Camping with Cousins

My sister Vesta and I planned a camping trip in June where we were going to meet up and go 4 wheeling with all the kids together for a couple days.  Unfortunately, things did not turn out exactly as planned.  There was a miscommunication about which campground to reserve and we ended up at one that wasn't super ideal.  It was just off the highway, had no trees, and didn't have trails available for 4 wheeling.  We ended up making the most of it and the kids didn't seem to even notice anything was wrong.  Ultimately, our kids had a blast with their cousins and I guess that was the most important thing.

Our campsite.  Thankfully we were close to water, so the kids could go skip rocks for entertainment.  It was stunningly hot during the day with hardly any shade.  At night it got so cold, I ended up driving home to get more blankets and firewood at 4am.  We were woefully unprepared for the near freezing temperatures.  Vesta had her camper, so they were just fine and ended up lending us some of her blankets as well.

This was Elsa's first camping trip.  She was pretty good for the most part, but by the next day you could tell she was dying for a nap.  The tent got too hot, so Vesta got her to take a nap in the camper. Hallelujah!

 Chilly!!!  Randy entertained us with ghost stories that weren't TOO scary thankfully.

 Vesta brought bubbles which was great for some added entertainment.

 We also went up the canyon to see Bridal Veil Falls.  It was so hot.  I still don't understand how the temperatures could have been so up and down.

 Playing Uno.

 Randy was persistent and able to find a little trail to take the kids on so that bringing the 4 wheelers wasn't totally in vain.  Nadia and Elsa LOVED going on it.  Rowan, not so much.  He wouldn't even try it.

 Steve had never been on a 4 wheeler, so he was game for trying it out.  I hadn't been on one since I was 13.  I sure missed having one to rip around on. 

Elsa wasn't too happy about being left behind.


Next time we'll try to plan things better, but I'm glad we went.  We asked the kids what their favorite part was as we were driving home and "COUSINS!" was the unanimous reply.

Grandma and Grandpa

One of the perks of Steve's job is the flexibility of summer vacation or really any time off.  He didn't teach this summer and will always have at least one semester off.  We took advantage of our new found freedom and went up to see Grandma and Grandpa Luke in Washington.  I was a little concerned how the kids would do, namely Elsa, but they were all champs and we had a good trip up and down.  On the way up, we were cautious and took two days for an 11 hour trip and on the way back we just drove as long as the kids were cooperating.  Thankfully we had no issues making it back in one day.

Oh to have willing adults to read to you whenever you wanted!  Grandpa introduced Rowan to some funny new books and Nadia took advantage of the Berenstein Bear books that Grandma has.

The way to Elsa's heart- ice cream.  It was so nice to see Elsa bond more with her grandparents.  She really took to both of them and they rewarded her sweetness with sweets.

One day we went to their local country store, which is quite possibly the most amazing country shop I have ever seen.  They had samples galore, delicious food, aisles of candy, and just about every variation of popcorn known to man.  Steve and I ate Rainer cherries to no end.  It was really incredible.  If I had the capital, know how and the connections, I would love to own a store like it.  There's no question it would be successful just about anywhere.

Fudge

 Elsa found her treat to take home.  See what I mean about the sweets?  How could you say no to that face?

 Salsa bar.  Rowan accidentally sampled a "hot" selection.  Poor kid.

 All the samples of their fruit butters.  I guess Rowan recovered from his salsa experience quickly.

 Ice cream heaven!  It's really not good for me to be going through these pictures.  I'm getting hungry.

 Elsa wasn't the only one to score a massive lollipop. 

 The next day, we feasted on fresh salsa, those delicious cherries, cherry apple cider and Doritos.  I'm going to miss summer produce!

Another day, the kids cajoled Grandpa into taking them fishing.  A nice spot happened to be right next to this awesome playground and splash pad.

 Getting a good fishing spot in the shade with no geese poop was harder than you'd think.  We didn't catch anything that day, but it was a nice outing regardless.

Nadia with her Barbie pole.  Love it.

Elsa is scared of "bad ants" which entails every bug known to man.  Also, she told me yesterday she's scared of violins.  We'll have to stay on the look out for those.

 Elsa apparently would rather be spear fishing.

Oh yeah, I was there too.  :)

I think we had ice cream almost everyday we were there.  It was really hard on the kids.

Most of these pictures center around food.  That's how you know we were on vacation I guess.  We went to a buffet before going to visit Grandpa Judd at his rest home.  For some reason, I didn't get any pictures while we were there.

 We did have fun taking a spin on his old wheels though.

This will be Grandpa Luke in 20 years.  Grandkids will still be crawling all over him.

It was so nice to go and relax up in Washington for a week.  We had a blast checking out the new scenery and even enjoyed a night out at a fancy restaurant with Steve's parents and no kids.  Many thanks to our lovely hosts!  It's hard to believe we will have 4 kids the next time we go up there. 

Just Keep Swimming

No one really requested swim lessons this year, but I'm determined to get my kids better at it even if we don't have many opportunities to go.  What I really need to do is get a Provo Rec membership so we can go year round.  They really love this indoor facility.  One of these days.

This year I opted to get private lessons so that my kids could progress more than they would in a group class setting.  It was worth every penny.  I've spent too many summers watching my kids spend more time waiting for their turn for instruction rather than getting down to business.  Rowan is still not a natural swimmer, but it was nice to see someone push him to stretch himself.  Nadia, on the other hand, is a little fish!  Her instructor was really impressed with her skill level at her age and she jumped into every lesson with a lot of enthusiasm.

 My little fish.  She did such a good job!

 Poor Rowan.  He really struggles with his breathing.  But he's is awesome at swimming on his back now.

 I thought I would have to spend most of my time wrangling Elsa from jumping in the pool but she was mercifully restrained.  She loves the play part of the pool which is right next to this pool and she didn't try to escape over there once.  I give credit to the bottle.  I'm pretty sure she'll still be having her bottle when she's sixteen years old.  Nadia and Rowan were binky addicts and I made them give that up at 2 years old.  I must be getting to be a push over mom in my old age.

I really love it when I can hit two birds with one stone.  It was so nice to go and get both lessons done at the same time.

Home Sweet Home

I don't have a personal journal, though at times I wish I did so that I had that outlet.  I do want to remember this particular test of patience so I'm documenting it here.  House hunting is hard!  Further complicated by the fact that we want to buy a home in a very desirable area.  My friend who recently finally bought a home had made offers on at least three other places before they got the one she did.  The other offers failed because there were multiple bids and most went over the asking price.  It's funny because most of these homes are fixer uppers and aren't particularly desirable on face value.  The house they bought was only on the market for one day and she didn't even see it before for they bid on it.  She was out of town and her husband saw it, put in a bid over asking price and begged them to cancel the 6 other showings they had scheduled for that day.  To say that it's difficult to buy in the price range we are in would be an understatement.  It seems the housing market is back on the upswing.

My sister says I have champagne taste on a beer budget and that I should just look outside of the area we want.  It's not that this area is particularly affluent, but there certainly are pockets of McMansions around.  Our ward is full of modest homes, but the competition for the area and the schools here puts them on a higher pedestal.  I'm having a hard time differentiating between my own desires and what I feel like the Lord is directing us to.  My patriarchal blessing talks about our home we will raise our family in and says some specific things about it.  All my life I've felt that there was a specific plan and path in store for me.  I was supposed to marry Steven.  I was supposed to have certain experiences in my life.  Seeing life as fateful isn't really endorsed in my faith due to agency.  Spencer W. Kimball's quote about soul mates being an illusion  and a fiction comes to mind.   Yet, I know that that doesn't apply for Steven and I due to his and my patriarchal blessing.  Is it odd that I feel the same way about where we will actually live?

I doubt the Lord cares much about the material blessings that we receive in this life.  But I do feel we need to be here.  The way we got this rental was fortuitous and unconventional and it's difficult for me to think that the Lord didn't have a hand in it.  Living here has been a major blessing in my life.  I know that my son especially needed to be here, go to his school and get to know certain friends.  The same for me as well.  I hate the thought of making him change schools yet again.  I also feel like we need to be here and know the people we know in order to find the house we will eventually raise our family in.  The way that happens may be also fortuitous and unconventional.  We have two neighbors next to us who bought their homes by knocking on doors and asking people if they wanted to sell their homes.  We haven't reached that point yet, but I will admit to being tempted to. 

Anyways, I'm trying not to obsessively check the MLS and just let things happen as they should.  It's difficult to know how involved and aggressive I need to be to make this next step happen.  Steve has always been better at letting the Lord take care of things than I have been.  The money involved also scares me to death.  One thing we cannot afford to do is get into a bidding war.  But I don't know how that will be preventable considering the competition we seem to be up against.  Faith, right?  I just wish I could stop thinking about it and trust that everything will fall into place.  My sister told me to pretend I know that we will be in a home within the next year and to hunker down and prepare for that moment.  Probably good advice if my brain just had an off switch.  Anyways, I wanted to write this down so that when the day comes that things do fall into place, I can reflect on what it felt like to be in the dark, praying that all will work out eventually.