To Infinity and Beyond!

I've already posted about how great my mom really is, inside and out, but just in case you don't remember (how could you not), didn't pay attention (shame on you), or didn't read it (we're no longer friends), here it is once more: My mom is the GREATEST MOM IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE....no, no, she's greater than that - she's greater than infinity.......plus 1!!! Ha! Top that!

And, since I noticed my ever evasive mother was absent from my last post, she shall have her own special post right now!

I can't believe how much Mom does. I think we spent the first week in the kitchen working together making treats for goodie bags, fixing meals, and cleaning up messes. She wakes up each morning around 5 (I should say she GETS up, who knows when she actually WAKES up?). She starts meals, candy, cookies(oh, Aunt Lori, we made your ginger snaps - the cookies you put on a Christmas plate for Mom and Dad-Rick-for Christmas - they've always been one of my favorites), or feeds the animals: dog, cats, chickens, or balances the checkbook, or brings in wood, or something else - no sitting down with a cup of cocoa and a newspaper for her.

The recipe for the day includes mixing kitchen/household duties with Relief Society President calling, fold in a couple dozen phone calls a day for said calling, add 2 parts being grandma and mom to her grandson and daughter, oh, and sprinkle in an elderly mother. I don't think I'll ever measure up to all that Mom does during a single day.

But that's just the tangible stuff. And, although important, it's her strong testimony (told in her great lesson on Uchtdorf's Sept. Ensign article), her willingness to serve (she helped a lady deliver her baby on the 7th!), her motherly instinct (she asked several times if I wanted to go to the doctor - Mom's kind way of saying I should go to the doctor), and so much more that makes me love her.

Oh, and she even models the scarf and hat I made for her, so that I could take a picture.

Idaho

Wesley and I left for a 2 week stay in Idaho on December 2nd. We left the house to Andy and the pets and seminary to couple of friends. We woke-up at 3:30am to leave by 4:00am to check in by 6:00am to get on the plane by 8:00am. It was a long morning, but Wesley did surprisingly well. He didn't sleep in the car, at the airport or on the plane - and it was a 5 hr. flight to SLC! He did get a tiny 20-min snooze on the 50-min flight to BOI, though.

A little funny story: I got bulkhead seating on both flights (Wesley likes to kick his legs while in his carseat and not having anyone in front of us made for a much less stressful flight). During the first leg, the gentleman sharing the row of 3 with us was extremely kind and helpful: stood up when we needed to use the potty, even though not entirely necessary with the room in bulkhead seats, retrieved bags from the overhead bins, and tolerated Wesley's little conversations. Upon boarding our second flight in SLC, we again snagged (SWA does not assign seats-it's the best boarding I've ever experienced) bulkhead. A burly, tattooed man was already sitting in the isle seat. I quickly maneuvered the carseat over his lap, buckled it in, strapped in Wes, placed my bags in the bin and took my seat. The whole time, the guy just sat there. I wouldn't say I thought it rude, after all, I am more than capable of doing it all by myself, but I did wonder as I had just had such a helpful gentleman the last time. Well, as the man and I struck up a conversation, I discovered he was moving to Boise from Arizona. I told him that he'll now have to learn to ski to which he replied he would need to get fitted ski for a paraplegic. He was a paraplegic! Of course he couldn't help me! Boy did I feel dumb. He was a nice guy, though, and had he not had "the accident" 10 years ago, I'm sure he would have assisted this single mother and toddler the best he could.

Anyway....

When we arrived in BOI, we waited for the other passengers to get off before I lugged the carseat off the plane. As we stepped over tattoo-man who was waiting for is chair, I discovered that Wesley had had an accident (he was so good on the plane, letting me know when he needed to use the potty, so it must have happened during his nap). I took him to the bathroom to change his pull-up. This made us not only the second to last people off the plane, but even later to meet up with my folks.

In the meantime, Mom and Dad had convinced my Granma that they were coming to the airport to get some stuff from a really interesting person with whom my Granma would enjoy conversation and "just HAD to meet." (Granma has been visiting my parents since before Thanksgiving.) So, they're down at the baggage claim waiting and waiting and waiting for this person to get off the plane.

As I was finally walking towards the exit, I saw Mom and Granma coming up the escalator. I quickly rounded the corner and come up beside them. Mom, of course expecting us was just excited to finally have us there, but Granma, who had been clueless the whole time was in shock! She said afterwards that she saw me and thought, "That's Stephanie?...That's STEPHANIE?! THAT'S STEPHANIE!!!" It was a great surprise.

We got home, had a bite to eat, sent Wesley to bed after a bath, and caught up with eachother in the the late hours of the night.

The next day, Dad introduced Wesley to the greatest thing in the world!!! The harmonica! Wesley and Dad would play periodically throughout the time we spent in Idaho. Dad taught Wes how to suck the air in and blow it out through the instrument, how to move it side to side, and, probably most importantly, how to stomp your foot while playing. They were so cute together whether playing the harmonica, blocks, or lego's, "hunting" for monsters, coyotes, or bears, watching youtube videos or reading books. Wesley loves his Grandpa! On the 4th we went for a "little" drive to see some grand rock formations. This drive took over 2 hours and when we finally got there, there being Leslie Gulch, it was so cold we just stayed in the car and looked out the windows for the most part. I'm sure it is beautiful in the summer and it looks like a great place for rock climbing. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful - but not worth the drive (half spent on dirt roads) when squished between a door and a car seat. Decorating Christmas sugar cookies is a tried and true tradition in my family and Andy's (only he likes his frosted-yuck!). Wesley helped Mom decorate the cookies for the family goodie bags on the 8th. He was so patient and quite good at the whole process. He made faces with the eyes and mouths in the correct locations, he created patterns on the stars, and got quite creative with the sprinkles.

On the morning of the 10th I woke up with a terrible sore throat and felt like I was swallowing past a boulder, that's how swollen my left gland was. I told Mom it felt like strep. I stuck it out for the day, fighting off fever and pain with drugs (the good kind - I mean, the legal kind), hoping it would just pass. Alas, pass it did not and I ended up at a Doc-in-the-box the next day. I told the nurse I was pretty sure I had strep. She "tickled" my throat with a swab and, sure enough, a couple minutes later the test came back positive (the only positive test result of the year, ha ha). I told the doctor that I use to get strep 1-2 times a year until I was about 16 and was given augmentin. So, he said he'd give me the same in hopes that it wouldn't come back for another 15 years. Here's hopin'!!

Mom, Granma, Wesley, and I took a day(and a half)-trip on the 11th to see my sister, Carrie, and her family in Rupert. Wesley stayed with 4 of his 6 cousins while the other two, Carrie and I went to her husband's (choir teacher) Madrigal Banquet. Mom and Granma went back to Idaho Falls to spend the night with Aunt Carol, Dad's sister.

The banquet was really nice, beautifully decorated, and well planned. Carrie was in charge of the kitchen, so I helped as much as I could with only 24 hours on meds. (no longer contageous) and a fever creeping up on me then sat with Carrie's s-i-l and f-i-l and two nephews.

When we finally got back to Carrie's, this is what we saw.

It was so great to visit with Carrie. Grandma J and Grandpa Dale came up from Downey for a quick visit. Wesley is bawling because I handed him to Grandma J mid falling asleep for a nap stage. Ah well, at least we got a picture.It snowed on our way home and we had to stop for several accidents-cars, that is-but the next morning, Sunday, was perfect for pictures.After snowing more overnight, Wesley had a good 3 inches to play in.With our days up, we packed our bags that night and left the next morning for the airport. It had, once again, snowed overnight and was still snowing heavily when we left, but the freeway was clear. It was hard to say goodbye, but at the same time I was ready to get home. We had a wonderful visit and are planning our next by train in a couple years.

Thanks, Mom and Dad for everything, there's not much more I can say than that besides I love you so very much.

Sankt Nikolaus Day

St. Nikolaus Day is usually December 6th, but since we will be out of town, St. Nikolaus came early to the Niepraschk household.

Wesley cleaned his room then set his shoes outside his door. He went to the fridge all by himself and picked out an apple for St. Nikolaus' horse and placed it in his shoe. Then, when he woke up, there were gifts left under his shoes for him to enjoy: holiday pj's, Waddle (really cute book), and a travel Memory game for the plane. After all the gifts were opened, Wesley asked, "Where's the apple?"

I have never really talked to Wesley about Santa Clause so I don't think he gets it yet, and that's fine with me, but what I did like seeing was how thrilled he was to get gifts for cleaning his room. Let's just hope that he doesn't expect presents every morning.

"Gingerbread" Houses

I wanted to do something fun for seminary the day before I left for my trip. Not that seminary can't be fun by itself (I remember Sisters Stevens and Orton and all the fun stuff we did), but with only 4 students in our little branch, those big scripture chase activities are not as affective. So, I decided to keep it seasonal and make gingerbread houses.
We had just studied Mosiah 1-4 where King Benjamin teaches/reminds his people to be more Christ-like. So, I justified our gingerbread building with the idea that as we build our houses, we could think of building ourselves to become more Christ-like.

Anyway, it was a hit. The kids loved it and even the awesome mom who brings her daughter every morning and sits in the foyer made one. Here's what we did:
-Graham Crackers
-Pillsbury tube frosting (it's like a ReddiWip can, point and squirt)
-Candy

~Build on a FIRM FOUNDATION
~Each wall SERVES as a support for each other wall
~A roof keeps the GOOD IN and the BAD OUT
~Candy decorations show our SWEET DESIRE to be more like Christ

So, it's about as far fetched as my friEr-friAr joke, but the kids had fun.

Wesley and I did a trial run the night before. My trial: See if this new frosting would work. Wes' trial: See how this new frosting tasted.

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

Andy's brother bought a no-grease turkey frier (uses infrared or something fancy like that) and our neighbors have a real frier. So, what do you do with two competing friers - send 'em back to the monastery? (get it? friEr = friAr? No? Ah well, guess I shouldn't quit my day job.....oh wait................) - no you have a cook-off, fry-off, whatever.

My vote went to the no-grease turkey. It really was more juicy and tender. We ended up with A LOT of left over turkey, and by "we" I mean "me." You see, I had to run out right after I cleaned my plate to accompany a choir and sing in another for a concert that night. When I came home my kitchen was spotless (thanks!!) and my fridge was stuffed!!! Luckily our anorexic cat will eat turkey, so it's slowly disappearing.

It might be fun to make this a tradition, the whole Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving thing, as we always go to Andy's parents and have no T-Day traditions ourselves. We'll see. AND, having not taken any pictures on the actual day of thanks, these will have to suffice.

Hope you all had a fantastic day.

Sleep Over (sort of)

While the dads worked on our shed, I tried to get two very tired boys to sleep. Noah, Wes' 4-year old cousin, was quite sleepy and I am sure would have fallen right to sleep if Wesley wasn't around. But we tried the sleep-over. After all was said and done, it proved to be a complete failure with both boys returning to the Autumn afternoon to resume sword fights, games of tag, and a random bout fisticuffs.

(The picture was deceiving, wasn't it?)

Yard Art

I like to mow the lawn. I like to get creative, too. I like to think of my backyard as a mini Fenway Park. I've done geometric shapes, circles, checker boards, a treble clef, happy face, birthday cake...Today was probably the last mowing day of the year, so what did I mow? A Turkey, of course. I took the picture before I mowed the turkey itself on a lower setting because the leaves made it a little more clear then I traced it just to make sure your lives would be truly enriched by the site of my yard art (what? you don't feel enriched, edified, uplifted, inspired?...ah, well). Is it perfect? No. Is it just something silly to do? Yes. Happy Early Thanksgiving.

Picture Perfect Dog

Yep, that about all she's perfect in. Anyway, I received a phone call from the photographer and was told that Belle had won the pet costume contest (I didn't even know she had been entered). So, what do we get: an 8x10 of our pooch (sorry, Belle, but it's not going on the family picture wall, or even in a frame - maybe it'll make the scrapbook) and a free renewal of our portrait club membership. I am proud of Belle for being such a good sport, but I wish she's display this behavior more often at home.

Trick-or-Treat

Why is it that I am so over Halloween even before it starts? I mean, I like the whole dressing up, carving pumpkins, parties, etc, but when it comes to walking around a strange neighborhood, knocking on doors, expecting candy, I'd rather stay home. However, Wesley LOVES it (then again, what kids doesn't?).

Anyhow, we carved the pumpkins from the patch on the 27th. Wesley drew the face on his pumpkin and I carved it out. The pumpkin is called "Old Iron Sides" and I quickly discovered just how appropriate the name was. I broke 3 pumpkin carving utensils on that thing!

Halloween was spent at a friends neighborhood (one that actually has houses). We met up with a group of friends and headed out. Wesley did really well as far as walking up to the houses with the other children, but there were some houses where either the "dinosaurs" (skulls) were too scary, the music was too creepy, or the lighting was too freaky.

(Wesley and his cousin, Noah)

When his blue pumpkin bucket was full, we headed home. It was about 8:30, an hour past Wesley's bedtime, but we let him have a candy - it's amazing what one once of candy and a second wind can do to a 2-year old!