Rock lovin' dog

So at my parents house they have a black lab. I LOVE her. Her name is Molly and the kids love her too. I didn't use to love her. She used to be so annoying. She would chew everything and just be a typical puppy but now she is so cute and she loves the kids. But this dog is strange when it comes to what it likes to chase. Most dogs will chase after frisbees or chew toys or tennis balls. Well not Molly. Molly loves rocks. She is obsessed. If you throw a rock into the canal she will dive in UNDER the water and fetch it. So the kids had a great time throwing rocks for Molly. Well poor Caleb threw a rock and it happened to land in a very bad spot------right on grandma's windshield. OUCH. That was a $300 repair that we didn't really like to have to pay but we realize that everyone makes mistakes. Crazy dog but we love her and she is so amazingly protective of the kids. We miss her so much.

more fun outings

A couple of days ago I took the kids to Burke Lake Park to ride the train and get icecream. They were so excited. Ethan is still talking about the train ride. As we went around the corner we saw this cool water wheel. The best part of the ride according to the kids was when we went through the dark tunnel. The ride didn't last long but thankfully because once we stepped inside the icecream parlor they put up the closed sign. We were the last ones served and that was a CLOSE one. Oh I would have had some pretty upset kids. Well I didn't realize that they only accepted cash and I only had $7 so we had to get 3 cups of icecream instead of everyone having their own cone. We picked our flavors of icecream and can I say that I had the best icecream flavor in the world. It was almond joy. I couldn't even believe they had that kind. That is my ALL TIME favorite candy bar. SO we got our icecream and took it outside to eat and then we had some meltdowns. UGLY ONES TOO. Rachel and Mayah were screaming "I want my own" over and over again. I started to get a bit impatient after explaining that we didn't have any more cash for everyone to get their own so we ended up leaving even before we finished our iceceam. We just went to the car and ate as we walked. I try really hard to avoid any type of scenes in public but we don't usually succeed. OH WELL. It was still fun.



Then today we decided to go to Purcellville to pick our own fruit at Crooked Run Orchard. I love the drive in Loudon county. It is so beautiful. I would love to live in that area if it wasn't so expensive. WE ended up picking 11 pounds of apples and a couple pounds of blackberries. It was nice that the blackberry patch was thornless. It was very easy picking but the apples were a little more tricky. It seemed like all the nice perfectly shaped ones were up high and we were not allowed to climb trees and they didn't have any ladders. But we managed to get some good ones. We haven't tasted them yet and I didn't realize how much the kids liked blackberries until I opened the fridge to see that they are almost gone and the kitchen floor shows the evidence. It is all purple and sticky. YUK. But it was a good experince for the kids. They weren't too excited about it because they were all so tired but they did pretty good helping. Caleb and Zach carried the bucket of apples back. Rachel and Ethan each carried a container of blackberries. When we first arrived there were quite a few people at the stand asking questions about what they had and this and that. Then the lady said "Don't got stuffing your faces full of blackberries. We have a rule that you pay for what you pick". So as we were walking to the fruit the kids saw some people picking the berries and eating them. Then one of the kids said, AHHHHHHH they are busted. They are eating the fruit without paying for it. It was funny. And the kids did SO good and didn't eat a single berry without paying..........well except for Mayah.

I love getting a good deal

SO this is my latest "good deal". OK actually it was my FREE DEAL. Saw this for free on craiglist and had to get it. But this didn't come easy. Loading it was a breeze. I had the help of the lady giving it away but when I got to the house I was hoping our neighbor would be there but he wasn't. So then I had to figure out how I was going to get it into the house with only the help of Caleb and Zach. Seems pretty funny that Caleb and Zach tell me how strong they are until it comes to doing any type of strenuous work. When we started lifting the dresser into the house they said it was too heavy and that there was NO way they could do it. So I had to do most of it myself. I lifted one end and to move it around and then kept doing that until I got it to the stairs. By now I am starting to sweat. SO I nagged and nagged the kids until finally we used every last strength we had and got it into the house. I absolutely love it and can't wait for Don to get home so he can help me take it up the stairs. It is gorgeous.

YEAH got my car back

I got our vehicle back today and almost $600 later it is fixed and ready to go. They had to replace the starter relay and replaced the wheel speed sensor. They tightened torsion bars and adjusted the suspension. When we first moved here we had taken it in to a place and after spending over $2000 they still had not fixed the suspension. But thankfully it is fixed now.

Yesterday while we were at my sisters house Rachel hurt her toe really bad. The kids were having scooter races and jumping off of them onto the grass. When Zach jumped off his scooter the handle bar smacked into Rachel's big toe and turned it blue. I have never heard her cry so loud and for so long in my life. So we "tried" icing it and giving her tylenol. She wasn't happy about any of this. Couldn't even distract her with anything except a couple of seconds with a piece of chocolate. We didnt end up getting home until 11. I put all the other kids to bed and Rachel was still in pain. She couldn't sleep so I sat with her in the rocking chair and she finally fell asleep but it only lasted a 1/2 hr or so. I took her upstairs to put her in bed but no position was comfortable. She cried and cried and it was very exhausting (to say the least). Finally at 4 a.m. she fell asleep till morning. She is still walking on the side of her foot and we PRAY we will be able to sleep better tonight.



Don is coming home in 4 days and we are all VERY excited. He was gone for 6 weeks the first time and then saw him for about 3 weeks and then gone for another 2 months. So we are super excited for this time to come.

Everyone in our ward keeps asking us if we are moving and the answer is WE DO NOT KNOW. I think we will wait until we are actually driving away in the moving truck to tell anyone. Everything is still up in the air for many reasons that I won't mention here. I would love to get a home that has some land where we can have a garden and a place where the kids can run and play. But I am not sure what will happen. My fingers are crossed for that perfect place to come available though. We will see.

Batteryless

Today I was going to take the kids to a new place. There is a lake I want to go check out that rents Jon boats. So we got all ready to go and got everyone in the car (not an easy thing here people) but it wouldn't start. I knew that no one left any lights on and I never leave the keys in the car so there was no way that got left on. So out of the car came 5 flustered kids. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out what was wrong. I tried to jump it but that didn't work. I cleaned the battery terminal and cables and tried jumping it again but still no charge. SO all I was left to do was take out the battery and wait until tomorrow to take it in to see if it is bad. This is all done by phone call after phone call to dad. I do not know what I would do without him. That man is one smart cookie. I pray that it is just the battery. I am not going to like being left without a car. We have too many places to go and things to see. If I cannot get my car fixed-------which one of you is going to volunteer to teach my lesson in RS on Sunday?

Ten mile hike

Ok so maybe it was only a mile and a half but we all think the lady at the front desk at the park lied to us. Today we went to Bull Run Regional Park. We first started off at the playground area and kids had fun playing. Then we decided to take a hike and then we were going to come back and do minitature golf. SO I wanted to make sure they had some good hiking trails. I asked and the lady told us that the hike was only 1 1/2 miles. I figured we would be okay. We wanted to take our time because the kids are young and I didn't want them to get too tired too quick so we walked fairly slow. We stopped off a few times to look at things and just had a good time (for awhile). It seemed like we just kept going and going. My flip flops (I know I know----not good hiking shoes but that is all I had) now have a hole in them so I felt quite a few things as I walked. The kids started getting so tired and I ended up carrying Mayah more than half of the way. I figured I would have to do that anyway. But then Ethan was crying and said that he couldn't walk anymore. SO I put Mayah on my neck and carried Ethan on my hip. It was so tiring. It has been FOREVER since I have exercised so I am pretty out of shape. And it was HARD. I started getting really tired. We all kept thinking that the trail would come to an end at any time but it seemed like forever. Then I kept telling the kids "I am sure we are almost done". Caleb and Zach did amazing. Rachel, for the most part, did awesome too. But at the end she started getting tired and asked if I could carry her as well. I was so tired and getting a little grumpy but I had to go to the bathroom so bad that anytime anyone said anything I started to laugh. I was laughing because it was so crazy that I was already carrying two kids and she thought I could carry her too. I thought I was going to pee my pants. Thankfully the trail finally ended. Kids thought maybe we had gotten lost. I told them that the trail was only 1 1/2 miles long but then Caleb said he felt like it was more like 10. I had to agree with him there. Once the trail ended I left Zach, Caleb and Ethan at the end while I carried Mayah and walked next to Rachel the rest of the way to the car so I could drive and pick them up. None of us even had the energy to play miniature golf. Maybe next time. They were not even upset about it. So we went home and had some lunch and then the next two hours the kids watched a movie while I slept on the couch. That was hard work carrying 60 pounds.

Caleb and Zach climbing on the colored tubes
Caleb, Zach, Rachel, Ethan and Mayah on our hike
Caleb is so amazing with Mayah. Here they hold hands while we hike.
I love this picture of Ethan. We had to get a picture of the "ARMY WOOD" that Zach found. It was so cool and really looked like a camo tree. Zach found some that looked like a hiking stick and brought it home for Don. He is going to love it.
I was teaching the kids how to skip rocks. Caleb got pretty good but I still held the record with five skips.

Out of the mouth of a 3 year old

WE are reading scriptures out of our Book of Mormon picture book. I love these because the kids can visualize the stories more and it is nice to have the pictures so they can sit 2-3 seconds longer than when we read straight from the Book of Mormon. Those extra seconds are HUGE for me. Anyway a friend of ours bought us all 4 books (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and D&C). We started off tonight with the BoM. I was reading to the kids how Joseph Smith didn't know which church to join and how he had read in the bible in James 1:5 and knew that he needed to ask God. So he went into the woods to pray. As soon as I said that, Ethan got this really scared look on his face and his eyes got really big. He said (in a very shaken voice) "mommy, that isn't good. If he goes into the woods he is going to get lost". Then Rachel said, "It's okay, Ethan----God will help him. It was funny but because the kids were being very quiet (which is rare) I really had to contain myself from busting up. I know if Don would have been here we both would have lost it.

Below are my siblings. I love having a big family. We are a pretty close family and I enjoy getting together with everyone. We are crazy and have so much fun.


This is my little brother (Ron) helping Rachel shoot the bb gun.

THis is me with my dad under the van. We are removing the gas tank and replacing the fuel pump.

This is one of my sisters (Sheryl)showing Rachel and Jenna how to make shadows.

This is one of my brothers (Dan) holding Mayah. He is soooooooooo good with kids. They love him.

And this is my other two sisters. The one on the right (Susan) lives close by and it is such a blessing to have her near us. The other sister on the left is Lori and she just had an adorable little girl (Ashlyn).

Lake Anna

We have been home from vacation for two days now and since Don will not be home for another two weeks I decided to take the kids to Lake Anna. It was our first time there. It was gorgeous. It took us about 2 hrs. to get there but it was much faster getting home (not as much traffic). The kids LOVED the swimming. It is roped off in sections according to how deep the water is. We spent most of the time there. I really wanted to fish and kids under the age of 15 can fish without a license. So I was just going to help. I worked on the fishing pole for a bit and then had to call my dad for some help. I should have been able to do it on my own (my dad and uncle took me fishing ALOT when I was growing up) but I forgot. Anway I finally it was all ready to go. I tried reeling in the line BUT there was something wrong and the line would not come in. GRRRRRRRRRRR. I was so excited and then the amount of time it took to prepare the pole and then NOTHING. So Dad..........we WOULD have caught a fish if the pole had been working right. Needed you here to help. This wasn't a "phone call" question. There was no way I was going to be able to do this one. I even took it apart to see if I could figure out why it wasn't reeling in. OH WELL. SO we decided to go on a hike instead and it was alot of fun too. It was such a nice drive. Reminded me alot of Moses Lake but with more trees. There were corn fields and lots of open space.

On the way back home I saw someone on the side of the road so I pulled off to ask her if she knew anyone that was selling corn or tomatoes. She was SO NICE. She got back in her van and took me to a home where she thought would have some. He wasn't home so she took me to her place and gave me about 4 of her home grown tomatoes. I tried giving her some money but she refused. Now how often does that happen?

Now we will have to check out some more fun places to go around here. If any of you know of some great places to take kids let me know. But remember..............it has to be a place where I can take five lively little creatures. :)

Check out the fun time we had.

GOODBYE

So sad. This is our last night with family. It is very sad to leave but it is time to get back home and back into our routine. I am going to miss my parents and family so much. They are so awesome and have done so much for me and my family. I swear I have gotten so lazy now. I get to sleep in almost every morning and my kids have been getting up EARLY and they are well taken care of. My mom and dad make breakfast every morning and lazy me sleeps in. THANKS so much guys for letting me be lazy for a while. Now it is time to get home and give myself a wake up call and get going again on taking care of my kids. We had a TON of fun like always and we will miss just being able to do whatever we want. The kids are going to go crazy not being able to roam and explore and get into trouble like they do here. You are the best parents ever and you will surely be missed sooooooooooooooooo much. WE love you and will see you next year. Here are you favorite little eyes looking back at you. Love you so much.

Is it Caleb or Goop?

So Caleb's birthday in on the 4th but we celebrated it on Saturday. Happy 10th birthday Caleb. We had a lot of fun and I am soooooooo grateful that my parents live in the country---allowing us to do so many fun things. Caleb wanted a Ben 10 party so I "attempted a Ben 10 cake". Not an easy cake to do. Goop is Caleb's favorite alien on the show. The show is about a boy who is 10 years old and he goes camping with his grandpa. Ben goes out into the woods and thinks he sees a falling star. But it really is the Omnitrix (like a watch). He ends up finding it in a crater. The watch somehow attaches to his arm and he tries different buttons and such to get it off but it never comes off. But while pushing buttons he ends up realizing that it transforms him into different aliens that have different powers. SO I put the Alien Goop on his cake and put some alien rocks and made the wooded trees out of some fake leaves and used pretzel rods as the stump. I put a watch (Omnitrix) under the trees and then pushed it into the cake making it look like it was in a crater. Caleb was happy with it. That is all that mattered.





We had an obstacle course set up for the kids to do to see who could get through it the fastest. They first started off throwing a frisbee. They had to throw it past a certain spot and if they didn't get it past the area they had to run and retrieve it and start again. If it went past the area they could run on the the next thing which was going under the trampoline. Next was 8 different tires that they had to run through making sure not to miss any of the tires. If they missed or fell down they had to start completely over. Then they had to go to the next station and get the hand weights and lift them 5 times and then run to the racer wheels and maneuver them around a chair and back to the starting point and then run and touch a tree. It was so fun to watch. Kids had a blast. Kids received some prizes and after eating their sticky gum, suckers and candy we did a BB gun contest. We hooked 6 balloons diagonally on a wooden post and gave each person five chances to hit the balloons. Caleb hit 2 of the 5 balloons and I was very impressed with that. Then we were amazed at Jordan (nephew) , Grandma's (my mom) and Lori's ability (my sister). They were not missing a single shot. They all hit five for five the first round. So we did a sudden death challenge and they kept hitting the balloons so we had to make it more challenging by moving them further away from the target. And still they amazed us. Finally mom and Lori missed and that put Jordan as the ALL TIME BB GUN CHAMP. Should I mention the kid is only 9 years old? Even Rachel and Ethan had a chance to shoot the gun. Everyone loved it. Then we roasted hotdogs and marshmellows on the huge smoker grill using willow sticks that the kids got from grandpa's tree and later had cake and icecream and Caleb opened presents. What a fun day. Very memorable for a 10th birthday party.