Birthdays Finally Mean Something

Fefe turned 3 last Wednesday. We had been telling her for a couple months that her birthday was going to be next so she had been looking forward to it. I was lazy and didn't even get her presents until the day before. It was pretty easy at least. I had Ephant take her around Toys R Us while I picked things out. She'd call me on the phone if there was any particular item that Fefe seemed interested in. I knew already that I wanted to get her a baby doll for the main present so that part was somewhat easy.

The other kids were so excited to wish her happy birthday in the morning. They woke up and had to find her right away. Fefe chose princess attire for the day.

Zhu Zhu Pets are actually pretty cool.

Had to take the baby doll and stroller for a test drive.

For some reason she decided to sprint to the finish.

Grandma M was very sweet and made her a small "d" (blankie) out of the scrap of fabric she had left from the original. Fefe calls it little D and her regular one is now big D. It made life easy this morning when I had to wash her D.

This is the face she made when I told her to smile.

The next morning she came into bed to cuddle with me and told me to say Happy Birthday to her. I had to break the news that it was no longer her birthday.

Just a random pic wearing daddy's pants (she calls it grandpa pants)

Guess and Win

$15 gift card to Target for the first person to guess what this is.

Friends

Luke asked how many friends we have when I was getting stuff out of the RS closet on Sunday. I said I really couldn't count. He said "I know how many we have, 3". I said I think we have more than that. He said "I think Dad threw the rest of them away". At this point I realized he was talking about The Friend magazine.

Ba-Bye

Fefe got her cast off yesterday! She had her splint for 1 week and the cast for 2 1/2 weeks so 3 1/2 weeks total. She's a fast healer. She was supposed to get a short arm cast yesterday, but they thought it looked good enough to just go with a brace for a couple weeks. She doesn't have to wear it all the time, just when running around during the day. We were both pretty happy with that news. I'm so scared to touch her arm since it is not fully healed, but she is just fine with it. I gave her a nice celebration bath last night.

Attention

See below the high adventure for two new posts. They ended up below because my drafts were started before I put up the high adventure notes.

High Adventure

Fifty Miler Report Out

Monday
• Chaffing
• When I ask for Alec’s water bottles to fill up he has already done it
• EFC – Especially for Kids
• Sami coins the word “Sameurism” when he tries to say “Sami-ism” and unwittingly combines Sami with Aneurism – a word is born.
• With his fleet-of-foot hiking and elvish good looks Tyler earns the nickname Legolas.
• Bro. Morgan’s knee gives out with 5 miles left and has to peg-leg it into camp earning him the nickname Gimpli to Tyler’s Legolas
• When we finally drag into our destination, pole creek is dry.
• We had just enough water to make our Mountainhouse for dinner and collapse into bed.
• Everyone found humility

Tuesday
• Hiked down to Soap Creek then back up to Alder creek
• Alec earned the nickname “first pack” by consistently being the last one to get his pack on after a break.
• Tyler says Monday was officially worse than Runkle creek hike
• Bro. Schneider tries to subdue Sami with a half-nelson, full-nelson, and finally has to resort to a Tony Nelson
• Built our first fire and Legolas burnt his finger
• Bathed and did laundry in the freezing cold runoff of a glacier – figured out why washing machines have water settings for hot, warm, cold, but not “freaking cold”
• Josh took off his socks and revealed a war zone of blisters
• We discovered that no one brought mole skin except Gimpli even though we bought extra mole skin on the way to the Sisters

Wednesday
• Hiked back to South Mathiew Lake and created base camp
• Things Bro. Schneider and Sami burned on a rock with a magnifying glass
o m&m
o Gummy worm
o Peanut m&m
• Hiked up to North Mathiew Lake and got eaten alive by one million mosquitos
• Bro. Morgan and Bro. Schneider argue about progression between kingdoms
• Alec burns a smiley face into a stump that looks suspiciously like a Klansman

Thursday
• Bro. Morgan woke up and counted 10 mosquito bites on just his right elbow
• Hiked to Collier Cone
• Drank the coldest and best tasting water ever from Minnie Scott Spring.
• Boys remain calm at the first sight of teenage girls in a week.
• Everyone but Gimpli hikes to the hip of Collier Cone.
• Only Legolas and Johndalf make the full ascent to the rim of the cone.
• While waiting for the climbers
o Josh and Bro. Morgan have a rock throwing contest at the base of Collier Cone. Josh hits the tablet twice and Bro. Morgan knocks a rock off of another rock.
o Alec builds rock tower but becomes frustrated and throws it.
o Sami nearly falls down the hill of razor sharp volcanic rock but gets a picture of himself on the edge of destruction
• At sunset we all hiked to the top of the peak next to camp and watched the sun go down. Looked for a green flash, but it turned out Bro. Schneider’s dad was full of it.

Friday
• Hiked the Lava Camp Lake loop.
• Legolas’ bumblebee staff attracts and actual bumble bee which follows him for 7 miles
• Bro. Schneider turns to Bro. Morgan and says “if only we were cannibals, just think of the meals we could have had”
• Everyone takes a bath in South Mathiew Lake
o Bro. Schneider is teaching everyone about how you only need to use a few drops of soap when Sami asks “Is this too much?” We turn to see Sami scrubbing his hair with a full afro of suds like he is in a shampoo commercial
• First thunderstorm to actually turn our direction dumps some water and lightning on us while we huddle by some rocks. Sami fails to bring his poncho.

Saturday
• Wake up early and hike out.
• Everyone pigs out at Carl’s Jr.
• Kodak has a hard time remembering how to behave in public



Things we hiked over/through
• Volcanic dust
• Old growth forest
• Glacier
• Rock jungle
• Lava Flow
• Flat meadow covered in wild flowers
• Barren wastelands
• Elephant graveyard

When I spend time on campouts I often think about what kinds of experiences my son Brother B will have in scouting. On this camp I couldn’t help but wonder if he’ll end up as good as these boys. Will he turn out this tough, this considerate, this capable? I hope so.

We Love Most Animals

We've had quite the rollercoaster with domesticated animals the last month. Ephant and Loofa are terrified of dogs in a fairly irrational way. Reassuring them that your dog is friendly does not help. At our pioneer day picnic the kids were introduced to my sister's latest dog. Keljsie is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She's pretty old. They rescued her from a breeder that didn't treat her very well. She is the perfect dog. She doesn't bark, jump or slobber. She's about as sweet a thing as you can get. I'm not a dog person, but I could imagine myself owning a dog like her. Ephant fell in love with her. It really opened up a portal for her to feel more comfortable with dogs. I might have to call her a therapy dog.

Brother B fell in love with their kitten, Beckham. Since we got back from vacation he has suddenly decided he loves our cats. He spends most of the day outside petting them and following them around. I had wondered if any of the kids would ever show interest in the cats.

The cat whisperer.

The sad/happy news is that I was finally able to catch the two strays eating our food and take them to the shelter. They were feral so I'm almost certain they were put to sleep (the sad part). I was really worried that I was going to regret the decision to take them to the shelter, but after praying about it I felt okay.

Mount St Helens

A week after getting back from Utah we went on another adventure up to Mt St Helens with my friend Jenn and her kids. For some reason we really love to visit that volcano. Sadly the majority of my pictures have disappeared. I must have accidentally deleted them somehow. So enjoy the following, but cry for how much more it could have been.

Cute little chimpmunks

All the kids.

Crazy caterpillars that the kids loved.

Ephant wanted a pic with just her.

One day after getting her purple cast.

Loofa has mutated and wants to eat Brother B's brains.

This is the first time we've stopped at the Weyerhauser visitor center. It turned out to be pretty cool. The museum itself was interesting and there was an awesome playground outside.

The Finale

We spent a couple days in Bountiful. J's parents were awesome to watch the kids the whole time we were in the hospital. Their day was probably just as exhausting :) Thursday I slept in a bit, but I didn't sleep well that night so I was still pretty tired. Fefe is not the easiest child to sleep with especially when her arm is broken. She slept pretty well, she just cried out a couple times.

J's parents took us to the Clark Planetarium. We checked out the exhibits for a short time and then went and saw an Imax show. It was about the oceans. I was a little disappointed in it because there was not enough variety of fish. I think a 1/3 of it was spent on cuddle fish. Plus the usual global warming spiels. Trying to make me feel bad about seals that look cute underwater, but would just as soon bite your face off.

After the planetarium we introduced J's parents to the delights of riding Trax to get to Temple Square. Grandma had given the kids a whole load of pennies to throw in the reflecting pool. I was pretty nervous about Fefe falling in and getting her splint wet. It was a hot day so we didn't last too long. I was heartily tired of sweating by this point in our trip. We stopped by Arctic Circle on the way back so the kids could get some ice cream cones. Fefe fell asleep so I stayed in the car with her while everyone went inside. It was an opportune time for me to schedule her cast appt back in Oregon. She had to wear the splint for one week while the swelling went down and then get it casted.

That evening we watched the Princess and the Frog while Grandma put a new backing on Fefe's blanket and did a general tuneup. Fefe had a substitute piece of fabric to cuddle with that matched her blankie so she didn't get upset while it was being worked on. That child is way too attached. The kids had a really good time hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. I sure like J's parents too.

Friday morning we loaded up for the last time to head home. I had initially planned on stopping halfway, but was anxious to get home. I had a good book to listen to and plenty of energy. The kids were disappointed because they were hoping to swim in another hotel pool, but I told them too bad. We made really good time and got home about 8:30 that night. I was glad to see the cats survived another long trip and that the house hadn't burned down. I was particularly grateful to sleep in my own bed again. All in all it turned out to be a really good trip. We took it easy, but still did enough to keep the kids entertained. Family is so important and I want my kids to feel like they have good relationships with all their close relatives.

The Bones They Are A-breaking

I swear there are tons of people breaking their limbs around me lately. A few days before I had been talking to my brother about when he broke his arm. I had to take him to the hospital since my parents were out of town so it made a bit of an impression on me. I mentioned to him that I wondered when one of my kids would break something or if they ever will.

So, I was sitting in my grandparents front room having a nice chat. The kids were playing in the back yard when Brother B and Loofa came dashing in with very panicked looks on their faces saying "I think Fefe broke her arm!". I jumped up and dashed to the back just as Fefe was coming in sobbing. There was no mistaking the fact that her arm was broken since it was at a definite angle. My grandma told me to go to LDS hospital since they have a less crowded ER. I left the other kids with them. We almost forgot Fefe's blankie. Thank heavens I went back for it or that would have been an even longer day. I was so grateful for my iphone so I could look up driving directions. I called J's parents and had them come pick up the kids so I could go straight to Bountiful when we were done. Fefe wasn't crying too hard, but she kept saying over and over "I need a bandaid". It was truly pitiful.

This is the best picture I have of it broken. I wish I had a better one.

I was a tad in shock, but once we got settled in a room I was doing better. Fefe fell asleep on my while we were waiting for x-rays. She kept her blankie over her arm because it made her happier. They gave her a bandaid since she kept asking for one.

The xrays showed both bones were broken, but the radius was offset so it would have to be set. The orthopedist wasn't comfortable doing that so they sent us up to Primary Children's hospital after the x-rays. We spent about an hour and a half at LDS. They let us drive to Primary. I'm so glad they didn't insist on an ambulance.

We got back to a room pretty fast at Primary. That was when the long wait began. We waited about 5 hours for the pediatric orthos to get out of surgery. Fefe got an iv and some morphine during that time. She was really upset about the iv. I think it bothered her more than her arm. We were both pretty hungry and tired. I hadn't eaten anything all day. I thought I would get lunch at least, but I didn't want to eat in front of Fefe. I knew she would need to have an empty stomach for the sedation. We spent some time reading books, watching cartoon network and playing the iphone. Fefe kept asking to leave and I kept telling her we had to get her arm fixed. Towards the end she said "Where's my Ephant, I need my Ephant". The magic finally started happening at 7pm. They moved us to a bigger room because they had a big old flouroscope to make sure they set the arm right while she was sedated. She really fought the sedation. It was actually kind of funny. She kept refusing to lay down and then suddenly, boom, she was out. It was a very short acting sedative so they had to time it just right. As soon as she was out, they set it, checked it, put on a splint and sling, and then they were done. She was so out of it. If she hadn't been breathing I would have thought she was dead.

To leave we had to wait for her to wake up and eat something without puking. By this point if one more person asked me how it happened I was going to bite their head off. I know why they do it, but I got so tired of saying "I don't know." Fefe was a little disgruntled when she woke up and really wanted her Popsicle. The nurse was nice and brought me some cheese and crackers too. It was a good thing because I was seeing stars at that point and I don't think I could have driven.

We finally made it out at 7:40. I promised Fefe a cheeseburger so we stopped at Mcd's on the way up to Bountiful. The kids were really happy to see us. When we got there, there was an accident at the top of their street so we walked up to spectate. I got to see the jaws of life for the first time ever. The person didn't seem hurt too bad. Fefe was doing really well with her arm and didn't complain about it hurting. We were both exhausted.

I didn't find out till later how it happened. My grandparents have a little swing in their backyard. It hangs from a metal pipe that is about as tall as me sticking out from the garage wall. Brother B had Fefe on his shoulders while she was holding on to it. She let go and tumbled forward. The doc told me it is the most common fracture in kids (a buckle fracture) because it is the result of trying to catch themselves when falling. Her cousin got one around the same time and a boy in our ward got one about a week later. See what I mean about an epidemic?

They match pretty well!

Deseret

Sandy was refreshing to be at because there was plenty of space for the kids to run around and we were back to normal shopping venues.

The kids discovered this mask so they all had to pose for pictures.

Friday, my dad and I went on an extensive shopping trip to get supplies for the Pioneer Day picnic on Saturday. It was fun to have some bonding time with him. After naps he took us to the aquarium in Sandy. It is small (and probably a bit overpriced for what they have), but they had all the important stuff. Ephant really loved the seahorses. Fefe dashed from place to place. I had quite the time keeping track of her. In the course of following her around we lost Ephant. She was pretty upset about that. We spent the majority of our time at the stingrays. Loofa's arm was a little short and Fefe just enjoyed dipping her hand in the water. Ephant and Brother B managed to touch a few. They aren't quite as social as the ones at Sea World, but I think that is because you could feed the SW ones.

Saturday was the big pioneer day celebration. Okay, maybe it wasn't that big, but it was bigger than it usually it for us since we don't really celebrate it in Oregon. I spent alot of my morning making a home made potato salad. I really can't stand store brought potato salad so I offered to make some. Everyone showed up around 4pm, my aunt and uncle, their kids and my grandma. After the BBQ my sister took us on a hike up to a little waterfall. It was a pretty easy hike, but I probably shouldn't have worn flip flops.

One of the many McMansions on the Sandy hills. Ephant had to have a pic of this one.

When we got back Uncle J and Cousin B put on a small fireworks show for us. Fefe wasn't all that thrilled this time. She kept wanting to go inside. I'd tell her to go inside, but then she'd come right back out because she didn't want to be alone.

Church was at 9am on Sunday. I sure love that time. Right now we have 2pm church and I can't wait to be done with that. Fefe really liked the nursery. There were only 3 other kids in there and the nursery leaders were awesome. I had to laugh at the combined lesson. It was focused on how great women are and we got the usual claptrap about how women are worth $500,000 a year. Did any of these people take a math class?

I had offered to make Sunday dinner so I made some roast. I was pretty disappointed in the chuck roast I got from Costco. It was super fatty. I think we were only able to use about a third of it. If it was my Costco I probably would have taken the time to complain. The rolls I made didn't rise either (I ended up making cinnamon rolls from the dough the next day). Luckily I had some Bisquick so I made some biscuits really fast. I guess it could have been worse, but I hate it when you work on a meal all day and it turns out subpar.

Apartment 308

Monday was Utah Valley Day. After another lovely morning of sleeping in we headed down. Our first stop was J and I's Wymount apartment we lived in when Ephant was born. I wanted to get a picture of us in front of it. Next we dropped by the creamery to get J his BYU ranch dressing. It really is worth it. Then we headed to the BYU bookstore to get everyone new t-shirts. I always get nostalgic when I go there. That was my favorite place to work.

We hung out down at Aunt J's house for just a few minutes and then drove over to the Provo CLAS ropes course. My mom had bought some tickets for a 2 hour session from Groupon. It was awesome! During that time we were all able to go on a zipline, climb a rock wall and go canoeing for 20 minutes. Aunt J's friend watched Fefe for us. She had a pretty good time. She turned into a total social butterfly last month. She is always going up to people and saying, "Hi, my name is Fefe." and then trying to talk their ears off. It doesn't matter if they are children or adults. When I dropped her off to be babysat she just took off and I had to grab her to even get a kiss. I'm glad she is so outgoing, but I do have to keep a close eye on her. During the climbing wall portion Loofa started questioning us about the canoeing. He had never heard of them before so he was trying to figure out what it meant that we were going canoeing. Finally he exclaimed "The boat comes with a river!".

I was surprised how well Loofa did climbing the 50 foot pole.

Ephant looked pretty nervous once she got up, but enjoyed it.

Brother B did it all with his usual stoicism.

That harness and helmet really does something for me, huh?

Loofa did pretty good climbing up, but he had no idea how to get down.

We didn't do much on Tuesday except go to the Mayan restaurant in the evening. I thought the kids would be old enough to really enjoy the atmosphere, which they did. We were able to see two cliff diving shows while there and meet the performers towards the end. They started walking around and I told Fefe to go give them a hug. She didn't hesitate and walked right up to them. I wish I had it on video. They thought she was pretty cute. The only downside was the food was absolutely disgusting and I don't say that lightly. I can make better cheese enchiladas than that. I still need to write them a letter. It was not cheap either. At least Aunt A got a nice shot with some cute boys for her birthday.

Here's Fefe with the crew gathered around to hear her babble.

Aunt A's birthday present

I can't remember if it was Tuesday or Wednesday that Fefe had her infamous deer encounter outside. Most of you probably saw it on facebook, but I wanted to put it down here too. I let her into the backyard to eat her gogurt and then went into the bathroom. While in there I heard her start crying and yelling "I need my mom!" and "Open the door!" I hurried as fast as I could and went to open the door. As soon as I did she cried "The moose is coming to get me, I'm scared!". There was a deer standing about 5 feet away from her. So I sat down with her while she finished her gogurt. The deer didn't seem too scared of us, but eventually it went away.

Wednesday we loaded up once more to visit J's inlaws in Bountiful. On the way we stopped by Granite bakery first to get some cinnamon knots. Can't have a trip to Utah without those hip fatteners. Second we stopped by my grandparents for a quick visit. This is where the infamous arm breaking occurred. Next post...

Cabins and Dead Squirrels

It took about 4 hours to get to the family cabin. I was ready to relax and the kids were ready to have fun. Aunt A was awesome with the kids and played with them way more than I did. We didn't do a whole ton while up there. It was fairly cool, the whole West seems to be having a much cooler summer.

We spent some time playing in the river. Brother B was working really hard at skipping rocks. Ephant got pretty upset about a leach she got on her leg. She was frantically trying to brush it off until Aunt A came and pulled it off. We'll see if she ever gets in that river again.

My parents always bring one of their cats, Nova, up to the cabin with them. She turns into a mighty huntress up there. She killed two squirrels while we were there. The squirrels were always squawking up in the trees at her. One time I was sitting in the hanging chair on the porch, soaking in the outdoors when I heard this particularly frantic squirrel. I wasn't surprised when Nova showed up with it dead.

Some kids pulled this squirrel out of the river. I found it a nice sunny spot under a bush to dry off. It was totally in shock so I had no problem picking it up.

Aunt A also drove the kids around on the ATV a couple of times. She got Fefe into the mode of calling it the beast. It was pretty hilarious to hear her say she wanted to ride the beast.

Tuesday we drove through Yellowstone and saw all the usual hot spots. I drove a little farther than usual because I've been wanting to take the kids out to Yellowstone Lake for a couple years. It was pretty cool and the kids didn't care much for the gravelly sand, but it was beautiful and the waves were fun.

Listen closely to Loofa, he's the best part of this video.

Wednesday we did a very short trip up to Mount Sawtelle. It was freezing up there! I usually expect some wind, but it was bitterly cold. There were even spots where the snow hadn't melted. We stayed up there long enough to get one picture and then we jumped back into the van. I'm not sure if it was worth the thick coating of dust we got on the van during the drive.

Thursday morning we loaded back up and headed down to Utah. Aunt A hitched a ride with us and kept us entertained with her saucy humor. We only had one major setback. About a mile from the cabin we came to a standstill for some road construction. After sitting there for 1/2 hour I peeked around the semi we were behind and noticed that everyone in front of him had already moved. Boy was I mad. As we drove past we didn't even see anyone in the cab. I hope he had a good reason and wasn't just taking a nap. We had to wait another 1/2 hour once we got around him. That made our trip down to Utah an extra hour long. Bleh. At least that was the most annoying part of any of the drives.

Let's Begin

I decided to be adventurous and go on a 2 week visit to Idaho and Utah without J. Since he had to use a week of his vacation for high adventure he didn't have enough vacation days and I really wanted to see family this summer.

Ephant hardly slept the night before because she was going to miss her daddy so much. I knew it was going to set her off, but we stopped by J's work for last minute kisses on the way out of town. She was fine after that though and didn't cry about it till we got home and she saw the note he left for her on her bed.

So, we headed off to Utah first on July 16th. My cousin was getting married in the Twin Falls temple that weekend so that was our first destination. Aunt J found a pretty awesome hotel. It had the best hotel pool I've seen in awhile. We spent the majority of our free time there. Fefe and Loofa were real daredevils. Luckily Fefe preferred the hot tub so I was able to enjoy that.

I wish we could use floats like this at our pool.

Saturday morning I woke up at 8:30, got ready and rushed over to the temple. It was only a few minutes away, nevertheless I was surprised to see everyone else's cars still in the parking lot. When I got to the temple the men at the front desk told me that they had moved the wedding to Boise later in the day because the bride's brother wouldn't get into town till later. I was wondering why no one told me. Apparently they had knocked on our door a couple of times. Little did they know that my kids don't wake up at the crack of dawn so we were still sleeping. I had to steel myself for the 2 hour drive up to Boise and the 2 1/2 hour drive back after the reception that evening. I feel like I was blessed with so much more driving endurance than I usually have. It also helped having audio books to listen too. On the way I listed to The Overton Window and heading back I listened to The Help.

The sealing itself was lovely. It is always nice to see how happy the couples are at weddings. The reception was down in the middle of nowhere, but the house it was at was beautiful and it was a nice setting right next to the Snake river. Of course I had to keep a close eye on my water loving child. Fefe was pretty fascinated by the river so we had to keep yelling at her to get back. We took a back road to get back to the freeway down to Twin Falls. I really cut it close with the gas tank. I forget to calculate how fast it will go with the car topper on. Speaking of which, I sure love that thing. It is nice to not have to scrimp with packing and actually have room in the van while traveling. We made it back to Twin Falls around 9:30 that night and the kids had a quick dip in the pool.

The next morning we slept in a bit and then heading off to Island Park.

Ephant snapped this in ID. I love sunsets in the deseret.

Summer Plays

I really need to pace myself, but since it has been a couple months prepare yourself. I'll hopefully get caught up over the next couple of days.

Ephant really enjoyed her 2 week theater class. It is definitely right up her alley. I just included a couple of clips, it is about 5 minutes in length, so I only expect Grandparents and very loving aunts and uncles to watch it. It probably won't make sense, you just need to admire how cute Ephant is. :)