Julyful month

The month has been crazy!

Independence day,Scout camp, a baptism, potty-training and another ambulatory member of the family!

Scout camp for the scouts in our ward was up at Lassen National Volcanic Park, July 14-19. I am the scoutmaster, so it was my privilege to take the Highlands ward scouts to the stake sponsored camp. Had a great time. Hiked 2 miles up Mount Lassen (2.5 mile hike). Saw a few deer, many chipmunks, birds, some finicky fish. We took a hike to a geothermal site called Bumpass Hell. Here is a picture overlooking the site from the trail above. http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/photographs450/bah.jpg
You really have to be there to appreciate the scene and the smell.:) Saw a bear on the walk too! It was about 20' from us when we noticed it, walking through the woods and didn't care about us at all. It had very long sunbleached fur, kind of like the one here: http://www.blue-moon.ca/digital/P102-2948.jpg

Rachel was baptized on the 20th, along with her cousin Joshua Bunting at the Auburn stake center. Each were baptized and confirmed by their fathers. It was great to have the family and some friends together for the event.
Rachel: I was very happy when I came up!

Christopher has started using the toilet. All the good times and bad times that could could possibly be associated with that process are part of our family right now. He has done very well at church, though.

Aaron is taking steps on his own! He is up to nine by himself. He tends to fall when walking from parent to parent because he knows we will catch him. But when he has something he is interested in he is much more stable. I wish we had a helmet we could put on him to protect his face from his many falls.

I've been making some modifications to our charcoal grill this summer. I will have a new post on that subject as soon as that is ready.

Lastly, we have had a couple visitors who each spent a day at our house. They arrive sometime during the night. Apparently the bed is so comfortable that meals weren't necessary. When we saw the first one we called animal control. The county won't do anything about wild animals and said to call Fish and Game. We let both go after they each spent a night in our jail.

Two possoms on two different nights. No bait in trap. Both juveniles.

July 5th Freworks

We went to our Bishop's house last night to watch the fireworks over the lake. When they finally started launching the fireworks (10pm) the kids were only interested in the movie that they had been watching while waiting for the show to start. (picture shown above is not actual fireworks that we saw. I didn't pull my camera out for the show)
We were able to get the kids out for most of the fireworks and we enjoyed ourselves with the great company and all the watermelon, cantaloupe, popcorn and ice cream cones.

Kaylee Rose Is Here!

Well, Sarah had her baby last Saturday the 28th of June! She weighed in at 6lbs. 4oz. and she's such a little cutie! I think she looks like her big sister! I took the girls to visit her in the hospital last Sunday. They all thought she was pretty cute too! They're home now and doing great! My parents and my brother Mark came to meet Kaylee this last weekend and we enjoyed every minute we had with them! Thanks for a great time!

Kaylee Rose

Sarah and Kaylee

Emily and Kaylee

Kaitlin and Kaylee

Rachel and Kaylee

The girls and their newest cousin! They sure love getting new cousins! It's always fun to have someone new to love! Congratulations Sarah!

For my gluten free family members

I found this blog today and thought I might direct those of my family who have the gluten allergy. Maybe you've seen it before but I hope it helps.

http://gluten-free-reality.blogspot.com/

Camping fun!

Hey everyone! We got back last Tuesday from camping. We had a tons of fun! But unfortunately not as many pictures as I had hoped. I forgot to take the camera on our little hike. It was so good to be there with almost all of Jason's family. We missed you Ben and Megan!

Some highlights of camping/Father's Day were:

A hike to a very small waterfall and the river by the camp.
Lots of roasted Marshmallows and S'mores.
Wonderful food, who knew you could eat so well out in the middle of nowhere?!
Playing games with the family.
Enjoying the company, beautiful scenery and weather.
Letting the kids run off to explore knowing they would come back when they got hungry.
Spraying the kids with bug spray at 7am, sunscreen at 10am then bug spray again at 6pm.

It was really relaxing and fun! I hope we can go up again soon.

My boys on the Hammock

Card games with the Family

Krista Grace, Emily and Chirstopher

Logan, Emily and Justin enjoying the Hammock

Kaitlin striking a pose with the broomPoor Rachel got eaten by the mosquitos and she puffed up like a marshmallow

Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful Dads!

We're going camping for Father's day!!! It will be Jason's Father's Day gift and our Anniversary celebration combined! Nine years on June 23rd, Yeah us! We'll be back next week with lots of pictures (hopefully) and just as many mosquito bites I'm sure. Sarah, Don't have your baby while we're gone! That's not a request! Love you!

So, what fun things are you doing for you Dad this Sunday?

Family photo shoot

A couple of weeks ago I made a new friend. Unfortunately she lives in Utah and was only out here for a few weeks to visit her parents. In that time we got to know each other pretty well. We scrapbooked, watched a movie at my house, went to the park and had a girls day out with just us and our babies. We went to Olive Garden for lunch, shopped the clearance racks at Target and Old Navy, enjoyed Cold Stone ice cream and I got my hair cut. It was a fun day and I enjoyed getting to know Marcie. The whole reason for us getting away was because Marcie took some photos for our family. This was something I've been trying to get done ever since we added Aaron to our family 8mo. ago. I'm so glad we finally got it done! We decided that her and I could go out in exchange for the photo shoot. Now I just have to pick the ones I want to print and hang on my wall. Marcie also got some pictures of Sarah and her family, poor Sarah was about 7mo. prego but she still looks great! Thanks again Marcie! I hope we can get together next time you're in town!

Sarah and me Joe and Sarah

I didn't get the pictures of their whole family so these few will have to do for now. I'll have to bug Sarah to start a blog so she can post them herself.

Camping?

So we had planned to go camping last weekend for memorial day. But when it came time to go the weather just didn't cooperate. We decided instead to spend the weekend at Jason's parents and do "camping" events there. It was fun. On Friday night we made S'mores and the girls slept out in the tent. It started raining about 4 o'clock in the morning. I decided to check on them at around 4:45, after worrying that they were getting wet for 45 minutes and when the rain started coming down harder. When I went out they were all sleeping soundly and they had all rolled together in the middle of the tent so no one was up against the side getting wet. On Sunday after church we went on a hike at the Wiemar Institute. We followed a path that led to a tall swing where we rested and had snacks. Grandma fed Aaron some licorice and the kids all got a chance to swing. As we hiked back I got to walk in the rear with Anna (Ed and Sheila's) and I got to know her a bit more. She's so sweet for staying with me and keeping me company as we were the last ones back to the cars. On Sunday the girls wanted to sleep outside again but it started to rain just before bedtime and we decided to keep them inside. Monday morning we went on another hike with almost the same group (Ed, Sheila and Lyman joined us this time. Jason and Carrina didn't) to a waterfall by the American River. The waterfall was small but pretty and the kids enjoyed playing practically naked in the little pond by the waterfall. Aside from having to steer the kids clear of poison oak and checking them for ticks, We discovered one on Kaitlin's back Monday morning, we had a great time! We have rescheduled our family camping trip for sometime around Father's day, maybe the Monday after because our family was asked to sing in Sacrament meeting on Father's day. But we will go camping this year!

Arachnophobia

Our home happens to be a nursery for black widows. They got here before us so,
we have had a hard time convincing them that this is our house. While Joe and I were tearing off siding on our recent repair job we found this big mama. I had seen one living very near here last summer. I had attempted to kill it but it escaped under the siding. Joe killed this one shortly after I took the picture.

Later that night, almost dark really, Ruth and I were out cleaning up the broken pieces of old siding and trim. We were very near the spot where the large spider had been found earlier. Ruth started to pick up a board next to the house. I happened to be closer to the wood that she was picking up, saw some movement out of the corner of my I and said “Whoa!” Another huge black widow in virtually the same spot!
That was a week ago.
Today Ruth was headed out the door with the kids to go shopping. With two kids ahead, two behind and one in her arms, she steps out the door and with a scream of horror she comes face to face with this:
So you can gauge the size of this one the trim the spider is on is about 3" wide.

Ruth told the kids to stay where they were, not to touch the spider, then went to get the camera. This spider was dispatched with a flip-flop.

We often find juvenile black widows that have two gray stripes running from the front end of their abdomen up over their top and down to their spinnerets. They also have a gray hourglass on their underside, not red. I wish I had a picture for you.

I have gotten really cautious about moving stuff outside and going under the house. But you can usually tell when you are in their neighborhood. Their webs are extremely strong compared to other spiders, which can alert you before you run into one.

Come Watch Our Grass Grow!

I'm sure you all aren't as excited to see our new grass as we are but I'm posting this picture anyway!!! We are so happy to finally have a lawn! So come enjoy it with us! (In a couple more weeks that is) We love to have visitors!

This was taken before the sprinklers were in place (a little over a week ago). We'll be sure to keep posting our lawn progress.

It's so amazing to watch thing grow and to beautify our home. It sure needs it!

Happy Birthday Mom!

I hope you're having a great time in your favorite World Mark resort! Have a wonderful week! We love you!

Just want to say...

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful Mom's out there! I hope you all have a great day!

Wanted: Lawnmower

No, not somebody to mow the lawn!

Our grass is coming up! We're so excited. Another month and the kids will be able to play in the front yard again.

Reality Check

Last night I attended our Stake Women's Conference. It was such a wonderful night! Not only did I get away for a couple of hours with Sarah, but I learned so much! The program consisted of spiritual musical numbers, preformed by some very talented singers in our stake, along with some wonderful words of inspiration. Pondering the words of the music I realized a few things that I already knew but hadn't thought about enough until last night.

Things I learned:

1. I really do LOVE the sisters in our ward! They are some of the sweetest people around and I am blessed to have them in my life! It feels like my children have 10 sweet grandmas that they get to see every week at church.

2. I also realized that I need to focus more on my children than on what my house looks like and the things that I want. I feel that I have been a little bit selfish with my time lately, trying to lose weight and keeping the house clean and laundry done just in case someone wants to walk through our house (on the market, for those who don't know). My children are very important to me and I want them to know I love them not just by the things I do FOR them, but by the things that I do WITH them.

3. I realized that Clear lake isn't such a bad place to live and I need to enjoy the time I have here and not dwell on the fact that I want to live closer to my own family. We are like family to some of the members here.

4. We are very blessed! Jason is finding work and the bills are getting paid somehow!

All in all I realized that I need to be happy with my life the way things are right now and just keep dreaming. So in my quest to become a better mother, wife and daughter of God I have added these goals to my list for this year:

1. Read the whole book of Mormon again.
2. Better support Jason in his responsibilities as YM President.
3. Write in my journal and blog more often.
4. PLAY with the kids more!
5. Take good care of myself.
6. Get Jason to take me rafting this summer!
(That's a fun one I just thought I'd throw in there!)

I hope I can be a better person and be a good example for the lovely children Heavenly Father has blessed our lives with!

Goofy kids! Aren't they great!?
Someday I'll get a good one of them all together! Ooh, there's another goal!

Playing in the dirt.

It's spring at our house! Lots of stuff to do. We started preparing our front yard for grass two years ago. When we moved here the lawn was pretty weak with lots of weeds and not a lot of grass. Most of the open space was landscaped in white gravel. Much of the gravel has been relocated, the yard tilled by hand, topsoil added, seed spread and more topsoil placed to hide the seed from the birds. We've actually included part of the right-of-way in our lawn. So the city could decide to take that part back at some point. In the meantime, I will soon need to acquire a lawnmower.

It's so exciting watching sprouts and seedlings appear after planting and waiting through the winter! I have a love-hate relationship with spring this year. I love the blossoms and new growth. I don't like the continuous work we are having to do and knowing we have to wait for weeks or months to see the fruition of our labors.

This year's new plants include two peach seedlings, a white onion, and a chestnut oak, not including the veggie garden. Last year's silver maple and cherry tree are in full leaf and very healthy looking. Our grape vine is also promising a great harvest. The new growth on it has many clusters of baby grapes, some branches have five little clusters! Were looking forward to the juice this fall.

Click here to go to a slideshow of some of our work.

Catching up

First of all, I want to apologize to all my avid readers (if there are any of you out there!) for not posting for a while. :) I've actually written about ten blogs over the past few weeks but they get away from me every time I step out of the shower.
Excuses are as follows:
1. Wife and motherly duties. Man, it's hard to keep up with five kids and a husband at home all the time! We started Aaron on solids about a month ago and he's finally got it down! That takes a lot of time too! His face doesn't look very dirty in this picture (click on the image) but Jason IS feeding him and he's loving it! I'm actually afraid that he might stop nursing just to eat more solid food!

2. Working hard with the help of the Lord as Primary President in our small Ward to keep everything working well and organized.

3. Getting small projects around the house done. Taking advantage of Jason being home, due to lack of work. Also because I can't go anywhere or spend any money.
A little over a year ago our neighbors down the street moved leaving a bunch of stuff on the side of the road for trash. Driving by the pile of "junk" I noticed a Queen-size head board and foot board, something I have wanted since we got married almost nine years ago! It wasn't in the best shape and I thought for sure we could fix it up and make rails for it to fit our bed! We brought the boards home and they sat in Christopher's room until about two months ago. I put Jason to work at our house if he wasn't going to work anywhere else! He sanded the headboard and footboard a bit and bought wood and hardware for the rails. We painted them and he fastened it all together! So we finally have our bed done! check! Now if only we could get the lawn in and the fence up!


4. Last but definitely not the best reason for me not to blog, I have found a new way to waste time on the internet. Becky sent me and the girls a Webkinz pet (about a week ago?) and I have been playing games and trying to earn Kinz cash to furnish the room of our Love Frog named Lovely Sally. For all of you who don't have a clue about anything I just wrote, I'll tell you. Webkinz are cute little stuffed animals that come with a code that lets you log onto a make-believe world on the internet where you can play games with other Webkinz and earn Kinz cash to buy things and food for your pet and their room. It fun to see the girls get excited to help out around the house so they can earn time playing with their virtual pet! Thanks a bunch Becky!!!
Here are the girls with Lovely Sally.

Turkey Hunting

This one is not a joke.

Turkey season opened Saturday, March 29. I looked and looked for public land, checked out satellite images, and found a likely spot. The Cedar Roughs area at the north end of Lake Berryessa is BLM land. Lake Berryessa is to the south of Clearlake about 50 minutes. The most northwest corner of it has a good sized creek through the middle with lots of oaks and some brush.
So Saturday I got up early and drove to this place, parked on the roadside where there was already another vehicle, and started my hunt. I got there a little after sunrise (6:59 am), so I was later than I had planned. I immediately had to cross a creek, thankfully not to deep. Thanks, Dad for the waterproof boots.
I heard a gobble right away but nothing for the next hour. Walked up and down some small slopes, saw one beardless hen, and got to the end of the area. Lots of No Trespassing signs so I knew it was time to turn around. Then I heard a "cluck-cluck-cluck". So I sat and waited for a few minutes and watched as ... a hunter walked out off the private property, stepped over the fence, and proceeded hunting back to the road, turkey-calling loudly every few minutes after that. His calling technique needed some improvement and was probably chasing the toms out of the area.
At that point I headed back to my car. After the hunt I removed three ticks from my skin and clothing. After I got home Ruth found one in the house where I had set down my fanny pack.
So I'm thinking that turkey hunting in the spring, isn't really worth it. You can only shoot one a day, three per season, and you can't shoot anything else but rabbits and squirrels. At least in the fall you could shoot doves (could have shot two +), duck (again, at least two), or quail, which I could hear calling. All that, the long drive, and the ticks just don't add up to a positive experience. Maybe if I'd had a deer tag at the same time and was just hunting deer...

milestones

Almost there! Aaron almost has intentional forward motion in his skill set. He rolls over at will either direction and pulls his body in circles to face a different direction. He loves to put things in his mouth, of course. But he is more interested in interacting with people than with objects. This evening he finally started moving forward to go after some blocks. With a look of desperation he pulls himself up on his knees and, if they don't shoot back out behind him again, they propel him forward towards his goal. He hasn't quite got it down, but he's not far off now!

Aaron has also started sitting up. We have to stay close and keep an eye on him though because he can't catch himself when he loses his balance.

Cuts, Easter Eggs, Spring Break, Family Fun, Exercise, Temple, Birthdays, Music, ER

Last week the girls had their spring break and we headed to our families for a week of work, family-time and fun! After church on Easter Sunday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Mavy's for our monthly family get together. We didn't make it in time for the easter egg hunt for the kids, but we had one for them on Tuesday to make up for it. My Dad also shared his birthday with Easter this year so we got to eat birthday cake with some of my family on Monday evening.

Thanks to my sisters in-law and Carolyn (Jason's Mom), I got to go walking outside twice! I usually don't do any kind of exercise when we visit family unless we stay with my parents and I walk with my mom in the early morning. It was so nice to feel like I haven't fallen "off the wagon." Also, thanks to Sheila, Jason and I were able to attend an endowment session at the Sacramento Temple. I can't remember the last time we were able to do a session together. It was so wonderful!

The kids had so much fun spending time with Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles, and Great Grandma's. Not to mention Aunt Joy, Uncle Kent, cuz Tonja, and Adrianna. Jason got to play the piano with them one night. He had fun but said he wasn't good enough to keep up.

The Friday evening before Easter we were all outside playing. Christopher took a short dive in the dirt and cut his head open on a piece of gravel in our yard. It didn't bleed much. But it looked deep so Jason took him to the Emergency Room for stitches. The hospital is less than a mile away so it is a short drive. After waiting over four hours Jason had had enough. It was 9:15 pm, Christopher wanted to go home and was getting restless and cranky and tired. He kept saying he was ready to go home, so they went home. We cleaned Chris' head, cut the hair and shaved his head around the wound, and applied some butterfly bandages. As you can see he toughed out the treatment pretty well.


Here's a shot of his head 10 days later. Click on the picture to see a large image.

You can just make out the smile shaped cut in the formerly shaved patch of his head. On the plus side he has a positive attitude about getting haircuts now. We kept feeding him while treating his head to draw his attention from the electric clippers, which he doesn't like at all.

Moose Hunting

A dentist and an accountant went on a fly-in moose hunt to Canada. The pilot flew them into their hunting area and told them he would be back in 5 days to get them. The two guys spent the next 5 days hunting and managed to get 4 moose.

The pilot returned on the appointed day and, upon seeing the moose, informed the hunters that he could not fly all 4 of them out because of the weight. The hunters informed him that they got 5 moose the previous year and the pilot didn't balk on them.

Not to be outdone by their previous pilot, the pilot helped the hunters load the moose and, engine straining, managed to coax the aircraft off the ground. He was unable, though, to gain enough altitude to clear a nearby mountain range and they crashed.

Luckily, the pilot and two hunters all escaped without injury. "Where do you think we are," asked the dentist. The accountant replied, "I'm not sure, but we can't be far from where we crashed last year."