Adventures of the Dave & Jac Black Family

Spring Time in the Rockies

2011-05-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

It's almost the middle of May and it still feels like early spring. It's been a wild ride but things are settling out just fine. Sawyer is doing great, the doctors are very happy with his progress and so are we. He's getting a little chubby and still being the best little baby anyone could ever hope for. Now he's just got to survive Kennan and Gabe's love and attention. We had the baby blessing this last weekend and it was lovely. It was very nice having everyone come up - despite the rainy weather. My job is going just great and I am really happy to be working at the School Improvement Network. I love what I do and really have a great work environment. We have decided to rent our house to a family moving across the country from South Bend, Indiana. They have three children and our house will be a perfect fit for them. We are still looking for a place which can be very frustrating. We've been so fortunate to live in such a great neighborhood and in a great house with the yard and garden that moving is not something we are looking forward to. But we are keeping our fingers crossed that we'll find something great. That's a quick update on what's going on.

David

Sawyer and His Rough Start

2011-04-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

So as many of you know Sawyer has had a pretty rough start. When they did the bilirubon test shortly after his birth his conjugated bilirubin levels were high which was unusual, so we did more blood tests over the next three weeks and his levels were not decreasing but increasing. Thanks to our great pediatrician Russell McKenna who spotted the problem initially, we were referred to Dr. Hernsberger in SLC. She was very concerned and told us that this was probably a result of Biliary Atresia - which means - a blockage of the bile duct of the liver which goes into the intestine. After an ultrasound it was decided that surgery was necessary to find out if it was the ducts and if so they would need to be repaired or created in Sawyer's case. Here's a simple explanation of the Biliary Atresia and the surgery.
"Biliary Atresia occurs within the first two months of life when there is a blockage of the bile duct connecting the liver to the gut. Eventually the blockage will cause a buildup of bile in the liver that leads to damage and scarring of the liver cells, and if untreated, this scarring will cause liver failure and the need for liver transplantation. The Kasai operation attempts to reconstruct the bile duct with a loop of intestine. In the Kasai procedure the small intestine is attached to the liver directly so that the bile may drain.
While the Kasai procedure allows some children who would otherwise not be able to live normal healthy lives return to normal growth and activities, most patients with this disease will still eventually need a liver transplant."
So little Sawyer went in for surgery his surgeon Dr. Scaife is one of the best surgeons in the U.S. so we are very fortunate to live so close to Primary Children's Hospital. The surgery took 5-6 hours and everything went as planned. It was hard seeing him connected to the respirator and all the IV lines and monitors, but the care he received was excellent. He made great progress and only spent two days in the Pediatric ICU, and instead of two weeks in the hospital Sawyer came home in 6 days. He has now been home for more than two weeks and last Saturday night/Sunday morning he finally had green poop. We had a poo party that morning - we ate sausage - green poo indicates that his liver is passing the bile into the intestines. He was pretty yellow but has been gaining his normal color more and more everyday. We are ecstatic about his progress. We really have felt and appreciate everyone's prayers, thoughts, and help. We'll start meeting with Doctors next week to check on progress and get some official results from the blood work.

Here's a video of a similar procedure - isn't bloody, but not for queasy types.

Here is a sad picture of him in the PICU, I'll post a current pic when I get one. Jaclyn says he's smiling a lot and feeling much better. I'm working in Salt Lake and Jaclyn is home with the 3 boys. I owe her all my weekends for a very long time. I'll post more updates on the other stuff going on, my new job, renting our house, finding a new place to live, and Sawyer's progress.

Dave

Sawyer Dean Black

2011-04-03T13:51:00.001-07:00

Sawyer Dean Black was born on March 16, 2011
He was born at 1:51pm 8 lbs and 6 oz. 21 inches long. Jaclyn was a trooper as always, her labor went well and Sawyer was born without any complications. He has been a great baby, cries very little, eating well, and sleeps great. The boys love their little brother - almost too much. It took us a few days to decide on a name and it was a close call between Liam (short for William) Walker and Skye Walker - but in the end Sawyer Dean won out. He's been doing well, but his little liver isn't doing the job its supposed to. Tomorrow we'll have a biopsy done on the liver and then Friday he may have surgery. We are concerned, but are lucky to have some of the best doctors available to help little Sawyer. So keep him in your prayers and thoughts this week. I'll keep you posted - I'm (David) taking over the blog for a little while.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T15:28:00.000-07:00

This Halloween we enjoyed all the usual Halloween festivities- trunk or treating, trick or treating, even a costume contest. This year Dave went into over drive in costume making and after many hours of detailed work, produced two fabulous costumes- a blue Transformer for McKennan and a retro robot for himself. They received all kinds of compliments, and Dave even scored a few movie tickets at his work's costume contest with his! He of course, took every opportunity to show off his costume, and even took the kids trick or treating at the local grocery store to show it off.

Though Dave and McKennan went futuristic, Gabriel went back in time as a darling, yehawing cowboy. Don't you just want to lasso him?

As for me, this Halloween I was a sick lady in bed. Only it wasn't a costume.

Baby #3....

2010-10-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails,
that's what little boys are made of.

Sugar and spice and everything nice,
that's what little girls are made of.

So what will we be adding to our little family come mid March?
More snakes and snails,
or some sugar and spice???

The answer is....

more Snakes and Snails!

Calling All Hogan Fans...

2010-10-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

Attractive families make great subjects. Here are a few of my favorites from our shoot with the Hogans last week (for those of you who don't know, the mama is my sister.) Unfortunately, in our race against the setting sun there wasn't enough time to get individual portraits of all the kids. Next time Jack and Kaite!

In His Element...

2010-10-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Taking Off the Training Wheels

2010-10-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

Last spring McKennan ventured on to his first bike with training wheels. He rode along all spring and summer, learning to balance, steer, pump uphill, slow down, and break. It was great to see his improvement from the beginning when he wobbled all over the sidewalk and I pretty much had to push him up the slightest hill. With much practise, by August his strength, balance, and coordination had improved significantly, so last month we decided to take his training wheels off and let him spread his wings. From what I remember about learning to ride a bike (of course, that was in the pre training wheels and larger bikes era), I was expecting it to take a few weeks with lots of scrapes and a few tears before he would be able to ride well without the training wheels. Much to our surprise, he was riding all the way down the block by the end of the evening, and has just taken off from there.

Summin' it all up.

2010-09-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

I've been dreadful at posting our ramblings this summer, so I thought I'd sum up a few of the highlights in this post. Of course, posting pics in blogger you never know what you're going to get, so these pics are far from chronological order.

An afternoon at the beach on Green River.

Dave climbing the cabin chimney at the Black family reunion. Who else would think to do this at his family reunion?

The family reunion was held near Silver Lake at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon. One of the days we took a hike and landed here.

Round two up the Grand Teton for Dave.

4th of July.

A pretty summer hike with the boys and cousin Logan in South Fork, Provo Canyon.

A quick trip to Goblin Valley, Cayote Gulch, and Green River.

Provo Balloon Festival

And what's more summer than sprinklers and slip n' slides?

So Long Summer!

2010-09-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

2010-09-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

Once again I've dropped the blog for far too long. But this time I have sort of a good excuse. I'm expecting #3 and the past few months I havn't had the energy or motivation to do anything that takes one extra ounce of my physical or mental resources. But now I'm feeling much better and am bouncing back into life, ready to tackle I'll my long neglected projects.

Here's a few pictures from an evening canoe ride we took back in July on Cutler Marsh. It was the perfect time of day- just before sunset, and the colors were spectacular. It's a beautiful area and an easy, tranquil place to escape to on a week night.

My First Photography Contest

2010-07-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

In our quiet little value we have a little cultural gem- the American West Heritage Center. It's a family friendly place with the purpose of educating visitors about turn of the century life on a farm through hands on activities, workshops, games, demonstrations, etc. Every season they have different activities, like pioneer days in the summer, harvest fest in the fall, a winter ball, and in the spring, their biggest event of the year- Baby Animal Days. People come from all over the state with mini vans full of kids to pet the baby farm animals, ride the train, lassel a log horse, watch a horse shoe making demonstration, and take a wagon ride.

This year they offered a photography contest for local photographers. They were looking for photos to use in their marketing. They had prizes for best photo and best photographer. I entered the contest. Hey, we'd be going with the kids anyway, why not take a shot at it? Here are the photos I ended up entering.

I recently learned, much to my surprise, I won the best photographer award for this contest, and my photo of the two girls holding a lamb received an honorable mention for best picture. Here's the judges comments:

"Best Photographer: Jaclyn Black: All of her photos are very good and very useable for marketing, ads, press releases, brochures, etc. AND most of her shots apply directly to Baby Animal Days. She has a distinct style that is artistic and quirky, but her style doesn't overpower her ability to communicate a story or emotion. She has a special skill of eliciting emotion with her photos, which is a GREAT skill to have if she plans on doing more for marketing purposes."

If you look at these pictures, there really isn't anything especially creative, technical, or captivating about them. I think I won simply because I followed the guidelines the best I could to capture pictures that were very usable for marketing purposes- what I would like to see on a broshure. And it worked!

Dave's Venture on the Grand Teton

2010-07-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

I hate to intrude on Jaclyn's lovely photos but a post is needed about my trip to the Tetons. Many of you may remember last years epic with the snow and the harrowing descent. I'm pleased to say that this year's trip had little in the way of drama. Andy, his father Hank, and I set off on Thursday to climb the grand Teton. The weather was perfect this trip and we made great time all the way up to our high camp at the moraine just below the lower saddle. Hank stayed at camp while Andy and I woke up at 3 am and began the journey up. Because we were climbing in July, there is still a lot of snow on the mountain, requiring us to bring our winter climbing boots, crampons, and ice axe. (adding a considerable amount of weight in our packs). We made great time to the upper saddle, climbing 3 steep snow fields. Our one mistake was continuing up the snowfield to the upper saddle instead of cutting across and getting on to Wall Street and make our accent up the Exum ridge. We got to the upper saddle and didn't really feel like heading down another icy chute to get to the start of the route loosing time and energy. So we opted to try another route, but a guided group was getting the the other route and were very unfriendly about us getting on even after they were off, so we opted for the traditional late summer route. This route is not take in the early season because of the amount of ice the forms in the chimneys and climbing areas, but unless we wanted to head down, it was the only option. It in retrospect wasn't the greatest choice. We climbed over to it, traversed the belly roll (a rather exposed section) and began the climb up the chimneys. It wasn't easy, the footing was all iced over and the moves were complicated by the packs which kept getting stuck or impeded moving up. We then took a variation route which instead of being an easy angle climb was a vertical climb up a very icy crack. I felt like I was doing pull ups with 40lbs on my back (because I was). We finally got up and had one last chimney which was fairly easy considering the last pitch. We got to the top and had a nice break. The sun was out and the winds weren't terrible. The descent was quick and easy especially compared to last years craziness. Andy had a close call on the snowfields and got a little shaken up, but over all an easy descent. We spent an additional night at high camp and then made a leisurely stroll back to the car. It was a good trip, but I do have some regrets about not taking the Exum route, but that was my call and I'll have to go back and do it some other time. As they say the mountains not going anywhere.

Flowers and such...

2010-07-18T21:01:00.001-07:00

Whenever we are out and about in nature I like to take a few macro shots of the flora and fauna around us. However, most of these shots were captured in our own yard.

For Dad on his birthday...

2010-07-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

Just a warning, if you're not a Stott you may want to skip this post because you won't get it. If you are a member of the Stott family, read on for a good laugh.

Jeffry is a great card maker. For my birthday he sent me a card on which he'd drawn the Cracker Box logo with a comment about his favorite Cracker Jack. Last Sunday we got together to celebrate dad's birthday, and he gave this homemade card to dad. Dave and I laughed and laughed. If you know our dad, you will too.

If you are a Stott, please let me know if you laughed as hard as I did!

Beautiful Butterfly

2010-07-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

McKennan's keen eyes spotted this ailing butterfly on the ground while we were camping last week. It seemed to be on it's last leg, and didn't put up any fight, or flight, when he picked it up. He of course was thrilled with it, as were all the kids when he showed it to them. It's not very often you get the opportunity to hold a butterfly. Luckily it survied all the little hands and we left it peacefully poised on a branch.

Camping and Canoeing

2010-06-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

Summer is for camping. And popcicles. And flip flops. And the smell of barbeque. And walks at twilights. And, well let's face it, one could go on and on about the joys of summer. But in this post I will focus on summer is for camping, as we had a short but sweet camping trip this past weekend. We stayed in a campground at the top of the canyon, nestled in amongst the pine next to a beautiful lake. Jeff, Carrie and her kids joined us and the cousins had a great time wrestling in the tents, making banana boats, canoeing in the lake, throwing rocks in all bodies of water, swimming, and catching butterflies. Gotta love fresh air, full moon, starry sky, campfire, free (almost) camping! Here's a few pics to tell the story of our little trip.

As an avid cotton hating, leave no trace, sleep outside on the coldest day of the year to thicken your blood backpacker, Dave used to scoff at car camping. Just look at him now! Looks like he's gotten used to it.

Oh look, everyone is helping to carry the canoe on our first evening there. The sun had just dipped below the mountain- the perfect time for a quick row on the quiet lake.

Uncle Jeff helping Seige put on his like jacket. All the boys decided to test out the brand new canoe together on its virgin ride.

Gabe was especially excited to get out on the water.

The shove off. All is well.

Peacefully rowing...

And moments later, in slow motion, the canoe began to wobble, and then dip to the right, and then it was completely over. What I remember most about the moment is watching from behind as Jeff's hand shot up straight over his head, holding on to the back of Gabe's jacket. Nice reflexes Jeff!

Unfortunately, I didn't capture the actual tip over (that would probably make me a really bad mother if I did), but I did snap a few shots just afterwards as they carried soaking, terrified kids out of the water. McKennan, however, actually liked it and kept asking to "do it again!"

We stripped off Gabe's clothes and he watched saddly as Uncle Jeff and Daddy headed back out (soaked as they were) for a row with McKennan.

Jeffrey

Saigey

Gabey

Avery

A rock throwing contest with Uncle Jeff. I think Avery won.

Give a kid a paddle and some water and enjoy the hours of entertainment.

So, have you been camping yet?

2010-06-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a look at a few of the faces I've photographed over the past few months. I took two great photography classes in March and May with Brooke Snow. The first five pics are from a photo shoot we did in the second class. We learned about lighting, shooting in difficult light, posing, and of course, working with our subjects. It was great experience.

(Deleted Photo - Don't pick your nose in front a camera!)

I just had to throw this one in before Dave finds it- to leave you with a smile.

On the Water

2010-06-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago the organizer of our local photography group put together a bird photographing activity with an open invitation to all who were willing to wake up with the sun, paddle a canoe for 2 1/2 hours, and get a little wet to try to snap a few shots of these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat. Sweet! An opportunity to be in a canoe on a beautiful morning, watch the wildlife emerge AND put my telephoto lense to good use- I'm in!
I thoroughly enjoyed the activity, comraderie with fellow photographers, being "at one with nature," the sounds, sights, and smells of early morning on a lazy river, giving my arms an excellent workout, and of course playing "I spy" with the animals. I also quickly learned that birds are even more difficult to photograph than children. Let's just say I won't be applying for National Geographic anytime soon. Anytime ever. But I would love to improve my wildlife photography skills, if only for the excuse to be out in nature even more.

(No that is not me, I'm behind the camera)

I love a salty man, with a hat, and a beard, and his dog.

Waiting...

2010-06-14T20:19:00.001-07:00

My New Relationship

2010-06-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

Let's see... the last time I posted something on this blog was ... February. Obviously I've had a falling out with blogging. We've been igonoring each other. We aren't returning each other's phone calls (aka "comments"). Heck, we won't even look at each other! But after some soul searching on my part and a little blogging therapy together, we've decided to go at it again, my blog and me.

But I really must be honest as to why I have to decide to give this blogging relationship another go. I have alterior motives. It all has to do with a goal I set for myself a while back. A goal to learn, improve, and showcase my interest in photography. A year and a half ago we bought our first DSLR camera and over the past year or so I've been taking every class, reading every book, stalking every photography blog/website, bugging every photographer, and joining every club I can to further my new found love. It's been a wonderful learning journey, and one that I feel that I'm still at the beginning of. Like so many fascinating subjects one finds she loves, photography for me is something that the more I learn about it, the more I find I don't know. I'll be learning it forever, which is an exciting, motivating, and daunting prospect all at once.

So now that I've taken several classes, read the books, and put it to practice, I've decided there isn't much point in all this if I'm not sharing what I do. Why take pictures if you don't showcase them? Enter this blog. I know I've probably lost whatever small audience I once had, but I need somewhere to start. So I've given myself the challenge to photograph my world and post it at least weekly. If nothing else it will serve as a record of where I started in my photography and hopefully show my improvement.

At this point I've focused more on learning the camera side of photography versus the post production side (editing). Therefore, at this point, most my images are JPEG and have very basic or no editing. My goal this summer is to learn an editing program (havn't decided which one yet) so I can take my pictures to the next level.

My newly defined blogging relationship will be more about images than stories, creativity than antedotes. More about what visually intrigues me, challenges me, makes me laugh, sigh, think, feel utter contentment, stop in my tracks, or want to scream.

These first images I'm sharing fall in the "utter contentment" catagory. Utter contentment for me is a walk or ride on Sunday at the end of the day, when the sun is sinking and the light is soft, golden, and perfect for picture taking. A few weeks ago we took a Sunday evening drive through the awakening spring in our beautiful valley. We chanced upon a parked train, so we parked our car, and jumped the fence into a train car to watch the sunset with it.

A Post for Jaclyn - On Her Birthday

2010-04-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend is Jaclyn's birthday, so thought I would make a post with some of the great things about Jaclyn. All of you who read this blog already know how great she is, but you are welcome to add your own thoughts as comments.

Jaclyn is a great mother - she does so much more than raise McKennan and Gabe, she educates them with fun activities, takes them fun places, and makes sure they are learning something new everyday.

Jaclyn has drive and ambition like no ones else. If she wants to do something or learn something she doesn't wait around, she goes after it and gets it done.

As everyone is aware Jaclyn is a great photographer. She has the ability to capture not only the moment but catches it in style - the right color, lighting, and composition. I love her photographs and I enjoy doing whatever I can to assist her.

Jaclyn is smart and savvy, when I need an educated opinion on something I always go to Jac. She not only corrects me when I use made-up words that almost sound correct, she tells me the word I should have used.

Jaclyn has a great sense of style. She's great about making the house look fantastic and she does a great job with me too. Without her, who knows what the kids and I would look like. There have been more than a few days when I've come home from work and with one glance at what I wearing, she breaks out laughing.

She is a fantastic cook. I used to think that cooking was simply following the recipe (which I fail at) but it is so much more and Jaclyn does a superb job. Not only is she a great cook but she makes dinner an adventure with exotic courses and flavors. She also make sure that what we eat is healthy. She is in the know when it comes to herbs, seasonings, organic produce, vitamins, and essential oils.

Jaclyn is full of surprises. You probably don't know that Jaclyn likes to shout. Well, not like you think, but every change of the season we will be outside somewhere and she'll reign up and shout to the top of voice, "HELLO SPRING, GOODBYE WINTER" or whatever season is coming and going. It usually catches me off guard but then we all join in and offer our salutations to the season. She also is a big fan of the show Survivor - I really don't know why.

Most of all Jaclyn is very patient with me and the children. Jaclyn is great about letting me go on climbing, fishing, and biking trips. She even puts up with my train hobby and that takes some sainthood. She really is great and I love her.

Happy birthday Jaclyn
love Dave

Back to Reality

2010-02-24T14:34:00.000-08:00

Dave and I have been home from our dream vacation for four days now and we're still moping around the house saying "last week at this time we were..." We can't get over what a fabulous time we had in beautiful Cancun last week with all of my family (minus Jenna- new baby!). And it was all thanks to mom and dad for sponsoring the trip and Margaret and Dennis and Jana and Michael for watching the boys while we were gone. Thanks a million to every one of you!

We weren't sure how comfortable we'd be in an up-scale, all inclusive resort, but once we arrived in the marble lobby and were handed our first strawberry daquari, we knew we were in for an unforgettable week. It didn't take long to get used to a life of pampering and warm balmy breezes. Each day was exciting, adventurous, playful, inspiring, or just plain relaxing. Whether it was kayaking the sea, exploring Mayan ruins, zip lining in the jungle, riding aquamarine waves, snorkeling in the wide open blue, watching a colorful island dance festival, or relaxing on white sand beaches, each and every day brought new and memorable experiences.

The Gang!

Did I say aquamarine?

Thanks mom and dad!

Riding speedboats to our snorkeling spot. Snorkeling was at the top of my list to do while in Cancun. I could snorkel all day. Some day when I'm rich and famous I'll be scuba diver.

A few shots from the artisan markets

Chitzen Itsa- one of the Seven Wonders

You have to get the walking on the beach shot

Valentine's Feast

Lyn and I all dressed up for a night on the town for some authentic Mexican salsa dancing.

Zip lining- anyway you like it.

A view of Cancun

Yoga. On the beach. Palmy breezes. Surf sounding. Ahhhh.....

A row on the sea kayak...

A view of the resort we stayed at- Moon Palace

Evenings were perfect for long walks on the beach.

And now it's back to the reality of 30 degree weather, snow covered lawns, and making my own bed. Ahhh, but the memories will keep me warm till spring!

A few more

2010-02-10T15:55:00.000-08:00

The little black figure is me. This is one of my favorite climbs.

Ice Climbing in Ouray Colorado

2010-02-05T14:27:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I went with my long time climbing partner Wynn to Ouray, Colorado. Pronounced Your-Ray, it's kind of the Disneyland of ice climbing with over 200 ice routes in a 2 mile canyon. They have pipes and small shower heads all along the cliff and every night they turn them on and make more ice than you've ever seen. Easy short routes to near impossible mixed routes - you've got it all. It's one of my favorite trips of the year and so worth the drive. Wynn and I have things down to science. No need to get up and out with all the testosterone boys at 6am. We like to take easy, get up around 9am, eat breakfast, then get on the ice around 11am. Everyone else goes home around 2pm and its just us and a bunch of steep routes till dark. We climb Sat - Monday. I like to kick my own trash especially on Monday. I'll post those pics when I get them from Wynn. But here's a few photos from the trip. Next year we'll be going back - you are welcome to join us!

Winter Family Fun

2010-02-05T14:23:00.001-08:00

The other weekend we took a little drive up Logan canyon to get out of the smog. The temps up high were in the low 30's which felt down right balmy compared to the high teens in the valley. We took the kids sledding at Peter's Sinks - which is at the top of Logan canyon. We all had a great time and it was fun getting out as a family. Winter is fun if you make it fun.

Hitting the Powder

2010-01-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

This last weekend we got a bunch of snow in the mountains so instead of going off to Colorado to ice climb (moved to this weekend) I went with my friend Kris to Beaver Mountain ski resort. We had a great day of skiing in 3 feet of powder. It was almost too much snow, it needed to be pretty steep in order to get the turns in. Now I'm not a great skiier, really I'm pretty good at flailing around while on skis. So Kris was very patient everytime I had to swim my way out of a missed turn. Both of us have been growing our beards which made for good times after the powedershots to the face - or crashes in my case. It was really a lot of fun and I owe Jac a Saturday. The day ended with me having food poisoning, which was lame. We went to go to a popular steak restaurant but the wait was over an hour. So we opted out and went to Ruby Tuesday's- no wait. I'm afraid the food was lame and after the stomach issues it is on the "Black List" dun dun dunnn. We recommited to no chain restaurants. They're never worth it!

Remebering the Day

2009-12-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

Today is the anniversary of my ice climbing fall 9 years ago. For those of you who don't know the story, I took a 50+ foot fall ice climbing and broke my back. It's a long story and I don't want to retell it here. I make it a point to remember the anniversary, as it keeps me grounded. It was a Christmas that I won't forget. Not so much for the pain and misery but for the love that was poured out. For the friends that came and visited me, those who endured my drug induced ramblings, those who got flashed multiple times by inadvertent gown problems. I especially appreciate those who came and read to me while I laid in bed. Those visits mean more to me than I can ever express. I'm also thankful to the nameless couple who came and sang Christmas songs to me on a very bad night. I'm grateful for my life and the many many joys and opportunities that have come to me since that day. I was truly given a second life. I think of all those who die or are physically or mentally disabled in accidents less serious than mine and I can't answer why I was spared. I can only show gratitude for the life I have. I still hear the call of the wild, but I've gained some wisdom and play a more careful game. So for all those who show their love and support to me each day, happy anniversary of life and merry Christmas.

Dave

2009-10-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

I've come out of my blogging hiatus to post a quick post. Of all the things I could say to catch up from my last post a few months ago, I'll ignore it all and just say this.

I love autumn. I love where I live.

This morning, like most mornings, I put the boys in the stroller for our morning walk (although now that McKennan's in preschool it's just Gabe). Every time I see an autumn birch with the sun spilling through it's golden rain, or the dew balancing on grass blades or a pile of leaves waiting to be jumped in, I think, I need a picture of that to savor it! So this morning I took the camera along and shot a few pics of our beautiful valley. Hopefully you too can see why I love it.

Fall is in the air

2009-10-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

Well fall is definitely here, some nights it feels more like winter. This weekend marks the end of the harvest. We've been canning tomato sauce, grape juice, and peaches. Apples are next. On Sat I'll be tilling the garden and working on making the yard look nice before winter really sets in. With fall here I've certainly got the urge to get and do a little fishing. One of these nights I'll take a trip up to bear lake and fish for the lake trout that come into to spawn. Kennan is now in pre-school which he loves. Gabe is walking and having a fun time following Kennan around the yard. Jaclyn is teaching English to adults in the evenings twice a week. It's something she really enjoys and the extra cash is a blessing. Work is going just fine for me, just glad to have a job. With the sun setting earlier and earlier I've been getting in train mode. I've borrowed my dad's old Lionel train locomotive. It was built in 1955 and still runs great - but needs a little love. It's actually a rare train that collectors look for - not that we would ever sell it but nice to know. Kennan loves to watch the train, almost as much as I do. I confess that 20+ cars is a bit much, but it's a collection and compared to some I'm just getting started. Steve my twin and I both have trains, it something fun for us to talk about. Here's the latest video.

Epic on the Grand Teton

2009-08-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

So last weekend Andy Lund, Ryan Jenks, and I climbed the Grand Teton. It was an adventure to say the least. We left on Friday morning, got to Jackson Hole in 4 hours and secured our campsite for the evening. We were lucky to get the campsite that we got, nice and high but a little sheltered from the wind. We made good time going from 7,000 ft to 10,800. It sprinkled a few times but over all the weather was great. The trail up to the meadows climbed slowly and was really nice. Once we got above the treeline we followed the rocky path to our campsite. We set up the "mid" - a lightweight tent that looks like a Tee pee. We ate dinner and settled in for a windy night of little sleep. Even the ear plugs didn't do much good. I've got better tents for the wind but they are heavy and don't fit 3 - so the mid was the only choice.
The next morning we started around 4am. We wound up to the lower saddle and then climbed up to the upper saddle. With a little guidance from an guide, we went around to were the Exum ridge begins. We weren't planning on climbing the Exum ridge for a number for reasons - mostly because it was 2000 feet of rock climbing. Andy and I had done some climbing together but Ryan hadn't climbed rock since being a scout. The route we had planned on (Owen Spalding) was covered in ice from a recent storm and everyone advised us to take the Exum because it was dry. We had brought enough climbing gear and I felt that my skills were up to it, but I was concerned because I really hadn't studied the route. But here we were and there was the route so up we went. The climbing was pretty easy, with only a few stretches of "oh boy". It was really beautiful, but bad weather was coming in and it was slow going. After who knows how many pitches of climbing, and a lot of mental route finding, we made it to the summit. It was noon, and the weather had decided to make its assault. It went from cloudy, to gravel snow, to almost whiteout in a few seconds. We took some photos and then called the ranger station to give us a hint of how to get off. They told us to head west then south west. Pretty simple but it was what we needed to know. We rappelled down a short slab, then looked for the repel down a chimney. We finally found it - which wasn't easy and our spirits grew - at least we now knew that we were on route. We then found the next rappel and lowered off a complete overhang which ended right at the end of the rope. After that it was a careful snowy descent and one more rappel. We got back to camp around 7pm. It was a long day and the most technical mountain climb I have done. Leading the whole thing was a challenge, but the route finding was the real mental strain. We spent another night at our camp and got an addition 4 inches of snow. We woke up and packed left at 6am and were back at the car at 9am. It was a great trip and one that I would love to do again with better weather. A big thanks goes out to Andy and Ryan, we had some tense moments but it worked out in the end.

The Grand Teton

Love those glasses

Climbing the 3rd Pitch

Touching the mark - The snow starts

Summit Shot in the snow

One of the Rappels

Notice the ice forming

Not so smiley at this point- but the worst was over

Ahhhh....SUMMER!

2009-08-13T20:52:00.001-07:00

2009-08-03T13:52:00.000-07:00

A short story about our adventures in the month of July:

David climbed Mt. Ranier and successfully summited- a long time goal fulfilled.

He neglected to include this photo with his retro climbing glasses in his last post. I just had to add it.

Meanwhile, me and the kiddos stayed with my sister's family, where they kept us busy picking blueberries (which Lynley later transformed into a pie, a torte, and blueberry jam)...

A hike to Snoqualmie Falls...

Lot's of cousins time...

and McKennan's favorite- a visit to an old train yard.

Dave and I dashed into Seattle for a roam around Pike's Market, to take in the sights, sounds, smells, variety of foods, and of course, the fish vendors that make this market famous.

We went for a sunsent dip in the Puget Sound near Olympia, where we stayed with Dave's cousins Tim and Michelle.

A lunch break along the river in Northwest Oregon.

Whew! Check out that farmer tan! Oww!

Later in the month was the Stott family reunion where our family performed a funky zombie dance number loaded with Michael Jackson moves to "Thriller." Very fun. I mean scary.

A beautiful hike in shoulder high fern and brilliant wildflowers...

Flower child.

Amen!

I love driving in summer sunsets with the windows down.

And finally, a trip to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house. I won't even mention the mischief McKennan and his cousin Eli caused while we were there.

Next up: The Black Family reunion fun.

2009-07-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

After nearly six years of marriage, we finally had our first professional family portraits taken. I think our photograper (Amanda Archibald of Embrace Photography) did a great job. Here are a few favorites.

Success on Rainier

2009-07-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a great trip up north to the Seattle area. We had a great time visiting the Hogan's and my cousins Jenny and Michelle and their families. But the focus of this post is our little climbing trip up Rainier. I'm sure that Jaclyn will fill in the important details of the other parts of the trip with great photo's to boot. Our climbing party consisted of Matt Hamilton, Todd Hogan, Andy Lund and myself. Todd, Matt and I drove down from Carnation and Andy drove across from Yakima. We got a bit of a late start because of some road closures which in turn put everything back a few hours. The weather at paradise was pretty much socked in, mist, rain, and wind. Not the ideal weather but we had a lot of optimizim and heard rumors of blue sky up high. We hiked at a good pace up up up, not as steep or direct as I supposed but not an endless zigzag across the mountain either. The sun played tricks on us, clearing up for a second then clouding over again. About a thousand feet below camp Muir, we got above the muck and it was spectacular. Blue sky, very little wind, and the mountain was just beautiful. Matt was not feeling well unfortunatly, which slowed things down and he had to spend the next day at camp Muir, while we continued on. After setting up the tents and melting snow and eating some dinner we all hit the sack. I think it was around 10pm by the time I actually shut down. 2am was the wake up, but we didn't really get going till 2:30 am. Matt had had a rough night- throwing up twice. We got ready and started off then had some crampon problems. By the time we really left it was 4 am (about 3 hours later than most groups). With a full moon and clear skies above us we marched up. Moving well, we had a very cool sunrise with little Tahoma and sticking up above the clouds and the sun rising up. After 2 hours the wind had picked up and the temp dropped. We got to 12,500 ft and Todd announced he was done. We left him in a good sheltered spot, where he could clip in to some fixed lines and rest while Andy and I continued on. Andy I continued up winding around crevases and climbing the steeper face of the mountain. We climbed for two hours until reaching the crater rim, then made the final push to the summit rim. I was low on energy while Andy was a rock star. We made it to the summit took some photo's then hurried back down to Todd. By the time we got to Todd it had been 5 hours and the weather had risen up and was now snowing. We were all glad to see each other, and we quickly went down to camp. We spent a foggy night at Muir and then cleaned camp and came down the following day. It was a great trip. I know Todd is itching to get back on the mountain. I wish I lived closer, but now it's time to train for the next trip, the Grand Teton.

So long Spring!

2009-06-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

How about a shout out to the official beginning of SUMMER! Oh how I do love summer when "the livin' is easy." I must confess, the last place I want to be on these beautiful late spring/early summer days is inside in front of the computer, so our blog has been and will continue to be on the back burner for some time. But I figured I better clear the camera memory cards for all those summer photos to come, so here's a quick photo re-cap of a few of our activities this spring.

We celebrated Gabe's 1st birthday with strawberry-lemon poppyseed cake and a picnic in the park.

He's lovin' his first taste of cake. Look how full that mouth is!

This was the night we celebrated Grandma Black's and Gabe's B-Day. McKennan and Gabe are lucky to be in the middle of lots of cousins- and many of them are boys.

Who needs a Wii or X-box when you have a sandbox?

A day at the park with Grandma and Grandpa Stott. This photo was taken shortly before I found McKennan in the river with nothing on from the waste down, wet up to his armpits.

McKennan was in his first official kids parade for our town's Founder's Festival. I still remember riding my crepe papered big wheel in my first parade and the way my sisters made fun of me for stopping for my mom to take my picture.

A luncheon with the Stott Aunts and cousins. Good food and great company!

Do you remember making candybar cards for your dad for Father's Day? This year we revived the tradition. McKennan sure had a hard time keeping the candy bars secret from his dad though.

A shot of our early spring garden. The strawberries are in full bloom and I'm in berry heaven!

Happy Summer Livin'!

2009-05-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Weekend, Ben and I climbed Timp, it was our annual april trip, that didn't happen until the end of May. So instead of getting 6 inches of snow and freezing temps, we got clearish skies, and temps in the 40's. Kind of a bummer for us lovers of misery. But we let it be and had a great time despite the better warmer weather. We snowshoes/ hiked/ climbed up to the shed/shelter - what ever people call it. Ben had a slight mishap on the way up and found out that slidding down snow isn't so great on bareskin. He was fine but came away with a lot of skin missing from his elbow. After a nice dinner we hike up the snowfield and camped. You can see our little tent in the pic. The next morning we headed up to the summit. It was really windy, then not windy at all. Made the south summit then hurried over to the true summit. We had a great time. The way down was fast and furious, we slid down the majority of the mountain, avoiding cliffing out and getting in any serious trouble. Over all it was great trip. We laughed and laughed the whole way.

Our Staycation

2009-05-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

This Memorial Day we decided to go along with the national fad and instead of taking an out of town vacation, we had our own little "staycation." Okay so maybe we've been doing the staycation for years but now it's finally hip. Friday and Saturday Dave hiked Mtn. Timpanogus, a yearly trek for him. He's trying to get as many practice runs in before he climbs Mtn. Ranier in July. I'll leave him to post the pics and details of that trip later.

Sunday evening, to kick off Memorial Day, we visited our local cemetery. Even though we don't have any relatives there, we like to pay our respects and pretend like its our relatives. We like to look at the veteran's graves marked by flags to salute our thanks. We also like try to find the oldest headstone and oldest person in the cemetary, as well as read the barely legible but eloquent pioneer inscriptions on the oldest headstones. I always remind Dave on these occasions that as a modern couple, his gravestone will say:

David Black,

Husband of

Jaclyn Stott Black

I also remind him that he has to die after me so I can be buried in Farmington.

Monday we headed to a historical spot neither Dave or I have every been to, but as history lovers, have always wanted to- Promontory Point, Utah, better know has Golden Spike Park. If you're not familiar with it, it's where the first transcontinental railroad met and was completed in 1869. The drive through rolling green farmland was gorgeous. When we arrived, we were just in time for the re-enactment of the 1869 driving of the golden spike, uniting east and west forever more and ending the age of pioneers. The re-enactment was fun, and Dave even got to play the part of Nevada's governor. Everybody got to hip-hip-hooray when the steam engines pulled in, and I tell you, they were a pretty impressive site. If you haven't been and are looking for a kid friendly staycation, I would recommend Promontory Point. Take a picnic, watch the re-enactment, and then stop by the real live rocket display not too far away at ATK. You're kids and your pocketbook will thank you.

2009-05-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

Exactly one year ago at this very moment as I write, I was in the process of giving birth to our baby boy number two- Gabriel Robert Black. Our little Gabe is one and I'm still wondering how that happened so fast. I think being the second child he doesn't receive all the attention the first did so he seems to age faster. But he has cruised past babyhood and is now heading into toddlerhood- for better or for worse is yet to be seen. I know with McKennan he was an angel baby and a difficult toddler. Gabriel was a more difficult baby so I'm hoping for an angel toddler. "Angel toddler"? Now there's an oxymoron for you!

You can see in this photo Gabe proudly displaying his age. At one year he is in a very fun and very busy age. Everything is new and interesting and must be thoroughly explored. He delights in his brother and excites in his dad and cuddles his momma. He's cruising along the furniture, ready to walk soon. He is in to all things, his favorites being the dishwasher, mom's closet, and of course, the toilet. I love to watch him move because he is so small but very agile, strong and quick. He has several favorite yoga positions, like downward facing dog (when he's happy), the cobra (when he's angry and want's attention), and child's pose (when he's tired). I'm hoping he'll be the athletic one in the family!

In honor of his first birthday, here is a little photo recap of Gabriel's first year. Happy Birthday Gabers!

Day 1- Brand spankin' new!

2 weeks old

2 months

5 1/2 months

9 months

Starting to crawl at 10 months

Wearing his daddy's baby outfit at 11 months

Gabe today!

Back in the saddle - or climbing to it

2009-05-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

So I've begun my training for a little climbing trip this summer. I'm going to attempt to climb Rainer in July. It's always been on my list and I've never had the chance, so this is the year for it. So I've been trying to get back in shape and do a little mountaineering on the weekends. This last saturday a friend (Andy) and I made a go for the Wellsvilles - a small range just south of Logan. We were excited, despite the weather forecast for rain. Saturday morning, the skies were overcast and just as we started on the trail head it began to rain. "Never mind the rain - we are going to Seattle so we'd better be ready for rain". But boy did it rain. Even on the ridge it rained, snowed, rained, and occasionally blasted us with hail. It was a fun trip, but I don't think I've been so wet on a climb. We had a great time, my boots are still drying though. It was a sight two men totally soaked tromping back to the car, reveling in the pleasure of doing something most people wouldn't ever consider.

My new favorite chocolate chip cookie

2009-05-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

Some time back I went to a potluck dinner with some friends and my friend Jenny brought these moist, deluctable, can't-eat-just-one chocolate chip cookies. Dave ate like fifteen in one night and I probably ate half that many. I finally got the recipe and thought I ought to share my chocolate heaven. If you're on a diet, don't even look at the recipe, but if you love a heavenly warm, melt in your mouth, chocolate chip cookie, you have to give this recipe a try. I especially love that these cookies stay moist even several days later. The seceret is in the pudding. Give em a try!

Jenny’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Combine the following in a smallish bowl and set aside:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
One large box vanilla pudding (about 1/3 cup)
1 cup oats, blended up

Combine in a separate bowl (or bowl of mixer):
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
Cream together until light.

Then add:
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Beat until smooth.

Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until just combined.
Stir in 1 pkg. chocolate chips.

Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes - just until the tops start to brown. I like them best a little gooey.

*Jenny's notes: I like to use Guittard milk chocolate chips or Western Family brand jumbo semi-sweet chocolate chips (in a black bag).Sometimes I make the dough and the refrigerate overnight or for a couple hours - the cookies seem to stay a little fatter that way.

Spring Update

2009-04-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

A photo post of what we have been up to this spring- if we can call it that yet. In our neck of the woods we have seen far more snow and rainy days since the calendar officially said spring than we have seen warm and sunny days. But our lawn has turned a beautiful, lush green, the hyacinth are in full bloom, the forsythia are on the verge of bursting open, and the cold spring crops have been sown in the garden, so whether the weather behaves or not, I'm calling it spring!

Last weekend my old friend (the relationship, not her) Jenny and I took our kids to Baby Animal days. It was nuts- way too many people trying to see a few sedated animals. There were long lines for every little chick and bunny, and then when you finally got there there were like five kids on each animal and a paparazzi of parents elbowing each other trying to take pictures. I won't be battling those crowds again. This event has become too popular.

At least the kids liked it. Gabe gave out his excited "Who! Who's! and loved patting these goats.

I know, he has a really weird way of hugging animals.

As a boy prone to mechanics, this was the most exciting thing at the festival for McKennan...

...except for the train ride of course.

Easter Saturday activities with the extended Black/Brown family. The egg roll is officially on!

Dave, his cousin Rob, and their boys. I wonder if they'll be able to do this when they're 15?

The annual Black egg roll/throw/slaughter your brother with boiled eggs until every shred of egg is in your hair or smooshed on the street.

Dave's mom, proudly holding her copy of his thesis.

Easter Sunday. This is my attempt at coordinating outfits.

Stott cousins exploring their Easter loot.

Cali and Carrie always say they can't figure out how their girls became such posers...

...hmmmm........I can't figure it out either.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

2009-03-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

The other day I was just pulling some raisin oatmeal cookies out of the oven when Kennan came rushing in and asked for one. I immediately acted on the irresistible incentive and told him he could have one if he picked up all his toys and put them in his red toy bins. He scurried away and bustled about his room for several minutes, and then came back and said he was ready for his cookie. When I went in to check his room, this is what I found.

I just thought it was funny how a three year old's mind works.

Gabriel

2009-03-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

My mommy has neglected to write anything about me for an awfully long time, so I decide to take matters into my own little hands and write all about what I am up to.

I'm almost ten months old and this past month has been filled with lots of new achievements and discoveries. For example, I received my first three teeth!

Although my diet is expanding as I experiment with putting all within reach into my mouth, I've decided I'm not particularly fond of that cold white stuff.

I just started crawling, and of course that means I can explore all kinds of new things now.

I also learned a great new trick that grants me all kinds of attention- clapping my hands.

I'm growing and moving and giggling, teething and grabbing and babbeling and eating. Every day my cheeks get pinker and my eyes get bluer. Mama tries to cut my silky hair, but between you and me, it looks kind of funny! Someday she'll learn the tricks to cutting a wiggly baby's hair. But probably not with me.

Of course my greatest friend is my big brother McKennan- he can make me laugh like nobody else. I'm also a big fan of daddy, just like my brother, and when I hear him come home in the evening I start to bounce and squeel and hold up my arms for daddy.

If I say so myself, I'm pretty darn cute!

2009-03-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in snowed 18, yes 18 inches at our house and completely covered the daffodil tips I was so happy to see in our front yard. Winter certainly hasn't given up yet! C'mon Spring! Put on your boxing gloves and put up a fight!

2009-03-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

March! The light at the long winter tunnel! The Moody Month. The Temptress. The lamb and the lion. Oh how I love spring, or just even the promise of it. I know it's still a little too early to get excited for spring, but just yesterday I saw the tiny little green heads of my dafodils peeking up through the ground and so I can't help it- it's the sure sign of spring. I'll have to add little green dafodil tips to my Make's Me Happy List.

Since it will soon be ushered on it's way, here is my last salute to winter- You're great for outdoor play, but most of the time you are only to be endured!

Here's a few photos from some of our winter play.

Officially Official

2009-02-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

Hurray! It's officially official! Last week Dave's Master's diploma from University of Utah arrived in the mail, marking the end of such a long, drawn out business. Although he walked at his graduation close to two years ago, his thesis had to undergo some final edits, and between the edits and sitting on various adviser's and dean's desks for months at a time waiting for their signatures, the thesis, with much persistence, was finally finalized and now we can put our "school days" behind us. Congratulations Dave! All your hard work is now official!

The binders in this picture are his collection of research and thesis drafts. When the diploma arrived, we thought we would have a big bonfire to burn it all. But my eco-conscience wouldn't allow it, so instead we dumped it all in the recycle with much fanfare. Not as much fun as a fire and s'mores (not to mention the "thesis is done!" dance), but hey, save a tree. Or in this case, several trees.

Ode to Joy

2009-02-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

I've been asked to write six things that make me happy. A most appropriate challenge this week, as the lesson I gave in YW's on Sunday was about finding joy in our lives now. So here are a few things that bring me JOY:

1. Sitting with a blanket on a hot air heater on a winter's morning. (This sounds especially appealing right now as our furnace is on the blitz and won't be fixed for two more days so the air inside feels slightly warmer than the air outside! Brrrrr!)

2. Watching my boys make each other laugh.

3. The smell of rain on hot cement in the summer.

4. The smell of butterscotch pine (I'm big on smells).

5. Sweet coconut rice and mangos from my favorite Thai restaurant.

6. Merrily watching my garden grow.

7. Warm, sweet tomatoes straight from that garden.

8. Talking and laughing with Davey in a warm bed.

9. A vase of fresh flowers next to the bed.

10. Open windows, spring breezes, and lots of sunshine.

11. And let's not forget, the sight of my sheets flapping on the line outside.

I feel I could go on an on, but these are a few of my favorites.

Yes We Can

2009-02-02T13:32:00.001-08:00

I realized that I haven't publicly commented on what I feel has been the most important event of the year so far- the inauguration of our new President. Like so many, as I watched him take the oath I was touched with the emotion of the moment, and what it means for our country. I was reminded of the words of my eighth grade U.S. history students several years ago, in an inner city school where minorities were not the minority. When we discussed equality and inequality in America, I asked them if America has gotten past skin color. "Yes," said some. "No," said others. I asked if America would ever elect a female President. "Possibly," they said. Would America ever elect an African American president? "Not in our life time," they said.

Yet here it has happened. America has seen a tremendous change, and whether you are black or white, republican or democrat, the meaning of what happened this month should not be lost on any of us. I think the significance of this event was well written in an editorial I read in the SLC Tribune this weekend:

Reason for Tears

It happened in grant Park and again on the Mall in Washington, D.C.-- news agencies transmitting close-ups of people overcome with emotion at the sight of our new black president. It's not his policies and politics that made eyes mist and noses run. It is the joy of seeing someone from a discriminated class reach the pinnacle position of president of the United States of America.
Let's not misunderstand. They're tying their kite strings to Barack Obama's high-flying ideals of change because they hope he'll set the nation aright. But the overwhelming emotion trickling down their cheeks is not about that, it's about the giant step we're taking to accept and even embrace a diverse nation where everyone is treated with respect and has access to all opportunities.
If you haven't experienced discrimination you may not realize what this event means to many of our nation's citizens. Seeing their tearful responses to this history-making election and inauguration, you must stop and ask: Where do these tears come from? What do they mean? How do I treat others who aren't the same as me? And, finally, what should I be doing differently?
-Helen Horton

Today I watched this amazing video on YouTube and was again struck by the momentous piece of history I have been privileged to witness. Take a look at it- it's well worth a few minutes of your time.

Happy Birthday Dear Davey...

2009-01-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

Last week was Dave's birthday, but I was simply too busy working on his three tiered fondant birthday cake, preparing the five course gourmet meal, scouring the stores for the perfect gifts and then lovingly wrapping all 33 of them and baking 4 dozen cupcakes for him to take to his office to find time to squeeze in a blog about his B-day. Imagine the guilt I felt in not getting a blog up for his birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(If you do not detect the satire in this than you need to retake an English lit 101 course).

So I thought that since it was his birthday last week, I'd write a little post about some of the interesting/quirky things you may or may not know about my dear Davey.

1. You probably all know that Dave loves the great outdoors and will take to the hills to spend the night whenever possible (which isn't actually so often now with kids in his life). He even camped out the night before our wedding. But you may not know that his favorite time to camp is in the dead of winter. He makes it his goal to sleep out on the coldest night of the year. He says it's to "keep his blood thick," so that some day when he returns to mountaineering he can withstand the subarctic alpine nights. Here's a photo I snapped of him last year sleeping out on our back patio in the middle of January, on a night that actually ended up being the coldest night of the year. It reached -14 that night. CRAZY!!! I kept expecting him to come in within a few hours, but nope, he stayed out the whole night.

-14 and still smilin'!

2. Dave has a fascination with trains, particularly his electric train. In the last year alone he has accumulated 25 train cars and 50 feet of track, officially taking over the spare bedroom. He spends hours with his boys playing with the train. It's a good thing McKennan loves trains too, as his future college fund is now invested in the electric train...

3. Dave is the type of person who can see a dead raccoon on the side of the road, decide to make a hat out of it, and actually do it. (For more details see my April 9, 2008 blog entry.)

4. Though he came from about as a conservative family as it gets, he is a staunch democrat and Obama's number one fan. This can lead to some interesting conversations with his family members.

5. Speaking of Presidents, Dave likes to make up words while he's talking and pass them off for real words.

6. When he is eating, he only eats one thing on his plate at a time. No mixing, no biting one food and then a different one. No drinking until the very end of the meal.

7. Dave has an identical twin and when they get together they still have to go to the bathroom at the same time. They also have the same laugh and do the same funny hip shaking, clench fisted jig when they get excited.

8. One of my favorite stories about Dave happened shortly after our first son McKennan was born. Dave was headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things and I suggested that he take the baby along with him. He hesitated a moment, gave me this quizzical look, and said, "Well I would but I don't know how I would push the shopping cart and the stroller at the same time."

That makes me laugh just writing it!

9. If you have any interesting or fun additions to make about Dave please leave your story or comment! Happy 33rd Birthday Dave! We love all your quirks and personality!

2009-01-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

One day, many years ago, a young, carefree and careless David decided to do some cool tricks on a skateboard. No doubt he was trying to impress some cute young thing with braces and a bad perm. Or maybe he was showing off to his twin brother or one of the neighborhood boys. Whatever it was, the pressure was on to do something extra cool on his hot set of wheels, despite his inexperience, and not to mention lack of coordination, on wheels. So he knelt down on the skateboard, gave it a push, and you guessed it, hit a rock and toppled over the skateboard and landed straight on his face. No I mean literally on his face- he actually broke his front tooth, which had to be pulled and replaced with an artificial tooth, a silent little memento to remind him for the rest of his life to stay far far away from skateboards (or anything else with wheels smaller than 12 inches in diameter.)

Fast forward 18 years. Last week I received a call from Dave who had recently arrived at work. The voice on the other end, with an unfamiliar lisp said, "I just losth my tooth!" He had bitten in to a candy bar and out popped his tooth! After 18 years it was done, just like that. Luckily we had recently signed up for dental insurance which will cover part of the pretty penny it will cost to replace it. At first I felt a bit sorry for him, but then when he sent me this picture taken on his phone all I could do was laugh really hard. Just look at this and tell me if you don't laugh.

Don't worry, he has a temporary tooth until they can fix it permanently in a few weeks. If nothing else, I guess that will teach him not to eat candy bars for breakfast!

The Season Finale!

2009-01-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

Here we are into the new year and I'm finally getting to my holiday post. I couldn't complete 2008 without a summary, short as it may be, of our holiday fun. It was so fun to see so many of you whom we miss and love- to share long conversations and eat good food and laugh at our memories together. In all that there is to do and see and hear in the holiday season, my favorite part of it all is catching up and spending time with so many of you. And if we didn't see you this year, let's make it happen next year. Hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and here's to the new year!

Christmas 2008 at my parents' house

We celebrated McKennan's third birthday with a household of cousins and relatives, chocolate cake, and pin the nose on the snowman. Some day he'll curse us for his Dec. 24th birhtday, but for now it's cool to get twice as many gifts as all the other kids.

Christmas is about family parties. Here are the beautiful Stott girl cousins. The greatest downfall about being an adults is that we rarely get to spend time together any more.

We visited the same animated Santa's village I used to visit as a wide-eyed kid. Admittedly, it wasn't quite as magical, for me anyway.

The boys enjoyed some one on one time building marble towers with Grandpa Black

Cousins galore = house of happy chaos.

Sledding New Years Day- a great way to end the holidays!

Lean your ear this way...

2008-12-19T12:19:00.000-08:00

As much as we love Christmas and strive to emphasize it's true meaning in all our Christmas activties, I must admit that ever since I learned the secret about Santa, Christmas has never quite been the same. I was an ardent believer until I was TEN and fiercely stood up for him against my young disbelieving friends. I can still remember one day in third grade a conversation I had on the snowy playground with a disbeliever in my class. I assured her I had seen raindeer prints in our yard and shared with her all the convincing evidence I learned in our book about discerning the true Santa. Things like were his shoes made of real leather, was he wearing padding or not, and of course, was the beard real or a sorry imitation. It was quite a blow to me when my mother finally shared "the secret" with me.

But now life has allowed me another round in the magic of Santa, as I get to relive him and his jolly goodness through my children. Christmas has become mysterious and magical again! I love watching childrens' eyes light up when he comes jingling through, and remember the feelings of awe and excitement I held for him. Christmas is magical again, and for that I salute dear old St. Nick.

Snow, glorious snow!

2008-12-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

It's about time I updated this blog with some new photos of the Black family, and this weekend there was something worth taking pictures of- the first real snow! Not just a sissy melt-by-noon kind of snow, but a real beautiful fat flakes, stick to the ground, accident causing, snowman building kind of snow. If Dave had it his way, the first snow of the year would be a national holiday. Something about the first significant snow fall brings out the child in all of us, and probably like most of you, our family was out playing and shoveling snow as quick as you can say "moonboots."

Do your husbands find it funny to blow your small children with the snow from the snow blower?

"C'mon guys! Help me up! C'mon guys!"

-name that movie

Kennan learning how to make a snowball that will "knock 'em out."

What's your vote, beard or no beard?

Kennan definetly looks better without his beard.

It was a bit too cold outside for Gabe so he stayed inside and sat in his favorite chair sipping cocoa and watching the fire.

Coming next.... A visit to Santa Clause!

2008-12-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

I know I'm only supposed to write happy/funny/endearing little stories on a blog, but the last few days have been anything but happy, funny, or endearing. We've been stricken by the bug that seems to be sticking everywhere west of the Mississippi- and if you havn't had it yet, just wait, you're next! We had a nice Thanksgiving weekend- good food, family, and friends. We even had the rare treat of watching a movie in a theater (can't remember the last time that happended). We got together with dear friends. Played games and chatted late into the night with family members. And then IT hit. As we were driving home Saturday night we stopped at a store to buy some shoes for McKennan (he seems to grow out of them faster than I can put them on). All of a sudden he was coughing and then, yep, throwing up all over the store carpet. Luckily we had an extra pair of clothing on hand, so we changed him and I cleaned up what I could with a spare towel. I smiled meekly at the sales clerk, "Sorry!"
Back in the car, Kennan threw up most of the way to our destination. What can you do with a vomitting child in a car? Poor thing had to whimper in his yuckiness all the way home.
That night it Dave's turn to spring repeatedly to the bathroom, then Little Gabe, and finally Tuesday morning, it was me. Moral of the story: Get your flu shots early!

2008-11-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

My friend had this on her blog and it's so funny I had to share. Sound advice for these troubled times.

Election Day post script...

2008-11-11T12:53:00.001-08:00

We were all estatic when our man won on election day. Well, at least two of us. Dave has been trying to teach McKennan to respond to the question "Who do you want for president?", with "Barack Obama." But McKennan has already decided to assert his independent voter status, because for some reason whenever somebody asks him that question, he says, "John McCain." Where he got that idea we'll never know. WE certainly don't indoctrinate our children with our political views...

Get Out and Vote

2008-11-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

I'm sure I don't need to remind all the intelligent, patriotic readers of this blog to vote. But maybe I should remind you not to procrastinate it until tonight because you may find yourself in some long lines as EVERYBODY is hoping to participate in making history this election. It's a great thing to see.

As I completed my patriotic, citizen's duty this morning, I walked out of the polls with the following images in my head:

These are some photos I took at a pumpkin walk in my community, where different organizations create scenes with carved or painted pumpkins. As you can tell from above, they can get very elaborate. Yes, their heads are painted pumpkins. I thought it was hilarious and had to pass it along.

And if you are wondering who I voted for, I'm a long time supporter of the "Too Young".

We'll be up late tonight following the results!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

Savor Autumn

2008-10-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

If you have not yet taken the opportunity to:

Play in the leaves...

Bury yourself in leaves....

Crunch the leaves....

Or choose your Halloween pumpkin...

May you so enjoy doing this week!

Before you know it, autumn will be over.

Ah mi jardin!

2008-10-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

I'm sad to admit it, but this past week with the harvesting and juicing of our grapes, our garden is officially DONE. No more grapes. No more tomatoes. There's not even a lone zucchini or straggeling squash. Everything has been eaten up, put up, or frozen up. I'm sad to see the end of the gardening season. Sad that I can no longer walk outside in the morning and pick fresh strawberries for my morning oatmeal. Sad that there will be no more warm, sweet, garden tomatoes for a tomato sandwich. Sad that all the flowers have wilted and the vines are sagging. BUT, happy for all that I'm learning through my gardening experience. This year we tried several new things and new (for me) ways of preserving them. Though fresh fruit and veggies season is over, I am very content when I see my neat rows of jarred peaches, apricots, tomatoes, pasta sauces, and jams in the cellar, and the frozen peppers and strawberries in the freezer. There's something very fulfilling about organicly planting, raising, eating, and preserving your own food, something that I really just discovered in the last couple of years. Next year, the garden will hopefully be even bigger and better, and full of even more lessons for me and our family. But for now, the garden is done, and the pantry overrunneth.

Smell the sunshine

2008-10-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

I must confess to one of my life's "simple pleasures." It's line dried sheets. Really, if you don't line dry anything else, you've got to try line dried sheets. Just the sight of sheets flapping away on a sunny line makes me happy. Yes, happy enought to take a picture of my drying sheets. Lest you think me pathetic let me extol the virtues of line dried sheets:

1. It saves energy (electric energy, not yours).

2. Line dried sheets naturally become smoother, crisper, and whiter (saving YOU energy).

3. There is nothing like the smell of SUNSHINE when you snuggle up into freshly washed and lined dried sheets at night. Mmmmm!

So go green! Save your energy! Smell the sunshine, and give line dried sheets a try!

We've Been Zucchinied!

2008-10-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

The other day I stepped out the door to find a massive green object on our porch. I wasn't sure if it was a caveman's club or a small meteoroid. On closer inspection, I realized it was a long neglected and grossly overgrown zucchini. We'd been zucchinied! I mean the thing is taller than and weighs more than our nearly five month old Gabe! Now that's a big zucchini (or a small baby)! I looked at it and wondered what I could do with it. After some quick calculations in my head, I figured I could either make 23 loaves of zucchini bread, 12 pans of zucchini brownies, 9 zucchini cobblers, or one huge stuffed zucchini with it. The options were endless. But after I thought about all the shredding and shopping any one of those yummy dishes would require, I decided I will simply sneak out in the night, place in on a neighbor's porch, ring the doorbell, and RUN!

Mmmmm....AUTUMN!

2008-10-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

As much as I hate to see carefree summer days and the chirp of crickets at night fade away, I can't complain when it means the beginning of autumn. I believe autumn is mother natures way of moving us gently away from the splendor of summer and asking for forgiveness for the long winter ahead. And she does it with such style, such grace, such stealth! She creeps her dazzling pallet into the tops of the mountains, where it slowly trickles down and spreads into the valleys. One day your flowering pear tree is whistling happy green songs in the breeze, and the next morning it's showing off its new yellow dress. Overnight green grassy fields turn into golden blankets of bailed hay. Leaves dance and skitter in soft golden light and warm breezes. The smell of burning weeds wafes through neighborhoods, and the taste of crisp apples lingers on your tongue. Mmmmm... a smorgasboard for the senses!

In our family we have a tradition in which at the changing of each season, on the equinox or solstice, we like to hike, ride, or ski somewhere high in the mountains to shout farewells to the outgoing season and welcomes to the incoming. Somehow this rather silly tradition allows me to finally let go of the seasons that I hate to say goodbye to, and look forward to the incoming.

In keeping in tradition, last week we biked with the kids in toe, or on back, up the canyon as high as we could, reveling in the color and warmth and refreshing autumn goodness. There we bade our farewells and offered greetings to what I think is mother nature's most creative season of them all.

Got Zucchini?

2008-09-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering what to do with your end of the season prolific zucchini, I have just the recipe for you! My friend made this and everybody absolutely loved it. Then I made it for a dinner party and again, rave reviews. The best part about it is, everybody thinks they are eating apple cobbler, and then you tell them it isn't apples and they have to guess what it is. Makes for fun conversation and good eatin'! Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Zucchini Cobbler
Peel, seed, quarter, and slice two large zucchini (the really big ones that grow out of control in your garden before you know they're there.) You need 8 cups sliced zucchini.
Cook zucchini with 2/3 cup lemon juice on the stove top till tender, about 15 minutes.
Then add:
1 cup sugar*, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Stir for one minute.

Topping
Mix the following till crumbly:
4 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups cold butter

Mix 1/2 c of the topping into the zucchini mixture. Put half of the remain topping in a greased 9x13 pan. Top with zucchini mixture, then remaining topping. Sprinkle with cinnamon and lightly spray with water. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!
*The only problem with this recipe is I thought it was too sweet. I bet you could cut the sugar considerably. Next time I make it I'm going to try halving the sugar.

Sleepy Smiles and Comforting Arms

2008-09-19T15:35:00.001-07:00

The other evening I picked up Kennan out of the stroller, he was in that half asleep mode. I'm sure we can all remeber the nights when we've been picked up by strong arms and carried into our beds. I love to watch Kennan as I put him in bed, he's awake enough to give me a half smile that just makes me happy to be his dad, and to be the one who is able to love this little boy. These tender moments are the ones that make up for the broken things, uncrontrolled screaming, and pull your hair out moments.

Product Review

2008-09-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd write a review for a really great, most effective product. In fact, I'm sure it is the most effective product on the market, far and above anything else in it's class. If you have problems getting up in the morning, getting to work on time, or waking before sunrise, have I got the alarm clock for you! It's called the McKennan 2005 series and it is gauranteed to wake you every morning at sunrise or your money back. The great thing about this alarm is that it is fully interactive, assuring that you will not sleep through it or push a snooze button one too many times. It will start out with a demanding, "Get up! Get up!" beckoning you from the recesses of sleep to the harsh realities of wakefulness. If that doesn't work quickly enough, it will soon be on top of you, bouncing on your bed, and on your head, all the while shouting, "Get up NOW!" with more and more intensity the more you try to ignore it. If somehow you can continue to stay in the sleepy comfort of your bed, this alarm will then pull off your warm covers and demand to be fed. Now who could sleep through that? A five star alarm for sure! The only complaint I have is:

1. It's bound to always wake you up too early, no matter what time you set it for.

2. I havn't yet figured how to turn it off.

Dang it!

2008-08-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

The last few days Little Gabe has gotten about 95% of the way on his first roll from his back to his stomach. I've been watching him like a hawk with camcorder in hand, trying to capture this great milestone on film. There have been several false starts, where he'll get on to his side, teeter back and forth, trying to gain the momentum to roll forward, then he falls back on his back. McKennan and I have been cheering him on, but to no avail. Until today.

I layed Gabe on his back and then went downstairs to put in a load of laundry. When I came back upstairs, he was on his stomach. I had missed it! I thought, "Dang it! This is why I'm a stay at home mom- so I won't miss these moments!" Sneaky kid. I guess I'll just have to keep my camcord on hand to try to catch his second official roll.

Can a stroller really make one happy?

2008-08-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

I know that material possesions are not supposed to make us happy, but I must admit, I have a new material possesion that is indeed making me very happy. It's my new double jogging stroller. You see, it's not just a stroller, it's a passport to places I couldn't otherwise go with a three month old and a two year old. It's my passport to long morning walks, to basking in pre-autumn breezes, and non-carbon producing trips to the park. It's my passport to comfortably enjoying mountain trails and lakeside paths in the company of my children. It's my passport to losing the last stubborn post pregnancy pounds and getting myself back in shape. It's my passport to the outside world and to rejuvinating my inner world. Indeed, it is so much more than just a stroller!

A Perfect 10...

2008-08-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

So I've been catching up on everyone's blogs- being inspired by people's lives and thoughts. Being inspired to post SOMETHING on our blog. But really, who has time to write on a blog when the OLYMPICS are on?! I'm a huge Olympics fan, and the lack of sleep for the past week can prove it. I'm up watching till the bitter end, can't get enough of it. I mean, what's more exciting than the Phelp's 1/100th of a second victory in the 100 m fly? What's more frustrating than Natsia's loss in the crazy, complicated high bars tie braker? What's more amazing than doing backwards flips, twists, leaps, and handstands on a four inch wide board? How cool is it to see the fastest man in the world beat the world record in the 100 m dash? Or a 41 year old woman swim her fastest time and miss the gold by 1/100th of a second?
My love for the Olympics goes all the way back to the first Olympics that I remember. It was 1984- the year of Mary Lou Retin, and I was seven years old. I was enamored with the gymnastics, and Mary Lou was my idol. I can still visualize perfectly the famous vault in which she scored a perfect 10 and won the gold. (How could I forget it? That visual was plastered on every Wheaties box for the next 12 months) After those Olympics, me and my friends were inspired to become gymnists, and spent the next several months perfecting our moves. The piano bench became our vault, the front yard hosted our floor excercises, and a four by six board the most difficult of all- the beam. We'd run and skip, do our cartwheels and summersalts, leaps and turns, then stand up, stick our chin up, chest out, arms straight, legs together, and await our scores. 9.8, 9.9, a perfect 10! To this day I can't look at a piano bench without the urge to hurdle off of it into a flying somersault. I'm pretty sure in my other life I was an Olympic champion. But for this life I'll have to settle for a front row seat in my living room, in awe of the tremendous work and diligence of so many amazing athletes- crying for the near misses and tragic mistakes, celebrating the fulfillment of life long dreams, and wishing I was a part of it all.

Summer Is...

2008-08-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

A few visuals of what summer is...

Wading barefoot it cool mountain waters...

Hiking in the smell of Butterscotch pine...

Watching small town parades...

Jumping in an emarld lake...

...or being dropped into it.

Canoeing...

Train rides...

Family reunions...

Fun with cousins and look alike dads...

and sunkissed mountain evenings.

Ahhhhh.... SUMMER!

Crazy Americans!

2008-07-21T13:07:00.001-07:00

I've been teaching an English class to 23 female Japanese Freshmen at the University this month and have been learning a bit about Japanese culture. For example, do not ask a Japanese person to sit on the floor in a public building. I did this when I wanted to play a game that required everyone to sit on the floor, and they all gave me these horrified looks, like I'd just asked them to clean my toenails or something. After much convincing, they finally reluctantly sat down on the gross American floor. It was well worth it in the end because they loved the game, as I knew they would. For you Stott's out there, it's a word version of our favorite "Electricty" game that I play with all my classes and is always a hit.

Recently I gave an assignment to the class in which I asked them to write questions they had about American culture and I would try to answer them. I think I learned far more about American culture than they did through this little exercise. It usually takes putting on the glasses of an outsider to gain a new perspective on one's culture, and to try to make sense of why we do the things we do. Here are some of the more unusual questions that they asked, that made me think. How would you answer these?

Why do Americans always have big reactions?
Why are Americans so friendly?
Why do American cakes and cookies have colored frosting? (Apparantly in Japan they don't use food coloring, so the colors on our confectionaries really stand out to them).
Why do Americans have basements?
Why are American men so gentle? (I didn't know they were!)
Why do American women like to be blond? (Ask the men!)
Why is American food so sweet?
Why do Americans eat so much beef?
Why do Americans only grocery shop once a week?
Why do Americans wear shoes inside?
Why do Americans sit on the carpet when they wear shoes inside? (Aha!)
Why do Americans put grass on their gardens?
Why do Americans eat such large portions?

By the sound of it, we Americans must look like walking whales to these patite little Japanese girls. I must agree though, our food is too sweet and too fattening and our portions much too big. We could learn a lot about healthy eating habits from the Japanese. We could also learn a thing or two about when and where to take off our shoes!

Summer's simple pleasures...

2008-07-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

I must admit, it hasn't been the most exciting summer for us. Between the price of gas, a fussy baby, unemployment, and just plain exhaustion, any thought of a real vacation is out of the question. Vacations or not though, I do love summer! I love the smell of hot wet cement and freshly cut grass. I love an evening walk just after sunset when the air is cool and smells like dusk. I love riding a bike downhill so fast the bugs splatter on my face. I love kiddie pools and fudgecicles, flip flops and sprinklers. I love good summer food and funky summer entertainment. I love trips to Dairy Queen and driving home at night with the windows down. I love the sound of birds in the morning and crickets at night. So in essence, whether or not we get away or even get to the community swimming pool this year, I'll be reveling in the simple pleasures of summer. What are your simple summer pleasures?

Here are a few of the highlights of our past month:

Gabe started smiling- Nothing melts a parent's heart like a baby's first smile.

4th of July- We celebrated in all the traditional ways- a small town parade, all American barbequed food, sparklers and fireworks.

McKennan still asks me everyday if we can do fireworks. His first experience with sparklers was a hit.

We took our first family bike ride and originally thought we'd try to do it this way, but by the looks on their faces, you can see we had to switch to this...

Kennan loved riding this way. As Dave flew down the hills, Kennan put his arms straight out like Superman. Gabe snoozed away. Dave is a powerhouse- I could never ride uphill like he did with 35 pounds on my back and another 15 behind me!

An evening walk along the train tracks...

Love summer!

Sigh.....

2008-07-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

Did you hear that? It was a great sigh of relief coming from our house. Dave has accepted an offer with a company in Ogden and has returned to full time employment. He will be working as an internet marketing specialist, and we have yet to see exactly what that entails. We feel blessed he has found work in a relatively timely manner, and so appreciate all the words and prayers of support we received during the last few months.

I am returning to work this week as well. I'm teaching my regular ESL class two evenings a week, and for the next few weeks am also teaching an ESL class to Japanese students at the University. Between lesson plans, teaching, and being a mother, I'm keeping busier than I'd like sometimes. But I also enjoy teaching and the opportunity to keep my foot in the "real world", form relationships with other adults, spend a little time out of the house, and allow Dave some quality time with his boys.

Ahhh, as much as we'd love to be on vacation all our lives, employment sure feels good!
-Jac

It's official...

2008-06-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

I mentioned before on this blog that we had a difficult time deciding on a name for the most recent addition to the family. When he was five days old we decided on Gabriel, and we announced it to all the world. Me and McKennan and the rest of humankind began to call the little pink wiggly thing in our midst "Gabe." Dave, on the other hand, has had a harder time getting used to his name. In fact, up to this point, he has pretty much just refered to him, as "Your Boy," a habit I have been trying to break before "Your Boy" can understand him and grows a my-father-doesn't-recognize-me-as-his complex.
But yesterday, hopefully that will all come to an end, as his name has become officialized on the records of the church (not to mention the birth certificate and social security card), and it is Gabriel Robert Black. That's right, there's no turning back. It's now written in that big book in heaven.

We had a great time hosting lots of family at our home for good food and good conversation. I always love a large family gathering, especially in the summer time when the grass begs for bare feet and a crouqet game is inevitable. Of course, we missed all those of you who live too far to make it, but maybe these photos will give you an idea of the fun you missed out on.

Here's are a few photos of the men and boys that surround my life that I meant to post for Father's Day. I'm a lucky dame to have so many handsome and respectable gentlemen (and a little rascal) in my life!

The newest man in my life.

That's ma boys!

A visit with Grandpa Brown on Father's Day, the boys only surviving great-grandfather.

A few thoughts...

2008-06-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a very long time since I've posted anything. I could say that a month old baby who must be held constantly and a demanding toddler prevent me from doing so, but really I just havn't felt like it lately. Little Gabe deserves some updated photos, but he has a terrible case of baby acne and his newborn hair is starting to fall out, so I think I'll just wait till he's out of the awkward baby/teenage stage and post something when he's a little cuter. I can say that, I'm his mom.

Unemployment looms in our home like a listless shadow. We're learning a lot through the experience- how much we depend on each other, how much support we receive through family and friends, how much joy our two little boys bring us, and even when things are down, how good we really have it. When I hear the reports of earthquakes in China and floods in the Midwest, or mothers accidentally running over their own children or families being killed by drunk drivers, I can't begin to pity our situation. We are blessed in a gazillion ways, and we'll weather the sours and more fully appreciate the sweets.

The Twist and Turns

2008-06-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I must say that life has an interesting way of mixing things up just when you're getting used to things. I'm in the process of looking for a new job, as things went south really quickly and without warning at my last job. I can't say that I'm not angry and upset about it, but I'm trying to keep a positive perspective about the whole thing. You never know what opportunity is around the corner unless you have to look. So I'm looking. In the mean time I've been busy doing side work, working on my resume, my website, and the garden. Taking a few breaks here and there to take some deep breaths and chill while casting a little fly. The weather hasn't been real great, it snowed in the mountains today and has been down right Marchish the last couple of days/months. Summer is on its way but winter isn't giving up easily.

If any of you need a website you're welcome to contact me and let me know.
Here's the link to my site davidblackweb.com
http://www.davidblackweb.com/

David

A rose by any other name...

2008-05-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

Our baby boy is now five days old and we have finally decided on what will perhaps be one of the most important decisions of his life- his name. After much thought, deliberation, and delay, we have finally decided. His name will be ..... KUNTA KINTA.

Okay, just kidding. His name is Gabriel Robert Black. Our own little Angel Gabriel.

Both mom and Gabe are doing great. So far he is sleeping so much and crying so little that the transition to two hasn't been too bad. We'll see how long that lasts!

For now I am reveling in the sweet feelings of a home with a baby straight from heaven. I always wondered if I could love my second child as much as I love the first, and yes, it's possible! Somehow all new resevoirs of love open within you, and it seems you love each with his own special love.

Dave is a tremendous support and is doing a fabulous job playing dad and mom for the next week. All this while keeping the yard ship shape and sneaking in a fishing outing or two.

McKennan adores his baby brother and loves to touch his face and little hands. Sometimes he thinks it's hilarious when Gabe cries, and other times he almost feels empathy for his little bro and tries to muster up some tears of his own. I'm not looking forward to the day when the novelty wears off and the jealosy sets in!

Here's some picks of our new foursome.

Surprise - It's a BOY

2008-05-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

Writing about experiencing the birth of a baby is more than difficult. Watching the miracle of birth is truly amazing.
Here's the story, at 1:30 am Jaclyn woke with the first contractions, Dave - still sleeping. 3:00 contractions - Dave, sleeping peacefully. 4:00 am- contractions get stronger - Dave unaware and dreaming about weeds and his lawn. 4:30 am - Jaclyn wakes Dave, Dave wakes up and asks if the sprinklers are on. What? I thought they were on.
OK, on to the important parts...

We arrived at the hospital a little after 7 am and at first check, Jaclyn was already dialated to a 7. She was feeling good and the contractions were strong but do-able. She used the ball and we faced every contraction as it came, Jaclyn powering through as the contractions got stronger. At some point Jaclyn decides not to have an epidural, she's feeling good and is willing to keep at it. 9:36 am her water breaks. This baby is on its way. After about 15 minutes of intense, movie-like pushing, a baby BOY entered the world. What a surprise - I was really expecting a girl - Chinese calender was way off. I'm very pleased to have a boy (name still be decided)- Kennan and his brother will be pals. The midwife cleaned him quickly and a bird like cry came from our beautiful baby boy. I was in tears, and Jaclyn was on a high of having it over with as we celebrated his birth. She had done what billions of women around the world and through the ages have done - given birth without the aid of pain medication or fancy gadgetry. I cut the chord - nothing too much there - snip, boy am I special. They cleaned the baby and we enjoyed a nice hour together celebrating our new addition to the family. Jaclyn is doing great, as is the baby who we have yet to name. An amazing experience that I will cherish forever. McKennan was happy to see mom and his new baby brother - but enjoyed running down the hallways best of all.

P.S. Jaclyn is right again (as always), last Sunday she announced that she's having a boy and it will be born on Thursday. I can never doubt her instincts - Bullseye.

- Dave

New Born weighing in at 7.13 lbs, 20 inches - Censored too.

Who does he look like?

Mom celebrating with baby

Dave having a moment

Grandpa and Grandma Stott - celebrating grandbaby #12

The Garden and the Yard - Dave's Pride and Joy

2008-05-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Well, I admit that I do gush over my yard. I'm not saying it is the best yard in the whole world but with what I've got to work with I think it looks great. I will spend hours and hours working in the yard just to avoid a few dishes anytime. This year I feel like we've been a little ambitious and planted everything about a month earlier than everyone else. In April I was ready for May. The weather has schooled us - Snow, sun and snow with cooler temps and just plain cold weather. I think I could have waited another month and the garden would look about the same as the cool weather slowed it all down. Say la vi, what's past is past. So this last weekend we planted the corn, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and some herbs. We still have to finish the second half of the corn and get the tomatoes in the ground (cold weather issues) but for the most part the garden is ready to grow for the next 3 months. The peas are coming up along with the spinach and the lettuce. The strawberries seem to be doing well too. The apples, well, I might have gotten a little carried away in my pruning - crossing my fingers on the apples. My mother says that you can never prune too much, you always have more than enough in the end. So I'm trusting her on this. Abra had pics of her garden so I'm putting in a few of my own.

Dave

P.S. No baby yet - Jaclyn says Thursday.

The Event of the Year...

2008-05-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

I realize that I have hardly even mentioned what should be the most important event of the next year for us- the arrival of baby #2. The sex of the baby is a mystery and we've enjoyed keeping it a surprise. Somehow I think it makes birth day all that more exciting. My official due date is May 7, so really he/she could come any day now. I'm definitely feeling ready- I'm way past the point of sleeping peacefully through the night or bending over to pick something up without a series of grunts and groans. Dave is still trying to prepare himself mentally for another baby in the house, and McKennan, though he loves to hug and pat the baby in mommy's tummy, really has no idea how his little life as the center of the universe is about to change.

We have a girl's name chosen, Ava Marie, but are still at a complete loss for boys names. Please help us prevent bringing a nameless child home from the hospital by leaving any suggestions for boys names. If your name gets picked, you win a million dollars! Okay, maybe just a million thanks and a psudo name sake.

Baby Animal Days highlight

2008-04-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

McKennan met a little lamb

whose fleece was white as snow

and everywhere the little lamb went

McKennan was sure to go.

He put his head upon its bum,

and then upon its back,

and just like that,

in no time flat

they were the best of chums!

Davey Crockett Would Be Proud...

2008-04-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

One thing I have always admired about Dave is that he is passionate about his hobbies and talents. When he wants to take up a new activity or talent, he jumps in with both feet and doesn't look back. Two years ago he took up fly fishing and has hardly put down a pole since (even in the dead of winter!). This Christmas he decided to take up electric trains as a hobby, and 14 train cars and 25 feet of track later, it has taken over the spare bedroom and is a favorite toy for both dad and son.

Most recently Dave has taken up a new hobby, one of those fine arts that is lost on our generation of men (with reason). Not too long ago, Dave told me out of the blue, "You know, I've always wanted to make a coonskin hat." "Really?" I said, "that's nice." He then walks out into the garage and returns with the freshly skinned fur of a bushy, smelly, wild racoon. He held up the remains, with its little bits of flesh still clinging to the underside, reeking of.... well dead racoon, smiles, and announces, "I saw this racoon on the road yesterday and I thought, this is my chance! So I went back and picked it up and skinned it while you were asleep last night." I, of course, was stunned. Not only was I still contemplating the fact that my husband's great aspiration was to wear roadkill on his head, but he was now holding the reeking evidence that he was going to go through with it! Makes me wonder what else he does while I'm asleep at night.

Dave set to work researching how to clean, dry, and prepare a racoon skin. Yes, there are actually websites out there about how to skin a 'coon, and various other small creatures that mostly live in the South. Over the course of the next several weeks he cleaned it, scraped it, salted it, and dried it. This weekend, he finally cut it up and with a lot of trial and error (including the use of a stapler and possibly a little duct tape), he finally fulfilled his dream and sewed together his version of a coonskin hat. Not bad for a boy from the suberbs without an ounce of hunting or sewing experience! Although I still don't want to get within three feet of the thing, I must say, Davey Crockett would be proud.

I know you're dieing to see the results, so here's a photo of wild man Dave wearing his newest creation.

I admit I look like Scut Farcus - Dave

Man's work

2008-04-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

With three apple trees in our backyard, we had more apples, apple sauce, apple pie filling, dried apples, etc. than we knew what to do with last fall. So we decided to cut down one of the 35 year old apple trees that stood in the smack middle of our garden to free up more space for vegetable growing. I was thinking of maybe hiring someone to do this very labor intensive job, but Dave was thinking "large, dangerous power tools, man's work, bulging muscles- Argh! Argh!" So Dave borrowed a chain saw (always scary to me- too many haunted houses as a kid) and took it all down. We were both sad to see it go, but it did free up a nice 15X7' area that will allow us to plant at least three more varieties of veggies.

Here's Dave doing his "man's work," while his adoring son watches in awe (from a safe distance).

Laundry woes

2008-03-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

Do you ever put a load of laundry in the drier and totally forget about it and come back to it five hours later to find it's completely dry and wrinkled so you turn it on the "dewrinkle"cycle only to forget about it again and repeat the whole process three times over again until you finally give up and end up spray bottling and hanging up the entire load to release some of the wrinkles, thereby nolifying the entire process? Just wondering...

Too much of a good thing

2008-03-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

What to do with the three Easter baskets overflowing with cheap chocolate and jelly beans that stare at me every time I open the cupboard where I tried to hide them away? Easter is the one time of year when there is such a thing as TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE! Don't get me wrong, I like chocolate as much as the next girl, but in reasonable quantities. So I'm trying to figure out what to do with it all. Should I plant some and hope for an everbearing chocolate tree to produce? Could I can it? Dry it? Freeze it? Send it to starving children in China? Oh waite, that's probably where it came from. I've got it! I'll treat it like prolific summer zucchini and wrap it in brown paper bags and leave it on my neighbor's porches when they're not home. Perfect!

Here's a few pics from our Easter weekend. It was probably much like yours- a plethora of egg hunts and way too much candy, but a good time all the same

The race is on!

"So what's all the fuss about these things anyway?"

Kennan & cousin Avery

Momma, 33 weeks and counting!

Daddy's Boy or Mommy's Boy?

2008-03-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Mommy says I'm a daddy's boy. Some people say I look like my daddy. Lot's of people say I look like my mom. What do you think?

McKennan, age 2

Daddy, age 2

Mommy, age 2

Does this mean I'm a mommy's boy?

- McKennan

Dave's Little Get Away

2008-03-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

So over Presidents Day weekend Wynn and I (Dave) took a trip down to Ouray Colorado for some ice climbing. We had a great time, climbing, laughing, and hanging out with fellow climbers. I really love ice climbing, its so beautiful, make me look really cool (hard core), but isn't that hard to do.

You can see more pics at Dave's Self Centered Blog -

mountainmonk.blogspot.com

-Dave

Our Little Black Magic

2008-03-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

The magic in our home is called McKennan. At 26 months old, McKennan is a true lover of trains, planes, and automobiles, and can make the distinct sounds of all three, as coded somewhere in the male part of his DNA. He is picking up new words faster than we can say supercaliflagilistic, and often surprises us with his new word of the day. The other day it was "backhoe." Naturally, he's learning all the names for construction equipment before pronouncing his first color or shape word.

Of course, the real magic of Kennan is his bright blue inquisitive eyes and infectious, wide mouth laugh. The most adorable laugh ever. And how he loves to laugh!

Entering the Blog waters, one toe at a time.

2008-03-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

So maybe "Adventures" is a bit of a misnomer. Really, we're just a very regular (borderline boring) family that do all the regular things most regular families do. In fact, we're such a regular family with adventures so far and few between that I've never wanted to create a blog. What would I write about? Who wants to hear about the everyday ramblings of my regular little family? I've never been good at talking about my self, and my little boy is hardley old enough to say little cute and funny tidbits to post. And besides, aren't blogs a little egocentric?

Obviously I have finally given in to blogging pressure- from friends (my generation should be renamed generation BLOG, especially the female half), family, and mostly my husband. As a professional web developer, he said he couldn't truly hold his head up in the web world without a blog of his own. Mostly he just wants to play with all the coding and stuff behind the blog and leave the real work to me. Anyway, he threatened to create a blog with or without my input so of course I couldn't let it happen without having some say in the matter. After all, as a doting mother and wife isn't it my responsibility to have some control over what the radom masses of internet users may see and think about my family? So although I still resist the idea, Dave has pushed us along into the 21st century and we are now official bloggers. Hmmm... we'll see how this goes.