to read).

Mom's Letter page 2...

Mom's Letter page 3....

Mom's Letter page 4...

Thank you for the memories and the good life that you have lived.

Have a healthy, Happy, 95th year. You have been a wonderful example to us all. We Love you, Belva

Nick is #1

2009-09-28T12:07:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Nick!!!

Here's to an awesome brother! It was so great to be with you recently. I hope you had a great day. If I was there I would not buy you a $3.50 mediocre cupcake, I would make you a delicious chocolate cake instead! Here's a very short trip down part of your memory lane.

Oh my! Do you remember playing in the garage when it was empty??? I do, barely.

I really remember these stilts and trying to do them as well as you.

I loved, loved, loved thes outfits Grandma made!

So many memories of this reunion...

Good Bye Peter

2009-09-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

In 1994 our family drove all night on Christmas Eve- To Provo, Utah. We arrived on Christmas Morning and spent the day with Nick and Emily, Stephanie and Vaughn, and Nancy and Kathy. During the week, Stepi and I went to Provo Craft and Novelty in downtown Provo. It was snowing. In front of the store was a little black and white kitten shivering in the cold.
We decided to put him in our car to warm up... while we shopped.
When we returned to the car, the little kitten was curled up in the back seat, sound asleep.

Stepi could not have pets in her apartment and through the week we fell in love with this gentle, fun loving kitten.
We drove home to Sacramento with a new member of the family.
We called him "Peter" because he looked like "Peter Rabbit."

It has been a pleasure living with Peter Through the years.

He is not a lap cat. He loved to drape himself around your neck like a fur scarf or sleep upside down on your shoulder with his head in your lap.

His food and water were in the bathroom. He liked to eat with company.

Whenever we used the bathroom, Peter would come running to eat from his bowl. When we were done, he was done.

Sometimes Peter would run through the house, up the stairs and down again- like his tail was on fire.

Sometimes he would curl up on top of my work, paper and books because he I hadn't given him enough attention.

Most cats have to be petted in one direction, but Peter loved to be petted back and forth, across the top, over the ears, down his full tail, and then he would roll over so that you could rub his tummy.

Peter became my best friend when Carl began to work during the week days in San Francisco. He slept next to me for ten years, five days a week.

In the afternoon, on September 22, 2009, Peter finally said "Good Bye" to our family. After 15 years, the best cat in the world died of old age.

I knew when we left Sacramento that it may be the last time we would enjoy this sweet cat. I took this picture as he sat on all of my clothes that were folded ready to go in my suitcase.

I am so grateful for the animals that we have had through the years--but I hope that Peter and Fila (our wonderful golden retriever ) will be waiting for us on the other side. Until then, we will never forget the impact that they had on our lives. They are both buried out near the trampoline in our backyard-- until we see them again. Good Bye, sweet Peter. Thank you for sharing your life with us for the past 15 years. We love you and will miss your furry shadow as you followed us from room to room....

Love, Grandma W

School and Light Sabers

2009-09-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Jake's First Day of School! Too cute!

Getting on the bus while I start to sob.

Jacob asked me for a lightsaber cake for his 6th birthday so I made this cake. When he saw it, he was so excited to see it. He loved it! After he checked it out for a minute or two he said, "I thought that you were going to make a regular round cake with a little lightsaber on it." Well, that would have been a lot easier, huh?

It took all day to make this cake but I had fun doing it. This was the first time that I had used fondant and though there were some mistakes I was really happy with it.

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

There are a ton of school and birthday photos on facebook.

Click HERE to see them.

i heart my car

2009-09-03T06:34:00.001-07:00

We finally have a car we can all fit in- now, where should we go?

I think someone else should post some photos. I know Tina and Stephanie are on airplanes today, so guess that means you Kathy or Nancy!

Hawaii

2009-08-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

I wish someone else would post some photos, but since no one has I'll post some photos from Hawaii. We had a great trip! Highlights included the shark swim, a day at the spa, visiting this really gorgeous Buddist temple, rainbows, and trying a veggie burger at every restaurant I could find. I think we all need to go to Hawaii. Let me know when.

Adventure Theater 2009

2009-08-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

It was a great session! Jake was a pirate in Pirates of Penzance. You will see him with his fan club- all the teen girls kind of treated him like a little pet by carrying him all around.

Abby was in As You Like It and was Duke Frederick (the evil duke who usurped the title) and then Audrey (the shepherdess who falls in love). She did a great job as we all know Shakespeare is tough to memorize all the lines.

Zac was the lead in Trumpet of the Swan. It is about a swan who can not honk so instead learns to write and finally to play the trumpet to communicate. He did a great job even though he was quite embarrassed about having to fall in love and sing a love song.

My baby onesie

2009-08-04T03:04:00.001-07:00

Tina, Tina, Tina, Tina!

2009-07-27T05:29:00.001-07:00

Happy Freakin' Birthday, Tina!
Have a great 21st Birthday!

Independence Day in DC

2009-07-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our Independence Day photos. Check out the link below for more photos and better captions. What did you guys do for the 4th?

Click Here for more photos

Julie and Julia

2009-07-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

I think this movie looks so fun! I would love to see it with all you guys! It comes out August 7th so maybe I'll wait for Nancy to come home August 20th (right, Nanc-?) and she and Emily and I could go together. 3 outta 5 ain't too bad. Hey! Tina, what dates are you going to be in Cali.? You could go with Steph around the same time that Nancy, Emily and I go! That is a great idea!! I bet Mom would love to see it, too. When I think of Julia Child I think of Mom watching or reading her shows or books. Am I the only one who has a mental connection between Mom and Julia Child? Anyway, check out the trailer.

NYC

2009-07-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a weekend in NYC. I was presenting a workshop at Bereaved Parents of the USA at a hotel out in Queens.

We went to Coney Island on the way there and rode the Wonder Wheel and ate at Nathan's (hot dogs, corn dogs, and Nick had the frog legs). That Wonder Wheel is NOT just a ferris wheel- the cars slide and move around in the inside of the wheel- it is pretty scary!)

Yesterday on our way out of town we went into Manhattan for a bit. You will see the kids enthusiasm was higher and lower at some points (Nintendo World store and then we double parked while I stayed with the car and Nick made the kids go with him to look at the Statue of Liberty for a few minutes. Glad this sight inspires them to feel such patriotism)

Then we had some authentic french crepes from a street vendor. You can see the sign says they are tres bien.

I debated whether or not to put this graffiti up but I thought it was kind of interesting. I can take it off if it offends everyone.

Sweet Sasha Is Five!!

2009-07-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

June 23rd!

We celebrated Sasha's big number 5! She is officially growing up.

She wanted a cheesecake (no bake) for dessert.

I love the puzzled look here! Thanks Mona, for the super slip n'slide!
Simon is investigating the gifts about to be opened.

Patience for the picture.

We love this independent girl with the soft giggle and amazingly loud scream!

Paris and Denmark

2009-07-10T04:52:00.001-07:00

Here are just a few of the hundreds of photos Scott and I took while we were in Paris and Denmark with Mom and Dad. These are out of order but still cute. You must go see all the other photos I put on my facebook page, like over 200.

Here we are on our way out of Tivoli, the second oldest amusement park in the whole world! Cool!
Walking through the cobblestone streets of Odense, Denmark to see Hans Christian Andersen's house. He wrote The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling and many more.
This here's an "action shot" Scott took of us at the harbor of a Viking ship museum.
This photo was taken right in front of the Copenhagen Temple.
Also in front of the temple. It was so fun to see Mom and Dad!
Scott in front of Van Gogh.
I LOVE this painting....I can't remember who painted it, though. I still love it.
Scott did a fabulous job with the night shots in Paris.What a pro.
Looking up from the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.
When it got dark, on the hours of 10, 11, and I guess midnight the Eiffel Tower is lit up with twinkle lights! Amazing!
Before we went up.
One of my new Paris favorites-The Orangeria Museum. These curved Monet's are said to be the first instillation art because Monet was asked to paint them specifically for these rooms.
I'm so pretty, oh, so pretty....not too witty, though...
Scott was buds with Napoleon.
Venus de Milo. Really beautiful and only 21oo years old!
There were so many fabulous shop windows in Paris. This was one of my favorites.
The Eiffel Tower on our sunset boat tour on the Seine.
Crepes!!! on Pont Neuf which means "new bridge" which is funny because it's the oldest bridge on the Seine.
We were so amazed with Sainte-Chapelle. That stain glass is really breath taking.
Notre Dame-this was the same day we got off the plane at 8 in the morning. We are tired but couldn't waste one minute while we were there.

Okay, so this is just a sampling of the coolness we experienced in Europe. If you click HERE you can see the rest of Paris and HERE for the rest of Denmark. But really I would love to read your comments so log into Facebook so we can hear from you.

Definitely Soda

2009-07-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

I came across this today and I thought it was funny and interesting. What do you call it?

Highlights from our week

2009-06-30T16:47:00.001-07:00

our real shadow photos

2009-06-22T14:53:00.001-07:00

we finally got some good shadow photos at the beach yesterday- sorry to bump the other post down

Happy Father's Day, DAD!

2009-06-21T00:10:00.000-07:00

Thank you for being a light in our life!!! We love you!!

June 19, 1964

2009-06-19T23:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! We're so happy you tied the knot!

Gretta's Baptism

2009-06-18T13:51:00.001-07:00

Sweet Gretta got baptized on Sunday at 5:00 and it was so nice. She was so excited and cheerful and not worried at all, which surprised me. Here she is loving Simon. Sweet girl..
..With her Dad

We asked mom to write a little talk that Vaughn read, and Sasha held up the pictures. It was so funny because V said she could just drop the pictures on the floor when it was time for the next one. So Literal Sasha would drop the picture from above her head and it would flutter down to the floor. There was a big pile scattered all over the floor by the time the talk was over!

Then Jonah gave a wonderful talk that he wrote all by himself. He was nervous, but did such a good job.

Here are the tasty treats we had. I should have made more! I talked about the Marshmallow fondant on WildMountain Foods.

Here is "the Fam". The picture needs to be cropped because the giant satellite looks pretty ridiculous, don't you think? But I'm in a hurry!

It was pretty hectic getting out of the house to the church on time and to make matters worse...there was Simon!! We are packing up stuff in the car when I look at Simon and his face is covered in white frosting!!! I wash him down in the sink and Jonah wipes down his onesie with a wet towel, then throws a shirt over the onesie!! As we leave, we see this nice little reminder that Simon left on the sofa! I let it dry and cleaned it up the next day. No sofa was ruined in the making of this mess.

And last of all.... Here is Gretta twirling in the backyard Sunday evening after the baptism.

She is a great girl.

We are so proud of her!

I would like one of each...Please.

2009-06-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

I came across this amazing business called Get Back, Inc. through a blog I enoy, Handmade Charlotte. I am in love. Wouldn't so much of it be perfect for a house but also our dream art studio? Some day I want a giant wood table for lots of projects AND food!

Mah-ble Columns

2009-06-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

Wasting time on hulu I found this SNL commercial. Scarlet Johannson is totally hilarious!

Wonder Twins?

2009-06-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

I was trying to tell my kids about the Wonder Twins and came across this. It is not quite how I remember them. Luckily, we didn't watch the one labeled "adult swim"!

1968-1969

2009-06-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

Here are more pictures from Grandpa's slides. Everyone looks so happy. I think Tina's and Nick's pictures sure look like some of their kids now. Mom, Tina, Grandma, Uncle Harold and Nick
Sweet Tina and mom
I think this picture looks like Adam when he was a babe.

Nick looks like Max in all these, with his cute red hat.

Awww...Grandma

love those squishy legs

Doesn't mom look stylin' here?

Cameron's First Year

2009-06-07T18:16:00.001-07:00

So Cameron spent his actual first birthday on an airplane so we celebrated his special day a week or so later. Here's his cute tiny cake. I made it in a tin can with seven-minute frosting, thanks always to Steph for guiding the way I cook. Those are little candy coating dots that I make, also Steph's idea. Cute, huh?
He at first didn't know what to do...
...then he got the idea. Sugar!
We had the Wilberg's over to celebrate and to thank them for watching Jake and Sam while we were gone. Thanks again, Emily!
So within minutes of Cameron's cake face this appeared! I guess he might be semi-allergic to eggs (egg whites in the frosting). But the red splotches went away before bedtime. I've learned my lesson though!

He's a cute baby and I think we'll keep him another year.

2009-06-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

Pick your own strawberries

2009-06-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

Some of the kids were better workers than others but we went before it got too hot and didn't stay too long. Part 2 tomorrow we are going to try our hand at making freezer jam.