November through Maddie's eyes -

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving early, the Saturday before, by going out to eat and a movie.  We thought Bert was scheduled to be on call.

Wednesday night we were pleasantly surprised to find that we got to celebrate twice this year.
But, we'd already used our celebration budget.
So we went to play in our ward's annual Turkey Bowl for a few hours.

Then went for hot chocolate afterwards, and stopped to plank on our city's peanut.

 We came home for a round of Foosball, ping pong, Werewolf, and Resistance.

And then, per Hy's request, we picked pecans.  It happened this way:

"Hy what are you most excited for for Christmas this year?"

"Hmmm................" (Long pause - 3 mile long driving pause)

"Hy? You still there?"

"Yes, dust tink'n.  ....I tink I'm most excited for -THE NUTS!"

Snort.  "The nuts?!  What nuts?"

"Da ones we go'n to pick n crack!  Dose nuts."

"Well, Hy... you're in luck.  I think I can DO nuts.  Maybe even for Thanksgiving."

 And we finished the day by finding a Christmas tree for the Elders, and more football.

I suggest every holiday be as low stress.
I nominate Bert from here on out for all  fake, on call duties.

She's a freak'n WIZARD!

At least, I wouldn't want to be the one to discount the possibility. 

 I would never discount her, period.

When she sets her mind to something...

Poof!

Get out of the way.

She decided to cook, so she cooks WELL.

She decided to be well read, so go ahead, visit with her about any number of subjects.

Would you like to be more organized?  She could teach both you and Steve Covey a thing or two.

She hates to run, but decided to do it until she could run an actual race.

And, when the YW Personal Progress book told her to "find a talent",

and she didn't feel as if there was one to find?

She decided to MAKE ONE.

If you've watched her videos,

 or seen her photography, you know she succeeded there as well.

Like all true wizards, her true talent lies in 

MAKING THINGS HAPPEN!

 (But the most conclusive evidence that Gandalf may be a distant relative?  

She can speak and write Elvish - kid you not.

It seems to come in very handy when dealing with Easel, as seen below)

 (By the way, she took ALL of the photos above - with a timer.)

Compare them to the ones I took below
and it's apparent she's a mudblood of sorts.

Hey Maddie?

Dad and I think you are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Maddie's video - October 2013

October - so I can move on to November and December

  Dear Cache, Justin, and Jesse,

  Speaking of Dad... Yesterday he turned and asked me, "Did you buy another bundt cake for Hy's birthday?"

  I said, "Actually, yes!  I am already on top of it this time!" 

He stared at me.  He was joking.  "Seriously?  You seriously bought a BUNDT cake for a six year old's birthday?!"

I finally heard the small barb in his language and felt a tiny prick of doubt.  "...yes... is something wrong with that??" 

"Rachel, you are the Jim and Dwight of party planning.  You are FIRED from the party planning committee.  Do you know bundt cakes have a hole in the middle and that it stands for zero?  6 year olds do not appreciate bundt cakes."

".....even if they are the really good 'sock it to me' flavor, with a cinnamon glaze??...." 

So Dad began his own cake making.  He made a Sponge bob shaped cake, and I wish I could send a picture without crashing your email.  It was pretty funny.  ...and it only took him TWO WHOLE DAYS!  Maybe Dad needs to read the book, "Zero - Biography of a Dangerous Idea" so he knows just exactly how AMAZING holes are - that a Bundt with a hole makes it possible for a person not to fall into a BLACK HOLE in trying to make something that a six year old ....

Well, back up there.  I guess that's not true.  Because one particular six year old thought that Sponge bob cake was pretty spectacular ... BUT HE (Hy) ASSURED ME MINE TASTED BETTER!

  Hmm.  Okay so what else?  Actually it seems all my news this week is about Hy's birthday.  And some quotes from him.  Ready for more Hy this week?

#1.  "Hey Hy?  I can't figure out what to get you for your birthday.  Any ideas?"

"Maybe a Blue Chicken??"

#2.  Two days later Hydn asks, "What will my present be?  A Blue Chicken??" 

"Um, no.  It's not going to be a blue chicken. I can't find one."

"Did you check ALL the stores?"

"Yes."

"Well then, is it a red chicken?"

"No.  No chickens."

"A book about chickens?"

"NO. NO CHICKENS!"

"Hmm... well then.... is it a ...heart??"

BWAHAHAHAHA - Oh... if only.

 

 

#3.  I took Hydn to the park one day while Maddie and Pal went to their English class at the college.  When we pulled up there was NOBODY there.  Nobody.  I felt bad.

I said, "I'm sorry bud... it looks like it's just you and me today."  

He grinned really big and said, "THAT'S AWESOME!"  

We tried to be stunt men and go down the slide in brave ways.  I think I outscreamed him at least twice.  I tried to coax him into going down head first and backwards.  It took 20 minutes but he finally did it.  I could hear him whispering at the top, to himself... "You can DO it!  You are OLD now!  You are brave too!"  It was pretty cute.  And he didn't even mind walking me to the bathroom 3+ times - because we learned how to skip together.And he's better than all of you put together. :)

 

#4.  "Hydn, will you be good for Pal while I go pick up Calder?"

"Hmmm... well, I THINK so."

An hour and a half later I got a call from Pal that Hydn was screaming.  So I got him on the phone,

"Hy, you told me you were going to be good for Pal!"

"(blubber, blubber) No Mom, I only told you I THOUGHT I would!"

  But, now we are done with Birthday's and with quotes.  Can you believe it was 6 whole years ago when we so traumatized you with his birth? :)

Much love,

Mom

P.S. Here's my one and only Halloween shot to end your October with a bang.  Pal is Fred, or George, you can choose.  He says he'll be the other one next year.

Freedom is never free. Thank you.

And "THANK YOU" Abe and Ty,

not only for your service,

but for the very awesome hats!

...they get more use than you might suppose...

"I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry, and that's extra scary to me. There's a large out of focus monster roaming the countryside."- Mitch Hedburg

We've been hearing some pretty strange sounds lately.

I mean really strange.

And they are LOUD.

And they come at night.

....and they sound strangely primate.

 I'm tempted to believe THIS is lurking somewhere 

in our back yard.

 But, when morning comes a somewhat cooler head prevails;

and I am able to convince myself that it's

 probably something more along the lines of THIS:

(picture recently taken near Purcell, Oklahoma)

 ...Which does little to ease my fears.

Especially when I hear the local farmers chatting about how bad they are this year, 

 and how they don't dare walk further than eyesight from their house

without protection.

But, unfortunately, 

all our sleuthing and plaster casting to find

 the true culprit of our night terrors,

has done little to shed further light on the issue.

 ...Other than to make us out as complete ninnies.

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero - Marc Brown

 

This weeks Golden Nugget

The other day, on their way home from work, Calder and Bert were listening to a book on tape about John Paul Jones.  During the story it mentioned Paul Revere. Calder turned the volume down a bit and nonchalantly said, "I've not only been to his house, I've licked it too."  He then turned the radio back up so that they could hear the rest of the story, and they continued the drive without further explanation.  Later that night Bert repeated the story to me somewhat puzzled.
Next day:  "Calder, did you tell Dad you've LICKED Paul Revere's house?"
"Yes."
"Licked?"
"Yes."
"....why?"
"Lot's of people can say they've been there, Mom, but very few can ever say they've tasted it."
Bwahahaha....snort.  Gosh I love that kid!

Businessman of the year?

Well he gets my vote!
Sheer genius to have the state pay for your most effective advertising.

Just one big belly laugh-

Calder thought it would be funny

to put this absurdly large,

 copperhead snake skin in the corner of my bedroom.

 

Can you hear me laughing from there?

Hilarious.

Well, that can't be good....

Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative. -H. G. Wells

Conference grab bags are wrapped and ready for the morning and afternoon sessions today.  Each one contains a rare family favorite such as: cherry turnovers, apple cider, play doh, caramel for dipping, etc.  Whenever a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak, and after Hydn has correctly matched them to their picture, he chooses one for all of us to enjoy, who have been quiet enough for the rest of us to hear the talk.  However, .....there's a tiny little twist this year (it's probably long past due.)  Whenever a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak, and after Hydn has correctly matched them to their picture, he will choose one for all of us to enjoy, who have stayed AWAKE UNTIL THE END OF THE TALK.
The stakes are high.  We've raised the bar. This could get interesting.

I'm almost positive one learns more from the summer job to earn money for schooling - than the actual schooling itself...

Some favorite outtakes from Jesse's summer-

Dear Family!

  My goal this week is to find little things to enjoy in life.  I noticed that I find myself counting down the hours untill my shift gets off.  But, it's dumb because once you get off you eat, then go to bed, to repeat it all over. 

  So this was the list I came up with on why I like my job/day.

1.  My dinner was all yellow.

2.  Anyone can fart as loud or as deadly as they wish.  Nobody will hear or smell it in the factory (proven fact.)

3.  I will become a champion in water fights, because I don't even flinch when getting sprayed with water/blood in the face anymore.

4.  I always look forward to when Sam comes to check the freezer, cuz he always stops to say hi.

5.  Also look forward to Mario's visits.  He's the trident guy that checks the fish.  Super shy from Mexico but I really admire him.  When he checks fish we never say anything but he will smile, squeeze my arm and then do his thing.

  I'll stop there, but it's amazing after 12+ hours the things you can thing of.

My bed is top left.

   *I've been super busy and tired... and sore.  I'm bruised from head to toe.  And that's no lie.  I still have a scar on my forehead and my toes are covered in blisters.  Ha.  Last week I was able to pull 95 hours tho!  And in those 95 hours I have discovered the trick of falling asleep standing.

  *I feel like this boat is a reality tv show (that I would never care to watch), and I keep waiting for my interview.  I got things to say!

  *Because of the storm it's been an uneventful few days (work did pick back up today though.)  Even to the point where we decided to play Scrabble - which is not something I would normally do outside of family.  But I forgot where I was; I had nothing to worry about.  Nobody can spell!  Ha!  The teacher on the boat came up and saw the board and just started laughing.  Apparently it was a funny sight.  But it looked normal to all of us! ;)

 

 * I was telling Mom though that I did get to go hiking the other day.  I went with Joe.  He's shorter than me by a few inches, 25, and has a very long red beard.  He looks like a dwarf from Lord of the Rings.  There is this trail that goes up the mountain that is super steep.  There is a ladder going all the way up and a rope to hold on to.  We were in our work boots too.  So we were slipping all over.  Joe stole a steak knife from the galley and he found me an old rusty wrench on the way up the mountain.  So that was our defenses if the bear's came.

 *Oh!  I've seen two Bears!!  Yea!  It was crazy, they came right up tot he coast line next to our boat... kinda creepy cuz I like to walk that shore line.  But man, it was awesome!  The first one caught a fish and then took a nap on the beach.  The next day the other one just went back and forth on the beach.  They were SO close.  Me and Joe realized how stupid we were for going on that hike....

  *One guy came up and just stared me down and said, "You have the same eyes as my wife.   This is awkward."  Then he walks away.  Only thing he has ever said to me.  There is just so many things that I find so odd about half the things these people say and do.  It's fascinating.

 

*For work today the fish was coming slow so me and Jay were goofing around a lot.  We would find the biggest fish, wrap it around our belly's and charge at one another.  It kept us going for the 12 hours. 

P.S.  I'm getting to the point where I can think of other things besides fish while working -that's nice!  Jay gets bored too easy and can't just work and think.  So he looks to me to entertain him... hence the game above.  The other day it was 'I spy' for 3 hours.  Day before that was balance the fish by the tail (12 hours is a loong time to fill!  Love You! 

 *The town's pretty cute here and the landscape is just breathtaking.  It's beautiful!  Come to think of it I lied to you Mom, I have been on quite a few walks.  The other day one of the guys on the boat wanted to go get some coffee at the itty bitty coffee shop and then he looked at me and asked if I wanted to get a smoothie.  (The whole ship knows I'm Mormon.  Word spreads like a wild fire here - it's pretty funny.)  But the coffee shop was closed so we went to "our store" which is the funniest store ever!  It's these people's house.  So you walk in the door and it asks you to take off your shoes and then you just wander through their living room and kitchen.  They put up roll away shelves everywhere and once they close they just roll away the shelves and they are back to home!  It's super cute.

 

 *Our sacrament meetings are pretty funny.  We have all of about 6 minutes before Justin's breaks over so we run up to my room, sit on the floor, pull out this tiny stool and run through it.  We're going to start up each having a spiritual thought to make it feel not so rushed and to add something.  Last week another guy wanted to watch so that was a little weird.  He pulled out his camera and started recording.  That kinda upset me.  Mostly because I think I was sick of the world and wanted something familiar but he was ruining that.  So I kicked him really hard and he stopped. :D

 
*You know that game where there is a jar of jellybeans and you have to guess how many there are inside?  Well not sure if you knew but I sucked at that game.  That's kinda how I felt my job is while guessing the weight of the fish.  We throw them into different spots: 2-4 lb, 4-6lb, and 6-9 lbs, and I'm as good at guessing the weight as I am at those jellybeans.  Not only that but we sort the different kinds of fish as well: chum, sockeye (red), pink salmon, coho, and king.  I enjoy that part tell them apart but some of them only can tell by the silver or no silver in the tail.  And when the fish come at you so fast you have to pick one type fast.  Yeah... I'm not the best.

 

*But the part I'm worst at is finding belly burn.  Oh man!  It should turn maroon colored if it is but eh... I find it hard to spot.  Often times I just throw out a fish here and there because I know I've had to run into it a few times and hopefully get the right ones.  Or worse, I'll think I've finally figured out what it looks like so I'm throwing out more than half the fish... then I start to question if I'm looking at the right thing, cuz pretty soon it all looks belly burned.  It reminds me of Jenny when she asked me to cut her split ends.  After 10 minutes she had to pull the scissors out because it all looked the same to me.

  But on a good note, I can't be that bad because the lady said I became an official grader today.  So moving up in the world ;)

 *The cooks - one hates me... or everyone, but I swear he just glares me down and the other one is in love with me and brings me my favorite cookies.  Or asks what my favorite chip is and sure enough, that's what we will all have for lunch the next day.

 *I'll admit, I'm going to miss being treated like a princess.  Even if it's a boat full of fishermen.

Don't count your chickens... Just don't.

Dear Missing Children,

   One of the highlights of the week has been that I got some chickens.  Did I tell you this already?  They have the cutest little house.  I'm in love with it.  But Hydn is actually in love with the chickens themselves.  He watches them ALL. DAY. LONG.  That is not an exaggeration.  He goes out even in 108 degree humidity heat, and he and Easel watch them intently.  They are as fascinated with them as you once were with pandas or sloths.   However, I think Easel has more sinister intentions than mere fascination.  Anyway, since there are four of them, all of the kids that were home got to name one - and Pal two.  Pal's names are:  'Bette' and 'Claude'.  Maddie's chicken is: 'Strider', and Hydn's is my favorite: 'BE STRONG!'  (Said with extra emphasis.)


Dear Cache,
  This week has brought us some tragic news....  I left the chicken coop door open and the next morning when I went out to check them before anybody got up I found, much to my dismay, that 'BE STRONG!' was missing!!  In her wake she left a trail of feathers for me to follow to her unfortunate demise.  I was panic stricken.  "Seriously?  BE STRONG had to be the one to pay the price of my negligence?!  Was this some kind of ironic joke???"  I was dreeeaaadddiiinnnggg the confession I would have to make when Hydn woke up.  I quickly text Dad and asked if he had a spare (white) chicken hanging around the clinic.  I told him to call out for 'BE SALVATION' and see if he heard an answering cluck - You never know, cuz I'd been praying awfully hard!  No such luck.  Aunt Jane said she had a whole flock of 'BE SALVATION'S' but unfortunately she wasn't sure they could make the 2,000 mile trek.  It was up to me to buck up and take responsibility.  What I underestimated was the Ellsworth gene.  I haltingly told him the news, but was only given a shoulder shrug and a "meh- circle of life" look in response.  Just in case though, I let him help me make Snickerdoodles that afternoon.  He even got to squish them.  So  ... we're all good! (and these photos make me laugh every single time, from the three legged dog chasing the boy, to the boy chasing that running, squawking, chicken's butt.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.)


Dear Calder,
  As I was sitting here contemplating life, and death, and 'BE STRONG', it occured to me just how truly fitting the initials BS were for him. I thought maybe you would enjoy comtemplating it too.

Dear Mom,
Wow.  You have very deep thoughts.

Dear Calder,
  I know, right?  Thank you for noticing.
 

Jesse - no worries - we have a new 'Be Strong'

Dear kids,
  Because every chicken deserves to be rocked in the morning-

Love,
Mom and Hy