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Last night for F.H.E. we joined some friends up at Lake Tahoe. There are so many reason I enjoy going to Tahoe in the late afternoon over the morning and day time. -There are no crowds at all up there after 4:00 -I don’t have to use sunscreen -The temperature is perfect
-The sunset is a reminder to me that the world is beautiful and for our enjoyment. The only down side is the kids like to play with their friends when they go to the beach, so we invited some friends up with us last night and renewed our friendship, and our spirits. I got so many pictures last night, the lighting is perfect for photos when the sun is about to go down. Hallie enjoyed her toe dips and she didn’t seem to mind the fresh air on her naked skin. I’m thinking that FHE needs to be on the beach from now until October. I made a collage of some pictures from last night because I’m too lazy to upload all of the pictures I wanted to post, so if you click on it you can look at the pictures better.

Aubrey has eczema all over her body. She feels like sandpaper on her torso, legs, arms, and it often bleeds behind her knees. She has suffered from this condition since she was a newborn, and it makes her so uncomfortable. I have tried every lotion out there, so when a friend of mine suggested a lotion she used I was skeptical, but took it anyway. After Aubrey’s bath on Saturday I lotioned her down like always, and sent her to bed and in the morning she felt smoother then I have ever felt her. She was pleased also, and allowed me to put on a second coat of it in the morning. I don’t know what the difference is with this lotion, but I’ll take it. It doesn’t cure the problem, but it has calmed her skin, maybe, just maybe I’ll get that kid out of a skirt and into a pair of jeans now.

We’re getting ready for the beginning of school. The school isn’t buying school supplies this year. Don’t ask my opinion about all of this, but off we went to the store, and bought the required supplies. I showed a little rebellion though, the teacher for Aubrey’s class is wanting 2 blue bullet tipped dry erase markers. Really! To get two of those I’d have to buy 2 multi colored packs and then remove the blue ones at a cost of $12 for the 2 packs. Not happening, she gets whatever colors Tanner doesn’t choose from the multi colored pack because he needs 4 markers. Then I got a little carried away, they wanted Lysol brand disinfecting wipes, so I bought Target brand. They wanted 16 count crayons, couldn’t find them anywhere, really I looked, so I bought 24 count. With 3 kids in school and two other kids with me I just couldn’t run around to lots of stores looking for this kind of detailed list, so I’m telling the school what I tell my kids, “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit”.

Aubrey is so stinking excited to go to school, she wakes every morning asking how many more days. I can’t wait I’m excited for her. I guess I should be a little sad, but I love that she is growing and changing and experiencing life with such enthusiasm. I hope kindergarten is ready for Aubrey.
I’ve been on a sewing kick. While I was pregnant, I was desperate for things to keep me occupied so I bought some fabric to make Aubrey a pillowcase. I never could get it made so I finished it last week and sewed a second one for Alyssa because I had hurt her feelings by not making one for her in the first place.

We’re off to Lake Tahoe tonight for F.H.E. Once school starts we have scouts, piano lessons, activity days and we might not make it back up again this summer.

Aubrey is sick today, stomach bug, enough said right? So with her bathed and settled on the couch and Alyssa being amused by Emma, and Hallie sleeping I started in on my first Christmas project of the year. This was so fun and easy, I can’t wait to do another one. Maybe an hour and a half start to finish. I can see though that I have reached Hallie’s limits for today she is screaming and things are starting to break down, so I will quickly post some pictures and go take care of my family.

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Just a cute picture of Hallie’s sweet baby lips

Alyssa giving me an attitude, once cute baby lips are now used to demand to see the kitty before we finish our walk. She loves to wear leotards anytime I’ll let her.

I love simple projects like this they are so instantly gratifying. I ran to the fabric store last night after Danny got home from work. I have decided that grocery shopping I can do with 5 kids, but the fabric store is no place for really young children, it makes making a decision impossible. The constant “look at this” or “what about this” and if it’s not that it’s “where is Alyssa?” or “I know it’s soft, but they don’t want you to wrap up in it.” My attention is in a million pieces and I just can’t think. Anyway, I was able to get in quickly last night and I came out with material for a few projects.

I made this Taggie Blanket this afternoon in the amount of time a Care Bear movie takes to run. I don’t really need it, but it was fun, and I’m still working on my simple sewing skills so this was just right for me.

My next project is (here)

Friday we picked Danny up from work at 3:00 and headed up to Carson Pass to hike to Winnemucca Lake. When we got to Frog Lake, which is half way there, we stopped for me to feed Hallie, Danny took the rest of the kids around the back side of the lake to see what they could see. Alyssa stayed with me, and just as Danny got out of sight she had to pee. I had no where to sit Hallie, and she was eating, so I just continued to nurse, and held Alyssa with my other hand while she peed right in front of me. She did great, I joked with Danny that although I haven’t held a job in years something like that proves I can multitask pretty well.
We made it to Winnemucca Lake just as a lightening storm was coming in. It started raining, and our dinner picnic was ruined. We felt for safety reasons that we needed to get down off the top of the mountain before the lightening came any closer so we quickly turned around and headed back. Aubrey had won a certificate for Baskin Robbins at the library and she took us all out for ice cream.

Backside of Frog Lake and the storm moving in!

We’ve been doing a lot of small hikes here in Dayton, the kids love to come with me and catch lizards, I make them release them, but they never stop asking to bring them home with them. Alyssa finds them fascinating yet disgusting at the same time.

Parenting tip of the week: Don’t buy those bowls that suction cup to the table. Poor Lis, trying to pull the bowl off the table to put in the sink (awww, shucks what a good kid) pulled too hard and it released from the table and it landed on the top of her head. Chicken and dumplings spilling all down her face and chunks of dumplings in her hair. Poor kid.

Today I made a stuffed toy for Hallie, it’s a little goofy, but I wanted to sew something, and I didn’t need a pattern, and I had some left over wool felt from Christmas stockings and a bell for the inside. The only thing I’d do different besides using cute material is embroider the face on before I got it all sewed together. In case you can’t tell what it is it’s an alligator, I’m thinking it’s looking a bit more like a creepy scorpion. Oh well, it jingles, and it didn’t cost me anything.

Sunday we blessed Hallie in my parents ward in Salt Lake. It was much easier then having all the family travel to us and we wanted to go to SLC anyway. On Saturday night my cousin and her kids and my Aunt and Uncle came over to my parents house for dinner. The kids had a fun time in a little pool my mom set up, and I was able to visit with my family. I don’t get many opportunities to visit with family much I need to make that more of a priority in my life. My cousin made a beautiful dress for Hallie’s blessing and the whole day was wonderful. I always want to write down the blessing, but never have. One thing that stuck out in my mind was what an inspiration to others she would be.

My mom’s apricot tree had lots of fruit on it this year, and she didn’t have any plans for it all, so up my kids went into the tree. We brought home lots of fruit, and I’ve been making all sorts of apricots creations with it. Jam and baby food were the tops on my list. I’m sick of apricots!

Cousin Megan and the girls. Thanks Megan for all of your help, church is a breeze with a teenager in tow.

Where are we? Any guesses?

Aubrey and Alyssa playing beauty shop, why they play this I will never know, I only manage to get a hair cut 2x a year and they never go with me. They were playing so cute it was worth a picture.

Our trip here was crazy. When we left Fernley I saw this beautiful gray/purplish mustang. I commented to Danny how someday when it’s just the two of us I would love to have a car like that one. I also told him that I had a funny feeling about this trip and that speeding was something I wouldn’t be doing on this trip. I always drive when we go on long trips, I truly enjoy the art of driving, and tend to be a bit of a control freak when it comes to driving. Anyway, we went on with our trip and stopped in Winnemucca for a potty break, then on to our usual stopping place outside of Elko. When we got back on the road in Elko I got into the passenger seat to Danny’s surprise. We were just outside of Wells heading up the Peaquops when a semi hit an orange barrel and sent it flying our way. Danny was driving, and he quickly hit the brakes, slowed, and slammed into the barrel. The van behind us saw it, slammed on his breaks, and was promptly slammed into the rear end by my pretty little mustang driven by a bunch of teenagers, they were slammed into by a large truck, and we were barely avoided by inches. After a quick call to 911 Danny ran to see if everyone was ok, there were some injuries, and a helicopter was sent. I was relieved at Danny’s quick thinking, he quickly moved cones to protect us on the highway while redirecting traffic around the wreck. It took the police almost 30 minutes to get out to us, and it was very hot. The helicopter came and landed just feet from our van, what an amazing thing to stand so close to a helicopter while the blades are whipping. The semi that struck the barrel took off! The good thing to the whole incident is that no one was seriously injured, and after the police took a statement we were allowed to go. Traffic was being held, we had the highway to ourselves the rest of the way to Wendover. We quickly said a prayer of thankfulness and headed out, the kids were freaked out, but it was a great teaching moment that the Lord had answered our prayers that morning when we left. I was grateful that Danny was driving, I’m sure he did a better job of keeping us out of an accident then I would have done. I’m pretty sure I would have over corrected to avoid the barrel whereas he reasoned it would be better to hit the barrel then completely avoid it and be hit from behind.

The rest of the trip has gone smoothly. We drove up to Rexburg to visit with Danny’s brother and their cute family. Gunner, their 3 year old son, kept saying he was going to find his girls, referring to my girls. He asked his Mom if they were his sisters, what a cutie. I need to get some pictures from Heidi of the kids together. Thanks Johnny and Heidi for lunch and a great day in Rexburg.

Children’s Museum is always a winner with the kids, we spent hours there, and the fountains at The Gateway was a great close to the day. We had a blast just going to Letherbee’s, I couldn’t believe how many people were at an ice cream restaurant on a Tuesday, and the kids were amazed that there was just a restaurant just for ice cream. One of our kids favorite places to go is the Children section of the Church History Museum. Alyssa dressed as and angel in the dress up nativity scene, Tanner built a temple out of blocks, Aubrey spent most of her time playing with the baby doll doctor area. We also went and looked at the church art contest entries at the Conference Center and we cast our votes for our favorites. We love going to the garden mazes for kids at Thanksgiving Point. Danny was chasing them through the mazes, making them scream and the Noah’s Ark splash park is always a hit for the kids. We wandered into the larger gardens, and found the Secret Garden, which turned into a mini photo shoot, the kids were posing left and right for me, and begging me to come and take their picture. I wished they’d not been in swimsuits and all wet with crazy hair, but I took advantage of their generous moods and took lots of pictures. We followed up the 24th with a night of fireworks with all the cousins.

I can’t believe the trip is coming to an end. Tomorrow we bless Hallie, and then we head for home. Back to reality, but that’s ok, reality isn’t so bad, and I’m so happy that we had a good time with family and we were able to enjoy our time with Danny.

Now for some pictures:

Tanner and Aubrey building a fort at the Children’s Museum

Tanner and Aubrey putting on a play at the Children’s Museum

“This is the Place” park with Grandma and Grandpa

Tanner winning a prize for the Hokey Pokey at the Galavan Center Disney party

Alyssa at the Church History Museum Nativity dress up area

“Stop licking the water”

Rock Band: Thanksgiving Point Gardens

The kids being angels and posing for photos without me even asking

Danny and Hallie

Aubrey lost her first tooth while we were here. She pulled it out in the car, you can see the gap in this picture, so cute! The tooth fairy came and she was able to buy a little tea set at Ikea and she served all of her cousins while we were doing fireworks. I love all the cute stages of growing up.

I’ll tell the story tomorrow, but we feel very blessed to be in Salt Lake City tonight safely. We narrowly avoided a large accident today, here’s a picture of our exciting afternoon. We are saying prayers of thanks tonight.

Above: Winnemucca Lake
Look at that snow, we were at an elevation close to 9000′

Let me just say I agonized over my decision to go on this hike. I am not in the best of shape, but LOVE to be outdoors hiking. I really didn’t want to be embarrassed by not being able to make it to the end of the hike, and had decided not to go, when at the last minute I put on my shoes, said a fast prayer and headed out the door before I could talk myself back out of going. You see I really HATE (hate is a strong word I always tell my children; use it sparingly) that I am not where I want to be in my appearance, and I know it affects who I am inside and out. OK enough of that downer, we’ll move on to the positive part of this. I MADE IT!
The hike was to Winnemucca Lake in the Sierra’s. It was 4.4 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 400′ give or take a few. Not overly challenging for some, but I knew for me in my current state, it would be a challenge. I loved every moment of it, except a few hills.
When we got back to the church it was pretty late, everyone was very nice and paused with me while I stopped to feed Hallie so we got back later then we had anticipated. I had to get Hallie into the car and when I went to start my car everyone was gone, and my car wouldn’t start. Luckily a lady who I was hiking with paused to see if I pulled out of the parking lot and when I hadn’t she quickly returned. I’m so glad that she did, because Danny would have had to wake the kids to come down and help me and he didn’t have car seats for everyone. Anna’s husband quickly came to the rescue and got me on the road in just a manner of minutes. I had one of those moments of thankfulness for the people in our ward, and this place that we live. I’m thankful for spirit that touches my heart and being in nature reminds me of the wonderfulness this world still has even when there are times when I think that everything is falling apart.
Now off to Utah for us tomorrow. 9 hours of driving, maybe more with stopping to feed Hallie.
These pictures were taken by one of the ladies on the hike. Thank you to everyone who took my backpack, held the baby, and made the evening a lot of fun.

This is Sunset Lake I think, one of many lakes we could see or passed on the hike