RIP G-Unit

We had to put Gunner down last weekend. It was sudden and sad. The house seems so different without him in it. Ezra's been looking for him lately too. We will miss him and always remember him each Memorial Day Weekend.

I've been busy

I really have been meaning to post.  I've also been meaning to take more pictures but things are busy in our house right now. Here's what we've been up to:

-Dusty is finishing up his Master's...one more month!
-Ezra has entered the terrible two's. We had a couple rough weeks but have been cracking down with lots of time outs.
-I work full time. 'Nuff said.
-Dusty's been busy with music stuff at church.
-We've had visits and visitors from afar.  (Seattle and PDX)

Here are things we are excited about:

-We are signing up EZ for SoccerTots this summer. It's an indoor soccer program for toddlers.
-Awesome Boise weather.
-School being out for summer!
-Hamlin Family reunion
-Hamlin Family campout
-Next weekend with the Camps, Yosts, Marstons and Davis' at WFR Creekside for family camp.

new curtains and dining table

Although we moved into our new house over 6 months ago, we are still in the process of decorating and getting more fitting furniture.  Our big purchase thus far has been our super awesome dining set.  I like that it seats 8 when we have people over for dinner.  There is a butterfly leaf and we have two more chairs to fit a gathering.  Love it!

Our other purchase to help complete our main room is the curtains.  We (by "we" I mean "I") thought a lot about how to cover these HUGE windows.  We finally decided to do curtains and I loved these ones (and loved the price).  They are from West Elm which is a daughter company of Pottery Barn but is more modern.  They have stores all over but the closest one to me is in Portland.

Pics of my little boy being cute.

day in the life...

Mr Clean, Mr. Clean

Our new house has beautiful white baseboards, trim and doors.  When building the house, I chose white (instead of dark taupe or even light taupe) because I like how clean and classic white can be (that's racist). Now that we have a crazy energetic toddler, our white baseboards and doors have taken a beating (toy tracker wheel scratches, pen marks, smudges from push toys).  I wanted our home to look new for AT LEAST a year but that didn't seem possible with all the smudges we were getting.

All that to say, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is awesome for getting all that stuff off my walls, baseboards, hardwood floors, ect with minimal effort.  It truly is magic.

(I promise I'm not getting paid for this endorsement.)

Another Update for my friends

(Before I post, let this be clear. Don't comment if you don't have anything encouraging to say.  It does upset me on this subject.)


Lacey (sister) wrote today:
Not far from what we anticipated, though, it's clear the jury didn't understand there were two knives and one was open. Thanks, Seattle Times for mucking that up. Good news is that these findings probably aren't enough for the King County Prosecutor to press criminal charges against Ian, though a civil suite against the City is possible. Other good news: the Fire Arms Review will likely be re-evaluating their determination that Ian's actions were unjustified due to the new evidence: the second, open knife and the medical examiner's testimony that his arm was raised.

Got to meet a few members of the family - they were very, very kind and are praying for our family. They've asked we not mention his name anymore so his spirit can be at peace.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Update on Ian

Please continue to Pray for Ian and his family this week. As most of you know, the officer involved in the shooting of the Native American woodcarver was a dear friend of mine from SPU.


His sister sent me this email today (I'm going to edit out names so this can't be found on a google search):


Thanks for your prayers, Kara - they are definitely helping :). I don't have an answer to where you can get more accurate information on how Ian's inquest is going, so I'll give you the quick run-down:

The inquest is going as well as it possibly could. Ian testified Tuesday and Wednesday, and he was perfectly calm, clear, articulate, professional, and credible. More than anything, it was incredibly cathartic for him to finally have a chance to tell the public what happened from his perspective, since he hasn't been allowed to do that thus far.

The prosecuting attorney, Tim F., is the definition of the word 'a-hole'. The first question he asked Ian was how many times he practiced his testimony, which is, of course, a violation of Ian's Attorney-Client Privilidge (which is his civicl right) to answer. The judge is having none of his BS - he's had to stop the proceeding several times each day to talk to him at the bar. It seems to me Ford is very close to being held in contempt of court. Twice he has tried to introduce evidence that has not been cleared by the court. All this is just fine, really, because you can even tell the jury is sick of him, and doesn't find him respectable or credible at all.

The difference between Ford and Ian's attorney, Buck, is like night and day. He's doing an amazing job of representing Ian. Ian thinks the world of Buck, and Buck thinks the same of Ian.

There's one other attorney in the court room - Melinda Y. - who is representing neither party, but rather King County. Her job is to just get all the facts out of each witness and make sure they're clear to the jury. She's done her job also exceedingly well; the facts are bubbling up and the BS is sliding away.

Each of the points that the Times has mentioned as significant (i.e., that Ian didn't call for back-up; whether or not he stopped completely before Williams' turned around to face him; the knife being closed; etc.) have all been fairly clearly and easily refuted.

There are 26 witnesses still to testify, which means the inquest will likely go through next Tuesday. Once they're done, the jury will deliberate and each will individually answer 13 or so questions about the incident, from "Did John W. die on August 30, 2010?" to "Was Officer  justified in his actions". Their answers will go to the judge, who will make a recommendation to the King County Prosecuter, Dan S. (thankfully, a Christian man), who will make the ultimate decision whether or not the County will file criminal charges against Ian.

The incident is being reviewed entirely seperately by SPD, who will make their own determination about whether or not Ian's actions were justified, and whether or not he will keep his job and/or face any penalties.

Camille and our families are doing fine. The media shit show is harder on us than it is on Ian, whom you know has never cared at all what the media says about anything.

All-in-all, we're feeling good. As much as the media has done its job disgraceful, the judicial system is doing its job perfectly.

xmas pics....finally

We spent Christmas in Portland with Dusty's sister Kelly and her fam.  Thankfully, she took pictures during our time there.

 EZ probably loves Chloe the most.  He loves to follow her around and she is so good with him.

 Cousins!

 EZ enjoyed playing with the boxes.

 EZ loves trucks so he was very excited to get this one from the Galgan clan.

 Ezra stepping on one of my presents.

Fuh-baah! (one of his favorite words)

My Christmas Home

Snow and Other Things

Yesterday the heavens opened up and dumped a ton of snow!  School was cancelled which is big news in Boise since there have only been 3 school day closures from snow since 1994. Because of the cancellation, Dusty was home to shovel the driveway/sidewalk and show EZ the snow ropes.

 EZ seemed to like the snow.  He got stuck in it a few times though since the snow went up to his upper thigh.

 Ezra made the cutest turkey hat at Leanne's house (his daycare provider).  It now only has one eye though.

plus 20

Menu Monday

Monday- Hot Dogs w/ LifeGroup

Tuesday- Beef Stroganoff
-1 can cream of mushroom soup
-1 can milk
-1/2 lb ground beef
-4 cups egg noodles
- 1/2 sour cream

Wednesday- CrockPot Pot Roast
-w/ carrots and red potatoes

Thursday- Fried Egg Sandwiches
-2 medium fried eggs (per sandwich)
-bread
-mayo and mustard
-cheddar cheese

Friday-Spaghetti w/ Meat Sauce
(1/2 lb ground beef mixed with Prego Traditional Sauce)

Saturday- Teriyaki Chicken & Rice
Rice in rice-cooker
Lawry's 30 min Teriyaki sauce

padres in boise

My parents came to Boise last weekend.  We went to the zoo on Friday and EZ loved it! On Saturday and Sunday Dusty had class so my parents helped me a lot by lovin' on EZ.  We can't wait until they come back next month!

Ninja Frog