Seattle - Journaling Only

First a disclosure- this is just journaling because I dont have a camera and the only way to get pictures is to get them from my Mom or Lacy.

In order to make it to Seattle my day began very early. I had to have Porter packed and ready to go with Sam to meet his parents in St. George. Ruby and I had to be packed and out of the house by 9:30am (MST) to make it to the Las Vegas airport by 1:15pm (PST). Everything went very smoothly, even though I was having major anxiety (including crying) about flying without Porter, until I got to the airport. My flight was like 2 hrs late so they rerouted me through SLC, yeah I could have driven to SLC way faster then driving to Vegas and fly to SLC. I then flew onto Seattle and when I arrived there my Mom, Dad, sister (Lacy) and niece (Josie) where waiting for me and had been waiting for like 2 hrs. Well of course because of the rerouting they lost my luggage and car seat for Ruby. In the end everything turned out fine but at the time it was just what I didn't need at 9pm (MST) when I had been already traveling for 12 hrs.

My Dad was way too put out and mad to stop and get me food on our drive to Bothell because he had to wait for me but yet he had eaten at Denny's while he waited for me. We checked into our hotel room and the front desk girls where so nice to find me a portacrib and fill Ruby's bottle with milk. I finally got to eat at like 10pm because there was a McDonald's next to the hotel. Carri came and hung out with us while Palmer helped his family decorate for their open house.

Sept 13th - On Saturday Ruby woke up early and we went to the front desk to find my luggage had been delivered!!! We showered, got ready, ate, meet up with Carri and headed to downtown Seattle for a tour. Carri showed us her school, some of the houses she lived in and the many lakes that surround Seattle. I do have to say that Seattle is absolutely beautiful. The weather was perfect with clear sunny skies, which Carri's says it is always cloudy and I do not believe. I did hear a few people complaining about the heat though, it was 85 degrees, ha ha ha thats not hot! As Lacy and I kept saying its amazing what a little rain can do, the trees there are huge and it is green everywhere.

We walked around Pike Market, which is so cool. I got honey sticks to keep Ruby happy and a bunch of flowers including Stargazer Lily's for $5. We walked to the pier and at at Ivar's. When Carri first moved to Seattle she had a video of herself feeding the seagulls at Ivar's and it was so fun to get to be there and do that. I fed the seagulls, which was slightly scary, and even held Ruby's hand as she feed the seagulls. We had yummy salmon chowder and fried salmon was was so good. I got a fun shirt from Ivar's as my souvenier and then we shopped around for souveniers for the kids and our boys back home. Ruby got a bear with a Seattle ribbon around its neck who we named "Seattle". In true Porter/Parker fashion we got them matching Seattle pirate shirts and a pencil.

We then drove to the space needle and attempted to park. The parking in downtown is really weird and they have one-way streets with back in parking only. My Dad found a spot but in order to park backward he had to turn around and just as we were getting ready to back in this jerk pulled forward into the spot. Well....my Dad lost it. He was yelling at the guy and actually got out of the car to confront the jerk. I have never been so embarassed in my life and totally afraid someone was going to shot us. All of us girls in the car where yelling "No Dad dont!" "Dad dont get out of the car!". Well the jerk wouldn't leave and we had had it so we parked at a McDonald's and half of us went inside to cool down with an ice cream (to justify parking there) while Lacy and Josie went to the space needle.

We left downtown and went back to safe Bothell to check out the decorations for the open house. Palmer's family had done an amazing job and his Mom was is so creative. We loved all the decorations especially since we didn't have to do any of it. Back at the hotel we swam and took naps in preparation for the long night.

The reception was great and we got to meet all of Carri's roommates and friends we had heard so much about. We got to see a second performance by Palmer, his brothers Austin and Julian and Palmer's best friend. This performance was much more theatrical and entertaining and we really got to see Austin and Julian's personalities come out. We ate lots of chocolate dipped foods in the chocolate fountain. Palmer loves chocolate fountains and hopes to have one running full time in his house one day.

We took family pictures at the open house and since Trisha didn't get to come to Seattle we had Carri's roommate Megan, who looks a lot like Trisha, stand in for her. It was hilarious because my Mom was totally egging it on and they even made a mating dress for Megan out of a tablecloth. Megan was a really good sport and fun to have as a temporary part of our family.

After the reception some really loud cousins of Palmer's took over the microphone even though Julie had told them their songs where not appropriate. We cleaned and cleaned. Ruby went to sleep in my arms and I held her for what seemed like forever. Josie accidentally ran into a wooden scewer that embedded in her leg and she had to pull it out! Thank goodness the church has a first aid kit. Ate at McDonald's again after the reception and went to bed.

Sept. 14 - On Sunday we went down to the Lock's for a nice walk through the botanical gardens. We got to see the boats sail into the Locks and the water raise and the boats sail out. Ruby loved the salmon ladder and kept yelling "fish, fish" but wouldn't get close to the "windows".

Lacy left us and went to go stay with some old neighbors she had that had moved to Seattle. We got to go to church with Palmer's family but Ruby wouldn't be quiet and we were all tired so we left after sacrament. I tried to get Ruby to nap at the hotel but she wouldn't and she was getting so loud and whinny that it was driving me nuts.

We went to Palmer's parents house for dinner so that we could visit with his family and get meet some of his extended family. Palmer's family is fun and funny! Palmer and Julian sang comical songs for us that had us all busting up. Ruby was still grumpy but finally Aaron(Palmer's Dad) won her over. Aaron loves babies because he said in this world every child needs as many friends as they can get. Aaron and Ruby picked berries and fed them to the neighbors pigs. Unfortunately we had to leave the fun and headed back to the hotel to put Ruby to bed.

Sept 15 - On Monday morning we really only had time to eat, get ready and pack before it was time to check out. We drove to Carri's apartment and helped her get her kitchen clean. Carri had sponges and Ruby loved scrubbing the floor on her hands and knees. My parents left to fly home and Carri and I made plans to go shopping. We shopped but were in a hurry the whole time because Carri had an appointment to sign her rental agreement. I did manage to get a few things including clothes for Ruby.

We ended up getting stuck in Carri's apartment waiting for her landlord to fix the garbage disposal. Ruby was whining and crying and making us all crazy. I could tell it was too much for the newlyweds to deal with Ruby and trying to unpack and organize an apartment. The landlord flaked out and since we were starving and didn't have the patience to go to a restaurant we went to Taco Bell. Ruby was pretty awful and loud at Taco Bell and more the same when we got back to the apartment. Palmer had planned to spend the night at his parents to visit with his visiting extended family and to allow me to sleep in their bed with Carri so off he went. Ruby was awful and I finally got her to go to sleep which was just blankets and pillows on the floor. Carri and I watched Arrested Development but Carri really just went to sleep. Ruby started making noises so I ended up sleeping on the pillows on the floor which was just fine so Palmer could have stayed.

Sept 16 - The Breaking Point
I decided this day needed a title. Carri and I took forever to get ready and by the time we left her house to do some more shopping it was Ruby's nap time. We shopped and Ruby slept for 30 mins. We went to the grocery store and Ruby was so loud and whining that I was literally about to lose my mind and had to leave the store and call my Mom. I couldn't believe how bad she was behaving and it was iritating everyone. We went back to Carri's and met Palmer there. As we walked in Ruby was whining and I could tell Palmer was in a bad mood and I lost it. I picked Ruby up and went for a walk. I was so upset that she was acting like this and that I was losing it. I was on the verge of tears and needed to get away and figure out how to get Ruby to stop whining. Carri lives next to a cemetary that has an amazing garden with walkways in the middle. I took Ruby for a walk, to wear her out, and to get away. We walked over the bridges, listened to the water and enjoyed the flowers. Ruby got to play in the sprinklers, she LOVES water. I had an epiphany, it was totally my fault Ruby was acting this way, I am a horrible mother. She was in a strange place and had been traveling to strange places for three weeks. She hadn't been napping consistently and had been going to bed very late. She wasn't able to just play and be a kid for a few days, normally she is very indepentant and just cruises around our house and backyard and she hadn't been able to do any of that. I should have just been more consistent and made sure she got good long naps and went to bed on time. It was time to put Ruby before me having fun with my sister. I dont know what I was thinking she was driving me nuts and I should have never have let it get that bad.

After the walk and playing Ruby was already much better, not good, but better. We ate dinner and Carri drove us to the airport. The Seattle airport is very nice and even has a play area for little kids and Ruby loved playing and climbing all over everything. The nice TSA guy told me about the play area, can you believe it the TSA guy, he must have children or knew I looked like I needed a break.

The flight home was non-stop which you would think would be good but I hate flying and the thought of being in the air for 3 hrs was terrifying. We found a wonderful lady named T'angela who was playing with Ruby before the flight and I knew would be a great person to sit by on the plane. She helped me keep Ruby occupied and even watched her while I went to the bathroom. She told me all about her daughters upcoming 21st birthday party, her job, her family and kept me distracted most of the time. Ruby never went to sleep so it was nice to have someone help me with her on the plane. We arrived safely in Las Vegas and Sam's sister, Anna, picked us up. I drove Anna home and then drove on to Mesquite, NV. All I wanted to do was get home, see Porter and be done with traveling. It was midnight when I reached Mesquite so I had to stop even though I wanted to keep driving.

Sept 17 - I woke up super early in PST and realized Sam had a meeting at 9am (MST) and I had to get there before the meeting so Porter didn't have to be babysat again for the third day. I put Ruby in the car and we barely made it by 9am.

I was so glad to see Porter and to hug him and kiss him! I think this trip was the longest I had left him. I was so glad to have all the flights over worth and I didn't have to worry about dying anymore. I was so glad to be home and to be able to put Ruby to bed in her crib and to have her be able to play with her toys and wander in the backyard and to put her back on a schedule. I was so glad to be home with Sam to have OUR family back together. I am so so so happy to be home that there aren't words enough to discribe it. I just want life to be normal, our normal crazy life, but normal.

The Big Day

The Big Day (September 6, 2008) began very early. I had to dress myself, the kids, iron and I had so many errands to run that I was very thankful that Sam was there to help me. We had to get the mayo that had been left at the church so I could make the salad dressing, flowers to pick up and eventhough Sam doesn't know his way around Claremont like I do he did all the errands like a champ.

I got to meet Palmer's family as we waited for Carri & Palmer to exit the temple through the back gates of the LA Temple. Palmer's family was great and I am looking forward to getting to know them better when I get to go to Seattle next week. The kids got pretty restless waiting but luckily the Christiansen girls were there to help out.

We had a lot of pictures taken of all of us, but I dont have a camera so I didn't take any pictures. Thanks to all those who posted pics on their facebook accounts so I could steal them.

We raced back from the temple to our church building to have a luncheon but we were in LA traffic so it was more of a turtle race and we were all starving. The luncheon was really yummy and we got to all hang out with everyone and have some fun. We went home to put kids down for naps and I am sure I had something to work on but I can't remember anymore (which is why I am writing this before I forget more).

The reception was wonderful, and beautiful thanks to everyones hours and hours of work. The best part of the reception was Palmer and his brothers performance. Palmer sang two songs, the first was very sweet because he had written it awhile back for his future wife and the second was really funny. Ruby loves to watch and dance to the video of Palmer singing but I think it is too big to upload.

The reception ended and we spent hours cleaning up the place, but we did get In-N-Out and tried our best to have fun while we cleaned. I got to wrap myself in tulle since we had hundreds of yards of the stuff.

Before the Wedding

So we left Utah the day we got back from Big Rock Candy Mountain and headed to CA. It turned out that the first thing I had to do was to drive to Riverside to fit Josie's dress and sew in the zipper. I blackmailed my Mom into meeting me near I-15 so we could see her and have her bring Carri.. We drove to Lacy's and went swimming while we waiting for Josie to get home from school. Then I sewed Josie's dress and we worked on stamping boxes for the wedding party favors. We ate dinner with Lacy's family and drove to the airport to pick up Palmer. We finally arrived at my parents house at 8:30pm. What a long day!

The next day the work began. Carri had planned on us doing a lot of crafty things the week before the wedding but we were running out of time. Basically I sat at a sewing machine for two days. Here are the birds that I spent most of my time making. In the begining Carri wouldnt let me do anything more then cut the fabric but then she realized there wasn't any time and just let me make the birds. Both birds had to be resewn twice, the boy bird was a learning experience and the girl bird had to go to fat camp. The night before the wedding Trisha and I were going to every nearby Wal-mart trying to find Strawberry Whoppers and I grabbed the needed material for the top hat which turned out to be so cute. It only took foam, floral tape, glue, tissue paper, paint and pipe cleaner to make that hat. I told Carri she had to keep them for the rest of her life.

The other projects I worked on were sewing the sashes for the bridesmaid dresses. After months of looking for the right colored fabric (and never finding it) I had to make the sashes so we bought fabric that Carri didnt approve and made them because there was no time to look for more fabric. I sewed a table runner and a table cloth and taught Trisha how to sew so she could sew the other two tablecloths (way to go Trisha, you rock!). We all made pompoms that hung from the ceiling.

When Carri had come to UT to find her wedding dress she found these small jars on sale at Robert's and wanted to use them for party favor but there was only 32 and we couldnt find any more. We found white boxes to go with the jars and I made (and designed) all of the labels for the boxes and jars, so cute if I do say so myself, and I do. I also had previously made ties for Porter and Parker. I made Porters tie first which felt too thin and flimsy so when I made Parkers I used a thicker lining not thinking about the fact that his tie was cordoroy so it was thicker anyway, well it turned out too thick so it was really hard to tie. Oh well now I know how to sew little boy ties so it was another learning experience.

So we got it all done and the birds stuffed and everything sewn and I even go to go to bed at midnight thirty the night before the wedding. FYI -I am not even explaining the tulle ceiling at the cultural hall which I only slightly helped with and Lacy, Patty, and Lisa slaved over, maybe another time.

Big Rock Candy Mountain

We went with Sam's family to Big Rock Candy Mountain for Labor Day (it is in Marysvale, Ut).This is the second year in a row and we went a few years ago too. The Dodd's love the area because it is in the middle of nowhere and has lots of four wheeler trails.


This year though, we went to a different campground, Winklemans Cabins & RV Park. Sam's parents rented a cabin and there was a large grass area around the cabins for the rest of us to put up our tents. The cabin had one bedroom and a futon so the grandkids had the option of sleeping inside with their grandparents. The cabins were super nice for "roughing it". They had a kitchen, full bathroom with a nice shower, and a laundry room.


The first night Sam and I slept in the tent with Ruby in her portacrib. It was really easy to put Ruby to sleep and I didn't have to worry about her rolling around. I knew it would get cold so I bundled her up but she hated it. Every time she wanted to roll over and couldn't because of the jammies and blankets she would cry so I would have to get up and get her or put her pacifier in her mouth, or move in until she was comfortable. It was a horrible night! The second night I took a blow up bed inside and put it next to the futon. That night was much better but Ruby makes so much noise and moves around so much that she drives me crazy. The third night I was inside again and it was much of the same.


The most fun I had all weekend was when we went rafting down the Sevier River. We had the funniest guides. They were all these hippy looking guys and our guide was named Stony. Megan, Jessica, Carlee, Zak, Jaime and I were in a raft with Stony (hum, wonder how he got his name?) two other guys were Buckshot and Fire Spinner (he spun fire for real). Stony was really funny and kept making jokes and telling us cool stories. I was hoping not to get wet but we all got soaked. Sam, Anna, Richard, Jared, and Ron were in duckies which looked like an adventure but I am sure they were not as much fun as having a guide. My two kids weren't allowed to go because they were too young but we found out later that they would have let Porter go which was too bad because he really wanted to go and was sad when we all left.


As a Dodd Family tradition we played Mafia which was fun but Jessica and I were citizens almost every round yet Richards was almost always a member of the mafia. We all ate way to much junk food, we went through 14 bags of chips in less then 3 days! Here Ruby is eating chips, like always, I couldn't keep them out of her hands.


We had tons of fun and can't wait to do it again next year. Only next year we already have two cabins reserved so hopefully no one has to sleep in tents. We left early Monday morning and were on our way home so I could wash, repack and leave for CA.

Happy Graduation! Crazies Ahead

Anna graduated from nursing school this past weekend so we got to go to Vegas to attend her Recognition Ceremony. Anna told us she wanted us to act like people from Alabama who had never been to Vegas before, that was the first mistake. The second was they had the ceremony at a conference/theater room at a library. Quiet and graduation dont mix so throughout the ceremony there was lots of yelling, blow horns and fun signs mostly from us. Luckily there was another loud family celebrating their graduate but it mostly turned into a competition of who could be louder for their graduate. Well as we were leaving the library Sam let off the blow horn again and apparently someone had had it with us because she yelled at us "ENOUGH!!!" That only encourages certain people so we laughed at her for awhile and as we were leaving Sam tried to do a drive by horning but we couldn't find the lady.

After the ceremony we were all starving (like a 11 out of 10) and after getting lost we went to The Cheesecake Factory. We were so hungry that we ate all the bread and two appetizers in no time at all. They they brought out our HUMONGOUS dinner plates which were so so good. I like to try new foods at new restaurants because I like foods to taste the way I expect so if I had gotten anything else like Fettuccine Alfredo I would think it was gross cause it didn't taste like Olive Garden. ANYway I got this awesome chicken with cheese, mushrooms, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and an amazing sauce, yummy yummy! Afterwards we all shared three cheesecake slices and since we were all stuffed like little piggies we didn't even finish them off. As we drove to Mesquite I seriously was on the verge of vomiting and had to breath slowly and recline my seat to keep it all down. It was a painful ending but it was mostly worth it cause it was so yummy!

Thanks to Anna for graduating and telling us we all had dress up even though we really didn't!

Thanks to Ron & Sharon for all the yummy food!

Thanks to Sam for being fun and not being too mad when I am the anti-fun!

Thanks to Megan for checking out BP with me and wearing the dress eventhough you had hairy legs!

Thanks to Jessica for the health talks in the car!

Thanks to Richard for smelling the blow horn!

(Thanks to all those reading this cause it is really late and I should probably have just gone to bed and blogged another day)

Cascade Springs

We decided to go for a nice family hike to Cascade Springs yesterday. I put Ruby in this hiking backpack that we got from Sam's sister. I started with Ruby on my back, which she hated, so then I turned her to the front and she still hated it. I was hiking up and down with cliffs and really steep areas while Ruby arched her back trying to get out. Since it was really steep on the sides of the trail Sam held Porter's hand the entire way. Porter got tired a lot so we had to keep stopping which was just fine with me since I was carrying 20+ extra lbs of pure Goobie. When we got to the waterfall/spring Sam climbed down to the water and we both thought our water crazy kids would love it but they were terrified by the loud noise it made. We took lots of fun pictures and headed home. When we got close to the end the trail widens out and there was room for Ruby to be able to walk so we let her walk around. It was a huge mistake and she had a major meltdown crying over the water bottle and getting mad at Porter and throwing herself down in the dirt.

Afterwards we down home via Brianhead. We didnt realize how late it was and we were all starving so we stopped to eat at a little restaurant called Hamburger Patty's. At first it was kind of weird because we were the only people there. It was a funny little restaurant with good food that is quite endearing.

Update on Ruby's Dress

I found some really cute ribbon that goes along with Carri's wedding color so I made Ruby's sash today. Leilani came over and I was showing her the runuculus (flower) that I have and asking her if the colors went together and she pulled off the flower and stuck it on the sash and it was so cute. Here is Ruby's second photo shoot:

This time she was much happier and the closed eyes are on purpose that is what she does when she is posing and saying cheese, funny girl!

For Josie- Is it cute and puffy enougg?