Playing Catch Up Entry 3 - Porter's 1st Backpacking Trip

The trees were ablaze with color in October and Jeremy was aching to get in the mountains for a closer look.


He thought it was high time for some down and dirty father-son roughing it, so he took Porter on his first overnight backpacking trip. Since I wasn't there to witness the details this post contains mostly images.

But, I'm sure I can correctly conceive that Porter was in his element getting distracted by every crawly thing on the trail, and full of energy as they ascended to their campsite.

Cute little boy with his cute little backpack.

Playing Catch Up Entry 2 - Penn State Game

I'm sure Jeremy would be a better person to blog about this particular entry, but I'll try and do it justice from the less fanatical fan's viewpoint.

In late September Jer and I went to the Penn State vs Iowa game in Pennsylvania.

However, we begun our trip in the usual Franklin standard of excitement that happens whenever we fly, and we missed our flight.

Although, there were many reasons we missed our flight, one of the reasons was because Jeremy had to send out a last minute trash talk email to his Brother-In-Law (a huge Iowa fan).

We finally arrived in PA after some difficulties but Jeremy managed to get a free upgrade on our rental vehicle and it was a match made in heaven!


Just look at that gorgeous navy blue car. Even though the soft top was a little noisy on the interstate it was well worth the fashion statement.


A run to Wal*Mart the night before to get some car markers would have made it even better. Except it was raining. So we had to take pictures of the car before we drove it out in the rain.


Rain would be the theme of the day. But it didn't stop us from having a wonderful day!


We shopped around at some clothing stores on campus to get geared out for the "whiteout."


Then we hit the bleachers. Thank goodness we had ponchos and such, because the rain didn't let up until the VERY end of the game.



We had tons of fun watching the Nittany Lions play. They came out roaring and scored a touch down on their first possession of the game. Unfortunately, the roar turned into a little meow and very little offense took place the rest of the game. Even though Iowa won, we had the best time watching our team lose in the rain than we've ever had!

Playing Catch up entry 1 - Porter's Birthday

Man, has it really been 2 months since I've last made an entry! I'm not even sure I remember how to blog! I'm going to travel back in time and make an entry about Porter's awesome birthday!

Porter's Birthday September 18th

Since Porter is obsessed with bugs we threw him a bug party.

...With a frog pinata (no bug pinatas in town apparently)


He loved the dirt cake I made him.


And we went all out on the cheesy birthday decorations!


Finally Introducing the newest member of our family...

Lizzy



It's been Porter's dream to have a lizard ever since he saw one for the first time in Arizona. Lizzy is our cute little bearded dragon. We did lots of research in order to find a reptile that would tolerate being held a lot, put onto toy tractors, housed in Lego-made buildings, and toted all over the house. Bearded dragons are the best. Mom even likes to hang out with Lizzy sometimes after the kids go to bed and watch "So you think you can dance?" with her.

Check out this video with all the little boys huddling around Lizzy. I think it's so totally CUTE!

The Busy Person's Best Friend

At first I was going to title this post:

"The Busy Woman's Best Friend"

But then I thought it might not be politically correct so I titled it:

"The Busy Person's Best Friend"

But if you ask me it doesn't have the same impact.

"The Busy Man's Best Friend" would have been equally as impacting, but also politically incorrect... I suppose... and not as relevant since I am obviously a women.

So the best friend for a busy person is a TO DO LIST

I don't do it if it's not on a list.
I don't buy it if it's not on a list.
I don't cook it if it's not on a list.
I don't go to a store if it's not on a list.
and so on...

Some people keep it in their phone, some on their hand-held devices, some on their computer.

For me, it has to be a piece of paper, because their is nothing so satisfying as crossing off a task completed.

But, I can't completely black it out because I'll forget I accomplished it as I continue to look at the list in the coming days.

I will add to the list as I think of things I need to do. When I run out of lines on my paper, I transfer all the undone tasks to a new piece of paper.

Sometimes the unthinkable happens and I do things that are not on the list at all. So, I add them to my list and cross them off immediately just so I can have that immense satisfaction!

Here is a picture of my current to do list. I thought it'd be interesting to post.


There was a certain task that was literally on my to do list for nine months.

Nine months, I kept transferring this task to my updated to do list.

Nine months, the task glared me in the eye and said "Do me, Do me"

Today I finally can cross it off my list!!! Victory!

The task was to make these little puppies....



You may be asking yourself, what in the heck are those things?

They are eye patches for Sierra to wear over her glasses, for her vision therapy of course!

Sierra has been wearing one since she was five years old for 4 hours a day, doctors orders. "It helps my bad eye get stronger," she says to people when they ask her about it.

For years she has worn this patch.


Not a very glamorous accessory to be wearing four hours a day if you ask me!

It's been lost a bazillion times. Sierra has hidden it another bazillion times. So I always meant to make more. (She hates having to look through only that "bad" eye.)

I hoped by making some new, more fashionable fun ones, she'd be more compliant to her vision therapy.

I bought the fabric back in December and it's been on my to do list and today I finally accomplished it!!!!!

(A little side note: it looks like I need to go back to preschool because I wrote the "S" backwards on one of her patches. "Doink")

My First Backpacking Trip

Two weeks ago Jeremy took me on my very first overnight backpacking trip. Growing up, I enjoyed camping with my family, camping at girls camp, and so on. Now I have young kids and I'm really not a fan of it at all. I can't figure out if it's because I don't like camping anymore, or, if it's just that I don't like camping with kids.

Jeremy had two days off, so he wanted to go backpacking. "I just don't know who to go with," he said. I piped up and volunteered to be the one.

After all, I AM his wife, so why shouldn't I be the one to go with him? Plus, it would give me a chance to wear my new cute cowgirl hat!

So we took the kids to my parents (thanks again parents!) and set off on our overnight backpacking trip.

Being a naturally nervous person I found many things to worry about... Bears, snakes, camping out in the middle of no where, what if one of us broke our legs while we were out in this remote area?, what if our kids needed us and my parents couldn't get a hold of us?

Finally, I found one more thing I could worry about when I saw a helicopter putting out a forest fire a few hundred yards off the trail WE were hiking on. VERY comforting. (Ok - maybe it wasn't a forest fire - one tree was smoldering... but still...)

"Are we sure we should be hiking back here with this forest fire?" I kept nagging. But in the end I found comfort in the fact that it was a well hiked trail and if there was any danger, the firemen wouldn't even be letting people hike back here... RIGHT?

The trail to the peak was 4 miles - not too long. Which actually also gave me comfort - 4 miles - no biggy right? I often run for 3 miles at a time - so 4 miles isn't as removed as it feels. Plus, I have an emergency medicine doctor hiking right beside me for crying out loud, I think I'm in good hands!!!

Where do I get those nervous genes?? Mom??

Well - I eventually was able to relax. Especially as I lay eyes on the breathtaking surroundings. "Are we in heaven?" I felt it necessary to ask because the mountain was so beautiful. The wildflowers were in bloom and completely A-Mazing!







After hiking for what seemed to be a long time we found ourselves at a point on the trail where we began to anticipate nearing the peak. But in my little (and I mean minuscule when I say little) bit of hiking experience, I've found sometimes when you think you're close to the peak, you reach the crest of the trail only to realize you have found a whole other mountain waiting to be climbed.

So while Jeremy began saying, "Ok - we could reach something really special here!" I found myself thinking - "Or we could just see another mountain waiting to be climbed."

But being a descent wife I didn't pipe up to squash his hopes. ...But I was right...

We reached the crest of the trail only to find a huge peak waiting for us. "No - that surely couldn't be the peak we are meant to climb right? I mean it's huge! I feel like we've already gone 3 miles and that peak is definitely more than a mile away!!" I began to convince myself it wasn't the peak we were to conquer, but eventually I came to realize it was.

"We have to climb that!!!!" I exhaled in desperation.

We hiked on - at least the beauty of the surroundings numbed the pain in my shoulders and back. Also - I was in the company of my favorite person in the whole wide world - so don't feel too much sympathy for me! Plus, it wasn't even as difficult as I thought it would be.

We reached the top and I'll use the cliche "Words can't describe how beautiful the scene was." It's been a long time since I've been on a summit hike and I remember how good it feels to conquer a mountain.


The summit was windy and very cold. I saw snow still waiting to melt from the winter, right next to where the campsite was.



We set up camp quickly and devoured our delicious reconstituted meals. (no sarcasm here - they really were delicious) Our sleeping bags were very warm (thanks Papa for the Marmot hook up) and we settle in for the night.

We awoke to this sight out of our tent window...

Outside it looked like this...


It had snowed!! What luck. My sleeping bag was warm so it was difficult to slip out into the brisk foggy air, but slip out I did.

Here is a ridiculous picture of me on the hike down. Socks on my hands, a pillow case on my ears, and pants tucked into my socks. Comfort gave way to beauty in this case, but at least my husband was the only one who saw me (well at least until I post this on the world wide web) and he knows I don't always look so ridiculous.


One of Jeremy's boots began to fall apart on the hike down. He had to do the "Third Reich march" in order to keep from tripping over the floppy soles of his shoes!


Finally the sole fell off completely. Then the sole of his OTHER shoe started becoming unattached. What gives?

So what's the final verdict? Did I like it?

I loved it.

First Day of School

Sierra started school yesterday.

She was really excited about getting back to school and "quit being a couch-potatoe".

When we dropped her off she panicked a little and started to cry. But, her teacher came to her rescue and took her by the hand.

She did better, but I did not. I soon thereafter started to cry. "Maybe, I should just home-school her this year," I said to Jeremy through my sniffles and honking nose blows.

It’s been an emotional summer for us and she has become my little buddy, helper, and right-hand-gal.

I was worried about her.

I didn’t want her to be sad, I wanted her to feel okay and happy and safe with Mommy!!!

Luckily, Jeremy was home to help pull me together.

I was a mess for most of the morning, but once I calmed down and realized how peaceful the house was with her at school I felt better about having her gone.

...Much better...

...Maybe even a little glad...

Okay, I got over it pretty quickly, and made a FULL recovery.

But I was still really excited to see her come home again!

Guess we won't be doing home-school this year after all!

Smash and Grab Caught!

Four days ago I received a letter in the mail notifying me that my own personal smash and grabber had been caught!

I had a million thoughts and questions run through my head when I read the letter....

1)Will he come for me after he is out of jail?
2)Was Sierra's MP3 recovered?
3)Maybe I won't have to find all those tunes my sister downloaded onto Sierra's MP3 player.
4)Will he pay me back on all the money I lost?
5)Did they find my hot pink purse?
6)Maybe my "To Do" list will still be in my purse!
7)Maybe there's another binky in my purse!

Well - in the letter I had to fill out a victim statement. There was a section where I could list what I wanted to have happen in the case he is convicted of this crime.

Now I've always been taught to be forgiving and not seek revenge, so thinking of what I might like to see happen as part of his sentence made me feel a little guilty.

On the other hand it would be ridiculous if there are no consequences! So I decided that as long as I get my money back the judge can do whatever seems lawful for the crime.

Then I started thinking about all the time - 7 full days - I spent of cleaning up after his crap! ...Calling banks, credit card companies, vendors where my cards were fraudulently used, endless time on the phone with investigators and police, gathering estimates, waiting in lounges for my car to be repaired. Kids were ignored, dinners were not made, toilets grew bacteria, and there was absolutely NO FUN to be had in the Franklin household for over a week!

Maybe I'd get a little creative for the judge. So then I added the following suggestion to my paper, "In addition to the penalties the judge deems appropriate (jail, prison, probation etc) I would like to see (Name) spend 7 days straight cleaning up dog crap along the Beus Canyon Trail and other trails in the area. Just like I spent 7 days cleaning up after his crap."

But then I started to feel a little guilty again. But I left the statement. Then I started thinking - well if I could suggest this guy to have to do anything, why not turn it into something good - yes, cleaning up dog crap is good community service, but maybe I could cause him to do something that would change his life!!!! Turn his life around!!!!!

So, I added the following statement, "Also, it would be the greatest desire for me to have him read The Book of Mormon and listen to the all of the LDS church missionary discussions, as I firmly believe that the preaching of Gods word has more effect upon the mind than anything else."

Then I referenced the following scripture Book of Mormon Alma 31: 5
5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

Then I thought - well maybe it was meant to be for him to rob me so he could be introduced to the gospel!!!

So I'm curious - if you were in my shoes what creative sentencing would you do?
And do you agree with my creative sentencing?
I'll keep you posted on what the sentence ends up being.

New Home

Well - we been living in our new home for a little over a month now and I still feel so unsettled. I was so used to my groove in AZ and now I'm just trying to figure out where I fit in I guess. I totally love the home we are renting, but since I know we'll be living in it for only a year - I wonder if I'll ever have that sense of feeling settled. Well - I can only try. Am I going to hold back on making friends because I feel like - "what's is worth I'm moving in a year?" But I guess I would really be denying myself from the wonderful blessings and luxury of friendships if I don't get out there and meet some people.

So - what is the best way to make new friends - anyone have any ideas? I'd welcome them. I just miss my circle of AZ friends. There's a little piece of me missing, and I'm sure some new friends will help.

I remember growing up in the military as we moved from place to place. I remember being a little lost when we'd get to a new place and have to find friends. I thought that would go away as an adult. But now I'm realizing that adults need friends just as much a kids do! Maybe a little more. I always had my brothers and sisters there to play with growing up. But there's is a bright side here, a very bright side, because I have moved to a place where I am closer to family and can, once again, "play" with my brothers and sisters. But they are still an hour away so it's not as easy as when they were living in the same house as me. So I guess I can't feel too bad for myself after all.

At your request finally here are some pics of our new house.






My favorite things about our new house are:
1) The view of the mountains behind our house.
2) I have a basement to send the kids down to be noisy in, instead of having them at a maximum distance of 20 feet by me all day long.
3) Having all the toys downstairs and not in our main living area, this make the house feel very clean almost all of the time with little effort!
4) Having grass and a playset in our backyard.
5) Lots of storage.
6) Now we have a place for our guests to sleep without displacing one of the kids. (aka - all are welcome to come visit and stay the night - we've set up a cool little cowboy room called "The Sundance Room" after Jeremy's middle name)
7) A big garage where we don't have to move our cars in and out in order to get the kids' bikes out!

Well - I usually try and make these entries a little entertaining or clever - but I just am not feelin' it right now ya know? So - I'm just going to add some dry little comments below the pics. Hope you like them anyway!


Ella at the Lamb family reunion in Rigby Idaho around 4th of July. A-Dorable!


Porter at the Lamb family reunion in Rigby Idaho around 4th of July. A-Dorable!
(Now I'm really being lazy 'cause I just copy and pasted the comment from Ella's pic right to Porter's pic. It's okay because they are both A-Dorable.



Ella turns 1!!! Can you believe it? I'm so enamored with this little cupcake of a girl. I call her Dolly because I feel like I'm a little girl playing dolly all day with her. She's such a good little baby and hardly ever fuses and never has a bad thing to say about anyone.

Welcome to your new home

We have received quite the welcome to our new home town.

On July 8th we went to a nearby park. While playing at the park with our children we returned to our car to find it had been broken into. My purse was left in the car and was stolen. The police termed it a "smash and grab." It's probably been about a year since I've left my purse in the car. Never happens.

To the thieves that stole my purse and smashed my window - I hope you get caught. I hope the trail of my fraudulent credit card charges all over town become your demise. If not, I hope the guilt of your crimes haunt you every night until you've paid retribution for them. If not - I guess you'll get what is coming to you eventually.

I've always been an easy going and forgiving person, difficult to take offense (well, unless it's a certain time of month and your my husband, sorry Jeremy), but this has rocked me pretty well. Hopefully after I get through the thick of things and settle all the issues surrounding this trespass on my life - I'll be able to get the obscenities and feeling of hate and anger out of my consciousness. I'm sure the thieves aren't stewing over these issues. I'm sure they've moved on to their next victims.

People that steal have no respect for themselves or others. It is a heinous crime that not only robs people of their possessions, but their sense of security, and peace.

Having been a victim firsthand I have a zillion times more empathy for other victims of any crime. It's not just something on TV that happens and people move on, my life has been turned upside-down for the last week as I've spent all day every day doing damage control and trying to repair the various effects of this idiotic act of cowardessness. (I made that last word up apparently, because my spell check is not liking that word.)

Hopefully my next post will be a little more positive.

Packing Up

So I've been packing boxes here and there for the last week and it's setting in a little more that we are moving.

We've got about a week and a half before we set sail. June 24th to be exact. It's a bitter sweet move. I will miss AZ and especially my friends terribly, but Jeremy will be completely done with Residency and we'll be able to not stress as much about how we will pay bills.

More importantly, we will be much closer to my side of the family, and half of Jeremy's family. We haven't been close to any family for the last 7 years. Seven years is a long time. I'm not sure I know how to live close to family anymore - come to think of it.

We've become so independent during this time that I wonder if we'll feel like we are "putting family out" by leaning on them more as we live closer. Interesting.... Although, I already know what my family will say to that thought. There's no such thing as putting family out - that's what they'll say. And that's why I love 'em.

So - anyway - back to the packing boxes. The realization of moving really set in when I took down the decorations in Porter's room today. The nostalgia hit me and I was sure I was going to cry... however, no tears yet. (But I'm sure they will come. I'm not too much of a sentimental cryer - I usually only cry when I'm exhausted and overwhelmed.)

Well - I guess I've rambled on enough for this post.

P.S. In case you are confuzzled, the picture above is just a random picture of moving boxes - not boxes at our house.

R.I.P. Mr. Pool

Your life was so tender
Not even a year
You were in our lives
Part of our family so dear

We basked in your arms
On warm summer days
While enjoying your coolness
And AZ’s sun rays.



Memories of fun
We now can recall
Oh - How we all had a ball

Splashing, sunning, dreaming and running.
Laughing, squealing, snorkeling, and grilling.



A key to our summers of family happiness
You were always there for us.

I’ll never forget that fateful June day
The wind blew you away.
But much to our relief you hadn’t gone far
And we found you at our neighbor’s next door.



Again the next day you tried to escape.
I should have known then, your fate.

Still, I towed you back home
Weighed you down with some toys
And left you to fend for yourself.

I returned home from shopping
That crazy windy day
I pulled up to the house
Finding you’d gone astray.

The toys I meant to hold you down
Were now strewn on the ground.



In a huff and a puff
You broke through those anchors
Whirled through the front gate
with nothing but anger

Determined to be free you had nothing to loose
But air….

10 houses traveled

Cactus plants battled



No longer incarcerated

But so sad and deflated



A life so fulfilling
You threw it away
Now we’ll not be swimming
Our hearts will be grey.