This Summer.

While right now is incredibly stressful, and will be for the next couple weeks, the light is growing ever brighter at the end of this tunnel. We have a lot of plans for this summer, and I can’t WAIT to have the freedom (most the mental freedom from stress) to get to them!

The best part of my babies not really being babies anymore (which I hate, I just want them to stay little), is that they are basically easy now. Heh. When we get in the car, we don’t really have to worry about the diaper bag and snacks and drinks for a quick trip to Lowe’s anymore. And they CAN be rational and understand the concept of waiting now (sometimes they choose not to of course, they ARE still 1 and 2, but still…).

As a result, this opens up a world of fun and exciting activities that we haven’t been able to partake in for years now.

We are going to start the summer by heading over to Seattle on our first real road trip since Lila was a little baby, for my cousin Hannah’s graduation. I am still skeptical that they will sleep in a strange place, and with anyone else in the room, but they will work it out and we will all be a little unrested, I am sure, but I am excited!

Then, we have decided Lila is probably old enough that camping won’t be the hell it is with a little baby, so we want to plan some camping trips this summer. With me being the only one in school, and even that is so limited (squeeee!), we will definitely have more time to do things that are actually fun.

Toward the end of the summer, we will head up to CDA for the annual pig pickin’, which we always look forward to, and we will get to see “Beebee Keegan” (who is also NOT a baby anymore!), and Aunt Justiney and Uncle Kemer.

THEN, my Dad is taking Justine and I (since he took the other two last year) on a Hawaiian vacation! Woohoo! At first I had totally talked myself out of it when he asked. I told myself there was just no way I could swing it, that I am a Mom and wife and I can’t just abandon my family for a week to go lay on the beach… I have work obligations, and school… there was just no way.

Then I thought about how much I’ve sacrificed for my family, and what it has taken to get through the last three years, how I never have the time to just be with my Dad and my sister (or myself for that matter) and just truly enjoy the time and moving slowly and taking things in, and dang it, I deserve a vacation (pffft, and a medal)! My Dad doesn’t have the best of health and when will I ever be offered the trip of a lifetime again, let’s freaking do it! (I still feel fully guilty btw, but I put on a good front. :))

So Steen and I talked and talked, and talked with my Dad, and worked out a time that works for all of our insane schedules, and we are doing it! We are going to Oahu (I know very little about Hawaii) for a week. I am so excited, and have been using it as an “end” focal point, to just get there and something to look forward to at the end of the summer and to start the last semester of my undergraduate career. Which is also going to be a crazy time. Here’s what my August looks like: Weekend class on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, immediately leave for CDA, pig pickin, drive home with Stu and the kids, pack, Monday meeting at work for our annual statewide meeting, leave on 6 AM flight the next morning for Hawaii, vacay for a week, fly home on an 8:45 PM red-eye with two layovers, get home mid-day, start class that night at 6 PM. WHEWWWW. It’s going to be busy, but hopefully amazing as well. :)

Failed.

So, I unequivocally FAILED at my super awesome plan of writing every day for a year. It has been almost TWO WHOLE MONTHS since I have written a post! Wow! At least when I fail I go for the gold. But, I do still want to keep up blogging because when I do and when we can all look back and read the things we were doing, it is freaking awesome.

So, fair warning, I am about the make a bunch of excuses:

I really WANTED to write every day, but I missed one day and then that turned into the whole weekend, and suddenly it was a week and the thought of catching up on a week's worth of blogs sounded so daunting.... well, alas it has been two months. 

BUT, Stuie is going to graduate in 2 (!!!) weeks! I can't believe it is finally here for him, and it sure has been a difficult couple of months getting here. We have been busier than we have ever been, which sounds improbably, but I assure you, we somehow managed to fit even more into our lives. 

Couple that with some seriously fucked up mold and bathroom tile contractor issues, (which I am not going to discuss now because it both makes me sick, exhausted, and decidedly cynical about the whole of society, AND because there is likely a lawsuit in our future), my trying to finish up my biggest project of the year for work, and trying to finish classes and prepare for finals, and I have had it up to here (insert hand gesture). 

I feel like all things considered, I have been handling everything that is going on pretty decently. I'm no saint, but geez, how much can one person be expected to handle at once? So I have been literally counting down the day until this is all over. 

Also, there are two very positive things that have come out of this. First, my bullshit capacity has been reduced to nearly zero (this is the cynicism). I do not care, nor WANT to care about any level of bullshit, and my detector is in prime shape. As a result, I am more efficient, more rational, and worry about much less. These are all good things. Second, and this is my favorite: Because I had to take one class this coming Fall (my waiver that I get from the university for discounted class fees maintains that I cannot take more than one class during "work hours," regardless of how much time I am willing to make up early in the morning or late at night. So, this summer, both of the final two classes I needed to graduate were offered during the day (and during different sessions, I might add), and as a result, I had to pick one or the other and not both. The other classes I was registered for were at night, so they were moot and unaffected. 

BUT, because I couldn't graduate until December, I had to switch my catalog year, which expires this coming August. Switching to a new catalog is tricky because it can change the requirements you need, and can results in suddenly having to take more classes to graduate. So I switched to the newest year, which did waive some of the new requirements (foundations classes) automatically, but the math I took didn't count on the new year because it is no longer even offered anymore. Crap. So, I worked with my awesome Department Chair (not my adviser, lol. He always sends me to the chair) to get an academic adjustment, which is where the dean of the college I am graduating under says, “sure, we’ll accept that as an approved class” and I don’t have to retake math.

All of this means that I have 8 fewer required classes on this catalog than my old one, so I got to drop two whole classes this coming summer! Woot woot! So, I will have one measly little class (senior seminar, which is not a measly class and is condensed into half the time normal people take it) this summer, one one-credit weekend class (a single weekend, on the Isreali-Palestinian conflict and movies), and then I will take ONLY Statistics this fall and I will be done!!! Oh my goodness, ten years in the making, I cannot believe I am but two classes and a weekend away from that piece of paper. So stoked.

But before that, we do need to get Stuie all graduated, so there have recently been a lot of late nights for him, and just generally a lot of stress in the house in general. I talked to Kaden’s teacher on the phone last night for an HOUR, chatting about everything that is and has been going on, and actually giving her some advice about her own son, and it is nice to be reminded that my kids ARE little and they will have few if any memories of this stressful time. For now, I am encouraging my super awesome and ever supportive family to take one or two kids with them when they do fun things, just to give the kids a break and have a good time. This weekend, I am pretty sure Marcia and Mimi and going to take the boys to the dinosaur exhibit at the Expo. They will LOVE that, and I can work on my final presentation for Research Methods, and Stu can finish up the 3 (!!!) huge papers he’s working on.

Then it is all up-hill from there, but I will save that for a second post. :) 

Here's some pics of the babes. :)

I showed Jackson how to blow a dandelion and he thought it was SO COOL. (I will probably regret this decision when my whole yard is yellow, but it was worth it at the time. :))

Jack and I watching Duck Dynasty, one of the top 4 greatest shows on the planet. :)

Kaden man, waiting for Mimi and Papa to pick him up for school. 

My beautiful Princess Lila, enjoying the sunny day in the swing.

I seriously have the cutest kids alive. :)

Miss Lila and I, after a long, stressful day, hanging out and spending quality time.

Seastar!

My baby sister and Stevie (surrogate brother) came down to visit this weekend. Tonight we hung out (made a jammie party out of it) and played pool, watched funny shows, and otherwise just hung out and chatted. It was lovely. I sure wish they lived closer.

Forensics.

Normally I am indifferent about my Forensics class, because, let's be honest, it is completely unneccesaary for me to take it. I will never be a crime scene analysis (you need a science degree, which I am not getting), and I will never work in law enforcement, so it is just a necessary evil that I tolerate.

Other times, it is freaking cool. Today in class we dusted for fingerprints, and used heated super glue to see latent prints. It was pretty freaking cool AND fun. Here are some pics:

Wild, Wild West.

Thought this was funny. On my drive to work this morning, I rolled by this:

Lecture.

Today's lecture in my Criminal Justice Management class, had a slide I thought was funny and appropriate, being that my family and friends are equal parts fans (and haters) of these two schools:

Cousins.

Here are two links for the accomplishments of TWO of my cousins. Yay for coming from a great family and congrats to Aubrey and Alex on their awesomeness! :)

Here, Photojournalists under 25. (Alex)

And here, Aubrey Brinton of Boise Selected for Peace Corps Education Assignment in China.

Outside Babies.

Here are some pics of the kids outside this weekend. We were all very grateful for some nice weather, study time, and hanging out together.

Study time.

This is how Stu and I spent the first part of our day:

As a result of too much academia, we decided to end the day by taking the kids into the wilderness to go shoot the guns. We had a blast and the kids think they had even more fun than we did because they got to hang out in the truck, watching Open Season 2, and eating graham crackers, while Mom and Dad destroyed tin pots. :)

Idaho is Awesome. :)

Just a silly link for today's post:)

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/reasons-why-idaho-is-the-most-underrated-state-in-the-countr

New Baby!

My cousin Sarah, and her husband, Jason, welcomed their first baby early Monday morning. He was a whopping 10 pounds, 8.5 ounces, and 22.75 inches long! Welcome to the world, baby Daniel!

Fooooood.

Homemade (super bomb diggity) creamy mushroom soup with chicken and portobello sandwich with caramelized onions and basil garlic aioli and Havarti. It was inspired by a meal we had for date lunch at Flatbread in Bown's Corssing. It was amazing there, but I did pretty good myself! :)

Talking Lila Girl!

I hadn't uploaded videos off my camera for a while, so I might get crazy. :) Here is a video of my sweet Lila girl talking.

Kaden: Person of the Week!

Kaden is person of the week (well, two weeks) at school this week and he got to celebrate by making a huge poster of himself and then presenting it in class to his friends. Here is the video link for it. My sweet boy. :)

Family Dinner.

We had the family over for dinner tonight. It was pretty low-key but nice to see everyone after so long of being sick and miserable. Not much else to report. :)

Cambodia.

Yesterday during the half hour break I have between work and school (where I eat and play with my kids at super speed, lol), Damon came by to bring us some things he got for us in Cambodia! So cool! I will likely never go to Cambodia in my life, so it was so awesome to get some goodies from a place like that. He didn't get to come to my birthday party, so he said he would get us some prizes. :) Kaden and Jackson are OBSESSED with the awesome puzzle animals. And Lila and I got silk robes that are so pretty and have intricate little designs on them. So cool! And then we got a meal set in a cool box with elephants on the front. Below are pics of the awesomeness. I love to feel loved! :) Thanks Damon!

Tonight after work Stu and I worked out for EVER. My whole body hurts and my knees are destroyed, which was probably a terrible idea that I will regret for the rest of the weekend, but it felt good to kick my own ass. :) We had to focus on homework though as the main Friday night plan, which always makes me feel inherently lame. Haha. We went to bed way too late as a result, too. So lame. 

Forensics FTW.

Remember the test I didn't get to study for (including not reading a SINGLE page in my book, and not having a chance to look over the lecture notes from class)? Well, I got that test back to night and I got a B+! Woohoo! That could have gone SO much worse. So for right now, I have As in all of my classes. Let's hope I can keep it up and no more sickness rears its ugly head!

Tonight in my Forensics lab, we did dust lifting and shoe print casting. I like that we have a lab in that class (though it certainly does make for LONG days) because it really is cool to see real-world application of the concepts we talk about. Forensics is so abstract when you just talk about it, so seeing it in action is much better. It's a good group of people in that class as well, so that's nice. And though he is a former cop, I am actually really enjoying the professor this time around. He is super calm and laid-back, but also hilarious, in a very dry, unassuming way. I could listen to him all day. He's got amazing stories.

One more day and the weekend is HERE! :)

In other news, my workout tonight tried to kill me. I took almost two weeks off from working out because of sickness, and it is SO hard to get back into it and to where I was the prior 8 weeks. It sucks.

Never a Dull Moment...

... at the Fox residence. :) Here are some pics of the babes being babes. :)

Lila drinking out of her Bronco cup (full disclosure, she had put a sippy cup inside of the big cup. :))

All of my boys doing wall stands. :)

Jackson swinging Ironman and Mickey. 

Boise Homicide.

Finally back to work and feeling much better. Unfortunately I also had to return to work and a full day of school as well, which is much harder than just putting in my eight hours and then going home, so I think it made the day worse that it was just SO long. But, it is nice to feel like I am finally on the mend.

So, in super creepy news, last night there were three “incidences” around 8 at night in Boise in three different spots. Today it came to light that they were all likely related. So, apparently, (and of course information is still coming to light so I am sure there is plenty that is not public yet) this guy rear-ended a car on Vista and Canal around 8 at night and then when he decided to run, as he drove around the guy he hit, he shot at him, blowing out his own car window and striking the car he hit.

Then, to got on the freeway and got off on Franklin where witnesses called in to dispatch about a man in his car apparently injured. Turns out this guy was shot in the head and was in the lanes of traffick, dying. He died less than two hours later at the hospital. In the meantime, the two incidents appear to be related, but cops are looking for a way to tie the first guy to the second incident.

THEN, around the same time, RIGHT BY MY HOUSE, police got a call from the first guy’s Dad and stepmom, saying the first guy was in their front yard yelling and screaming that he was going to hurt them. Around the same time, the guy fled on foot and dispatch got a bunch of calls from people saying someone was trying to get into cars and homes, testing for unlocked doors. Police sent out a autodial call to residents in the area telling then to lock their doors. They set up a perimeter and finally around 11 PM found him hiding in the back yard of an unoccupied daycare 6 houses away from my house!!! Dude. It is so freaky that crime that that happens this close to where my babies play and live.

It was weird too, because right around that time I was going to wake Stu up because I was getting ready for bed and heard what sounded like the house making noises in the bathroom, but way louder than normal. There was no report of shots fired when they detained him, but I am wondering if that might have been what it was. It was just weird noises, not like any house “settling” sounds I’ve ever heard here before.

Anyway, police are still asking the public for help locating a cell phone, ammunition, and any private video surveillance that might show any of the incidences. Hopefully they get everything they need.

The guy who was killed in his car was 28-year-old Mathew Mohler-Kerns, who is a Boise State student (recent graduate and was just accepted to a master’s porgram) who is originally from Post Falls. I think what resonates most with me is that this guy is the same age as me, is from very near my home town, and is basically doing the same thing as me… working and going to school, trying to get a good education and move up in life. Life is so fragile and is so easily taken away. Just because of some crazy person (who, it has been rumored may have been under the influence of bath salts or salvia). Hug your loved ones. Life is WAY too short. 

Here's KTVB's version: http://www.ktvb.com/news/crime/Road-rage-suspect-accused-of-shooting-at-mans-car-192079421.html

and 

http://www.ktvb.com/home/Franklin-blocked-police-investigation-underway-191765781.html

President's Day Vacay.

I thankfully had the day off for President's Day, so I could try to get better for the work week ahead.

In an effort to get me out of bed and into the sunshine, Stu so awesomely made me lunch and he, myself, and Jackson played (well, Jackson played and Stu picked up dog poop while I sat and ate) outside. It’s been so beautiful out while I have been sick and it’s so lame to watch it from inside while feeling like walking down the stairs is just too much effort to muster.

Then I saw a voodoo doll on the fence. That was freaky. Lol. Stu claims it is a pile of leaves, but look at it! Weird!

Mimi volunteered to come over and sit with the kids so Stu and I could go on a date and go grocery shopping (I was definitely not up to the task all on my own). So we went to Flatbread and had fondu and mini pizzas and half-sandwiches. I freaking LOVE their food. It was a great date. :)

Trudy's.

After so many days of feeling like shit, we ALL had cabin fever. But what do you do when you still feel crappy and don’t want to move too much, but want to get outside? You drive to Idaho City! Duh! Haha.

We were super bummed because we had to cancel our attendance at Ian and Jamie’s for the evening, so to make up for that we felt like we HAD to get outside at least, even if there were runny noses abound.

So we packed up the kids and a movie and set off for Trudy’s Kitchen for lunch and pie. The drive was great and so pretty with just a little snow, but also a sunshiney day. The kids had a great time and everyone was very happy to get out of the house. Here are some pics from the day: