Camping!

A few weeks ago we went camping with our dear friends and had... ummm... fun... really. :-) No, it was fun but we've learned what we are going to do differently next time. I didn't know that where we were going was going to take 4 hours to get there so when we finally pulled into a camp site... well, I don't think I can call it that... an area that was flatter than others... it was midnight. The kids were all asleep in the van, luckily, so Drostan and I tried to figure out where to set up the tent that would be the most flat and clearest spot. We were at the end of the road so I (yes, the naive to camping one) suggested we pitch it right there on the road. They have to take some of the fault though because they listened to me. hehehe It was nice and flat but SO dusty and everything was just a mess from the get go.


Drostan and Trevor were going scouting for their big goat/elk hunt coming up next week so after breakfast, they kissed us goodbye and couldn't have run out of there faster with bigger grins on their faces if they wanted to.

We had about 4 hours to kill so we decided to strap the babies on our backs and head out for some hiking. Jocelyn thought the hill/mountain right next to us looked like a fun conquest so we started up and had a tough time keeping up with the 5 and 7 year olds. They did amazingly well.

Here are Kyle, Dallin, Kamber, and Alaina

Megan did so well until we got to about 2/3 up the hill and then she was D.O.N.E! It ended up being a much steeper climb than we had thought and it was actually quite scary in several places but that fact that we had 7 kids to try to safely get off of this mountain, we put on our best happy Mom faces and tried to keep everyone's spirit's up. Poor Megan was so scared and so tired. She really did a great job for being only 3. It was a tough hike! I think if I didn't have Jaron on my back, I could have helped her more but I was trying to keep my balance and not fall off a cliff myself!

We found a little place that sort of leveled off by a tree and had a little snack before attempting to descend the mountain.

Luckily, we found a slightly different path that ended up being a bit better and while it took quite a while, it was not as tough as the ascent had been. We made it all in one piece with just a few scratches and lots of "pricklies" to show for it.

For the last hour we tried to keep the babies from eating dirt and the older kids from freaking out over the ENORMOUS flies. They did NOT believe they were not bees but we did survive.

Kyle trying being funny and Kamber thinking he's nuts.

The guys made it back just in time to see us finish packing everything up and we made the 4 hour drive back home.

Lesson's learned:
1. Don't leave at 7:30pm for a camping trip!
2. Never set up your tent on the road unless you really like dust on your toast... and clothes... and hair... and tent... and chairs... and .... you get the picture.
3. If you are going to attempt to climb the face of a mountain, make sure you have better shoes and more adults per child!


This next one does NOT do justice to how dirty Jaron got. He sure had fun though.

We still came out smiling though. Dallin found this log/branch and was so excited that he had found a "gun." He is totally his daddy's son!

A conversation with Megan

Recently, as we catch Megan in her mischief or ask what she's been doing, she'll say "playing with my dollies". That means she's been doing something she knows she shouldn't. Well, I guess she's caught on to the fact we don't believe that anymore so she's moved on in her tactics...

Mom: "Megan, what are you doing?"
Megan : "Nuffing"
Mom: "Megan, don't say nothing, tell me the truth. What are you doing?"
Megan: "Not eating all of Daddy's gum."

About 2 hours later...

Mom: "Megan, what are you doing?"
Megan: "Nuffing"
Mom: "No, you aren't doing 'nothing', tell me what you are doing."
Megan: "Not playing with Daddy's flashlight."

:-)

Back from California and Wheel

Ok, ok, here is the long awaited report on Wheel.... but.... I'm going to do a more detailed post after it airs because I don't want to give too much away but I wanted to give everyone a little teaser of how things went.

They wouldn't let us take a camera to the studios so this is all we got... me before the shuttle took us over to the studio...





I was in the 3rd show they taped so it will air on Wednesday, October 15. I didn't do as well as I had hoped but I did win enough to more than pay for our trip. The gal that won the first round pretty much had it sewn up and there was no catching her. For the couple days after, I was really having a hard time with it because I feel like I was given a chance to live my dream and I had made some mistakes and didn't make the most of it. On Sunday morning, I was thinking about it again and the thought came to my mind that, "someday, I will be able to see why thinks happened the way they did and that it was supposed to turn out this way." So, I'm doing a bit better today and trying hard to be happy with the amazing experience that I got to have. Over 1 million people apply for Wheel of Fortune every year and they only select around 600 so it really was amazing that I was even able to get on.



I will tell you this... something happens on the show that is amazing and will make this show be re-aired many times in the future! So don't miss it!!!!!!!!



As far as the rest of the weekend went... After the taping, we decided to go get a bite to eat and go to Hollywood to see if we could get some tickets to see Wicked that night. It was Drostan, my mom Cari, my sister Cayr, my Aunt Pat and myself. The tickets were too expensive and not in a good area so we decided just walk on Hollywood Blvd for a bit and to go back to the hotel and watch the opening ceremonies to the Olympics. On Saturday morning, my mom had to get to the airport early so my husband, sister and Aunt and I hung out by the pool for a while then went to lunch at Jerry's Famous Deli and went to the pier to catch a boat for a deep sea fishing excursion. When we got there, the boat was PACKED and we decided it wouldn't be what we were hoping for so we went to a matinee instead and watched some more olympics. It was so nice to just veg around and not have to worry about anyone or anything else. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner up in Universal City that night and it was crazy up there. Because of a show of Les Miserable at the Hollywood bowl that we didn't know about, it took us over 4 hours to go from out hotel, to the Cafe, and back. It was a lot of fun though.







On Sunday morning, we checked out and headed over to Venice Beach. We didn't have to be to the airport until noon so we were just going to walk along the "boardwalk" for a while and play in the sand. It was amazing how dirty and sad it was there. There were homeless people lining the whole place just trying to sell whatever they had found to stay alive. It was very humbling. We walked back to the car along the waterline and that was fun.







I'm happy to be home and out of the smog and all the people and cars! I'm not a city girl anymore. I'm loving my home here in Idaho. Thank you so much for everyone who helped out with the kids and with outfit selection and everything to make this trip happen. I have the best friends and family in the whole world!!!!

Apricots

A neighbor has 3 apricot trees and had so many more than she knew what to do with so we were able to go and pick some for family home evening last week. The kids had a ball. I wish I would have taken pictures of us picking. Jaron loved finding the ones on the ground and stepping on them until they were squished.
This is how many we ended up with...

I was able to make a few batches of jam (I have 2 more to do today) and we dried quite a few and have been enjoying just eating them for snacks. Thank you so much to sweet neighbors who are willing to share.

Not the trip we had planned

Last weekend, we drove to Eastern Idaho to see "Grandma-Great" and have a little family reunion with the cousins. We had to leave after work on Friday so we got in very late and just got a hotel room. The kids fit quite nicely...

Unfortunately, at 2am, Jaron started throwing up and didn't stop until about 9am. It was miserable. We didn't want to get everyone sick so we decided to visit Grandma in the hospital in shifts so we didn't get her sick and then we went home. We decided to try to salvage what we could of the vacation so we went the long way through Craters of the Moon national park... I think it's a park... anyway, the kids enjoyed it. Jaron even felt well enough to get out and walk around a bit. Poor little guy.


We took turns with the camera to get us all in.


Kyle was so excited that he found a tree shaped in the letter "K"

Jaron did pretty well. He only threw up one more time when we stopped for lunch and his fever lasted for another day but he was fine after that. I'm glad we were able to salvage a little of the vacation, even though it was a LOT of driving in only 24 hours.

First day of school

With everything I've been doing to get ready for Wheel, I've been neglecting my blog. Sorry about that.

The boys are in year round school and they started back on July 23rd. I can't believe I have 2 in school! Dallin is in afternoon kindergarten and Kyle is in 2nd grade. Dallin was so excited to be able to ride the bus. I got a shot of him at the school, getting off.


Yes, Dallin is in a different outfit. He is my messy kid and we took the picture of both of them in the morning before Kyle left and by the time noon came around, his shirt was already dirty and he had to change. :-)