I love Chicks!

What a wonderful weekend we've just had!

This past weekend we spent the annual Chick family reunion at Nat-Soo-Pah Hot Springs in southern Idaho. It was so much fun! Always fun to get together with all of Nels' family and so great to spend most of Saturday swimming in WARM water! Hot spring swimming pools are perfect.

There was an awesome little warm "creek" (about 2 inches deep) running around the perimeter of our campground that the children LOVED "swimming" in. I think we went through all of our dry clothes within the first two days! :) I COULD NOT keep Elsie, in particular, dry. I would leave her in her swim suit to play and she would eventually come and need to have clothes on her --- like when we were going to eat dinner or get ready for bed or ready to leave. Inevitably, she would leave my sight for five seconds and be wet all over again. Silly girl! How could we possibly think that we could keep our kids out of a stream that is the temperature of a bath tub? :)

Seriously, what child could stay out this???

Oh, yeah . . . and what adult? I mean me. I loved it too!

The girls absolutely LOVED swimming. I wish we could go more often (WHY oh WHY does Idaho Falls not have a decent swimming pool??? I'd truly like to know.) as much fun as they had. Neither of my big girls know how to swim, but by the end of the day, Hazel was practicing putting her head under the water (!) and Lilie was jumping off the side of the pool - going all the way under and back up (with the aid of the life jacket). They both got the hang of paddling around and were pretty sad when it was time to go. Elsie just loved being with everybody and clinging to Mommy and Daddy like a little monkey. :)

They have a GREAT slide at the pool. The Lilie loved going down all by herself, Elsie loved going down with Mom or Dad, and Hazel loved it once. :) Nels and his siblings had GREAT FUN figuring out how to go the fastest. :) - We seriously had so much fun that we might just have to make a stop every time we go to Mnt. Home. And probably spend another weekend camping there this summer.

Saturday night was complete with an 80's lip sync contest . . . fun was had by all . . . except Lilie. - Who put herself to bed immediately following dinner.

(Cute girls! Tyra, Kamille, Hazel, and Shelby)

Mom "Fun-Haver" Chick! :)

Nels and the girls sang "Tarzan Boy" - beating on their chests and all. So fun! I love the Chicks. They are so willing to have fun together - whereas I tend to get nervous and embarrassed and later wish I'd participated. Poor me. I'm retarded - but working on it! :)

I love this family so very much and I'm so thankful to be a part of them. How blessed I am!

Dad Chick and baby Cade

Friday's Fabulous Five

1. I love working in my yard. Sometimes I'll sigh and roll my eyes and say, "It's never done." "There's a lot left to do." "This never ends." But in the end, I do it because I love it. I keep buying flowers that I don't know what to do with because I love them too. I just have so much love! :)

2. Another thing about my yard. Wednesday I finally dug out my other flower bed for the front yard. It was hard and I worked hard all day, but it makes me happy! It will be nice to have more space to put more plants! :) 

3. And another. Today I trimmed up the ash tree in my backyard. Big deal, you say, right? WRONG. This poor tree has been neglected probably since it was planted and this particular breed of ash needs some TLC every once in a while. It had gobs and gobs of dead branches hanging under it. Up so high and so very thick that I've just steered clear of it until we can hire someone to come clean it up, but today, it just couldn't wait ANYMORE. I bought some loppers and borrowed my neighbor's ladder and went to work. There were times as I was standing on the second to the top wrung of the ladder (12 feet in the air), leaning against flimsy branches and swaying with the wind that the Voice of Reason would come to me saying, "Rachel, how can I keep you safe when you are putting yourself in incredibly precarious places???" That's when I asked Hazel if she knew what to do if Mommy suddenly plummeted to the ground. -- I was giving Hazel a lecture on gratitude today (who came outside saying that she hates the sunshine!) thinking about Pollyanna, when I was suddenly hit with the irony of contemplating Pollyanna while standing on a shaky ladder, high in the air, reaching, reaching, reaching just a little further for that one last branch just barely out of reach . . . in a tree. Paralysis. Hum. Not fun. OH WELL! :) It's done and it looks awesome! Now, what to do with all the branches???

4. I have the best kids ever! I just got to rock my little baby to sleep, singing to her. She's adorable. If we're eating lunch together, she'll pull out the chair next to her for me to sit on, smiling and so happy to be spending time with Mommy. She love to sit and talk to me. It makes me happy. My Hazel and Lilie are just now finally asleep. They've been laying in their dark room for the past hour and a half talking to one another in their beds. Laughing. It makes my heart happy. Lilie loves "long-necked dinosaurs" and wearing skirts. Hazel loves riding her bike and singing songs - at the same time. My heart is full.

5. Nels tells me I'm his best friend. That is SO fabulous! 

Evergreens and Sunshine

I've been wanting to plan a real family vacation all year long. We haven't been on one since Nels graduated and it was high time. However Melaleuca is not in the habit of giving Nels clear plans. I asked Nels weeks ago, "Is this going to end up being a "we-don't-know-that-we-get-to go-until-the-day-before" kind of vacation? No, Rachel. Of course not. We should be able to know well before we're leaving. -- Of course. What was I thinking?? :) 

Well before = 3 days. :)

So off we headed to Washington to visit my sweet cousin and her sweet family in Monroe. Truth to tell, I was NERVOUS. Elsie has not been our best traveller and I was concerned about how she would hold up over the 12 hours. We left at 1:30 am Saturday morning. The girls all woke up at 3:00 am. One two hour stint of puking and potty breaks every 20 minutes for Hazel and Lilie - mid-morning. Didn't need to even turn on the dvd player until we'd been driving for 10 hours. And had three little angels the entire trip. Elsie - on the way up and back - never threw any kind of fit whatsoever. Sigh. It's amazing. It was a good drive. 

It was a GORGEOUS week to visit Washington. While it rained at home, we had sunny 85 degree weather our entire trip.

We got to be there to celebrate Kaitlyn's 2nd birthday. (A circus. Seriously. With 7 children, how could it be anything else?)

Enjoyed the park.

Loved this pic of Hannah and Hazel. Synchronized Swinging.

Went to Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound.

Jacob, Lilie, Nels, Hannah, Me, Hazel, Elsie, 

Amber, Adelie, and Katie Sue! 

What a crowd! :)

We clarified to one couple that we are NOT polygamists. :)

She said, "I figured you were either Catholics or Mormons."

We love ferries!!

And played at the beach.

Hazel's silly face she likes to make. :)

Nels asked Lilie to pose. Ha! 

Elsie's brief debut on "Survivor". 

While at the beach, Hazel, Lilie, and Jacob worked steadily on this fun little project. They collected all their treasures (i.e. - dead crabs, shells, sticks, sea weed, etc.) and arranged them across the beach. Awesome.

And I just want to let you know, that I have no normal-type children. All (well, most) kids love sand. Love water. But you have never seen anything like my two oldest girls when it comes to mess. I think they were born to be salamanders or something. When there is dirt and water around, they roll and slither and burrow and bask in it. Sand. Everywhere. It's incredible. We had an exciting time washing them off before they were aloud back in the van. 

Nels and I took our girls and Hannah hiking along one of the many trails not far from Monroe.

Although out of focus, the surroundings are breathtaking. :)

Them's some cute girls!

We had a great time hiking! All the girls were real troopers, but Hannah is seriously a stellar hiker! They loved hiking - they loved playing in the river on the way back even more. :)

We went to the aquarium, as well as to the Experience Music and Science Fiction museums in Seattle. 

And last but DEFINITELY not least, just had a wonderful time sleeping in, playing, talking, and relaxing at Amber and Wes's beautiful home.

It was truly such a fabulous vacation. We were able to stay long enough to REALLY unwind and enjoy ourselves without over-scheduling and rushing all around. The children got along SO well -- well mostly. Elsie and Katie Sue seem to . . . occupy much of the same space in the universe and often times had a difficult time making room. :) Poor Katie got bit, hit, and growled at several times by our "baby dinosaur". :) 

As crazy as 7 kids and 4 adults in one house can be :), it was hard to come home. We loved visiting Washington (enough that I'm not going to discourage Nels from browsing for jobs in the area :). The trip was WONDERFUL just getting to spend (mostly) uninterrupted time together talking as a couple and a family. Just playing it by ear with no specific places to go or times to be there. But more than anything else, it was SO GOOD to be with Amber, Wes, and their kids. I love my cousin. She's been there for me since the day I was born and I love her like I love my sisters. She's been a constant in my life. As Amber said before we were leaving, "Having you come visit doesn't make it easier to not live close. It's not like I get my fix and then I'm good for a while. It makes me miss you all the more."

I love you, Amber. Thank you so much for letting us come! IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!

Neglect

Poor blog. Poor, poor blog. So sad, lonely, neglected blog. There are just better things to do with my time, lately. Things that just will not wait. Children. Gardens. Yards. Laundry. Children. Laundry. Dishes. Sweeping. Yard. Children. Watching the entire final season of Battlestar Galactica with Nels in two days. :) Yep. Those kind of things. I DO, however, have things that I want to say. I want to tell you about our marvelous trip to Seattle and show you updated pictures of my yard. Hmm. We'll see.

You are not forgotten, my dear. You are in my thoughts.

More to Come.

It's hard to blog when you haven't been home. We are finally home. We've been gone for over a week. Crazy. And FUN! As I read my sisters' blogs, I feel kind of left out of all the family fun lately. BUT, we have been having our own family fun. Having fun with my sweet, sweet cousin and her family. I love my family! My fish are alive. My plants are alive. We are alive. And I am TIRED. - Do you ever get weird feelings when you're tired? Feelings that are not real most of the time? I do. -- I think there is something to the fact that Satan is associated with darkness. Demons seem to come out at night. --- Sigh. --- We've had a wonderful time. I'm tired. This is random. And I'm excited (and not) to blog about our recent adventures. So much to do. Blogging takes lots of brains to not be entirely random.