LONGING FOR MY FANTASY RANCH HOUSE

Because my last drawer project was so widely acclaimed, I would like to share my latest work with you. I made pop-up books with Anika during Ben's nap. Echo with me now ...
l o n g d a y f o r a h o u s e w i f e. I love my life and kids but man, how endlessly long is a summer's day!



...Together they enjoyed a beautiful agrarian life, complete with milk goats, a gun nest, and solar panels. THE END.

That's really all I've ever wanted for myself and my family. And only marginally for myself when compared to how much I want my kids to grow up how I did. Our property bordered the National Forest. We had horses, cats, a dog, a bunny, even a pigeon coop! (My Mom had a raising-messenger-pigeons phase. Until coyotes got inside the coop!) If we had so much as a 10X10 patch of grass, I would immediately get Anika a puppy. I think pets are such a huge part of childhood.

We played outside from morning until night. I'm pretty sure no one was watching us, either. We would roam all over and had forts everywhere. I wish I could set my kids free outside. Where we lived, there were no roads or kidnappers. We were free to be kids. We didn't wear shoes all summer. For now, I'm doing the best I can with the situation we've got...

...Which is the back porch, parks, etc.

100+ degress on a July evening... transformers costume with long pants underneath, and mittens! Why not? I purchase fewer clothes since entering Anika's dress-herself phase. She just wears the same five things repeatedly.


Dear Boonies,

I'm coming someday. I promise.

Forever yours,

Alana.



Have I ever told you the story of my childhood home and how it was built? My parents bought an old home, disassembled the entire thing, and moved it (partly by helicopter) to our new lot and put it back together in a new shape! Not kidding! My Mom planned every last square inch herself! She had to use everything from the old house... windows, etc. to design a new home. Even down to each single light switch and its location was my Mom's design. It was amazing.

I was just a baby but the older kids had to help in the huge project. They even used the same bricks from the old place and the kids' job was to scrape the mortar off the old bricks. They had a song that they sang to the tune of I've been workin' on the railroad. IT went... "I've been workin' on the brick pile"... and they still sing it sometimes to reminisce.

AMAZEBALLS!

Williams - Cali Trip - Wedding

Williams - Cali Trip - Disneyland

Disneyland was so awesome. We all had a great time minus the break downs and screaming kids at 10:30pm while exiting the park. "I am too tired to walk, I don't want to leave, my feet hurt." I am sure you all know the drill. The kids were in heaven. They had no idea what to expect or what Disneyland was all about. I didn't tell them anything. I don't think they really knew how much fun it was going to be and that there were a million fun rides to go on. Every time we went on a ride, they would ask if they could go again and I would have to tell them, "we have at least 20 more rides to go on today and so we can only go once." They did get to go on a few rides twice since Nora couldn't ride all of them and so we would get a child switch pass and then the kids could go with one of us again. We used a system called Ridemax and I highly recommend it. It helped us be able to make the most efficient use of our time since we only had two days to experience the whole park. Ridemax is a computer based software program designed to help you create custom wait-time-reducing plans for Walt Disneyworld and Disneyland. We spent the first day at California Adventure. We went nonstop all day long, ate lunch at Ariel's Grotto, and ended with World of Color. It was an amazing show. We took a break the next day and swam at the hotel. Our friend Melissa drove over and spent the day with us (she and her family lived in Portland once upon a time). That evening Herb had a rehearsel dinner for Jason's wedding (the real reason we even came to Disneyland). The next day, we hit Disneyland again. Started early and went all day again. Sage was tall enough for every single ride and Herbie was only too small for two of them. Sage's favorite ride of all was California Screamin Rollercoaster and she hated Indiana Jones. Herbie loved Star Tours, Autopia, and Jedi Training. He actually got picked to be one of the Jedi's. We learned that the trick to getting picked is to wear something Star Wars or carry a lightsaber. Herbie had his lightsaber in hand. Nora loved the rides as much as the kids and would cry if she didn't get to ride. I think her favorite was Small World. I can't wait to go back again someday.

On Saturday, we swam with the kids and then headed over to Jason's wedding. Herb is one of the groomsman so he had to be early. Unfortunately, the ceremony was a bit late starting and by the time it was underway, Nora was done and I had to walk around the grounds and missed the whole thing. Sage and Herbie sat quietly taking 100 pictures with my camera of every person at the ceremony. Then we had the wedding dinner and dancing which was a bit crazy since my kids were exhausted from a long tiring week. Herb had to sit at the wedding party table while I tried desperately to juggle three tired yet rambunctious kids at my own table. I am sure the three other guests at my table were delighted to sit by us. Herbie spilled his water right off the bat, then he preceeded to use his roll as binoculars, Nora kept wondering back and forth from my table to Herb's table, Sage and Herbie stole the lime light by dancing up a strom on the dance floor, Sage caugth the bouquet, Herbie stole the garder right out of someone's hands, and by 8:30pm I was ready to go home. Herbie kept trying to cut in and dance with the bride, Kim. It was so cute. Jason and Kim looked beautiful and happy and we are happy for them.

I am happy to be home and looking forward to no vacations for awhile.

Williams - Cali Trip

Ranch - Horse Camp
We had the most wonderful time at my Aunt's house in California. She was holding a week long horse camp for her grandkids and she let our kids join in on all the fun. They got to help my Aunt feed the horses, chickens, cows, and rabbits while Herb and I slept in. They rode horses all morning long and then in the afternoon we would swim. The first day, Herbie's horse took off running and Herb chased him down and was able to grab the reins and all was well. The second day Sage's horse Sierra freaked out and took off in a full gallop and Sage hung on for dear life until she was able to emergency dismount by jumping off the side of the horse after it circled the entire arena. She was amazing. How she hung on is a miracle. It is a miracle she wasn't injured. Other than being scared and some mud on her hands and face she is perfectly fine. Hopefully we will get her back on a horse some day. The horse she happened to be riding is very spirited and gets spooked easily. Sage insisted on riding her and we knew she was difficult to ride but Sage did so well on her the first day she wanted to ride her again. Sierra doesn't like to be near other horses and the horse behind her got too close and so Sierra kicked the horse and that horse reared up on Sage and Sierra so Sierra took off in a full gallop. Sage looked so terrified and she was screaming her head off. Herb and I were both on a horse of our own at the time and we couldn't do anything and my Aunt was chasing Sage down. As a parent watching your child go through that is heart wrenching. I was praying the whole time that she would be safe. My Aunt felt terrible and she told us that Sierra has done that same thing before and taken the same route around the arena and nobody has ever held on as long as Sage. We are just glad she is okay. After we calmed her down and Herb held her, I walked over to Herbie and his horse to make sure he was okay and he had tears streaming down his face because he was so afraid for Sage. I love that my children love each other so much. Lets hope it lasts all through teenage years.

Williams - Utah Trip

Our week in Utah was a blast. We went to Cannon's baby blessing (Erin's son) and then Kelli and I and our kids stayed at my Aunt's house in Santa Clara. We ate at Pasta Factory and Pizza Factory, hiked the red hill, walked the Temple grounds so we could show our kids where we got married, swam in Jenny's awesome pool, and just relaxed together. It was my first vacation in five years without homework. At the end of the week, we went to Kelli's house and swam some more. Then we went to Christian's blessing (Bryan's baby, Herb's brother). We also bought a new car while in Utah from my dad's dealership. Black 09 Suburban. It is beautiful.