The Coast - Take 2!

In May we went to the coast for the second time and loved it all the much more. It's such an amazing day trip - we go through the Redwoods and then go play on the beach by Crescent City, all in one day (even leaving after a soccer game that ended at 10). We love it! The sights are amazing - the redwoods are just beautiful and the beach is always a hit by the kids (who weren't as impressed with the "big trees" the second time as they were the first - guess they had already been there done that!).

I'll never forget reading in the scriptures the verses about how everything around us testifies of Christ while I was an art major (one of my original majors at BYU, which ended up being demoted to a minor later). I literally spent the entire 2 hour art class one time drawing ONE leaf. The intricacies and beauty of nature are so incredible and truly testify of Christ and the presence of God. Seeing things like the coast and the redwoods just reiterate that to me.

With that, here is our trip, in picture form:

This was the biggest tree we could find in the certain grove we went to. Wow!

Carter had a yuckie bug that weekend, with a fever, cold, and general gunk so there weren't too many smiles from him, poor guy!

I had to put this one in there - it's similar to the one above that I love of me and the boys, but in this one below Carter just has an all out FROWN. Not happy!

Just look what you see when you look up! Amazing!

We stopped by the tide pools in Crescent City and I loved watching Nathan and Matt explore. They are such birds of a feather with their intrigue in animals and their habitats.
I thought this one was especially sweet as Nathan held onto his dad for support while they explored.


One of those picturesque views that look like they came from a travel book - this shot of a lighthouse in Crescent City.

When we hit the beach for the only time that day, we got our Carter back. He couldn't resist the fun of getting sand in between your toes and mom allowing (actually encouraging) you to get messy. However, the happy moment ended when a huge random wave hit and Matt and I only had time to grab one or two things before it hit. Matt grabbed Luke, I got the cameras...Carter got drenched (don't worry mom - we knew it wasn't enough to carry anyone into the ocean, just enough to get those sitting soaked, which would ruin the cameras vs. Carter's mood). It just wasn't his day!

Luke, true to form, just wanted to get into things - which included continually trying to crawl into the ocean, as well as eating sand (which is a normal Michaelis boy trait). But, he's still a cutie nonetheless!

Nathan, thanks to much time spent on Florida beaches, had no problem embracing the sand....

Also at this little beach there is a small creek, and the boys, of all ages, found joy in throwing rocks and sticks into it.

As we were walking towards our car to drive home from this great day, I turned around and this is what I saw.

As we drove home, Matt and I were so greatful for the beautiful things outdoors that are so wholesome to enjoy together as a family!

100 Things I Love About My Wife

There are thousands of things I love about my wife. Here are 100 of them.
by Matt Michaelis

1) She has a genuine interest in how I am doing.
2) She is great at asking questions.
3) She loves Koalas.
4) She knows how to word things in potentially sticky situations.
5) She understands how I work, despite how complicated I am.
6) She finds joy in being in “her kitchen.”
7) She has developed a good balance between being a “doer” and a “relaxer.”
8) She has developed a strong sensitivity to people’s feelings.
9) She has freckles.
10) She receives energy from socializing.
11) She has a smile that radiates happiness.
12) She understands how I best need to handle setbacks.
13) She treats everyone the same—as if they were her friend.
14) She loves chocolate.
15) She ran a marathon only a year after picking up running.
16) She gets over things fast.
17) She understands how hard I try at various things.
18) She is outgoing and friendly, much more than I could ever be.
19) She makes me feel like I’m funny.
20) She will let someone in as far as they are comfortable enough to go, and she will befriend someone as far as they are comfortable enough to be befriended.
21) She is good at cultivating an eternal perspective.
22) She sees me for all my positive characteristics.
23) She tries to cultivate righteous desires.
24) Her “maturity rate” is exponential. She has grown so much in our marriage, and I mean that as a compliment.
25) She is a hard worker—in everything—she isn’t the type of person that lives life in 2nd gear. She is passionate in everything she does.
26) Deep down inside, she is a little girl — who likes to dress up, has a curiosity of unicorns and princesses, and will always be willing to watch “Never Ending Story.”
27) She has worked hard over the years and become an amazing cook — but not by most people’s standards. She specializes in things that are fat free, whole wheat, and sugar free...and makes them taste amazingly good.
28) She is a bargain shopper. She is a coupon nazi and has the humility to shop for clothes at a thrift store.
29) She is, because, she cuddles.
30) She works hard to set up dates with me by finding babysitters and bargains for date activities.
31) She wants “us time” more than “me time.”
32) She is always trying to get me to watch chick flicks.
33) She is non-judgmental and good at giving people the benefit of the doubt.
34) She likes being outdoors and enjoys traveling to new places.
35) She is very smart, but is not cocky about it.
36) She always knows what’s going on in a movie.
37) She is financially savvy.
38) She loves berries.
39) She is calm when our kids are sick.
40) She copes well when she operates on little sleep, and is actually quite amusing.
41) She is good at persevering through trials.
42) She would rather be in harmony with me over winning a battle.
43) She is not the type of person who will go off and do something crazy — she is a homebody.
44) She loves the beach.
45) She laughs.
46) She gets down on the floor and plays with her kids.
47) She is very much in touch with her aesthetic Autumn.
48) She loves planning social gatherings.
49) She cares about family more than self.
50) She leaves overly thorough phone messages.
51) She is an amazing dancer, and always whines about missing dancing with me.
52) She is a strong woman — she doesn’t complain much.
53) She is passionate about molding our kids’ little minds.
54) Though she rarely knows which way is north, she always knows where everything is at.
55) She is great at assessing whether something is important or not — I confider in her because she has a great ability to sift what should be focused on in a situation.
56) She is an open-minded person.
57) She makes birthdays and holidays so fun and special, to say the very least.
58) She makes our kids feel so validated for their accomplishments.
58) She is committed to magnifying her callings.
59) Whatever is important to me, or our kids, is important to her. She can watch a basketball game or pretend to be a transformer as required.
60) She is passionate and knowledgeable about health and fitness.
61) She is faithful.
62) She always says she is not attracted to other guys, and I believe her.
63) She is a good prayer, she makes things very heartfelt.
64) She exercises hard — she puts her aerobics students through boot camp too.
65) She is always the type of person that I will always be attracted to — pregnancy weight or not, make up on or not. She has no clue how beautiful she really is. Sometimes I like that but sometimes I really wish she would see herself as I do.
66) She is sympathetic.
67) She is a very clean person.
68) Having been an artist, she understands and appreciates artistic and creative endeavors in others.
69) She is a very good runner. She consistently finishes in the top 10 percent of females in all races she runs.
70) She is patient with me about the things that I do that bother her.
71) For some reason, and I don’t know why, I know that she will never talk bad about me to her friends.
72) She is not politically stubborn.
73) She is great at teaching gospel principles to our kids.
74) She loves spending time with my family.
75) She loves flip flops.
76) When she is pregnant, she waddles.
77) When she is not pregnant, she walks with confidence.
78) She is service-oriented. She often makes cookies for those who may be having a hard time.
79) When I’ve had a bad day she tries harder to make a good meal.
80) She will read as many books to our children as they want in one sitting.
81) She is great at answering our children’s questions.
82) It is impossible for her to have cookies without milk.
83) She is very laid back.
84) The first thing she does when I get home from work is talk to me. I love that because the last thing I want to talk about when I get home is work.
85) She is great about initiating the spiritual things when I forget to.
86) When we were engaged, she wanted more than anything to secure the possibility of a temple marriage, so she initiated setting rules for physical expression.
87) She has a wonderfully developing sense of humor.
88) She enjoys musicals.
89) When she hears a catchy love song for the first time, she repeatedly sings it (while bobbing her head) for the following few days.
90) She gets so much out of watching her favorite TV show is “The Biggest Loser.”
91) Whenever I commit serious fashion faux pas, like wear socks and sandals, she politely recommends alternatives.
92) With our boys being mamma’s boys, she always tries to find ways to get them to want to do things with me.
93) She is adamant about taking pictures of our family.
94) She is very unselfish.
95) She really wants to go see France with me someday.
96) When our kids are not around us the first thing she does is hold my hand.
97) She makes running any type of errand seem doable and stress-free.
98) Honestly, I can talk about anything with her.
99) Her personality stands out in a crowded room. Like sunshine breaking through the clouds.
100) I love her because she is Autumn, and she is the love of my life.

Big Bad Five!

Wow, my baby is 5 years old. Am I qualified to have a 5 year old? Of course, I have been asking if I am qualified since Nathan was born. I still feel far from qualified to be the one in charge around here, but here we are nonetheless now with a 5, 3, and 1 year old.

My mom asked me why I was giving Nathan a birthday party when I gave him one last year and said they would only get them on their even-yeared birthdays. I told her it was because we had moved to a new area. Like that means anything. Really, I just love a good party. Plain and simple. I love to throw them and, go figure, my kids like to have them, so it's a great relationship. So, instead of presents, my kids are probably always going to get parties from me (or the choice of either) - at least until they get old enough to demand expensive parties.

(*Though, mom confession - I couldn't handle two days of birthday celebration, since I do like to make a big deal of birthdays. So, I pretended like his birthday and birthday party were on the same day, when they were actually one day apart. But, since the kid doesn't even know the days of the week or months yet, I am assuming he will be fairly unscarred from this pretense).

Unlike Carter, Nathan's primary class has about 13 kids in it (Carter only has a handful of kids his age), and almost all boys. So, I chose to keep it inclusive and invite almost the whole gang, plus a few hero-worshipped 6 year olds, and a buddy who is 4.

I was proud of myself though - I didn't take the easy route and buy all the nicely premade transformer things ready to go for the price of one of your appendages in the store - you know, the transformer invitations, masks, napkins, cups, plates, party bag goodies, etc. I knew with that many kids to keep costs down I would be going the homemade route.

It started with the invitations. Thanks BYU for my art education that I almost used to get an Art Major, then almost an Art Minor (officially, nothing at all - I stopped 4 credits short of the minor in boycott of the ridgid program and a critical teacher or two that brought me to tears - but that's another story). I don't do much art these days, though still enjoy it. My latest creation I am proud of - sad to say, these pop up invitations.

Pretty nifty, eh?

The party itself was a blast - I honestly had a good time. We did energon cube races (energon is the source of transformer power), which was just the good old marshmallow on a spoon race, Transformer bingo, Transformer memory, Optimus Prime says (same as simon says). Matt did the Optimus Prime says and it was great - the kids were captivated as Matt had them punch bad guys, jump in circles, do all kinds of fun silly noises.

Energon cube races:

Transformer bingo (when they got a bingo they said, "Autobots transform and roll out!" It was very cute). Thank you wide world web for providing me access to someone elses' hard work in making these great transformer bingo cards!

Transformer bowling:

Optimus prime says (with each kids face very serious as they punched those bad guys!)

Then we had a little intermission for a pizza dinner (thank you $5 little cesear deal!). My favorite was Nathan's hero Ashton (one of the 6 year olds) who had a blob of sauce on his forehead all of dinner because "Benny triple dog dared me to put my pizza on my forehead"! Finally, we played everyone's favorite game: Decepticon bombing. Aka - throwing 150 water balloons at 4 bad guy pictures taped onto my garage door (since we have no backyard, had to do it in the driveway). Amazingly enough, everyone listened to my threats and no one threw them at each other and came back inside fairly dry (I know, I was either brave or crazy doing water balloons, but I just knew it would be a hit and braved it nonetheless).

Finally, our half autobot half decepticon birthday cake and ice cream with presents. Nathan's friends couldn't handle the anticipation and definitley helped him open his presents, but everyone seemed to just enjoy the excitement.

The whole birthday gang (yes, just one little girl. Nathan was convinced she wouldn't want to come because it was such a "boy" type party, but I told him to invite her and let her chose. She is a tough cookie and if anything has those boys running circles around HER not the other way around!)

Nathan you are a cute, intellegent, cuddle bug and we love what you bring to our family! We can't wait to see what another year will bring! Happy birthday kiddo!

Carter is 3!

(Above) Nathan and Carter the day Carter was born - Nathan not to sure about this deal. (Below) Nathan and Carter after the party, they are truly the best buds and love having adventures together.

First of all, following up on my last post, I want to thank those of you who said hello via a comment who usually don't - especially my wonderful mother. I even took her advice and changed my blog background back to a lighter color so reading my blog won't cause her to have to up her reading glasses perscription = ).

On April 10th Carter turned 3! We built it up for days, and being the middle child, I wanted him to have an extra special day that was all about him. Even Nathan caught on and insisted we called him "birthday boy" all day long and bowed to most of the birthday boy privileges (going first at things mostly).

My parents did a fantastic job growing up making birthdays magical. We woke up and came downstairs and the house was decorated with streamers and balloons, a birthday tablecloth or centerpiece and a present waiting for you at your spot at the table. You knew right away people remembered your birthday and it was a special day to them. So, I have always tried to follow suit. I stayed up late to ensure he had that magic to wake up to and get everything ready for the birthday party.

It was worth it. He loved the decorations and got his first present (the one and only toy from mom and dad - a toy microphone as he and Nathan love to sing). Then we headed quickly to the store to grab one or two last things for the party, in addition to birthday chocolate milk and donuts (two rarities in our house except for special occasions!) and got ready for the party guests to arrive.

Carter chose a spiderman themed birthday party. He luckily has a small group of friends his age, so we invited all 6 of them and were excited they could all make it. We did a spiderman placemat craft while we waited for everyone to arrive. Then we did a spiderman "cake" walk - where you walk around on numbers and when the music stops you stop and whoever is standing on the number that is chosen wins a cake. Except, they walked around on spiderman bad guy pictures (since no one knows their numbers really yet) to the original spiderman theme song and got a piece of candy if they won.

Or that was how it was supposed to work. Quickly each little guy found their "favorite" bad guy and didn't want to walk around, just stand on it. Except for Nathan and a few other rule abiders who tried to keep walking. But then they got annoyed by the ones who weren't walking and some shoving ensued. We quickly went through several rounds, distracting them by doing the game and quickly getting to the candy prizes.

Next we pinned spiderwebs on the spiderman poster, which went surprisingly well and each kid took about two turns, even allowing themselves to be blindfolded.

By then it was time for lunch. The kids played with toys as I got out Carter's chosen birthday lunch - popcorn chicken, doritos, strawberries, spiderman fruit snacks, and juice boxes. Most kids had a well balanced diet of chips, fruit snacks, and a little juice.

After lunch the troops were restless and I needed to clean up before we could open presents. This whole time all the kids were begging to watch a movie. I don't know if that is a regular birthday party activity these days, but I hadn't planned it in. So, we hopped onto Utube and grabbed a classic spiderman cartoon (short - 10 min- and no violence) which tided everyone over until it was time for cupcakes and presents.

Carter loved all is presents and opened them with a great cupcake mustache. I had to laugh as it took us almost 5 minutes to sing and blow out the candles because all the little boys wouldn't stop blowing out the candles and not letting Carter do it (which of course made the birthday boy upset). He finally got to blow out 1 of the 3 candles and we called it good and distracted with presents.

That night we met up with Matt for dinner at McDonalds as one of our last birthday treats and then went swimming at the YMCA, one of our favorite family activities. Nathan got into the car afterwards and said, "I hope my birthday is as special as Carters!" I hope Carter felt the same way. We love you Carter! You are such a little firecracker for our family!

This one's for you, mom.

You wonderful people take time out of your busy schedules to read our blog - we love you and are glad you try to keep up on our little lives. Most of you can ignore this post. Those of you who take even more time out of your day to occasionally leave a note (aka a "comment") after you read our blog - thanks for letting us know you are out there on the other side of cyberspace! However, some people, my dear mother for example, read this blog regularly but never comment to let us know you were here. She said she didn't know how. So, this one's for you mom.

To make a comment on anyone's blog, you just click on the lovely little underlined "comment" link (**that's right the word COMMENT - next to the little pencil**) - see the big giant red arrow pointing to it below. That will then take you to a screen that shows the comments already made on the left hand side of the screen. Then there is a BIG white empty text box at the top of the right hand side of the screen for you to write away your little thoughts. Then you just identify yourself somehow (no you don't have to be a blogger to make comments on our blog) and then click the "publish your comment" button. Voila! You have now left your little footprint on our blog for us to know you were here.

So, all you little silent "blogstalkers" out there - give us a friendly hello when you read our blog. To those of you who already do - love you and appreciate you!

The blog you have all been waiting for - our new house!

After 6 1/2 years of marriage, 6 different rentals, and three different states, we are excited to announce that our life got a little more permenance in March when we bought our very first home! Wahoo! Everyone kept asking us if we were excited, and we were, though I think mostly we were just in a state of shock that we finally own a home. But, we love it here and want to stay in Oregon, specifically Central Point, for as long as Matt's job will allow.

We ended up chosing based on community. I wish we could put up a little virtual tour of our community, called Twin Creeks. It is wonderful - family oriented, safe, wide sidewalks and roads, well maintained, a park across the street ("our" park according to the kids), a huge open soccer field with basketball courts across the street the other way, as well as a large common area/pavillion kitty corner to that. We are far from knowing everyone in the ward, but we know of at least 10 other mormon families in the community - which isn't a big surprise when we are within walking distance of the church and the temple. So, needless to say, we sacrificed a little on size for the "location, location, location".

Our new home is an adorable new townhome (so two stories) with 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, as well as a two car garage. Zero lot line, so no backyard, but no lawn maintenance either, and if the weather is good we are often at the park across the street. Now, before we get to the pictures, let me tell you my 10 favorite things about our new home:

1. It has a pantry. I have never had one before and always felt like I was cramming food into every corner of the kitchen. It's already full as I am trying to beef up our food storage, but I am still excited to have it!

2. It has a toy closet. It's downstairs under the stairs and it's fantastic - for the first month the kids just disappeared in there for what seemed like most the day. It holds the majority of their toys, allowing the toys to be downstairs but not taking over my living room!

3. The downstairs is very open. It's all one big room really, which I like in that it makes the most of the space.

4. It has the most adorable front porch, which is surprisingly big. We already have plans for a porch swing and small planter boxes.

5. It has a linen closet. What can I say - I have missed having places to put things (besides crammed under in and around things!) and I just love that wonderful linen closet

6. It has carpet downstairs in the living room. We have had mostly tile or wood floors, which sound great, but Matt hates it - he has high arches and it literally hurts his feet to walk around on hard floors barefoot. Also, he loves wrestling with the boys, which is hard to do on hard flooring without some kind of head injury. Now, every day he comes home after dinner they beat up on dad while I clean up dinner. It's a great arrangement!

7. We now have a water dispenser and ice maker. We bought our first appliance - a fridge and it has filtered water and an ice maker. Heaven!

8. The two car garage. Room not only for both cars but all our stuff! Loving it!

9. Our digital thermostat. We had a thermostat in FL, two actually, that were pyscho. You had to buy a separate inside thermometer to find out what temperature it really was and then if you barely touched the thermostat dial it would go out of whack and send you into the upper 80s or way down into the low 60s.

10. My fantastic dishwasher. They really mean it - no prewashing required! I have only had a dishwasher for 12 MONTHS of the 6 1/2 years we have been married. I have done more than my share of handwashing dishes (I know, what a spoiled child of technology I am!) and I love putting a whole sinkful of dishes in and pressing that magic on button.

I am sure there are many of you who have never thought too much of some of these, but that's the great thing about starting out marriage as a poor student - you really appreciate the small steps up in life!

So, now, drumroll please, the pictures:

The front view (notice the cute porch, complete with hanging planters)

Our downstairs and what you see when you walk in

Matt's little "recording studio", with our computer and electric piano to the right of the couches. I really resisted having the desk downstairs, but it's nice to have so we are in the same part of the house more often.

Our kitchen complete with new fridge

The fabulous toy closet. And, there's even still room for a kids bookcase and coat closet as you walk into the closet, and then the toys are in the section that extends downward under the stairs.



Matt was wonderful in tackling the assignment of building shelves for the garage. He hadn't really had a chance to build much, so he researched, hit Lowes multiple times, even got the boys "helping." It turned out great, and, as you can see, holds all kinds of stuff. He will probably build some more, but for now our garage is fairly organized.

Sorry, the upstairs was not clean enough by my standards for posting, so that will have to come at a later time. But, now you know that we really do own a house (and aren't just living under a bridge)!

Sledding in March!

For Christmas Grandpa Blaine and Grandma Heidi (Matt's parents) gave our family a great new sled. Because we were moving, we didn't try to hit the hills until Matt's birthday weekend (March 20). But, what can we say - we love Oregon. Where we live you don't have to be in feet of snow to be within driving distance of snow. We thought for sure we would be out of luck in finding somebut headed up towards Crater Lake to a great sledding spot called Union Creek with fingers crossed. We were driving and saw no snow, no snow....until we hit the sledding spot and almost like someone waved a magic snow wand - snow! We were so excited and had a great time (especially Matt!).


Matt definitely made the most runs, with Nathan at a close second. Nathan used to be such a cautious little kiddo, but has become more and more adventurous.

At the bottom of the hill Nathan would pop off and say - "That was fun - let's do it again!"

Here's a cute pic of the boys enjoying riding on their new sled.

Sleds aren't much fun to sit on unless they are moving, so the boys quickly enlisted the "daddy horse" to pull the sled. They made rounds over and over again, over little hills until they wore the daddy horse out. (And, yes, mom, Matt brought a jacket (see above picture), he just took it off when he was hot)

So what did Luke and Mom do through all of this? Well, I documented everything (hence the pictures and some video footage) as well as stuck with Luke. We started Luke out in the stroller, though as you can see from this picture he was dying to get into the action!

Finally he had had it being stuck in the stroller, so I moved him to the snugglie (after I had done my all of two sledding runs - I am not much of one for uncontrolled speeds!) and we spent the last hour like this:

Carter had been quiet while I was taking pictures/video of Matt and Nathan sledding so I checked up on him and he promptly told me how delicious snow is. At least it was clean snow!

Finally, after sledding, making snow angels, and eating snow the last thing was to make a snowman. However, towards the end Nathan realized how cold his toes were and Luke was super mad at not being allowed to crawl around in the snow...so not a happy looking bunch, but a great snowman!