Santa Clause is my Father-in-law...

Proof that my father-in-law is Santa Claus:

 

Do you see the resemblance? I thought you might.
His looks aren't the only thing that make him Santa Claus, his personality fits to the T. He is always jolly and kind to everyone. He'd give you anything you needed no questions asked. He'd be there to help and make a miracle happen when everyone else says it can't be done. We hae been blessed to have encounters with this man on multiple occasions, and our most recent is no exception to his working of miracles. If you're in Twin Falls, please visit our Santa Claus and have you picture taken on the 17th & 18th at the Magic Valley Mall, you'll make his Christmas. I promise.

On our way home from Thanksgiving, headed back to Rexburg, we got stuck in a 4 foot snow drift. Corey tried to get us out but couldn't do it on his own, so Santa came to the rescue.

His sleigh may not be red, but don't let that fool you. He drove up bucking snow (cue heroic music) and tried to pull us out, but lack of traction foiled his plan, but before he could put his snow chains on a snow plow magically appeared.

They had to plow and then shovel the snow out of the way. (see my Santa Claus) Once they removed the snow they hooked us to the plow and pulled us out.

And I dub thee Recipe Collection Day!

So here's how it started: I want to this website and started looking @ recipes. It started with the minestrone and escalated from there. SEVERAL tab later (you know just 50 or so) I had to stop myself and start printing these puppies. So now I have 30+ bookmarks waiting for me & about 10 pieces of paper wanting me to make them. I can't do them all now of course but I won't have to think of dinner ideas for a while!

Jentri the 1 handed blogger

catch up time!!!

So things haven't really been as slow as this thing makes it look like. We've had a seriously busy summer and fall, but with almost losing all of my photos of Kylan and ALMOST being in tears about it. I lost my motivation to blog. BUT... (yes there is a but) my wonderful husband saved the day (AND my photos) so I can share some of our summer fun with you (again sorry for the delay/procrastination, whatever.)

Kylan helping daddy open his birthday presents. Happy Birthday Corey! (Kylan is 3 mo old)

Kylan sporting the outdoor style during out stent up at Uncle Tom's cabin. (we helped finish the kitchen)

I give you..."squishy face"

and prequel of "squishy face"

 The fam @ 4th of July fireworks

 Kylan "chillin'" @ 4th of July

Kylan passed out after fireworks

 Kylan at the shooting range

and the rest of the shooters.

We're Incredible!!!

Happy Halloween!

This is what I do

So I've decided not to be an insecure parent any more and to prove it I'm going to tell you all the things I do.

I hold my baby, a lot, because I like to and if I were a baby I'd like to be held a lot too.

I use cloth diapers, on what I would consider a regular basis, in conjunction with disposables (because sometimes when you're out and about it's better to throw it away rather than smell up your car). They're great because they ALWAYS fit, I can load them to hold more if I need to (some nights he pees more than others don't ask me why) AND I don't have to feel guilty for changing his diaper because I feel like I need to even if he's only a tiny bit wet.

I let Kylan sleep with me, between Corey and I. I get more sleep and so does he. He has his own room with his own crib in case he'd like to sleep in it; in fact I put him in it sometimes for naps and the begining of the night, but in the end, he sleeps with me.

I wear my baby when I need both hands: loading the car, unloading the car, running errands (way better than packing that big heavy carseat around) & making dinner.

I let him play on the floor. He likes to crawl/skooch around and pull himself up on stuff. I'm raising a good little explorer.

I bring him rock climbing & camping with us. He loves to chew on sticks Corey has whittled. I let him play with dirt and dry grass and I clean him off when we're done.

I nurse my baby anywhere and everywhere it's necessary and I DO have a cover as a courtesy not as a necessity.

I don't currently feed him food. I feed him when he's interested, so when he's interested in more solid food I'll feed him more solid. He HAS had a banana because HE was interested and not because someone else was interested in his reaction.

I talk to my baby. I play games with my baby. Most importantly, I love and care for my baby :-)

back to technolization

So we have not had Internet at our apartment for the past monthh, and we survived. We have it back now so I'm hoping to actually ba able to post some of our summer time adventures.

Saying Goodbye To Virgil Twitchell

On September 3rd my family gathered together to say goodbye to a great man, my grandfather.  He lived a good and very full life teaching many in all of his years.  My dad's father passed away in WWII when dad and his brother were very young.  Virgil took the two boys and Vivian their mother in and raised the boys as his own.  My dad never knew his real father, but to him Virgil was his real father.  Goodbye Virgil you will be missed........ until we meet again.

A Death and Family Gathering

Why is it that it takes a funeral to get a family together?  Ever since I was a little tyke both sides of my family held yearly family reunions, and we still keep at it.  I remember these events being full of cousins and being surrounded by family.  Every year I look forward to attending these events of joy.  As of lately though attendance has fallen dramatically.  Everyone has their own excuse and that is all that it is.... an excuse!  2ish years ago my mother's father passed away.  This funeral was the one event that brought all of my cousins together.  It had been close to 20 years since we were all under one roof!  Two days ago my father's step-father passed away.  His funeral is on Friday.  Relatives are coming from all over and I am sad.  Sad that this is what it takes to get us all together.  This is what it takes to get us all to take a step out of our busy lives to socialize with our families, the ones that we love the most.  I realize that sometimes there are instances that don't allow people to gather such as extensive distance ie: europe, australia, etc...  But those who live within an hour or two from the event have NO EXCUSE!!!!  Choose your priorities wisely!

Busy Summer

Our summer has been pretty busy.  We have travelled all over for work and vacation.  It has made raising our little one a bit interesting, but I guess the good things in life don't come easy.  We have attended 3 reunions so far this summer and are currently gearing up for a 5 day backpack trip.  And yes, we are taking Kylan with us.  This photo was taken at the King reunion.  We have got a lot of photos and stories to share.  Now if only I could get Jentri to post instead of me....

Baby Wearing Dad

Ever since Kylan was born, 4 moths ago, I have had a difficult time.  I have found that my temper with him would flair easily.  I discovered that I couldn’t handle it when he was screaming for no apparent reason.  I would have to put him down, screaming, turn and leave the room.  It tore me apart even worse to turn my back on my child and that I would get so upset with him.  Jentri caught wind of this babywearing thing, went to a group meeting, and brought a Silly Goose Baby mai tai home for me to try thinking that it would help Kylan and I bond.  We tried, tried, and tried.  Each time resulting a mad, screaming baby and an extremely frustrated father.  I came to this conference hopeless for this child.  I figured I would have to start over with our next, which again tore at my heartstrings.  After day one I went home jazzed about wearing Kylan and tried and tried and tried.  Again resulting in an extremely mad baby with a broke down father.  Day two I came to the conference determined to get help and not stopping until my desires were satisfied.  I sat up a lot of the previous night reflecting upon my relationship with Kylan, how I hold him versus Jentri, and how he is the happiest.  On day two in our soft structure carriers’ class Kelley Mason (Kozy) was instructing, apparently she is a celebrity in the babycarrying world.  I can sure say she became a godsend to me.  We discovered not that Kylan doesn't like the carrier but rather the position in which I was putting him.  He liked to be on my hip where he can see out and interact with the world and me, yet pull away if he wants.  We put him in a Scootababy, at first he did not like it then I took a stroll down the hall.  He immediately calmed down and started to look around.  I was amazed!  He then snuggled into me and I wanted to cry right in the hallway, but I’m a guy and that is not cool.  Then I swapped out for a ring sling, he still loved it!  I wanted to kiss Kelley, I could not be more grateful for one person than her at that given point in time.  I walked out of that room completely satisfied.  To top it all off as we were leaving for lunch we noticed that Hotslings were giving away pouches.  I had seen these used but hadn’t had the chance to try one out.  I called a lady over to help me pick out my size and we put Kylan into it.  He loved it and off to lunch we went.  I only took him out so mom could feed him and then back in he went.  In an hour or so he fell asleep in the pouch and my heart has never been so full.  I am on day 3 of carrying Kylan and our relationship has changed dramatically!  I now have more patience for and am more willing to work with him.  I am completely sold on babywearing and am ready to spread this joy to everyone and anyone.  My heart is so full of love and gratitude toward those ladies who were willing to spend time with me and help me gain a better relationship with my son.  I have a feeling that this is only a start of a long and beautiful life filled with carrying my children.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Day 4

Today was a relaxed day with only one objective in the park.  Due to not all of the roads being open, the only thing left to be seen was the Grand Canyon.  Growing up near a canyon, our hearts are drawn toward deep gashes in the earth's crust.  This is quite the canyon to behold.  It is so beautiful with all of it's many colors.  On our way in, however, we finally caught the eagles on their nest.

This nest can be found before you even get to Madison Junction.  All week I have been watching the nest as we drove in and out hoping to capture them on it.  This day I scored!  One of them were on the nest and the other was across the river in an old, toothpick, of a tree.  Once I had my fill of observation and photos we picked up and jetted on into the canyon.  One snag along the way is the new road construction I spoke of earlier.

This time we had to wait in line for what seemed to be an hour or so.  It felt like a long time!  It will be nice once they are all done with it.  Glad they are doing it early in the year and I hope that they get it done before the rush.  We arrived at the canyon and I took tons of photos.  It is so beautiful with all of it's colors!

We looked at the upper and lower falls.  Taking our time and having fun while out there.  The kids had fun playing in the snow, though they were advised not to play to long in it.  The one child that is allergic, yes allergic, to the cold was the one playing in it the most.  Her pants got so wet that we had to replace them with a sweater.  To priceless not to photograph.

This trip was a very healing trip for my family I feel.  It was a no stress trip that allowed us all to bond and get to know one another better.  It was well needed.  I hope that we can do it again in the future.

Hot Springs, Geysers, and Bears Day 3 in Yellowstone

Day 3 was probably my favorite of all days, we took off toward Mammoth Terraces.  The park is doing a major road overhaul just after Madison Junction along side the river, and well, we had to sit in line for quite a while.  While we were waiting though "Afro-man" decide to make an appearance.

Jentri only wishes that I could grow a goatee as good lookin as this guy had!  Talk about some major bed-head!  This buffalo gave us a good laugh and still is.  Well, once through the traffic jam at the road construction we were freewheeling on up to Mammoth Terraces.  If you have been to Yellowstone, but have never seen Mammoth, you are missing out.  They are just as much a "corner stone" to the park as Old Faithful and Morning Glory Pool are.  They are quite the sight to behold.  Your first time there you may think, "everything is so dead!"  Step back, look at the active area, and imagine the dead area just as active.  Mammoth Terraces change every time I go!  They are always transforming and moving around.  Such a beautiful place.

The whole gang..... minus me.

My beautiful wife and me...... dont look to close but I think I am carrying a spare tire.

So, as we were walking along we came across an area within the terraces that had just sprung up.  We found this very ironic sign posted just off the boardwalk.

If you dont get it, it reads "Danger, hot water will scald".  Yes that is snow in the background.  Yet another thing to laugh at and will probably carry on as an inside joke for quite some time.  I took this photo with the intentions of sending it to Jay Leno for his "Headlines" routine.  So, watch and tell me if it shows up, because we dont have TV.  Anyway, once we were all pooped out at Mammoth we made our way back to Norris Geyser Basin.  This is where my sister Jen made her swift exit and headed home.  We walked around Norris for a couple hours.  This is another place that keeps on changing each visit.

This was quite the sight to behold and it had us baffled when we first saw it.  There was this HUGE snow drift without any other snow around to be seen.  Then we walked by it and felt it.  The steam is coming from a couple large fumerols and freezing into snow.  Hence the fumerols were producing their own snow drift right around them and only them.  It was pretty unique!  In the same photo you can see Porcelain Basin, we proceeded to walk around there for a while and then called it a day.  By this time we were all so exhausted with all of the walking we had done.  On our drive back to the "hotel" we came across a couple cars pulled off of the road.  In Yellowstone this means there are animals to look at.  Well, as we crept up behind the car in front of us I could not believe my eyes!

It was a grizzly bear!!!!!  All of my childhood I have been told stories as to how the bears use to hang out next to the road begging for food from tourists.  Well, we feeding them ruined their natural instincts to forage on their own so rangers had to take measures to keep bears away for humans in the park.  So, I have always wanted to see a bear in Yellowstone and never had until this moment!  I was so excited, I jumped out of the car, ran to the back, got out my camera, and started to shoot away!  Now, this bear was only 20 or so feet away from me and I was very nervous.  Therefore, I was not able to get a very good angle and the one time I did........ it was out of focus.  Animals are hard to shoot, especially ones that might eat you for dinner.  This is why day 3 was my favorite!  Just a silly little grizzly bear.

Finally into Yellowstone Day 2

So, day 2 we are able to get into the park for FREE!  We get up, get breakfast, play some games, and leave the "hotel" by around noonish.  We were in a hurry, can't you tell?  Today's objective was to go into Old Faithful and back.  The entire east side of the park was still closed off due to snow because we were there so early in the season.  The only thing on the east side that we could get to is the Grand Canyon which is part of day 4.  As we drive along we kept encountering herds of bison meandering down the road.  Growing up in Idaho this was just like driving through a cattle or sheep drive that was being pushed down the highway.  Except there wasn't as much bison as there usually is in a cattle or sheep drive.

Bison along the Firehole River just off the road.

It was kind of a rainy day.  As you can see in the photo above in the river.  Our first stop of the day was at Fountain Paint Pot.  Just off the the parking lot is a really cool tree root base and we did some family photos.

My sister Missi and her family.

My mom and dad.

Yellowstone is full of fun thermal features such as geysers, hot pools, fumerols, boiling mud pits, and so much more.  The kids always have so much fun, and the adults are always left in wonder as to the amazing creation that we are given.  Yellowstone park service has done very well with board walks everywhere to preserve the natural feel and look of the terrain.  They as well have done a great deal of research into what it is the makes Yellowstone so special and the inner workings of each unique feature. The next stop of the day was Midway Geyser Basin with Grand Prismatic Spring.  I believe it is the largest spring in the park.  It always has beautiful bacterial matts.

A couple years ago when Jentri and I visited the park people had written in the beautiful bacterial mats, totally destroying the natural beauty the once existed.  It was amazing to come back to that devastated area to see that nature had gone through and repaired itself.  They were all grown over!  My other "soap box" is about litter.  People leave their trash out and it looks horrible mixed in with nature.  It is out of place and destroys the experience for the next person.  There are quite a few features in the park that were once more than what they are now, but due to past vandalism they are either no more or are a lot less.  We had 2 more stops until we finally made it to Old Faithful.  Once we arrived there it was time for a late lunch and my other sister, Jen, met up with us.  We watched Old Faithful errupt and proceeded to walk around the village.  Hoping to get into the Old Faithful Inn, THE COOLEST building in the west, we were bummed to find it closed.  Again, we were there too early in the season!  So we decide to head off toward Morning Glory Pool, a sight I have never seen!

This is a photo of our cool Phil&Teds Sport buggy with the double kit hauling all of the camera equipment.  We put this thing through the paces on this trip.  We ran it through one foot deep snow, mud, board walk with stairs, and gravel.  Through it all it performed better than my sister's nice Mac Laren stroller.  We are grateful for the purchase we made and think that it was very worth our money.  On our way to Morning Glory Pool we got side tracked by Castle Geyser.  

This was a definite hit!  Most everyone says that Castle Geyser was the hit of the trip.  This geyser erupted for over an hour straight, 20-30 minutes of water rocketing a near 200 feet then a steam cycle of 30-40 minutes!  This is definitely THE geyser to witness when in Yellowstone.  A lot better show than Old Faithful ever could be.  After sitting through Castle Geyser we all decided to head back to the cars and go back to the "hotel".  Morning Glory Pool will have to wait for another trip yet again.  On our way out of the park I ended my day by shooting the sunset we were driving into.

Yellowstone Day 1

The King family gathered in Yellowstone on April 15th.  My sister Missi got our family 2, 3 bedroom condos with their time-share points thing.  This place was massive.  So, imagine your Mariot hotel with rooms that are 2100 square feet!  These rooms were larger than any apartment that Jentri and I have ever rented making the entire complex HUGE!  The two rooms, to our amazement, were on opposite ends of the complex.

The hallway separating the two rooms.

On the 17th started National Parks Week.  During this particular week admission to all National parks were FREE, that is a good word.  On Friday the 16th before the park became FREE we decided to run around the great metropolis of West Yellowstone.  The majority of the shops were still closed due to the fact that we were ahead of the summer rush.  So, we being Kings took advantage of what was available.

Us kids playing in the park

Playing in the snow was a lot of fun and the weather was awesome!  We continued to roam around the town and headed back to the "hotel" for lunch.  After lunch we took advantage of being, practically, the only ones there and occupied the indoor pool and hot tub.  This was the first real big outing we took Kylan on, and it turned out great in my opinion.  In total we had 14 of my family members there all partying it up.

Grandpa King watching the kids play

This trip was a great introduction to having our little one on outdoor expeditions.  Along with all of the family stuff I was able to hone in on some of my photography skills and exercise the things I have learned in class.  My good friend Ken Ockler loaned me ALL, yes all, of his photography equipment! (minus his 10D MarkII body)  I had 3 lenses, a tripod, and a really spiffy device called an Expo Disc to play with.  The Expo Disk gives you PERFECT white balance easily, for those of you who know what I am talking about.  For those of you who dont know, it allows the camera to capture the colors as brilliant as you visually see them.  Anyway, I could go on forever about photography just like climbing.  We ended the night with games, laughter, and of course food.  Keep watching our blog as we will be posting on each of our 4 days in Yellowstone along with awesome photos.

Running

I have decided that I could afford to lose a few pounds or more importantly a few inches.  So, with the advice of many others I have decided to take up the hobby of running.  Yeah, all 220 lbs of me is running for the fun of it!  Through my work I was able to purchase a good pair of running shoes at minimal cost.  I have now been running for 2 weeks and have found a small joy in doing so.  Though the inches haven't been going away like I had hopped!  I have been training in the bouldering gym with Dean and Heather Lords around twice a week.  I feel this road to being in shape is going to be a long brutal one.  These are the shoes I got and I love them!

Question: Breadfeeding Etiquette

This is probably completely taboo that I'm even proposing this question but I don't care, nobody ever comments on my posts (besides Laura, I love you for that). What, pray tell, is the proper etiquette for nursing a child? (I use the word nursing because even I don't like the word breastfeeding)

I was thinking about it today as I was getting ready to head to Yellowstone for the weekend with my in-laws (who I love). What are you supposed to do when you're out in public? I was worrying about being out in the park having a good time and dreading the moment when my sweet baby was going to be hungry and I was going to need to camp out somewhere to feed him for a half hour to an hour. I've been shopping with my mother and my sister at Khol's and missed everything because I had to hide out in the dressing room while I fed Kylan. It's awful to have to miss every thing because your baby needs to eat. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my baby but sometimes this breastfeeding thing is hard! It's almost embarrassing to have to nurse him when I'm somewhere, I'd really almost rather go home most of the time. I don't want to offend anyone but I don't want to be a hermit. I almost missed the food at the luncheon after his baby blessing because I was in the back bedroom feeding him because I didn't think I could be out there with all of those other people.

I'm not complaining, really I'm not. I'm just hoping for some answers, suggestions, help, encouragement in some form or another because sometimes I think it would be easier if I just pumped and fed him a bottle instead.  I wish I were one of those people who could just tell you tough, that's the way it is, I'm feeding him and if you don't like it cover your head, but I'm not. I'm me. Shy, reserved and afraid to offend. I wish I knew what to do but I don't, so I'll just keep plugging along hoping to figure it out. If this offends you, let me know, I won't feed my baby in front of you; if it doesn't, let me know and we can be really good friends because I won't be hiding from you.

Kylan Baby Announcements

Here are the baby announcements Jentri designed.  Which one is your favorite?

Perfect Day

Today was a rainy day filled with sleeping boys & baking cookies. Corey came home from class and helped me FINALLY get laundry folded while Kylan was sleeping on the floor. Ky woke up, had a snack, and fell back asleep with Daddy.

While they were sleeping I ran off to the kitchen to bake cookies for my Visiting Teaching ladies (I'm coming I promise! I had a baby and my companion moved so cookies might have to be it this month. Sorry) 

 All the while rain was pattering against the windows and I was listening to Regina Spector's "The Call" and anything else iTunes Genius picked up like Sara Bareilles "Gravity".

All in all a pretty perfect day in my opinion. I couldn't have asked for a better one. It's nice to finally just enjoy life and be in the moment rather than worrying about the next. These moments don't come everyday but I sure do enjoy them when they do.