Whats up.

It has been such a crazy summer that blogging has fallen thru the cracks. Here's an update. I'm pretty sure I am the world's worst picture taker. Even when I do happen to remember to take my camera, and actually pull it out at opportune moments, the pictures never turn out decent enough to actually share. Sorry.

A couple weeks after the trek Chad and I went up to Girls Camp for one night. It was so much fun. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Girls Camp. Always have. Pretty sure I always will. While there, the ward camp leader and I caught three of our young men trying to toilet paper the cabin. Haha. It was really funny.

The end of July and the first of August the kids and I went to Idaho. We hung out with my family for a while. My sister Karianne had baby #4. Yeah!! Baby Emily looks like a Perrenoud and is very sweet. Claire couldn't get enough of that baby, and now she's obsessed. Every child under 2 is a baby, and she exclaims at the top of her lungs "BABY!!" Its pretty cute.

I also got my hair cut and colored. I'll post a picture when I get a decent one on my camera.

The first week of August we met Chad in St. Anthony, ID., for the Comin Reunion. It was lots of fun to see them and get to know some of his cousins and stuff. They are so great. There was a little pond there and a couple canoes, so we went out for a paddle one day. The kids loved it--even Claire--and now Chad wants a canoe even more.

After that we went to Boise to visit with my oldest sister, Kelli. Chad was awesome and helped her husband move his garage to their new house. We also went white-water rafting. We left Claire and Kelli's little one with another sister (Thanks H!!) but took the rest. I admit, I was really nervous. I inherited my mother's fear of water, especially where the kids are involved. But it was a BLAST!! and no one went out the boat unless they had planned to. We really want to go again another time. Thanks, Cole Family for such a fun time.

A couple days later we came home. It was so great to be back in our own house, even though we had a great time. Thats there is a brief update.

June and Trek Update

June started off really great... We had stake conference, and our vising authority was Elder Richard G. Hinckley. He gave some awesome council. He also spent a little time talking about his dad, President Gordon B. Hinckley. That was so neat. Pres. Hinckley underwent Chemotherapy for 2 years. As a consequence he didn't have much of an appetite. His kids would take turns taking dinner to his house and making sure he ate at least a little bit. On one occasion one of his kids asked him if he thought we would have food in heaven, to which he replied, "I don't know, but if we do I sure hope we don't have to do our own dishes." There you have it... if the prophet can hate dishes, I can too.

We also had visiting Elder Seldon. He's an area authority. He is from Ohio, was the president of the Kirtland Stake for many years. He was funny. He said, "My mother raised 5 sons... She ran a frat house. I had an uncle with 7 daughters... He was an alcoholic." As one of 8 girls (and one boy) I could really appreciate this sentiment. When I shared that with my dad, he just nodded his head and said, "Yep!" It was funny.

The kids did 2 weeks of swimming lessons. They loved it! Natalie is so little that she has a hard time getting her feet out behind her to really kick and go anywhere. I think I am going to have them both repeat the class they did this year when I sign them up next time, just to be sure they are really comfortable with things before they move on.

For Chad and me, much of June was spent preparing to go with the youth in our stake on the Pioneer Trek Youth Conference, which was June 30 thru July 3. Talk about an amazing experience. We were a Ma and Pa, which meant we were primarily responsible for 8 youth for the 4 days. We had the best family... we couldn't have picked a group that was more fun, yet they also knew how to turn off the silliness when it was time to be serious. We always had stray kids--the friends of our kids that would come over and visit. One they named Mowgli (like from the Jungle Book) because he was always in our family. But they were fun kids and we had a BLAST!

(This is our family)

The first day of the trek we met and got to know each other, and then traveled to Sage Creek campground. The second day we pushed and pulled our handcarts for 14 miles. We crossed Rocky Ridge, which is the highest point on the Mormon train. Its also the point in the trail that was fatal for many members of the Willie Handcart company. It was not as difficult as we had expected, quite honestly. But we had perfect weather, and we were well rested, and we were well fed. It was humbling to imagine doing the same thing on an empty stomach when there was 18 inches of snow on the ground, when you were already completely exhausted. We also crossed 7 mud puddles. And when I say mud puddles I mean, 5 feet wide and 2 feet deep, thick black mud. What an adventure that was. I only went through one, and it was tough. We had to take off our shoes, and when I got done my foot was bleeding, still not sure where from. I lost my balance, and almost sat in the mud, but caught myself just in time. The day was long, but it was also fun to sing songs and laugh and joke, but also feel the Spirit. That night we camped in Rock Creek Hollow, where 13 members of the Willie Company were buried in a mass grave. What a neat Spirit was there. We had a great talk with our group that night, just talking about the whole day and the things we were experiencing. I could tell you about it, but even if I did you still wouldn't get how awesome it was.

(Thru the mud)

(Me, post-mud puddle)

(The Common Grave at Rock Creek Hollow)

The next morning we got up, broke camp, and traveled (in cars) to Martins Cove. We re-loaded our handcarts to hike back into the Cove, and then on to our campground. We went about 5 miles that day. It was really, really hot. After lunch we crossed the Sweetwater. The water was really high this year... it came up to my hip. It was so neat to see fathers carrying daughters across, brothers carrying sisters, husbands carrying wives. There was a kid from our ward who has a prosthetic leg, just below his knee. He took off his prosthesis and hopped across that river, with one had on a rope that was strung across, and the other holding on to the arm of a leader from our ward. It was awesome. Shortly after the river crossing the clouds started moving in and the wind picked up. Just as it started raining we stopped and the men were called out to the Mormon Battalion. The women had to pull their own handcarts up this crazily steep, soft, soft, sandy hill. The men were standing at the top, watching, and they were allowed to help or encourage or talk. All they could do was stand there. And watch. As we struggled up this steep hill. In what was not pelting rain. While thunder and lightning are crashing all around us. If you looked up, you would see these 15 and 16 and 17 year-old guys with tears running down their faces. About half way up, our handcart got stuck. Our tarp, which had been haphazardly thrown over the top of our stuff, was way too big and half of it was dragging on the ground. Then some girls who had already reached the top came down and helped up pull it over the boulder we were stuck on and get back up. It was intense. as I'm sitting here typing this, I can feel the stress of it all over again. Once all the girls were to the top, the boys rejoined us, and we went the 2 miles to our campground. Before we had gone a mile, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. That was the only rain the entire day.

That evening I found a tick in my leg. UGH! Fortunately I have my own personal trained medical professional that was able to extract it for me (that would be my husband, for anyone that doesn't know that). Then we had a campfire and stayed up laughing and talking with our kids. Even after we got inside of our tents, they continued talking and laughing and teasing. Chad and I lay in our own tent just laughing because they were so funny. The next day they said, "We heard you guys laughing" and we just had to tell them it was because they were SO FUNNY!! It was so great.

Friday morning we got up, broke camp--again--and headed back to the Visitors Center and had a testimony meeting. It was awesome to see those kids apply their experiences on the trek to their own lives and see how they were affected. There were a few who, the entire week, kind of had this "I'm too cool for this. I am so not into this" attitude, and by the end of the week, they were playing a different tune. They were touched too. It was incredible. After that we had lunch and came home. I wasn't ready for it to be over, although I was ready to put on jeans instead of pioneer clothes, and take a shower (my fingernails were so dirty!) and see my own babies. But life must go on.

If any of you ever get a chance to participate in something like this, I would encourage you to jump at the opportunity. It was so incredible. While my own testimony was strengthened, the best part for me was seeing how the Spirit influenced those kids.

That night we were telling Caleb and Natalie about what we'd been doing. They soaked it in. So we decided to take them back out there the next day. It was neat to try to help them understand what the pioneers went thru. As we were walking, the kids were starting to wear down. So we tried to help them understand how tired the pioneer children must have been. I said, "Imagine having to walk all the way to Granny's house. What would that be like?" There wasn't as much complaining after that.

(This is the family--minus Claire who was sleeping in the stoller--sitting at one of the statues depicting the Sweetwater Crossing rescuers)

Craziness update thru May

Seriously, it has been a very long time since I last posted. We've been busy, and I just haven't taken the time to write my own post. But I have still been checking other people's, so I know what you've been up to even if you don't know what I've been up to. So I'll fill you in on a few highlights.

In March we were at Chad's parents for dinner, and Chad's cousin Tiff brought her family down to say hi. Her girls and our girls were wearing matching dresses. Cute pictures!

In April I got my wisdom teeth out. I layed around for a day, mostly because I had an excuse to, but really I was fine. Not as bad as I had anticipated. And no swelling.

One day toward the end of April we got a call from the stake executive secretary. The Stake President wanted to meet with Chad, and I could come along as well. At first we thought, "Oh, well this is just so that Chad can be released as executive secretary." He's had that calling for 2 years, but in March was called as ward mission leader, which was a complete surprise, so he had been doing double duty for a few weeks. Then we started thinking but the stake president doesn't usually release executive secretaries. So we spent an anxious day, although I was pretty certain what it was for. He was called to serve as the first counselor in our new bishopric. He was sustained, ordained to be a high priest, and set apart on May 3rd. And since then he's been doing TRIPLE duty. About 3 weeks ago he was conducting sacrament meeting and actually released himself as ward mission leader before sustaining the new one. And the following week he was released as executive secretary. So FINALLY he is down to only one calling. PHEW! Its been awesome to see him grow into the calling, even in such a short time. Oh, and thanks Mom and Dad for coming over for the quick trip and taking part in the day with us.

May was busy. Caleb had track day. He ran in the first race of the day and won! It was so funny! They blew the whistle and he flew down the track. He was so pleased. Sadly, I had forgotten my camera. His second race he came in 4th (out of 4), but thats okay. It was fun.

Natalie had a "dance recital." I put that in "quotes" because it was kinda ridiculous. The teacher liked dancing a whole lot more than she like pre-schoolers. She didn't really know how to handle some of the live-wires in the class. Chad made it to one day of the practice, and his comment was that it was like "herding cats." But she had fun and she looked really cute in her costume. She is kindof a diva. Several parents had taking flowers for their girls, and she was devastated she didn't get any so I took her to the store afterwards and she insisted on getting a whole dozen, and they had to be pink because "thats whats in weddings."

Mother's day was awesome. Chad got me some of those Willow Tree figurines. They have a newer line that is little kids, so he got me one for each of the kids and one of a couple. I love them. Thanks to all the moms, sisters, friends and other great examples of Womanhood in my life.

Natalie had a program for the end of preschool. It was fun, but kinda lame. When I did the preschool co-op for Caleb I didn't really enjoy it. Probably because we were moving and then I was pregnant, but I just never really got into the groove. But I did enjoy this group with Natalie a little more. Here is a picture of her "graduation."

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Cheyenne and participated in the Comin Memorial Day Festivities. This entails driving to about 6 different cemetaries, visiting I-don't-know-how-many graves, and creating great memories with extended family. It also means a family reunion picnic and Ft. Collins City Park. Which means a train ride for the kids. This time Chad got to ride and I got to take pictures. Fun times. On our way down there was this incredible rainbow... very vibrant and it was full--double--all the way across the sky.

There was a big huge fun picnic at the end of the school year at Caleb's school. Their principal resigned, effective the end of the year, and the new principal was at the picnic. They had a dunk booth, and at the end of the day they dunked the old principal and the new principal. It was great. For any Casper-ites, the new principal is Coach Larsen fro CY Jr. High and NCHS.

Thats an update for May. I've got to go get laundry started. I'll try to be on top of things and get fully updated this week.

Memorial Day

I love America, and I love holidays that make us reflect on what a great nation we live in and those who have given so much to protect it. My brother took this picture last year on Memorial Day. I really like it because the Washington Monument in the background reminds us of who and what founded this nation. The headstones at Arlington Cemetary remind us of those who protect us.

My dream car

My sister and I were talking about our dream cars today. Its a toss-up. I can't decide between an Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster and an Aston Marton DBS Volante. They are amazingly beautiful. Which ever I decide to get, it'll be red. Of course one thing to consider is price: the V8 base price is $132,500, whereas the DBS base price is unknown to me, as it is new for 2010. The base price for the 2009 DBS (not convertible) is $269,000. Maybe I can get a deal if I pay cash.

Denver

The Friday and Saturday before Easter we left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Sundquist and drove to Denver. We had been wanting to go down to the temple. Our bro-in-law was able to acquire some free tickets to a Colorado Avalanche game, so we killed two birds with one stone. We went down Friday night and wandered around the 16th Street Mall. This is no ordinary shopping mall where you enter thru one door, visit several stores, and then exit the same door. No, no. This is a 16-block pedestrian stripmall. The road is closed off to allow for the bus-train-thing, and there are chess tables in the center where people actually play chess. Pretty cool. Anyway, we wandered around for a while. Then we met Chad's brother and his wife at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. YUM. MY. Highly recommend it.

We stayed the night (at a hotel, not at the Cheesecake Factory), and the next morning we went to the temple. That is always such a boost. That afternoon we went to the hockey game. It was the last game of the season, and the Avs are pretty much the worst team in the NHL right now, so the game wasn't very exciting; there wasn't a single good fight! Whats a hockey game without a couple decent fights. But it was still fun. I learned a few things: 1. Hockey is a very aggressive, in-your-face kind of game. 2. I don't think my kids would want to play it because they aren't very aggressive. 3. Even if they did want to play, I think I'd encourage something else because I'm not an aggressive person. 4. Hockey players are NUTS!! My sister thinks that baseball is the most difficult sport to play because you have to hit that tiny ball that is going 90+mph with that not-very-big stick. I beg to differ... Hit an even smaller puck with a skinnier stick while speeding down the ICE, with 5 guys coming at you at equal speeds, and try not to fall down. Sounds tougher to me.

It was a fun weekend. Spending time with just Chad and me is always so nice because it helps me remember that I am more than just mom and housekeeper. Thanks to everyone we spent time with, and thanks to everyone who made the trip possible.

Easter

I know, I know. Easter was over a month ago. But at least I'm doing something now, right?

For the first time, I actually colored eggs. The kids had lots of fun. We did less sugar in the baskets this year and gave a little present to each of the kids instead.

This year I decided to go all Martha Stewart and make dresses for the girls. This actually wasn't too difficult because Natalie's was half made already. (I had started making it a year ago but ran in to problems, got frustrated, threw it in the bag in a drawer, you know how it goes, right?) My mom helped me work thru the trouble, and a couple weeks later I sewed on the sleeves and was done. Claire's was a relatively simple pattern. I even made the matching bloomers--they were SUPER EASY! The fabric of their dresses isn't the same since Natalie's was bought over a year ago, but they are both pinkish flowersSo here are some pictures.

P.S. For the record: it is practically impossible to get all 3 of these kids smiling nicely and holding still at the same time. Even one at a time!