To Do: Blog Posts

I have been having so much fun this summer with the kids, the laundry, and general chores that I haven't been blogging as much as I usually do. And, just kidding about the laundry and chores thing. Yes, I have been doing those things, but they really aren't that fun.

The month of June has seen:

A fun primary activity day where we the kids played in the water. The water games were related to scripture stories, so for example, they used slingshots to shoot soaker balls at a poster of Goliath while they were David. There were six stories/activities all together. It was a little cool and a little windy at the park. I think the kids had fun.

Going to the library for the Reptile Rescue guy and seeing his snakes. My favorite memory was when he set a bucket on the floor and said something like, "Now, if this one gets loose, you all need to stay calm and still. I don't want him to get hurt." Then, he sets a snake on the ground. It's a sidewinder. Venomous, of course. The entire front row of children and adults lifted their feet off the ground. Everyone behind them (that includes me) stood up to keep a better eye on the snake. After he put the sidewinder away, he brought out a rattlesnake indiginous to our area. The snake man kept telling the audience to check a snakes tail. If it is pointy and slim, it is a safe snake. Later on in the month, I was talking to my sister on the phone and a four foot long gopher-type snake came along. Will gets right up close to it and says, "Hey mom! It's okay! It's got a pointy tail!" Someone was paying attention! *wipes away tear of happiness here...*

Saw a magician at the library. He was great! His name was Christopher Lopez. He performs in the Southern part of the valley and is hitting all the libraries this summer. Will was probably the best part of the show. He sat next to me and kept kind of chuckling and saying, "Wow! That is SO AWESOME! How did he do THAT!?!" Friend Amy came up that day to raft and met me there. She though it was pretty good, too. (And that Will was hilarious.) The set-up was very professional with a traveling stage and music. He was great with the kids and kept them engaged the entire time. It wasn't exclusively kiddish though. (But wait. I do watch cartoons a lot and read tons of books that rhyme. My standards may have changed.)

I have been busy reading. I LOVE reading.

I went on a super fun rafting trip last week. When I get a photo, I'll post about it. I will say that I was really, really nervous about it. I kept thinking "River Wild" with Merle Streep and Kevin Bacon. SCARY! But it was so much fun. I went home and started looking up more trips and it renewed my interest in kayaking. I think I'll stick to the lake for now, since I have very little kayaking experience. I love rowing though, and the water. When all the kids are in school I hope to be able to throw my kayak in the back of my truck and take off to the lake a few mornings a week. The rapids were fun. I trusted our guide completely, and I think that helped my nerves.

My birthday. Ta-da, I'm 33. Kacy told me I was "so old." I gave her that "what?!?" look and she says, "What? You are." I just laugh without mercy because I write these things down. On her 33rd birthday card I'm going to write, "Dear Kacy, You are now 33. You are SO OLD. SO. OLD. Love, Mom." and I'll buy her some Depends or something.

We redesigned the kitchen-dining room layout on the big house. Another post entirely, hopefully this week in the ranch section. Better now that after living in it!

I spoke in church on Father's Day with Nicole Kent and Kelly Kent. Kelly and I spoke together before, and I think I'll tell the bishopric that we are now a team and we will not speak unless we speak together. The primary kids sang the Daddy songs. We drove to B-town and saw the dads. We got them ties. I'm making it a tradition.

The cathedral ceiling is almost 100% insulated. Woot!

First Day of Swim Lessons

They made it!

Barely.

Kacy got in the water, was scared, but tried her best. At least she was willing.

Ed got in, but was aloof. He clung to the instructor like his life depended on it.

Will sat on the edge and refused to get in for the first ten minutes.

Jessie was with me in the "Mommy and Me" class (which is already way better than the Mommy and Me class I put Kacy in a long time ago in Bakersfield) and at one point said, "This awesome, Mom!"

Seven more lessons to go.

Angel Food Ministries and Other Food Thoughts

My grandma M. told me about Angel Food Ministries awhile ago. She said you can order this food, it's pretty good, and it's cheap (and the milk comes from Gossener's in Logan, UT- a favorite of hers). There are no income limitations. It's a religious based organization, but it's not for any one religion. (On the back of one of their flyers in a faith based page. It has an article written by a pastor, some scripture on it, and a recipe for grilled Asian Chicken. It's not my religion, but that doesn't bother me a bit. If you don't like that type of thing, I guess you would either get over it or just not order.) Anyway, I looked it up on the Internet, and decided to try it out. They order once a month, and today was the pick-up day in my area. Here's what we got:

You need to bring your own box for the "Signature Box." The after school fruit and veggie snack pack came in it's own box. I took my laundry basket down with me.

This costs $16.00, and everything was fresh. I'm not sure if this is cost effective yet, as I haven't even begin to price out how much this would cost me at a regular store. I do know that it required little effort on my part, no driving around, no kids in the store with me... and no thought. It seems like enough for one or two kids for the week, depending on appetites. All the produce has been fresh- we tasted some oranges and apples with our lunch today.

This is the contents of the "Signature Box" for $30.00. I know this is a value because I didn't walk out of the store with tons of food I hadn't planned on. This is supposed to feed a family of four. We will test it out this week and see how it goes. I'm pretty sure we won't be able to stretch most of this for a family of 6, but maybe. Add some sides? Some filling bread? It included: 1 sweet potato pie (not pictured, already tasted and confirmed as yummy by a pie lover.), a microwave ready mac 'n beef dinner, four 6 ounce steaks, 3 pounds potatoes, 1 pound spaghetti noodles, 1 25 ounce can sauce, 1 pound ground beef, 1 pound fish sticks, 1 pound rice, 1 dozen eggs, 1 pound frozen green beans, chicken fajita meat, chicken fajita veggies, 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 18 ounces smoked sausage, and 1 quart shelf stable milk. All the frozen stuff was still frozen, and most everything was vacuum sealed.

I tried this out for a few reasons. One, I hate how much food we throw away. Wasted due to the kids not liking it, or because I had good intentions but the food went bad before I got to prepare it. I'm hoping the slightly smaller portions and pre-made menu will help stop that. Two, I didn't have to drive and hour and a half to the cheap grocery store. Three, it seemed like a good deal. And after picking the stuff up today, it is! It was so fast. We went to the grocery store afterwards for some bread and bananas and dairy, but I walked out with a lot less than I usually do.

I will prepare some of the food and report later on the taste. I'm curious about the prepared stuff.

Here is the website; it's a national program, and you can check to see if it's in your area.

ANGEL FOOD MINISTRIES

I'm not alone in my struggles with the "What's for dinner? Ugh." thing. I hate thinking of menus that will please everyone, and I hate when so much goes to waste after the effort of making something. We are adopting a light snack in the afternoon policy. I have no oven, but I was thinking of going to my mom's huge kitchen for a baking day. I want to bake a bunch of unfrosted cupcakes to keep in the freezer, maybe some cookies (I haven't made cookies in a long time!), and some muffins. Muffins would be great for a quick breakfast or an afternoon snack. I'd like to make some biscuits or rolls, bake them and then freeze them, to help supplement our dinners. Has anyone ever frozen already baked rolls? Did they turn out okay after they were thawed? I have read differing views on the Internet. I need to be able to bake them before I freeze them. If you know, share with me what worked and what didn't! I'd really appreciate it.

Ladybug Hike at Cedar Creek, CA

Monday the kids and I headed out with a great group of moms and kids for a ladybug hike. For some reason (the name of it? "Ladybug" seems like a name for a preschool class or something) I thought the hike would be easy. It wasn't. It was great! But a little challenging for my girls. Turns out Kacy doesn't really like perceived danger, and the creek, stinging nettle, and slick rock unnerved her. I think the cliff did her in though. There was one point that we crossed that I thought, "I can't believe my boys did this without me! What if they had fallen? They would DIE!!!!" and then it was over twenty feet later and my boys were fine. My boys are like mountain goats. Will was hiking with the big kids out in front, and Ed was not far behind. I am grateful for moms and bigger kids who watched out for them. I have to say that I was so impressed with the group of kids we went with. We didn't know most of them, and they all watched out for my boys. Kacy, Emily S, Marcie and Jayda, and Jessie and I were in the back. Another mom friend of that Marcie knew hung back with us and helped us out a ton. It's really very difficult to cross a creek on rocks and logs with a two year old. And, although the hike was tougher than I thought (does not help that I am out of shape!), it was so fun to see the kids with thousands of ladybugs. I took my point and shoot, and in true mom with hands full fashion, I only took a handful of pictures.

This is Will's hand. I think this is all he dared. Zack B. had them all over his hair, his shirt, and his arms. If is wasn't ladybugs, it would have been creepy.

These two girls are three and a half months apart. They did a great job hiking for being only two years old. I hope they are friends when they get older.

My pictures do not do the ladybug population justice. It was AMAZING how many there were.

There was a mess of kids there. I can't begin to remember their names. All I know is that they were cool.
Ed discovered what stinging nettle is. It welted across his wrist and thumb. When I caught up to him, someone (Michelle, maybe?) had put mud from the creek on it to try and soothe it. It hurt! After a few minutes, he was still rubbing it on his shirt and saying "Ow. Ow. It hurts." to himself. Then, either out of embarrassment or irritation, started saying, "I'm fine! I'm fine. Let's go already." while still rubbing his wrist.
After the hike, we walked across the hwy to the lower part of the campground and checked out an old cabin. It has been freshly vandelized and was nasty. It would have been VERY cool with out the graffiti and nastiness there. There was a rope swing that entertained the kids for awhile. Ed fell and sliced/scraped his hand pretty good, so we hiked back to the picnic area where Jessie played nurse. She held band aid and cream while I cleaned him up, and then put the bandages on him.
***To get to Cedar Creek Campground, find Hwy 155 from where ever your starting point is. From Hwy 178, go to Wofford Heights and turn on Evans Rd/Hwy155. It's up over the hill. You can find Hwy 155 from Freeway 99 in the Central Valley, too. But, you'll go through some winding roads that make me want to hurl. Beautiful drive, nonetheless. Bring a barfbag is all. There are Forest Service signs, a creek (flowing nicely right now, who knows about later in the year though), and outhouses that were fairly clean. Easy access car camping. Ryan said it's fairly crowded during summer weekends. Ladybugs seasonal- plan on the middle to late June, depending on weather.
***On of those pictures (I can't remember which one!) is available for download. Look on the left sidebar for "Image Downloads" link.***

Amtrak Train Trip for Ice Cream to Hanford, CA

Yesterday Kissy T. and I took the kids to Hanford, CA via the Amtrak train. It was a blast! The kids were great, and they had fun.

The Bakersfield station has this VERY cool fountain. The marble world sits on top of water and justs kind of floats there. You can stop it, get it going another direction...

We had to take the group picture of the kids. Kent was backwards. "Hey, Kent! Turn around!"

Jessie heard it, and in true two year old fashion, turned around.

As good as it gets. Then, it was "All Aboard" and off to Hanford. The trip up was about an hour and a half. It went by really quickly. We brought snacks and a few things to do, but mostly the kids hung out and played with the curtains.

We arrived! We found the old Courthouse and had a picnic lunch. Bathrooms in the library across the street were a lifesaver. After lunch, it was off to Superior Dairy, where we got...

a huge banana split that the kids all shared. They didn't finish it. It was $5.75, a bargain for 6 kids. Krissy and I shared a "Cookies" milkshake.

***To find the grassy area and Superior Dairy (across the street from each other, with the library right there, too), get off the train. Go through the station and you'll see a Grocery Outlet, and you'll be on Sante Fe Ave. Turn right, and walk a short distance to the corner of Sante Fe and W. 7th St. Turn left, away from the tracks, and go down W 7th until you get to N. Douty. Turn left, and about 2 block down is the grass, and Superior Dairy. The ice cream was the soft melty kind, made right there I believe. It was very good.

Driving Behind our Horse Trailer

If you happen to be driving behind our horse trailer, it would look like this:

From the top: "Trails West Preston Idaho" The manufacturer. They probably put this sticker on there.

The middle: "Honk if You Honkytonk, George Strait for President" Ryan's birthday present. My friend Krissy makes vinyl stickers... and Ryan once mentioned he'd love to have a bumpersticker that said this... so this is what he got. George Strait sings a song called "Honk if You Honkytonk." My kids love it and Jessie insists I honk. And I do. But only if there are no other cars around.

Bottom sticker: "Have you ever been range bred by a Nevada Buckaroo?" The former owner (cowboy, not a show horse lady) put this one on there. Self explanatory. Took me a minute of slight confusion while understanding that the sticker was not asking any livestock this question, as technically they can't read.

The back of the trailer is a blank canvas, awaiting more stickers. Can't wait to see what ends up on there next!

Horse Sense

Image from "The Pioneer Woman"While driving home from Big Meadow the other day, we were talking about packing, mules, horses, etc. I threw out the question, "What are we going to name our horses?" (I think we've decided that our mules and jacks will be named after the nieces and nephews.)

Kacy: "I'm going to name mine Lightening. I want a bay. A fast one. And if it's not fast, I'm going to name it Thunder. But I really want a fast horse. Named Lightening. (Really, Miss Cautious? Interesting.) Hey Dad, what are you going to name your horse?"

Ryan: "My horse will name itself."

Will: "Steve."

Ed: "I'm gonna name mine Lightening McQueen." (Of course.) ***Edit*** As of July, he has changes his horse's name to Frostbite.

Jessie: "My horsh is Ee-aw."

Like the donkey sound. And that's how she said it. The whole truck busted up laughing, and then Jessie realized she was hilarious and proceeded to repeat that sentence for the next five minutes. If you ask her, she says it's "ee-aw,ee-aw,ee-aw, like dat."

I'm naming my horse Seven. Don't know why. Seriously have no clue. Just sounds good to me! Which is why I didn't name any of our children.

Kacy Portrait, Just for Fun

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Happy Birthday to the man of the house!

I tried to ask the kids what their favorite things about their dad are, but since a new Phineas and Ferb is on, they are like zombies. Seriously. So bad. Kacy was the only one who answered.

Let's pause the cartoon.

Kacy: "I like dad because he does powerslides and donuts."

Will: "I like watching him ride on his motorcycle and building on the house."

Ed: "When we climb on mountains and riding on the tractor."

Jessie: "Dad likes 'orshies." (Dad likes horses.)

Karrie: "He's proud of me for being able to eat four pieces of pizza without flinching."

We love you, Ryan!

Day Trip to Big Meadow, CA

Today we went to Big Meadow with Ryan, cousin David, and Jesus M. Ryan needed to finish up a few things on Troy H.'s Eagle Scout project. The project was rebuilding the cook shack. David has a picture of it in its leaning state somewhere. It was getting pretty bad. The snow was so thick this year it's highly likely that it would have collapsed. Here it is, all shiny and new and extremely sturdy with poured concrete footings and a welded metal frame. The US Forest Service wanted it to look the same as the old, so the original outside logs were reused. It was also re-sized for building code.

The kids had a blast. I was a little nervous that they would get bored, and they did toward the end, but it wasn't so bad. I only lost Ed once, and that was because we was in a honey-bucket doing his business and hadn't told me he'd left. So, because the kids were all responsible for themselves (not getting lost and all), I am now ready to take family camping trips. But, I may need a truck first, as any place accessible by Mazda might be too inhabited for my camping pleasure.

Some of the camp looked a little swampy. The entire meadow to one side was impassable on foot. Where the ground wasn't submerged, it was very soft and your footprints would fill with water. Considering there were still 5 foot snow drifts in the shade just 10 days ago, we were doing pretty well. (If you are going up in the mountains this summer, bring the bug spray. The mosquitoes are going to be killer this year!)

We were able to go to one side of the meadow (not too far, because of the water). So beautiful!

Isn't it fun when your child goes through the “tough man” photo phase? I hope it doesn't last long... same with the camo lanyard/necklace thing and wearing a hat backwards while dancing. Hat stays forward all other times, but goes backward for dancing... oh, Will.

No trip to the mountains is complete without some kind of excitement. A flat tire on the way home was our excitement. We also stopped for some people who listened to their GPS and ended up headed for a cold night lost in the mountains. They were MILES from where they needed to be. Ryan got them straightened out and headed back for civilization. We were able to find a decent place to change the tire. Then, we went to our favorite pizza place ever on our way home. We made the excuse that Ryan's birthday was tomorrow, when really, we need no excuse to eat at the Pizza Barn in Kernville, CA. We love that place, and anytime we are in that area, we eat there. Since we were mountain filthy, we ate outside in the perfect weather.

All in all, it was a great day. The kind where you come home with a full belly, get cleaned up, put your jammies on, and fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow.

Summer Fun

So far, our summer has been fairly busy. Some things we've done:

-dance party.

-day in Bakersfield where we grocery shopped, visited the grannys, and swam at my paren'ts house. Jessie wore a life jacket, and still had to be rescued twice. Sure a life jacket will help you float, but floating face down is no good I tell ya. The other three have arm floaties this year. They are SO TIMID in the water. It stresses them out. I have a swim theory, and it's probably wrong. I've always though a life jacket is a swimming liability. Reasoning: chances are, if the kid falls into a pool, they won't have a vest on, and should know how to help theselves. Not having one also helps them have a healthy respect for the water. And, because I never had one and I was just fine. Those are the first three reasons I have, but I'm beginning to think I might be wrong. Maybe they should have a vest until they get comfortable in the water and grow old enough to realize they no longer need one. I don't know... we always had a pool and it seems like we always knew how to swim. I shall ponder further, and hope that the swim lessons do their job!

-baptism for Trey B. The kids were pretty well behaved. They were sitting by themselved while I was in the back playing the piano. Our babysitting friend Emily and her family were right behind them, and Emily took Jessie out when Jessie decided she needed to play the piano, too.

-I see small improvments in Ed's behavior. Where we couldn't keep him in our pew at church FOREVER due to ultra quick crawling and escaping techniques that would impress the CIA, he can now sit on the edge of the pew (aisle side) and just...sit. Not leave. Not jump up and run far, far away. It's a small miracle that I'm grateful for. Oh- a huge one- he no longer jumps out of the car and runs into the middle of the parking lot. He now gets out of the car, walks around it like a normal person, and comes and stands next to me. (Or, if there is a planter near the front, he goes and looks for bugs.) Totally acceptable and such a relief for me.

-Plans for going to the mountains for a day trip tomorrow. So excited! Just for the day. Just a picnic. The kids are so excited to spend time with Ryan. He is so busy with everything that family time is at a premium. Plus, it's the mountains. I'm a little worried about them getting bored, because we kind of live in the mountains and spend a lot of time outside with the wilderness and hiking and what not, so it's not a novelty. Just new scenery. Maybe we'll take Kacy's bike.

-Planning on going to lots of library activities this summer. There is one today about reptiles. Should be interesting.

-Let's not forget the freezer pops we've consumed. Lots and lots, and we all love them. Me because they are a self contained, low mess treat. The kids love them because they are "fuity and frozen" (that's Ed).

Post Processing with Free Action in PSE 7

For whatever reason, I decided to fiddle with post processing some pictures. That, and I put up a makeshift background (weed blocker hung from my clothesline) while the sun was starting to go down. I used Jessie, as she likes to model. I don't know what it is about school age kids- they get all wacky with their "smiles" and "poses." I took a few shots of Kacy, but they looked very forced. Will, too. Ed would have been a good choice because he is so photogenic, but he was inside watching Phineas and Ferb, and when he did come out, he had a really messy face and his hair was all wonky. Jessie was my option, and I'm so happy with these two poses! I'm going to have to make some high-res copies and get them printed out. AND I'll have to try and get the other three done so I have a complete set. (Warning! Type-A in me. Sorry.)

BW Selective ColorCreamy Toffee Latte

Memories of Sunshine

Warm Autumn Sky- This one is my favorite! I think.I'm usually not a big fan of post processing, being married to a purist and all. But I do like the way some of these look, and would love to have one for a wall photo. Most of my blog pictures are very lightly edited; cropping and resizing, and "levels" corrections to compensate for my exposure issues, if needed. But these? I like these. All actions are from Coffeshop. They are all free. They run with both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. They are easy to install. Thanks to Kiahna for the heads up about the site. (Check out Kiahna's site for some scrapbooking inspiration. She's good.)

Will Graduates Kindergarten!

Will made it through his first year of school! He only had a handful of detentions and phone calls home! He can read! He can write! His motor skills have improved, as well as his speech. All in all, it was a great year for him.

Getting his diploma from the prinipal.

Will's class had a jar that they put M&M candies in, one for each day. When they got to the 100th day of school, they divided them up and ate them. Then, the class put 80 more in the jar and each student took turns eating one a day. Will ended up being the last kid, so he ate his at the graduation.

Good job, Will!

In other Kindergarten graduation related new, Ryan was up in the mountains. He left at 5am. Ed woke up at 6am and puked on the floor. He puked again at 7am. At 7:10 I called the closest friend who might be willing to watch a puking child for me- Dany. (Dany wants to be a nurse, so I always assume people like that don't get grossed out easily. AND she has four kids, so she's automatically a puking pro.) She very graciously offered to watch Ed, and Jessie, too! Luckily he didn't vomit at her house. He saved it for the ride home. Then he quit around noon, everyone took a nap, and Kacy started at 2:30pm. She was sick most of the night until she fell asleep. Then all puking was gone! I think it was something bad from the fast food we ate the night before, but who knows. I'm just grateful for a friend who watched a puking child and that the puking didn't last long.

A Busy 24 Hours

I'm going to recap the last 24 hours, because I'm exhausted and don't want to forget what the "everyday" is like. Luckily, this isn't quite a typical day.

*Yesterday, 1:30pm- Go to Will's classroom to watch him in "The Great Kapok Tree" play. He was the first anteater. His line was, "Senhor, you are chopping down this tree with no thought for the future." In true Will-speak, it sounded like, "Seen-yor, you are chopping down this tree with no fought for the future."

*4pm- Head on out to a certain desert city for a Walmart run. We needed some summer supplies, and food. We arrive at the Walmart, and a sleeping Jessie had peed in her seat again. We go to the kid section first and get a pack of undies and some clothes. (That what I get for cleaning out the the car right before we left...I took out my emergency clothes. Oops.) But her a tee-shirt and shorts, which Kacy informs me makes her look like a boy. She has no hair clip in, and does indeed look like a boy. Oh well. Continue shopping with four kids. Let kids spend 5 whole minutes in the "Toy Story 3" isle. Is it me, or is Walmart and Disney pimping the heck out of that movie? A new generation of toy mongers, I guess.

*6:45- Go to Jack in the Box to feed starving children. Eat inside since they were "good" in Walmart. At the end of our meal, Ed goes under the table. I hear, "What's this?" and say "Don't eat anything off of the floor, Ed." Ed comes up from under the table chewing on something.

*8:40pm- Get back home and put everyone to bed.

*3am- Help Jessie go potty.

*4am- Hear rat trap go off in bathroom and leap out of bed with a joy filled heart. Fling the twitching woodrat and trap outside.

*5am- Hear Ryan leave the house to go to the mountains for the day.

*6am- Ed wakes up and pukes.

*7am- Ed pukes again.

*7:15am- I call friend Dany and beg and plead for her to please please please watch Ed for me so I can go to Will's Kindergarten graduation. She says, "Of course. Bring Jessie over, too." I owe her BIG TIME.

*8am- arrive at Dany's house after first hitting the gas station for a soda and bland crackers for Ed. I LOVE living where I live. I do. But the gas station is 15 miles away. I'm almost always late.

*8:15- Will graduates!

*9:30- Will is in his classroom for his graduation reception, and I'm in the cafeteria for Kacy's awards assembly. She got "Student of the Year." Will's teacher brings him in to join me after his cake reception. (I missed it! I don't know how single moms do it. Honestly. Well, I do a little... and it's HARD.)

10:05- Pick Ed and Jessie up from Dany's. No puking! Drive home. Pull onto property. Ed says, "Mom, I think I'm going to puke." Proceeds to spew forth 22 ounces of Sierra Mist and a saltine or two. This is the highlight of my day, besides catching a rat. Seriously, the look on Kacy and Will's faces almost make me pee my pants. Jessie said, "Eww. Mom. Ed puked my seat." It was everywhere! Gushing out of his mouth and nose. I felt so bad for Ed. But really, the other three more than made up for it. No one wants to be anywhere near Ed. They tell him to go sit "over there." It was HILARIOUS to watch them turn green... ah, now that's what motherhood is all about. Laughing at your children at inappropriate times.

Ed is currently in bed, and I'm heading that way since I had such an eventful night. I keep telling him, "See? This is what happens when you eat food off the floor." But I keep substituting "floor" with "road" and "ground" and "parking lot" to cover all my bases. Poor baby looks like a train wreck. I hope he feels better soon.