Nebraska vs. BYU

We had a really great Labor Day weekend in Nebraska. It was great to see family and so fun to go to THE GAME!

We had so many comments, questions, and looks about our custom made shirts. We found lots of other Nebraska/BYU fans there as well. Even though it looks like we might like both teams equally, we were hard core cheering for BYU and thrilled with their Hail Mary win! (I promise I'm not pregnant even though it looks like I am in these pics. Boo stress weight gain!)

After the game we got to meet up with Steve and Bronson Kaufusi. Super fun to get to talk to them. Great men!

Fun at Green Lake

It was nice to be able to do big kid things without interruption from little girls. We played lots of hands of cards - Rook, Casino, & Monopoly Deal were most popular. War was a favorite of the kids until Grandpa banned it from his tent because of early morning bickering.

The boys went fishing everyday at the lake. I really only fished one day while there but it was so nice to be out there fishing again. We caught several brook and splake trout

The boys enjoyed fishing too. Allie enjoyed it for about an hour and then was ready to do something else. She read several books while others were fishing.

Beautiful green lake - the continental divide is to the right.

Caden was pretty happy to catch this larger brook trout. Kiss! Kiss!

I loved these flowers growing out of the side of a rock. (We know it as Bobby's rock.)

On Sunday we went exploring in the afternoon. We found a cool little shallow pond where we observed its ecosystem and skipped rocks and pine cones on its surface.

On Monday Allie and I walked to the snow cave and explored down the creek there. SO beautiful! I love running mountain water!

We had a great time in the mountains!

Camp Work

There is a lot of work that goes into setting up camp for the week. We had 6 horses packed with 3 tents, 7 sleeping bags, 5 air mattresses, 7 duffle bags, 7 sets of waders, fishing gear, food, toiletries, cooking/eating utensils, 2 stoves (one that never got set up), 2 axes, 2 saws and numerous tarps. We got to camp late on the 4th and so finished all of the camp set-up the next morning. A lot of wood had to be gathered, sawed and chopped for our 2 hot meals a day + warmth on the rainy afternoons.

Parker enjoyed sawing through some pretty hefty logs.

It's not really fair that Grandpa slaves over the stove twice a day to feed us but we sure enjoyed his mountain cooking - blueberry pancakes, French toast, bacon, breakfast burritos and eggs in the morning (not all on one day). Hamburgers, pork chops, fish, steak, fried and mashed potatoes, beans, corn and sliced tomatoes for dinner. Yum!

Another thing I love on the pack trip that I rarely do at home is Tang, lemonade and kool aid for breakfast and dinner drinks (not made by Dad). Lunch is sandwiches, Pringles, cookies, candy and fruit. For me this year I had gluten free crackers with turkey and cheese.

Hiking to Green Lake

Our hike up the mountain started out beautifully. The beginning of the trail is not too hard crossing over rolling meadows. At the first real water crossing I fell down soaking the lower half of my body. Bare feet + slippery rocks + rushing water = losing my balance. I wasn't completely dry when the rain started but dry enough when I took my damp t-shirt off in exchange for a rain jacket.

The boys were super troopers as we hiked the last 2/3 of the trail in the rain and mud and hail (luckily we met the hail after it had fallen). It was really difficult at the end. Lots of switchbacks and steep uphills to get to the top. We took this picture near the end. We all felt like Parker looks but some of us managed to smile. It took a lot of effort to just put one foot in front of the other at this point.

The trip up took 8.5 hours. The boys were cold and tired so we got them in dry clothes and put them in sleeping bags in the tent that was up when we got to camp. While we worked on the rest of camp (2 more tents, sleeping bags, air mattresses, etc.) the boys crashed out. We couldn't even wake them for dinner and they slept 12 hours that night. They didn't even remember getting carried from one tent to another. Despite their incredible physical efforts and exhaustion, they were refreshed and sprightly the next day. Their parents did not recover quite as effortlessly. ;)

Weekend in Nebraska

This weekend we drove to Nebraska to celebrate Easter and my grandpa's 95th birthday. We drove in on Friday arriving in time to play and have pizza dinner. Rook and hiding and finding Easter eggs were the most popular games of the weekend. Saturday we swam at the hotel and had our traditional zemmel, fruit and egg casserole brunch. In the evening was Grandpa's birthday party at Valentinos.

Lots of love between the cousins!

Sunday was Easter service at First Mennonite Church. It was wonderful. Here are the great-grand kids.

We went to Marv and Lisa's for Easter dinner - delicious! My grandma made her AMAZING tarts for Easter dessert.

And these two had a nice Easter nap.

We got to see the Carothers and have zemmels again before the night was over.

It was a wonderful weekend together. I have an amazing family!

Girls Camping Weekend...

My dear friend Sarah had a great idea last spring that we should get together and go camping this fall. We decided to go camping near Austin where she lives. Bob took Friday off work and I drove down to meet Sarah. We camped Friday and Saturday night at Georgetown Lake. We stayed up late sharing secrets, talking about life and getting annoyed at the obnoxious loud campers near us! We wanted to rest on our weekend away!

Even though we bought food to cook we ended up eating out both nights. Delicious Mexican food and then burgers and ice cream bars the next night. We burned all the scrap wood that has been sitting in my garage for the past two years which made me very happy. It also made us 2 delicious breakfast burrito breakfasts. We were going to have PB&J sandwiches on day 2 so we could forego the fire but a critter came along in the night and took our bread!

On Saturday we went for a mountain biking ride. Sarah hadn't been on her bike at all in 3-4 years and I hadn't done any real mountain biking since before Sydney was born. We found a trail that was pretty rocky but we attempted it anyway and gradually got more confident and able.

We were on a pretty smooth stretch of single track headed downhill when I put too much pressure on my front brake and flipped over the front of my bike. When I landed my head was pointed slightly downhill and I could see I was in a bush of prickly things but I was ok. Sarah was behind me so I decided to lay there until she could help me. When she saw me, she couldn't get the words out fast enough that I HAD to get right up. My body was in stickers but my leg was in a large fire ant mound. I quickly got up and we frantically brushed away as many ants as we could. It was too late for some of my leg. Luckily I was wearing tight capri pants so the bites stopped where my pants did. 

It was still pretty painful and then itchy for several days. I also had several bruises/tender spots from the crash. Oh mountain biking! 

We had a fantastic weekend catching up and laughing and talking about serious things and just overall reconnecting. It was so refreshing to be outside in nature too. 

On my drive home I also got to see another one of my high school buddies, Rebekah. We had lunch and had a great visit talking about motherhood, kids, family and more. It is so wonderful to see my friends as great mothers who love their kids, believe in Jesus and practice faith in their everyday. Both of these friends became mothers several years after I did but now we all have two little ones that are still at home. It is fun to be in a similar life stage again. Thanks Sarah for dreaming up our super weekend!

Mom's Summer Camp...

I had this crazy idea a couple of weeks ago to take a week and live a simpler life. There are so many distractions day to day that it sometimes feels like we are not connecting in ways that I would like to. We needed improvement in family prayer and scripture study. We need improvement in sharing, working together and serving each other.

Once the idea started it just kept building. I had grocery lists and daily schedules planned almost immediately. I kept seeing all of the good that might come out of this little adventure. I started calling it Mom's Summer Camp. So the idea was to go to my parents little house on the lake that is just a few minutes from their home. Just me and the kids. The lake house has 2 bedrooms and one open living area. It is much smaller than our house with far fewer rooms for people to be separated by. It was a nice change.

I also decided that we were going to work on this deck project that I have been wanting to do for years. The deck is high and not safe for little ones. The boys and I were going to make it safer. We bought the supplies and tools the first day we were there. 

I had the kids each pick a plate, cup, bowl and silverware to use for the week. Everyone was responsible for washing their own things along with extras like the babies' dishes. The kids actually liked this. They thought it was easier than the dishes that we do at home.

The second day we were there, we started working on the deck. Caden and I were getting our miter saw set up first thing. We decided we needed an extension cord so we headed for the shed. Before we could even get the door up and get inside, Caden got stung by a wasp on the back of his head. It was his first sting like this and it HURT! He was screaming so badly that the kids inside thought he had cut his finger off or something. Big hiccup in the plans. He did not want to go back outside EVER!

Shortly after, I went outside with spray to try to kill those suckers and got stung as well (on my back). I was glad he had me to compare the pain/experience with. He got brave and came back outside to work but he was still pretty nervous about the plethora of flying things that we encountered.

The boys took turns sawing the boards that we bought - 192 boards that needed to be shortened by less than half an inch. This part took awhile. I let the boys wear my sunglasses when they were cutting. It was the best we had for safety glasses.

One day Caden and I had to go back to Home Depot for some supplies. Parker got so bored waiting for us to come home that he crashed out on the couch. He slept like that for at least 30 minutes after we got back. Loved it!

Each morning the boys and I would work on the deck project. We would sometimes work on it again at night. In the afternoons we would drive to my parents' house to swim for a couple of hours. We ate simple meals with fewer choices than we normally have at home. We didn't watch TV or use the cell phone for entertainment. We took a few toys with us, explored outside, & read. We had a morning and evening devotional each day. We had a movie night one night that was a huge hit with the kids (Weiner Dog Nationals was actually a pretty good movie).

This is Sage on the chair down by the lake. The water is really low again this year so we didn't do any boating. We did clear a path to the beach that the low water created and the big kids played down there one day.

 

Parker liked walking around in the muddy water. He found and pulled out all of these old branches. He also discovered an old hat. Everyone else kept pretty much to the raft and the beach.

 Parker caught frogs by the water too. We saw chameleons quite a bit in the trees and on the deck. We fought wasps and tried to kill as many of those as possible. We also saw squirrels & butterflies.

 Inside the girls played with their babies. Sage likes to give the baby kisses.

We took our box of Lego Duplos. The boys especially played with those for hours. They made a lot of really cool creations with them. They also had some pretty mean fights about them too. This was the first thing they did in the morning while we waited for Allie to wake up. We also took a walk down the road on the little lake peninsula most mornings just to see what was happening at the other houses. The garbage truck came one morning so we stopped to watch that.

So this is what we worked on outside. I originally thought we would use deck screws and a drill to install the boards. Wednesday night I realized this plan was not going to work. The angle was just too crazy for drilling. After some thought and frustration I realized that we could install them well with an old fashioned hammer and some nails. Caden would line the board up with our marks and make sure it was level and I would lean over and bang a nail in on the top board and on the middle one. I had bruises and blisters from hammering when we came home.

This is what the finished product looks like. We still have some more to finish this week when we are there for a few days but so far we think it looks good.

Here are few more pictures of what happened inside while we were out. Allie did a great job of keeping the babies happy and entertained while we worked on the deck. Parker and Caden helped her too when they weren't outside with me.

It was really a great week of rejuvenation for me as a mom and as a woman. There was something about getting back to some basics and doing something different from normal that was really good for me.

A Wonderful Trip...

Some say that a trip is something you do with your kids and a vacation is something you do without them.

Why this would be considered a trip and not a vacation...




1. 3 of our kids coughed so hard in the night that they threw up. 3 different nights, 2 messy cribs, 1 messy floor.

2. Out of the 7 nights we were gone, Sydney only spent one night in her own bed for the entire night.

3. Bob had the most interrupted night of his life when I moved to the couch and he shared a bed with Sydney on night 2. He claims to have been woken up no less than a dozen times. The first 2 nights away were rough.

4. One morning while we were eating breakfast, Sydney snuck out of our condo and started wandering around the hotel. Luckily the ladies that work there found her going up and down the lobby stairs and kept her safe until we realized she was gone - 15 minutes later. She wasn't worried or scared when we found her.

5. It was the first day that our boys had poles to ski with. We were getting on a new chairlift when Parker dropped one of his poles. Trying to be responsible he reached under to try to grab it. He lost his balance and fell completely off the lift. I was a mess sitting on the lift several yards up watching as they helped him get back on. I wanted to jump off and be with him but my mom wouldn't let me! He had to ride up the lift alone with three people who only spoke Spanish. He wasn't hurt physically but he sure was embarrassed/mad/hating poles and us for a little while after. We had a couple of grumpy hours from him too after he skied Doc's Run on the first day. He was really not happy about that one. Allie wasn't too thrilled about it either. Thankfully Caden welcomed all skiing challenges with a smile!

6. We went to the store 3 times between the time we got there Saturday night and Sunday (food, tampons, formula & medicine) and we still had to go back on Monday for diapers!

7. We left the kids alone on Saturday night while we went to the store. We thought Sydney and Sage were asleep and that the others could go to sleep shortly after we left. Syd wasn't asleep and didn't go to sleep until after we got home. We were upset when we returned as were her older brother and sister who couldn't get to sleep because of her. They also couldn't get in touch with us and didn't want to wake grandparents in other room. Lesson learned: leave one phone with kids and take the other.

8. Not including my parents and their stuff, we were traveling with:
5 kids, 3 large suitcases, 2 carseats, 1 double jogging stroller, 6 winter coats, and 6 carry-on bags stuffed full!

9. For one day our dishwasher was broken and we had to handwash all the dishes we used from breakfast, lunch and dinner (no paper). I say "we" but it was mostly everyone but me. : )

10. The kids will miss a 6th day of school as they are now sick with a stomach bug. :(

Why it was still awesome that we got to go to Utah for a weeklong trip with my parents...

1. We got to go skiing with our kids and my parents for 4 days. They love it, Bob loves it, and I always love it!

2. We stayed SO close to the base of the resort. We had the shortest walk imaginable to get on a lift. It was superb!

3. Although our condo was just 2 bedrooms, it was very spacious and nice. (My parents in one room, Allie slept in the living room, 2 boys in one bed in our bedroom, Bob and I in the other bed, Sydney on the floor next to us, and Sage in a crib in one of the 3 bathrooms.)

4. The weather was really beautiful in the mountains.

5. I got a break from some of my normal duties. My mom watched the little girls for part of each day so we could ski as a family. Bob and I took turns so she could ski too. I only had 2 of the 8 kid watching shifts. My mom and Bob cooked breakfast each morning for the kids. Mom and Dad did the grocery shopping, cooked for us, and planned most of what we were going to eat. They also took us out for dinner a couple of times.

6. We got to see a lot of friends we haven't seen in awhile. We didn't see everyone we love in Utah but it was really nice to reconnect with some of our dearest friends. (Between theses 3 families, there are a lot of kids these days!)

7. We got to see part of BYU including LaVell Edwards stadium and the house we used to rent a basement apartment in. We saw our old landlord shoveling snow as we drove past. There was lots of reminiscing and thinking about how things have changed in12 years.

8. Bob and I got to ski a few runs by ourselves on the last day. It was fun to fly down the mountain together!

9. Bob took the kids down to the pool, hot tubs, and gym every afternoon after skiing. They loved their time with Dad drinking strawberry water, talking to the beer drinkers in the hot tub, and watching their own TVs on the treadmills and bikes.

9. Someone else cleaned the bathrooms (daily), washed the towels, vacuumed the floor, made the beds and took out the trash. Maid service is great!

10. It was fun to see Sage really start walking while we were away. It is also great to see our kids loving their grandparents!