the hunt

As soon as we were able to see the beautiful green mountains thick with pine trees from the plane I got emotional. "This is Portland. This is where we're moving our family." Those thoughts kept running through my mind. I wasn't unhappy about it. I wasn't exactly happy either. I was just feeling it.

I knew that this house hunting trip wouldn't be fun. We had a job to do and only a couple days to do it. Find a place to live. Find a place where our kids would play and be happy. Find a place that felt good to us. Find a place that was close enough to school. Find a place that was in our budget. Find a place that had the whole package. It was a huge task, and we really didn't know much about the Portland area to even know where we wanted to look. The pressure was heavy and the stress was high.

But things looked promising when we drove out of the airport in this baby:

Goldie. Please know that that she was really, really gold. Like bright gold. She's in the shade here, so she's a little muted, but can you imagine how much Brian liked driving along the streets of Oregon in this little thing? It made for some funny conversations and lots of joking for us.

Going over all the houses we saw would be really long and boring. I will say by the end of day two out of two and a half, we hadn't found anything that had everything we were looking for. We were frustrated. So we skipped dinner and decided to just drive around the areas we liked and see what we could find. After several hours, just as it was getting dark and just before I was about to die of starvation, we found it. And lucky for us the owner answered her phone and was there in a few minutes to show it.

We were so relieved to have found something. And we were happy because this gave us a few hours the next day to have a little fun.

The first thing on the agenda: VooDoo Doughnuts. Brian and I saw this place on the Food Network and when he got a glimpse of the maple bar piled with bacon he knew we had to go. So we did! Um, I don't really know what to say about the place. It was a dumpy little place with some creepy decor and a line out the door. I told Brian that we'd never go back with the kids. Ever. It's no place for children.

The doughnuts, however, were pretty delicious.

Bacon maple bar. Brian said it was all that the hoped it would be.

I chose a sweet little white cake doughnut- one of my faves- and it was so good.

This is how we felt after eating four of the five doughnuts we bought. I was convinced we should get a dozen and bring home the leftovers, but it turns out five was way too many. We felt gross, but it was still fun to go to such a fun little spot in downtown Portland.

Thanks to Scott and Traci and their cute kids for hosting us.

And here's a little taste of our new place. This is right in front of our new little townhome. The view is just incredible.

We feel really lucky to have this little spot in Oregon.

winding down

Tonight I passed on my massive binder to the new yw president.

Tomorrow, Brian works his last shift as an R.N. at Utah Valley.

Our jobs are done here and we're winding down. But the relief is short lived because-

we're winding right back up for:

• painting our current bedroom
• fixing our car
• hemming my jeans
• saying goodbye to friends
• recovering from a three week sickness- I hope!
• going camping
• planning a four year old's birthday party
• getting last minute dental work done
• packing our house
• loading a truck
• hugging family goodbye
• driving away
• and the list goes on . . .

Park City '09

Every summer my family gets together for a week up at this little place in Park City. Here's what we loved most this year:

Swimming:

Brian and the kids swam every single day with the cousins. Ellery was surprisingly comfortable in the water, just floatin' along in her Ariel floaties. McKay could have lived in the water and loved "diving" for things underwater.

"Do you have the button?":

Lisa had a fun little game going on the whole week. Each morning she would give someone "the button" and the object of the game was to get the button yourself before she rang the prize bell sometime during the day. Can you imagine thirteen little voices asking you if you had the button non-stop for five days? It was funny. McKay was lucky enough to end up with it during the prize time and after rooting through the bag of goods, he came up with this frog (on his hat in the pic). He thought he was just about the luckiest kid in the world because of that frog.

Glitter Toes:

My niece Rylee treated us all to a sweet pedicure with some glitter toes. I had never done glitter toes before and it was so fun to get a little pampered from my cute little niece, who is not really little anymore, she's sixteen. I still can't really believe she's sixteen.

Moose Hunt:

If you've been to Park City, you know they have a bunch of moose statues at various places around the city. And if you know my son, you know that colorful statues of moose hidden all around is pretty wonderful to him. We didn't get to do the kind of hunt I had wanted to, but we saw several from the car, and on our way home we stopped and gave this purple guy a pat.

Poolside BBQ:

This is the first year we decided to use the poolside barbeque's and it for sure won't be the last. I can't even remember what they cooked, but I'm sure it was delicious. I do remember the shaved ice that we all shared afterwards. Mmmmm.

Just hangin' out:

My family is not very great at vacationing. We never really did it much when we were little and so I think that's why we're not very good at it. We, meaning my sisters and parents, could probably sit around talking, or playing games, or eating most of the time. The 'newer' members of the family (husbands, children) are not as interested in hanging out as we are. They like to do things on vacation, like go hiking, site-seeing, tennis playing. Luckily we did plenty of both and everyone was happy.

Oh the Outlets:

My favorite part of vacation is shopping. Always. My sisters agree.

Cousins:

It was so fun for McKay and Elle to be with their cousins for a week straight. They loved it. It's so fun to see these six together. (Eto is missing in the pic above) They are all such great little friends.

Staying up late with cousins is even better. I think here there was some sort of a light saber, mom and dad scenario going on. Way past bedtime, way more fun.

McKay's lucky bed:

Notice how unsure he is of sleeping in the bathtub. It was actually quite a comfy little setup for him. At first he was really excited for his little crib, then when it actually came time for going to sleep in the tub, it was a different story. We had to let him fall asleep in our bed and then move him once he was asleep.

Eventually he warmed up to the idea and he slept pretty good in that cushy tub!

So that's it. Now would be the perfect place to put a picture of our whole family, but I didn't take one. We loved spending the week together though, and made so many memories- most great, some just memorable. Either way, I sure love my family and am so glad we do this every year. And of course, a big thanks to mom and dad!

went to the land

In July we dressed Ellery in McKay's old clothes. She looked like this little punk boy with long crazy hair. It was totally adorable, yet a little disturbing.

But what else do you do with your little girl when you go camping? She doesn't have any grubby camping clothes yet. She was pretty thrilled to be wearing McKay's old light up shoes too. He was jealous.

Anyway, we had a really nice time up at Thunder Mountain, aka "the land", aka the property that Brian's parents own up in Fairview canyon.

The first thing we did when we got up there was go check out the water. And we went fishing with a butterfly net. We saw lots of little fish in the river, but for some reason our little fisherman wasn't able to catch any.

They both started fishing fully clothed, but soon it was just McKay and Diego in the water.

A little later in the afternoon Brian's sisters and Dad joined us. We went on a major 4-wheeler ride. Elle and I rode with Lindy the whole time and let me just tell you how well she maneuvered that red little number up there. We saw several deer and I think McKay could have riden all day.

The morning before we left McKay had a big idea to make a bird feeder. He knew that he wanted birds on it and a little stick for them to stand on, and of course he chose to paint it blue. Brian helped him fill it with bread pieces and he was so proud of his little creation.


After big McKay and the girls left we spent the rest of the next day hanging out in the hammock and going on a little hike. McKay was so proud to have made it to the top all by himself. We had to encourage him to keep going a few times, but he did great and was ready to brag about his accomplishment to anyone who'd hear it.

A pretty incredible view from the top. We enjoyed some of the best peaches as a treat for making it to the top. Ellery practically ate the pit.

Brian would love to go up to the land every weekend if he could, but sadly he's only been a few times this summer. It's one of his favorite places to be, and

our kids love it just as much.

thoughts on a sunday

Right now I just have one thought. I'm moving. I'm moving in less than a month. I've been thinking about what I wanted to write in this post. I could try to present myself really upbeat and say that I'm all excited and can't wait for the adventures my little family and I have ahead of us in Oregon. I could pretend that it was all happy and no stress. And while some of that is true- I am excited- I am still Sarah. And Sarah struggles a bit with change. And saying this change is huge for me is an understatement. I know it will be good for us. I know it will be fun. I know it is good to make final progress towards a goal we have had for a long time. But it's still hard.

A couple days ago we returned from house hunting in Portland. Words that come to mind in describing that experience are emotional, exhausting, stressful, exciting, panicked, and guided. But the best word I can use to describe it is real. This is really happening. We are moving. We are leaving. We won't be here anymore. We won't be in this little house that we've loved so much. We won't be a fifteen minute drive from almost all family members anymore. We won't be here for Ellery's birthday or for Thanksgiving. Up until this point I have not been sad about leaving. I've been excited and anxious, not sad. I knew the sadness would come eventually- I kept waiting for it. But it took actually going to this place I had never been that will now be my home to make those feelings show up.

I didn't want to write this to be depressing or dramatic, it's just the way I feel right now. It has been an extremely emotional week for me and I'd rather be honest than pretend I have it all together and everything is perfect. But, after all of that is said, I can't deny the feelings of gratitude I have for this opportunity. Or for the man I call my husband who is doing yet another amazing thing. And when I came home from Portland, missing my babies and hugging them in my arms after being away for three days I had just one thought, "Thank goodness I can take them with me." We can do it.

eye love my family

We just got back from the Fuehrer "family reunion" in Park City. There's lots to share from our week, but right now we've got to find a home in Portland to live in, so we're kinda busy. I am planning on doing some major blogging towards the end of this week to catch up. . .

but, I just wanted to share a little bit of fun we had in PC taking pictures of everyone's eyeball. There are twenty three of us, so I had to do a couple doubles, one of which is my sweet Elle. I can identify everyone except nephews Brandon, Tyler and Eto- three of Lisa's kids. And the only reason I can do the other four of her kids is because I was the photographer. Their eyes are interchangeable.

Brian was voted "prettiest eye". Can you find him?

i'd rather see her

I have a million posts I want to do, but no time.

"No time. There's never any time. I don't have time to study, I'll never get into Stanford. . ."

Who knows it? Anybody?

Anyway, I'm already sick of that camp post, so until I have more time here's a cute little pic of my Ellie girl, digging in the rocks.

back to camp

Just got back from Girls Camp last week. Here are a few pictures from my bad camera and some thoughts:

• The theme for our stake was PBS Kids Shows. PBS for Pray, Book of Mormon, and Smile- the challenge for the young women of the church this year. It was such a fun theme. Each ward picked a different kids show as their theme.

• We were Curious George. This was my first time sleeping in a cabin. Pretty cozy. And luckily the girls were so dead at the end of each day that they actually slept at night. I was pleasantly surprised.
• It was fun to go back to where I had spent a week every summer when I was younger.

• There were several phrases that our girls were really into. "Epic failure," "I hate my life," and "I know, right?" were among the most frequently used. I love teenage girls!
• I don't have cute camping hair. I need a flat iron and a round brush or I'm not okay. It was a hard week.
• People get very emotional very easily at camp. It's just all those female hormones in such close proximity.
• I tried banana boats for the first time ever and they sure were yummy. If you haven't had them let me tell you: You peel one side of the banana, scoop a little bit out, and then fill it with chocolate chips, marshmallows and reese's. Close the banana back up and then wrap it tightly with tin foil. Stick it on the hot coals and wait a few minutes. Then grab a spoon. I can't wait to try it again!
• I learned how to play big booty. I totally love it.
• I had major allergy issues in my left eye. My dumb left eye. It watered constantly for two days and my skin was swollen and red and raw. I was dying. It was one of those things that isn't really a big serious deal, but it was just so very annoying and painful at times. And I just kind of like to complain about it. I do.
• I love beehives! Ours were so cute. I loved watching them do all the camp things for the first time. So cute.
• All the songs they sing are new. The only one I recognized was the Noah one. They are much more annoying when you didn't learn them yourself at camp. But guess what? I've been stuck on them ever since I got home. "Now Tarzan has a tan. . ." Ahhhhh.
• On the second day we got up at 3:30am to go on a sunrise hike. That day was the longest day ever. But the sunrise was so beautiful.
• Another beautiful thing that I made sure to look at every night was the sky. So many stars. So many. The night sky was breathtaking.
  

• We went on a snipe hunt. This was so funny. Most of the girls had never been on one before and I almost peed my pants a little because I was laughing so hard. Our camp director outdid herself on this one and should get an Oscar. She even skinned the "snipe" that she caught and cooked it up in a frying pan. It looked and smelled a lot like a twinkie with salsa on it. Hehe.
  

• We cleaned the Biffy. Well, the girls did. I helped supervise.
  
  
  

• It was actually really fun to spend a week with these cute girls. . .although I'm really glad it's over. I loved going back to Shalom- it's so beautiful up there and it was so great seeing the girls have those fun camp experiences that I had when I was their age.
  

• The group of leaders. It was really fun getting to know these ladies better.
  
• I am having a lot of mixed feelings about leaving these girls. I am so ready to move to Oregon and start living our new life. It seems like we've been waiting forever. But I also feel like I didn't get to finish what I started here in this ward. It will be hard to leave.

better late than never

Our 4th:

Parade in the morning.

We sit in the bleachers.

Perfect temperature.

McKay wants to be a police officer.

Ellery is still wiggly.

Cracker Barrell for brunch.

I guess we can call it a tradition now.

Blueberry pancakes.

Browsing the general store.

Rockin' on the front porch.

BBQ at Grandma's

Jumpin' over a rainbow.

Swinging in the hammocks.

Yummy food.

Being together.

And of course, fireworks. This year in PG.

I don't love fireworks.

Brian says I'm not American.

Gotta do it for the kids.

They loved it.

me and him

We turned twenty eight.

For Brian's birthday I didn't take any photos- my gift to him.

I had some guilt that I didn't get him any other gifts, well, besides allowing him to get his bike a few months ago. So. . .

We went shopping! It's the only time Brian buys clothes. It's becoming a tradition. Funny because Brian doesn't like to shop.

Then a yummy dinner at Olive Garden at 4:30pm. We felt like seniors citizens, and were surrounded by them.

To end the day we had cheesecake, Brian's absolute favorite, made by his Mom.

Then it was my day. And I took lots of pictures, naturally.

My birthday request- garage sale-ing. But I like Brian too much to have dragged him along. My sisters joined me, and we loved it.

I came home to a wonderful breakfast of french toast and homemade Magelby's-style syrup. I was spoiled. Spoiled enough that Brian also accompanied me throw pillow shopping, and he didn't even complain.

Jana was nice enough to host the whole family at her house for an ice cream party. I always prefer ice cream over cake, unless it's the Costco chocolate cake- I like that one.

After that, the Lehi Roundup!

Mack loved it, and has consequently been a bucking bull nearly everyday since.

This one was pretty good, but got really wiggly about half way through. It's hard to keep an almost-two-year-old in bleachers for hours at a time.

It was fun to spend a night with my family- even though our seniors and a few others didn't want to rodeo with us.



And that's it! Another year older. Another pair of birthdays together.

And Brian is getting wrinkles. I'm not, because, you know, I'm younger.

thoughts on a sunday

• I really like blogging. I am dedicated to keeping up with it because I want to be able to remember each little detail of life right now. I don't scrapbook, I don't journal. This is it. And it really works for me.


• Today I realized that my face is fat. And some other places too. And then I ate an ice cream sundae. And then I told Brian I'm going to exercise tomorrow. And then he laughed. And then I jumped on him and told him to hug me because I had just discovered that I got fat. And then he made a sound like I was too heavy. And then I laughed. But- I'm kind of really upset by this discovery.


• Ellery wore a little dress that Lindy brought back from Jerusalem. She looked really cute and really like she was in a nightgown or getting baptised. McKay wore an outfit that earned him the nickname Lumberjack. I was in a Hawaiian muu-muu type dress. Brian was about to put on his suit and then saw the three of us and decided to go more casual to match his multi-cultural clad family.


• We had a really great holiday weekend but we are tired. And the kids were in bed by 6:45 because of all the late nights this week.


• We showed our house three times this week. We are getting more used to keeping it clean all the time. McKay gets tired of me saying it's a cleaning day. And also, for some reason selling our house is making me a little obsessed with keeping our car clean. If only I had some time to myself to get in there with a toothpick and some lysol. Soon.


• We got a big little blow-up pool. All the moms around here have been talking about doing it all summer. And we finally did. And it is a huge success. It finally feels like summer.


• Ever since we went to the rodeo Ellery's favorite sentence is "horsies are awesome." It's just about the cutest thing I've ever heard and she tells most everyone.


• Ellery is into saying "I love it" for lots of things. My favorite conversation of the week:

Ellery: "Fireworks?"

Brian: "I love 'em."

Ellery: "No! Fireworks?"

Brian: "I love 'em."

Ellery "No! Fireworks?"

Brian: "I like 'em?"

Ellery: Yes "I like 'em!"

happy sunday!

how sweet

For about a week or so every time Brian left for work McKay would say, "Dad! Are you going to bring me some sweet roles when you come home?!"

We have no idea where this came from. We have no idea why he calls them sweet roles.

We have no idea why he associated Brian working with sweet roles.

but . . .

. . . yesterday Dad delivered.

And his boy was thrilled.