Change of plans (Idaho trip)

We're nothing if we're not flexible. Tomorrow we'll be homeless (it's a long story, and I promise to tell it in the future) so our trip to Idaho has been pushed forward. Homelessness coupled with FEET of snow where Clint goes backpacking, we're headed to Idaho on Monday. We'll be there for a few weeks hanging out and relaxing. If you want to get together, let me know.

Backpacking

Clint is gone tonight on the overnight hike with the young women for girls camp. Clint grew up backpacking, learning all the ins and outs from his dad. Clint goes each year with his dad, brothers, and sisters. It varies who can make it each year, but the trip is always scheduled and everyone who can make it goes.

Last week Clint took Emery on a little overnight "backpacking" trip. They went to Colorado, hiked less than a mile in (carrying all their gear, tent, sleeping bags, food, water, and clothes) cooked their dinner over the fire and spent the night. Emery was a little scared of the coyotes that were howling with the ambulance in the night, but other than that it was a blast. There are no pictures of the event because a camera is just added weight in a pack.

After a night sleeping out, the boys stopped at the museum. Emery could not get enough. Clint said they were there for 6 hours. Emery wanted to see everything. His favorites were of course the dinosaurs, and the animal exhibits, which included a platypus.

Cheyenne Super Day

Today we took the kids to Super Day at one of the parks in town. It's sponsored by Frontier Refinery and the kids activities are free. They had bounce houses and different inflatable toys as well as a rock climbing wall and the bungee trampolines. First we walked through the classic car show, there were some really great cars. Then we took the kids on a canoe ride in the lake. That was really fun, and Clint gave me some pointers to be better at steering. The kids really liked it. The lines for the inflatables and stuff were very long, so it took us nearly an hour to get to do the trampoline. Chani wasn't sure she wanted to do it, but when she saw how much fun people were having, she decided it was worth trying. The kids have to be at least 30 lbs to do it, and she might be a bit shy, but they strapped her into a harness along with Emery and they waited for their turns.

Emery went first, and he was a bit nervous. Once he got going, he really enjoyed it. We tried to talk him into doing a flip, but he was not interested in that at all. Chani's turn came after Emery. She told the guy she didn't want to go high, but after she had bounced once or twice, she was giggling loudly and yelling, "Higher, higher." Our friends came by while she was bouncing and their 8 year old said, "I can't believe she likes that. I thought it was scary."

After bouncing, we went and found some food, checked out the bounce houses, and looked at the fire truck. By that time, the kids were a bit whiny (it was HOT) and mom and dad were finished. So, we headed home. It was a really fun day and the kids loved it. They are still playing happily with the balloons we collected from some of the vendors. We also had our yearly allotment of cotton candy and kettle corn. What a fun day!

Emery thinks

This is the conversation Clint and Emery had while driving the other day.

E: When we get the chickens, mom says it will be my job to gather the eggs each day or I can't have over easy eggs anymore.

C: Oh yeah?

E: Yeah, how lame is that?

Randomness

* I didn't even realize that I was close to 300 posts. I missed doing something fun for post number 300.
* I'm hot and large, but we've had cool temps and rain for the past three days, and that's been a nice little reprieve.
* Clint was gone for Father's Day (work stuff) so the kids have both serenaded him with the Father's Day song they learned for church. Cute!
* A few stressful changes are headed our way in the next few weeks. I don't want to discuss all the details here, but we're praying for things to come together without too much chaos.
* Less than 30 days before we head out on vacation (Clint to the mountains and the kids and I to Idaho) for 2 weeks. Here's hoping that we come home before the baby comes. If you'll be in Idaho between July 15 and July 31, send me an e-mail and we can set something up.
* My house is a disaster.

The end.

Can you hear me now?

We had to do a few things in Colorado today, and made our trip back on Highway 85. Along the way we stopped in Nunn, Colorado. We weren't planning to stop there, but when Clint and I saw the payphone just sitting on the side of the road, we knew we had to stop. Clint was shocked when he picked it up and it worked. While we were letting the kids check it out a nice man stopped to ask if we needed help. We told him no, that we were just letting the kids see a part of history. Someday, these pictures will be priceless. We didn't have enough quarters to make a long distance call, maybe next time.

I feel like....

Gus Gus.......right about 35 seconds in. Sigh.

Checking out Wyoming

On Saturday (since we couldn't afford to go to Idaho--sorry Reading's)we went to Guernsey Reservoir with our friends. We were going to boat, but the boat was having some mechanical issues, so it was beach water access only. The kids LOVED it and played so well in the shallow water. We've finally invested in life jackets for the kids, since there never seem to be enough to go around. They are thrilled, even though I didn't buy fancy character ones, just plain red. We had a fire and roasted hot dogs (which I've been craving this pregnancy) and sat and visited while the kids played some more.

We found a few geocaches and saw the two big historical sites that Guernsey has to offer. First we went here and saw the wagon ruts that still exist from the Oregon Trail. It was a cool place to visit and the wild flowers were gorgeous. I think we counted more than ten different varieties. Then we checked out this historic site. It was neat to see the names carved in the rock from the 1850s. I was sad to see all the carvings that people have done lately, right over the historical ones. Emery really wanted to carve his name, so we found a little rock outside the monument and he carved his initials there.

Wyoming really is a beautiful state, and we are enjoying the opportunity to check it out while Clint is not teaching this summer. It's so fun! Hopefully our next trip will be some camping....I hope my back can take it.

*Sorry for the lack of pictures, I didn't take the camera because I thought we'd be on the water and I'm afraid of ruining it.

Can I top this?

We've started being more consistent with Family Home Evening. During the school year, Clint teaches night class on Monday night, so we've not been able to get ourselves together. But, now that summer is here, we're trying to be better. The kids LOVE it, and ask every day if it's family home evening day. I hope that part lasts. Part of the love might be due to their dad.

Clint's been on treats for the past two weeks, and the truth is, he's done a fantastic job. So good, in fact, he told me there's no way I can top it. Well, that comes off as a bit of a challenge, so now I need your help. Here's what we've had most recently.

Grape sno cones. Not from the Sno Cone Shack (I don't even know if there is one in this town), but Clint sat down with a block of ice and my cheese grater and went to town. The kids thought they were awesome.

The week before, he did S'mores in the microwave. The kids liked these so well we had them the next day for a snack.

So, I need help. But, there's one more tiny detail. Clint's not a fan of breaded sweets, so that pretty much puts the kabosh on cake, cookies, pie, tortes, trifles, you know, basically all the good stuff. What can I do?

Emery on kindness

Emery might be a bit bossy.....maybe. Sometimes being in control makes Emery a bit intense. So, for Family Home Evening, we had a lesson about kindness. We talked about how being bossy is not very kind and shouting is not kind at all. My mom used to sing this song when we were kids and not getting along. It's something I do too. Cling and I were sitting upstairs listening to Emery orchestrate some imaginary "Dragon Festival" (I really love when he pretends) and he got a little frustrated because the other kids weren't "getting" his vision. So, I loudly sang, "I want to be kind to everyone..." He bossed a bit more, and Clint added, "Kindness begins with me." Then we heard the shout from Emery,"Guys, be kind!"