Journaling Week of 8-25-13

BACK TO SCHOOL BREAKFAST
I had my first little get-together with some of the Moms in the ward here.  I was invited to a little breakfast.  That was a lot of fun!  It was nice to feel welcomed and feel like I have a place here.  We were a little late, and had to leave kind of early to get home and make cakes and Kindergarten orientation and such, but it was a nice little time for me.  I am really loving this ward.  8-26-13

WELL CHECK AND MOLLUSCUM
Took Jack in for his well child visit and he was doing great!  Weight was up along with everything else :).  He is super healthy!  Dr. Tew kept commenting on what a good walker he was for only doing it for a month :).  I thought that was cool.  The doctor had Jack sit up on the bed all by himself (rather than in my lap like usual) for his checkup and by some crazy miracle the kid just sat there!  He had to be playing with a tongue depressor and a otoscope cap, but hey! I'll take it!!  He was really good!  I've never seen a one year old react quite like that at their check up.  This one goes down in the books for Dr. Tew as well!  We were both quite surprised.  How cool that he had chosen to do it that way.  I'm not sure Jack would have been as calm if he had been all comfy in his Mommy's lap. 
I really enjoyed talking with Dr. Tew this time.  He has a lot of the same views as we do on parenting and made me feel so much better about the things we do.  That's always good.  He has seven young-ish kids as well, so he can relate too.  Which is SO NICE!!  It's nice to not feel like I'm doing something wrong.  He was very reassuring when we were talking about Noah going to kindergarten (Noah was there, talking about it) and having not gone to Preschool.  He agrees with me that it's a waste of money and that kids go to school to learn that stuff, they don't need to know it before they go!!  Yes!  Yes!  That is how I feel.  He was talking about a mother of a patient who had just been in there talking about her child who was told by their preschool that her kid needed to repeat preschool because he had not learned everything very well.  WHAT???  Holding your kid back before they are even in school??  Weird.  To each his own, of course, but from my perspective, that's NUTS!  Dr. Tew kept talking about how before Kindergarten is the time to enjoy being a kid!  Not sitting still or being ordered around by a teacher.  I love that he said what he did.  I'm grateful that I've had the time with Noah that I have.  Well, with all of my kids for that matter.  Before they're sucked into the school world.  I'm grateful that they were just mine during that time.  And I am hopeful that Noah will pick up all the things he needs to in a timely manner.  Just like everyone else has.  Without preschool.  And now I'll step down from my soap box :). 
After Jack was looked at and the preschool rant, I asked him if he would look at Erika's little bumps by her eye and he confirmed my diagnosis that it was molluscum.  Darn it.  But he said that it lasts a lot longer than I had read online- or can anyway.  So since Erika's has been there so long, he offered to treat her.  He gave me a few options.  I chose the painless, more long term solution, over the painful quick or the nothing at all.  I'm hopeful that I made the right choice.  He put some stuff that smelled like compound W (can't remember what it's called at the moment) on each bump while Erika laid there as still as a log- that was miraculous!  And in the last few days they've turned into scabs.  So she looks a little scary and unfortunately everyone asks, "What's wrong with her eye??" Everytime they see her.  I think it goes forgotten by her until someone says that, so it's a little bit of a hinderance.  But she's tough.  She keeps reminding me that "it doesn't even hoht!"  Because I told her it wouldn't.  So that's good.  Hopefully they will be gone before two weeks and we won't have to treat them a second time.  Dr. Tew was awesome to even look at her for me since it was Jack's appointment, but I was totally nervous having not planned on doing anything to them.  Hopefully the Mom worries go away. 
After treating Erika, Jack got him shots.  He's always so amazingly cool about those!!  He gets pretty mad, but only for a minute.  Then he's fine!  It's awesome.
So as you can see, a very productive visit.  That's the way I like it.  8-28-13

HEIDI AND JOHN
After the doctor, Heidi and John came over to have a post celebration of Jack's birthday with us.  They weren't able to come Monday.  Heidi gave Jack a cute little toy truck, it was so cute to watch her give it to him, he was being all sweet with her.  I loved it.  We had saved some of Jack's cake for Heidi to watch him smash :).  He wasn't as into it as he was on Monday.  Kind of stale I guess :).  But we got some cute pictures of him eating it anyway. 
Nate smoked some tasty brisket for John all of us to enjoy for dinner.  It was SO GOOD!!  John had a lot :).  He also made some burnt ends.  Nate's really made good use of his birthday present.  Which makes me happy.  And fatter of course :).  He's really perfected some of his recipes!  It's such a cool hobby for him!  I'm glad he enjoys doing it.

TEMPLE
We got to go to the temple on Thursday, thanks to my Mom tending.  It was awesome!!  I can't believe how amazing it was with the new video. Hard to believe that the same words, just put differently, could evoke such different emotions.  I loved it!  Can't wait to see it again.  It was a very sweet time at the temple this time.  Can't describe it.  But I loved every minute and every feeling that I experienced.   8-29-13

11 MILES
After riding Noah to school (on our bikes), on Friday afternoon, Nate and I decided to take off on a bike ride.  We headed down to Station Park.  Not really sure how far we would be able to go to get back in time for the kids to be out of school.  But we made it there, stopped at Razzleberry (or whatever it's called) for a smoothie with our little Princess and her handsome little Prince :).  It was SUCH a hot day.  I cannot tell you how exhausted I was!  I can't believe how out of shape I am to not even be able to handle that short of a bike ride.  But it felt SO GOOD!!  And I loved the time with my honey.  He's so nice to ride slow with me when my legs were cramping up.  (he even pushed me from behind the day before when the trailer's tire was flat and I couldn't pull it worth a darn!)  It's reassuring to me that I at least have the excuse of pulling the trailer, but still.  I need to get out there more often.  Maybe every Friday :).  It was a lot of fun for all four of us.  It's nice that we have the bike trail.  It's relatively traffic-less.  So that's nice.  I'm just really looking forward to this each week.  I think we did about 11 miles, so go us!  8-30-13

CALL HOME
So far we haven't had a day where someone didn't call home from school :).  We'll see how next week goes :).

LATE NIGHT AND THE GODDARDS
Friday night, the girls had planned a little late night with a few of their friends.  By the time Lacie and Tony's family got here, and we had visited with them a little (I LOVED that they came by, by the way.  That was the highlight of my week!!  They are just amazing, and I know I've said this before, but Nate and I couldn't be more comfortable with another couple here.  It's amazing how much we have in common (even 24!) and how similar we are.  Too bad they don't live closer... yet!!), we had 20 children and 4 adults in our house at one time!!  It was crazy!!!  Very loud, and crowded.  But I have to say, I loved it!  A crowded house means all my kids are home and having fun with friends and family.  It felt good.  I have always wanted our home to be the place our kids wanted to be.  That was a nice thing.  It was a really fun-filled evening regardless of how messy my house was.  I need ot remember that.  8-30-13

DOWN
So even though we had this amazing week and lots of fun last night, I somehow managed to find myself in a hole today.  Frustrates me when this happens.  I have been down most of the day.  I keep trying to perk up and be cheerful, but it's hard!  I know I'm tired, I know certain hormones are coming (not talking about pregnancy ones, just for the record), and I think I am still recovering from the long bike ride yesterday, but seriously... it stinks.  I hope I can pull myself out if it tomorrow.  Blogging tonight has really helped.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

We had an awesome first day of school!  (As awesome as it can be when I'm losing my big kids)  Everyone woke up very early!  They all got ready in their crisp, new clothes, brushed teeth, happy faces :) all on their own!  We had yummy pancakes for breakfast.  We kind of lost track of time towards the end of the morning, so we rushed a little to get to the school, but we were on time! 

Charity is in 6th grade this year.  She has Mrs. Johnson.  Se seems pretty excited to be one of the oldest in the school.  She looked so cool and confident walking to her door.

Kelly is in 5th grade.  She has two teachers, Mrs. Masterson in the mornings, and Mr. Paver in the afternoons.  She too is very excited and seems to really love her class. 

Bradley is in 3rd grade this year.  He has Ms. Wood.  He doesn't love his teacher.  In fact, he didn't really like her for the first week.  We will have to see how the second week goes.  She might grow on him... I don't know.  Lots of grumpiness and yelling I guess.  Not his favorite.  HOpefully he has a good year.

Luke is a 2nd grader!  He has Mrs. Featherstone.  The teacher that Charity had last year!  Kinda crazy.  But he seems to really like his class and teacher.  He's had a lot of fun so far.


And on Thursday, Noah experienced his first day of Kindergarten!!  WAHOO!!!  He is in Mrs. Piper's afternoon class.  We are so excited for him and I think he couldn't be any more excited himself.  It was killing him to wait til Thursday.  And then even worse to have to wait until the afternoon!  That was a tough one.  Hopefully he'll get the hang of it.  He had all good things to say about it!  He loved "recess and coloring" :).  I'm happy that he was comfortable there, and felt like a cool big kid. We have LOVED riding bikes with him to school though!  And I think he's enjoyed riding home with his big brothers and sisters.  Fun stuff. 

I do have to say it was adorable watching Erika with her big brother at Kindergarten orientation.  She was so proud of him and followed him around when she could and stood back and admired when she couldn't.  She was the one to tell everyone else about his day and how it went at school.  She was pretty into all of it!  I loved watching her marvel in his new thing.  She and I and Jack will have so much fun this year!  Lots to do and experience.  I hope she enjoys being "the big girl" for both years :).

We went to our first Back to School night at our new school and were surprised at how they did things, but we got to know the kids' teachers a little bit, and I did appreciate that.  It's interesting to start over and get to know a new schoool, but I think we'll all survive and might even enjoy it :)

Looks like we have a lot of fun ahead of us with new traditions and celebrations here at Columbia Elementary!!

pictures to come of course!

JACK JACK IS ONE!!!

Our sweet little bouncing baby boy is now a big one year old!!  I cannot believe we're already here.  Shouldn't I be used to this by now??  A phrase I've used a lot lately.  Jack has been a fun little guy to have around.  We all love him so much.  He is such a Momma's boy.  Which is good because his Mommy loves him to pieces and loves an excuse to sit and cuddle rather than doing housework :).  He has learned so many new things lately.  He picked up walking pretty quickly over the last month or so.  We decided he's probably a close third, when compared with the other kids and walking ages.  Not too bad :).  He's really fast according to the doctor at his last check up.  We found out he's large for his age.  All the way around :).  I like that about Jack :).  He's so squishy and cuddly.  He gives me hugs everytime I pick him up and will even give kisses sometimes!  Mostly to Nate :).  It's the sweetest thing when Nate is laying on the couch, Jack will go lean in for a little smackeroo.  It's adorable.  He really is a sweet little guy.  Very loving.  He is getting a little more sensitive.  He doesn't like any kind of violence.  Including people tackling people.  Even when there is laughter.  He is against it all.  He doesn't like loud noises.  He doesn't like crying from his big sister.  It all makes him put on his sad face and then burst out in tears.  Poor little guy.  He wasn't always like this... so it's interesting.  I like it.  I like feeling like he is sensitive to the Spirit.  He loves to get into the kitchen cupboards :).  He especially likes playing in the pantry with the sugar and flour.  I need to find new places for those.  He makes big messes :).  He doesn't love to be alone in a room.  Which is a good thing considering how big his family is :).  But any time I try to distract him with toys so that I can go off and accomplish something, he gets all offended.  He likes to be right under my feet most of the time :).  It's cute.  He likes to fall asleep to the Primary songs.  He is sort of in the process of being weaned although it's not really taking.  He is SO addicted to Mommy juice!  It's insane.  Not really sure what to do about that.  I keep giving in though.  He is not a big fan of most foods.  He will usually eat any kind of meat.  He likes chips, crackers, popcorn, all that not so healthy stuff just fine though.  He doesn't love fruit, but will eat most veggies.  Weird but good.  He doesn't like mushed up anything unless it's in ice cream form :).  Although he did eat some pudding the other day so maybe that's changed.  He doesn't love milk or juice.  He will almost inevitably reject everything we give him after a few bites.  It's ridiculous :).  Luckily we know he's gaining weight though, so no worries I guess.  HOpefully this is just a phase.  He says, "Mom" which I think is adorable.  Not sure he knows that my heart skips a beat everytime he says it, or what it means, but still cute :).  He says, "Da da da", and I think he does know what that means.  He says it a LOT.  And a little bit of "bu bu bu".  No real words yet. He wants to stay innocent as long as he can :).  Jack LOVES his big brothers and sisters!  It's fun to see him connect on different levels with each one of them.  He has a fondness for his sister Erika.  He will always hold her hand in the bike trailer, and in the car, just before falling asleep.  I think she makes him feel more secure.  It's so sweet!  She of course loves that.  He loves playing with Noah and Luke.  They're pretty fun and will take a few minutes to make him giggle every once in a while :).  They mostly giggle at him :).  Bradley is still attempting to become his favorite brother so that he can baptize him someday :).  I love that Bradley is so willing to help out with Jack.  They really are close friends at this point.  Bradley is the only one who will willingly change his diaper.  It's amazing.  He sure loves him.  Kelly is a sweetheart with him.  Jack can feel her sensitivity I think.  He will always cuddle up to Kelly.  She's a calming influence for him.  I think he likes that.  And of course his sister Charity is always a party :).  He can't get enough of the attention from everyone.  I love that he has so many good examples.  He has really been loving his little "bike".  He likes to play with cars, balls, well, and pretty much anything he finds on the floor :).  He's finally done with putting EVERYTHING in his mouth.  That was a long phase :).  He REALLY loves being outside.  If he could be outside all day everyday, I think he would be perfectly content.  He likes to explore.  And the dirt.  It's too bad I have to do stuff inside.  He's mastering the art of escaping while Mom is chatting with people out in the front yard though.  That's been scary.  Almost in the road a few times.  I haven't been able to teach him not to go out there yet.  And everytime it's happened, I've just yelled it out of surprise and then he gets all offended and cries.  So we have yet to make any progress there.  Keeps me on my toes.  He's an awesome sleeper though, he gets BIG points for that.  I really couldn't ask for more.  With naps and with bedtime.  Such a good boy.  We really are so blessed to have Jack in our family.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father let us have him.

We had a lot of fun celebrating his birthday this week.  His actual birthday was Sunday.  We made him a sign (well, actually Kelly did :)).  She insisted that we get a poster when we were shopping the night before :).  Everyone had picked out a present for him, so he got to open those the morning of.  He got a cute new Sunday outfit to wear to church :).  From me of course :).  After church, and for the rest of the evening, we just sang to him randomly.  He loved it.  He would look around at eveyrone and see if they were all looking at him the whole time.  It was adorable.  We had planned on celebrating with the family the next day since Nate had had to work that night.  So we kept things pretty mellow most of the day.  No cake or ice cream yet. 

On Monday night, after everyone's first day of school (which I realize may be the case for his birthday every year... kinda a bummer in some ways, but might be fun for him later).  Family came over- quite a bit actually!  More than I had planned on :)- Grandma Hatch and Simon, Grandma Ruthie and Grandpa Russ, Aunt Jen, The Taylors, and Grandpa Hatch all showed up for his big day!  So fun!  He had taken the world's longest nap, just before, almost four hours!  So he was WELL rested and was a super happy boy!!  It was SO much fun.  I was so pleased with how well he handled all the new attention and how into it everyone was :).  Lots of fun for a proud Mommy.  I loved watching him get all the attention he deserves finally.  We had dinner and then quickly made way with the rest of the festivities... we had started late and everyone had to hurry home (school night :( )  He loved his little car cake I made him!  I was happy about that.  I had kinda overbooked myself that morning, with first day of school stuff, so his cake was pretty simple and then I made another one for everyone else to eat (even though his was probably big enough to feed everyone!  I need a smaller cake pan apparently!).  But I was glad that the simpleness of it didn't make it less appealing to my one year old :) HA!!  only kidding.  He smashed a lot of it into his face.  I was happy I put the cookie crumbs since he loves dirt so much, he dug right in to those :).  He held the little fondant car in his hand the whole time and resorted to using it like a spoon later.  Such a cutie.  He got into the presents as well.  Getting all excited with each one.  I really need to go up to my Dad's and upload pictures.  I was running out of room on my card the whole evening, so pictures aren't the greatest.  He sure was a happy little birthday boy.  It was so much fun for all of us.  I hope he had a great birthday. 

Journaling Week of 8-18-13

HEIDI AND THE MAKEOVERS
Heidi and John came Sunday evening to give us all makeovers (my second, but first for the girls).  It was SO much fun!  I loved watching the girls with Heidi.  I really like how she makes me look, just wish it didn't take so long.  Then I would think it was a realistic addition to my morning routine.  Fun though.  They stayed for dinner and lots of card games!  Fun stuff.  8-18-13

LAVA HOT SPRINGS
We had the privilege of meeting up with Rob and Heather and their family up in Idaho.  We left on Wednesday, just after Nate got home from the mid shift and had slept a little.  We were dragging a little bit, as we packed up the car to go and consequently forgot a bunch of stuff that I wished I hadn't.  But we made our way up to Big Springs Campground pretty quickly.  It was funny how far away from Lava we actually were.  I had not been the one to choose the campground, so it was a big surprise when we got there.  There were no people for miles!!  We followed this dirt road with a few signs here and there to direct us, saw a cool hawk and some wild turkeys, but no human beings in sight!!  It was so funny!  Several times we thought that maybe we had taken a wrong turn somewhere, but luckily we pressed on.  Rob and Heather and their kids didn't come up til the next day, and that was when all the fun began!  I don't think we'll ever forget that campout!
Some of the things we want to remember about this campout:
- The locked bathrooms for the first night and having to walk a quarter of a mile to the nearest one.
- The diaper in the fire pit :)
- The moist air (after supposed rain) that got everything wet as we unloaded and set up camp.
- The creek!
- Building the dam
- The Springs.  Everyone taking a turn being brave enough to dunk themselves in the freezing cold water--- hot springs nothin!
- The "hike" :).
- Spud
- Spud Set Me Up
- Late nights talking with Heather and Rob, and then Heather and Hannah the night that Rob wasn't there.
- THE RAIN!!!
- Nate building a fire in the rain!!  He's so amazing!
- The miraculously dry sleeping bags in the puddles in our tent!  That was awesome.
- Hannah and Erika bonding time.
- Bradley and the fire.  I loved seeing him put it all together and then using all the many methods available to light it!  He's so cool!
- Luke and Noah helping Bradley build his fire.  I love that they were all working together.
- The kids coming back from their hunt for firewood with a TREE!!  Luckily the one they chopped down was already dead.
- Hot chocolate- THANKS HEATHER!
- Biscuit-on-a-stick
- The "Crab Spider"  That was so funny because I said, "It looks like a crab!"  And Noah said, "That's because it's a CRAB SPIDER!"  As if he really knew!  Course I think he was right.
- Isaac singing the Bazooka song!  I'll never forget his dance moves!  Pictures to come :)
- The BAZOOKA SONG!! 
- Hermie the Wormie song
- Me burning my foot on the cement around the fire... and the blisters that followed... holy moly.
- Jack playing in the dirt.  For some reason he liked this campout better than the last.  I'm pretty sure it was the dirt.  He got so dirty!
- Erika and her slivers.  That poor girl just wouldn't put her shoes on!  They were even new!
- Noah and the hammer :). 
- All the boys with the hatchet, chopping the stumps, amazingly no one was injured!
- Our awesome dutch oven meals!  We rock.
- Luke having a good time!!  I loved watching him jump from rock to rock like a wannabe ninja warrior! 
- Erika telling me that she doesn't want to hold my hand while she goes to the bathroom even though Kelly said she has to :).  Kelly was worried about her falling in the hole :).  Love that girl.
- Kelly and the dirt.  She was so patient with the texture of this campground.  I hardly heard her complain at all.  Although, I would have to give her the clean hands award.  She kept them pristine!  Even her nails!  It was very impressive.
- Charity following her older cousin around, listening to every high school and girls camp story and song.  She is EXTREMELY excited to go to girls camp now!  What a great example Hannah is!
- The boys all climbing up into the pine tree. 
- All that candy and snacks!  We let the kids all pick their own snacks for this campout.  Not sure how much I liked that idea, but it worked.
- Loading up all the wet gear!  UGH!  And having to air it all out to dry when we got home... not my favorite part about camping.
- The Socks!!!  EVERYWHERE!
- Everyone sitting around carving walking sticks :).  They all came home with us believe it or not!
- Wondering where Nate was only to have him show up with a couple fish!
- Yummy fish.

I'll add more when I can get everyone else's ideas.
We came home Saturday just in time for Nate to be off to work.  That was a bummer.  But a really fun way to end our summer!  It's officially over.

Journaling Week of 8-11-13

PACKING
We spent all of Monday getting packed for our Campout!!  We were so excited and so prepared this time!  I felt like we were super organized and I loved that we were getting such a good headstart!  Everyone worked so hard to get the house cleaned up on Tuesday too, so that we could come home to a nice clean house.  I loved that part :) 8-12-13

CAMPING TRIP 2013  SOUTH FORK
We left Tuesday afternoon, came home Friday afternoon, during Nate's leave.  I don't really feel like narrating every moment of our campout.  I just want to point out some of the memorables:

- Our campsite was right next to the river, the water, the garbage cans, and the toilets!  Doesn't get better than that :).  (the smell was bearable :))  I kept thinking it would have been the perfect site for camping LAST year with how disabled Nate and I were, it would have been a lot easier.  In fact, we thought about last year's campout a lot the whole time, thinking about how hard it was, and how much pain Nate and I were in, and yet how fun it was.  How memorable it was.  I was hoping we could recreate that level of memorableness this year :).  HOpefully we succeeded.
- We loved the camp manager.  He was nowhere to be seen!  In fact, I only saw him once when he came to give me my parking pass.  He was too scared of Buddy to come too close to our camp and just stood there until I could get to him.  I LOVED that they weren't there every second, micromanaging the place.  Unlike most campgrounds that we've been to, he left us alone :).  I liked it.  They didn't even say anything about Heidi's car when they came up.
- Lots of time down by the river.  We found a cool little wading area up the river a little ways where everyone got to go play in the water.  They got braver as the time went on and waded out into the river a little ways.  We were wishing we'd brought tubes to float the river.  Someday.
- Jack learned how to throw rocks into the water :).
- Luke and Noah (who don't play together all that much anymore- not since Luke started school) spent a lot of time together.  They build a cool thing out of rocks. 
- Bradley taught his little brothers how to build fires, set squirrel traps (one of the downsides to this campground was the lack of small wildlife- didn't see any squirrels)
- The moose!
- The FLIES!!  And black bees!!
- NO MOSQUITOS!!!  YAY!!!  We were quite fond of the truck that came by in the evening to spray for mosquitos.  Definitely worth it.
- Bleach pen shirts.  This was our tie dye replacement.  I thought it would give them more chance to be creative.  I thought it was relatively easy and a fun thing.  Not as colorful of course :).  Luckily we had those red shirts from our picture.  I made Jack's using the spray bottle, I wish I hadn't saturated it so much, didn't really do what I wanted, but it was still pretty cute.  Charity helped do the back, Kelly helped do the front of Erika's.  She loves hers.  Noah drew his all by hiself!  It looks so adorable.  Luke did his own thing too, with some pretty cool designs around his name.  Bradley made a Super Brad sign, very cool.  Kelly designed hers too and completed it with an "I am awesome" on the back.  Charity did a really cute one with her name criss-crossing on the front and then sprayed the back-very cool.  Nate and I are going to have to make ours one of these nights.  We ran out of pen stuff.
- Pillowcases.  Using fabric pens, we designed our own pillowcases with all of the things we enjoyed doing together this summer.  Then on the other side we wrote little messages to each other.  Almost like a Summer Year BOok :).  I'm hoping the kids cherish theirs.  I know I will mine.
- We wanted to swim in this reservoir that we had seen online, but when we got up to it, we found a very un-kidfriendly reservoir.  With steep rocky sides, no place to sit, and very deep water.  We did sit and watch a girl jump off the rocks and luckily the water was deep enough and she jumped far enough out that she didn't hit any rocks.  I was worried.  Had my CPR and first aid stuff going through my head just in case.  But after a few minutes we decided to just go swim at Pineview.  I was bummed that it wasn't anything new and different than we'd done all summer :) but the kids (AND BUDDY!) had a great time!! 
- BUDDY!!
- NOah's near death experience.  Noah got a little too deep in the water, went under, and then made his way over to the side before anyone saw.  It was pretty devastating.  I felt awful.  I had been taking pictures of everyone, so coincidentally, I have a picture before and after the incident, and one of Erika during, but I think I learned why I need to just use full auto and not mess around with Manual.  It takes too much of my attention.  Poor Noah.  He was so brave though, got back in the water, and even went pretty far out the next time we were up there.  We did go up there twice, once with John and Heidi on the way home so that they could see Buddy swim :).
- The racoons!!  Okay, I have to tell this story.  So the second night, I woke up to some noises around our camp.  There was quite a bit of noise.  Like someone was ransacking the place.  I had images of a bear, tromping around, knocking stuff over.  Then another sound made me think that it might actually be a moose!  Possibly tangled up in the awning.  Then some more sounds made me pretty sure that it was a bear.  (Funny how our thoughts can take us to crazy places!)  I had images of the bear coming over to our tent, tearing it apart and eating all of us.  SO I started praying.  I prayed my little heart out!!  I was SO shaky and so nervous for what could happen!!  Finally, (and I did give it quite a while) I decided to wake up Nate.  He was shocked by all the noise as well, and ended up poking his head out the tent door.  Unfortunately you couldn't see much from our tent, so he eventually got brave and went out to investigate.  He must have been more sure that it wasn't a bear than I was.  He took the flashlight and Buddy :).  I heard Nate walk out there and then say, "Go get 'em Buddy!"  And then it was a while later before Buddy came running back.  He jumped into the tent and then his whole body shivered like he'd seen a ghost!!  Then turned around and stuck his nose out of the tent to watch for Nate.  Nate wasn't with him!  I got a little scared wondering what Nate was doing out there that Buddy was so scared of!  I could see the flashlight still, so I assumed he was okay.  Finally Nate came back to the tent.  He jokingly said, "Thanks for the back up Buddy!"  Apparently 5 raccoons had decided to crash our campout.  They had really gone to town knocking things over and getting into stuff.  One of them was in Buddy's kennel eating the dog food.  Nate said that they weren't scared of him at all, and even less scared of Buddy!  Buddy took one look at them and came running for the tent!!  Little wuss! :).  I was relieved that Nate had been able to scare them away.  And we all went back to sleep, but what a funny night!  We learned a lot about Buddy :).
- Roasting Starbursts
- Heidi and John!  I loved that they laughed at my bottled water/buddy joke :)
- Sweet potatoes... mmmmmm
- The GIGANTIC BEETLE ON MY BACK!!!!!  That was insane.  I was just sitting there with Jack, minding my own business.  Leaning forward a little to catch some of the heat from the fire, I felt something land on my back.  I reached back and flicked it a little, thinking I'd done the job.  Then a couple seconds later, I could hear a squeaking noise from close behind me and I remembered that I'd had a bug land on me, so I wondered if I'd possibly missed it.  So I leaned over toward Kelly, asking, "Hey, Kelly, is there something on my back?"  I will never forget the look on her face.  She went from a huh? to a AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!  Screaming in terror in under 2 seconds.  Luckily Nate came over and saved the day.  Everyone was telling me it was a HUGE BEETLE, but I wasn't convinced until I saw it!!!!! in all of it's at least 2 inches long glory.... it was SO CREEPY!!!!  Luckily that was the last night there... I'm not sure I would have survived another one, because every time I felt even the slightest hint of a bug I was convulsing.
- Smore's on Striped cookies... mmmmmm
- There was a cool cave down the trail that everyone enjoyed walking to.  We got John to go inside of it for us to see what was on the other side.
- Our yummy Shepard's Pie- SO GOOD!!  Everyone ate it!
- Turbo Fruit Snacks.
- Finding the glasses frames on the beach of Pineview
- The doggie friends for Buddy to swim with
- Hanging up the cups with clothespins
- Erika: "I don't want to hold your hand while I go potty- Kelly made me hold hers"
- Kelly worrying about Erika falling in the toilet :).
- Going easy on the snacks when we were shopping and wishing we'd splurgy-splurged a little more :).
- Charity being dragged through the water, on her bumb, by Buddy, because he wanted to get a closer look at the tubers!
- The foam pad
- The ice staying frozen in the cooler almost the entire time!
- rocks, rocks, and more rocks
- Fishing trip - The third morning- everyone left Jack and I at camp and went up to the reservoir to fish.  Not productive, but I think they had fun :).  Jack and I took a nap, sat around, wrote in my journal, cleaned up camp, and sat around some more.  It was heavenly.
- Nate and the kids unpacking the whole car, into the backyard, setting up the tents and chairs to air out and EVERYTHING, while I took a shower!  Wahoo!
- Little Caesar's Pizza courtesy of Heidi and John
- Makeover!


Everybody's most memorables:
Nate-
Me- The Beetle.  By far.
Charity- We got to bring Buddy!!  Buddy's first family trip.
Kelly- The river and the scenery.
Bradley- The Cave
Luke- Bleach T-shirts
Noah- Roasting ice cream (which we didn't do.  Maybe he's talking about the treats we tried to make but burned.)
Erika- Going to the lake and roasting Starbursts
Jack- New shoes and falling on his head off of the tote.

I LOVED this campout!!  It was relatively relaxing and such a fun time together.

Journaling Week of 8-4-13

Miracles
It's been brought to my attention lately what a blessing it is to be able to have my family.  I really don't know what I would have done with my life without my beautiful little miracles.  During my cousin's pregnancy, she discovered that her baby had a hole in his diaphragm.  Normally, it's on the right side and can be surgically repaired without too much trouble, but for her baby, it was on the left side.  This is a lot more serious and usually causes death at birth.  She was told by her doctor in AZ that he had a one in a million chance of survival and that she should abort.  She was not satisfied with that answer and turned to the doctors in Utah at Primary Children's.  They were a little more optimistic, but made it very clear that he probably wouldn't survive long. 
What a difficult thing to hear.  I so cannot imagine the way I would feel during the following months of pregnancy knowing that I may not be able to see that baby live and grow and feel my love.  My heart ached for her the entire time!! 
Well!  On August 4th, she was induced and delivered her sweet little David on Monday, August 5th.  He cried when he came out which was a big surprise and huge blessing.  The miracles just came pouring in from there on out!!  He was doing so well that they proceeded with the surgery.  They found extra diaphragm tissue making the surgery quite successful and a lot less stressful than they had expected.  The last 2 weeks have been full of surprises and ups and downs with this little baby that no one ever thought possible!!  He's actually doing REALLY well!!  I'm so happy for them. 
I'm so glad that I stayed possitive through the whole thing and hoped for the best.  I just can't help but give Heavenly Father all the credit.  He is amazing.  What a blessing.  He truly is aware of us. 
I've just felt so full of love and gratitude for the kids that I have.  That I've had 7 amazingly uneventful pregnancies that resulted in 7 beautiful, healthy children.  They are my world.  I love them so much.  It's so cool to think that I get to have them forever.  That I get to see them grow up and watch them learn and build new relationships.  It's just such a thrill for me.  I love this life.  I love seeing the Lord's hand.  8-5-13

MAYNES FAMILY PICTURE
We finally had our family picture!  I can't believe how much planning went into that day!!  Good grief!  Apparently getting 60ish people together for a family picture is a lot more work than I thought.  We all met up at Wheeler Farm.  Put the kids in their matching shirts.  We did each family's kids in a different color.  We were red.  The picture is going to be kind of a panoramic of the kids in a big long line.  So we did all the kids about 8 at a time.  Putting in stand-ins for those that were not there, to be photoshopped in.  It was insane.  To say the least.  I think it will look nice though.  We did a couple with all the adults that were there as well.  Crazy stuff.  I don't wish to recreate that experience again, any time soon.  8-5-13

RIVER
We had the privilege of witnessing the sealing of River Maynes to his new Mom and Dad.  Lynn and Ali and their family are just so incredible!!  I couldn't help but think how lucky River was to be part of their family.  They are all so welcoming and so accepting of each new member of their family.  It's just amazing to me.  I LOVED being in the temple with them.  I love being there with Nate especially :).  It was a very nice time. 
Nate and I made our way down to room 2C for a little peak in the mirrors that we looked through when we got sealed.  I love doing that!  It's so refreshing.  We're so blessed to live so close to our temple and have that opportunity every once in a while.  I'm also very grateful for the Priesthood leader (I think it was our sealer, but we can't remember) who suggested that we pay attention to which room we are sealed in and go visit it often.  I love that.
We all met up at Jason's Deli at the Gateway afterwards.  That food was good, it was interesting to hang out with everyone without our kids.  We were the only ones without our kids there.  Good times though.  Made up for the crazy chaotic time together on Monday :).  8-8-13

MAYNES FAMILY REUNION
On Friday we got to go to the Maynes family reunion.  This is the first time (since we got married) that they've had a reunion.  It was so neat!!  I loved meeting some of Nate's Dad's family.  They are all so funny!  I talked a lot with Nate's cousins Erin and Emily.  And a little with Aunt Deanne.  I wish Uncle Keith had been there.  The kids all played around to their hearts content.  Luckily the wind died down once it got going.  Everyone had a good time. 8-9-13

BALLOON LAUNCH
Yeah, I'm not sure why I want to call this post "Balloon Launch" we didn't actually get to go.  The kids all traded houses after the reunion- we had Jarom and Enoch and the Taylors had Kelly, then Charity went to Brynn's- so we didn't make it to the Sandy balloon launch.  I was bummed.  I guess that whole thing is more for me than anyone.  I guess I just want to have it in this spot so when I'm looking through for fun things to do, I remember it next year.  The kids had a lot of fun with their cousins though!  I'm glad they have fun cousins to hang out with.  Cousins were the highlight of my childhood too.  8-10-13

MAGIC CAKE
I had the privilege of making a birthday cake for Henry (my cousin Becky's son).  (Becky bought the voucher at the reunion :) )  He wanted a magic set for his birthday so we decided to do a "Magic" cake.  I found a cute one online and ended up making one like it.  It was a black top hat with a rabbit coming out of the top!  It was pretty cute if I do say so myself.  Even with all the hang ups.  I do wish I had been able to embellish it a little more than I did.  But we were in a hurry.  I really can't spend as much time on cakes as I'd like.  It really isn't realistic.  But it was a lot of fun.  Hopefully Henry liked it.  And even if he didn't- Eric gave me a good enough reaction to make it worthwhile :). 
After dropping off his cake, we took the Taylor's home and picked up the girls.  Noah had to get home to go to the Summit County Fair/Rodeo with the Hatches.  He had a lot of fun! I wish we all could have gone.  8-10-13

SHADOWBROOK GIRLS DANCE CAMP RECITAL
For the past couple months, Charity and Kelly have been running their own dance camp.  They made their own flyers, sent them out, registered a bunch of little neighbor girls, then proceeded to teach them dances, play games, feed them snacks, and whatever else they did with them, about twice a week!  They charged 75 cents per lesson. 
It seemed like a really fun thing for them.  They were enjoying it.  They had a friend to decided she wanted to be part of it all, Savannah, and she brought in a new dynamic, sort of bossy, and disagreeing with Charity and Kelly on several areas of organization, but overall, they had a lot of fun together.  I really didn't think it would go too far, they talked about a recital, but I didn't see that happening.  But they pressed on!
Saturday, August 10th was their big day!! We set up the back yard to be their stage (complete with speakers and music- thanks to me :) ), and made room for the audience.  Then they charged money for the tickets and had a lot of the neighborhood there, even people who didn't have kids in it!!  One of which being a "talent scout" for the Stake Fair Talent Show.  I was impressed with the turnout, with the quality of showmanship my cute girls have developed, and with how well everything went!!  My favorite part was when I saw my two cute girls, kneeling down in fron to of their performers, coaching them, and doing their moves to help them along.  It was SO CUTE!!!  I love that they do these kinds fo things.  And how amazing that they did it ALL on their own!!  I seriously can't take an ounce of credit for how it all went.  I almost feel bad that I didn't have more to do with it just because it was such a success!!  They made us very proud that night!!  I got it all on video and hopefully some pictures turn out :).  One of the moms was very hopeful that they would continue and that her twin girls could continue participating.  She was very happy that they were able to get her girls to perform.  They are really shy I guess.  Bonus points for my girls :).  They are amazing!  8-10-13

Journaling Week of 7-28-13

WALK-A-BOUT
We attended another walk-a-bout this Sunday.  That was a lot of fun, of course.  Our kids absolutely LOVE the walkabout.  I don't know what it is.  They were seriously counting down the minutes til it was time to go!!  It's funny.  I like it too, but I don't know if I'm quite as excited as them.  I do love being forced to socialize though :).  Gets me out there.  I'm such a hermit otherwise.  I talked a lot with Deena this time, so that was fun :).  7-28-13

LATE NIGHT WITH LISA
After the walkabout we sat out on the front lawn and chatted with Lisa til it got dark!  I couldn't believe how late we had stayed up!  I totally had to scramble to get the kids in bed before Nate got home at 10:30.  They were nowhere near asleep :).  I LOVE having a neighbor that I enjoy talking with though!!  SO nice.  7-28-13

THE BACKPACK
This is another one of those Noah-Erika moments.  I love how they are together.  Nate had just brought home the coolest Avengers back pack for Noah and Erika was almost more excited than Noah!  She got all excited, ran outside to give it to him, helped him try it on, then ran back inside to get the scissors so she could cut the tag off for him!!  What a cute little sister!!  She takes such good care of him!  And he loves it of course :) The gentle control :).  SO cute.  7-29-13

FHE
For FHE we decided S'mores were in order so we did the treat down by the creek.  A few minutes before we headed down there Steve and Jauslin showed up!  We were so happy to share our time with them.  Hopefully they didn't mind the lesson on burrying our weapons of war (aka: the mean words and hurtful things we say and do to cause contention in the home).  It was nice to have them with us though.  And who can pass up s'mores anyway!  They are the best!  It is going to be interesting taking Jack camping this year, he is not a bit afraid of fire!!  And he hates being held when we're all sitting around a campfire :).  We'll see how it goes :).  7-29-13

HEIDI
My poor little sister has been suffering from the most severe stomach pains I've ever heard of anyone suffering for the past year or so.  She finally went to the doctor and was tested and sure enough, ulcers and H. Pylori.  Unfortunately, this week, she found out through some pretty horrific symptoms, she is possibly allergic to the antibiotics.  Hopefully she can get things figured out with that.  I just wish I could have been there to help her out.  7-30-13

CTR
Cute little Luke got a CTR ring at church a couple Sundays ago.  The awesome little kid has not taken it off since!!  Green finger and all!!  Well, he did decide to take it off while we were at the Lake so that he didn't lose it, but as soon as we were back in the car, he was looking for it and putting it right back on his finger!!  I love it!  He's such a good boy.  I know it means a lot to him and I know he tries hard to do what's right.  Makes me smile.  7-31-13

JETSKIING
We got to go jetskiing with Grandpa, Dawn, the Hatches (half of the day), and Steve and Jauslin (the other half).  I just love being able to get out of the house and relax at the lake!  It's been such a fun thing to have the jetskiis.  I love that my Dad bought them.  I got to go out quite a bit, taking the kids on the hot dog, riding wiht Charity, and back and forth to the dock for the cleaner bathrooms (unfortunately forgot my shoes one of the times and totally fried the bottoms of my feet!!  It's painful to walk on blisters) with Kelly and Erika.  We got to ride around a little together too.  I love that time with my kids.  Good talking time and just having fun together.  It's fun to watch them play in the water.  I still can't believe how ewird the wind was!!  Luke swam across the little inlet we were on, that was pretty cool, he was proud of himself :).  He doesn't like the jetskiis, so that's the extent of his fun.  Bradley likes to go out with Nate so they can make whirlpools.  Noah had fun with Charlie and then enjoyed the rest of the time "being a shark" with his brothers and sisters.  Good family time.  This is another reason I want to do a month without TV, they have so much fun together!  We met up with Grandpa and Dawn at the Snow Cone Trailer for some much needed refreshment :).  yes, we do eat a lot of snow cones :).  8-1-13

RIBS
Nate smoked the most amazing ribs in his new smoker on Friday.  If this is any indication of how good of an investment that smoker was, then we have already paid for it :).  They were incredible!  Nate knows how to do what he does.  8-2-13

FISHIES, TADPOLES, and "BABY SCORPIONS"
These are the little surprises the kids have been finding in the creek today.  They filled up jars and jars of bugs and water creatures.  SO fun!!  This beats lifting up the rocks for potato bugs and worms at our previous homes :).  8-3-13

EPIC
I took the kids to see Epic tonight.  We had a great time!  I was pleased with how everyone did, and I LOVED sitting by Luke during all the funny parts :).  sidenote: two of my children didn't have shoes on.  8-3-13

Journaling Week of 7-21-13

NOAH IS OFFICIALLY A BIKE RIDER!!!!
He did it!  He and Bradley went out and took off the training wheels and within the next 20 minutes, he had become a pro!  I was AMAZED how quickly it all happened!  I couldn't believe it!  It all happened while my visiting teachers were here, so I missed a lot of the first few rides, but he had quite the audience with all of his sibs cheering him on!!  SO CUTE!!!  I was so proud of him!  He's so pruod of himself for that matter.  He is ready to go celebrate!  Pictures to come.  7-22-13

MURMURING
So, I'm back at the beginning of the Book of Mormon.  I can't remember if I wrote about finishing it, but I did, and I'm starting over.  Something stood out to me the other day when I was reading and it was what a HUGE deal murmuring is!  Have you ever noticed how chastised Lehi is for murmuring?  Granted he is the prophet, but STILL!  It gave me a new motivation to NOT murmur.  We all know it's a problem of mine.  I'm doing much better.

PIONEER PARADE IN BOUNTIFUL
My Mom is a member of the DUP (Daughters of Utah Pioneers).  She needed a few families to help with the Handcart Days Parade.  So of course... you know who she asked :).  I was not as gungho about the idea, if I'm going to go to all the trouble to go to a parade in Bountiful, I want to get some relaxing time out of it, and possibly some free candy :).  I knew how excited my kids would be though, so I really couldn't pass up the opportunity.  We rounded up some Pioneer clothes, thanks to our fellow Dinner group people, Linsey and Amy, we had a great selection and looked pretty pioneery if I do say so myself :).  I was pretty happy with how well we looked.  We had to be there by 5:00 and then sat around til 6:30/6:45ish when we were finally able to start walking.  I was losing the desire to comply but man did I get a change of heart once we got started!!!!  What a neat experience!  Nate was pulling the handcart (Single-handedly, yes).  Kelly was riding in the handcart.  Not because of her hurt back and leg, but because her flip flop broke right when we got there!  She was somewhat pleased with the Plan B and spent most of the parade pointing out and counting how many people she knew in the crowds :).  Kelly held Jack as well.  He was fine as long as we were moving.  Anytime we had to slow down or stop, it was not pretty.  I did have to carry him a few times, but not too much.  He did really well for a baby.  He waved a lot, that was cute :).  I was walking alongside the hand cart, holding Erika's hand and handing her taffy to pass out :).  I LOVED watching ERika!!  She was having SO much fun.  She would carefully choose who was going to receive the candy, walk over to them, about a foot away and then toss the candy at their feet :).  We had been told not to "throw" the candy, so this was her way of following orders.  I loved it.  She was so happy and excited through the whole thing.  Giggling when she dropped something, or running really fast to catch up when she took too long with someone :).  It was SO much fun for me.  I just smiled at her the whole time.  Charity, Bradley, Luke and Noah were superstars through the whole thing!  They walked around, reving up the crowd.  Our handcart contained the sign that announced the following entry which just so happened to be the Lion House (aka: FREE ROLLS!!).  They had mentioned to Nate that they would love it if we could get the crowd to scream for rolls.  So of course, Nate delegated that job to our trusty little pioneer kids.  And boy did that take off!!!  Charity's face was bright red as she would scream out to the crowd "IF YOU SCREAM REALLY LOUD YOU GET A FREE ROLL!!!"  Her brothers all caught on real quickly and we had the loudest audience in the whole parade!!  It was a lot of fun to be a part of such a fun group.  I couldn't help but get chills looking around and seeing our family all trudging along together.  All of my "millions of kids" just right there, sticking with us, not getting lost, not trailing off, not even complaining or needing anything extra!  Just having a grand ol' time!  I   L O V E my family.  We're nowhere near perfect, but during that parade, it felt like we were :).  I couldn't have been happier I don't think.  Funny how dressing like a pioneer and walking does that to me.  Took me back, a liitle,, to trek as a young woman.  That was such a neat experience.  So anyway.  It ended way too soon for all of us :).  With too few free rolls in our direction too :).  But what a fun fun evening! 
We made sure to cool ourselves down (AND to celebrate Noah learning to ride a bike) with some yummy yogurt at the Frozen Yogurt place by Shopko.  Yum.  Even if we did look a little like a polygamist family (without all the wives I guess).  We were bummed later in the week to find out that the carnival only lasted through the 24th!  We had planned on going back for Nate's birthday.  That was a bummer.  We haven't missed that carnival in years!  7-23-13

EXCUSES
I decided I'm really sick of hearing people's excuses.  Now hear me out... I'm not talking about wishing people didn't have excuses for things they can't do or whatever, it's the people who think they need an excuse for things like not having more kids, or not staying home with their kids, or spacing theirs out really far.  Drives me CRAZY!!!  Just because I've had a lot of kids, close together, and choose to say home with them doesn't mean I think everyone has to!!!  On the contrary!  If you don't want to have more kids, or can't or whatever it is, then don't!!  Everyone is better off doing what they think is best.  I think it's rude for other people to assume that because I have a lot of kids my pregnancies must be easy.  Nobody knows what anybody's pregnancies are like.  I do not think that everyone should have 7 kids.  And those of you who have kids, who do not stay at home, I understand that it's not an option for everyone, I do not judge you, please stop feeling like you have to tell me your reasons!!  I DO NOT CARE!!!  Let's just talk about something else! :).  There.  I'm done.
7-24-13

PIONEER DAY!!
We got to have the Maynes Family celebration here at our house this year!  That was a lot of fun.  We had waterballoons, played in the creek, some of the older boys fished at the ponds, volleyball, Lawn Darts, BBQ... it was a really nice, relaxing time.  I hope everyone enjoyed it.  7-24-13

HAPPY 34th BIRTHDAY, NATE!!!
We did a good thing this year!  We got Nate something that he has been wanting for a long time now!!  A new smoker!  We were SO excited to give it to him because we knew it was exactly what he wanted :).  Luckily he did all the research :).  We also went the night before, to Walmart, to pick out his other present, a new bike!  We couldn't wait to give him that and as soon as he opened it, we were all out on the road, on a big family bike ride!!  Heavenly!  We also went out to dinner for Nate's birthday, to Famous Dave's, that was a nice time too.  I love that our kids are so well-behaved in restaurants (most of the time) and we can sit and enjoy the time.  Even Jack now.  Good stuff.  I can't believe how much food our kids can put away though!  The kid meals are almost not cutting it anymore.  We will be going to cheaper restaurants in the near future.  Then we came home for some cake (I did a German chocolate cake with Butterscotch pudding poked in it) and Root Beer Floats.  I totally messed up and didn't buy enough Root Beer flavoring, so it was more like Cream Soda for some reason, but it was fine.  My parents, their sigs, and Steve and Jauslin came and showered Nate with gifts.  It was a nice evening.  Hopefully Nate felt good and spoiled.  7-25-13

ERIKA AND NOAH
These two have been just melting my heart lately.  I have my theory about those two and how long they've known each other.  I know it's been longer than 44 months (Erika's age).  Anyway.  When we went on our bike ride on Nate's birthday, to the snow cone place, the very first thing Noah did after choosing his own flavor, was run over to the bike trailer, stick his head in and ask Erika what flavor she wanted!  It was the sweetest thing!  He was totally thinking about her and didn't even pause to get her on board.  Even with the situation of her being carted around in the trailer, and him on his bike, he still treats her like the little queen.  I loved it.  Then later, when they were eating their snow cones, and Noah had spilled some of his on the table, she ran and grabbed some napkins and was right there wiping it up for him.  They're just adorable.  I want to always remember what good friends they are.  I hope it lasts.  7-25-13

14 MILES
Nate got up early Friday morning and took Bradley with him on a bike ride.  They rode the bike trail and just kept going!  Bradley keeps bragging about how they went "14 miles!!!"  Way cool!  It's fun that they get to spend some good quality time together every once in a while.  I love that.  Then they spent the rest of the day together, putting together Nate's smoker. 
7-26-13