30th Birthday Hike

I turned 30 this month, yep 30. That means I am an official adult. When you are in your twenties it is like you are a jr. adult but once 30 hits there is an officiality that surrounds your adulthood status. I don't feel any different, I mean once you have three kids, a husband and student loans you are an adult in my book but I am official to one and all now, at least in my head. (Not sure if any of that rambling made any since)

Anyhow hiking the entire Narrows has been on my list to do since I was 15 yrs old. The Narrows is a 16-17 mile hike in Zions park in Southern Utah. The hike is thru a narrow, steep canyon I would estimate about 3-400 feet high. Most of the hike is in the virgin river. Most parts are shallow but there are parts that are too deep to walk so you simply float leaning back on your pack. My sister Shelly and I had been conspiring together to do a hike for awhile and finally the stars aligned and we did it. My sister Tammy joined in and Shelly's daughter BreAnn came as well.

My camera got wet the second day so we only have a few shots of the first day. The second day was more fun in of that we floated parts of the river and hiked around a waterfall. It was so great to get into the hiking zone where your mind clears and you are only thinking about the next step and the beauty around you. I enjoyed it a great deal. I also enjoyed the bonding time with the girls. We had more then a few good laughs and lots of indepth conversations. What more could I ask for? not much! Except maybe a pillow on the trail at night.
Above is Bree and I wet up to our arm pits and still with smiles on our faces. It was awesome!

Above is Shelly rounding some rocks in the rapids. This hike was not the summit hike that I would typically go for it was more tedious. We spent most of the time in the river negotiating rock after rock after rock. My legs were hammered after day one and day two was no different. We were all walking funny once we were done.

Above is my sis Tammy. We are seperated by four boys between us in the birth order but we are still good buds!
At the end of the first day it begin to thunder and lightning and rain. Shelly found this spot in the sand just under a rock overhang. We were dry and the sand was a big improvement to the hard hard ground we didn't sleep on the night before.
Here we are the Fab 4. Thanks ladies I had a blast!

Happy 30th to me!

Motherhood- Failblog

My son doesn't want to be potty trained. Just ask me and I will tell you all about how complacent he is about the whole thing. I will go on in detail about how nothing seems to stick to keep him motivated and about how grose the whole business is of potty training. I did just this to a friend at the park yesterday. Then as we were leaving the park Nelson saw other kids going potty at the park restrooms and said as we were in the frenzy of heading to the car to go, "Mom, I need to go potty." Instead of saying "Ok, lets go big guy" I looked at the park restroom and imagined how unappealing those places are. Not wanting to wrangle the one year old ( who was still screaming about having to leave the swing) in there while simulaneously keeping the walls from being painted by an unexperienced three year old. I responded with "Can you wait til' we get home?" Oh no I didn't. Yes I did. Sighing inside. I had just been talking about how complacent this kid was and just when he showed interest I squashed it! I cring just thinking about it. I am a mom with all the best intentions but despite all of them I fail, a lot.

So do I bemoun my imperfections? No! Well maybe a bit, like all the way home, and when I go to bed that night. But I have decided to do a retake. We are going to do a retake on potty training at our house and be more fresh and excited about how 'cool' this potty business really is. Retakes are a good thing. Below is a picture I got offline that makes me smile. Wouldn't these people like to do a retake.

'What a Guy Otta Do"

My dad often says "What a guy otta do..." followed by an idea to build or make something, or a guiness money making idea. We often say we ought to put all his ideas in a book. Sometimes he follows through with these guiness ideas and result is varied. He built/owns a homemade cannon that shoots bowling balls hundreds of yards up and forward. He also built this antique tractor that he proudly displays in parades and tractor shows etc. He now belongs to Spokane's Tractor Association. To celebrate Pioneer Day he led a little church parade in Spokane.

Notice the red rag in the back pocket, totally finishes the look! Love this guy, who could ask for a better dad.

All that is needed to complete this photo below is a pitch fork in my dad's hand and an apron on my mom! Can you believe my mom is 70 and my pa is 72 in October! They look so great!
My brother Chris and his wife Paula drove my Dad's model A car behing the tractor, which was pulling a trailer full of grand kids throwing out candy!
Maycie loved it! Her excitment is seen below!
My little man!
My blue eyed girl!
Here they are getting ready to lead the parade!
I love that my dad is so inventive and fun! He makes great memories!

Raspberry Fingers!

My mother has always kept, for as long as I can remember, a large raspberry patch. I have memories of having to get up early before the day got hot and pick raspberries for several hours. We used to put the raspberries on our fingers. I know there is a picture just like the one below of my brother doing the same thing as Nelson. These are not your dainty little raspberries. These are your bonified 'big ones'.
Check the dimple, love this boy!
Maycie is a diligent raspberry picker, this is her second year in a row. She stuck right with Grandma til' the job was done. She was very careful to only pick the ripe ones. She gave me strict instructions as to which ones those were. They had to be red, not pink.
How cute is this, Grandma Folsom and Maycie picking raspberries together, totally brings back memories. However, truth be told I did not enjoy picking like Maycie did, I used to evade this chore like no other.

Janie Girl!

Our little Jane is 20 months old today. It seems strange but tis' true. We can hardly call her baby Jane anymore. We finally got a new camera, our other has been on the blitz for awhile now. This afternoon I followed Jane around and tried to capture her little personality with our new camera. After just about every meal Jane comes back to help 'clean up'. She likes to eat the lefts overs, over and over again. She is my motivation to clean up quickly after meals. Here she is with a cob of corn after dinner tonight. She is my best eater to date!

Jane likes to point. She often will come to me and complain in her jibber jabbers about what one of her siblings is doing and she points to the culprit as she rats them out. It is pretty darn cute. She says lots of words. The word she says the most lately is OW. She often says it then comes to me to kiss her fingers. I hear ow about fifty times a day and it doesn't get old, it is cute every time. When asked what a cat says she replies " OOOOWWWW"! It is hands down her word as of late.
Kevin likes cookies and he especially likes Chocolate No-Bake cookies. He made some today. We typically sit with spoons and eat them before they have time to set up, we have no patience when it comes to sweets. Jane decided to for go the spoon today.

After eating 'trough style' she stood up and put her foot in a cookie. That was no problem for her she just ate if off of her foot. We were all dying laughing as we watched her.
Jane loves music and lately her favorite song has been 'The Dance' by Garth Brookes. She can be howling and Kevin starts to sing that song and she instantly stops and cuddles into his arms. It is a magical song. I should get it on video, you have to witness it to appreciate its effect.

Usually with the other kids by the time the youngest was 20 months old I am six months pregnant. It has been nice to really enjoy this age without being sick with a pregnancy.

When I was pregnant with Jane I had placenta previa and so there was high risk issues we were dealing with. During this time I asked Kevin for a blessing. This is something that is done in our church. It is where he places his hands upon my head and speaks a blessing. He blessed me that all would go fine with the pregnancy, that the doctors would do what they needed to in order to avoid problems and he also blessed that the new child would be a joy to our family. Jane has truly been a little joy to our family, collectively and individually. We are so happy to have her.

My Right Hand

When I first told my mother that my first born would be a girl she told me to train her up well and she will be my right hand. After having ten kids and her first being a girl I supposed she knew what she was talking about. Two years passed and Nelson joined our family. I could not for a second leave Maycie alone with Nelson, she would try to roll him off the couch or bed. She would attempt to harm him in many ways. One of the difficult thing each day was keeping the new little guy safe.

I did not then see any reality in my mothers statment at that time. But lately I see from time to time how a firstborn girl becomes a 'mother hen' at times and mimics exactly what she is seeing. Below is Maycie doing one of her chores, folding towels. She is meticulous at this task. Perhaps there is truth to my mother's words!

Hello Summer, Good Bye Spring!

In looking back on a few of the undocumented things we did this spring, I am gratiful for my little family. I am also gratiful for Summer, oh how I have missed you!

We enjoyed a visit from my niece Britney. While she was here we did some Seattle sight seeing including the troll under the bridge! We had never been to see this fellow before and the kids were in aww at the man. Understandable so!

Below are easter pics that I am finally posting.

Trying to get a good easter egg hunt pic, but not so successful.
Jane enjoyed the excitment along side of the other kids. We did a hunt at home and one at a friends house.

My sweet Maycie girl. She is a sweet little thing. The other day I said "I love you Maycie" and her reply was " And I love Daddy!" She is something else. Yes, mood y at times but sweet none the less. She is my little observer. She doesn't miss much or forget anything. She can tell me all about events I have long forgotten that occured three years ago, when you are five that is impressive to me!