Back on Monday...

...I took these pictures of my kids. During James' morning snooze, I traced the girls with sidewalk chalk on the back patio, and they colored themselves in (except Heidi wanted me to make her face and hair--Addie did her own AND made a sunshine over them).Heidi & Addie posing with "Heidi & Addie"
Sweet Adeline coloring the sun
Addie shows off her big sun; Heidi eats uncooked Ramen (her favorite). Oh, and I think this is the first pic we have posted of her sassy new bob.
Heidi shows off her drawing and refuses to smile
A close up of the details Addie drew on her portrait.
...and we had so much fun, we woke up our sleepyhead (who also got a haircut)...
G'mornin', James Ole!


***

Also, later that night I had a movie date with Rich and we watched "Breach." It was very interesting--I remembered Hanssen's arrest but didn't understand the depth of his treason. Alos, I had heard the he was or once was LDS, but was relieved (is that wrong?) to find out he was a Catholic, a member of Opus Dei. I think Eric O'Neil had one of the scariest jobs in the world. No wonder he left the FBI to practice law! I think the FBI or CIA would be hard on a marriage--I am suprise so many folks there are married.

Anyway, I highly recommend the film and suggest you give a little listen to this interview with the REAL Eric O'Neil from NPR's "Fresh Air" show (I love that show--Terry Gross usually has great guests, but I don't like her as much as I like Robin Young on "Here & Now."). Also, here's some fun trivia: The day Hanssen was busted was the morning after our wedding: Sunday, Feb. 18, 2001. So while his life was unravelling in DC, ours was just beginning in CA--we were waking up at the La Jolla Marriott, getting some fabulous breakfast, heading to Escondido to return Rich's tux and enjoy the honeymoon. Hmmm.

Yo

Waasup, my Kramer?

I am fixin' to have a post-FHE date with my hubby, but I wanted to point you toward my new Personal History Series now playing at Framanisco (click). I'll be hangin' out there for a while with some stops here to post photos and other wacky Melin Miscellany. Do enjoy.


PS: Did anyone catch that Matthew Fox episode of SNL in December when teh Jackson/Sharpton duo appeared on Weekend Update and replaced "The N Word" with "Kramer"? It pretty much slayed me..."Kramer, please..."

Grubby

Here's a video of James on Tuesday...can you hear him try to say "Nana"?



Bananas & Nutella Facial from MelinFamily and Vimeo.

All Kinds of Mayberry Fun

Aunt Marti & Brent Mayberry came to visit us on August 25-27. They arrived on Wednesday afternoon and we ate a yummy (petersen) chicken bacon salad with red onion dressing, and then we went to The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. First we saw a planetarium show about constellations, then Heidi wanted to show them the dinosaurs and the Egyptian Discovery room. While we were sitting on a big bench building a triceratops, Addie jumped up and the bench tipped over. It dumped me, then landed on my leg. Here's what the bruise looks like today, five days after the incident. EWWWWW!!! It looks way worse than it feels. Anyway, Rich met us there after work and then we all went bargain hunting at Old Navy to pass the time until our Stake Pioneer Day celebration commenced at Bogert Park in Bozeman. The lines for food were insane, but we had a good time and got to go swimming afterward (Marti, Brent and I watched while Rich wrangled the kids). We headed home with a van full of sleepyheads around 10pm.

Ewww, a huge bruise on my calf.
Heidi, JamesO, Daddy & Ad in the Bogert Park pool
Caitlyn Stoen, state champion swimmer, giving Heidi some swimming tips.
On Thursday, I took the girls to swimming lessons and Marti and Brent stayed home with James. When I came home, we hung out for a while and then decided to go to Pickle Barrel for lunch. We had planned on floating the river that day, but it barely got up to 70-dgrees and it was cloudy all day. So instead, we decided to have a bonfire after dinner and make s'mores and homemade ice cream. We went down by the beach on the ranch and watched the sun set (at nearly 10pm). The river was higher, colder and muddier than it had been the week before, darn it. I guess we were really lucky to go when we did last week! (The International Flyfishing Federation Conclave is taking place this week in Livingston--cuz a river runs through it, doncha know--and my hotel is full of fishermen from all over the world--lots from Nova Scotia and Scotland--and they are all quite grumpy about the river being so muddy).

There was a wreck as we headed home and we couldn't see what happened. Here's an update for ya: A woman driving a Durango hit a piece of farm equipment (a wide load) going nearly 70mph on Mill Creek bridge about 2 miles from the ranch. She lived but they had to jaws-of-life her out of her truck after it rolled down the river bank. There was an environmental newsflash about toxic chemicals getting into the river from the damaged equiment the next day, too. Too bad!

Addie on Brent's lap making ice cream with our Ice Cream ball

Heidi Lynners being herself.

Smiley James Ole (who waved for the first time at Brent)

Hangin' out with Auntie M
The view of the river and our little circle.
Aunt Party roasting her marshmallows for s'mores.

Thanks for coming, Mayberrys! We LOVED having you and wish you could stay FOREVER! Come back soon and bring Ralphy on a Yellowstone adventure!

Family Night

I had to work on Monday night, so we did FHE on Tuesday this week. We talked about Baptism and Sacrament and how we behave and "REMEMBER" (think about Jesus) during Sacrament meeting. To top it all off, we played the Memory game (to practice remembering) from the June Friend Magazine. It was fun and you can make your own memory game by clicking here and loading up your color printer with cardstock. Here's the gang playing memory for the third time.
James is seriously saying "Cheese!"--it' comes out like "EEEEEZ" but he does it everytime he sees the camera. It's hilarious. He also says "Car" like "CAH"--a little New England accent.
When I say "Make a silly face," this is what I get.
My twins born five years apart--Addie & James Ole.
They even have that same little blue vein that goes across the bridge of their noses.

Guilty Pleasures

I think I may have mentioned how I used to HATE Spongebob Squarepants and now that show makes me laugh out loud. I don't know why my kids love it so much cuz they can't possibly get the jokes, but they love it and I watch it with them sometimes. Most of my friends don't allow thier kids to watch the show because the characters act like idiots, but my theory is even if your kids don't grow up to be idiots, they will probably be surrounded by them, so they may as well get familiar, ya know?

Anyway, this song was on yesterday and it made me laugh out loud. Spongebob is befriending The Villain, Plankton, who is a tiny angry creature always plotting to rule the world. SB is trying to teach Plankton what FUN is ...the words that Plankton uses for F-U-N are hilarious.... (is his name Plankton Ahmadinejad?...Enjoy!

Another Testament of Siesta (not NAFTA)

You know we live a siesta culture at our house, right? I have a testimony of naptime ("I like the night life, baby")....well, I just found this old (ca.2000) clip of Kathleen Madigan sharing her version of the history of Mexican Siesta. It starts out with some good Canada jokes, and then she gets to Mexico. Give siesta some thought, because I know without a shadow of a doubt that it's good to be a night AND morning person. Maybe you could show this to your boss. Maybe in the millenium we will all siesta--not because we NEED to, but because it feels so dang good to curl up in a patch of sunlight with a fan blowin' on ya, wake up when the temp has dropped 10 degrees, and make hay until 11pm. WARNING: This clip is rated PG-13, as it uses the word (my favorite cuss word) "A*S."

And Speaking of Mexican Culture...

...our favorite little animated Latina, Dora the Explorah, got a shout out in Brian Regan's latest show...

Happy Sabbath

I am up late finishing the ward newletter, and I used this little bit to fill a column (I love this talk--I saw it LIVE--you can see the whole thing by clicking here):

"As a youth in England, Samuel Plimsoll was fascinated with watching ships load and unload their cargoes. He soon observed that, regardless of the cargo space available, each ship had its maximum capacity. If a ship exceeded its limit, it would likely sink at sea. In 1868 Plimsoll entered Parliament and passed a merchant shipping act that, among other things, called for making calculations of how much a ship could carry. As a result, lines were drawn on the hull of each ship in England. As the cargo was loaded, the freighter would sink lower and lower into the water. When the water level on the side of the ship reached the Plimsoll mark, the ship was considered loaded to capacity, regardless of how much space remained. As a result, British deaths at sea were greatly reduced.

Like ships, people have differing capacities at different times and even different days in their lives. In our relationships we need to establish our own Plimsoll marks and help identify them in the lives of those we love. Together we need to monitor the load levels and be helpful in shedding or at least readjusting some cargo if we see our sweetheart is sinking. Then, when the ship of love is stabilized, we can evaluate long-term what has to continue, what can be put off until another time, and what can be put off permanently. Friends, sweethearts, and spouses need to be able to monitor each other's stress and recognize the different tides and seasons of life. We owe it to each other to declare some limits and then help jettison some things if emotional health and the strength of loving relationships are at risk. Remember, pure love 'beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,' and helps loved ones do the same."

Some More Spiritual Chatter...

over at the family blog. Click here to chime in (but keep it positive and kind please).

Also, for the most part, this day has been a waste for me. I accomplished nothing except for the blog posts you read here, taking my kids to swim lessons, digitizing 120 photos for a DVD slideshow, and refraining from FREAKING OUT over two exceedingly whiny, tantrum-y, demanding, miserable daughters. We put them to bed at 7:30 with foil on their windows in hopes that the foul mood is sheer exhaustion and not their permanent disposition. Cuz if it is, you can click back here tomorrow and find two adorable girls for sale, half price.

I wonder why sometimes, on the days I need to be on the ball the most, I can't even manage a shower. I can't get my poop in a group, dang it.

I'll try again tomorrow...*sigh.*

Catching My Breath

Well, we had a great time with Lisa visiting. The highlight was our trip with Lisa, Laura & her kids, Jess & Kelli, and Angie & Davy and their kids, down the Yellowstone River on inner tubes on Saturday. It was a hot day and the water was warm and we had a fabulous time. Mom Melin set out a pot luck lunch and watched the babies for us while dad set up the swing set in the tree (the limb on which we had our tree swing broke off last spring, so dad installed an I-beam with the boys this weekend--it's also the foundation for the Pirate Ship tree house he is building).

Sunday was Dad Melin's 60th birthday, which we celebrated with a ham dinner at his house, then homemade icecream at the ranch in the evening. We sure do love our Grandpa Tom! uring sacrament meeting I was released as Primary Secretary and sustained as chorister (because musical talent is more scarce in our ward than secretarial skills, I guess!), and I sang "Come, Come Ye Saints" while accompanying myself on the piano. Lisa came to sacrament meeting with me and would have stayed through the meetings with me, but I had to assume my chorister responsibilities immediately and James fell asleep on her, so I just sent her home to take a nap with him. We had a lovely day and I am excited to work harder on my new calling (which I have been "subbing" for two months).

I have a "week-in-review" post to write, but I need to take the girls to swimming lessons in a bit, so I will just post some photos of last Wednesday's dinner at Pine Creek with our local Melin Family (Uncle Mark's family was still in NJ because he is deployed to the UAE in his big plane--we really missed Aunt Elena, Liana, Sariah and baby Jared this week! Aunt Elena would have felt right at home in the heat with us!). Tomorrow Aunt Marti and Cousin Brent will be visiting all the way from Sierra Vista, Arizona! I am so excited to see them! So more updates to come!

Happy Pioneer Day!