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!!

Candy bandits, Halloween thugs, Spirits of the Night----they were really cute! Actually October 31st, 2007 probably made Halloween history for the Galer family. Not only were all costumes completed before Halloween, trick-or-treating was almost all completed before dark (thank you for the extension on daylight savings!) two neighborhoods canvassed and the intake of delectable chocolate treats was large enough that children were easily coerced into parting with Reeses, Almond Joys and M&Ms without us having to sneak them on the sly. And, as you can see from the picture the weather was mild, for Rexburg, defined as no wind, no snow and temperatures above 30 (at least when we began). Highlights included watching the adorable and fearless sea monster who quickly followed his big sibs to doorsteps begging for treats, happy to consume them still in their foil and paper wrappers. The best spook awards went to the two seemingly stationary monsters seated outside of one house that suddenly sprang to life when Harry touched their arm, and the spook alley at Atkinsons, scary enough to bring Elliott to tears. And the best quote of the evening was from Owen, who, wearing thin on formalities dispensed with the traditional 'Trick-or-Treat' salutation to simply asking, 'So, what kinds of candy do you have?' The evening ended with our tradition of sharing a fabulous bowl of Helene's split-pea soup with the Benevidez family, at our house, bread and salad, but, come on, who are we fooling? The main course of the evening (the early evening, late evening and the next morning) was CANDY! Harry has shown forth much fiscal savvy and self-control as he sold his candy to Scott for $5 after eating a few favorites claiming (a bit unbelivably) that he didn't want to get a cavity!

I have 3 e-mail accounts. I set the last one up on my own. I check my e-mail daily and I even respond to personal messages in a timely fashion. I know how to forward e-mails, do bcc, cc and I'm pretty certain I know what a jpeg is. I've uploaded pictures to wal-mart and my cell-phone is usually charged. I even learned recently how to answer my voice-mail. Things really got crazy this week when Scott set up my facebook page, complete with questionable political views on my profile and a dreadful and unapproved photo of me after the RUSH triathlon. Honestly all of this is a little empowering for this stay-at-home mother of four with a lapsed teaching certificate. So while I usually defer to Scott to lead my hand through cyberspace today I decided I was just going to do this blog thing on my own.

Here's a little photo of my children outside the remarkable Salt Lake Public Library this summer. L-R: Owen (4), Harry (7), Elliott (1) and Madi (9). They're all really adorable, especially when captured in the quiet stillness of a photograph, although I think you can sense just a bit of their energy. Their gain in energy seems always to be my loss!

This morning after a 5:15 run I hurried to get everyone ready for school---dropped Madi off at the Middle School for Fiddle Club, ran Harry and Owen to the Book Fair at the elementary school, bought books, dropped Owen off at Preschool, ran back to the middle school to hear Madi fiddle for a little Halloween concert (she's quite the virtuoso) and then back to home to dress-up Elliott for the Halloween story time at the library, back to the preschool for their mini-bake sale (4 pumpkin cookies made by a bevy of chubby preschool hands and 4 quarters later) and then off to the storytime with two little boys. Home to clean up the morning mess and take a breather until 5pm. The dawn of Halloween. We plan to trick-or-treat in two neighborhoods which means I'll be on candy elimination patrol for the next couple of days. We've got one sea-monster, two jedi-warriors and 'Red' from the movied Hoodwinked in tow. Photos to be posted---soon.

So whether you enjoy reading this or it's just a little page of our family's story I'm looking forward to keeping up this newest dive into the technology pool.