September and October... The joys of fall time.

Say cheese, it's time to take more pictures for our blog. Grandma is requesting more pictures!
Deven happily complies.


Happy 30th Jill! We love you! We are watching her dog Spunky while she and Thain are traveling all over Europe. Lucky!


Last weekend we went to Vernal, Utah and to the National Dinosaur Monument. Look very closely. They are pointing at a leg bone literally sticking out of the rock. Very cool! The kids LOVED it. Nate said as a kindergartner he was fascinated with dinosaurs and would have been in heaven in a place like this.

Emily and Ben hiking up a little cliff with Nate. Deven and I opted for safer ground.


Emily sliding down a natural rock slide we found on our rainy hike.


This canyon was a lady's pig pen. Literally. She lived out here all by herself and was self sufficent for 40 years without modern conviences. Amazing. This canyon echoed like crazy. Ben and Nate grew hoarse from all the yelling and echoing. Spunky, the dog, was going crazy with all the noise.



Can you find Ben and Emily?


Riding in the new motorhome was really rough.



The family at Flaming Gorge Dam.

Ben, Deven and Nate looking at Mommy trying to take a nap. I didn't get much sleep.




Ben the rock mountain climber.





Our new motorhome. Nate has been wanting one forever. We found this one for a really good price. It's older, but it works. I am the least excited about our new addition, but the others are really excited. The fall colors up in Flaming Gorge were breath taking!

Here is Heidi, my partner in crime most days here in Mantua. I received boxes of apples, pears, and peaches for free this summer. She patiently helped me can and preserve the abundance of fruit. Thanks Heidi!!! Her son Tyler and my Deven are the same age. We have a lot of fun together. A couple of days ago we ventured up in the moutains behind Mantua with the boys for a picnic.

Here I am with the boys.


The kids are holding beets. Yes, beets, that have been neglected in our garden. It's supposed to snow this weekend (boo hoo), so it's time to hurry and get everything out of our garden.

This picture is for my mom. She asked for pictures of the canning I have been doing. Here is the result of my pear canning yesterday. The jars look so pretty when they are done. Canning is not my favorite activity, but I can't pass up delicious free fruit!

Sorry for such a long blog, but I just don't get the chance to do this very often! Happy Fall!

Poor tooth fairy

Last week we had a fun time with Cindy and Joe and their fun kids at the their cabin at Strawberry resevoir. Catching three fish in a row was the most exciting part. Well, actually Cindy and I creaming Nate and Joe at a late night Spades game was more exciting, but the kids missed out on that part.



After Nate took this picture I said, "you just love taking bad pictures of me, don't you..." He said, "I take good pictures of you"... Hmmmmm.... Well, I guess I look as tired as I felt... :)



This is Emily with Nate on Saturday before she knew I was taking a picture.


This is Emily perked up and posing for a fall picture with her brothers. I guess she likes hiking after all... :)




The tooth fairy is going to go broke on our family. Ben lost his first tooth Saturday night. He was so excited about it. I can't believe he's at this stage already. My babies are growing up!

Delicious summer salad

This is a great way to use all those extra summer veggies from the garden... I should try throwing in zucchini! My friend here gave me this recipe and with some tweeking I got it just right for my taste. I ate lots of it the last two days for lunch. YUM!

Tomato Cucumber Salad
1/3 c. olive oil
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 cucumbers, quartered and sliced in 1/4 in. slices
1 small green pepper, chopped
1/4 c. thinly sliced onions
1 can olives
2 tbsp. minced fresh parsley
1 tbsp. minced fresh basil
4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese cubed

In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the first seven ingredients, shake well.In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, onions, olives, parsley, and basil. Drizzle with dressing. Toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Just before serving, stir in cheese.

The first day of school was last week! I can't believe the summer is over. Emily started 2nd grade, and Ben is in kindergarten. I am doing a co-op preschool this year for Deven. The kids come home so happy. They love school! I remember feeling exactly the same way. I miss them when they are gone, but I am glad they love school. Ben did bring home a nasty stomach thing. It slowly went through all the family. We are all healthy now luckily.


We went and toured Winnetonka caves last weekend. It was pretty neat.


Emily bit into her popsicle last night and out came her tooth. Everyone got a kick out of that. Emily and Ben have learned out to play "Settlers of Catan", one of Nate's and my favorite games. That's what we were doing in this picture.

I could post more, but the kids are going crazy as usual... :)

The blahs move on...

I think everyone should post one blah blog. I am so grateful for so many wonderful people in my life, and such great support. I love you guys!

So, I am fine, but I am really glad I let it all hang out for a moment. I now have really great pick me up notes to read next time the "funk" happens.

I am in CA at my mom's house. We decided at the very last minute to take a road trip. We drove up to Portland to see my brother Justin and his wife Alisa and their adorable new puppy Zoe. Then we went to Eugene to visit my dear friend Elise and her fun family. Then we drove down to Paradise to visit with my mom and dad and other brother and wife and kids. I have loved this road trip. Maybe I'll post pictures after we get back. School starts next week and then we are in a set routine for awhile. Ben starts kindergarten and Emily will be in 2nd grade. I can't believe how time flies.

Anyway, if you post a blah blog, I'll post a comment. They really meant a lot to me. Love you guys. Jen

Blah blog

Well, this is not a blog entry with some great exciting news. In fact, I feel like complaining, and Nate's already heard it a million times. So, I will make this my blah blog entry, instead of my brag blog. Read on only if you dare. It's not going to be pretty.

So, I live in a real nice place. I have everything I dreamed of. Why can't I be happy today? I have a cold, I haven't slept well the last several nights. My stomach hurts. I want to go out and do something important, and exciting. A doctor? A lawyer? A reasearch scientist? I can't stop tearing up, and the tears keep coming. Many would say, go get drugs. Others would have no patience. I am one with no patience with myself. I do most things in life because I think I should. I am good at grinding my teeth, feeling guilty, and getting to work to get something done. I am surrounded every day by three little balls of energy that go and go and go. They never stop to whine or complain, except to me. Nate is also like the kids. He can go and go and go. In fact he stayed up all night last night working on work. He usually doesn't eat breakfast or lunch. I am starving all day. He gets to be thin and in shape. I exercise every day without fail, and am more round than I would like. Anyway, blah, blah, blah. This is how some days are. Even though my blog makes it sound like everything is great all the time, I really lie. I do have everything I wanted, but I still want more. I want to be more, and do more, and see more. I get mad at myself for this. Maybe that's why I read so much. I always want to learn more and experience more. Anyway, I look up to so many of you. You all seem to have it together to me. I can't get myself to call anyone and say "how do you do it?" So, I struggle inside and know that eventually, like my Dad says, this too shall pass. I guess the good out of feeling so badly, is that someday Emily or someone else will say, "how did you do it?" And I'll be honest and say, some days I didn't.

Aloha!

So, we just got back from two dream weeks in Kauai! Nate and I honeymooned there and it was really fun to be back again. There was so much more to explore. My parents treated all of my side of the family to the vacation. It was quite the fun family reunion. I highly recommend it! There are a lot of pictures, but it was hard to cut the hundred or so that I did to just get down to this many.


Roosters run wild there. Annoying little buggers that crow all day long. Ben tried to chase one down. Too bad he didn't get it.

Every day or every other day we would go on an "adventure". This one is of us hiking in the jungle. We rented kayaks and came to this spot that we hike in a mile to a secluded, although busy with tourists, waterfall for swimming and snacks. It rained hard on us coming back, we were all a muddy mess. Nate and I thought the jungle smelled like spices as it rained. Ben thought it smelled like poo. We had a talk on looking at the positives in life.. :)


Ben and Emily start school in a few weeks. They are going to be telling stories of jungle hikes, playing with frogs, geckos, snails, and roosters. They are going to talk about picking wild mangos, coconuts, and other tropical fare. I think their teachers are going to think they have wild imaginations. We were just really lucky to experience this dream vacation when we did.

Ben and Deven became boogie board junkies. The ocean was the perfect temperature and this popular boogie boarding beach was in a short walking distance from the house we stayed at.


Emily and her cousin Brianna brave the waves. It's a good shot of Brianna before the tumble. We were shown many times the ocean was boss...

We hiked into a place called Queen's Bath that was a very calm place for the kids to snorkel and explore the sea life. The kids and Nate caught this crab that became the entertainment for awhile.



This picutre was taken at the hotel we spent the first night at. It had gorgeous grounds. I didn't really see an ugly place over there though.

Now this hike was not for sissy's. I about had to turn back. The Waimea canyon is like the grand canyon. We hiked to a waterfall we couldn't see without hanging over a cliff (hence all of us but Nate didnt' see it) and then back to a smaller waterfall we could see and enjoy.

Here's the hike from the road. That bare brown spot to the left of the waterfall is where we took the previous photo. Just gorgeous. Nate called this place "eye candy".




The only regret from the honeymoon Nate had was missing out on a helicopter ride. We let Thain (my sister Jill's husband) talk us into Inter Island helicopters. They are the only ones to use a helicopter without doors. I thought it was crazy, but went along for the ride. WOW! What a trip. We landed at this secluded waterfall (the island is full of them) for a picnic and a swim and then finished the ride. It really got the adrenaline going. On the way back Nate saw skydivers jumping out of a plane. He decided that was next on his to do list. There was no way I was going to do it, but he did, and he loved it. By the way, the rocks were mossy and the slide nice and soft.


A family photo on the beach at sunset. My one wish was to see the famous green sea turtles on this trip. They ended up being at this beach near us almost everyday.

Here Ben is at Tunnel's beach. Breath taking beautiful beach, with amazing snorkeling.

This is me on the last day, if you look to the right of me you'll see a spot in the ocean. That's one of my turtle friends. My favorite part of the trip was snorkeling with Cris and Colby. We swam with three of these guys. They are so fun!

No, Nate did not fall of this waterfall, he dove. In fact, Emily, Ben and Deven jumped off this 20 foot waterfall. I was the only chicken in the family. I just couldn't make myself do it. Anyway, what a trip. It's a once in a lifetime event, but we hope to get back there someday. We loved it so much. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!!

I would post some little video clips, but I can't figure out how to reduce the size so that they will post. Any ideas anyone?

Pioneers and Dads

Last Wednesday Nate and I left to be a "Ma and Pa" on a pioneer trek with teenagers from our church. We were over six great kids, four girls and two boys. Here we are all: Brett, Rikki, Katrina, me, Blaire, Ryan (Bandito), Maigan, and Nate. What a great bunch of kids. Being with them for four days made me excited, not so scared anymore, for my own kids to turn into teenagers. Nate and I had so much fun with these kids. They were real troopers.

We experienced all four of Wyoming's seasons in the short four days. The wind was unbelievable. We kept on moving though, and we made it through. Nate made quite the handsome pioneer! He's so wonderful and I am so glad to be married to him. Also, we had a fun father's day yesterday celebrating what a great dad he is. I have yet to meet someone that is as involved with the kids and loves his family as much as Nate does.

Nate says that he was born in the wrong era. He especially loved the pioneer experience. I have to say that I loved the pioneer clothes, and all the walking, but I really missed baths, showers, sinks, and sturdy houses. We take so much for granted today!
Nate and I laughed so much with these kids. It's been a long time since I have laughed that hard. It's amazing these kids could still crack jokes, while the wind blew and the sand pelted our dirty faces, and the rain poured, and the ash cakes baked in the fire. We would do this again in a heart beat.

My mom and Dad came out to help us with the kids while we were gone. It was over their anniversary, so my sister Jill took the kids over that day. It was so nice to be able to be away and know that my kids were well taken care of. Dad brought out fishing poles for the kids and set them up. Then he went worm hunting in our yard with them. They loved that! They still talk about fishing and worms, and all that, even though their attention spans didn't last long while they were actually fishing. My dad is so great and I am so lucky to be his daughter.

My mom is incredible too. She seems to never tire while she endlessly serves the kids. I am so grateful for her too.

May!

These pictures are backwards, but we'll take what we can get.

We headed up to the mountains on Friday for some family camping time. There is this incredible place called Cub River just over an hour north of us in Idaho.






Water was everywhere!
This is the bridge in front of our campsite. We literally were on an island and had the whole thing to ourselves. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
My kids like to pose!
They sing "cheese" more than they say it for the pictures now!

Deven turned three on the 19th of May! We had a little party for him outside.

Uncle Thain entertained the kids well.
Handsome Deven in some new clothes from Grandma. A week ago we got to camp with the Floyds. Even though we live only a half hour away from them, every time we get together I feel like that's too far! We love hanging out with them. It's funny, Jeremy is the Elder's quorum president is his ward, Nate's is the same in our ward. Stacey is the 2nd counselor in the primary in their ward, and I am the same in our ward. Fun times. It's good to have "old" friends that we can go a long time without seeing, and then pick up like it was yesterday when we do see them. Thanks guys!
All seven of the kids kept the fire going. They were all great campers! The rain didn't bother them a bit.

Nate and the kids by the Boise river. We went up there for his nephew's wedding. We stayed at a little hotel right on the river. They have a super biking/walking trail all along it.
April and me. It was really fun seeing so many of the Blaines. Hopefully most will come out to our house for the 4th of July.
The happy couple, Corey and Melanie...
Ben and Deven finally got to blow up a Christmas present from Grandma. Ben did a lot of the work himself.

Ben and Deven inside. These kids are living the dream. I hope being so spoiled doesn't ruin their adorable personalities!

That was May! We'll see what happens in June.