Yellowstone:Part One

Finally getting to it. I started this post, like, a month ago, and finally added some pictures this morning. But I think this will have to be part one. The kiddos woke up, and it's time for breakfast. I'll maybe get to the rest later today.

Last week we took our family vacation. The initial plan was to go to Washington DC. There was a conference there that Nate needed to attend, his brother was there for the summer, my family is there... It just didn't work out. So, plan B was to go to Ohio and visit my family... tickets were just so high every time I looked, and with the price tag on our kitchen and basement repairs mounting quickly, I just couldn't do it. So, we went with plan C. Yellowstone. We could have stayed home and stayed busy from sun up to sun down getting some work done around here, but we all needed a break from the chaos around here.
We headed up to Jackson late Monday afternoon and stopped in Star Valley to visit the Johnsons (dental school friends). It was so great to catch up, and let the kids play.

Now Emma keeps asking why we don't ever go to Kammi's house more. We visited a little too long and ended up parking the camper and staying the night.
On Tuesday we made it to Jackson. Lunch at Bubba's (where else?) and then we played at the Snow King Resort at the Alpine Slide. Emma did not want anything to do with it until she watched all the other kids do it, and decided it would be fun. We walked around town briefly before it was time for the Bar J Wranglers show.

We've seen them a handful of times, and it's always entertaining. The girls were tired, and Emma hates to be around too many people, so she was unbearable until I took them outside. They just happily walked around and played with rocks. I still enjoyed the show with a little cooler air for my heat-sensitive pregnant self. It all worked out just fine. Clay was so tired that he fell asleep on Nate's lap for half the program. Good thing we had found a place to stay that was close. Too bad we had to wreck the bumper on the trailer to find it. {That's a story for later}
Wednesday we finally made it to the park. {good thing the guy parked next to us had WD-40 and a hammer: darn trailer} Although instead of before noon, it was way afternoon before we got there due to a bit of construction that we waited through FOREVER. Nonetheless, we were able to park the trailer and head off fishing. The kids were all so excited to fish. They were relentless in asking, and it was the very first thing that they all wanted to do. We acquired the proper permits and regulations and found a quiet spot on Yellowstone Lake to try our hand at fishing. The boys just fished and the girls sporadically fished as they waded in the water and played in the sand, looking for bugs and other treasures. Of course Sam had to get wet too so that he could retrieve the lure that got stuck on a rock. Although Sam's clothes stayed dry {only because he stripped down to underwear} , the girls both ended up soaking wet and we had to take a stop for some dry, clean clothes before we could find a little better spot for fishing.
The "better" spot for fishing caught Nate an 8 inch baby trout. He let Amelia reel it in, then let it go back to its growing. The boys spent most of their fishing time trying to catch a lure out of a tree. We seemed to have a pattern developing here. {spending our fishing time retrieving lures}

A great way to end the night.

Cute Pics

I have a million excuses for not updating, but no really good reason. Here are a couple cute shots of the kiddos that we took at the beginning of August when Nate had to help move some cows.

The cowboys in the picture are Clay on Storm, Sam on Thunder, and Nate on Rey. I really like how this picture turned out. It deserves a spot in a frame somewhere around the house.

Speaking of house: As of 10:00pm last night, my kitchen is officially 100% done. Craig and Darren helped get the dishwasher in straight and bolted down {thank you, thank you} and I put the new handles on the cupboards after the kids went to bed. It is absolutely amazing!!! I like to just sit and look at it. It amazes me that we could turn what we had into such a wonderful use of space. I actually have about four drawers or cupboards that are empty still!!

Last week, I did this!

Only because I got this installed!!! {again, thank you Craig & Darren}
If it seems like this is all we have been up to, it really kind of is.

Kitchen Update

I suppose busy is a good word for things around here. I have been neglectful of my computer and this blog. Just a little too much non-order around here for my taste. I started a post about our family vacation to Yellowstone, but I don't have the pictures ready yet. Of course the main thing on the mind of everyone in our house is getting things back in order.

This is a picture of our kitchen that I took when we got home from Yellowstone. I can't even tell you how exciting it was to come home to a kitchen full of cabinets. I think they are beautiful. They installed countertops on Friday. Again, amazing. I'm trying to figure out what to do with all the space. We have to wait until the end of the week to have the plumbing connected, the oven seems to be on backorder still, and the dishwasher and cooktop need connected as well. But I have to say...this is progress. We'll have the patio door installed on Wednesday, and that will be the end of the major dust. Hooray!!! I think I will dust my blinds.

This is the view from my new kitchen window above the sink. I love it when the hollyhocks are in bloom all across our neighbors house. They are beautiful.

So I just ran and snapped a couple shots of the kitchen right now. Here they are in the morning light.

I Like Sinks

Before Ron could finish up the work he was doing on the walls, we had to remove the sink from the kitchen. I had unhooked everything but the filtered water line, and was waiting to be sure that was turned off properly before I moved it. I guess I really couldn't have moved it myself anyway, but I was working for progress there. So, as Ron was taking the sink out of the kitchen, Emma asks, "What is he doing? Where is he taking our sink?"

I explained that in order to continue work on the kitchen, it needed to be removed.

Emma thinks about this for awhile and then says, "I like sinks."

Poor little thing likes order, schedules, predictablility, and quiet. She loves being home, and it is pretty disturbing for her to have things so out of order.

So, fast forward awhile. I told Emma that we had to be home because the guys were coming to install the countertops.

Emma says to me, "Will they bring the sink?"

"Yes"

"Oh good. I like sinks."

I think she's just as ready to have a functioning kitchen as I am.

We Are Still Here

Dead camera batteries + no kitchen + no basement family room = chaos in my life and poor blogging history for July. I have some pictures that the kids have taken.

Kitchen {2 views} It's kind of hard to prepare meals in a kitchen like this. No, that's not Nate painting...it's Darren. I have to admit that I'm a little happy that he's not occupied right at this moment. We were in desperate need of time...or at least someone with time who could help finish the kitchen.

And here is the basement. It looks pretty cluttered still, but that's because we haven't restored the storage room completely yet. How about those deer heads? Nate put them up one day last fall when he and Emma stayed home sick from church. Maybe I'll stay home with the kids next time.Can you guess who this poodle mutt is? Yeah, she used to be cute. Nate thinks she looks like a jack rabbit now. But she really needed a haircut.Craig and Chris took the kids to rodeo on Saturday night. They had a great time with grandma and grandpa, and Sam took these cool photos. I would like to say that it was nice for them to take the kids so that Nate and I could enjoy our anniversary, but he was in Nebraska somewhere. I enjoyed reading a good book.

Yesterday we had a nice visit with my mission companion LeeAnn. It was so fun to see her and to meet her darling kids. The kids all got along and had fun just playing while we visited. While she was here Nate came home for lunch and saddled up Thunder to give the kids a ride. They loved it. Thanks for coming to visit, LeeAnn. I could use a little more of your cheerful energy and progressive mindset. You're awesome!

And, there is proof right there that there is a half on his way. {The boys call the baby "the half": as in 4 1/2 kids, soon to be 5}

More updates to come.

Fourth

We spent a quiet weekend together to celebrate the 4th. On Friday we took a drive to Utah to purchase a generator for our camp trailer. We had done the research and knew what we wanted, but we were waiting to find a good deal on them. They usually don't go on sale, and we had someone tell us that trade shows were the best place to get them. Nate is a big fan of ksl classifieds, and found what we needed for a great deal. But the bad thing about ksl classifieds, is that he likes to look for things that we usually don't need quite as much, like a horse. OK, so for me it's not a need. For him, it is. He saw one that he liked, and I knew he was serious, but I convinced him that the Suburban would be a much more comfortable ride. I wasn't interested in an impulse buy just because we had the trailer there. We drove over the top of the Uintas, stopping for a "hike" at Provo Falls. It was busy up there {for the mountains} but it was beautiful. With all the rain we've had, everything was so green and lush.

After our tour through the city, we stopped at Cabela's in Lehi for Nate to spend his Father's Day Gift Certificate. The kids love to go there!!! We watch the fish, look for the biggest elk or deer, and play at the shooting range. They're usually pretty good at not begging to buy things either. {Thankfully} We drove home on the Alpine Loop and stopped for another "hike" at Cascade Springs. A couple of weeks ago when Nate was at Woodbadge, I took the kids to Cabela's and on the way home we stopped at the Timpanogos Cave Trail. We hiked halfway up before Amelia had had enough. She didn't like the heights much. The boys were sure that we needed to make that hike again. However, I was sure that the climb would throw at least me and Sam into respiratory distress, as we are still fighting these miserable coughs. We convinced them that would be a hike for another day, but we stopped at Cascade Springs for a potty break, and Emma and Amelia were excited when they located a trail. So, we took a couple of the loops and enjoyed an evening walk. As we were walking, Emma turned around with unusual enthusiasm and said, "this is the best hike ever!" A girl after my own heart. I was able to snap a couple pictures before the battery ran out of juice.

On Saturday, Nate got up bright and early to get the horse we had looked at. {you knew it, didn't you} We cleaned up the house a bit and then put together a picnic to take up to Smitties, his grandpa's camp ground above their ranch. The boys shot their guns and bow and explored with their dad while the girls and I waded in the creek. We had a little picnic and enjoyed a quiet afternoon away from our "broken" home. As the day came to a close, Nate wanted to ride the horses back to the ranch. Clay's new horse was a dream, though. It's good for him to have a horse to ride that will give him confidence. His was shaken last year when we was caught sideways on a runaway horse. He didn't get hurt, but was pretty scared. The new horse is a paint, but is mostly black. Clay named him Storm. So now, Clay is "Storm Rider."

We got back into town just in time to see it explode with fireworks. It is absolutely amazing. In addition to the show that the city puts on, people all over town let off fireworks, the big amazing ones, and the town is just alive for over an hour with fireworks everywhere you turn. We sought refuge on grandma and grandpa's porch, and could see everything from there, even if we were a little late. We even started a tradition. Last year, we had just returned from Philmont, as in, we were driving into town at dark. So, we bought a bucket of chicken and sat on grandma and grandpa's porch to watch fireworks. We did that this year too, so it's a tradition now. I think it will be better if they don't forget to give us the popcorn chicken next time, and the girls aren't tired out of their minds and freaked out by the noise, and if Emma doesn't cry for half an hour straight. But, it was good.

Emma

I looked at this picture and wondered how my baby girl has gotten so tall. I also wondered who taught her to dress. That morning she wanted to wear her skirt that we made. So, so easy. Find pattern here. And she had to have her white t-shirt. I got them down from her closet, and left the room for her to get dressed on her own. As I was leaving she asked me if the white shirt was a t-shirt. I assured her that it was. She came out shortly with this rainbow shirt on.
I looked at her and said, “That doesn’t match.”
“Yes, it does” she contradicted.
“No it really doesn’t”
“uh-huh…look…there’s pink {matching up the thin pink stripes} and green {matching up the thin green stripes} and white {matching up the white to her skirt}”
“OK” I think she will make a great lawyer some day. She’s got a convincing argument for everything. And she’s only three.