Really, camping again????

Yes, we have gone camping twice more. These trips were literally back-to-back. Got home from one Sunday evening and left for the other the next day. Crazy I tell you, but so much fun!!!

The girls had their annual dream Camp up at granite falls. We took the whole family and had a great time.

We are getting really very good at making it all fit. This time since we were not at a church site we even crammed in the wood.

We did however have to resort to using the car top carrier and then bunging stuff on top of that.

Sorry guys, but a little blackmail on my behalf is necessary.

and here is the pic that redeems them and puts them in a manly status once again.

Polar bear dip, heck yeah!!! Out of about 200 girls, two of the six that went were mine! Yeah, we rock!! I will mention here that it was 7:30 in the morning and this is glacier run off….

My polar bears warming near the fire. I love that K’s shirt says “got ice”.

After they warmed up it was time for Yoga.

Can’t forget about Red Rover, REd Rover, Send….. right over.

and, the talent show….

Next we were off to our Co-ops camping trip. Unfortunately it turned out to be only three families and it rained half the time but we still had fun, fun, fun.

Fifteen kids, Three moms, and a Grandma…

My little two were completely infatuated with this baby and wanted to be near him the whole time. Time for another???

Nothing is better than a polish dog cooked over a camp fire, nothing.

We have been camping a ton this summer and have really enjoyed it. We have two more trips planned. One with the church camp out and then Matt and I have decided to go camping by ourselves for our annual goodbye to summer campout.

I love the feeling of letting my kids go free range the way they were meant to be. Not confined to a house or a small backyard but able to run wild through the wilderness and use their imagination, eat food with dirt on it, wear dirty clothes, play in the rain…… It’s a few days of pure freedom.

Lab Rats

I have no shame, I am proud to admit that I subject my children to the pursuit of science and they are indeed official Lab rats, and I love it!!!

When Sariah was born they had me fill out a card with her information that would then be given to UW and would allow them to contact me in the future if her stats met those that they were looking for to participat in learning studies.

Sure enough when she was about nine months old they called and asked if she could participate in a study that looked at how children learned. More specifically they would perform an action with a toy and then ask the child to perform it. After a few of those they would do the action again and then another observer would make an exagerated face and comment "That is so infuriating. I do not like it when you do that!" or some other like comment. The leader would then ask the child to again perform the action, the one they had just been chastised for doing by the observer. During the time the observer would either be watching the child or reading a magazine and not paying attention to the child. They were looking to see whether the child would still perform the action after having witnessed another person being chastised, and if it would make a difference if the observer was looking or not.

They reimbursed parking, gave her a little car toy and this cool shirt.

When Tristan was about five months they asked us to participate in a study that was trying to see what decible infants heard at. It was fascinating but too long to describe here.

While at that study I saw an add looking for 8-12 year olds to participate in a language study so I signed Michael and Seri up. They had a great time. It involved two sessions. One where they did a lot of language testing and listening and then another were they were fitted with a suction cup helmet that read their brain waves when responding to questions involving language. For these the children were paid $20.00 each visit.

Tristan then participated in one out of three sessions for a plagiocephaly study. He is a control subject in this study as he does not have plagiocephaly (a misshapen head in which the back of the head is often flat to an unusual degree). He had 3D pictures of his head taken and we were given a CD with a copy of the photos, and he worked with an observer for about an hour on different things. He recieved a $100.00 check. He will be tested again in Oct. (at 18 months) and then once more when he is three.

Recently he participated in the same learning study that Sariah did. It was so interesting to see how the two children responded differently.

Maybe it is my passion for Psychology, but I love the fact that the children have this oppurtunity. That it enables me to teach my children about the scientific process through real world experience which will insure they learn it better. We talk about methods, hypothesis, controls and just about everything else and they know it because they were a part of it. No better learning than that.

Here's to science!!!

Recently

Here are just some of the things that have happened in our lives in the past few weeks.

We were supposed to take the girls to a lake, but it turned out to be one of the hottest of the year.  The place was packed and there was no way we were going to find parking.  We changed plans and this is what they had to have as a replacement.

They weren’t really thrilled with that idea and so the next day we took them to the river.

This was a much better replacement and they had a great time.

We also learned something very important.  On the hottest day of the year it is NOT very smart to feed a 1 year old Coldstone ice cream outside.

Now this may seem like a strange picture but this man really made my day!!!

Not to long ago we put those little decals on the window that indicate how many are in your family.

This day, the guy on the motorcycle pulled up next to us and was frantically motioning to us.  We couldn’t figure out what he was talking about.

Finally Matt rolled down the window and he yelled at us “You have five kids?”  We responded that yes, we did and he gave us a huge grin, a thumbs up and said “That is AWESOME!!!”  Couldn’t agree with him more.  In a time when most of the comments I get about my large family are skeptical rather than positive, I truly appreciate this man!  So here’s to the great motorcycle guy!  Love ya!!

Crawfish Boil

It has become an annual tradition.  One of Matt’s co-workers orders in a ton of crawfish and alligator each summer and we are lucky enough to be invited to join in the redneck-ness of it all. 

We all converge upon their property, eat and hang out all day and then camp and listen to all the drunk guys sing around the campfire or at least try to.  This year we invited S to go along and keep Seri company.  I think she had a good time, she asked us if she could go again next year.

We love this weekend and look forward to it all year long.

 

Yeah, it is like a red neck convention !   Gotta love it!

That’s one proud Daddy!  Watching as his children naw on fish like cannibals.  Do cannibals eat crawfish?

Of course this is where Seri can be found the whole weekend…..It’s lake water and it is nasty, but she doesn’t mind a bit.

Sariah and S.  Sariah adores her and as you can see the feeling is mutual.

Talents

I am continually amazed by those who have talents. I know, we all have them... but some talents are just so....well, amazing!!



I love hearing musical talent. Maybe more so because I don't know anything about music. I also am amazed at those who have the talent of being put-together. They have this inate sense of color and of what goes together. Their makeup is always perfect, their hair is perfect and so are their outfits. Then you walk into their home and everything is decorated so nicely. Amazing I tell you! I am so jealous of women who posses these talents.



So, the other day after seeing some of these "blessed women" I felt jealousy creeping in and began to wonder why I couldn't have been blessed with a talent like that. One that I could actually use and be proud of......



Then I felt guilty for questioning God and his wisdom in giving us talents that are uniquely ours. So after some thinking and a prayer asking me to recognize and be grateful for my talents, this is what I came up with.



My talent is...... DRUMROLL PLEASE......



BIRTHING!!!!!!



Yep, that is right folks. I am a very talented birther.



But really, as I got to thinking about it I became more aware and thankful for the ability I have to grow perfect babies without any pregnancy complications and to birth them without need of drugs or intervention. Now, just as someone who does have a musical talent would never think herself above those who don't I realize that this does not make me any better than the next lady and no offense is meant by this post.

But I am extremely blessed to have this talent. I look around and just about every one I know has c-sections. I have had five children and never even needed pain medication. Two of these children were born outside of a hospital I am able to be aware of my body and work with it, mind over matter if need be. I am able to face this struggle and be strengthened and empowered by it. I am able to trust the Lord and the body he created for me while believing that this was what my body was designed to do. I trust my instincts even in the light of professional opinion.

What a huge blessing it is to have been able to experience each of my births in this manner.



So, yes......as strange as it may seem I am claiming the talent of creating and delivering life. And I am forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for bestowing this talent upon me.

Lost in the text

I have become quite a texter lately. I find it easy and convienent, especially when there is something I need to tell Matt that I don't want to forget but I don't want to call him at work in case he is in the middle of something.
Our conversation Friday went something like this....
Jen- what size does Mike wear? Shoes.

Now, I sent this and then promptly went on with the activities of the day. A few hours later the conversation resumed, except I had forgotten about the first text.

Matt-2.5 kids

J-What happened to the other 2.5?

M-What?

M-NM, I get it.

J- Why only 2.5? I thought we had five kids last I checked.

M- Mike's shoes size, not a physical count.

The great camp out

We have been wanting to camp out at Ensign ranch for a long time now.  So, finally this summer I made the reservations and was determined.  Matt couldn’t take that much time off so I came up with the great idea of the children and I heading over on Tuesday and then he would meet us on Fri.  Come Thursday I was wondering how great this idea actually was…….

We packed everything in and on the way I realized that I had forgotten some things but at this point I was not turning back.

We were pretty packed in there.  We had a comment once we were there and all set up that asked “how did you get all of that in that vehicle”?  Practice…….

The kids and I did great though and I am so very proud of us!!!  Seri was a terrific help in getting the tents up. 

All day Tuesday I kept hearing “If Dad were here………..”  until finally both Seri and I had it and informed him that Dad was not here and if he said it one more time………..

Wednesday went well, however the novelty of camping had worn off and the comment this day was “I am bored”, that comment was given the response of, “if you say it one more time I will pack everything up and we will go home”.

I think this comment was generated out of the disappointment that I would not let them swim in the lake (which was full of leeches) or ride horses.  As a smart mom who is by herself with five children, two of whom are two and under I decided neither of these activities were in my best interest.

Thursday evening after I had gotten everyone in the tent and were starting to go to sleep we heard people right outside our tent.  Turns out we got neighbors!!  They had six children and the kids were ecstatic to finally have other children to play with!

Friday morning after chatting with the neighbors we realized that I knew the mother from Institute classes when I went to CWU.  It was nice to meet her family and catch up on what had happened in our lives and those of other people we knew while the children ran around and had a great time.

After it having been hot and sunny all week, early Friday evening it began to rain.  The neighbor family was trying to have a birthday party for their one year old and the rain was not cooperating, so we put up our other canopy and invited them over.  Our covering for a great piece of pineapple upside down cake, I think we got the best end of the deal!!!!

They also had a family member who was fantastic with the children!  He spent a good deal of time playing with them and then later in the evening when we couldn’t find Isaac it turns out he was in their tent listening to some very animated stories.  Thank you to the man who has the talent of entertaining children!!  They loved playing with you and listening to your stories.

Sariah, Isaac and Tristan eagerly await their turn.

Daddy finally arrived and we were all very relieved and excited to see him.

Saturday the children finally got to ride the horses….

While they were riding, Tristan decided that there were more important things to do……

 

Sariah really loved the horses.

Why does it seem that when children want to help you and insist on it they are usually to little to really be effective, then when they are old enough to be effective they are no longer interested in helping?  One of life’s big mysteries.

And of course, the best part about this trip was the gigantic slip and slide!!!  It was so much fun!  WE spent a large portion of our time here and I think you can tell why.  Even on Saturday when it started pouring  buckets we kept a-sliding.

The best thing was to make chains and go down.  The children always seemed to manage to find other children to con into doing this.  Mike is at the end, Isaac is in front of the boy with the blue shirt and Seri is in the middle in the black shirt.

There was also the Yakima river that ran through the camp ground.  We had fun playing in it and the older children tubed down it.  Seri’s glasses became a victim of it’s raging waters.

Sunday we packed up camp and then headed to Cle Elum for church.  After church we were on our way home.

We had a fantastic time and are planning on going again next year.

We are so blessed in Washington to have a ton of camp grounds that are church owned and run.  A friend of ours mentioned that they never camp at church properties, I was surprised because that seems to be the only place we camp.

-The sites are always beautifully maintained and run

-they are generally much cheaper than other camp grounds. (we paid ten dollars a night , not per person)

-All the equipment rentals and activities are free (with the exception of the horse rides. Seri’s hour trail was fifteen and the children’s were three dollars. Still a bargain!)

- The missionaries who run them are always polite and helpful and well go out of their way to ensure your experience is nothing but the best

-the firewood is free

-And the biggest thing for me is that I know my children are in a safe environment.  There is no one there drinking, partying, smoking, or walking around in highly inappropriate clothing.  All the other campers are more than willing to help out if needed and I know that they are helping to watch my children and keep them safe.

-You make great friends.  When we got there we ran into a family who was leaving and they went to our co-op last season.  Weds and Thurs we met a family with four children and became attached.  They gave Isaac one of their tubes when his popped.  Then our neighbors came and we loved having them there.

-All church owned properties have a ward nearby where you can crash on Sunday and they don’t say anything if you show up in jeans because you forgot church clothes (dear….).

I encourage everyone to give the church-owned properties a try, you will love it.  Not everyone has the chance to have these camp grounds and we should all be taking advantage of them.