Man is it cold!!!!

Well, it was finally time for the last harvest. It has been regularly freezing now for a week so I thought, "Now is a great time." No, our garden is toast. It really is amazing how much heat your hair holds in. Man, is it COLD now!!!

























And if you have your family help it's way more fun!!






















Then after being burned and yanked, the professional single hair puller takes over.























And just when you think it couldn't get worse, Ponytails!!


























And then when your head is numb, you have one hair yanking your sanity away, and your dreams of becoming the next Marley are dashed....



























And you bet I'd do it again!!!! Locks of Love helps kids with cancer or hair problems feel a bit more normal with personalized, vacuum applied hair pieces. www.locksoflove.org

Imagine if everyone did this? Well, at least do it in the summer!!!

Halloween ghoulies!!

Well, we had our first collection of candy this year and what a blast it was for Kota. For the first time he decided he wanted to do it and be a dragon. And Elli was a kitty. Was very cute for both of them. Grammy and Papi Seaver came from Rapid and made it just in time to go on the trek. We met up with some friends at their house and made a mob of it. We had a transformer (sorry not good with the name), Wolverine, a Lion, Dorothy from wizard of Oz, our Dragon and Kitty. Was a good time and it took a little while for Dakota to catch on but as soon as he learned about the candy he was all in. The house across the street from our friends had quite an amazing display. They had a guillotine with flowing blood and moaning guy, an old lady with her head spinning (must have kids), a cemetery with ghouls and about 10 grave markers, a black cat, a smoke machine, and the best was a flying witches head on a string. This thing flew all around the yard and at night you couldn't really tell that it was on a string so it looked like a REAL floating head. Pretty amazing. Needless to say when Dakota got to this house we grabbed hands and raced on past it. We were trying to teach him the rules, like don't go to the houses with lights turned out, stay on the sidewalk, eat some candy when mom and dad aren't looking so it looks like you don't have as much candy, you know the basics. After about 5 blocks, Dakota turns and looks at me and says, "Daddy, I have enough candy. I'm done." I think it took me several seconds to pick up my jaw and respond with, "What?" But sure enough we walked back to the car after saying goodbye and drove home. Happy. Shock. I looked in the pumpkin bucket after we got home and was surprised at how much candy 5 blocks will get you these days. Man, they must've been grabbing hand fulls. I guess if you fill up your pail faster then you can go home and play more. He was a perfect little dragon! I'm sure Grammy and Papi were happy because they had driven from Buffalo Wyoming that day and had to be exhausted.

I started wondering how Halloween came about. And what it teaches our children. It has to be confusing for them. Don't talk to strangers but here have some candy, in the dark, from a monster. It's just a strange holiday. Don't get me wrong I loved it and still do. I mean they got the candy and I get to eat it!! Now, I'm starting to see the benefits of this parenting thing. They should have dollar bill give a way day. Or Free money Monday. Or free fruit Friday. Or maybe we should just start our own holiday and call it Electromagnetica. and it'll be the 23 day of June. Parents will come knock on your door and you'll give them a CD player, or DVD player, or Computer, or surround sound system, or projector, or some other really use full gadget. And while were at it we should combine Halloween and Electromagnetica so that when you get the candy you can go to like Best Buy and use your candy as cash. Now were talking Holidays!!!! Anyway, was a great time walking a weird neighborhood getting candy from strangers. Can't wait until next year! peace.

Greetings from Canada, eh!

Well, we have finally made a vacation for us! And have realized that it doesn't matter where you are it's the times you have that make something great. Be it your back yard or your "shoulder" season vacation. We went to an awesome train museum in Squamish, BC (55km south of Whistler, that's 34.38 miles roughly for those bad at dividing things by 1.6) and one of the volunteers there said we were here in "shoulder" season. And then of course in true Seaver conversation style we quickly moved on to some other variable of the trip and forgot to ask what the hell "shoulder" season meant. The only thing I could come up with was that we were between our head and our ass. So, naturally, we're before the season when our head is up our ass. Must be like Groundhog's Day. Anyway, if yawl get up to Squamish in the sunny season, you must go to the West Coast Railway Heritage Park!!! This place must be awesome in the sun! Of course we got to experience it in the rain, which meant some of the cars leaked on you and your kids got cold wet feet in their only pair of shoes (cause the rain boots were at the condo.) There's plenty of trains to see and walk through, let alone the myriad of pieces of equipment used back in the hay day of the rail way (sorry for the corny alliteration.)

Including the Royal Hudson. Don't know it, then you'll have to come and see.












Oh yeah and don't forget to watch the drain, um, well, drain. Man if we could only find amazing Canadian Train Drains in the US.















And if you like petting hairy beast in cages and pens (other than your husbands) than you have to check Farmer Johns Petting zoo! We had more fun watching mommy try to catch a Guinea Pig. Was better than a cat with a string. Chickens, Goats, Horses, Ducks, Cranes, Peacocks, Rabbits, and many other things. Considering that it was "Shoulder" season I asked where all the Pigs were and if there was a SPAM factory near by ("Shoulder Pork And Ham"). Har Har!!
















We hiked some and found some trees who were without hugs (F'ing Hippies anyway!)





























And of course a great view from our condo. It was clear and beautiful when we came and cold and crappy when we left! Thank God we left our crappy weather in Canada!!















And if you want to find out what really took place in Canada check this out:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=114431410884907876489.00047404ca62959c5d676&z=7

Take Off, Eh!!!!

Birthday Boy!!!

Yesterday Dakota had his first REAL bday party!!! What a joy to watch him share his presents and the insanity of the play afterwards! Our friends the Palmers invited us to have a double Bday party. Their daughter Madison turned 2. Dakota turned 4! Hard to believe that it's been that long. Our thoughts turned towards Bill often and how he would've loved to see the beeming smiles on the kids faces. Was a great time to feel the closeness of friendship and the joy of unity.

If you ever find a toy that you think is the perfect gift for your child, you should probably buy it then and hide it. We had such an incident but we didn't buy it. So, when we went to go buy it....... it was gone. Foowee! After an hour of searching we found a viable alternative to the original solution. Which didn't end up too bad, 8 construction vehicles, with a back hoe loader digger to boot (thats Scoop to any of those with kids)!! Also, 2 dinosaurs the size of small dogs, a very cool book about ocean animals, three books on Thomas the train, a remote controlled JEEP, and thats only this party! We will be having a party with the family sometime soon. Maybe next weekend. Will have to see about the schedule. The best birthday present Dakota has recieved is that of his Uncle Toby coming to town. If you could've seen the enormous smile on his face when Toby came through the door. It would melt hearts.


And of course what would be a bday without your younger sibling (right Bryan?) Such a CUTEY!! Where's that shotgun?

Cancer, Joy!

Well, the passed 3 weeks have been tough on us. One of our good friends went to the doctor three wednesdays ago cause he felt terrible. The doc said he had cancer. He had it ALL OVER his body. He gave him 2 months to live and he lasted a week. No, he lasted 5 years but didn't know about it but for this week. We spent his last hours with him and his family at their house doing what we could to provide our support. Needless to say it is still hard to type this entry. He was the type of guy who would welcome a stray dog even if that stray dog bit him on the hand. He always had an open hand and would help even if he had things going on. He made sure that everyone was provided for before he was and that his grandkids had the world. We had a potluck party for him on Sunday and we practically blocked the street with cars of people. We shared all our stories of him and had a great time in his rememberance.

So, please take you health seriously!!!! If you don't agree with the things I try to tell you about health...fine. Just go to someone you will listen to and find out some REAL healing techniques. I'm not saying that what works for me will work for you. However, I know of things that SCIENTIFICALLY work that aren't in the mainstream light as of yet.

-Juice Plus+ will not cure cancer. But it will help your immune system build. It will help protect DNA. It will deliver phytonutrients absorbed by the body. It reduces oxidative stress. It will decrease your chances of myocardial infarctions. It helps reduce free radicals and lipid peroxides. This is all PROVEN SCIENTIFICALLY through independant research. And there is much much more. http://www.fromheretowellness.com/, Official Juice Plus+^® YouTube Channel
-A Vitamix blender will help you absorb your foods much better where as it breaks things down to a cellular level. And it will fill your stomach full of fruits and veggies rather than chips and salsa (my favorite.) http://www.vitamix.com/
-MMS is a powerful solution that is helping people rid themselves of disease and illness; including AIDS, cancer,malaria, hepatitis, TB, herpes A B & C, etc. This is so powerful people are starting to have lives again!! blogs.healthfreedomalliance.org
-AIM program is a program that balances the subtle energy fields of your energetic matrix helping you to heal illness and disease through your own conciousness. http://www.aimprogram.com/
-EFT stimulates body meridians much like acupuncture only using fingers instead of needles. http://www.emofree.com/

-Ionized Water is simply water that has been ionized in order to seperate toxins from water. There is alot of bad infomation on the internet. If you search long and hard enough you eventually see through the BS. There is no doubt that an alkaline body makes it harder for disease to progress. Whether it's through eating whole fresh raw vegetables or through drinking ionized water the benefits are the same. http://www.ionizersreviewed.com/
-Colloidal Silver is simply silver that has been suspended in water. The silver makes it hard for disease to function. I have no experience with this product but have done some research on it and feel that it is a viable option for health. The long and the short is that I don't think I can afford it at this time but definately will sometime in the future. http://www.silver-colloids.com/

Most of the things I've listed are not meant to be a quick fix. It took many many years for our bodies to form disease. How can we think that one little pill will cure us over night? I'm so enpassioned about health because watching some one heal is one of the best gifts you could ever give. Not only for the person you're helping but for yourself as well. I hope none of you ever experience the pain of knowing something could save someone's life but not being able to have those people comprehend the solution. We are so blinded by societal beliefs that doctors ALWAYS know best. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. Doctors are given on average 1 semester of nutrition education. How can we expect them to make wise decisions about our bodies when they don't know our bodies and how all its' systems work? They are a great resource for a quick fix but lasting health can only come through our mouth, from ourselves. We must decide if we want a healthy lifestyle.
"If your lifestyle does not control your body—eventually your body will control your lifestyle...the choice is yours!" Ern Baxter
Some solutions are easy, some aren't. How willing are you to fight for life?
I hope everyone is happy and healthy and that they never experience cancer in any way!

Thank You Bill for always listening to our "quackery". You will be missed!
Laugh! Love! Live!

Chris

Summer Fun!!!

Well we found another jem. We went to Riverfront park, downtown Spokane, and found out they have a friday night deal. $8 for all the rides you can handle. Kids 2 under free. So, we went, with our 2 year old, wink, wink (it was the ladie who worked there, her idea not ours), and 15 month old, and played like crazed animals. The airplanes Kota loved but wasn't ready to go up or down. He would only look cross at us while he was on and then tell how much he loved it. There was a jumping pit that Kota loved as well. We went on one of those ride simulators. The story we saw was about an abandonded mine and the run away car that you're on. He loved that too. But then it broke. Elli got to part take too.
They have these kid sized bumper boats. At first we were leary about the idea but Elli wouldn't quit so we let her. And oh how cute a girl can be. She got her boat to go in a circle and she was frozen with joy. Kota loved it too and after 5 trips he figured out how to steer it. Was great to watch his little mind work. Daddy tried and tried and tried to get him to go on the tilt-a-whirl with him but kota was more interested in the slower rides. Daddy did con Elli into going on the ferris wheel though. She liked the first 4 trips around then said "all done." Mommy got in on the action too, damn short people. the jumping gym is open to anyone under 5'4" and under 200 pounds. So she ran around with kota a few times and bounced it up. All in all was the best 16 bucks we've spent yet. And of course the cheap plastic pool with 40 degree water in it. That spells FUN!! Why wait for bathing suits when you can just jump in with your clothes on? Do we ever have two fish!! Y'all should come on out and go a few rounds with us, would be grand!!! Anyway, The insanity awaits. Better go get the kids off the roof!! Just kidding.

Oh the busy times are over.......ha ha

Well, where y'all been for the last couple months I been waitin by the tele for your stories. Summer has come and almost gone. Lets see.....We started a FREE soccer clinic for kids 3-10, play Ultimate on Tues nigths (my team finished league with 4 wins 1 loss), Monday night soccer for Des, let alone the trips to various parts of the world, ok region. We just finished our soccer clinic. Man what a riot!!! There is something about having 3-6 yr olds dribble a ball to the horizon the whole time saying I can't turn around. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or the adults. Chris started as the coach but eventually "Mrs. Coach" took over, damn work anyway! The first 4 weeks we worked on skills and the last 2 weeks we did a combination skills and scrimage. We started with about 15 players and finished with about 6. Ellianna got in on the action as well. She is the best camp robber there is! She would wonder around taking things out of peoples bags and purses. And the fruit!! She could win an orange eating contest!! On Tuesdays was Ultimate! Daddies addiction to sport continued this year with Ultimate frisbee taking the stage. For those who don't know, Ultimate is kind of like playing soccer on a football field with basketball rules. Doesn't sound very hard but it's like running a mile or two at sprint pace. Des would bring the kids to the park and let them tear up the grounds. The opening of the water splash pad towards the end proved to be invaluable. Especially for the hot sweaty adults. Many adventures were had on the swings and slides. For a couple of weeks, Des played soccer with a group of ladies, at a park of course. Something about watching your wife play the sport you love that will drive you to the......playground. This playground has 3 different play areas and man is it hard to watch both your kids when they (dakota) have so many options of play. So, That was our weekly activites. Thank God I can say was!!! Take this craziness, add some smiles, simmer with love, stir in some laughter, poke with a fork, and add some vacations. That's our summer. We have been booked the whole month of July! Chris was fortunate enough to have someone trade vacations with him for the 4th of July. SOOOOO,,,, we went to the most amazingly beautiful tropical southern Isle of South Dakota!! Rapid to be exact! This was the first year that Dakota was excited about doing fireworks! And as soon as they came out he ran inside and hid. Maybe next year!! If you know my family, he'll have to start liking them with the pyrotechnical boom loving blood that courses through most of the Seaver veins. Regardless was great to see the cousins, Logan & Connor, have as much fun as I ever remember having. They shot off tanks, and motorcycles, and chickens(never knew chickens had fire come out there butts), and smoke bombs, and sparklers, and snaps, and roman candles, and all the other amazing things that come with being young! We had to go visit a Rapid City classic: Story Book Island. Man what insanity ensued! The kids were everywhere. Up ladders down slides, in houses, around islands, on trains, in trains, swings, merry go round, Pooh corner, everywhere!! Then we took a vacation, while on vacation, to the Black Hills. Grammy and Papi Seaver had all of us stay in a cabin for 3 days and drive the locals crazy. We took a ride on the 1880 train. I don't recall taking a ride when I was young so was great to see the hills from the train. Papi had to meet us in Hill City so he drove next to the tracks and would race us to the next road crossing. Where we would yell "Hi, Papi!" About half way through we had our whole train car, some 50 people, yelling it and by the end of the ride most of the train pitched in. Papi said it was hard to find us on the train because everyone was yelling at him. We did several tours as well. Took a few routes through Custer State Park and fed the wild asses, oh , and the donkeys outside the car too. Saw a whole herd of bison, a squirrel, several hawks, and turkeys, and the usual ever elusive domesticated tourist. Was great to see the needles and Silvan Lake and the Hills in general. We went to Rapid and recouped for a day then off to the marsh. Eastern Northern Isle of South Dakota. Oh the life of farming, it's either too wet or too dry. In this case it was too wet. I've never seen the entire state SOOOOO green in July. Usually the state is a nice golden color spotted with cows and pheasants. The corn was short and the ditches were full of blue, that cursed stuff that seems to come at the wrong time if at all, h2o. Spent sometime with my Grandma and the farmer at their farm house. She finally got to meet Ellianna and see what a sassafrass she has become. On the way home Papi and Chris had a great talk about grandpa and some of the tribulations he endured. Was a great trip!!!! Back in Rapid, we got to go visit the Ham family where we stayed up til 1 am talking about family and health. I don't think Des and I have the energy for 3 kids but was good to see what we have to look forward to. Then, back to the STA salt mine!! The following weekend, July 17, we went to a wedding in Montana at Chico Hotsprings, just east and south of Bozeman. We spent one night at a KOA in a cabin. we were directly across from the playground and next to the pool. Perfect!! We went to the picturesque wedding on Sat and that night we splashed a bunch in the warm waters at Chico. Was great to see some of the ole college buddies and partake in the beautiful Montana scenery. And again the drive back to the salt mine! We did stop in Missoula and ate downtown. By accident, we came accross quite possibly the coolest playground in the world!! A HUGE castle with impossible combinations of paths for the little folk to galabant around, under, through, over. All made from donations. It's amazing what happens when people open there hearts and cooperate. The weekend after that, July 25th, we went to Leavenworth, WA for our Juice Plus Bootcamp. Oh, the time we had. The best part about this event is that everyone there is very supportive and act as a large supporting staff. Elli stole most everyones hearts with her dancing on Saturday night at the karaoke party. Saturday afternoon some 80 of us floated down the Wenatchee river. Kota absolutely loved it!! Elli absolutlely hated it!!! She didn't like the life vest. But after we got her in the water she calmed right down. Kota spotted a raccoon and loved seeing the valley from the river. And then..... they both fell asleep. Was great to hear and talk with leading doctors about health and wellness. I've never met a group of professionals that you can approach and shoot the breeze with. I've found that most doctors and health professionals don't give people the time of day. At the conference we learned more about the health benefits of Juice Plus and how truely independant the research is. Check out: www.fromheretowellness.com for more on Juice Plus. And unfortunately we had to go back to the salt mine, at least for now. In the next few years there will be enormous changes for this family. And several of you just might get a visit from us in our RV, whether it's Alaska or Scotland it won't matter the distance.

The future is Now!! Carpe Diem!!!!

Where did March go?

Well, well, well, we have skipped a month of life and we didn't even know it! Ok, Elli has left walking in the dust and has offically started running. It's REALLY cute!! Well, until she falls. And then of course she's cute again. Tonight she has decided to move on to eating with a fork. That's right U-Ten-Cils!

Did I ever tell you that we are DOOMED!!! I've been sassed!!! Yep, Elli has sassed me 4 times. It usally involves me trying to get something from her or telling her NO. Then she hits me and sasses. It's the cuteset little sass! However cute, I know that cute little sasses lead to huge tantrums. Speaking of Tantrums, Dakota is doing great! When Elli's getting her diaper changed (i.e. screaming at the top of her lungs) he brings her a sippy cup or a toy and helps to distract her from the tretcherous clutches of the mommy monster. He's little kid bipolar (he's good, then he's bad , then he's good,..). Please let him grow out of this stage. I think I'm becoming bi-polar too. I'm happy with Kota then I'm angry, then I'm happy, so on so on. He's been very convincing that he's a worker-man as of late.



As for mommy, well, um, I never get to talk to her so .... She's doing fine! Some days I'll come in the front door from work whistling a sea chanty and ....(sound of power being sucked from a generator)... The energy gets zapped from me then this familiar face comes from around the hallway and says, "Hi, daddy, Elli needs a diaper, Kota's in timeout, Bailey chewed up XYZ toy and the kitty puked on my pillow, I'm going to the store." Other days are much chipper, with mom happily staring at the wall and mumbling something to herself drooling, with both kids asleep and the dogs in the kennel. Just kidding, well, about the drooling part anyway. It all depends on the day. I used to think that it depended on how much sleep the kids got but then I Realized that Dakota could get 8 hours of sleep and wake up ready to do battle with the Romans. And other days where none of us get sleep and he's a perfect angel (translation=no tantrums before 12 noon) singing sonnets and praising how wonderful it is to be our child. And don't even think that this is one sided. Elli has been know to try and nurse daddy, poke the dogs in the eye, grab the cats tail and go for a ride, throw food, and constantly put herself between you and where you need to go often resulting in being knocked over. And then they're cute. So cute that all sins are forgiven and the clouds part and the choir sings and the ligth shines strong and warm through the curtains like St Peter was saying, "These cute little angels are a gift from God!"

Two Cuties Dakotas' Boat














Downward facing dog (A Yoga Stance) New favorite fake smile














Painting a birds nest
And finally we spent the last weekend in March at a Juice Plus Conference in sunny warm Long Beach, CA. Only problem was that the only day it was warm was the day we arrived. Of course we had on our sweaters and jeans from coming from Spokane. The 2nd day we wore shorts and it was 45 degrees with a 20 mph wind. Kota loved the "feather" trees (palm trees) and the beach (even when he was freezing.) They had a parents room there so that who ever was watching the kids could still listen to what all the doctors and speakers were talking about. So Des, and I swapped turns going down to the convention hall. The experience was phenominal!! Between the doctors, business leaders, friends and acquantances, we came away having learned more than we could've on our own in 6 months at home. The last night of the conference we went to the Aquarium and hung out with the sharks and seals. They had The Surf City All-Stars playing live and dancing. But the look on Dakotas face was priceless. HE LOVES SHARKS!!!! I've never been through an aquarium so fast so many times before. We had to of gone through at least 6 times before we settled for the shark/sea bass/morey eel/other fish tank. These sea bass were bigger than Des. No kidding!! A 5 foot fish at any time is a scary thing, regardless of the thickness of the glass. Was good to see the easy going side to all the people their and we all really enjoyed (even if we didn't get to sleep until midnight.) Don't know about JP? Check out Des' website: www.fromheretowellness.com -- click on "Related Info" and watch either of the two videos to get a feel for what our motivations are for friends and family (NUTRITION!) On the way home we were flying into Spokane in heavy turbulance when something happened. A noise changed and then we got hit by something and I shook awake with fear that we had just hit a flock of seagulls (the birds not the band) when I looked out the window in time to see the airport fly past and realized we just landed. Let me tell you DON'T EVER SLEEP ON LANDING!!!!!! We got back and it was 50 and beautiful for about 2 days before it snowed again. Was good to be home. Oh yeah next time we're boarding our kids and taking our dogs!! Lots of Love!!!

Ice Skating Anyone?

Well, skating is way more fun when you get to take a walker with you. Unfortunately they don't have one big enough for adults. I'll take guesses as to how many passes it takes to become a pro skater. 1? 2? 3? 20? Count the trips and see.





So now he'll be able to catch up with his cousins. The whole time we were skating he'd catcha glimpse of the hockey boys on the other end of the rink and forget about skating. When it was time to go he said that he wanted to go play hockey. And then we had a tantrum about it. So, We might have another hockey lover. And if you've seen him kick a soccer ball you'll think he will be world cup material. Now if he could just quit hitting Elli with the puck and ball we'd be in good shape. Elli has started walking! Damn fast learners anyways!! 9 months and one week!


I don't think she'll ever slow down. She loves to "read" books. Of course this really means tear them or eat them or slobber on them or drop em on my feet. Our dogs are doing well especially now that Bailey found a whole in the fence. Joy Joy!!! Oh yeah don't forget that she likes to eat everything in site. The insanity part of our lives might just be taking over. Bring it on!!!!

Bear Attack

Howdy Y'all, don't want anyone thinking that we didn't get to go and enjoy the snow. Here's a few clips of a recent hike with our new dogs. Notice the newest breed comes with a hat and mittens.













You wouldn't think that we have a bear problem in the outskirts of Spokane but these definitely prove we do. Please don't spray these bears though they'll just cuss and swear alot if you do.


I'm pretty sure the bear was protecting it's cubs especially this cute little one. Don't worry the bear left soon after and hasn't been seen since. Although I am curious as to how it got passed our protective service bear dogs. Might have to get their sniffers checked.

















Dakota sure was happy to get rescued by mom.














Although later on he got lost and had trouble finding the bears again. Hope he finds them!


Some of you might recall a rant I had about having to shovel the same stretch of sidewalk over and over. Well, I wish I could retract that rant because we have had narry a snow flake since. Jan/Feb is supposed to be our power house for snow but thanks to my rant, no more. Our 6.5 feet of snow that fell in Dec is now 8 inches of ice. And boy is it fun to jump on. It looks soft but tis not. May the Gods shower us with snow and bless those who love the winter. A departing shot of the Spokane River in it's raging glory. Too bad it's Feb and not May for the flood. Might be a dry one this year. Hope the lakes save some of that stuff for the summer.







Peace!!