Labor Day...Camping Style

We went camping for our Annual Labor Day Campout. It was so fun. I LOVE being a Trailer Owner, because there are so many benefits to trailer camping than tent camping. As a little surprise Erica and Landon came too! I was stoked to hear that they were going to make it. We roasted hot dogs for dinner the first night and in the morning I made an AWESOME dutch oven breakfast for everyone.

We also drank a ton of HOT CHOCOLATE because the nights and mornings were pretty chilly.

On the first night of camping, Brooklyn declared that she HATED camping. She couldn't believe that we would take her camping, and she wanted us to leave her at Grandma Jill's house. And she was just flat out TIRED of camping. We had been there probably less than an hour. And she was already pretty much filthy dirty. On the second morning as we were sitting around the campfire visiting over our breakfast, Brooklyn wanders over and gives out a little yell "Yeah! CAMPING!" She actually had a really great time.

On Saturday we went for a hike. Shane and I aren't really hikers. But we went because some of the other boys are hikers. Shane led us around, and we figured that since we had so many little kids we wouldn't make it very far. We kept going and going, and Shane would estimate about how far it was, and we would say that's ok, and we'd go a little bit farther. We ended up going on about a 3 mile loop and there was one hill that was so steep, I didn't think that my kids were going to make it, but they kept going and there was very little whining. I was pretty impressed with them. From this picture, you can see Rockport. This was at the summit of the really steep hill. I have another one that shows that we could also see Echo. Other things we could see from here...the local ski resorts, Mt. Timpanogos, I can't remember all the things that Landon and Justin were pointing out, but we could see for MILES. It was beautiful, and the hike was well worth it.

These two small boys are so FUNNY. On the first day, they had been traveling from Vegas all day. Shane and I headed up to the campground before they got there, and so finally we see the Jeep coming up the road. Suz and I went out to greet them and since the windows on the Jeep are off, I just called out "Hello!" And then the best thing from the trip happened...a tiny voice from inside the Jeep (later identified as Will's) calls back "Helllllooooo!" It was totally Seinfeld style. And then he did it again and again. It was AWESOME. Then he wouldn't do it again. I helped them make a little camp craft. We made turtles out of wooden craft spoons, rocks and googly eyes. Will and Holden LOVED theirs. They couldn't hardly wait for the glue to dry. For a moment I think I might have been their favorite Aunt.

All in all we had a really fun camping trip. On Sunday night it was so cold that the drinks that got left outside were all frozen. Shane had opened all the windows in the trailer, but in the middle of the night got up and closed them. Then an hour later he got up again and turned on the heater in the trailer. Apparently he couldn't get warm. I was really glad I wasn't in a tent that night.

Fashionista

This summer I've been letting Brooklyn get dressed by herself. Sometimes she does a good job...other times she comes out looking a little like "Peg Bundy." She was so proud of this outfit. I let her wear it for part of the day, but unfortunately we had somewhere to go and I made her change. She wasn't too happy with me.

One other thing. I love high heels. I've loved high heels for as long as I can remember. I remember when I was little and my mom would take us to the shoe store and everyone would be trying on the practical shoes that they "needed," I would be in the Women's department trying on every pair of high heels that I could find. Brooklyn is the same way about things like these. I am constantly finding her in my closet trying on my best high heels. She gets excited on Sunday's because we get to wear our high heels. And these shoes the Jamie gave her for her birthday (pictured above) have become her absolute favorite. She wants to wear them everywhere. I think that she will be the type of girl who will be wearing the high heels with her jeans, and her sweats, and whatever else she decides to wear for the day.

Our First Camping Trip

We took our NEW trailer out for a little camping trip last weekend. We took Harley with us. He had a pretty good time. See his smile?

Tyler and Chris had a good time too. The kids almost immediately started playing hide and seek in the woods. There were so many places to hide, they had fun.

Saturday morning breakfast time. I generally prefer the outdoor cooking method, but since it was our first time in our trailer I went ahead and cooked the whole thing inside. I even MICROWAVED the water for our hot chocolate!

Later on Saturday we had ART DAY. We made nature pictures...

And SUPER SNAKES...

And more NATURE PICTURES.

Our Super snakes were friends.

Before we went home Sunday Morning, we took a self portrait of ouselves with our new trailer. Just a side note on this, don't enlarge it to get a closer look... we've been camping folks, trailer or not, it's not pretty.

Now these are an interesting set of pictures. They were not taken while we were camping, but somewhere in there is a little baby something that probably came home with us from camping.

I think that this might be it's tail.

Here is a view of the inside of our truck, under our seat. It's looking at us from this view.

Still looking at us. Guessed what it is yet?

A BABY SKUNK! Guess what day these pictures were taken. We got home on Sunday Morning...Pictures are courtesy of THURSDAY AFTERNOON! That's right it lived in our truck for 4 days!

We are pretty sure that it's gone this morning. It tore apart the driver's side visor of all things. Other than that and a few minor "accidents" that didn't include any spraying the truck seems to have come out OK. I'm going out to carpet clean the whole thing today. Soon in fact.

Leadership? ME!?

Once I was asked a question in an interview that hinted about what type of person I was. I can't remember exactly how it went but I remember my answer was "assistant manager." Because I wasn't really the leader type, but I could carry out orders fairly well, and tell people what to do, as long as I didn't have to come up with "the PLAN." Lately I feel like all of this lifelong strategy has just gone out the window. It all started the night of the little buckaroo rodeo. As I was heading out to the car after it was all over, I got stopped by an old friend who happens to be the PTA president. She wanted me to be the HEAD ROOM MOTHER for Tyler's class this year. I'm all about volunteering to help out in the classroom so I said Yes. Then last Sunday, the bishop called me into his office. He needs a new BEAR LEADER. Of course I'll do it. What is a Bear Leader? I don't know. Neither did the Bishop. But we both kind of suspect that it has something to do with the Cub Scouts. He thinks that they have meetings on Thursday afternoons. That's all he could tell me about it. Anyone know anything about a Bear Leader? I could use a little help here.
I'm going to have to evaluate my volunteering status after this.

Cheeshe!

It was time.

I held him down and ignored his screams that he couldn't breathe.

Then I pulled it out. It was pretty dramatic, but he is VERY GLAD that it is out.

The tooth fairy came last night and now he has $1.50 instead. He's happy.

Birthday Fun!

I told the twins that they couldn't open their presents until Dad got home from work, to which they replied "But we can't wait that long!" Something that they would say about 100 times each throughout the course of the rest of the day. They had to wait. But when Shane stopped by the house to fill up his water bottle about 8:00 they made a rush for the presents and had them open in about two minutes.

Here's Brook opening the first present.

She was so excited and screamed "It's GIRL STUFF!" (Fake nails and silly bracelets)

Chris got a new puppy (these are the best kind folks). His new name will be "Puppy Boy."

New Puzzles

Chris wanted new "undies" more than anything else he could think of.

What do I want to remember most about Brooklyn's 4th Birthday? This picture right here needs to have a little audio with it. She is whispering to her new unicorns that live in the castle. "Don't be scared, I'm nice." She was being so gentle with them, and placing them in their little windows. It was SO CUTE! Where did I get her from?

We got Chris and Brook new bikes! Chris wanted a Dark Blue bike with Bullseye on it. He had to settle for Buzz and Woody, but he LOVES IT. Brooklyn's has a baby seat on the back for her baby dolls. She also loves it.

Later we had CAKE AND ICE CREAM. I let the kids pick out their own flavor of ice cream. Brooklyn picked out Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Chris picked out Blueberry Pomegranate Chocolate Chunk (ugh). I picked out my favorite Kroger brand Caramel Delight. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's light, and it's delicious.

We got two cakes. What do you do.

We sang Happy Birthday twice and they blew out the candles separately so I was able to get a good picture of each of them this year. I think it was a pretty great birthday party!

The cake masters put brown frosting in the dump truck so that it looked more realistic. I told Chris he could eat it after he blew out the candles. He didn't wait around for this opportunity, he also didn't share with anyone (except for maybe Chels. I'm not sure I got all the details on how that went down.)

So that was the Birthday. We'll do it again next year!

One more thing that I just remembered that I don't want to forget about this birthday. Last night during the party Chris started to go around to all of his guests and he would say "Tell me Happy Birthday." "Suz, tell me happy birthday." "Chels, tell me happy birthday." These guys are the best.

What Does it Look Like to Turn 4 Years Old?

Today is Brooklyn and Chris's 4th birthday! Can you believe it! They are getting so big, but they are so much fun to have around. We love them so much. Last night we took them to the Little Buckaroo Rodeo and they both rode in the stick horse barrel race. Brooklyn raced around each barrel (although she messed up the pattern a little bit), Chris took a lap around the outside of the barrels which must have looked like a good thing to do because several of the kids after him used the same pattern. They really had a good time though. This morning they are having some sausage for breakfast now and later we're going to go to the store to pick up their cakes (don't judge me folks, I don't do cakes).

As a side note to the S.C. Fair, and Miss S.C. in particular: Miss Universe called and she would like her crown back.