Jobless AND Homeless

Wow! A lot has happened in one short week. Last week some people from California looked at our house and this week they decided they want to buy it. So we signed papers on Saturday. I was at Union High School for a FIVE STAKE YOUTH CONFERENCE. It's all in capitals because that is how it has overrun my life for the last many months. It was a smashing success despite the fact that it was 100 fetching degrees on Saturday. We had some fantastic teachers for the workshops and a fun dance/kareoke/games night. We had 850 kids there from Longview to Washougal. And somewhere in the middle of that, Dad showed up with a notebook. "Hi honey those people who saw our house last week want to buy it. Are you OK with this for a price?"
As of August 10th we will be out on the street.

Total Cave Darkness

And then the Ranger said: "Total cave darkness." and turned out the lights.

Good Times

We got back from Utah a few days ago. It was a grueling drive but well worth it. We swung through Rexburg to drop off Shayla and Seth for OYA. Then we drove on down to Provo--where we got to see our older kids who are there working and/or going to school. Always a pleasure! While we were there we took the two younger boys to see some of the local attractions.

The picture below is Shane and Andy on the ski lift at Park City. As I was taking this picture Shane was saying: "I'm sorry, I admit imminent death makes me tense!" He kept his eyes closed for most of the ride to the top. He and Sam had a blast sliding down though. Then Sam and Andy went on the Alpine Coaster while Shane tried out the maze.

The next day we hiked up to Timp Cave:

After the Ranger told the story of the Indian Princess who threw herself off a cliff to save her tribe and now her heart is a formation in the cave... Shane said (in what he thought was a whisper but actually echoed loudly off the walls) "That story sucks."

We finished the tour and skulked out of the cave trying not draw anymore attention to ourselves. The hike down was much quicker and Shane had renewed energy after cooling off in the cave.

Sam found a lucky nickel on the way down.

We also went to Lagoon-- it was fun to have Siara, Shanna, Austin and Spencer with us for that. It was pretty hot but we had a good time anyway.

Creepy Knick-knack

How's this for the perfect Father's Day Gift?

I know I did that whole previous post about being cheap and creepy if you give a gift like this; but... at least he has clothes on. Besides there was another little statuette that said "World's Greatest Lover" --too bad Shayla was with me. Contrary to reports otherwise-- I really do try not to embarass my children in public. Happy Father's Day, Honey!

How Much is That Froggy in the Window

I call today's entry: Frog Blog...
This cute little critter peeked in the window last Sunday while Sam and I were making Family Night treat. We invited him in to have some, but he saw that it wasn't fly guts and hopped away. Hopefully back to his froggy family for Family Night.

The Empty Hammock

Father's Day is coming soon, so today I will share with you a cautionary tale of gift-giving. Here you see a picture of a hammock: a well-intentioned but misguided attempt at finding a gift for the man who has everything. It all began years ago with a dream. I was visiting a friend and as our children played in her backyard and we chatted, I noticed a hammock hanging between two trees. It looked so inviting and the kids were climbing on it and swinging each other in it. I thought: someday I would like to have a yard with some trees close enough together to put up a hammock. I imagined someone relaxing in it on a summer day with a good book and some lemonade...maybe one of the kids, or my husband. But not me -- because if I laid in a hammock, all of the kids would swarm in and climb aboard and defeat the whole "quiet relaxation" thing. But I still thought it would be wonderful. It just never happened. We moved twice after that but both places were sadly lacking in sturdy, close-together trees. There was a brief window of hope when we bought the property our current home is now built on. (Apologies to our daughter with the Minor in English: I realize I just ended that sentence with a preposition but I couldn't think of any other word for that sentence to end on. Oops! I did it again... now I sound like Britney Spears...but I digress!) There had been a few potential hammock-hanging trees-- until the builder bulldozed and chain-sawed (sorry Shanna--that's bad English too!) them into oblivion. So there I was: left with a dream but no place to hang it. Until one day, the Pottery Barn catalog arrived in the mail. And on the front cover was a hammock. A free-standing hammock-- a hammock that didn't need trees for support. The dream was reborn! It was a few weeks before Father's Day so I decided the dream would be a gift for my husband. He is famous for buying whatever he wants or needs as the need arises-- with no thought whatsoever to those of his loved ones who need to come up with a gift for the various occasions of his life throughout the year. But as far as I knew he wasn't planning to buy a hammock anytime soon. When it arrived, the kids helped me put it together and had a great time testing it. Andy was out of town so it was easy to keep it a secret until Father's Day. Well, the day arrived and we showed him the hammock. He expressed the obligatory thanks and then went back inside. The kids played on it all afternoon. Over the following days and weeks they used it as a boat, a fort, a flying carpet and a wrestling mat. Andy, on the other hand, never went near it. It began to dawn on me that I had foisted my dream on a man who does not relax. It was not a true gift because it was what I wanted. The irony is-- I never relaxed in it either. Eventually it lost its appeal to the kids and spent long, lonely summers exiled to the far regions of our yard. Empty.



This Father's Day I lucked out and found the perfect gift for Andy. But I can't show you until Sunday because he reads this blog!

This Is The Place

You may have noticed I got a little crazy and spontaneous and changed my TEMPLATE! Look out, next thing you know I'll be buying an ipod and downloading Fall Out Boy. (This just in: apparently Fallout Boy is three words-- not the nuclear "fallout" as I assumed--who knew?!)

"Those Fetchin' Neighbors"

Funny story:a little side note to the Annual Deer Creek Neighborhood GARAGE SALE!
For awhile the day of the garage sale, Shane was sitting out there with me. He was flaked out on the couch that we had already sold, but had not been picked up yet. He was watching the cars come around the island in the middle of our cul-de-sac. He commented that they all seemed to be stopping at the house a few doors down from us. Soon, I heard him grumbling: "They're taking our customers!" I told him to simmer down-- it was all fair and they were stopping because they saw something they were interested in. "I'm going down there to see what they're doing to steal OUR business!" He had a vested interest in our sale because he had cleaned out his room of all toys and knick-knacks with hopes of making big bucks. He marched off down the street. Soon he returned from his reconnaissance mission with important news: "Those fetchin' neighbors! They have a fetchin' awesome toaster for only five bucks! No wonder everyone is going there!"
He slumped dejectedly onto the 'SOLD' couch. His dreams of easy money shot down by a $5 toaster.

One Man's Trash...

I told you of the amazing hiking experience we had yesterday-- but that was just the first part of the day. There was plenty of daylight left for more Gale Family fun. Because Saturday was the day of the Annual Deer Creek Neighborhood GARAGE SALE! As Andy describes it: "Everyone puts their junk (OK- he said crap) out in their front yard and waits around for someone to come and give them money for it. Then they go to the neighbors' houses and spend the money they made selling their crap to buy the neighbors crap!" We have been Spring Cleaning and getting organized for a possible move -- depending on where Andy gets a job. So we had some odds and ends to offer for sale. The kids get into the spirit of it when they start thinking about making some money. Shane was upset that I wouldn't agree to him selling his bed ("IT'S MINE--I should get money for it if I want to! I can sleep on the floor."--- Practical and enterprising).

Andy and the kids laid out our wares and stood by with hopeful anticipation. The hordes descended half an hour early...circling the neighborhood on the hunt for treasure. I got home from the hike a few hours into it so I took my turn minding the store. I sat in a chair on the porch with the sun shining and a cat in my lap. It gave me a chance to observe human nature in its element. A garage sale is the great equalizer. And at least in our area, part of the 'melting pot' process for all newcomers. "Ah, so this is the American Dream: buying your neighbor's crap (I mean junk) at bargain prices--what a country!" We were all celebrating diversity as we bargained with people from many countries and walks of life right in our own front yard.

Our next-door neighbors had a few things they wanted to get rid of so they brought them over for us to sell. One was the elephant you see above. The irony of it didn't hit me until today. I should have kept it for the next ward Christmas party when they tell you to bring a white elephant gift!