John Spalding 1975-2008

it's taken time like a slow dripping faucet, to let this all sink in. it presses on my heart now and again that such a beautiful person is now gone from our midst and no matter what, that email will never reach you, that phone call will just ring, and your voice is gone from our ears.

it would never take anyone long to fall in love with John's personality. he made everyone feel as though you've been friends all your lives, and watched your eyes when you spoke to him like he was genuinely interested in what you were saying. he was a brilliant man, period.

John and i met sometime in early 1997 at the Hiawatha House (a hodge-podge of artists and musicians all living under one roof) and quickly became close. John replaced guitarist John Himmelberger and contributed half an albums worth of material for Ninety Pound Wuss' second full length album Where Meager Die of Self Intrest. we traveled all over the country, played shows of all sorts and talked and laughed and ate.

John was diagnosed with cancer and was succumb to countless bouts of treatmeant that would prove unsuccesful. John lost the battle November 23rd 2008 making him the third person close to me to meet our Savior in the month of November. what the heck is up with the month of eleven?

well, i think writing about you and the reminiscence of all the good times we shared is a step forward in this unthinkable loss. i think about you often friend, and know that you are in Loveland (John's term for Heaven) for all of eternity.

God bless you,
-marty

http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2008/11/24/lovelands-the-beautiful-truth-weve-already-stuck-our-heads-up-and-now-its-time-to-swim/

What does the smell of bacon do for you?

Wednesday night I made breakfast for dinner. Marty and Julian had left before dinner to pick up Solomon from baseball practice.

I began frying bacon after they left. Upon their return, Julian, who came in first yelled from the living room,

"It smells glorious in here!"

Yes. GLORIOUS. Those were his exact words. Heh.

He's my foodie in the making. Yep!

The little black and white

This is the usual face from Lou as I cook dinner. He wait patiently for any morsel to hit the ground. It's partially my fault... seriously, how do you resist that face? But, I do have to say when we brought him home he knew where the goods were. The kitchen was were you could always find him. We joke that he is a cat-dog because he loves scraps.

He has the softest belly fur EVER. And he's not afraid to show it off. The above picture is pretty normal around the house. Belly exposed waiting for some attention.

He loves warm laundry. If he's sleeping on our bed and I bring warm laundry from the dryer in it takes about 2 seconds and he's in it. Curled back up for a nap. It makes it hard to fold laundry because, dang it, he's so cute and who'd want to disturb such cuteness!

It's 2009, and I have nothing to say for myself

The post of shame. Things have been happening.... we've been busy. The Crumbs have too, but sadly I can't seem to post. Maybe it's because we've been busy? No, not at all. It's just I keep putting it off.

Marty is wonderful... he faithfully takes the camera everywhere so we can get great pictures to blog, but alas, I can't seem to sit down and get the show going.... *head-desk*

I WILL get this blog updated. I will, I will, I will!

EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!! Read All About it!!!

Just another day for the SuperHero Justice Team. After catching the alleged Bunny Bank Burglar, Captain Banana Hammock & his trusty partner Mammoth Liberator said in unison: (and I quote) "Crime never pays, as long as it's before bedtime".

-Daily Chronicles

Crows

On friday, after lunch, I was headed back to work and passed this yard with at least 20 crows in it. There were more pirched up on the electric wires. It was odd. I have never seen so many crows in one place at a time.

Jason & Cherie Avery 6-7-8

So let me present to you, roll 3 & 4 in my super 8 film learning curve. What better thing of beauty to capture on movie film than a wedding. Sarah and i made our way over to Poulsbo back in June to see Jason and Cherie tie the knot. Cherie is my second cousin and she picked out a pretty awesome dude - Jason. It was a lot of fun, and i think my family is pretty dang rad!

i hope to get better at this, especially working with low light. As you can tell there are some pretty dark areas of this film. All in all, i'm having a blast shooting movie film and hope to continue capturing this complex and challenging world.

Happy Halloween!

Ahhh, the leaves have changed, the air is damp, and it’s cool and foggy in the morning. Fall is here, and that means HALLOWEEN! Jack-o-lanterns, haunted houses, tricker-treating, candy! What more could you want?!

My wonderful Husband bought candy last week and I’ve only consumed 25 pounds, 2 pieces! He bought those good mixed bags that just happen to have heath bars in them. I love heath bars, SERIOUSLY. They are probably one of my all time favorite candies. Which is why I love Ben and Jerry’s Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch. SO. GOOD. Whoa, back on track, sorry.

We had a * spooktacular * evening the night before halloween! (Sorry for being corny) The Elk’s put on a GREAT haunted house this year. The Naval lodge is downtown in an old, very creepy building. It has one of those old time elevators with the metal grate across the door. So it was very spooky! They did a fabulous job making it authentic and incorporating all kinds of elements. The ticket taker even played along.

After we returned from having some scare induced heart failure we carved our pumpkins! As you can see we ended up with three very different carvings. Reuben, who earlier in the year suffered the “red ring of death” on his xbox 360, paid tribute to it. Basically something happened with the thing and it wouldn’t work. We sent it to Microsoft and they fixed ‘er all up! Julian wanted an ole’ fashion spooky skeleton! He drew and carved most of it by himself. I carved Solomon’s for him with a cat that resembles our Louie very much. I did use a pattern from a carving book…. So yes, I cheated a little, but I still had to cut all of it out and that was tough!

Costumes were another story.... Marty worked very hard at getting all the pieces together for Julian to be a Knight! I think it turned out fantastic!

Solomon decided to dress up as someone from the 80's. Yes, he is wearing a VINTAGE Oingo Boingo sweatshirt that belonged to my husband from his first concert! Sol had his buddies over, so I took and 80's kid, a nerd, and a scary ghost out on the town for some tricker treating!

Marty spent most of the day decorating the house.... He fashioned a "zombie" in the window via a cardboard cut out and some green light bulbs. He also managed to rig up a driver for the old car parked in front of the house. He set up a red light and hooked up and amplifier with a wireless microphone. While the boys and I were out he was scaring tricker treaters with screaming coming from the car!






We hope you had a safe and SCARY Halloween!

Vacations and miscellaneous

During all the crazy wedding planning Marty and I decided we wanted the boys to have a "honeymoon" too. Meaning a vacation where after all the madness we could spend some time as a family.

First up, the monday after the wedding Marty and I flew out to Hawaii for a wonderful 7 days! Marty had never been and it was an easy chioce for the honeymoon since we didn't need passports and we could do nothing but relax for 7 days.

Our first married sunset in Maui.

Spending some time at Big Beach. This was our favorite beach... the sand was soft and the waves were huge!
We caught up on our reading....

Had a cheeseburger in paradise....

We stayed in a little condo on Maui by Kahana. We had an amazing time!

After we returned home we packed up the car and the kids and headed to Cannon Beach, Oregon. We had a fantastic time!!! I found a condo, one block from the beach with an indoor pool. We spent all our time between the beach and the pool! The weather was a bit grey, but for the most part was pretty warm.

We bought an awesome Red Baron Kite...

Hiked around the beaches and explored lots of tide pools.

We rented boogie boards and wet suits and took to the waves.

Marriage

On July 26th Marty and I became Husband and Wife. It was a beautifully perfect day. My Groom did an outstanding job setting up the ceremony and reception site. Our vision came together in such a brilliant way.

Thank you to all our family and friends who helped with preparation, set up and tear down, food, and for your love and support. You helped to make our day so special to us. It was a blessing to be surrounded by such amazing people and for you to share in our abundant happiness.

And now, for the photos. (all photos by Cameron Ingalls)

"Union gives strength" - Aesop

Schools out and CAMP!

The last day of school couldn't come fast enough. Because we had experienced snow last winter and missed school due to snow days, there was an extra day added on the the school year. Which to children who are ready for summer is pure torture! Personally I think this is ridiculous. As if one day of missed state curriculum is going to make our children less smart. Sorry for the rant.

Solomon and Julian spent a week at Camp David Jr. on Lake Crecent. It was a little bit touch and go for Julian who has never been away from home for more that one night, let alone 5 nights. But over all he did really well and I think they may even want to go back next year.