Summer 2014: Week 5

This week was a blur . . . putting together final details for Nathan's family reunion.

26 people.
One big house.
Lots of fun.

Nathan and I worked to prep lots of the food. We cooked Carnitas (remember how last time we suggested having parts catered or purchased?)
and grilled chicken. LOTS OF IT. Formed 36 turkey burger sliders.
Questioned why we didn't delegate more.
Remembered it's cause we like the details to be ours.

Nathan took scouts cycling and Bryn had a church activity cooking.
(There are differences between men and women).

I shopped for all the last minute things:
Simple dawn
Hair ties
Adam's peanut butter
and knitted while sitting in the orthodontist's office.

Remembered that last week I wrote a poem (which is dedicated to Caitlin):

Hustle your bustle,
Or my muscle
Will
Hustle your bustle.

This week I bought Andrew a shirt from the men's department at Target. It fits!
I predict that in a year he'll be taller than me. Not ready for that, but it's coming.

Nathan had Wednesday off. We tried to get out early, but ended up leaving just before noon. We hadn't really packed, and that can slow you down.

We drove across WY and watched "How to Train Your Dragon."  We have two secret with movies in the car.
#1 Redbox
#2 We save them for the late afternoon before dinner when everyone's a little cranky about having been in the car so long.

We stopped in Kemmerer, WY, which does not have a lot of options, but enough. We chose a local diner, Adimiah's, and should have all eaten Mexican food, because it was obvious our server's native language was not English. We didn't, but it was great food. We got to Bear Lake around 7pm, which was early enough to drive up the hill to check out our cabin and get one shake so we could see which size was best.

7:00 PM, Weds

 I really love Bear Lake. It's so big and changes colors throughout the day.
We drove to Logan and got to our hotel late. Fell asleep even later.
 The next morning we found this hiding behind the blackout curtains.

 And this on the bed. It was the only moment in the hotel room he sat still.

 My mom's sister lives outside of Logan, so we went to visit. It happened to be time for the fresh peas, so we ate several handfuls. So good. Wished you were there, Mom.

 My uncle's hobby is precious stones. He had the girls pan for some--which they found and brought home. They were in heaven. When we left, Caitlin asked, "Mom, can I be his apprentice?"

 While they looked for rocks, I had my aunt take me to my grandparents' grave site. Sure love them.

 When we stopped at Aggie Ice Cream, we were not surprised at all to run into two of Nathan's brothers--getting ice cream before lunch. It was a treat to meet up with them.

The rest of week 5 is in the next post--about the reunion.
One of our friends in the ward has 8 children and they had a reunion here. So we let one of their daughters' families stay at our house. In exchange, they watered our garden for us. So great.


Week 5 down, 6 to go.

Summer: Week 3

This week:

M: Is always laundry day. We made 7 pints of Strawberry & Blueberry freezer jam, one of our favorite flavors. One pint was gone by Wednesday.

T: Andrew skipped his Young Men's activity to go to an 8:00pm baseball game. After a streak of disappointing losses, this time they won!
I took Caitlin, Diana, and Ed to the old fashioned candy store in old town. The girls complained about the $.50 price ceiling I gave them, but eventually found something they wanted. Ed chose pixie sticks, (2 so he could give one to Andrew) and the girls picked out taffy.

W: Swim meet. Very windy but OK. We brought SPOT IT, a game we learned at the Neuffer's last summer. I left in the middle to go to a different pool for lessons for the littlest among us. Friends commented on our children's progress in the pool, that felt good. Our friends came over for lunch.

TH: What happened TH? Maybe this was the day I asked Bryn to braid my hair?

It was taking a long time . . . and then I realized she'd done fishtail braids . . . and it all made sense. But I think it was Wednesday.

Now I remember TH night. My parents came to see our new furniture.

FR: Nathan took the girls camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. A dad in our ward said he was going with his girls. It turned into 10 + families of dads & daughters. They came home the long way and saw a lot of wildlife.

Nathan thought this campground can accommodate 1000 people.

Beautiful girls, beautiful scenery

The boys and I went to a local pizza restaurant (where they hand toss--so fun to watch). Then, we did our duty and helped clean the church. The next morning we went on a long walk together. Very pleasant time with my boys. We may have also had a sewing machine lesson . . . but I was not allowed to take photos. Baseball practice and more shopping. The day ended with Monsters University from Red box, which Ed and I hadn't seen. Very cute show.

3 weeks down, 8 more.

Sidenote about life in CO:
One of Andrew's friends was at snowboarding camp this week. They keep it open until August . . . then the snow is done for the season. Can't believe it.

General Women's Conference Trip with Bryn

Airplane selfie

  

(Long ago in Texas, Nathan and I made a few plans for the future. One of them was to take each of our kids to UT when they were 12 years old to attend a Priesthood session of General Conference or a Young Women's meeting. We wanted them to experience it firsthand and feel strength from the numbers gathered there. We also wanted them to have one on one time with us at a transitional time in their life).

Bryn recently celebrated her 12th b-day and we made our plans to attend the General YW meeting. Then, it changed to the General Women's meeting and was going to include all females, age 8 and up. We decided to stick with the plan and keep it at age 12 and have it be alone, even though Caitlin would have been able to come as well.
 

Bryn's view of the SLC temple from the car

We bought plane tickets. We booked a room at my sister's house in SLC and we were off.

We arrived early FR afternoon. Laura taught Bryn how to make a scarf out of Sashsay yarn. I napped and we spent the rest of the day at their home--enjoying a walk outside and playing in their backyard.

Saturday morning we shopping for clothes & shoes. Our first stop was Down East, a clothing line we don't have easy access to. Then, we hit a shoe store and Old Navy.

After lunch we changed clothes and went downtown. We parked at City Creek Mall and went in West Elm for me and Forever 21 for Bryn. After seeing the $575 and $675 shoes in Nordstrom, we quickly left.
We headed to Temple Square and saw many of the sights there. Our next appointment was the Clinique Makeup Counter in Macy's where we picked out some of Bryn's first makeup.

Temple selfie

Bryn's photog skills

Spring Flowers at Temple Square never disappoint

We realized we left our Conference Center tickets in the car, so stopped back to grab them. We found our way to our seats in the conference center. We were in section 8, the highest balcony section, but we were in the second row, so a pretty good view. The best part is that we sat next to some Neuffers from Oregon, who are related to our favorite Neuffers in Chicago. Small world.

Blurry . . . but it gives you an idea of where we sat

It was lovely.

Along with hundreds of other women and their daughters, we wanted Cheesecake Factory after. A 50 minute wait was not for us, so we opted for Chick Fil A instead and drove home.

After church Sunday morning we spent the day at Laura's. Baking, resting, playing games, prepping dinner.

Monday morning was a tour at BYU, followed by a visit to the the Museum of Arts' display Sacred Gifts, (which we loved), and finishing with a tour to the Creamery.

My favorite university

My sister and her husband were excellent hosts and we appreciate their support of this little goal of ours. Two down, three to go.
Love this tradition & recommend it to you and yours.  

Spring Break 2014

This year we stayed home. We had many relaxing hours at home, plus a full day in Cheyenne and took the older kids (and their friends) to the temple in Denver. We ate out a bit and in a lot and went hiking without DAD, a first for us. Nathan took advantage of many of the doctors being out of town and worked a lot more than normal. Many surgeries before and after clinic this week.

Parking lot is at the end of the road

Same cyclist, only closer. He moved a lot faster than we did.

Ed thrived when I gave him visual cues of our next stops. Next stop is the building, where we ate lunch.

Friends

Me, Diana, Andrew

After lunch

First time holding a caterpillar

Our turnaround spot

Most of our hike was the wide road you saw in the other pictures. Some of it looked like this.

Prairie dogs a plenty

School starts again on Monday and it's the last quarter.

Time to start planning for summer.

Gone (downhill) skiing in CO

This weekend 4/7 of us took care of that "I live in CO, but I've never been skiing" problem we had.
These 3 plus dad.

The first two Saturdays of the month Copper Mountain hosts a family ski day. Lift tickets are $32, which compared to their Christmas Break price is a bargain. Some of the sporting goods stores offer $10 ski rental, so it's a reasonable time to take care of the above mentioned problem.

Pretty sure I had the easier day since they are beginners.

I attended Tuba Christmas with D & E. My favorite.

Scoutmaster

Think Nathan's enjoying his new calling?

(He told me how much the boys liked driving through that particular mud puddle).

Fall is here

Probably the worst photo ever shared on the internet, but it gives you the idea

Family home evening apple tasting (Found online, not my own creativity)
We tested 8 apples  . . . and I would have picked some different ones, but this is what they had where I shopped that Monday:
Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Jazz, Pink Lady, Gala, Honeycrisp, Sweet Tango.

We voted on Sweet, Juicy, Tart & Favorite.

Here are the Favorite winners:
Gala: Ed & Diana
Sweet Tango: Andrew & Caitlin
Honeycrisp: Beth & Nathan

When it was over, we cut up what was left and put in on the stove to bowl. We got a small bowl of applesauce, they each got one spoonful in the morning to add to their oatmeal.

I think this activity would work with lots of ages. I feel bad for the checker who has to check you out at the store, but he'll get over it.


Giant Pumpkin contest
Between morning and afternoon sessions of Saturday conference, we went to a nearby nursery to see their giant pumpkin contest. It was a great break to get outside. There were not very many pumpkins there, but the ones that showed up were impressive.

Quite a thing to move a pumpkin that big--this is the winner

Officially this is a "squash," not a pumpkin, so its 900lb weight didn't win . . . it was the biggest

2nd or 3rd place?

I can update weights in the morning after the kids remind me how much they were. Nathan was digging in the Berthoud Mud, so not pictured here. He earned his Mormon Helping Hands T-shirt for slogging in the mud that day.

CSU Homecoming 5K

It's kind of tradition for our family to participate in the Homecoming 5K. We've done it (at least one of us), every year since moving here, except last year when N & A were in UT for conference. It was a big group this year. Every one of our family members entered. It's sponsored by the department that Nathan works with for research, so it's giving back to them a bit. A lot of people, 2000+. Chip timing is a lovely thing. Everyone had someone to run with. Nathan stayed with Diana, Edwin stayed with me (mostly in a stroller, though I made him run over the finish line), Bryn, Cait & Andrew started together but Bryn finished ahead of them thanks to her many hours of cross country practice this fall. She finished first for our family.
We took a starting line pic, but I've been asked not to share it. (boo!)


Fall Leaf Drive

This afternoon we had commitments until after dinner, so after our meetings we went on a fall color drive. Most of the leaves here turn yellow, so we were on the hunt for orange, red, and brown leaves. It was pleasant. We drove up to Lory State Park, turned around because we didn't want to pay, and headed up the Reservoir road from the North. We've never been from that direction, so it was fun to approach it from a different way. We came down and checked out some of the city park area, finishing off with a stop at the flower gardens across from CSU. They have planted an annual garden to show how different types of annuals weather in the Rocky Mountains. It is a lovely place that will not look so lovely in a few weeks. Nathan had the camera, so perhaps I will get photos from him in the next couple of days.

My brush with jury duty

I was summoned to jury duty on Sept. 16, 2013, a day when my kids were scheduled to be out for teacher collaboration. I asked my mom to come be with my kids, hoping I would only be gone a couple of hours. This was the first time I'd ever been asked to report, so I went in knowing very little.

I left our house around 7:15 am. When I arrived at jury duty, I found out that an acquaintance of mine was also there. We sat and waited together--it was helpful to have something with whom to chat. Our group was too large to all fit into the courtroom at once. This was clue #1 that things were not going to be smooth. My friend was called up to the courtroom in the first group, and I stayedClue #2 was that they told us our group was much larger than normal. . Clue #3 came close to noon when the judge announced it would be a criminal case, lasting 4-5 weeks.

After that announcement, we were released for lunch and told to report to one courtroom if we wanted to discuss a hardship with the judge, and a different one if we had no hardship. Earlier in the day, the clerk alerted us that if we thought we had a good reason, we should discuss it with him, because once the jury was chosen, it would be too late.

I decided at that point that I had to talk to him. I went on my lunch break (nearly 2 hours), ate a sandwich, fabric shopped at my favorite Old Town store, and explored Old Town by myself. (I forgot the piece of advice to brings something to read. Those who had something to read were much more content waiting).

At 2:30pm we reported and found that there were a large number claiming hardship. It got a little ugly waiting . . . people upset about who would be called next, etc. At 4:00pm I counted close to 70 of us still waiting to speak to the judge. At 4:40 he came into the courtroom, said there would be 10 more called and the rest should report Tuesday, the 17th. My name was the last one on the list.

As the 50-60 others left, the tension in the room decreased dramatically.

I went in and said that my main concern was the length of the trial. "I have five children, one who is home full time with me."
"You are a stay at home mom?" the judge asked.
" Have you thought about bringing in help?" one of the lawyers asked.
"Yes, but I haven't  . . . , " I replied.
She pressed on, "Are there people who you could ask to help . . . they could drop your children off and you could bring them home?"
I said, "Yes, I have done that. But the length of the trial . . . "
The judge interrupted and said, "It would be possible for you to be here, but I am not going to go any further with this." Then, he thanked me for my time and dismissed me.  I liked him a lot, and even more when he told me I was done. It was 5:15 p.m.

I thanked them for consideration of my circumstances and hopped, skipped and jumped out of the room.

Jury duty is serious business. I know a lot more about what to expect and hope I'm not called for a criminal case anytime in the near future. I have no idea how my name got on the list of the last few to speak to the judge, but I am so grateful it was only one day.

Labor Day Adventure

During the summer of 1995, I worked at a camp in New Hampshire. The story of choosing that camp is a long one, but a good one if you talk to me in person. It is called Camp Calumet Lutheran, and if you want to know more about it, click on the name earlier in this sentence.

Every three years they hold a reunion for the staff members who worked there in the 1990's. I was invited to attend and we decided it would be fun to take Andrew & Bryn there. The price of plane tickets and distance did not make it an attractive option to bring everyone. We enlisted my mom to help and made our reservations.

We left on Friday and came back Monday. It's a short time to go so far, but it was worth going.

Looking away from our tent

Road on the property

Family by the lake

Approaching Camp from the lake

Camp road

Memorial garden

Random granite or marble on our hike

Jackman's Ridge (a 10 min hike from Camp, owned by camp)

Hike

Bryn's footprint photo

Frisbee rescue attempt

Frisbee rescue success

Playing on the beach

It was nice to see people I haven't for a long time. We are all older, many with children, all with daily work, many with spouses. The site is beautiful. It rained about 5 inches while we were there--which illustrates why it's so green. We were very unprepared for that kind of moisture. Next time.

We enjoyed tying a quilt, playing frisbee, riding in a canoe, on a pontoon boat, playing basketball, attending a Lutheran service in the outdoor chapel, a gong meditation session [more than one member of our family may have fallen asleep during this], singing camp songs, and visiting with friends. Nathan won the 5 K race.

There were lots more photos, if you are interested, click HERE.

The view

We may or may not have surprised our babysitter.