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.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
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.
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
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
Sunday, August 4, 2013
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
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
Saturday, August 3, 2013
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
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
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