Vast Swaths of Sweet Nothings from the Sister Oaks Cabin in Green Valley Lake

Tonight is our first night up at a private cabin some of our friends own and Sarah has already conked out. Unfortunately, whenever I'm not working, I tend to start staying up later and later. These days I go to bed as late as 1AM but usually around 11:30 or midnight. By nature, I only need about 6-7 hours of sleep a night while Sarah likes to get between 8-9. She'll tell you I need as many as she does, and perhaps it's true since I generally want to keep sleeping when she comes in a plops Claire down on the bed knowing full well that our children (Carter was the same way) have the uncanny ability to put a knee or feet right on my bladder or crotch which, of course, is far more effective at waking up a man than the annoying sound of an alarm clock, a rooster, or my mom's old habit of throwing open the windows and singing out, "It's a beautiful day..." or some other corny line that always caused in irrational, dark anger to well up from within my id.

Sarah, unlike my mom, learned long ago that some seemingly unavoidable, natural cause is always a much safer bet. In fact I remember one year at Youth Conference (a church getaway) I can actually recall grabbing a woman's arm in my stake very violently when she awoke me by tickling me face with a feather or something. She was shocked and then amused...I was not. So, in case you don't get the picture yet, I like to be awoken slowly and peacefully. This is why I set my cell phone alarm to go off with an ascending piano crescendo to wake me up for work; then I hit snooze about five times so that I gradually climb from the sleep cycle I am in. Obviously the higher up (1 being the highest, 4 being the lowest) in the sleep cycle the easier it is to awaken. Some people go to sleep on time and wake up at the same time, thus they generally awaken easier than people like me who go to bed at eleven o'clock or later even though my first alarm goes off at 5:50AM. Yes, I admit it: I lack self-discipline in this area of my life.

I love the morning time. As a fisherman, looking out at the sunrise over a cold lake while preparing my first cast is always a poignant, life affirming moment. Getting out of bed to get down to the lake on time, hellish. More than the morning time, I love the quiet solitude of the evening and early morning when cell phones don't ring and I am free to read, write, watch a movie or meditate. I suppose the preferable time to enjoy these ponderous, quiet moments is in the early morning. This is why I have come to the conclusion that some day I am going to have to make a serious lifestyle change. For example, one thing I have come to wholeheartedly accept as an absolute necessity in life is the act of meditation and prayer, or meditative prayer as it were. Although I pray morning and night, I am all too often in an agitated state of mind because I am either rushing out the door or so tired that prayer amounts to making sure I think God for all I have to avoid seeming ungrateful. This, of course, is not true prayer. God knows my thoughts and feelings, so prayer then is really more about receiving revelation. Prayers that are rushed or are centered around the alleviation of one's conscience are not really productive in the sense that they feed one's ego instead of helping to destroy it. Anyhow, the bottom line is that my study and prayer would greatly benefit from the old mantra, "Early to bed, early to rise..."

This afternoon and evening were very relaxing, especially after we put the kids to bed. We arrived, unpacked the van, "booted up" the cabin by turning on the water, the water heater and adjusting the thermostat (it's quite cold). Then, we spent some time in the living room. I tried to close my eyes for a few minutes and Sarah attempted to read, but inevitable we ended up assuring that Claire didn't fall off chairs, break vases (she broke one this morning at home), or steal Carter's precious little bag of Halloween candy we let him bring up here. Carter also had some special needs of his own including helping him open and close his backpack, find paper to color with and fend of attacks from Claire since she loves to grab his ears and even bite him sometimes. Claire really is a handful these days and although she's saying new words all the time, she still gets extremely frustrated since she has so much desire yet so few tools to get her point across. A very common occurrence is her going into the kitchen and screeching and flailing her arms until someone comes in and deduces what she'd like to eat or drink. Sarah even tries to teach her simple sign language from Bay Einstein to facilitate communication but she'll have none of that. Her favorite words right now include: mamma, dadda, hi, bye, dog, hot, and shoes. She used to say Carter's name more but she stopped recently. I predict a language explosion some time in the next 2-3 months.

After about an hour or so at the cabin, we plopped the kids in our new stroller and walked down the depressing, yet beautiful, little road to the lake. Why depressing? Well, because last year's wildfires destroyed many homes/cabins up here. As you walk you can see the concrete foundations where residences and vacation homes stood not very long ago. We also watching some men cutting down trees which was interesting.

Photo of firefighters at GVL last year.

When we arrived at the lake, we played on a swing set and jungle gym for a while and then threw rocks in the water. There was a little incline with snow on it and some young girls came down with a little sled and Carter took a turn on it and, of course, loved it. We informed him that tomorrow we'll go down a much larger slide when we visit Big Bear and do the Apline slide.

After the arduous task of pushing both kids back up the road in the high altitude, we arrived back at Sister Oaks (the name the women who own the cabin gave it). Actually, I should mention that Sarah decided to push the stroller up the last incline and in the process hit a little bump, sending the stroller crashing to the ground. Claire, who was strapped in, was fine, but Carter was ejected. He cried for a moment from the shock, but afterward we all had a good laugh. This isn't the first time this has happened, but it's the first time it wasn't my fault.

So, we got back and Sarah started dinner while I lit a fire. After trying to figure out if the flue (thanks to Mrs. Anonymous for the spelling help) was open or not, I got a little fire going which always makes a cabin feel more cozy. Sarah's dinner was absolutely delicious. We (I love cooking too) grilled up some chicken and cooked up some rice with salsa, taco seasoning and chicken broth, then put it together and added some shredded cheddar and simmered it all together. We then served the meal with some fresh avocado and some fresh vegetables on the side. Even the kids liked it although we had to threaten Carter with hot chocolate and popcorn sanctions if he didn't eat. As usual, after he ate the first bite he finished almost the entire plate. Also, in accordance with the normal goings on of the Todd home, Claire gorged herself and made a huge mess in the process. Is it just me, or do baby girls eat better than baby boys? I have no idea, but Claire and my niece Ella never seem to turn down a meal.

Although we're doing most of the cooking here at the cabin, we've decided to eat out both days for lunch. So tomorrow I'm going to make a Tomato Frittata for breakfast along with some bacon, lunch up in Big Bear, and then I'm making a potato soup for dinner. Then, on Wed. morning Sarah is going to make her delicious and healthy whole wheat pancakes. I can officially declare my love for true whole wheat thanks to my wife. Although we love quality white bread (real bakery bread) and flour tortillas, we're 95% whole wheat in all things including bread, tortillas, and English muffins. Indeed, we generally get the double fiber English muffins and I can eat those bad boys untoasted...don't try that at home.

So, it's now past 11:00PM and the strange need to spew forth information from my brain is now subsiding. Have a happy day/night and thanks for stopping by the Todd Pad. I've decided, just for fun, to start adding some YouTube video monologues. Why? I don't know, it just seems fun. I think non-bloggers often think of blogging as bragging or something, and maybe to some degree there's truth to that, but personally I just like sharing ideas, thoughts, pictures and information (aren't all of those things technically information?) with other people. Indeed, that's why TV's all about but at least bloggers like me and most of the people I know aren't out to try to make money like TV is, so if you like TV, you should love blogs. And when people ask, "How do you have the time?" I feel like saying, "How do you have the time to read blogs, or the paper, or to watch TV, or whatever it is you do? And if you have no time to read or create something of our own accord (which is what blogging is) then I truly feel sorry for you. One of the things in life I need to work on the most is time management, but there are many, many things I do besides blogging that I need to cut back or eliminate completely. I guess I should add that now that I am finished with my own studies, I feel like I have plenty more free time. Also, because I am not the YM President anymore I have more time during the week generally while my Sundays are much busier. Hey, I am even finding time to exercise and get my home teaching done and besides spending time with Sarah and the kids and getting fulfilling my spiritual callings and duties, those are my top priorities since they both ensure longevity (one physically and the other spiritually).

Ok, now it really is time for bed since it's 11:27! If anybody reads this whole thing I'll know it because I am going to tell you one last thing about me: I have six toes on my left foot. OK, I don't, but I don't really have any secrets I want to share at this time since they're all far less thrilling and much more depressing than that (smile).