Sun Valley and Oregon

Sorry for all of you who have had to look at my ugly drawing of Sarah Palin for so long. I have been busy posting and responding about all matters politico on my blog. And for those of you who I offend with my blatantly pro-Obama and anti-McCain writings, let not your heart be troubled. I am done. I participated in early voting today and cast my vote for Senator Barack Obama. Next Tuesday, McCain will call to concede the election right after California is called for Obama--I'm guessing at 11:00 PM MST. After all is said and done, I plan on turning my blog into a site where you can find reviews of foreign films, or maybe something else.

Last thought...Obama v. Romney 2012. Gonna be good.

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging! All things Matilda.

Two weeks ago on Thursday we left for Sun Valley, Idaho. It has become a yearly tradition for my family to go up there for a weekend in October when my dad has work off and my youngest sisters have school off thanks to an educators' conference. It is a beautiful place, and the weather is usually great. We stay at the Sun Valley Inn, which has a circular pool (which they keep at 100+ degrees), bike trails, two ski mountains, and more. We actually got to stay in a lodge this time around, and thanks to Matilda, we three got our own room and bathroom.

Megan and I in a big ol' cowboy chair in downtown Ketchum.

The Murphy Family (less Erinn, who had to work) Yes, I have since gotten the much-needed haircut.

James showing off on his bike.

Tilly demonstrating one of her and her mother's favorite passtime.

Our house - The Guest Lodge

Activities included napping, me running with my brother, me running up Dollar Mountain, the family getting on beach cruisers and heading two miles up the canyon, a smaller part of the family heading 5 miles into the valley (forgetting that we had to ride the slight uphill all the way back), lounging in the pool, eating dinner with some wealthy friends of my dad, and eating some really good Italian pizza at Ricco's (no, Nate, it's not even close to Settebello, but still yummy).

As a side note, I drove our part of the carpool to and from Sun Valley and kept the cruise control set on 65 mph the entire time. Yes, even when the speed limit went up to 75 mph. Do you have any idea how much gas this saved?! A lot. Normally the VW Passat averages 25 mpg, but on this trip we averaged close to 32 mpg. I did the same thing with my Ford Focus on our trip down to St. George in the beginning of October, and my car, which normally averages 27 mpg got 36 mpg. Driving conservatively saves a lot of money. And you are less likely to get pulled over. And believe me, 27 encounters with the fuzz later, who has two thumbs and knows all about getting pulled over? This guy.

Anyway, the next week flew by and on Wednesday night we left for Oregon--flying, not driving. My resolve to only go 65 mph may wane on such a lengthy trip. This was our first time flying with Matilda, and we were a little nervous, but we should not have been. The little pooper slept the whole way from SLC to PDX and then some. She even slept through when we had to put her through the x-ray machine. I hope it didn't mutate her. They told us afterwards that next time we should take her out beforehand. Who knew?

Tilly on the fligh back home from Portland. I know it's a bit out of chronological order, but I needed a picture of Tilda on a plane.

What followed was a fun and relaxing weekend in McMinnville. We enjoyed seeing family, going to our nieces' soccer games, eating at a local Spanish and a beachfront seafood restaurant, decorating cookies and carving pumpkins with Annie, and much more. Sunday morning pancakes were a rousing (not "an arousing", let's be clear) success as I debuted Murphy's Stopped Water flapjacks for the Rudens. I also made some really good baked pumkin seeds from the leftover goop at Annie's Halloween party. I'd give you the recipe for them, but they are so darn good that once one starts comsuption of said seeds, one cannot stop until they're gone. And that's not even mentioning one's resulting offensively stinky excrement. I think it is worth it, but now that we are back in our one bathroom house, Megan is considering filing a motion to explore the option of a temporary outhouse for your's truly. Matilda said that she wouldn't support such a motion, so I'm safe for now, but she does have a history of flip-flopping.

Zach, my nephew, and I took a trip back to the playground where he had fallen five feet, knocked out a tooth, and split his chin not too long ago. The little guy just scrambled right up the offending piece of said playground, only pausing for a moment where the fall happened. I presume he was contemplating if it'd be better to only have one tooth for the next four years or if he should dive through again and try to knock out the other one too. It's not worth it, Zach. The ability to eat an apple is so much more important than symmetry.

The Murphy family at the beach. Matilda's loving that salty sea air.

Andrew is very happy for his cousin Adisyn, who just scored two goals to help her team beat the bigger, stronger green team. Good work, Adi!

Jacie and Zach in the 3-tier structure which robbed the latter of one of his chompers.

I love my nieces and nephews. I love kids in general. You don't have to put up any pretenses. I can just be my goofy, true self and they love it. Whoever invented growing up should be shot. I do prefer to just be around kids, though, without other adults around. I get a little self-concious when people find out that the adult Sean is no more than a carefully not-quite-perfected act. Like when Annie caught me using Ryder's pumpkin to barf guts, or when I got into a name calling rodeo with Zach right before Sunday dinner which quickly spiraled into a jamboree of kids under 6 calling me every name from Poopy-Head to Gramma. Each child got louder and louder until the other more adult adults couldn't help but notice and came to take their respective children away from my bad influence.

I thought that playing in the rabbit hutch was a great idea! Only until their parents came out and told me otherwise. Sorry Jacie and Ryder.

And speaking of nephews, it was great to finally meet Drew-Bob, Dan and Annie's newborn and Tilly's 5-day inferior/5 lb superior cousin. We got some great shots of the two together. Matilda is just about at Andrew's birth-weight and Andrew is well beyond. Putting them together is quite laughable, not only because of the size difference, but also because they just become this octopus of punching and kicking and swinging, taking no notice of each other and often clocking one another in the face and elsewhere.

Tilly and Drew-Bob. Check out the arms and legs. Nuff said.

Another couple cuz pic

And the older cousins too! McKenna and Kale both love Tilly. And she loves them

I was told by a few people recently that my blog is long and wordy. I reviewed how much I wrote on this post alone and almost felt the same shame that I did during the Poopy-Head melee, but then I reread it and thought, "Hey, this is good stuff. Don't start catering. If you do, your Settebello pizza will slowly devolve into a Little Cesear's Hot-N-Ready." For those of you who prefer a Hot-N-Ready, wonderful. I myself enjoy them on occasion. Just do not expect them at this restaurant.

It was sad to say goodbye to Oregon and its scenic foliage, but alas we did. Matilda was awake for the whole flight and just as pleasant as a pumpkin pansy. Everyone who walked by commented on what a good baby she was (most of them said this while levelling a face-melting death glare at the two screamers a couple rows back).

Halloween so far has been great. But I'll kowtow to the appellate of, "The Wordy One" and save that story for another day. Here's a Halloween joke I made up:

Q: What did the pumpkin say when his brother asked if he was excited about Halloween?
A: "I'm pumped, kin!"

Ha ha ha ha ha!!

Well I think I'm funny.

Poopy-Head.

Grandma Judy, Bapa Alan, and Matilda

Little baby Peyton, who is kind enough to donate her clothes to the Tilbert fund after she has outgrown them.

Adisyn holding a cookie she made for Tilly. We crushed it up and put it in her next bottle. She loved it.

The Pirate Pumpkin Percivald, seediest character to sail the seven seas. Also the first Jack-o-lantern to grace the exterior of Alan and Judy's new house. It was my honor creating it.

And finally, here's a video of Tilly's silly reaction to light and dark.