We May Not Have It All Together...But Together We Have It All: FAMILY FAMILY FAMILY

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

FAMILY FAMILY FAMILY

All the grandkids (that were able to come).

They are holding their marshmallow shooters that Aunt Kimme made for them. We had a blast with the shooters, and I am still trying to pull dirty, sticky marshmallows off all of our shoes!

Thanks Kim!

The adults that were able to come. I am not pictured because I was home with the baby.

Maybe I'll try to cut and paste myself in (all clean of course!)

Every year since I was a teenager (I wont say how long that's been, it would age me too much! ), my parents family goes on a 4 day camping trip. The first years included around 14 people. This year we had a party of 42 1/2 people (that was with 10 members of our family who couldn't make it - WE MISSED YOU GUYS!, and my sister who's having her baby next week - the reason for the 1/2). Kamden and I went to the mountains during the days, and home at night, (not to sleep - but to "enjoy" each others company - since nighttime is when Kamden likes to play). We eat yummy food, play games, eat more, visit, eat more, hike, eat more, 4-wheel, eat more, stories around the campfire, eat more, try to sleep, and still...we eat more! By the end of the trip, our kids are so dirty that it is hard to tell them apart from the ground. The day we go home, we begin anticipating next years family camp, and reminiscing the fun of this last years. I feel so fortunate to have a family that enjoys being together!

I love you guys!

Jarin with his cousins, Myah & Parker

Had to post this picture because of the insanity of it!!

My sister Kim with her husband Frank, and their "baby" Princess (even the humans aren't as decked out for the 4-wheeler ride as the dog is!) - gotta luv it!

And then there was...ONE. Poor Kelli has to be the last (out of 5 babies this year)

to have her baby. Not much longer (one week) - hang in there Kelli!

Marley, Ryan, Kamden & Kameron

The group who hiked to Bloomington Lake.

Emilie on the rope swing at Bloomington - Way to go Sis!

Me at Bloomington Lake - notice the snow in August in the background.

If truth be told...I did NOT hike to bloomington, I cheated and rode around to the lake on a 4-wheeler. Getting back on my 4-wheeler was just the medicine I needed. It was fantabulous!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Very fun to see all the pictures...but huge bummer we had to miss all that the fun!; August 16, 2008 at 1:04 PM
Drapers said...: That sounds like fun, I can't believe there is still snow up there. Yes 4-wheeling is the way to go. I'm glad you got to get on one this year. My kids wouldn't swing off the rope. But they enjoyed the water. Steph :-); August 16, 2008 at 1:05 PM
Amber Bradley said...: How fun! I love the pictures! It makes me want to go camping since we haven't been as a family yet this year... I hope it happens!; August 16, 2008 at 3:20 PM

Kute Komments!

Jarin: "I've been waiting all day for Kamden to grow up...when will he grow up like me?"
4-2010

We were driving by a farm which was being fertilized. Jarin sniffs a big sniff and says, "Mmmm...that smells like my strawberry nose" (the strawberry nose was a yummy smelling gas mask from the dentist)!
Jarin: "Is is "fat man or bat man"?
Jarin "My heart is dirty and needs to be cleaned." Then I wash his face, and he says, "My heart is clean!" (He watched me put lipstick on once, and thought my top lips looked like hearts. Now he thinks that lips are hearts). Which makes me wonder what he thinks when he says, "The Holy Ghost makes our heart feel good."
Jarin asked with a great big smile that melts my heart, "Mom, are you being grumpy with me?" (yes, I was - but that started us both laughing instead!)
We were having a family home evening helping Emilie to prepare for baptism. We talked to her about making good choices and right vs. wrong. We were trying to prompt her to give an answer when Ira asked her, "What's opposite of right, (he asked it in the context of right choices), and she answered, "Left." (you should have seen the look Ira and I gave each other - it spoke volumes!)
Same family home evening... we were talking about the Holy Ghost. Jarin (being very tired and very sensitive at the moment anyways), started going balistic on us. Not only did he say he was scared of the Holy Ghost. And not only was he crying because he was scared, but he was SOBBING, and it continued for about an hour (which is when he fell asleep still crying)!! Then first thing out of his mouth when he woke up was that he was scared of the Holy Ghost! We think we are doing the right thing by teaching our children, but really - we have taumatized Jarin! I can only imagine what was going on in his little imagination. Did I mention that FHE finished earlier than planned?
Ira was feeling the baby move at a particularly active time. He said, "Is he moving furniture around in there?" (some days it sure feels like it!)
There was a baby being blessed in church Sunday, and Jarin saw the priesthood men in a circle, and loudly proclaims "Look mom, their playing ring around the rosies!"
Emilie asked me, "Since our eyes are blue, how come everything doesn't look blue to us?" I explained how we see through the black circle in our eyes. She said, "Then the blue is just for decoration?"
Jarin walks around the house constantly saying, and singing "I am a Child of God, and He has sent me here." And when anyones voices get too loud, he sings, "Love at home... Love at home..." I'm not sure he even knows the meaning of what he's singing, but it stops the contention and usually starts a few giggles.
Ira was talking about leap year, and Emilie asked, "What is leap year? Is it when we leap to school?"
Ira asked Emilie if you put plastic wrap or foil over a pan going in the oven. She said tinfoil. Ira said "Good thinking Emilie." She responded by saying, "No, I didn't think...my teacher told me." (thank goodness for teachers, so we don't have to think!)
Jarin asked me if he could have something, and I had told him no. He responded by asking again, then answering his own question as if he were me, "Of course you can sweetheart." (it's no wonder he gets whatever he wants - how cute is that?)
In church today, a half a second before the sacrament prayer was being said, (so it was very quiet in the room), Jarin observed that his dad was sitting on the stand, and calls out in his loudest voice, "That's my daddy up there!"
Brayden said, "I've learned to never mess with a pregnant person."
Today I told Jarin he was a sweetHEART, and he said, "No, I have a beautiful HEART, and mommy is beautiful too." (a comment like that, he can have whatever he wants!)
This one was said a year or so ago, but it was one of the best we've had ever - so it bears repeating! Emilie said to mom, "Someday I am going to marry my prince, just like you married your prince."
Jarin said, "We don't say 'monkey butt' do we?"
Jarin see's a bumble bee and says, "It's a bum-bum bee".
Emilie singing, "Loose, footloose, kick off my church shoes."

Hmmmmm...

I copied this from my sisters blog, but it's just too perfectly perfect to not be reminded of as often as possible!

Hmmmm....
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.'Well,' she said, 'I think I'll braid my hair today!'So she did, and she had a wonderful day.The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.'H-M-M,' she said, 'I think I'll part my hair down the middle today!'So she did and she had a grand day.The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.'Well,' she said, 'today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail.'So she did and she had a fun, fun day.The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head.'YEA!' she exclaimed, 'I don't have to fix my hair today!'Attitude is everything. Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

INSPIRATION

"A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation." Joseph Smith

"The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone. The things you do for others remain as your legacy."

"Fix it up...wear it out... make due...or do without!" - Gordon B Hinckley

"In righteousness there is great simplicity" - William R. Bradford

"The most important thing parents can do for their children is to teach them to feel The Spirit and recognize when it is no longer with them."

Elder M. Russell Ballard: "There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children...What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."

The adversary would keep us busily engaged in a multitude of trivial things in an effort to keep us distracted from the few vital things that make all the difference."-Ardeth G. Kapp