a little less quiet

i'm trying to pick up what i put down last night. i've got 45 lbs of old photographs in my pc's attic that i vowed to dig out for you.

in this first box, i found our pics from our summer vacation to new mexico | red river. this was a family vacation with cousins and parents/in-laws and it's also a bit of how kizzle d and i spent our birthdays this year....although she just recently got done celebrating hers. you know, she gets like a full 6 months every time! :)

the cozy cabin we stayed in just outside of red river was extremely elevated; i want to say 10k feet up.....and not an inch of it was wasted because a lucky handful of us got the "alti-tooties" and oliver couldn't stop making jokes about it and then laughing at his own jokes, then tooting and laughing at his own toots. i may have laughed a few times myself! to cut right down to it though, it was an awesome vacation, fantastic weather (yes we had snow falling on us in july!!), with humbling views no matter where you were, and with frequent visits from natures gentle residents.

 

so what do you for fun in the mountains?

ATV rides | hikes | naps | reading & coffee, endless coffee | geocaching | ski slope lifts | napping | horseback riding | whitewater rafting | hot air ballooning | napping | more and more horseback riding | more geocaching | more naps | tons more coffee

yep, i would say that the only thing we didn't do well was schedule in some time to ourselves. that would be my only do-over and probably only because it was my birthday week and it's RARE that i get to take vacation time irrespective of the 130+ hours i have accrued! :)

but i still can't complain. starting off a morning rushing to my pot of joe, then to my shower with one eye a quarter of the way open versus a morning that goes somewhat like this:
                      coffee? check. rocking chair? check. blanket for snuggling? check. reading material? check. camera in case the hummingbirds come to fight? check. wrap-around scenic porch? check and this should have been first on the list right after coffee...so, um, second on the list!

so there's NM in all her glory and majesty! the weather couldn't have been more perfect. it was hard to walk away from. so we decided to drive instead. in fact, we even flew the second half of it home! the best part was that the last day of the trip was Kiran's actual birthday and what fun is it to end a fun trip and have that last leg of travelling on your 10th birthday? well mom had a little something up her sleeve. i know what you're thinking. and if you know me pretty well you're probably always right on target if you get troubled thoughts about my next UNgreat obtuse plan that only i think is funny! i thought i did well, though. as kiki passed me to locate seats i whispered to our first flight attendant greeting us that it was her birthday and that i would really like them to try to help me make her feel special. she hadn't gotten quite all of the attention she wanted, but that was surely about to change! more than halfway through the flight, she saved me from nearly crying out in fear that she had forgotten! she picks up her remote-telephone-thingy-ma-bobber and begins to celebrate the little scoops for all on board. she was definitely unique about it though! after calling everyone's attention to little Miss Thang, she had everyone on the entire plane sing happy birthday to her and then we all had to raise our hands to our little service lights above our head and turn them on ten times like they were little candles and then we all blew them out (aka turned them off) at the same time. it was fun and i knew it was just what she needed. had i done that in a restaurant where everyone could face her, she would have bolted to the bathroom and cried. the plane was the perfect platform in the clouds because people really couldn't turn to look at her and there were basically 10 family members in the surrounding seats. so NOTHING to worry about! i GOT this guys. chill.

this next photo album i see is also labeled "Kiran's 10th Birthday 2.0". i am not sure i have the energy to open that one tonight so we will save that for another day. i do feel like i am getting caught up and that the cob webs are coming off of things though. and if everyone has given up on checking this blog - that's okay, i still need to do this for me. that's your cue to keep coming back if you don't have anything else better to do either.

until then.

it has been quiet around here

it's time to touch base.
who's on 1st? what's on 2nd? i don't know who's on 3rd!
well, I haven't changed the players around at least....

...i will have to change the ballgame however. we will need 30,000 more bases and a million minutes in overtime to catch up. i'm no heavy hitter in blogging the awe-inspiring episodes of the dallas-cleveland-scarth family these days. "naturally". and it shows. june of 2013 I grew a wild whisker but I've been pathetic ever since. "naturally".

I see no reason to put any sequential order to this buildup of photographs and stories, and its not like I would honestly remember them in a linear sort of array anyways. to shoot straight with you, I don't know if i'm even up to telling all of the stories! what an exhausting thought! what ISN'T exhausting to think about is the idea of planning a huge gathering of all of you AT MY HOUSE and telling you all of the stories in person. I would remember more of the elements and dynamics anyways.....so screw writing about it man, here's your dumb collage with even dumber captions! ;-)

Kiran and her fellow cast members at the fox news station just prior to shooting their commercial.

...this is just what you think it is. The green screen without me taking the time to put something hilarious behind it. In essence, us looking like a bunch of fools.

keep plucking that chicken. and back to you, Dennis.

hot off the cow dung

photo shoot for..um...I dunno like jcrew/crew cuts/anthropologie/neimans :-0

banana republic add featuring Kiran nicole

trip to the Trinity River Audubon Society for "OWL-O-WEEN. Momma pet 3 owls!

My Bob Ross painting which I have entitled "THE GAY APPLE".

you're probably thinking..."would you just stay on 3rd base and don't go off it again?". well doll, i'm tryin', i'm really tryin' and it ain't easy.
I may go home for now and catch back up with you later. stay tuned. naturally.

 

My girls!

This is just such a beautiful picture that I had to share with you all! This is Kiran's best friend and seeing them together reminds me so much of me and my best friend growing up! I look at this picture and I see me and Mandy at the same age and it brings back so much!

Oliver is dreaming big!

So my little guy and I were just in a very deep conversation about his future. I mean this is a kid who says "when I was real real little, I used to think that 100 was the hugest number. Now...I don't think it's so big"
Yep, not big at all my son.

He graduated from his kindergarten class at Medical City Hospital last week where he told the audience that he was going to be a scientist. It had me curious what else he had in store for himself!

So what does he have in store? Well, for one, he is pretty convinced that he is going to marry his friend Maddox. He proceeds to tell me that he will adopt some babies for me because he knows "mommy wants a newborn baby" after meeting my new GORGEOUS Niece Finley Jac! :-)  Following that he tells me, "but if I marry a girl, then we will be sure that my wife makes herself two babies at least. Well, really I think I want 10. But that's all, 10 will be enough for me. Oh, and i'm going to need a long, long couch because when I punish them and they have to do a time-out then I will need room for all of those kids! Cause I will be like you mommy and I won't spank."

I think somewhere in all of these, I feel a since of relief but also fear. Do I want 10 grandkids?!!!!!!! Kiran will probably have to go "make herself" 11 just to compete! Crap, I don't want to think about this anymore.

A VERY long couch!!! Ah, this is just golden!

ta da!

In stead of giving you all the true whole back-story as to why we chopped off about half a foot or more of Kiran's hair....let's just say "well....summer is here!" Short is always the way to go for summer! And she looks like Gweneth Paltrow and her daughter apple evermore! Just look at the bottom photo! :-)

iSeis de Siempre!

"Today, I, Erica, take you, Evan

to be my everyone, to make your any my all

to laugh your joy and cry your grief

through spring, summer, autumn, winter,

beneath sun, moon, stars, or rain

to love you more by more, and side by side

‘til tree by leaf, I dream my sleep."

 

 

Our wedding vows, which we playful adapted from the poem by e. e. cummings (below). As in marriage, you will repeat things many times before their meaning or purpose becomes obvious.

Evan, I love you and I am the happiest knowing I have spent the last 8 years with you, and 6 of those as your lucky bride! You are an amazing father - I'm sure better than any out there, aside from your own! :-) Thank you!!!!

anyone lived in a pretty how town

(with up so floating many bells down)

spring summer autumn winter

he sang his didn’t he danced his did.

 

Women and men (both little and small)

cared for anyone not at all

they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same

sun moon stars rain

 

children guessed (but only a few

and down they forgot as up they grew

autumn winter spring summer)

that no one loved him more by more

 

when by now and tree by leaf

she laughed his joy she cried his grief

bird by snow and stir by still

anyone’s any was all to her

 

someones married their everyones

laughed their cryings and did their dance

(sleep wake hope and then) they

said their nevers and they slept their dream

 

stars rain sun moon

(and only the snow can begin to explain

how children are apt for forget to remember

with up so floating many bells down)

 

one day anyone died i guess

(and no one stooped to kiss his face)

busy folk buried them side by side

little by little and was by was

 

all by all and deep by deep

and more by more they dream their sleep

no one and anyone earth by April

wish by spirit and if by yes.

 

Women and men (both dong and ding)

summer autumn winter spring

reaped their sowing and went their came

sun moon stars rain

Another poem by Kenneth Koch, read by my maid of honor, Mandy Haines!

Oh the animals moving in the stockyards have no idea of these joys

Nor do the birds flying high in the clouds.  Think: Tenderness cannot be all

Although everyone loves tenderness.  Nor violence, which gives the sense of life
With its dramas and its actions as it is.  Making love must be everything –

A city, not a street; a country, not a city; the universe, the world –

Make yours so, make it even a galaxy, and be conscious and unconscious of it all.

That is the art of love.

Cash and his money-making face!

I want to introduce to you our newest little boy in the family! His name is Cash...or Basil Cash...or Johnny B. Cash where the B stands for Basil!
Okay, so clearly the jury is still out on that...but we do call him Cash!


We adopted him out in Canton from a breeder who probably heads out there every month for the First Monday Trade Days. Word to the wise, you must be careful to avoid any vendors that seem like they could be running a puppy mill. Do not support that and adopt from a shelter or a good breeder who cares about their animals.

I can tell Cash was very well cared for. He is a Shih-Poo which means Shih Tzu and Poodle mix. He is very mild-mannered and is doing extrememly well in training for being only 10 weeks old. He shares a birthday with both Pops and Andy (cousin), as well as Jaclyn & Nate's wedding anniversary: Dec 13th!

He has bathed and was a total pro. He has been completely ideal when it comes to telling us he needs to potty. He's sleeping great, but wimpers a little because he's confused on why he can't snuggle with us and has to sleep in the crate during the night, going out only when he needs to potty. He's a lap dog but with just the rigth amount of energy.

Very therapeutic for the whole family, but even moreso for Kiran. That was our goal and I am hoping that this change in her will stick. I think she had a very positive weekend and took on more responsbility without complaint.

Whew - that was a nice change from all the vanity I post on here! :)