a new blog

I've started a new blog and it's starts out with a bang! It has what we hope to do in the next four years posted, so hop on over and take a look! The title definitely gives you a hint!

http://onetravelingwoman.blogspot.com/

Update:

Well it seems as if that was the peak....shhhhhh though, I do still have 7 more days left of March and I don't want to jinx them!

I did end up making bread, to my kids joy. They informed me that they didn't like store bought bread anymore, "It doesn't fill us up!" That was nice, but it does put a little pressure on.... I thought I'd trick them and buy Texas bread the last time I ran short of home made bread and time. But do you know what that costs!!!!!! Yikes! So I not only got two loaves made last week, which lasted two days...... I got four loaves made last night, which are looking like they too will only last two days! I know the math doesn't work on that......but it is my reality.

I did end up reactivating my BB and I am LOVING IT! I couldn't get my headset to revive and was literally heading towards the garbage with it, when a little voice told me to plug it in. Wahla! We had lights! I'm almost crying, just thinking of my joy upon those lights coming on! So I have my much loved phone and headset back.

Max has settled down some. And we have come to realize that he was most likely in sugar withdrawal. We embarked on a sugar free adventure last fall. We spent aprox. 40 days sugar and corn syrup free. No store bought bread, hamburger buns, hot dog buns or ketchup, mayo or ranch dressing. No jam. If it had sugar or corn syrup as part of it's make up, it didn't enter our mouth. We used honey and maple syrup instead.

Then we let up and we could eat what ever we wanted outside of the house, then the holidays hit and we ate what ever we wanted, regardless of where it was!! About half way through the holiday season, Collin remarked that next holiday season we were NOT going to back to sugar. Max was that bad on sugar and that noticeable different off of sugar.

It took us all of Jan. and Feb to stop having misc. sugar laying around. But by March it was all out of the house, just in time to have cake and ice cream for Jayden's birthday! But we had the cake and ice cream and then we were done. At this time we have almost no sugar in the house.

What we do have is corn syrup in our ketchup and I think our ranch dressing and sugar in our mayo....these three things are the only items we have not been able to keep out. Mostly because so far we haven't found an acceptable substitute for everybody. We also are still consuming the freezer jam that my Mom made last summer. We have also given it to some friends and will probably give some more away. But once it's gone, it's gone. We use jam that is made with just fruit (read expensive) or use apple butter (read not so expensive!).

But I digress. Max is a very different child off of sugar and dairy and so we are working hard to keep him off of it! The rest of us have felt the positive changes in ourselves also and so keeping sugar out of the house isn't as hard as it could be. In fact we made it through Valentine's Day with no candy entering the house and the request has come in for no sugar in the Easter Baskets. They would like Lego's or something else along those lines. I'm so happy.

I think part of the reason the kids are at ease with it, is that we have worked with them so that they listen to their own bodies and know what feels good and what doesn't. We also are not telling them no/never. We are asking them to moderate themselves and to listen to themselves. So if they are at a party and want the sugar items, then they have them. (although I've started to become pretty strict with Max, it really does make him a Monster and we all can see it)

I think it helps that they've also had to learn to listen to their bodies due to the dairy sensitivities they all have to varying degrees. A few of them get ear infections and Than and I have ear aches if we over indulge. And so I've taught them to be aware of what they are eating and how it affects them.

Back to Max, who is sleeping peacefully next to me, while I type away on Brent's laptop. My friend Lissa said I needed to point out that not only was he better for the field trip, he was an angel. Because she followed him around all day and he didn't have to keep up with us. She was perfectly willing to just let him do what he wanted and he was so happy with it. She more than made up for not watching him all those years, that day. By allowing the rest of us to do what we wanted without dragging Max along to keep up! He was an absolute gem that day.

He's done much better this last few days, just crossing my fingers he keeps it up!

The cats are still having issues. Currently Mom's cat is isolated in her own room, but this morning I caught one of our male cats peeing on a garbage sack in the office, it was on the floor, waiting to go out. So now I don't know if it's just him or if it's him and the other females or if it's everybody!!!! I am glad I canceled the vet apt. yesterday for two of the females. Can you imagine how I'd feel today, having seen him do that!! I'd be so mad! So now I'm brainstorming ideas for isolating the cats and seeing just who is peeing outside the litter boxes, besides him!

Happy is just fine. He generally is after a seizure. This last one was just a lot longer than others he's had and it had some differences about it, that made me worry while we were in the middle of it. But now he's back to normal and he may or may not have another one. We just don't know what triggers them for him and we may never know. I'm just thankful that they are infrequent and that he's otherwise healthy.

So there you have it. Just thought you might like a positive update. I am surviving my life and it does seem to be looking up for the moment!

Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Only it's my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad MONTH! The animal drama has continued, on a lesser scale, but it's still there.....

Cat(s) peed on my recipe notebook, that I left open on my kitchen counter, so I would be inspired to actually cook a meal for my poor neglected children. There was dog throw up in the hall, this morning....and did you know it's invisible to all but a mom's eye. I think that could be marketed, you know, something like chocolate that only a mom could see?

Max spent the morning screaming and yelling and not listening to us. So I tried to get him down for a nap, for two hours.....the good thing is that the younger boy's clothes are all put away nicely and I can walk across their bedroom floor without stepping on legos...... He never did go to sleep, round two is this afternoon.

That was just today and it's only noon!

I've had other cat spots. It's not an every day thing, just often enough to catch me off balance. And lets not forget the diarrhea that was found on the floor and then I had to go check cat butts. And did I find anything for my effort? NO! The barn is looking better and better.

Yesterday Happy had a seizure of such length and oddity that I started to think this was it and he was dying in my arms. He hasn't had one in a long time, like maybe last summer was the last one?

Today I changed my laundry out and found that my blue tooth headset, that cost more than I'm willing to admit, is all nice and shiny clean......here's hoping it drys out and works again.... It's not just a phone headset, I can also listen to my music through it. You can't just do that with any blue tooth headset, thus the price. So I really, really hope it drys out. Please baby, be ok.......

Because guess what......I FOUND my phone. Yep. It only took 14 days, but I found it. Well ok, maybe stumbled upon it would be a better description. It was in our four drawer filing cabinet, that is reserved for very occasional filing and tax paper work. Evidently I had opened the drawer on the 1st and set my phone down on top of the files.

That was a good thing. But then it incited all kinds of mind drama. The phone is a Blackberry. For the uninitiated, a Blackberry (BB) allows you to get your email on it, and respond to said email, also it has pretty nifty tools, like calendaring, music programs and list making. You can browse the internet and access websites that you find you want while away from your computer. There are lots of other apps, otherwise known as programs for your phone, that can be helpful or amusing. I use it A LOT. However, it's $25 a month for the privilege of having it all in one place.

We dropped our phone bill by $20 by lowering our minutes. And then because I had lost the BB, I replaced it with a regular phone, after I tried another BB. It wasn't the same model and I just couldn't bear it. It made me miss my BB to much. So that was another $25 saved, for a total of $45!

Well now, that was pretty impressive to me! We're serious about paying off our consumer debts and every little bit helps!

The mind drama is that I keep arguing with myself over the dang phone. I really, really miss my BB. A LOT! But I really like the savings and really a BB is NOT a need. And on and on I go. Brent told me twice yesterday to just go back to the BB. So I guess that's what I'm going to do.....maybe.....I have to decide tonight or tomorrow. The current phone drops too many calls for me to keep it. I have 30 days to exchange my phone for different one, that's US Cellular's guarantee. I could get a different, better brand phone that wouldn't cost me $25 a month to have....... I could.............I think I can..........I think I can.......... Talk about wasted energy, MAKE UP MY MIND ALREADY!!

Also in the last two weeks on the negative side.....Max ran away from us deliberately in the store and stayed hidden long enough that I was headed up front to tell them I lost my child. We didn't know he was doing it deliberately, so we were starting to envision him having been kidnapped.

Jayden went to the bathroom and came out holding our toilet seat and lid....that was the same day as Max running away. And it was Saturday night, so we spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with out a seat on that toilet. I'd start to head into that bathroom and remember..... We don't shop on Sunday, and I wasn't going anywhere Monday or Tuesday that I could do something about getting a seat. Brent was very kind and bought one last night when his meeting got canceled and he installed it last night too. Such a wonderful guy.

Last week I messed up our checking account and had to pull money out of our emergency fund to the tune of $1500 to fix the account......

I think maybe I should go back to bed and avoid the rest of the day. I see a pattern of things continuing to go wrong, once they start......

On the positive side.....we paid off $11000+ and closed out a line of credit. Collin got braces last week, and we paid cash for them up front , something we usually have to make payments on. I had the $1500 available to take care of the mistake and I didn't incur any overdraft fees!

Brent's working an outage and so his overtime is replacing the money I used without impacting our regular monthly stuff. This is huge, if I had done the mistakes any other time of the year, we'd be hurting!

Collin and Lee both started lessons this month. Lee is doing guitar and Collin is doing voice, both with the same teacher. Jayden started piano this month and he turned 8!

I found my motivation again and have been making progress on spring cleaning/decluttering.

And so far we haven't strangled any of our animals.........or Max.........just kidding.

We had an incident in the first week of this month with him.....it was a close run thing. He was so out of control that every one noticed and was frustrated with him. His brothers ignore him to some extent, but there was no ignoring him that day. I had to stop the car repeatedly to deal with him and I threatened him with staying home the next day when everyone was going on a field trip.

My friend, Lissa was coming to stay the night, along with her son. That way we could get an early start as where we were going was a couple hours away. I mentioned that she was coming so she wouldn't have to drive and she wouldn't be thrilled to find out she was driving everyone but me and Max to the field trip.

One of the boys said that Lissa could stay home and watch Max. I replied, "Lissa will only watch Max if I provide a roll of duct tape to use on him, and I've resisted using duct tape on him for 6 years and I'm not going to start using it now!" True story. Max was so difficult to keep track of as a toddler that Lissa really did refuse to watch him, and I completely understood!

Now I'm off to make bread....I hope.....I'm having kitchen challenges too. As in it's a challenge for me to enter it and actually cook/bake something. I just am resisting it with every fiber I have right now, and I don't understand it.....

animal drama part two

Animals 8 to Humans 7:

That's the days we have had issues to the days we have not had issues in the last two weeks!! Including the horse fencing issues we had with Casper. And I didn't even count all the fun of worming by hand a flock of 60+ chickens on Sat. I will just say it was a family affair, everyone had a part to do.

Monday evening, I let the dogs in, sit back down to fold laundry and Briston comes in and lifts his leg against the wall under the window!!

It took me a few seconds to realize that I was actually hearing him pee!!!!!! We have never had him go in the house. So I was a bit shocked. Than said he hadn't been in bugging him and he certainly did not come tell me he wanted out, he just walked in and peed.

Tuesday morning I got up to a chunk of roast by my door. I found out later that Brent stepped on it.....eewwww. He didn't know what it was, it was 4am and DARK in the hall. So he threw a paper towel on it.

We keep a roll upstairs for this reason, well not because we find roasts outside our door, but because it seems to be a popular place for the animals to throw up at. I think they're going for that gross factor of stepping in it at 1am and having it squish through your toes......TMI?

I realized of course that one of the dogs must have picked the roast out of the sink, where it and two other pieces of meat were thawing.

I had heard Happy in the hallway last night and thought he wanted in our room, so I let him in. Can you imagine his thoughts all night after I let him in our room.....and he laid next to the door smelling that roast all night!!! Serves him right.....

When I get down stairs it's obvious that the other roast and package of steak has been consumed by Briston, who was nowhere to be seen. I was afraid to look on the porch, in case Brent had taken him off somewhere and disposed of him!!!

Brent told me later he couldn't find Briston at first and that Briston didn't come when he called (can you blame him.....). Brent tracked him down to the game room with the air hockey table and fooz ball table, he was hiding under one of the tables and still wouldn't come to Brent. (Brent wasn't yelling or anything, he was pretty calm, or so he says......)

Briston did come out eventually and Brent said he calmly put him on the porch. I was proud of Brent, I'm afraid I would have quietly strangled him and told the kids that he'd run away!

Both dogs have gotten bad about getting into the garbage and taking things of the counter and it is partly our fault as we haven't been proactive about it at this point, other than to confine them to the porch when we're gone and never leave food out they can get to.

I was concerned that this was the last straw for Brent regarding Briston. So when I peeked on the porch he was there, thankfully, I think....

And yes we did leave the meat in the sink, but we've never had them disturb other meat we've done that with. They were just waiting for the mother lode of meat.......

And of course did he eat the meat on the kitchen floor where it would be nice and easy to clean up.....NOOOO he eats it on the ONLY carpeting on the main floor! So I got to spend some time getting blood out/off the carpet, along with drool.....lots of drool.....

Luckily I have learned the trick of using hydrogen proxide to remove blood and we got a small green machine like cleaner to combat pet spots and boy was that money well spent. The carpet cleaned up pretty easily, just took some time to get everything, cause of course he didn't eat it in one small spot, he spread it around a bit.....

I have to say they spent most of Tuesday on the porch or in the yard. I felt too much like kicking them, every time I saw them......

Wednesday I go out to feed horses to find that the ponies have decided I was late (I was an hour behind that morning) and figured out that they could help themselves to all of the remaining treats in the bag and some of the treats in the bins. They ate a large portion of the hay next to the door and in general made a mess. I think they pulled the door open.... I don't think it was left open.....and yes that is being fixed, it has a temp fix, but I don't trust it too last, so Brent will be doing a better fix on Sat.

Then when I went to do laundry I had to ask why there were two beds worth of bedding, I knew that one was from Jayden's bed, turns out the other was from Dandelion having thrown up and having diarrhea on Collin's bed!

Later in the day I go to get my Cub Scout stuff ready and find that some cat has peed in my CS box. Which is the fourth time in a week I've found a place that a cat has gone somewhere other than a litter box.

We have two different kinds of litter boxes on each floor.....I've switched up litter boxes, added litter boxes, taken litter boxes, I am just so done with this.....I am thinking we're gonna have five barn cats come spring. Our two females have never reliably gone in the litter box and I just don't get it.....we've put a lot of effort into getting them to do it.....

Oh and I mustn't forget the two dog throw ups that contained bone from the previous day's feast........where upon I felt like kicking a dog or two again......

Today it was pretty minor so far, just that my jeans got knocked off the hook in the bathroom and some CAT peed on them....so that makes the fifth time this week.....

Oh and wait....can't forget about the "phantom" pee in the kitchen the other morning.....it didn't smell like cat, and it was a small puddle, so I'm thinking it was the cocker, however, he had gone straight out to the yard, so I don't know WHEN he had a chance to do it!!! He almost had to squat and pee as he came through on the way to the door. I just don't know.....

It's like they are plotting and planning behind my back to methodically take me out! All I can say is that it's all out war now.....

And to cap off Monday/Tuesday, I lost my phone Monday night and STILL have not found it as of Thursday.....it's a wonder I got up this morning..........I think I'll be drooling on the floor soon and Briston can clean it up this time!

animal drama part one

Sunday-

5:45am- try to ignore the cat fight in the hall, hope that it doesn't stir up the dogs

5:50am- of course now that I'm awake, now I have to pee..... Get up, dogs take that as the signal to get excited about breakfast....yes, at 5:50am. (should I mention that they don't even lift a HEAD when Brent gets up!!!! They don't even look at him, but if I get up, they're dancing at my feet and heaven help me if I sleep in past 6:30, cause then they're dancing at my door and wrestling each other and banging off the walls......)

5:55am- stagger down the stairs, shushing dogs, telling them to go lay down.....watching Briston (the Saint Bernard) stagger into one wall, then another, cause he's just so excited about the prospect of FOOD. Have you ever had a 130 lb dog bounce off your walls at 6am? It's LOUD!!! He was just wiggling all over, he was so happy.....and he just literally bounced down the hallway off the walls.

6:10am- ok, ok....I'll let you out, all four of you.....we're dog sitting two dogs, Trooper a border collie mix, and Nigel a cocker spaniel. As I open the outside door to let them all back in, I watch the mini horse, Casper, come to the two strand gate from his pasture into our barn yard area. We've been having issues with him getting out, thought we had it under control. Seems like he's staying where he belongs...

6:15am- I might as well feed you, I'm now wide awake. Feed our two on the porch, feed Trooper and Nigel in the kitchen and living room. Can't separate Trooper entirely from the dogs, as he will not eat then and at this point I think he's eaten twice since we got him Wed. night, really don't want to turn him back over to his owners underweight! Can't leave him and Nigel alone to eat, they'll eat each others food, not to mention that Nigel doesn't LIKE to share and tells Trooper that.

As I stand there one eye on them, one eye on Casper out the kitchen window......there goes Casper, right through the bottom strand of the gate. Ok....breathe......he didn't go very far last time he got out.....he'll probably be fine until these guys get done eating......continue to watch, Casper goes out of sight......breathe, he'll probably be right back, surely he won't leave his herd mates...... Callie, his best friend lowers her head and looks like she's going under the gate!!!! ACK!!!!!! If she goes, I have a chase on my hands......as long as he doesn't have a buddy to run with, he won't go very far, if he has a buddy, who knows where they'll stop?!!!

6:20am- frantically throw on boots and a coat, run out the door. Casper is clear around the garage and headed out into the big wide open farm fields next to us!!! No wonder Callie was thinking of breaking out!!! She wanted some adventure too. Get to the barn door to get a halter and realize that I left Trooper and Nigel unsupervised!!!!!!!!

6:25am- Callie is in the barn safe, phew....get a hold of Casper, he's safe. Now what? On Friday, (when he busted out the first AND second time) we put them back into the pig pen, which was where they had lived until we moved them in with our horses. But we couldn't let them out into the paddock attached to that pen, as they had previously torn up the fence between our horses and them, and we hadn't gotten it fixed well enough to hold up to horses on both sides pawing at it.

So we left them inside over night, until we could fix that part of the fence. The next morning when Than went out to feed, they had bent over the 32 inch hog panel so far they went over it and were loose in the barn. We thought we had the fence problem solved, so we let them back out, Sat. morning. He stayed in the ENTIRE day, no worries. Did I mention he stayed in the ENTIRE day? Just wanted to make sure you got that part......

Back to 6:30 Sunday morning- I put them into the 4 foot hog panel pen that we used for the goats, but I realize that Callie can still get her head over the "gate" which is a pallet wired to the posts and actually can also get her head over the panels too. Which means she can lean on them until they bend/break away too........

I didn't have anywhere else to put them, so into the goat pen they went and into the house went I. And wonderfully, there was no blood shed. Nigel was very happily eating Trooper's food and vice versa. Although Happy almost had his blood shed as he had barked (on the porch, because he was stuck there and didn't want to be there) the entire time I was in the barn and I could hear him in the barn (so of course anyone in the house can hear him) and when I got on the porch I wanted to ring his neck. Did I mention that EVERYONE else in the house was still sleeping and really needed to sleep as we had been up late watching the Olympics!!!!

I got Brent up and he hot wired the two strands for the gate, they are a heavy spiral wire (think heavy duty slinky about 10 feet long) and they aren't part of the hot wire fence line, so he had to construct a way to connect them. We let the little monst....., I mean ponies back out, and off we went to church holding our breath.

It looks like he found out it is hot, because all he did was look at it when we went out to see him after church, he didn't come up to it or try to mouth it, which I saw him do on Friday. He stayed in ALL day Sunday, after that. The ENTIRE rest of the day....for some reason devious comes to mind when I think of him now....

Monday 4:45pm- driving home from art co-op, hey look Casper is out! Grrrrr.....much swearing under my breath...... decide to get the mail at Saxonburg, anyway......come back and hey where did he go?!!!!!!! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, WHERE COULD HE POSSIBLY WANT TO GO?!!!

Oh phew......he's back in with the other horses.......park the burb, get out and hey look there's a note in our door handle......why look..... it says that at 4:30pm there was a white pony out on BB, sticking close to our house.......now whose pony could that be......

5pm- back into the goat pen with them, page Brent, consult the tracks in the fresh snow (thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for snow that morning, I could tell exactly where he had gotten out!!!!!) consult Brent on fencing strategies, decide that Brent can deal with it when he gets home.......

7:30pm- the fence is lowered in many places and the ponies are once again let out.....here's hoping Casper stays in. Thank goodness I am HOME almost the entire day and that Than IS home the entire day, so we can monitor him. Of course his staying in for an ENTIRE day proves NOTHING right now........but one can hope. And laugh, really hard.....a day or two later.....maybe.....

guess who had a birthday today!!???

OK.......it wasn't him. He made the awesome, super duper cake! And no the My Little Pony wasn't Brent's bday gift. He used it for a model for the cake. Didn't he do awesome! Can you guess whose bday yet.......


Here's a close up of the eye. Yes, that really is a heart in the eye, the model has one also.....did I mention how awesome Brent is!!


However the bday boy was less than impressed, he has officially watched WAY too much "Cake Boss", a cable show that we all love. He repeatedly told us that he wanted a cake by the "Boss", and of course we repeatedly told him it wasn't going to happen....evidently that didn't sink in.

He did eventually come around and praise his Daddy's effort and tell him that he was happy with the cake.....boy is he one spoiled boy. I told him he was lucky to have a Dad that could pull it off that well and he sure didn't have a Mom that could do that and that not just everybody has a parent that can do what Brent does!

So we had cake and ice cream, pepperment ice cream. Yum. Yum. It's a good thing his Grandma's love him, he got cards from them and Lee made him a card and a gave him a few small gifts. That was it. Our gift to him, is to go skiing again. And again, he didn't totally believe that he wouldn't have an actual gift to open, even though we told him, again and again. But Lee took pity on him and wrapped a few small items he had, that he knew Max would like. What a great big brother!

We also went sledding and swimming last night. AND, he's old enough to sit in the hot tub, now! He was so excited! Up till now he's had to just dip his toes in.


And just for the heck of it.....(cause who knows when I'll get around to another post, I'm already risking heart attacks by posting two in one month!!!) this is what Lee did with our poetry words and other misc. magnet shapes on our fridge...I like it.......

don't faint...but it really is a post.....

I told the kids we couldn't decorate for Christmas until the living room was painted....as I didn't want to put the living room back together and then take it back apart to paint. It's been torn apart for a few months now..... So we pushed, all of us pushed, and got it painted in the last week.

All five boys....at one time........well ok, it was three paint rollers and one paint brush, so only four boys.....all painting at the same time.....yes, really. It would have been all five, but I didn't have enough pieces to have all five at one time. So they rotated.

Anyway the final result was so worth it. We LOVE how it turned out. This first picture is of the boys FINALLY getting to decorate the tree this year. (we still have plastic on the carpet in the background, I'm still painting some other stuff...)


Lee decorated this window with our stuffed snowmen...

The brown is called chewy caramel, the white (which was supposed to have a hint of tan in it), footprints.....

Lee is putting the nativity scene up on the piano. The boys are so happy to have the piano back where it belongs!

Our three living room windows.....

AND.....we have NEW living room furniture coming....well new to us and it was generously given to us by a ward member. It's a medium size sectional and it's about four years old, but looks brand new. No pets, no children......we'll fix that....... We're hoping to get it tomorrow night.

big dogs

I didn't get good pictures of the big dogs....but here is what I got. Here is the first sign that we have several LARGE dogs in the house...... a 3 gallon bucket, that had to be filled twice daily..... And the towel is in indication that two of the dogs drool..... a lot..........

And here they are........minus Nicki that is 390 lbs of dog sitting there. With Nicki we had 400 lbs of dog running through the house!!

The Reservoir

I'm at a hospital getting to indulge my new baby desire to my heart's content! Courtney had her baby yesterday evening and I've been staying at the hospital to help her out, so that her hubby can go home and be with the kids. His Mom is staying with them, too.

Anthony Joshua arrived yesterday at 6:35pm weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz and is 21 inches long. I arrived about 45 mins after he did and it was perfect timing. She was just done getting cleaned up and so was AJ!

No waiting around wondering when that baby was going to come! It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from my house to hers and when I left things were just getting moving for her, so I did not expect that she'd be all done by the time I got there!!

I'll be here until tomorrow and if all is going well, I'll head home when she leaves the hospital tomorrow. I'm also here to help with the breastfeeding as she's previously left the hospital with cracked and bleeding nipples and we don't want that! So far we're doing ok there.

The following pictures are from our trip to UT in July. We headed to the reservoir on Thursday, despite the cold and rainy weather. It was our only day to swim and it was the only day the TOYS were going to be there! Pam's (Pam is my sis-in-law, married to Brent's brother Merrill), sister's husband's uncle.....still with me.......let them bring their sea-doos down and let us play with them. The older boys had a lot of fun on them, but the younger boys were done very quickly. Did I mention rain and cold weather?

Brent and his sister actually left with two cars full of kids after being there a short time as the younger kids were really miserable very quickly.

Here is Pam's sister with Aubrey and Collin.


Collin really enjoyed his ride!

It's hard to see here, but his smile is a mile wide!

Than went out once or twice, but that was enough for him.....did I mention wet and cold weather?

guess who went shopping today!

We went to the Scout Shop today and the boys got their scout shirts. They were so excited! Scouts has been on hold since we moved from De Pere and I've heard about it off and on from them. There has been much rejoicing now that they are back at it.

They put on their own patches and after that they wore their shirts and stuff for a couple of hours! I had to bite my tongue, I really wanted them to just hang them up! And then of course they wanted to work on merit badge stuff, so they were outside doing, who knows what with the shirts on, of course....although I do know they were teaching Lee knots at one point. And NO I did NOT get a picture of that. But I did get these pictures.

Than

Collin

All three of them

Lee, who really was much more excited than this picture portrays!

I'm riding twice a day!!! Well ok.....I AM riding twice a day, but it's because somewhere along the way Nebby shed a brain cell or two...... We fenced an entire hay field in at the cabin, aprox. 10 acres. No moving fences this year!! Yeah!

Take the horses over, they of course are thrilled with fresh grass and we have no problems, until dark.

They are pacing the fence and the bugs are bad, so I go home, get the fly spray, come back and they are GONE, not in the pasture and the fence is down. Did I mention it was DARK. Brent found them, they hadn't gone far, not that I thought they would. They were by the back door to the cabin.

Sooooo I got to ride Nebby home, ponying Leo, who by the way has never appreciated previous attempts to pony. (ponying being the act of leading one horse while you ride on another horse.) They did fine, even with headlights and all. Thankfully there was a pretty full moon and it was out.

So, Brent rewires the fence, and gets the electric box on it, I hadn't thought they'd test the fence for a few days, all that grass you know.... We take them back yesterday.... They spend the ENTIRE day in one spot eating clover heads. What a life.

Evening we go to check on them and they are at the fence again, we settle them back down with more fly spray and some grain. Walk away to check my bees, come back and they are at it again..... So I rode them home, and rode them back this morning. If I have to do this for the next three months I was hoping to keep them on that pasture I will be in great shape. Because then I ride a bike home!!

I am feeling my riding muscles as we trot/canter most of the way. My legs are screaming at me by the time I hit the half mile mark, when I ride the bike home. I have to drag myself down the driveway. It's a wonder I can walk when I get off the bike! Did I mention I could probably use the exercise?

I've gotten lucky so far and haven't had to ride over to the cabin, that's uphill and yes it's more a rise than a hill but it's UP, I'd probably have to stop half way or something!! Good thing the doc just gave me new, good meds this week.

And Mom said I should blog about the dogs, so there I blogged about the dogs.....missed it, well I just wrote a sentence about them, didn't I??!!! Probably not what she meant.......

I have to take pictures for you to really get a visual on the situation...... But I guess I could get a little more detailed here. One 135lb St. Bernard, one 115 Newfoundland, one 90 lb Labradoodle, one aprox. 50 lb Australian Collie, and one 10 lb terrier cross, is it becoming a little clearer now? Pictures soon, really I'll try hard.....

The Newfoundland and Collie are here for the weekend. A five day weekend I just realized, so ummmm they're here for a week..... that seems a little overwhelming now.....

Temple Square

From the Timpangos, we went to Salt Lake City to see Temple Square. The boys had not been before and they really enjoyed it. We also went out to dinner at a restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Building, that was fun! The boys really enjoyed it.

Here we all pose in front of the Christus. We also viewed a movie about Joseph Smith, it was very moving for us all.





And this is what happens to 10 yr olds at the end of a long, physical day of hiking and walking!

Timpanogas Cave

On Wed. Merrill and Pam let us know that they were headed to Timpanogas Cave. I had no idea what it was, but it sounded good! I heard it was a stiff hike up to it, but you know I'd done that hike in AZ up to the Indian runes, so no worries right!! Riiiggghhttt.....


Here Jayden and Max pose next to the sign.



When you go to the cave you have to buy tickets and then hike up to the cave by your scheduled time. Only 20 people are allowed to go through at a time, and guess what we were 13 just by our selves, and then Pam had family coming. So we had to buy tickets for a tour a couple hours out. We spent some of our waiting time looking at the river the runs through the canyon below the cave. Here are the guys.



With this gang fishing is always on the mind around water! Here Brent points out several likely holes to Collin.

Finally we get to start up. They give you a start time, to keep foot track controlled on the pathway up. They give you an hour and a half.....piece of cake! Riiigghhhttt........ Here Brent, Than and Collin pause to read the sign that talks about the different layers of stone we'll see.

When you go into a cave you're headed into temps of around 60 degrees usually. So you might need a jacket, especially if you're going from 80 plus to 60 degrees! Here Brent carries the pack containing jackets and water bottles for all of our family.

Here's a clue that it wasn't an easy hike up! Yes it really was that steep at times. And that red line isn't there to show you which side is your side.....it's to warn you not to stop at that point, as a rock slide could happen and you'd be in the pathway!

THANK GOODNESS!! Somebody decided it was worth it to put a bathroom at the end of that 1 1/2 hr hike!! From here there is another short hike to the entrance, here Lee points to it.

I turned the camera over to Collin while I used the facilities and this was one of the pictures he took, not to shabby!

Lee, Collin, Carsten and I think Aubrey and I all arrived first. Carsten led the way, the entire way up and down. In the picture below I took a picture of Brent coming up behind us, and it gives an idea of the switchbacks we hiked!

Here's a look down the canyon from the top of the hike. Did I mention it was a tough hike..... That is a long way down and we went almost straight up, using switchbacks most of the way.

My camera isn't set up for taking pictures in the dark, so no cave pictures, sorry. But the boys and I have now been through several caves in three different states and we've enjoyed them all. This was Brent's second cave with us. We went through with only one other family, so it was a nice cozy group. Here is the exit area out of the cave. This picture drives home all much the boys have really grown, especially Than and Collin. Brent is standing downhill a little bit, Than really isn't taller than him......yet......

And then we got to hike down......so we thought, first you have to go up a bit to get around to where the entrance trail is. Did I mention there were very few barriers between the trail and the cliffs!!

Here we're still on the exit trail and that's valley down below us. Did I mention we were up a ways? In the picture is Brent, Lee in red, our nephew Carsten in green, Jayden in stripes and Max in the black shirt. And yes he fit right in. A large amount of the grand kids have blond hair and blue eyes, making them look like they could go with just about any of the family!

I stayed behind to take a picture of the next group, and so did Lee. Here is our niece Aubrey and then Collin. Merrill about had a heart attack over this picture. Aubrey kept getting closer and closer to the edge and looked like she was going to go over.....it was a little nerve wracking for a second!

Did I mention it was steep?


Here is Merrill and Lauren. Lauren and Than formed a bond very quickly and he was always on hand to help with her the rest of our visit.

Than was so great, he also packed a backpack for Merrill, as Merrill had the baby the whole hike.


And what do you get after a 3 hr hike straight up and straight down...... One very, very tired five year old!! He didn't even make it to the Wendy's at the entrance of the canyon area. He was out! We drove up to Salt Lake City after hiking the caves and he slept the entire way.

We had such a good time on this hike and are so happy Merrill and Pam invited us to go along. We rarely make time to "sight see" when we visit family and obviously we need to do that.

Oak City Canyon

On Tuesday we went "up the canyon". Brent has really fond memories of going "up the canyon" growing up and had mentioned when we were traveling that he would like to take the boys to Oak City Canyon. So it was really great and just one of those moments when we found out the plan was to go to the canyon on Tuesday. We decided that the boys should go fishing while we were there. And we had lunch there too.

Here Brent and Merrill get the poles ready. With the boys eagerly looking on.

I think Max shadowed Brent the entire time he was fishing! He loves to fish.

Oak Creek Canyon is a campground. It has individual campgrounds and large group campgrounds. When we went up we used one of the group ones, we were the only ones up there and it was great.

Sharleen brought up some board games and the kids enjoyed some great games with her and each other. They started with Mexican Train.

Sharleen told us when she was a teenager they would all drive up to the campground, turn on their radios and have a dance. Jay said he would just park on a back street in Delta and turn on the radio and dance with Sharleen. It was fun to hear the stories of their youth! In the picture below they would park towards the back right side of the parking lot.

The Trip

Ohhhhhoooohhhh...... You wanted posts about the TRIP......well.....ok...... I guess I could give ya those......

We did indeed have a very, very good trip to UT. We left June 28th an hour ahead of schedule! Mom has already posted some great pictures of that over on her WI Snapshots blog. We had a great trip there.

Brent decided to have us drive straight through. The energy it takes to unpack and pack a family of 7 takes as much energy as just driving straight through the night! The only reason we could do it was because Brent handles sleep deprivation well! I only have to spell him for a few hrs and he does the rest.

The boys did really well, no fighting, everyone was cheerful and happy to be on the road. The trip home was a complete 180 from that, but I get ahead of myself.....

So we got to UT Monday afternoon and it was SUCH a relief to be DONE driving for a bit! We got there a bit earlier than anyone expected, so that was fun!! The boys were very happy to be set free!

Further posts will have pictures....I really did take them.....I promise!

Fishing!

So the boys got fishing poles for Easter, wasn't that cool.....don't they look neat hanging on the wall......

So yeah.....we did finally take them fishing..... Here Brent walks Jayden and Max through casting.


You are very lucky to have any pictures for this post. My inclination was to stay home and avoid the whole scene of five boys and five poles all with sharp hooks on the end! I did cave in the end and go, the boys wanted me there after all. Then I even managed to not cover my eyes or hide in the car!!

Here Jayden throws out his line.

He was a happy camper to be fishing finally!

Here is a wide shot of the pond they fished in. We went to our great friend's home and fished out of their pond.

Max shows off his technique. And look I even managed to keep my eyes open again! He stops my heart when he has a fishing pole in his hands!

And of course he was one of the only two who caught a fish that night! Boy was he thrilled! Although Daddy had to take it off the hook and throw it back in, Max wasn't going to touch it!

At the end of the night, Brent got to fish in peace and quiet as the boys all got cold and went indoors.