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.

A Good Scouting Project

Two years ago, when Sam was working on his Wolf Badge, I bought these containers for him to plant and care for a container garden. They have been such a beautiful addition to the landscape of our house. This year it was Clay's turn to work on that requirement for his Wolf Badge. We usually go with a red and yellow and purple color scheme, but the pink petunias were the favorite among all of the kids, so we got a little more girly look in our pots this year. Clay planted one, Emma planted another, and Amelia sort of did the third. The result: three beautiful pots of flowers and some cute kids, proud of the work they did.

What This Picture Says About Us

I got this idea on Becky Higgins's blog. She posted a picture of a snack that she enjoys this summer {of course the picture was much more artistic and appealing than this} and it is remarkably similar to one of my all-time favorite breakfast foods. I have always loved granola, but with Sam being allergic to nuts, I am hesitant to have it in the house. Mostly because he loves granola, but can't have it. So, we recently found another cereal that is much like granola {without the nuts}. Just Bunches. Little clusters of oat things. Pretty close to granola, and still adds that same yummy crunchy texture to my yogurt. Before peaches were readily available, I would slice strawberries, and before strawberries, I would just use peach yogurt, but anyway you put it together, this is a great breakfast. Cereal with strawberries and/or peaches and milk, or cereal with yogurt {that's how Emma and Amelia eat it}. So, I thought it would be fun to take a picture of this delicious breakfast treat. And as I was taking the picture I had to laugh. What else did this picture say about us right now? Please note: plastic spoon and paper bowl. No, we do not usually eat with so non-eco friendly materials. I think we're going to challenge the capacity of the local landfill with our paper and plastic eating supplies for the next four weeks, but I am not going to wash dishes in my bathroom sink or tub. The thought just made me throw up a little in my mouth. {We will eventually move our food prep and clean up to the trailer.}Besides, it sounds like the government will take care of all our wasteful habits by taxing the heck out of us. Maybe if I could slow my breathing, or even just not breathe at all, I would reduce my CO2 emissions and make the world a better place. But then again, the ten new trees I planted this year really need me so that they can survive. Anyway... next time you look at a picture think of everything it says about what's happening in your life right now. You may be surprised.

A Funny Story About Thunder

Thunder, our horse, has been a little naughty lately, and we haven't been able to catch him from Ron's field. So, yesterday, Nate and Sam drove down to the field and were able to finally catch him. He was in need of some TLC, so Nate decided to wash him. They brushed and washed and cleaned that horse until he looked ready to compete in the fair. Then Nate took him back to the corrals and let him loose. That horse walked to the muddiest part of the barnyard, fell down on his back and rolled back and forth in the mud. Well, at least he looked good for a minute.{literally}

The Bad Thing About Rain

I think that we are being compelled to be humble. As if a torn apart kitchen is not difficult enough to maintain some normalcy, we noticed some really wet blankets behind the couch in the basement last night when Clay went to get some extra blankets so that he could prop himself up while he sleeps so that his coughing/bordering on bronchitis/ would not bother him so much. When we bought the house the owners had mentioned some flooding problems they had when the neighbor used to flood irrigate his field. {he doesn't anymore} This would cause the water table to rise to an unmanageable level, and their basement would flood. It didn't even occur to me that the large amount of rain would cause the same thing to happen. But it did. Now the kitchen is all but gone and our basement is completely useless. We're going to have to take out the pad {we really don't want mold problems} and we're looking for something other than carpet to replace the flooring. We need something that can handle water if it happens again. {and I think we'd be safe to say that it will} The "funny" thing is that the water is in completely different places than the last flood we had, so we'll be replacing literally all of the flooring in our basement. I don't know if we can afford to keep up with the weather!