Owen, You're the MAN!

Spent and hour tonight trying to create a slide show for all you Owen fans out there who couldn't make it to his birthday bash today. It's great to learn new things. This really didn't turn out like I thought it would. I expected the slide show, which I had to use Picasa to create after uploading the pictures from my camera, would be embedded in the text of this post and you would be able to view it full screen. Hmmmmm. . . as you can see this is a sidebar feature and just a tad on the tiny side; put on your glasses, mom! Nonetheless it was kind of fun. (I know, it's an enviable existence when uploading photos is my entertainment) Okay, and one final note---if you go to Picasa there are captions to explain these sometimes complex, perplexing photos. I also thought the captions would be part of your blog experience.

I know many of you were hoping for a play-by-play of the Olympic Events, gold-medal winners, five-year old meltdowns and exquisite gifts but really, I'm just a little bit tired. So, we'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I do feel it imperitive that Harry has honorable mention for making his first and almost flawless cake for Owen. It was from a box, but he read the directions and executed them independently. For those who know Harry, this is the ONLY way to learn something new.

Owen, you really are the man. Thanks for gracing our lives these 5 years with your peaceful ways and boundless affection. You've always had a calming affect on us. I loved tonight when you said, "My gym teacher told me today that when we breathe like this (demonstration of hard, labored breathing) that our heart is getting stronger." You're a great listener. We should all be just a little more like you! Happy Birthday.

Whoever decided that August 20th was a reasonable day for children to return to school has forgotten how much fun it is to be a kid in the summer. Alas, I alone cannot decide when it's time to re-commence the adventure of formal education, or at least the condemnation of six hours of seatwork so last Wednesday my little chickens returned to their institutes of learning. For Owen it was his first day of kindergarten. He's slipped in under the radar since he's still only 4. (Actually he's safely before the cut-off date of Sept. 1st; his birthday is---tomorrow, but I just like using that expression 'under the radar') Madi's out to conquer 6th grade and Harry's happily into 3rd with one of his favorite teachers from last year.

This seems really uncool to admit but I'm one of those moms who rather enjoys having my children home for the summer and relish MOST days of them trundling about underfoot. I like summer reading, lemonade stands, bike rides to the park, soccer, swimming lessons, unexpected science experiments, art projects, mud cookies, letterboxing, scrabble tournaments and all the other surreptitious occurences that seem to materialize when the weather's warm and no one really has to be somewhere at a certain time. Sometimes we just talk and sometimes we just yell but stuff happens and things are said when life isn't just about what has to happen. It's a lovely turn of events to see how children behave when the pressure is off. After years of gaps in their maturity and interests Madi and Harry discovered their friendship hiding behind rivalry. Owen discovered Elliott and I think they all discovered how cool it is to have one another. I know I'm jealous as only an only child can be. I still can't escape the summer without feeling that we didn't do enough of any of the above but I think we did the summer mostly with style.

So, here they are clad in their new school duds, ready to impress or maybe to be impressed. They're perhaps more thrilled to go to school on this day than they will be for the rest of the year. I still consider the je ne sais quoi aroma of new pencils, erasers and crayons mingled together in my pencil box to be a thrilling portent of good things to come; a new friend to make, a crush to develop, cursive to learn, Shel Silverstein to discover, encyclopedias to crack open, mastery of the monkey bars, and with trepidation, the hope of growing up just a little bit more. So to all the vicissitudes that a new school year holds---here's to my chickens! In their words---'You Rock!'

a RUSH

In a moment of vanity I thought I would hop in on this celebrity photo shoot with some of Idaho's favorite multi-sport athletes. You'll notice that I'm completely dressed down but still trying to convince you that I might have been part of this great relay team that won first place. Really though, you'll have no problem spotting me in that first snapshot. I'm the one in the yellow cap who looks like I'm drowning. Thanks for the good times ladies.

You've had a birthday----shout hooray!

This post feels like it could be an acceptance speech from the Academy Awards of birthdays. I want to thank all of you who wished me well, gifted me, called me, facebooked me pedicured me, babysat for me and in any way made me feel like an excessively important person today.  I hope I return the favor on your special day.  Most of all I have to go live to let a very amazing little girl named Madi know how unbelievable and exquisite her gift was.  So, aside from the birthday-charm of these photos, you must know that the three-layer devil's food cake with vanilla-buttercream frosting was made entirely (except for a few sweeps of frosting by Scott) by Madi, a girl of many and uncommon talents. And this ain't no 'Easy-Bake' creation but rather a carefully selected recipe made with butter, unsweetened chocolate and cocoa from 'America's Test Kitchen' cookbook; made in pans lined with parchment with ingredients appropriately at room-temperature, precisely measured and perfectly blended.  Even I haven't made a cake like this. It was rich, tender flavorful and heavenly.  So try as you'd like to duplicate this, but the wizardry is really in the hands of a tiny kitchen-elf.  She is not for rent. Thanks, Madi, for a gift of heart and sustenance. Thanks to 3 little boys who showered me with kisses, lavishly suggested that I could be a model (a hand model---of course ) and added to my I-tunes collection.  (Owen, please don't accidently spend all my I-tunes money on Exit Stage Left by Rush again this year!) So, here's some pics from a great day and underscoring it all is a priceless man who always makes me feel like I could win the Academy Awards.

Oregon Optimists

You know how sometimes you just have to do something when the mood strikes you?  That's not really a good way to run a blog but obviously I've resorted to such measures.  Sporadically writing doesn't really represent the absence of activity in our lives, just maybe the inconsistency of the author of this story.  But to satisfy all of you lurkers starved for this long-awaited entry, hungry to know what's 

happening with the Galer clan, what the latest trends are in savvy, hip-homemaking: tonight is the night! Refreshed from our 9ish day vacation to the Oregon Coast here's a brisk re-cap and posting of photos.

It's always amazing how little we need to survive and how most of that can be collected in a matter of hours, crammed into plastic totes and duffels and arranged in the limited space of an 8-year old Toyota Sienna. It felt so liberating to spin off down the freeway with so little to encumber our family---just a round of rousing camp songs, car bingo and well-planned snacks. Liberation turned to confinement with each potty stop and the realization that the momentary siesta from stuff we'd created was quickly unraveling as the contents of snack baggies and backpacks made their unsightly and sticky way across the interior of our car.   Let me just say the $100 spent at Wal-mart on a little device called a portable DVD player was the most well-spent money of the entire trip.

15 hours later (I think it was 1:30am) we arrived at the beach.  Late indeed but we tumbled into the Paul's beautiful beach house in Pacific City with the relieved sense that the week held no schedules, no routines, no expectations aside from the hope of good seafood and lingering days at the beach. There was renewed bonding for all family members and we loved watching the four children play and romp and watch way too many  movies and eat more than a sensible amount of ice-cream. Everyday.

Firsts or almost firsts for each person included: Scott: No internet. Though this did induce daily walks to the library with the hope that their connection was active. Trish: Enjoying Scott cooking dinners (fish tacos included!).  Okay, maybe not a FIRST but definately worth mentioning. Madi: Making friends with a dunganess crab (see photos).  Really close friends. Harry: Loving Mo's clam chowder and making friends with a mermaid.  Really close friends. Owen: Walking the streets of Portland at 11pm at night after eating pizza in a bar. (It's a long, long story) Elliott: Everything!  It was all a bit of magic watching him see sand, sea and all of it's attendant pleasures for the first time.  'Beach! Oregon! Beach house!'

Wishing each of you could have had a moment of what we enjoyed---here's some pictures to transport you there!

Oh yes, and on the way home we were all the more wise!  Two days of driving instead of one. A hotel visit in Pendelton, Oregon, with a pool. Fewer camp songs, more movies and less looking behind me to see if the contents had exploded.  They had.

OH NO! TOO MUCH SNOW!

April in Rexburg falls hard on the expectations of those of us from slightly warmer climes. While this picture was actually taken in December near the Tetons, in April we are still greeted daily by the last remains of dirty, gray hills of snow.  Drifts of crusted snow dot the landscape reluctant to melt, reminders of  our struggle against nature and time.  We've passed Easter, General Conference and Spring Break fooling ourselves indoors in short sleeves, looking out at the gray expanse.  Such denial and expectation however breeds a lovely appreciation and keen awareness of the signs of spring. We love a dry driveway, the song of a robin, a newly found patch of grass, crocus peering up and snow squalls that melt before they touch the ground.  We love the renewal of life we feel as we celebrate the resurrection of the Savior and hope for our own ongoing rebirths in the messages of our church leaders heard this weekend at General Conference.  We love soccer, outside, in winter coats, with snow banks saving wildly kicked balls from getting too far away from us. We love any day the temperature hovers around 40. We love knowing that tennis and soccer will soon start and that school will be out just in time to really shed layers.

Weather aside, the winter here was divided into three happy epochs; pre-Rexburg Temple dedication, the Rexburg Temple Open House and it's attendant flurry of activities and post-Rexburg Temple dedication; i.e. actually attending the temple. To members of the LDS church the temple is the ultimate expression of our faith, a symbol of eternity and what we consider to be the House of the Lord.  Inside we perform ordinances that bind us for eternity as families and make covenants with God that will enable us to enter His presence after we die.  We loved taking our children inside during the Open House as they will not return again, and then only on a limited basis, until they are 12. It is almost glorious beyond description and the feeling there unparalleled with that in other earthly structures.  Elliott said Jesus ('jee-jee') for the first time in the temple.  And, as we say, 'Out of the mouth of babes,' Jesus really is of central importance in the temple and in our faith.

And now, as Harry insists we declare:  SPRINGTIME FINALLY!!