A Camping We Will Go!

We took the kids camping over the July 24th holiday! There were moments of frustration, laughter, craziness and joy.
Frustrations:

Isaac woke up at 3:30 a.m. when it was deadly silent in the campground and screaming at the top of his lungs proclaimed, "I done napping!!!". I'm sure all our fellow campers loved hearing that in the middle of the night. Chuck finally had to take him to the car and drive him around to get him to calm down.

Isaac's screaming woke up Jenna who had already been up twice to nurse. I had to put her in the sleeping bag next to me where she took up an enourmous amount of space for such a little thing, but I didn't dare move her for fear she would start crying again.

The kids could not keep track of their shoes. It seemed like we were always trying to find shoes or helping put them on someone.

Joys:

Watching the kids excitement helping daddy put up their own tent, climbing trees, exploring the camp and Isaac wondering around singing.

Laughter:

Sitting around the camp table telling the kids stories of when we were young and listening to them laugh and laugh.

Craziness:

Besides taking a 2 year old and a baby into the wilderness to sleep in a tent - a bat landed on Isaac's arm! Yes, that's right just after dusk when we were sitting around telling stories a bat flew inbetween us and landed right on Isaac's arm. He was screaming and running hysterically - who wouldn't be if a bat landed on your arm! The rest of the evening he kept saying, "Bat bit my arm". It didn't really bit him, we think it's little claws must have dug him a little while it was trying to hang on as he was running around. Let's just say I was EXTREMELY glad the bat didn't land on me!

We also did a perfect little hike near the campground. The kids are great little hikers, but everyone wanted to hold the map. Isaac was screaming the loudest so we finally just convinced the others it was best if they just let him have it.

The best discovery was finding out that Ponderosa pines smell like butterscotch. It was a little fact in our map and sure enough they really do smell delicious. After that we were all trying to find the right trees to smell!

On Saturday the 24th we went to the parade in Panguitch. The kids LOVED it! At first Bella was upset because she couldn't get any candy. There were kids everywhere all running for the enormous amount of candy that was being thrown from every entry. Samuel was so sweet because he took her by the hand into the road so she would be closer to the action. Samuel was darting all over the place grabbing every piece of candy he possibly could. He would hold his hands up and scream, "Yes" whenever he snatched a candy before someone else.

On the way home we stopped to take pictures in the wildflowers. Bella was so cute running around saying, "I love yellow flowers!". The picture of Jenna in the flowers makes me laugh because she has the cutest little gut hanging over her pants.

We had a wonderful trip, but it was a lot of work and it may be awhile before we try it again!

Life Is Good!

Chuck and I took the kids camping for the 24th holiday. We ate lunch at this little park in Panguitch and as I sat on the blanket relaxing in the shade the above picture is what I saw. My sweet little Jenna rolling all around on the blanket and curiously examining the blades of grass, Chuck in the background holding Isaac in his arms and pushing Samuel and Bella on the swing. While this picture may look ordinary to everyone else it was beautiful to me. I felt such joy and peace watching my children and husband play and I couldn't help but think, Life is Good!

Sometimes I get caught up in the daily tasks of taking care of every one's needs, trying to be good mom, trying to be a good wife, always feeling like there is something that must be done, feeling guilty if I take a break and just relax, but on this day at least for a few minutes that's exactly what I did - relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of my precious little family. And yes, Life is Good!

Not Yet!

In the past couple of weeks, Jenna's gone from doing push ups to trying to crawl.

She gets into perfect crawling position, starts rocking, sometimes moves a leg forward and then flattens out as she screams in frustration and protest. Everyone else in this house is running around like crazy people and I think she just wants in on the action! I'm just not sure my baby should be trying to crawl already!

She's now sitting like a pro and playing with her basket of toys. I LOVE this stage where they can sit and play.

Samuel calls this Jenna's funny face. Every time she makes this face he laughs and laughs telling her to make the funny face again.

Glue On My Face

I just bought this sunscreen stick for the kids faces and I LOVE it!

Today I was trying it out for the first time on the kids. As I was rubbing it all over Bella's face she said, "Mom, why are you putting glue on my face?" I laughed and laughed and still laugh every time I think of it. It really does look like a glue stick.

The Preview You've All Been Waiting For!

So there are some of my "readers" out there who have been waiting with baited breath for the posting of the family vacation pictures (namely my mom). Here's your sneak peak - more to come as I sort through the 500+ pictures and get them scrapbooked.



But I did have to post this picture separately because it just makes me laugh. It's quite the trick to get all these little kids to even look at the camera at the same time. But my favorite part of the picture is Jenna's chubby legs and Bronson looking like he's dead (really he was just peacefully resting).

And another of my "readers" (namely my sister) has been anxiously waiting to see my new painted table. Yes, I let my kids paint our kitchen table. Here is just a teaser shot.

So if there are any more requests from all my blog readers for future posts just let me know and I will eventually try and accomodate!

Hot & Sweaty Hiking

(Before I post these scrapbook pages I delete the text so that's why there will be blank boxes on some of these pages just in case anyone is wondering.)



It's been blazing hot here so we decided to try and find a place that was a little cooler and do some hiking. Chuck has wanted to try this trail for awhile now so we thought this past weekend would be a great time to give it a try.

When we got to the trail head Chuck climbed out of the car and said, “It’s cooler, probably only in the 90’s so let’s go”. Boy how your perspective changes when it gets really hot!

The hike was very green with low scrub brush covering most of the trail (just look at Bella in the above picture - I could barely see her head through the bushes on the trail). Chuck was carrying Jenna and had to help Isaac along because the brush in some places was so tall. Isaac kept exclaiming, “I did it!” as he climbed over every hard spot. Bella is our little mountain goat and was scampering along very quickly. I had to holler at her several times to wait for everyone else to catch up. The 90’s were a lot cooler, but we were still plenty warm on the hike. Samuel and Isaac get sweaty very easily so they were dripping large drops of sweat and Isaac’s face was bright red (he always gets bright rosy checks when he's hot).


The kids are really great hikers and we were hoping we would make it to the river, but decided upon reaching the ridge to turn back. Later we stopped by the road and let the kids play in the river. It was cool and refreshing to sit next to the water. The river was freezing so the kids barely got their toes wet.

Summer Boating Fun

Our neighbors took us boating this past week. It was a lot of fun, but I haven't been skiing in years and it showed! I was trying to wake board and I spent most of my time face planting and swallowing lake water. The boy driving the boat even swamped me with a giant wake as he was coming around to give me the rope. The next morning I woke up and I felt like I had been beat. Every weird little muscle in my body ached. I'm starting to think spending the past 6 years of my life either being pregnant or nursing has taken its toll! The old body is just not what it used to be!



I was worried about Jenna because it was 107 degrees and she does not really like the heat. Both Isaac and Jenna were crying as we boarded the boat and I was sure the Andersons were going to be reconsidering their offer, but soon after the boat got going both kids stopped crying. All the kids were really well behaved and had a great time. Once we got the lifejacket on Jenna she hardly moved or made a peep. I was thinking she must have felt like she was in the womb again as tight as we had her in that lifejacket.