Roughing It

(warning:  VERY long post)

Well, the weekend before school started we went camping.  By "we", I mean me and the boys with my parents/siblings.  Poor Josh has to work.  :(

It was quite the adventure!  I had to buy a tent.  Then I decided I needed to set it up beforehand and seal all the seams.  Because...well...that's what the reviews said to do and I like to do my research.  Only problem was, it's over 110 degrees outside!  No way am I setting up a tent in that kind of heat.  So, we did this:Yes, that tent is huge.  It barely fit in our front room and only because we moved all the furniture to the kitchen.  I seam sealed the crap out of that bad boy.  And the fumes gave me a wicked migraine to boot!

We left Friday afternoon in order to get there, and set up camp while it was still daylight.  The drive up was faster than I expected!  Amazing you can go from 110 degree desert to 70 degree forest in only 2 hours.  My little sis Sari drove up with me and I only scared her once with my driving.  Success!  

Once at camp, I started setting things up.  The tent went up with no problem and I opened the windows because it was so hot and stuffy inside.  (remember that, windows to tent are OPEN). 

Papa sent the boys to find firewood.  A task they were VERY excited about!

It doesn't matter if you don't buy toy guns for your kids, they will find ANYTHING and think it's a "shooter"!

Samuel was having fun too.  

For some reason this kid kept laying down everywhere!  Don't believe me?  Observe:

Yup, he's a weirdo!  But he's MY weirdo.  :)

J.J. discovered many bugs.  Unlike his mother who has an insane irrational fear of bugs, J.J. LOVES bugs.  He was in bug lover's shock when he lifted this tree stump.

After we got camp set up, Papa and Aunt Nikki tried to play horseshoes but the boys kept interfering.  Samuel especially liked the game.

Then it was time for dinner.  How can you camp without roasting various food items on a stick?

And you just HAVE to drink sugary drinks that Mommy doesn't usually buy at home.  

Samuel would not sit still the entire trip until he finally found peace, sitting on Uncle Matt's lap with a Cheeto in each hand.

The whole concept of having an open fire and being able to throw things in it was VERY exciting to my boys.  They threw in plates, forks, sticks, pretty much anything they possibly could into that fire.  Samuel didn't seem all that interested until he decided to pick up Papa's flashlight that he's had FOREVER and not throw, but PLACE it into the fire.  And then keep a hold of it.  With his hands.  And arms.  IN THE FIRE.  I don't think Mommy has ever moved that fast in her life.  Luckily he just had a little redness where his arms were resting on the metal fire ring and no serious burns.  In fact, he was more uncomfortable that Mommy made him sit down and hold an ice pack on his arms than he was when his arms were in the fire.  

Mimi saved the flashlight, in case you were wondering.  And it still works, Trey made sure of that!  (sigh) They just don't make things like they used to...

Everyone kept a pretty close eye on little Sammy after that.  But then...he wanted to walk over to Papa.  I didn't know the Dutch Oven was over there and on his way over, he stopped and PICKED UP A BURNING COAL.  Yes, you read that right.  I don't think I will ever be able to forget the image of my baby's perfect little hands wrapped around the grey ash of the coal, with the burning orange showing cracking through.  I flipped out.  Papa grabbed him in about 2 seconds and I must've looked like a chicken with its head cut off.  I remember starting to run over to Samuel, then thinking I should get some ice and running the other way, then remembering I still had that ice pack and running back to my chair to grab it, then finally getting to my baby.    I grabbed his hand and shoved it into the melty bag of ice.  I had read somewhere you should do that....and let's face it, I was panicking.  Once I got home and Googled I learned you should hold it under cool running water, no ice.  Oh well.  I guess I'll know that for next time my baby decides to pick up a burning hot coal.  Once the pain set in, Samuel screamed and screamed.  We gave him some Tylenol (at least I was prepared and brought half my medicine cabinet with me).  He was very angry we were trying to hold ice on it and that I wouldn't put him down.  He kept trying to wipe his hand on my shirt as if to wipe off the hurt.  It was very sad.  

I finally got Samuel somewhat calmed down by walking around the campsite slowly and singing to him.  Then it started to sprinkle.  I hurried over to the pop-up shade and sat down, grateful that Samuel had calmed down.

 Then it started to really pour rain.  And then it hit me...THE FRONT DOOR TO THE TENT WAS TIED OPEN!!!!

I yelled to my dad for help and he ran over to put the rain flap down that was tied open to a tree.  (stupid design flaw on the tent)  I ran to my van and got an umbrella and ran over to the tent to help.  I knew it was too late to try to keep my dad dry, so I stood there trying to hold the umbrella over the open front door of the tent.  When suddenly it hit me...THE WINDOWS TO THE TENT WERE OPEN!!!

I ran around zipping them shut but it was too late.  The tent was wet, and so was most of our gear.  My sister came out and held up my lantern while I dried the tent floor with some towels I had brought.  (prepared!)  But the damage had already been done.  Most of our clothes were wet.  Luckily our sleeping bags were in the middle of the tent and I hadn't unrolled them yet.  

I decided it was time to call it a night.  The boys and I prepared for bed.  I pieced together the only dry clothes I could find for each of us, and we laid down.  J.J. and Trey fell right asleep, which was surprising since it was thundering, lightning, and raining outside.  Samuel on the other hand...was wide awake!  This was surprising considering the eventful day he had had.  He was sharing my air mattress with me and we had some cute moments together.  Every time there was thunder or lightning he would reach his hands up and say, "Wassat?"  I could see him every time the lightning would flash and he just looked so darn cute.  Plus he was so cuddly when he finally fell asleep.

I had a nice little peaceful moment there, laying in our tent with my sleeping boys.  I REALLY missed Josh right about then.  I wish he could've come with us.  We were nice and dry in our tent (the seam sealer worked like a charm once I actually CLOSED the windows and door.)  

I however, did not sleep all night.  I was kind of expecting this since I am one of the lightest sleepers known to man.  I almost brought my white noise machine and some batteries but decided that was stupid.  Turns out, not so stupid!  I kept hearing footsteps, which I later found out were freaking cows wandering around.  Don't ask me why there were random cows in the middle of the forest.  

The boys woke up at the crack of dawn, as usual.  In order to avoid waking everybody up at 5:00 A.M., we decided to go for a little nature walk.  I brought the camera along and that's when I realized another casualty of the night before.  In all the commotion of Samuel burning his hand, I left my camera on my chair.  Which in turn, got soaked in the rain before one of my siblings saw it and grabbed it.  Not sure how much damage was done but I did manage to take this cute photo.   

When we got back to camp, the boys woke everybody up and we decided to try to ride the quads.  Then it started raining.  Again.  We drove up the road a bit and the boys rode with Papa and Aunt Sari.  They got just a little bit muddy.

I opted out since I was wearing the only dry clothes I had left.  Instead I rocked out to Tom Petty in my minivan with my sister Nikki.  'Cause we're cool like that.

Mimi and I dried some of the wet clothes for the boys once we got back to camp by turning the heater up in their camper, and my van.  We also discovered that squirrels had visited our camp.  Let's play a game.  Can you find the bag of marshmallows in this picture?

At this point, the rain was not letting up and we were pretty much figuring the rest of this camping trip was a bust.  The boys were bored and getting annoyed mean Mommy wouldn't let them play in the rain since we were limited in our dry clothing supply.  

So, we decided to pack it up and head home.  The boys were NOT happy.  But, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!  And sometimes, that means packing everything up in the rain and mud.

So anyway, the boys' first camping trip was eventful to say the least!  And we did have some good times.

So yeah...hopefully our next camping trip won't be quite so difficult!  By the way, Samuel's hand was just fine.  He had two blisters on his fingers but they are completely healed now.  What a relief!  And a nice big shout out to my sisters, I stole some of their photos off Facebook/blog.  

Sisterly Bonding!

There are big age gaps between me and my 2 sisters.  9 and 14 years to be exact.  To be honest, I felt like more of a mother figure to them when I lived at home!  Even more mind blowing to me, my baby sister doesn't even REMEMBER me living at home.  How weird is that?  I guess she was 4 years old when I left for college but still...that's pretty weird.  

So it has always been important to me to try to strengthen the sisterly bond.  With Nikki this was pretty easy.  I was her confidante while she was in high school, her sounding board, the one she could tell anything to.  This may have been hard at times because like I said, I felt like more of a mother to her growing up.  But I would have killed to have a big sister to go to for advice when I was young and reckless!  Not that Nikki was reckless, in fact she turned out pretty dang good!  But I think you know what I mean, big sisters can be a lifesaver!  

Nikki and I have stayed close, especially now that she's married and lives a few miles away.  But what about Sari?  How do I forge a bond with her since I'm so old and have 3 kids?!  (let's face it, 31 years old is ANCIENT when you're 17 and have your whole life ahead of you!)   

First, we have officially started SISTERS' NIGHT.  What do we do at SISTERS' NIGHT?  I'll tell you what.  We do this:

That's right, we have Easy Cheese fun!  Just look at this work of art by yours truly:

My name was so long I had to use a double waffle pretzel.  

Then we do fun things like watch the best movies ever.  Like this little gem:

That my friends, is one of the best movies ever made.  Don't believe me?  Watch it!  (if you can find it)

Anyway, my point is this.  Huge age gaps mean NOTHING when it comes to your sisters being your best friends!  All you need is some Easy Cheese, and a cheesy movie.

Summertime and the living is NOT easy...

In fact, it has been kind of stressful!  

sometime between 5:30-6:30: The boys wake up with a vengeance.   I long for the day when they will sleep in.  

6:30-10:00:  A lot of yelling, screaming, fighting, watching cartoons, eating as much cereal as humanly possible, and spilling as much cereal as humanly possible ALL over the place.

Sometime before 10:00: I do laundry, dishes, vacuuming, general cleaning of messes, breaking up of fights, etc.  I also run.  Oh dear sweet treadmill, how I hate you.  But running outside in AZ summer weather is not an option.

10:00: I pull my hair out while I get all 3 boys ready for swimming lessons.  Swimsuits, sunblock, towels, ear plugs, blah blah blah.

10:35-11:05: Swimming lessons.  "S" proceeds to scream and refuse to do anything he's supposed to do in our "Mommy & Me" swimming class.  But at least I'm in the water and not sweating poolside!

(Yes, I swear that giant floppy hat, and nothing less than SPF 50 at all times.  I'm anti-tanning.  I don't care if I look ridiculous!)

11:00-12:00: I take the boys to the junior high across the street from the pool to FREE LUNCH for kids under age 18!  Yes, the food is disgusting, but it's free.  The boys call it the "restaurant" and they LOVE it.  Probably because they've only been to a real restaurant a couple of times in their lives.  

12:00 - 1:00:  Rush home and I shower.  Boys get dressed.

1:00:  I take "B" to his summer camp program.

1:15:  Rush home, put "T" and "S" down for a nap.

1:30 - 3:00:  I transcribe my fingers off, and try not to fall asleep.

3:00-5:30:  "T" and "S" wake up and yell, scream, fight, watch cartoons and make messes while I try to finish my transcription work.

5:30:  Load up "T" and "S", go pick up "B" from his summer day camp program.

6:00:  Think to myself, CRAP it's dinnertime!  Throw something together and feed my family.

6:30 - 7:30:  More screaming/fighting/mess-making.

7:30:  BEDTIME!!  Oh sweet sweet bedtime.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.  

I love how it's finally QUIET!  

p.s. 27 days till school starts

Halfway Mark

Well, I've had a few ideas for blog posts this summer but it's been SO nuts with the boys home, I can never remember the ideas once I'm actually at the computer!  (By the way, 42 days till school starts again.  Not that I'm counting down or anything...)

However, it is June 30th today and I know you are all dying for a mid-point status update on my New Year's resolutions!!  No?  Well, you're getting one anyway.  

1.  Even with taking a 3 month break from pretty much all physical activity (I think I ran like 3 times during that whole lazy stretch), I still am right on target for my goal of 500 miles this year!  Good thing I gave myself some leeway right?  As of today, I have run 255 miles.  Also, I did my fastest run last night.  Granted, I was trying to squeeze a quick workout in while my husband went to pick up Domino's pizza...but still!  Maybe that was even more motivation since I knew I'd soon be stuffing my face.  Anyway, I ran 3 miles in 25:45 minutes.  All of you serious runners out there can stop laughing now!!  That was good for me.  I'm no sprinter.  I ran 6 miles straight last Saturday but I won't be breaking any speed records EVER.  But I'm okay with that! 

As far as my other NYR's go, I'm plodding along.  

2.  I've read a couple more Jane Austen books and I'm about to start another, so that's moving along nicely.  

3.  Reading the Book of Mormon, I'm plodding along nicely on that also.  

4.  Writing in my blog once a week?  HAHA!  Well you guys know how that's going.  

5.  Writing in journal?  No.  I know this sounds weird but I mostly remember to write in my journal when things are going really crappy.  And honestly, I don't want to record that.  It's bad enough living it in real life, I don't need to rehash it and write it down, then be able to go back and re-live it.  But that's a bad excuse.  Plenty of good things happen in my life too and I DO want to record that!

6.  Food storage/emergency preparedness...well it's always on my mind but I have yet to do anything about it.  

7.  And lastly, spending quality time with the kids.  I'm trying on this one, I really am!  I do things with the kids but what I need to focus more on is actually ENJOYING the moment, rather than thinking of the 5,000 other things I still need to do around the house/at work.  They're growing up too fast as it is...

Sunglasses

I was looking through pictures on my computer the other day and saw blog post ideas dating from last Christmas! I'll spare you the Christmas and Valentine's posts though and just go with an Easter post. Easter wasn't that long ago though right? My boys made out pretty well this year:
The Easter Bunny likes to go a little overboard sometimes. Also every year he brings the boys sunglasses. Not sure what is up with that. I have pictures from 2003 but not on this computer and I'm too lazy to find them all. Let's just start with 2007.

2007
2008

2009
2010

Yes, my boys look great in sunglasses don't they? Maybe one of these years Samuel will actually cooperate and be in the yearly sunglasses picture without Mommy having to force him.

In other happenings, I got new glasses. I'm not sure what I think about them. They are WAY out of my comfort zone (which is boring) and I felt like doing something different. When I came home from picking them up and showed the boys, "B" said, "You look like an old lady." haha!

My heart will always be in Utah...

I had the chance to go to Utah a couple weeks ago...BY MYSELF. Yes, you read that right. J was ever so kind as to watch our 3 boys while I drove up for my cousin's wedding, and to see as many family and friends as I could squeeze into 2 days.

My dad drove up with me. I love my dad. He is the best. We talked the entire 10 hours up, and 10 hours back. It made the trip fly by! He's always been easy to talk to and we had a lot of fun discussing things like politics. (haha...) He tends to be pretty conservative and I have a tendency to lean the left on certain issues. (gasp!) Yup, this Mormon girl has some liberal tendencies, I admit it. Not enough to call myself a Democrat or a Republican though. I don't like labels.

Anyway, I was happy my dad came with me because we drove through A LOT of this:I did go to 4 years of college in Utah but my dad was raised in Utah. So I was happy to make him drive through all the freaky snowy weather in May!

My cousin's wedding was awesome. She was beautiful and even though she must've been freezing in the freaky snowstorm, she was so happy I'm not sure she really felt it! I also got to stay with my grandparents in Ogden, who I LOVE. My g'pa had a recent battle with cancer and it has really just hit home with me lately that I am lucky to have 4 grandmas and 3 grandpas still living! (yes those numbers are right. divorce/death/remarriage did some tricky things!) Anyway, I just really want to take every opportunity to spend time with them.
In between the wedding/luncheon and the reception in Bountiful, I had a few hours to kill. So I made the most of them by visiting my 8 day old nephew! I held this angelic baby for about 3 hours while he slept. He was the sweetest thing... It almost made me want another baby. But then I had only to look over at my poor sleep-deprived sis-in-law, and hear her tell of the sleepless nights and toddler adjustments to a new baby in the family...and just like THAT I remembered why we're done having kids! Poor L...I felt bad being there because her daughter K was napping, the baby was sleeping...I should have made her go take a nap too! But we had a fun visit and K even let me give her a hug and sat on my lap for awhile.
Then it was back to the reception and more visiting with family, and laughing while random people asked to take a picture with Chuck Norris. I mean my dad - same difference right?

The next day was packed. It started off at the Carl's Jr. in American Fork. I met an old friend and his girlfriend there! This is more than an old friend, he was my husband's roommate while we were dating, we took him to the MTC before he left on his mission, he has lived with us two separate times over the years! J and I joke that he's our long lost adult son. It's been a couple years since we've seen him so it was nice to visit with him for a couple minutes and meet his girlfriend. (I highly approve BTW!) They were actually on their way out of town and were nice enough to stop by and say hello. Thanks guys!Still at Carl's Jr., I was able to visit with my bio-father and my brother. Poor Brian had just gotten out of the hospital a few days before and is on oxygen. He has also been battling cancer the last few years. He wasn't feeling too well but has always been a trooper and came out to see me anyway. It was nice to see them, I haven't seen them in about 4 years! I admit I was kind of grossed out to be at Carl's Jr. so early in the morning...I'm not much of a breakfast fast food fan. But then I was treated to some sort of strawberry biscuit thing and it was surprisingly GOOD! Thanks guys!
Then I made a quick stopover to meet an internet friend! Yup, I'm a dork and have friends I've never met in real life. She was awesome. I'd post a pic but neither one of us like the pictures we took. Anyway, she was a sweetheart and brought me some cakebites from The Sweet Tooth Fairy! I have read a lot about that place on different blogs and secretly always wanted to try it out! How could she have known? I guess that's why we're friends. Plus she had no problem meeting me somewhere where they had FRY SAUCE. I crave that stuff and it's nowhere to be found in AZ that I know of. :(

While I was visiting with my bio-father and brother, I talked to my aunt on my brother's phone and realized my Grandpa Black and Grandma Susan were still in town! I thought they had already left for Nauvoo, IL. They go almost every summer for church missions, since my Grandma is a pretty well-known church historian/author/speaker. Anyway, I called them and it turned out they were leaving the next morning, but were nice enough to let me stop by! Grandma was even in the middle of cleaning her fridge but still took time out to visit. We had a nice chat, and I got this awesome book about my grandpa's life. See, he ALSO had a battle with cancer the last few years, and he and Grandma Susan wrote a history of his life, published it, and gave it to all family members. I came home and immediately read it cover to cover. I don't know very much about my biological father's side of the family, seeing as how I was adopted and raised by my step-dad when I was 5. It really meant a lot to me to finally learn more about that side of the family.
There were a couple more people in Provo I wanted to see but sadly ran out of time. On the way out of town I drove past my favorite places and snapped some pics. Have I said this before? I LOVE UTAH. I love mountains, old buildings, old houses, the snow, all of it.


I then drove back up north to see my old roommate LIZ! I have missed this girl. Sometimes you meet somebody in life that you just GET, and they GET you. Does that make sense? Anyway, that's how I feel about Liz. She and her hubby treated me to lunch at Olive Garden, and it was delicious. (thanks guys!) After I got over the shock of Liz not drinking a Coke (she is infamous for her love of Coke), I had the best time hanging out with them! Liz is pregnant with twins (explains the no Coke) and I just found out today she had them! They are adorable, like I knew they would be. Hopefully it's not another 8 years before I see Liz again.
Then it was back up to Ogden to visit more with my grandparents. Dad and I were up bright and early to drive back to AZ. But not before Grandpa made me drink some orange juice and Grandma made me eat a muffin. I love those two...

Anyway, it was a great trip! I missed my boys and J but honestly, I needed this little getaway. We all deserve it now and then right? And Utah is like medicine for me. I need those mountains and green trees and four seasons and old buildings with history just as bad as I need Relpax to survive. Since I can't live there, I need to at least see those things every couple of years. I would move back there in a second if I could. Can somebody please offer J a great job out there please? Thank you.