Family Fun

** WARNING! Very long journal post ahead!**

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We finally made it camping!!! I can't believe it. It wasn't for any kind of reunion and we didn't even get a flat tire! Hooray! We returned to our new favorite spot for the third time in a month. Palisades Reservoir. It's always pretty there, but this year is especially gorgeous with all the rain that we've gotten. The mountains are green and lush with lots of wild geraniums and lupine and the lake is filled to the max.

Our ward had the Ward Camp Out scheduled for this last weekend (the 25th) and we'd been wanting to go, but Nels has been incredibly busy at work this past week and we'd decided that we probably weren't going to be able to make it. No worries. I just really wanted Nels to be able to finish the HUGE project that he'd been staying late, working on every single night last week - so that he can relax and not have everyone hounding him about it. However, Friday morning he woke up and said that we should just plan on going. Forget the stupid thing - he needed to "sharpen the saw". HOORAY!!

I packed and cleaned and washed and "list-checked" all day, but still wasn't quite ready when he got off work that evening. By the time we actually DID get all ready, it was getting quite late and we just decided to head up for the ward breakfast the next morning and then camp Saturday and Sunday. Not something we make a habit of doing - camping on Sunday - but it sure was nice to be able to spend some nice quiet time as a family without rushing back.

We got up to the reservoir at about 8 o'clock, just in time for breakfast Saturday morning. Spent some time talking and playing with our ward and then set out on a drive before setting up. Nels and the girls are always so sweet to indulge me in my compulsive "adventuring" - i.e. taking drives to who-knows-where. We found some pretty, secluded areas and some possibilities for our Chick Reunion next year, but all the spots were already taken for the day, so we turned around to go back to our originally intended campground. Only once we got there, we found that the water level had risen and our perfect spot was perfectly soggy.

We piled back in the van. A few miles down the road, we came upon the camping spot of our dreams. It was away from most other campers, not in a formal campground, lots of easy firewood, and right next to the water - with a perfect little ramp right to the narrow, sandy beach with shallow water. Because of the high water level, there were a lot of logs and debris piled up near the shore, but we cleared a nice little spot for the girls to get good and dirty in.

We had such a good time playing that afternoon, setting up and just taking it easy. Lilie decided that she is an expert fire starter. She restarted our fire several times when it would die down by putting more sticks in and blowing hard. LOL! She even gave Nels a wonderful video tutorial on "How to Make Fire". :) Very funny.

Lilie, breaking sticks and making funny faces. I don't know if I got one straight picture from her the whole night. :) BTW, if you haven't ever made s'mores with strawberry marshmallows and chocolate grahams, you should. Good stuff. Hmmmm. Maybe with white chocolate? I'll have to try it.

You see? This is what I got when I said, "smile nice and pretty!" What a girl.

At about this point, Elsie decided that she was exhausted and just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. I willing gave into her request, changed her into jammies, and put her to bed! Hooray for Elsie!

Five minutes later, I looked over at the tent to see this:

One of my new favorite pictures of all time. :)
She was apparently no longer tired and had changed herself out of her jammies and back into her dirty clothes so she could play for another hour. LOL!

Isn't that gorgeous? Too bad I don't have the ability to build a house in that exact spot and live there forever. Also too bad that come Winter, this exactly spot is probably about 80 - 90 degrees colder than it was at that moment. :)

We finally did get all the kids to bed at about 10. They. Were. Exhausted. I even got my little Vi to sleep in her little portable bassinet. Which was seriously one of my greatest thoughts of all time. It has a little canopy that comes up over half of it. I laid her in, with her two pairs of pajamas, one blanket, and draped another blanket over the top (with a little peep hole for air) making the perfect little insulated bed and she slept ALL NIGHT!!! Holy moly! Till 7:30 the next morning with nary a peep! And the other girls? Awesome as well. I think we may go camping much more often!

Once the kids were in bed, Nels had a good time playing with his camera, while I made us up some hot chocolate. It was so nice to spend some beautiful, uninterrupted time together talking. Gosh, I love him. I also love campfires. Did I ever tell you that he proposed to me by a campfire - by a lake - after we'd been swimming? He did. But that's a story for another day . . .

Long exposures are fun!

Sunday we got up and just lounged around, playing on the beach most of the day. It makes my heart so happy to watch my girls play together. Making up stories and adventures. Just loving one another and being the very best of friends.

Aren't those just the cutest little chubbity-chubby legs??? I love them so! (Hers, not mine.)

{Somehow I didn't get a good picture of Elsie in her cute little swimsuit, but let me tell you a story about it. First off, besides her "princess dress" it's the only article of clothing that I can get her to wear willingly lately. Because it has a skirt. So this summer, I decided that she needed a new suit. The other one that she fit had been through two other kids and besides it was an 18-24 month old suit. She's almost three. High time for a new swimsuit. So we went shopping. To Target. To Walmart. To no avail. Finally to Old Navy. So many cute suits. However, problem. 2T wouldn't fit - too big around, fall off. 18-24 no go. Still too big. WHAT? What did we end up with? For a new suit for my almost 3 year old?? A 12-18 month tankini. I'm pretty sure that in 6 months it's going to fit Violet as well! :) }

Hazel and Lilie pretty much spent the entire day floating around on driftwood logs and playing on this half-covered stump near the beach. Pretending to be "Jack and Annie" and riding their "alligators". I love them! Sadly, I didn't think to put sunscreen on Lilie's poor little legs and she is now paying for my negligence. She has her Daddy's sensitive, white skin - while Hazel and Elsie got mine, which gets a little sun-kissed on occasion, but rarely fries. Poor Lilie. I just didn't think.

After packing up, we finally made it home by late afternoon Sunday. We had such a good time, but I still think Nels and I were happy to once again see our home. Not because of the dirt or the campfire cooking or any of the normal reasons you might suspect. You see, if we're going to go camping, both Nels and I would much rather NOT camp in a formal campground. Love the seclusion of finding the perfect spot without someone 10 feet away from you. However. There are certain conveniences of manicured campgrounds. Mainly TOILETS. I genuinely believe with my whole entire heart that our children have NEVER had to use the "potty tree" more times in their LIVES than they did in those 36 hours. LOL! Still, we had a GREAT time and can't wait to go again. Soon!

Friday's Fabulous Five

It's been a while, but this is a good exercise for me.

1. My tomatoes are still alive! It's a flippin' miracle. Seriously. I think I prayed them to life. "Cry unto him over the crops of your fields . . . " Yeah. It was so cool and rainy and cloudy. My tomatoes were looking so sickly. But I prayed that they would live and THEY DID! They actually look like they are doing really well. I'm so happy about it. (Unlike my beans which have many of the tops nipped off of them from some horrible pest that I'm sure will . . . oh fine. I won't condemn whatever ate them, but I hope they got a bad stomach ache --- or died.)


2. My hollyhocks are about to bloom. I'm so excited. They're tall and lovely and right outside my bedroom window.

I'll post a picture once they come out. 

They're one of my very, very favorite flowers!

3. Nels' parents came and stayed with us last night as they were driving through town. I love them so much and always love having them come visit. My mother-in-law is truly one of the happiest, funnest (I know, not a word) people that I know. She is so willing to laugh and play with the kids. She doesn't take life too seriously and never minds if my house is a mess. :) My father-in-law is so wonderful and teaches me a lot by the gentle and quiet way that he goes about life. They are truly two of my favorite people on the whole planet. I'm pretty sure that they like me too. That means a lot to me. :)


We also got to see another set of some of our favorite people today. Mike and Hayley Siddoway, along with their two adorable children Paige and Reid. I honestly wish that I could hang out with Mike and Hayley every single day. I love them so much. Mike was Nels's roommate in college and he married one of the greatest gals ever. Do you have some people that when you're with them, all feels right in the world? I feel that way (and I know that Nels would agree) with these two wonderful friends. They are soon moving to CHINA! and then to the Middle East for a few years. We'll miss them, but we're so excited for them as well. Good luck guys! We love you!


4. We get to celebrate the birth of our nation this weekend and our wonderful liberty. I'm so thankful to be an American. I'm so thankful for the sacrifices and integrity of many who have given me this great gift. I hope that we can all do whatever is required of us to preserve the Constitution and the beautiful freedoms so graciously bestowed upon us by a loving Heavenly Father. I hope that I have a chance to sing a few of my favorite songs. I always get choked up singing our Anthem and about my love for our precious country, but I love it nonetheless.


5. My house has remained in a state of "almost clean" for two full days now. It's another miracle in my life. I don't think this has happened since Violet was born. Ah. Happy day. Hopefully over the next few weeks, we've finally reached a place where we can start having a bit more of a schedule again. You know, like where laundry gets done and floors get vacuumed - maybe even MOPPED! *gasp* These are important parts of my self-esteem, believe it or not.

Clothes

Have any of you seen this site before?!

eShakti

Holy moly. Beautiful dresses AND you can customize them?

Awesome.

Some favorites:

So yeah. You can customize with your exact measurements AND change the sleeve or the length. I'm going to get one. I'll let you know how it goes! :)

They Love Him

For Father's Day we headed, once again to the mountains! The girls wanted to show Daddy all the fun places we'd found the month before and I really wanted to get out of the house. I'm sure Nels probably would have loved for us to come home from church and have me tell him to go nap the day away, but he humored us anyway. :)

Such a gorgeous day . . . albeit windy.

Before heading out, we did have dinner. I made him lasagna - his favorite. And the girls were so excited to give him a couple of presents that we got for him. The classic tie - as well as a new white shirt, since I'm pretty sure most of the ones he owns are about 10 or 11 years old! :) I also decided that it was time to buy Nels something exciting with all the moola HE makes. :) Somehow or another, I always weeny out on presents for him . . . there's always something that he needs like new pants or garments or a shirt :) or else everything that he wants is TOO EXPENSIVE! Are all husbands like that? I know my dad is. :) Is there anything that would be exciting to him for under $200? Seriously. So, we decided to splurge and bought him an iPod Touch. He loves it -- when he's home -- and the coolest part? He can listen to Pandora on the radio through the WiFi. (I'm sure that someday in the not too distant future, I will read through this last paragraph and marvel at how antiquated it is. :) Anyway, it's fun.

Five Chicks that pretty much think he's the bomb-diggity.

They sure love this Daddy Man.

Nels is such a fabulous husband and father. I'm so thankful to share my life with him. He's always there for us when we need him and gives so much to each of his ladies.

In high school I never was really one of those girls that dreamed about getting married and having kids . . . heck, even in college that wasn't even something I thought about much --- getting married, sure, but having kids? Not really. Not that I didn't want them or that I was dreaming of some grand career instead, I just couldn't really picture being a mother.

However, with Nels at my side, I could picture being a parent.

With him.

No one else in the world that I would rather share this responsibility with. Forever.

Aunties, Cousins, and the Zoo

After the big trip to Washington, Nels's sisters, Kendall and Melyni, came over to Idaho Falls for a weekend visit. (I guess they just couldn't get enough of us and traveling! LOL!) It was a lot of fun. I love his sisters so much.

We headed to the zoo that Saturday, with all seven kids in tow!

Lilie, Hazel, Tyra, Elsie, Shelby, Cade

Almost unbelievable that we got all of them smiling at the same time!

I'm so thankful that my kids have cousins to play with! Some of my very best memories from my childhood involve my cousins - and to this day they are some of my best friends. I hope that my children can always maintain those sweet relationships that they have now.

Melyni, Alma, and Cade will are here visiting for a few weeks before they head back to England. Alma is in the Air Force and they are going to be stationed in Lakenheath(?) for the next few years.

We miss them, but I'm truly envious of their many adventures! I wish that we could be there to explore with them! Unfortunately I don't see a trip to Europe in our near future. :)

Thanks so much, Kendall and Mely, for coming to visit for a couple of days! We always love to have you come!

Hazel was so sad when it came time for Tyra to leave. We got the girls in bed and after a while, I could hear Hazel in her room crying. I asked her what was wrong and she came out hup-hupping about how she just really missed Tyra! :) I gave her a big hug (which only made her cry more! :) and told her that I knew exactly how she felt! :)