The Torrent

Note: For those of you who read the Hoeneses' blog, this is the same story with the same pictures, so proceed only if you want a repeat :)

We went with our friends on a hike yesterday. They intelligently left both their children in the care of others since it was almost 8 miles round trip, including crossing water a number of times. We left Adie with a babysitter because she is too heavy to put in a hiking backpack, but too slow to be fun to hike with. We took Chase with us, however, because he's not a big fan of bottles (thus not fun to leave with people for a very long time), and we thought it would be easier to pack him and feed him as needed. This was not a good choice, as will be illustrated in the following story and pictures.

First, I must confess that we knew the weather forecast called for a 90% chance of rain at our destination of Sabino Canyon. However, knowing that we live in the very arid desert and it's not monsoon season, we figured the rain would be short and sweet or a mild drizzle at most. We dressed warmly, even brought a rain jacket and set out. Ok, it was suggested by pretty much everyone else that we could / maybe should do something else, considering we had a 6-month-old with us, but I thought we could weather whatever the elements had to throw at us. Oh how wrong I was, and how horrible of a mother I felt like just a short time later.

The rain did start falling about mile into our hike, but it was a drizzle and it was still fun to hike. It was really fun to actually see a naturally-occurring body of water in the Tucson area. They are few and far between. We kept going onward and upward, and even crossed the river once. As we were crossing, the rain really picked up and we decided shortly thereafter that maybe we shouldn't go any further so we turned back around. I don't know how far up we had gone because the hike felt short on the way up. The way back seemed like an eternity though. We were soaked to the bone. The wind kicked up and, at one point, it even started hailing. All the while, we had exhausted every last blanket, jacket and towel trying to keep poor little Chase as warm and dry as we could. Our efforts were in vain. It was a literal torrent. Chase was screaming bloody murder. I am sure it was the coldest he's ever been in his life. I don't know how long he was crying because time seems to stand still in moments like those but we kept pressing forward. Brett ran ahead to find some help or at least get the car from the back of the parking lot and get it warmed up for our return. Many silent prayers were offered by all of us, I am sure. At one point I had a towel draped over my head and covering Chase while my friend led me down the hill. That didn't last long because the arm Chase was in was giving in. The kid is over 20 lbs now. I also spent some of the time trying to walk backward to shield Chase from the elements. When we were probably still about a mile out, a ranger came in a truck and was our knight in shining armor. We were rescued at last. Chase calmed down almost immediately. The ranger explained that this kind of storm was very uncommon, but it's an El Nino year and sometimes these storms do occur. He was going up to rescue poor souls like us because of the danger of flash flooding.

Needless to say, I really felt like an extremely terrible mother. I wanted to do more for Chase but couldn't. At the same time, I was pretty calm because I knew the ordeal wasn't going to kill any of us and it would be over soon, even if we had to have walked the whole way back. I am sooo grateful we didn't have to though. Anyway, we want to try the hike again. The part we did do was really fun but we will make sure the forecast doesn't call for rain, we'll bring our river shoes and we won't bring any kids. Lesson learned!

Before the adventure began. We are still dry and smiling.

Here we are starting the hike at our first small water crossing. You can see how we were bundled up nicely. Chase even had gloves on. Just above this point, on the way back, is where the ranger rescued us. He pointed out to me that the water crossing the bridge had become muddy which is a sign of possible flash flooding.

Our first and last real river crossing. We took such great care not to get our shoes wet. Ha! Like that ended up mattering. Right after this, is when the rain really picked up.


Trying the keep the babe warm and dry. This was when it was still somewhat possible.

Even in times like these, there is still some romance.

Here's our little trooper. We had stopped at a sheltered bench for a time before setting out again. It was shortly after that that the wind and hail started coming and Chase really made his discomfort known.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

I haven't been much in the mood to blog lately, but I've got some extra time this morning, so I thought I'd share a few recent things that have made me happy.

I had some money sent to me for my birthday and Amazon was having a sale, so I invested in a movie I know will get plenty of playing time over the years (as long as Brett is not in the room). Local friends, please let me know if you need a Mr. Darcy fix. I am sure we can have a movie day.

I love to see the daily progress of the beginnings of our garden. I know very little about gardening, but I have about 70 square feet of garden with which to learn. I am so excited for the learning process, and hopefully we'll be able to eat lots of fresh veggies and herbs the year. You can see through the window in this picture a small part of the patio Brett put in for us around Christmas time. This patio also makes me very happy. He did a wonderful job putting it in and we will soon have the backyard in a done enough state to share some photos. I can't wait!

This is a common sight when I get home from running in the mornings. Chase is sometimes awake when I leave and Brett isn't too interested in fully waking up yet, so he let's Chase play in the bed until he falls back asleep. You can definitely tell they are related. Chase is a chip off the old block if you ask me. And yes, the yellow thing Chase is wearing is a giant swaddle blanket - the Woombie, mega baby size. I bought it in an attempt to get him to sleep though the night. Turns out it probably made things worse not better, but Chase does like his legs swaddled still, so that's why you see him wearing it like so.

This is what I found when I went to check on Adie during her quiet time. Actually, it was even cuter before I went to get the camera because her beloved green shirt, which you can see tucked behind her head, was covering her entire head and face. By the time I got back up with the camera she had moved it.




Adie can only watch a select few things on Sundays, one of them being the movie The Prince of Egypt. We love to listen to this song and dance around the house.

Turn off Buzz *updated

As usual I have an opinion. And as usual, I'm going to share it. Google's gone too far this time.

Google just released a new tool called Buzz. It's trying to be the next, better social networking tool. I have purposefully avoided Facebook and Myspace because I really don't like having all that information running around out there. It's too unpredictable. In fact, I've even considered having a private blog, but haven't made the decision to go there yet.

The problem with Buzz is that if you are a Gmail user (like everyone I know is) they opt you in by default. They change some of your privacy settings and automatically try to connect you to more people. I have just one thing to say about this. Turn Buzz off. Seriously. Google's gone too far. You are likely sharing my information/email address right now. And your mom's. And your siblings. And the information of the guy you emailed a couple times about a textbook.

Now some of this depends on how much information given Google already along with your profile setup. But this does affect many of you reading this post. Here's a link to another blog/rant about it: link It goes into it in more detail about what's actually going on. And here's a link that actually steps through everything you need to do to eliminate Buzz: link. (thanks cnet!)

And if you have read this and genuinely want to remove Buzz from your life, at the bottom of your Gmail inbox, there's a link to "turn buzz off", click it. And then encourage everyone you know to turn it off too. Google's just gone too far this time in auto-sharing this information.

Ignorance is Bliss

If you want to keep eating your food in peace, please don't read The China Study, which I have mentioned previously. And, please don't watch Food, Inc. I just watched it this afternoon. I've been meaning to do it for some time now. It made me mad, it made my cry and it makes me all that much more excited about having my own garden, planted w/ non-GMO heirloom seeds (seedlings sprouting currently!). I wish I could grow all my food and control it from seed to our family's mouths. Sometimes, I wish I lived in a simpler time period, in an agrarian society (w/ indoor plumbing, of course).

In any case, as with all documentaries, it's biased, but it does raise some disturbing and interesting points. I don't agree with all the politics it calls for, but I do like that it highlights how much of a oligarchical fascist country we've become. Goodbye democratic republic :( I had already read quite a bit about what was presented, but it was nice to see it all put together poignantly and succinctly.

When it comes to what you eat, ignorance is bliss. However, please remember, for those of you believing LDS out there, Joseph Smith did say we can't be saved in ignorance. Let's all be more educated about all our choices. Every food we put in our mouth is causing chemical reactions within our bodies for either good or ill, affecting our health in ways we probably don't often realize, not just our weight or shape. I want to be make more informed food choices, hence my obsession in the last year or so with reading and researching food and nutrition. It's hard to break out of the system, but if we all start doing it, it's possible we'll see change (that is if we can take on Monsanto - boo!).

Has anyone seen the movie? Any dissenting view points? I am curious what others think about our current food situation in the US.

Two Blog Posts I Love

I have way too many subscriptions in my reader, but I love them all. Why else would I have them, after all? Reading blogs is my time-wasting weakness these days. These two posts made me very happy and reminded me, yet again, why I "waste my time" in the blogosphere.

The first is actually my sister-in-law's blog and it makes me happy because it's showing the bag she made me for my birthday. Go check it out here. It's so super cute. She's a talented gal. In fact, her whole blog showcases her wonderful creative talents. She explains where she got the original pattern for the bag and what she did to modify it. If you have sewing skills, you'll want to see and make this.

The second post is from the nie nie dialogues. I am sure a lot of you already read her. Her story is amazing and sad all in one, but her blog is so inspiring. (Really quick synopsis in case you haven't heard of her - she and her husband were in a plane crash about a year and a half ago. She was burned very severely and is now disfigured, but always having surgery to try and salvage what they can of her skin and body. She is in almost constant pain, but still tries everyday to be the best wife and mother to four small children that she can be). Anyway, this post by her was especially touching, I thought.

And heck, while I am at it, I should mention my other sister-in-law is also extremely creative and talented, as in extremely amazing sewing skills. She has an etsy shop and often posts her projects on her blog. This is one of the incredible things she made and sold. If you can dream it, she can sew it.

Yay for talented and inspiring people!

Our Little Girl

Our little girl is not so little anymore. A couple of weeks ago she celebrated her third birthday. It's incredible how fast that sneaks up on you. Her birthday celebration spanned a couple of weeks, starting with having a delicious apple cake and opening gifts from my mom while she visited for the MLK holiday. On her actual birthday we had banana chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, opened some more presents and went some friends' house for dinner where she got another cake and some singing. The next day we took her to see the Frog and the Princess. Then, a week later, we had some neighbor friends over for cake and ice cream. She had requested a pink cake. I decided to do a pink crayon cake since she loves to color and draw and it sounded easy enough for this non-cutesy crafter type person to make and decorate. Turns out, even a simple crayon was a little much for me so it didn't turn out like I had envisioned, but Adie was happy with it, so I guess that's what counts. I am thinking, in the future, our children will just be getting normal sheet cakes, or brownies, if they prefer (I do). For her birthday, we made her an upholstered bed that we saw previously on the design mom blog. I also sewed her some pj's and a quilt. Well, the quilt is still in process. There isn't so much time for quilting or sewing around here. When the quilt is complete, I'll post a picture of all her new sleeping ensemble here. In the mean time, here are some pictures of the many celebrations.

Opening gifts from Grandma
Thanks, Grandma!
This is what it's all about!
Helping make pancakes. Adie doesn't mind doing a little work on her birthday.
Adie's pancake-making assistant. I just had to throw this one is because this is usually how Chase helps when food is being prepared, and as long as he is staying content it is helpful.
I promise I am excited, guys. I just barely woke up though!
Let's check out the loot.
The cake. I promise my vision was much prettier!
Can you tell Adie is excited to blow out her candles?
She needed a little assistance from Dad to get the job done.

Happy Birthday, Adelaide! We have loved having you a part of our lives these last three years!

He's a Solid Kid!

I don't know how big Chase is for sure, but recent tries at weighing him on our scale peg him at the 20 - 22 lb mark. He'll be six months in the middle of February. At his 4 month appointment he was 17 lbs, so it's definitely a known fact that he's a solid kid, but actually the point of this post is to tell the world (or mostly grandparents) that Chase just had his first solid food today.

I was going to wait until he was 6 months, not that that is an actual magical number, but I am just not really in a hurry to add one more thing to the routine. However, the kiddo isn't sleeping so well these days. It seems after Thanksgiving he gave up that sleeping through the night habit and I can count on one hand the amount of times he's gone an 8-hour stretch w/o eating since then. I have decided to see if giving him solid food will fix that problem because revisiting swaddling, letting him cry, etc. aren't helping. Besides, he's seemed to show interest in other foods, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

We (I say we because Adie is my ever faithful assistant) gave him some carrots today for lunch and it was a success. The kid ate them right up. Because Brett is at work, I wasn't sure how well I could document the event, and I am trying to be better about that, so I gave some of the photography job to Adie. I think she did well documenting the event. Take a look.



In other Chase news...he has rolled over a few times from his stomach to his back, but I don't think it's a conscious decision, more just out of frustration. He's been rolling to his side from his back for about a month and a half. I keep thinking he'll get the rest of the way any day now, but he doesn't seem to be in a hurry. Our kids don't excel at becoming mobile quickly. They are good sitters though. Adie was sitting by herself before 6 months, and Chase has been sitting independently for a few weeks now. He also absolutely loves the exersaucer (Hallelujah!), being outside and being entertained by Adie.