memorial day

Deshazer family Memorial Day

Everyone came over for a last minute planned Memorial Day. Not too many people to 'remember' or 'visit', but we still made a ton of memories. Jer and I hosted the event at our house - forgetting several key BBQ items like tomatoes, pickles and ice and sending several of our family members scrambling to Safeway to pick it up.

Michelle (SIL) and I planted all

of my summer annuals up front

While.....

The boys played a game of football at the neighborhood park.

Two bi-planes and a WWII bomber flew very low over our backyard.
WOW





The thing about boys - you can't keep 'em from wrestling each other - no matter where they are.

Hope you had a great day too.

I never knew that

Wanna hear more about the city we're moving to?

Salem is a city in Marion County. (The community straddles Marion and Polk counties; ePodunk links to the county with the greater share of population.)
It is the state capital and the county seat.
The community is believed named for Salem, MA
The latitude of Salem is 44.943N. The longitude is -123.033W.It is in the Pacific Standard time zone. Elevation is 161 feet.
The estimated population, in 2003, was 142,914

Salem is on the Willamette River
Former and merged names include:· Chemeketa· Mill
Jason Lee, a Methodist Episcopal missionary, founded a mission here in 1840. Almost half the population left for California during the gold rush
Public transportation: Salem Area Mass Transit District (See the transit and travel sections below.)
Crime: The number of violent crimes recorded by the FBI in 2003 was 514. The number of murders and homicides was 5. The violent crime rate was 3.6 per 1,000 people.
Filming location for:· 1975 movie, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
Well-known residents have included:· A.C. Gilbert, inventor of the Erector Set· Howard Hesseman, actor
Coffee: National and regional coffee companies with outlets here include Starbucks

As for us....

Spent the whole morning on the phone coordinating various contractors, movers, packers, realtors, mortgage brokers, and family members. Last time we moved (four year ago) we could fit everything we owned into the smallest U-Haul. I think I booked it the weekend before we moved out. Now, since we're moving to another state and need to sell a house, the coordination of events is worse than planning a wedding.

Here's the schedule of events - Dad and Jean-Luc coming over to paint and install this weekend. Chad (friend's husband) will cut several pieces of molding for me so I can frame out master bathroom mirror. Bathroom painted. Sprinkling system fully operational (I hope)

Monday - nursery to pick out bedding plants and container plants (no vacation here)

Wed and Thursday - go to Salem to check it out.

Thursday - PODS container delivered. Pack up all boys' closets and toys. Pack up Jer's media room. Pack and contain everything in the garage so it appears spacious and spotless.

Friday - pictures taken of house to post with house listing on internet.

Saturday - window washers

Monday - carpet cleaners - jer leaves for Salem to start new job and will live with G-ma and G-pa Jackson.

Tues - sign delivered and house is on market for $374, 900.

WHEW!!!!!!!!!!

please say a quick prayer for us for a fast and quick sale.

What's the capitol of Oregon?

For those of you who know the answer also know the name of the city we're moving to.

That's right folks, we're heading to Salem, OR.

While my emotions have been all over the place, the fact of the matter is that time and time again I've asked the higher powers that may be to put us in the place that He wants us to go. And to my COMPLETE and UTTER astonishment, Jeremy's Utah job was vetoed and he was personally asked by the corporate VICE PRESIDENT for the Northwest to go to Salem. While my heart aches that I can't live by my mom and cousins, I am a pacific NW girl at heart, and I feel somewhat relieved I can still live near the pacific.

So, now you know. You'll be hearing all about the adventures of Salem from this blog. Well, off I go to pack up and get this house on the market by June 1st.

Nuh-uh, I'm not eating that

Most of my friends would call me a healthy eater - I'm kind of known as eating restrictively. And lo and behold, I've managed to extend my eating values to my children. I hear Jackson refused to eat French Fries when visiting family in Utah - Blake often recounts that he eats "too much sugar" for his school snack. Now before you peg me as super-anal restrictive mother, let me say this - I think you should let kids eat treats every so often. If they are at a party, they should be able to eat what everyone else is eating. If someone breaks open the soda pop at a family party, they should be able to participate. That is only fair.
Now, the one thing I'm trying to reinforce with the kids is how unhealthy school lunch tends to be. Jackson, in particular, has embraced this concept. The few times I haven't been able to get my act together and get his sack lunch ready, I've tried to bribe him with eating 'hot lunch' at school, but time and time again he refuses to eat school lunch - "It is crap, Mom". (I think he heard me describe it as that). Anyway, here is the point of my story. Today he has a school BBQ where everyone's family is invited and the school principle grills Costco burgers outside and it is accompanied by the usual BBQ compliments. So I asked Jackson if he would like us to eat at the BBQ and he said, "Nuh-uh, I'm not eating hot lunch".
Me: "But Jackson, they are grilling hamburgers, Costco burgers in fact, and that is what we eat at home".
Jackson: "I'm not eating hot lunch".
Me: "But technically, it isn't hot lunch - it's BBQ - it's different".
Jeremy (chiming in); "I'M going to eat a hamburger".
Me: "Yeah, I probably will too"
Jackson: "Well, fix me a lunch Mom because I'm not eating hot lunch".

Maybe I reinforced the whole "eat healthy at school" thing a little too much.

Depressing as all Hell

Have you seen the movie "Children of Men?" I thought it would be a fun "thriller" to watch to get my mind off things. Instead I was treated to almost two hours of turmoil, grief, desperation, and war. Not what i needed at this point in my life. I saw that won several academy awards and was rated quite highly in the critic's eyes. They always love the bloodthirsty dramas, don't they?

I'll tell ya what - give me a happy ending anyday - at least at this point in my life.

But it raises an interesting question, this movie, because frankly, the scenes that they depict are happening today, right now in various places in the world. Our own little military invasion of Iraq could be very similar to the military invasion in the movie. It shows refugee camps, Nazi-type treatment of foreigners, and people living in fear and hiding. I don't know, I certainly don't have the answers, but I tell you what, makes me damn glad and lucky that we all live in the country we do and in the place we do.

Damn Controller

Last night, Blake and I were chatting as I was putting him to bed and I had a little 'a-ha' moment. I was complementing Blake on his good behavior that night and how well he was listening to me and how wonderful he was that he didn't throw any tantrums that day.
Blake then responds with, "yes, I have been such a good boy today. I didn't say 'Damn Controller' once when i was playing video games".

You know how children mimic what they see and hear in the home?

Oops.