Girl's turn camping

And by GIRLS - I mean Brian with his daughters. Not me.
 I have no strong desire focus my precious time and resources towards laying down in a tent in the woods.
 I'll do it to make the kids happy.... but Brian is even more willing, so I let him have the honors!

He took Brianna and Courtney to Zion's Camp - owned by our church. Near Riverside, about 35 min away. All the neighboring stakes get to use it.
It's awesome - rugged and off-the-grid enough, but with some conveniences - like fire pits, pavilions, makeshift bridges over the river, tire swings, etc.

Brian's exact text to me on their way home: "Little princesses had the time of their lives!"

Date day!

After enduring almost 14 days apart, Brian wanted to take me on a date. He arranged childcare with mom & dad (including baby Charity! first time away from us that long!)
We debated between going to play tennis, going peach picking @Greenbluff, or hiking Mt. Spokane. Hiking won because Brian said he missed the mountains. He doesn't miss them anymore - we got some serious mountain time in! It was about a 30 minute drive to the trailhead, then almost 2 and a half hours of hiking roundtrip. Part of the time we stayed on the groomed trails, and part of the time we thought we'd be "smart" and bushwhack our own shortcuts. It got a little scary for awhile! But then I discovered yummy wild blueberries and huckleberries, and ate my fears away. mmmmm
It was great spending lots of time together, getting a darn good workout in, and knowing that the kids do just fine with their favorite babysitters!

Last one of the season!

Keeping the fairy busy

She lost two in one day! 

And didn't even tell me about the second one!

 Fortunately the fairy noticed and left the appropriate double fee (two of each size coin).

Sneaky fairy gets Brianna excited to practice adding coins :)

Newest mostest favoritest kitchen tool

The Vidalia Chop Wizard.
It's like 10 bucks at BB&B. Go get one.
It's changed my life. 
I'M ACTUALLY EXCITED TO CHOP STUFF!

Ominous skies above the pergola...

We've had some crazy storms lately!

Tree rescue

What would I do without Meredith to help save our tree...

Brian's Chicago trip - Medline HQ

It was a loooong ten days for both of us!
Glad we survived.
This is what Medline calls "Phase 2 training." There are 4 phases.
Each are a 10 day trip to Chicago. Ugh.
But it's so much easier to handle these separations now that I live by family! Mom and Mere were awesome giving me breaks from the kids.
 I'm grateful his job is going well! Especially since 2 of Brian's counterparts have already been fired (including the girl pictured here!!) But Brian's been assured several times that he's doing great and his job is secure.
The top photo was taken inside one of the largest shipping/distribution facilities. Medline sells over 350,000 different health care products.
Brian has a lot to learn!


Lower photo:
Brian spent saturday morning at the Chicago temple, then went to the beaches at the Great Lakes to go running, then study.

I'm really proud of him, because this is what he chose to spend his "free" day doing, instead of joining the other guys at the movie theaters  (they saw 3 "double features" - meaning walked into one movie after the other, but only paid for one). Not too cool.

So happy he's home!! I love passing the baby off to him and having some freedom  :)

Quad bunkbed

When we visit mom and dad (usually Sunday after church), this is where I lay down with Charity and get her to nap. Isn't it a cool bed setup?! Super handy when all their grandkids stay over.

Bennett likes frisbee golf!

(and *I* did NOT dress him)

SUPERKids

I hope I get around to blogging about the family reunion. It was SUPER! I just have a hard time doing long blog posts with lots of pictures. I can bust out a bazillion shorties, but big ones overwhelm me. So in case that doesn't happen, here's this! Mom's dream pictures, made reality!

This is how we mow

FINALLY finished the lawn.
Huge accomplishment.
With Brian gone, I have to get it done in multiple short increments  (I'm always the lawn mower - not him - because I prefer doing that to wrangling kids :)
It would take about 70 minutes if I could do it uninterrupted.
Got the one part down while Charity did her morning nap and kids played inside.
Another while she sat in swing, monitored by Brianna, twins on trampoline.
Another while she sat at highchair brought outside, snacks for all.
And the last part - while kids watched movie, baby in my front carrier. Absolutely exhausting.
But the lawn is MOWED.
Now to do it all over again NEXT Saturday... and every Saturday... until WINTER!

Rainy day paper bag puppet show

I'm really grateful for rain.
Simply because it saves me a lot of time - I don't have to go water the garden and flower baskets!
But sadly, it means the kids' outdoor time is somewhat limited. Fortunately, they're pretty creative.
At least, the fearless leader Brianna is, and drags the twins along with her.
Today she decided to decorate some puppets out of paper bags and put on a show for Charity and I!
We very much enjoyed it.

Burrito baby

At 9 months, I still quickly swaddle her before nursing her to sleep at each nap! It's amazing to me how that swaddled position seems to calm babies.

Twins & Cherries

Our farmer friend on Greenbluff lets us pick cherries for free at the end of the season.
Big dark juicy Lambert variety. Mmmm.
Sunday morning, Courtney and Bennett wanted to come "help."
They did an excellent job doing absolutely nothing remotely close to helping.
When do we get to the stage where all those little hands become useful?!! :)

My kitchen looks like a farmer's market.

Feeding the bebe

To be honest - and I know this sounds odd - I don't put a lot of thought into feeding Charity.

  Too many other thoughts competing in my head for attention.

  But every now and then I remember that I can/should do the whole superfood puree thing, into the ice cube trays, etc.
So here we are, throwing avocados, bananas, chia seeds, kale, grapes, flax seeds into the processors. Yum!

Neigh? Nay.

The children keep asking if we can buy a horse.
They insists it can live in our "big" backyard shed here.

Father-Son campout

Brian just texted this to me.

 

I can only imagine the total heaven Bennett must be in right now....

Getting his Daddy back after 3 days away, all to himself minus the girls, out in the woods sleeping in a tent, with a bunch of other guys from the ward and probably a lot of junk food.....

 

Yep, Bennett's going to be asking to do this again probably every single day until next year's Father-Son campout!

 

 

 

(and for the record, Brianna is NOT happy about this. SHE has been the one to go with her Daddy to this campout for the last 3 years. This is the first year Bennett's been old enough to go, so she's been butted out. Sad for her! But guys need their guy time, and we had fun at home)

Tiiimmmbbbeeerrr!

 

 

The crazy wind storms lately have taken a toll on our big Spruce tree! 

One branch down on our side, and the other opposite it down into the neighbor's yard!

Fortunately, no other damage occurred.

And our neighbor is a sweet retired guy who was happy to help us haul it away. 

He saved most of the limbs for doing woodworking projects with!

Dad and Connor came over with a chainsaw and helped as well.

 

A couple of our tomato plants got smashed a little, and my row of marigolds look beaten up.

 

I love that our new home came with garden grow boxes already in place! Though I've officially determined that gardening is NOT an economically sound choice considering the cost that goes into it and the prices I can get organic produce from at co-ops and Greenbluff..... still I want to always do a little bit - just for fun and educational purposes.

Double airplane

Meredith snapped this.

Playing with my kids on the grass on a Summer evening has got to be one of the best simple pleasures in life.




And doing "airplane" with them simultaneously is very challenging.  :)

Tires!

Found this random tire-graveyard out behind the YMCA.  They loved playing on it! Kinda brilliant way to make a playground, right?!

A Courtneydog!

The fact that the kids get dressed up in costume on almost a daily basis is going to make Halloween a little less unique...

Proficient swinger

Crazy to think that just a year ago I was trying to teach her the concept of "pumping your legs."
And now, she's flying all over the place!

New Calling: Hall Wanderer.

She looks happy and sweet...but man, she made church rough today! Fussyfussyfussy.

Toaster splash 5k!!!

Favorite race ever! Best way to start my bday. So glad Brian, mere, linds and coug got to run it too!

Yogurt face

Leakage

At costco - another shopper stops me and says, "your milk is leaking."
Instantly I look down at my shirt, then look back at the shopper, confused.
He points to the bottom of my cart.

Ooooohhhh, *THAT* ...
:)

Sushi bar w/ fam.....

Trying to teach my kids (& hub!) to embrace new foods...

Lily's 5th birthday party

Going to events like this remind me just how crazy-awesome it is that we LIVE here now! We've NEVER been to a birthday party for Lily  (though Mom and Mere have done cute ones for her every year - seriously cute).  But now, Lily's parties have grown by 3 permanent guests! The girls loved dressing in their finest princess garb, and Bennett seemed to really enjoy being THE PRINCE.  Big cousin Connor was an excellent and entertaining MAGICIAN, and the theater room was a cool way to end the festivities. 

Blueberry picking day!

So stoked that I found a farm nearby with U-pick blueberries available! Organic, $1.75/lb!!!!

The kids did great picking. Well, for the first few minutes.... then I had to remind them that good pickers would get to go to the Colbert Store for a cone....

I love these milk jug containers around their necks!

Eleven Acres farm is awesome. We also picked organic carrots, tomatoes, and green beans. Then we fed the windfall apricots to the chickens and toured the rest of the farm. The kids were in heaven. Courtney actually declard, "this is the best day OF MY LIFE!"  Glad she's easy to please...

Dinner @ Twigs w/ the bossman from UT

I like it when Brian's trainer from CA or boss from UT comes to town because I get a free night out at the dining establishment of my choice :) We elected to just bring 2/4 children so the likelihood of this being an enjoyable evening would be greatly increased. Dad did great at home as the babysitter for Bennett and Charity!

Put a new collage app on Brian's phone...

mad scientist hair

Storm!

Saturday night was such a nightmare!

And I realize "nightmare" is probably too strong of a word, since farfarfar worse storm wreckage could happen obviously.

But I did NOT enjoy having to endure a 3 hour drive home from Riley Creek (1 hour away), through winding back roads, having to constantly re route ourselves, and ending up going wayyyyy out in the middle of nowhere and coming back home via some crazy mountain pass route. Even Siri couldn't help us get home!

A strong, though brief, wind storm swept through, knocking down trees, power lines, starting fires, etc.

It cut our beach party at the lake short! How rude!

We came home to no electricity and a very hot house. Ugh.

Fortunately, the power came back on early the next morning. We slept in the basement where it was cooler.

My parents still don't have electricity, as well as most others in Colbert.  The saddest part.... I didn't think to go over and rescue their freezer food, and it all DIED! so sad.

Church was interesting yesterday - just a 30 minute service, in the dark! I'm glad we have large windows in our building at least!  Very pioneer-ish. Or maybe like a Jaredite barge minus the stones....  (Mormon humor!)