Busy Busy!

Well, I missed a week due to being up at the cabin with no internet last Sunday.  So here's a long post about 2 weeks worth of fun!  Last Monday, the kids managed to get the house clean and piano done early enough that we got to go somewhere fun!  We headed up to the Butterfly Pavilion with lunches in tow.  We got there just in time to get to see all their special presentations and still have lots of fun just checking stuff out.  We got to do an outdoor bug hunt, hear a story time, watched a butterfly releasing, and learn about superhero bugs!  

The kids loved this area - they had dirt filled with worms and the kids could go dig for them.  My kids spent half the day there!  They just loved it.

At the butterfly releasing, one flew out and straight to Aaron's forhead - I just love the look on his face - he loved it though.  

This is their other favorite area - getting to hold Rosie the Tarantula.  They all loved it, but Evie and James especially wanted to keep going back over and over to hold her.

Tuesday we tried a couple things, we started with a quick trip to the library, then we tried to go to the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Refuge, but after driving around, we headed to the visitor's center only to find that it's closed on Tuesdays.  :(  We were all a bit bummed.  Then we tried the museum of nature and science, but by the time we got there (after searching for a gas station) we realized that we would only be able to be there for 10-15 minutes before we had to leave so we could be home in time for Morgan to be dropped off.  

Morgan spent the night Tuesday and went with Eileen and Anna to Girls Activity Days, which was a fun afternoon swimming at a local lake.  I told Aaron, Evie and James that I would take them somewhere while the girls were gone if they got piano and some clean up done, but they didn't.  Morgan went home Thursday evening.  Friday was mostly spent trying to get ready for going up to the cabin and getting ready for Friday night and Saturday.  I needed to get as much done on Friday as I could, since I would have no time on Saturday and we would be leaving Sunday after church. 

Friday night was my craft night with Becky!  We brought out projects and showed off and worked on stuff while watching Jane Austen movies and snacking.  We grabbed a take out dinner and had a fun evening chatting and working on our projects!  We slept in Saturday morning, then packed up and headed home.  Dan had spent his morning helping some friends move, then Eileen had flute lessons, I had a long arm quilting session.  I quilted Kai's quilt - now I just need to do the binding.  Then I picked up our babysitter.  Dan and I grabbed a quick dinner before heading over to chaperon the youth dance.  We got to see some of Dan's cousins and kids from the ward, we also got to hang out with the Ker's a bit since they were the other chaperons.  It was a fun evening!  

Sunday was a wonderful church day with wonderful talks and lessons.  After church, we went home and loaded up the car and headed to the cabin.  Weather was beautiful while we were there!  Monday we did some hiking and running around and playing.  We spent time playing games, singing songs and just chatting.  Uncle Doug and Mark and Julia were there and so was Grandpa Francone.  It was neat to sit chatting with Julia and Doug - kinda interesting to look at Doug and my mom's relationship with Grandma Los and their relationships with their kids - made me think about what sort of legacy was handed down to me and what legacy I am handing down to my kids.  

We did some fun hiking around the mine and some of the other trails.  Grandpa took Eileen, Anna and Aaron fishing - they caught 3 fish and brought them home and cooked and ate them!

Some of the neighbors have a horse and they let us all have a turn getting led up and down the driveway on the horse - the kids LOVED it - James did NOT want to get off!!  It made Eileen's whole week!

We spent evenings playing Killer Bunnies with Eileen and had a great time.  Eileen really loves that game right now!  Wednesday after lunch, we headed back towards Denver.  We stopped at Tiny town on the way - it's their 100th anniversary and we had a great time looking at some new houses and riding the train.  Wednesday evening, I had my first choir practice of the season - it was a lot of fun to be back singing with the Chorale again.

Thurdsay was piano lessons in the afternoon, the on Friday, we headed to the splash park once they had finished their piano.  Weather was perfect for it and the kids had a blast.

 After the splash park, we headed to the library to return some books and pick out some new ones.

Saturday, Eileen had flute lessons, I did yard work, Eileen and Anna did some great work to earn some extra money and then in the evening, Dan and I went out with Newell and Becky for our anniversary date.  We went out to dinner, then went minature golfing!  It was a ton of fun - we really haven't gone mini-golfing like this we lived in Utah.  Newell creamed us all - twice, then we got some ice cream before heading home.

Dan decided after the first game that he needed to change clubs so he would play better - this was his choice - surprisingly, he did do better with the mini-me club than with a regular one :)

Today was a wonderful day at church.  It was wonderful to listen to testimonies.  During Sunday School, we talked about journal/record keeping.  I showed my class this blog and some of my scrapbooking pages and talked about personal record keeping and I also talked a bit about my ancestors account of the Chicago fire and how reading it has blessed me.  It was really neat - then I closed the lesson by asking them to take some time each day this week to think about things that have happened and how we have seen the Lord's hand in our lives. We then had a wonderful lesson in Relief Society about families and strengthening our relationship with our families.  I was touched by the spirit and I am grateful for those hints and helps and nudges as I try to be a better mom and try to teach my kids the happiness that comes from choosing the right.

After church, we headed to Frank and Tina's to visit with family and eat dinner.  It's always fun getting together with them!

Craziness

This week has been rather insane.  All week, I've had extra kids in the house, which has meant extra mess all over the house.   Monday, we had a friend of Eileen and Anna's over to play for the day, then the girls and I spent the evening cleaning up their room - it only took like 3 hours.... 

Tuesday, Eileen's friend Morgan came over to spend the night.  The girls were up chatting until at least midnight.  I gave James a bath on Tuesday night and at one point he picked up a handful of bubbles and put it on his face and said "I'm Santa Claus!"     

Wednesday, We still had Morgan over, we had the girls friend Nyveah over again and we had James' friend Adeline over.  It was rather crazy - and the house was a disaster by the time the day was over!  Wednesday afternoon Dan came home early so Becky and I could go to our long-arm quilting class!  We had tons of fun and I can't wait to get to work on getting Kai's quilt finished!  After the class, we went out for some dinner at a Vietnamese place next to the quilt shop.

Thursday, Morgan got picked up after lunch so that I would have enough room in the car to take all the kids and Addie to piano lessons. Piano lessons went well - then we headed home only to sit in stop and go traffic the whole way!!

Friday, we had Nyveah and Addie again.  After lunch, we headed to the church for a friends birthday party.  We had a great time hanging out with friends and eating junk!  We walked there since we didn't have room in the car. Dan met us there from work and so he drove some of the kids home while I walked home with the others.

Saturday we got up bright and early to drive down to the Pueblo area and to visit Bishop's Castle.  This fun and crazy place kinda makes me think of the Winchester Mystery House - but for hippies.  It was all built by one guy and it's kinda crazy to walk around (not for anyone with serious issues with heights) I think it would have been kinda neat to explore it with Dan, but with the 5 kids to look out for, it was nerve wracking!!!  There were TONS of very steep stars with little to no railing and none of those windows on the towers have glass - the tops of the tower had no guard rails or anything, so we wouldn't let the kids go up the tallest one.  

 Here's everyone else in a large chapel like room in the castle - it was really a cool room with all the iron work and wood.  The kids had a fun time though, and we enjoyed hanging out with the Guinn's.  In the afternoon, we got some work done around the house and in the yard while Dan went home teaching.

Sunday was wonderful - wonderful talks and lessons and the kids were mostly well behaved.  We gave Heather a ride to and from church - she fell and messed her knee up again.  In the afternoon, we played games, I made dream catchers with Eileen and Anna and we chatted with Grandma and Grandpa Jones.  Then I made pancakes for dinner and Eileen played 7 Wonders with us - and beat us (she only beat me by 1 point though!!!)

Girls Camp

Where to begin when my heart is full.  This week I am seriously lacking in pictures of my own kids - instead I have a few photos of my adopted girls from girls camp.  

Monday I spent finishing preparations for girls camp and for my kids spending the week at Tina's.  We dropped the kids off at Frank and Tina's that evening, then I got stuff packed up and ready to head out bright and early Tuesday morning!  

Tuesday morning, we met at the church at 6AM and headed to the camp ground.  We got there, and got to setting up camp - a couple hours later we had everything set up and we were checking everything out and making ourselves comfortable.  We managed to get some crafts and activities done before the first bout of rain set in and we ran for cover under our tents and shelters.  The rain finally cleared in time for the evening program (sorta) and we had fun singing and goofing off.  

Wednesday was the hike day.  Since our ward didn't have any second years, I went with our first years on their hike, which ended up being longer than the intended 3 mile hike due to park rangers re-routing us.  We got to our stopping spot and had lunch, then as it started sprinkling, we headed back - we hadn't gotten more than a couple hundred feet when the downpour started.  We all arrived back at camp drenched!  To warm up, we all crowded around a heater in one wards tent and had a sing-off - two teams trying to come up with songs that fit a certain word/genre/artist etc.  We spent our afternoon working on cheers in the rain and then we all headed to a local church building to do our evening program in a dry warm place.  While there, a girl from one of the other wards had an allergic reaction and was sent to the hospital.  This was followed by a different girl from a different ward going missing.  That evening was filled with prayers, worries and eventually gratitude for answers to prayers.  

Here we are working on a cheer! 

And here we are in garbage bag ponchos at the church building!

Thursday was our final day of camp - we spent most of the morning at the lake doing crafts, going in the canoes, and enjoying a few hours of sun before we started back to get out of the approaching rain.  That evening was the testimony meetings.  Dan and Bishop Ker came down for the evening program - it was SO GOOD to see Dan!!  He sweetly (and not very truthfully) said that when he saw me walking up to meet him, I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.  - I hadn't showered for 3 days by that point.... but it was nice to hear :)

Here are the girls again in what became our traditional dress for the week - trash bags and ponchos.  It rained hard for nearly half of every day, but we still all managed to have a great time, learn and feel the spirit together and make new friends.   The testimony meeting was wonderful - as I expected, I cried through most of it, but it was wonderful to hear their testimonies and their faith strengthened.

Here is our ward - ready to head home on the Friday morning.   All eagerly looking forward to a hot shower and a warm bed!

We got back to the church building to unload and send home around lunch time, then I went home and took a wonderful long shower!  Dan and I went out for dinner and enjoyed a quiet evening - with me going to bed early.

Saturday morning, Dan went to run some errands then picked up the kids.  I ran some errands too and then was excited to have the kids home with me again!!

Church today was wonderful - James had been running a fever the night before so we kept him out of nursery - which did NOT make him happy.  I took him while Dan did some setting - aparts, and he spent most of the time trying to run away from me and telling me to go away and telling me that he didn't love me anymore.  Then 10 minutes later he cooled down and was all sweetness again.  Our evening was nice - Dan and I played Killer Bunnies with Eileen - she's been loving it lately.

Girls Camp Preparations

This week has been crazy.  I've been trying to get everything ready for girls camp next week.  Tuesday evening, I was out collecting supplies, Wednesday evening, I was at mutual helping with camp certification, Thursday, we were going through supplies that we have and trying to see what we were still missing. I've also had to try and get yard work, doctors appointments and stuff done before I go too - but didn't manage some of it because of the holiday.  

This week was a rough week especially for Eileen.  One of our chickens died.  Eileen has always been very sensitive and caring when it comes to animals and she was heart broken.  Dan dug the chicken a little grave, and let the kids all say good bye.  Some of them even wrote good bye cards.  Anna's was very sweet and all about God having a plan for everything and that she was sure our chicken was happy in heaven.   We found Evie and James trying to dig the chicken up later that day so that she could come back alive.  We obviously didn't explain this well.... 

The next day, Eileen came in panicking that the other chickens were going to die too, so Dan spent his day doing a major overhaul of the chicken coop which had become infested with bugs.  The chickens seem to be doing better and we have learned some lessons about chicken care.  

Part of the overhaul included painting over the untreated wood that wasn't infested to keep it from becoming infested.  The kids (especially James) had fun painting - though I think James got as much paint on himself as he did on the wood.  

We were also finding the bugs in the house, so we did a vacuum of the furniture, and shampooed the rugs (well - Dan did this while I was outside mowing the lawn.)  

Saturday, we went to our ward's 4th of July Pancake Breakfast.  We had lots of fun, weather was beautiful, so we rode our bikes over - unfortunately one of Aaron's tires blew while we were there, but we all had fun enjoying good company, good food and good weather.  

Saturday evening, we had Jeremiah and Becca over again for dinner, games, fireworks and a movie.  The kids loved getting to watch some fireworks outside our house and the grownups all had fun watching "The Three Amigos" after.  Becca had fun beating us all at the game... again.... :)

Today was wonderful but crazy.  We had a wonderful fast and testimony meeting, a wonderful Sunday school and a wonderful Relief Society lesson.  After church, I spent a lot of time trying to nail down just how many girls I will actually have with me at camp this year....  My visiting teachers came over for a bit which was nice.  After dinner, we talked with Dan's parents on the phone then we put the younger kids to bed and Dan and I played Killer Bunnies with Eileen.

Crazyness Ensues....

Well, for the first time in a long time, I misses a week - but I promise that I had a valid reason...  

Our last week in Texas included a trip to the aquarium where the kids loved looking at the fish and loved even more getting to tough the sting rays!  They would have stayed in there with the stingrays getting soaked all day if we hadn't made them go eat lunch.

We got to have our friends the Tiltons over to swim and eat and have fun.  It was great getting to see them again and fun to watch friendships pick right up where they left off.

The females of the group headed out to get pedicures on a rainy morning with no sun to be seen.  In the meantime, Grandpa took the boys out for a rain walk where they got themselves (and their shoes) SOAKED!!

Thursday, we spent some more time with the Tiltons before heading out to Chuck and Kim's house for dinner and swimming.  After 2 weeks in the pool, James finally tried using the floaties somewhere that he couldn't touch the ground.  He would only do it in the "small pool" (hot tub) but it was still exciting to finally see him trying something new!

Friday, we headed out on the long drive back to Colorado.  We made it in late that night and crashed!
The next day we spent unpacking and cleaning and getting things ready for Sunday.  Sunday started out wonderful, we had a great time at church and a nice afternoon together playing games and reading.  Dan got home from church early and I got to go take a nap.  When I woke up, I wasn't feeling very well.  It kept getting worse as the evening went on, by 9pm, I was in enough pain to ask for a blessing and then head into the ER.  After a VERY long evening spent in pain in the ER, I was told that I was pregnant and probably miscarrying the pregnancy.  Around 2 am, they sent me home, told me to take Tylenol and come back in if I started bleeding.

Monday morning, I was bleeding, so I went back in.  I sat in there in immense pain with no painkillers until about 2 when they said I was probably miscarrying and sent me home with a prescription pain med.  Dan picked up the pain meds for me and by 3:30, I could do something other than whimper in bed.  So I spent the afternoon working on my computer.

Tuesday, I went to see my OBGYN who said that it looked like things should be done soon and if pain lasted too much longer that it wasn't a Gynecological problem, it was something else.

By Thursday, I was still in pain, but with Tylenol, I could manage to let Dan go to work.  That evening, we went to Wicked (which I wouldn't have missed even if I'd been in twice as much pain as I was)  The show was amazing and made better by getting to watch it with Dan and Newell and Becky.  We also went out to dinner before - but I still wasn't feeling up to eating much.

Friday was Anna's birthday party.  I struggled to find the energy to make the kids clean up the house before the party, but with Dan't help and threats of cancelling the party, it finally got done.  I went visiting teaching around 3 and then got back in time for the party.  Anna had a couple friends over to party and one got to sleep over too.  They played outside, then had a pizza and movie party.  Then the younger kids got sent to bed and the older girls got to play glow in the dark tag, glow in the dark hide and seek and glow in the dark Marco Polo,  They had fun!  

Saturday was again a day of preparation and fun.  Anna went out for Ice Cream with Grandpa and came home with a ukelele.  She is very excited about it and has been trying to take some online lessons on Dan's tablet...

Sunday was nice.  Church was wonderful with wonderful lessons and great people.  After church, we went home for lunch, then mommy took a nap again.  I had a meeting to help prepare us for girls camp (coming up in just over a week!)  then we ate dinner, then I went visiting teaching and got home to have fun playing games and eating yummy treats with Becca and Jeremiah.

Texas!

Monday morning, Dan and I rushed around to get everything my Dad needed to get a replacement passport for Eileen ready and shipped off, then we all hit the road for Texas.  We made good time and despite having not gotten out of Aurora until almost 10am (CO time) - we arrived around 1:30 am (TX time)  The kids were good and easy going.  James only had one accident and all went well!  

The kids proceeded to want to spend almost the entire week in the pool.  They have been having tons of fun swimming and playing in the pool.  Evie is finally starting to get comfortable in the water and though she still needs a life vest or floatie at all times, she's finally getting really comfortable that way.  Now it's James that even with a floatie or life vest won't go off the platform with out a vice like grip on me.  

Thurdsay morning, we met up with Jon and Sandi at the splash park, we hung out there for a little bit before heading over to Sandi and Jon's pool.  Then Thursday evening, we got to pick up Eileen and my dad from the airport!  Eileen had a great time and loved handing out the gifts.  It's so good to have her back home!  

Friday and Saturday was more pool time for the kids (especially Eileen who had been wanting to go in the pool badly)  We've also gotten to see lots of Sandi and the kids.  Last night, Dan and I played games with Sandi (Eileen was too tired - still a bit jetlagged)  and tonight after getting the kids to bed, Eileen, Dad, Dan and I played games.  It's nice to have our little game buddy back!

Summer Fun

The kids have mostly spent the week having fun and playing outside - they have practiced piano, worked in their workbooks and explored the backyard, but I could never  convince them to keep it clean for very long.  We did managed to get it cleaned up one day in time to go to the library, the kids loved checking out books, and spent the next 2 days reading.  The kids have been so excited about going to Texas.  They have been talking about it all week and we got things ready and packed up today - we head out tomorrow morning.  

I had a choir rehearsal this week followed by a concert the next night.  Anna came to the concert with me and had a good time and even made a new friend with the daughter of another choir member.  Rehearsal and concert went well.  Dan was out of town from early Thursday morning to Friday evening 

James and Aaron love digging under the rocks in the back yard looking for bugs and worms - i just loved this picture of them.  James ran up to me telling me that he had found a bug for me and that we was going to go put it in it's habitat.  

Saturday was busy.  I went to get an allergy shot and run to Costco in the morning, then we got home and Dan went out to run some errands while I took the kids to Kid Spree for a bit.  The kids had fun - Dan met us there when he was done and about half an hour later - they were closing stuff down for a while due to storms.  But they had fun while it lasted and then we headed home so I could mow the lawn and get ready for some friends coming over for dinner and games.  We had a fun dinner and played Lord of the Rings after - we haven't played in a LONG time - and we all lost, but it was still fun!  

Church was wonderful - the kids and I had a talk before church about being reverent and they did really well and after we headed home happier and ready for the next week.  We got all packed up and ready to go to Texas!!!

Eileen has been having lots of fun in Scotland, at least until yesterday when my dad realized that they had lost her passport...  Now he is just panicking about getting home.  :)