What!

RIP G-Unit

2011-06-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

We had to put Gunner down last weekend. It was sudden and sad. The house seems so different without him in it. Ezra's been looking for him lately too. We will miss him and always remember him each Memorial Day Weekend.

I've been busy

2011-05-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

I really have been meaning to post. I've also been meaning to take more pictures but things are busy in our house right now. Here's what we've been up to:

-Dusty is finishing up his Master's...one more month!
-Ezra has entered the terrible two's. We had a couple rough weeks but have been cracking down with lots of time outs.
-I work full time. 'Nuff said.
-Dusty's been busy with music stuff at church.
-We've had visits and visitors from afar. (Seattle and PDX)

Here are things we are excited about:

-We are signing up EZ for SoccerTots this summer. It's an indoor soccer program for toddlers.
-Awesome Boise weather.
-School being out for summer!
-Hamlin Family reunion
-Hamlin Family campout
-Next weekend with the Camps, Yosts, Marstons and Davis' at WFR Creekside for family camp.

new curtains and dining table

2011-03-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

Although we moved into our new house over 6 months ago, we are still in the process of decorating and getting more fitting furniture. Our big purchase thus far has been our super awesome dining set. I like that it seats 8 when we have people over for dinner. There is a butterfly leaf and we have two more chairs to fit a gathering. Love it!

Our other purchase to help complete our main room is the curtains. We (by "we" I mean "I") thought a lot about how to cover these HUGE windows. We finally decided to do curtains and I loved these ones (and loved the price). They are from West Elm which is a daughter company of Pottery Barn but is more modern. They have stores all over but the closest one to me is in Portland.

Pics of my little boy being cute.

day in the life...

2011-02-11T09:44:00.000-08:00

Mr Clean, Mr. Clean

2011-02-08T14:25:00.000-08:00

Our new house has beautiful white baseboards, trim and doors. When building the house, I chose white (instead of dark taupe or even light taupe) because I like how clean and classic white can be (that's racist). Now that we have a crazy energetic toddler, our white baseboards and doors have taken a beating (toy tracker wheel scratches, pen marks, smudges from push toys). I wanted our home to look new for AT LEAST a year but that didn't seem possible with all the smudges we were getting.

All that to say, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is awesome for getting all that stuff off my walls, baseboards, hardwood floors, ect with minimal effort. It truly is magic.

(I promise I'm not getting paid for this endorsement.)

Another Update for my friends

2011-01-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

(Before I post, let this be clear. Don't comment if you don't have anything encouraging to say. It does upset me on this subject.)

Lacey (sister) wrote today:
Not far from what we anticipated, though, it's clear the jury didn't understand there were two knives and one was open. Thanks, Seattle Times for mucking that up. Good news is that these findings probably aren't enough for the King County Prosecutor to press criminal charges against Ian, though a civil suite against the City is possible. Other good news: the Fire Arms Review will likely be re-evaluating their determination that Ian's actions were unjustified due to the new evidence: the second, open knife and the medical examiner's testimony that his arm was raised.

Got to meet a few members of the family - they were very, very kind and are praying for our family. They've asked we not mention his name anymore so his spirit can be at peace.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Update on Ian

2011-01-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

Please continue to Pray for Ian and his family this week. As most of you know, the officer involved in the shooting of the Native American woodcarver was a dear friend of mine from SPU.

His sister sent me this email today (I'm going to edit out names so this can't be found on a google search):

Thanks for your prayers, Kara - they are definitely helping :). I don't have an answer to where you can get more accurate information on how Ian's inquest is going, so I'll give you the quick run-down:

The inquest is going as well as it possibly could. Ian testified Tuesday and Wednesday, and he was perfectly calm, clear, articulate, professional, and credible. More than anything, it was incredibly cathartic for him to finally have a chance to tell the public what happened from his perspective, since he hasn't been allowed to do that thus far.

The prosecuting attorney, Tim F., is the definition of the word 'a-hole'. The first question he asked Ian was how many times he practiced his testimony, which is, of course, a violation of Ian's Attorney-Client Privilidge (which is his civicl right) to answer. The judge is having none of his BS - he's had to stop the proceeding several times each day to talk to him at the bar. It seems to me Ford is very close to being held in contempt of court. Twice he has tried to introduce evidence that has not been cleared by the court. All this is just fine, really, because you can even tell the jury is sick of him, and doesn't find him respectable or credible at all.

The difference between Ford and Ian's attorney, Buck, is like night and day. He's doing an amazing job of representing Ian. Ian thinks the world of Buck, and Buck thinks the same of Ian.

There's one other attorney in the court room - Melinda Y. - who is representing neither party, but rather King County. Her job is to just get all the facts out of each witness and make sure they're clear to the jury. She's done her job also exceedingly well; the facts are bubbling up and the BS is sliding away.

Each of the points that the Times has mentioned as significant (i.e., that Ian didn't call for back-up; whether or not he stopped completely before Williams' turned around to face him; the knife being closed; etc.) have all been fairly clearly and easily refuted.

There are 26 witnesses still to testify, which means the inquest will likely go through next Tuesday. Once they're done, the jury will deliberate and each will individually answer 13 or so questions about the incident, from "Did John W. die on August 30, 2010?" to "Was Officer justified in his actions". Their answers will go to the judge, who will make a recommendation to the King County Prosecuter, Dan S. (thankfully, a Christian man), who will make the ultimate decision whether or not the County will file criminal charges against Ian.

The incident is being reviewed entirely seperately by SPD, who will make their own determination about whether or not Ian's actions were justified, and whether or not he will keep his job and/or face any penalties.

Camille and our families are doing fine. The media shit show is harder on us than it is on Ian, whom you know has never cared at all what the media says about anything.

All-in-all, we're feeling good. As much as the media has done its job disgraceful, the judicial system is doing its job perfectly.

xmas pics....finally

2011-01-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas in Portland with Dusty's sister Kelly and her fam. Thankfully, she took pictures during our time there.

EZ probably loves Chloe the most. He loves to follow her around and she is so good with him.

Cousins!

EZ enjoyed playing with the boxes.

EZ loves trucks so he was very excited to get this one from the Galgan clan.

Ezra stepping on one of my presents.

Fuh-baah! (one of his favorite words)

My Christmas Home

2010-12-15T08:26:00.000-08:00

Snow and Other Things

2010-12-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the heavens opened up and dumped a ton of snow! School was cancelled which is big news in Boise since there have only been 3 school day closures from snow since 1994. Because of the cancellation, Dusty was home to shovel the driveway/sidewalk and show EZ the snow ropes.

EZ seemed to like the snow. He got stuck in it a few times though since the snow went up to his upper thigh.

Ezra made the cutest turkey hat at Leanne's house (his daycare provider). It now only has one eye though.

plus 20

2010-11-24T07:12:00.000-08:00

Menu Monday

2010-11-16T13:24:00.000-08:00

Monday- Hot Dogs w/ LifeGroup

Tuesday- Beef Stroganoff
-1 can cream of mushroom soup
-1 can milk
-1/2 lb ground beef
-4 cups egg noodles
- 1/2 sour cream

Wednesday- CrockPot Pot Roast
-w/ carrots and red potatoes

Thursday- Fried Egg Sandwiches
-2 medium fried eggs (per sandwich)
-bread
-mayo and mustard
-cheddar cheese

Friday-Spaghetti w/ Meat Sauce
(1/2 lb ground beef mixed with Prego Traditional Sauce)

Saturday- Teriyaki Chicken & Rice
Rice in rice-cooker
Lawry's 30 min Teriyaki sauce

padres in boise

2010-11-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

My parents came to Boise last weekend. We went to the zoo on Friday and EZ loved it! On Saturday and Sunday Dusty had class so my parents helped me a lot by lovin' on EZ. We can't wait until they come back next month!

Ninja Frog

2010-11-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin patches having really evolved since I was a child. It used to be a place where you go and cut a pumpkin off a vine. Now it's a maze, corn box, a corn shooter, petting farm, cow tractor, hay palace and pig races! (All for the low price of $10 an adult :/)

Grocery Update

2010-10-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

It's the 20th of October and we are out of our $260 grocery money. The good thing is that I think we can make it with the groceries we have in stock. We have milk, diapers, chicken, rice, veggies, fruit, and miralax. We have the essentials and I'm gonna try and MAKE IT WORK (Tim Gunn).

Here's how we kept the costs down this month with food:

-no beer

-no one-time snacks

-cheap dinners

-used tuna a lot

-frozen veggies

-target brand diapers

-pert plus shampoo/conditioner

Also, we haven't gone to Target this month so I know that's saved us $200! (That's my real weakness.)

With these changes we've made, we can now build our savings back up and be more generous with our giving. Hopefully we can stick with this!

the boys

2010-10-14T12:21:00.001-07:00

Gunner doesn't usually let EZ get this close. In fact, this is probably the closest EZ has got w/o me being there to hold Gunner still. Gunner doesn't care for Ezra much which is too bad since Ezra loves him. Ezra loves to watch him eat his food and has been giving him doggy treats all this week. I think Gunner will start to like EZ more now that he knows that EZ is the "treat-giver".

Ez gets frustrated

2010-10-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

EZ is a great little boy. He is mostly a happy-go-lucky kid but sometimes he gets frustrated. I happened to have caught one of these moments over the weekend.

Dusty enters the professional rap game

2010-10-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Dusty and his friends (the Brians) made a rap video at the request of Simplot. They played it at their sustainability conference.

15 months

2010-10-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

List of words he can say:

Night-Night

Woof

Ball

Bubble

Daddy

Uh Oh

Kitty

Doggy

15 Month Appointment:

21lbs and 7oz

32 inches

first grocery trip

2010-10-01T06:31:00.000-07:00

Where: Walmart (I wish you guys could see the difference in the Boise Walmarts...less crowds and the crowds are "better")

$ spent: 59.71

Things purchased:

Milk

Bread

Shampoo/Conditioner

Body Wash

lots of yogurt

green beans

romaine lettuce

breakfast bars

cereal

pasta

pasta sauce

cheese

brownie mix

jello pudding

lots of tuna

pop

mandrin oranges for EZ

turkey slices

I think this will last for a week. We may need another milk tip.

$260 a month might be a little low but my husband likes cheap meals just as much as fancy ones. He prefers tuna melts to fancy steak meals. I think I have that in my favor. Also, we don't buy organic and once summer is over and fresh produce isn't cheap anymore, I buy canned veggies and frozen veggies. No shame in my game.

I'll keep updating you with my progress.

Ca$h Mon3y

2010-09-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

As October starts, Dusty and I will be embarking on a new system. We will now be using cash only for groceries and entertainment. We have not been keeping track of how much we are spending in these categories and I suspect our lax attitudes have caused us to spend almost 1K a month between these 2 categories. Not good and a little embarrassing.

Since I do 85% of the grocery shopping this will be a big test to me to see if I can feed our family (and friends) for $260 a month.

The cash doesn't really flow like it used to now that Dusty's getting his Masters. We really have to be diligent about careful spending.

Do any of you use the cash system? What are some helpful tips you can give me?

fireplace reveal

2010-09-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

When we built this house we had no idea our builder was going to build us a giant fireplace. We were pleasantly surprised. Although we love this large fireplace/mantle, it has presented us with decorating issues.

We didn't have any art that wouldn't get swallowed by the hug mantle. We thought about putting a tv up there but it would just be too high for comfortable viewing.

We turned to All Posters to get art we both liked (another challenge to mutually agree). After weeks of browsing, we settled on this Ford Smith painting. We are very pleased.

Office

2010-09-22T11:18:00.001-07:00

This is our office that we've been working on since we moved in. Dusty and his dad built this awesome desk. I love having a handy husband! I send a lot of time in this office since I work from home so it's nice to have a "cool office".

9-20-10

2010-09-20T10:37:00.001-07:00

EZ is FULL of energy these days. He's constantly climbing on everything, pushing our furniture all over the house, chasing our dog, and running from room to room.

He loves blowing on this whistle although it really hurts the ears of the dogs.

Ezra's coordination is getting a lot better. He can finally put the shapes in the correct holes.

Since EZ is down to one nap, lunch time can be hard for a tired little boy.

I think I have the cutest toddler...I KNOW!