Swings and lost pics

 My silly girls. They are just loving the swings in the backyard. And this one is sideways, I just can't get figured out on this new computer. What's worse, in my last file, when I rotated them, instead of showing up not rotated or rotated, they just DISSAPEARED! They just flat out got removed from that file. I have tried to find them, they are nowhere to be found. If anyone has any idea what may have happened to them, or where I should look to find them, I would much appreciate it!

Domestic Diva

 So the weekend before last, I got all domesticated and turned this.....

into this!

Our backyard has all sorts of yummies; blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, a pear tree, an apple tree, two peach trees and a garden full of tomatoes.

We missed most of the berries, so we are looking forward to that next year.

(Oh, please let us stay in one place for more than a year....)

Oh, and grapes. The kids are always munching on the grapes.

 I decided to make peach butter, and it is way yummy. It only made 3 1/2 half jars, so we will use that slooooowly. There are some more peaches ripening, so maybe I will make some more. There is an overabundance of tomatoes, so I canned some of those. I  briefly thought about salsa, but it was just too much work. As is was, I was in the kitchen all afternoon and night, but I felt so cool!

Labor Day 2011

What sort of activity would leave a pile of shoes in this condition?

Well, let me tell you, a great one! For Labor Day this year, we truly labored. We began by getting up, eating breakfast, and cleaning the house. I told the girls that they needed to help out more, since I used to clean the house while they were at school, now I have to do it on Saturdays. Saturday we just played, so Monday we were in dire need of some labor!

After that, we made a lunch and headed out for our activity: a hike up Adams Canyon. My landlord told me about this place, said it was sort of strenuous, but ended fantastically with a waterfall. So we headed there!

We hiked for a couple hours, then had lunch. Up to this point, it was long and uphill, but beautiful and not too difficult. We were tired, and contimplated going home, but the girls wanted to continue on. There were lots of people on the trail, and people with little kids were saying they had made it to the top. So we persevered!

I carried Ninny in the backpack most of the way, we let her out for a bit but she really slowed us down. Here she shows the advantage to being small:

The girls were loving the scenery and the all the water. There was a stream nearby for most of the hike. This girls went under this big rock, the water flowed under it. Ava carried a little bag that she put treasures in, and we all had walking sticks.

A side ways pick, I really wish I could get these the right way. I started to get difficult after lunch, with some almost straight uphil climbs on rocks, and some scary parts! It is hard to do that with a 30 lb kid in a back pack that also has water and rocks (thanks Ava!) in it.

But, we made it. It really was a tough hike, but I am proud of everyone for completing it. Especially Ava, she was a trooper. She did ask me to hold her a few times, on the way down, but I couldn't. She feel in the stream by the waterfall and got scared, but other than that she didn't cry the whole time.

A favorite past time, throwing rocks in the water.

Michaela and Payden apparently didn't get enough climbing, because while I was resting, they climbed further up. Michaela got so high up that I got worried and told her to come down!

There were people who would stand in the water fall, it was very cold. Michaela thought she might, but when she got there, this was as close as she would get. There was a lot of spray.

With wet shoes, we headed back down. Here the girls are under that rock I showed you before.

This was Ava's trick to getting down steep slopes, I must admit I used it a bit myself.

And here is the damage caused by it! She collected flowers on the way down. I wish she would have done it the other way, flowers on the way up, rocks on the way down, but oh well!

This was a paticularly tough spot. On the way up, we went over it, but on the way down, I didn't realize we were on this spot until it was too late to turn around. It was sheer rock with a long drop to the stream at the bottom. I coudn't help Ava with Corrine on my back  so a very nice man helped her across. I was having a hard time finding footing for my feet and felt stuck for a moment, and this 20 something girl goes "you got it Mom". I about died. Do I look that old?

Here is a self taken photo of me and Corrine! She was pretty good back there, she did whine when things looked scary to her. And oh my, did she get heavy. My back ached so bad and my shoulders are raw from that backpack. I keep the backpack by our 72 hour kits, thinking it would come in so handy should we ever have to get somewhere on feet. I used to think I could carry kids like this for days, but after 5 hours I realize that would take some getting used to.

Thats right, I said 5 HOURS. That is how long it took us start to finish. Are my girls troopers or what? And they are ready to go again someday. They want to go back in the fall.

On the way back, we took a different trail. Right away, I thought it was the wrong way, but Payden was persisitant that it was the right way. Since we were on an easy part, not uphill or down hill, I followed her for a bit. But it was the wrong way, and it took us another 1/2 hour longer that it would have otherwise. It had beautiful views, though!

Here we are on our wrong way excursion. I just couldn't carry Ninny in the back pack anymore, so she was walking. She biffed it twice on even ground! She also was collecting flowers, and sage brush. She said, "mmm, it smells so good Mommy, I am going to let the wind smell it!"

Here she is letting the wind smell her sage brush. She stuck it up high in the wind for a good sniff!

Such a cutie.

This is the view of the valley. It was so pretty.

It was a fun hike, and we most definitely earned our ice cream that night. Afterwards, I was so tired. It took so much longer than I though it would. I was going to have someone take pictures of us in our dirty glory, because we were all filthy. I forgot though. We went to Walmart to pick our TV dinners, and got some pretty funny stares. I just told the kids to say, "We played hard today. What did YOU do?"

Ninnyisms

Ninny was coloring with markers today, and tried to put the cap back on while it was close to her lip. (I have no idea how, I didn't observe it.)

She came down to me and said "Mom, the crayon bit me!"

It had pinched her on the inside of her lip and was bleeding a little. But that was so cute! It bit her!

We miss you Poof

My sweet kitty, Poof, died the Monday after we moved, two weeks ago tomorrow. She was old, 15, and hasn't been doing well for a while. I was concerned the move would kill her, and I proved to be right.

The girls found her while I was at work. I had to come home and take care of the situation. We cried, pet her, put her in a box, and we each put an article of clothing in the box to cushion her. We put her little stuffed bear in the box, and I put the box in the fridge! I had to go back to work, I had to do something with her!

Luckily, my new landlord wasn't squimish with my burying a dead cat in his yard, so after work we set to digging a hole.

That is hard work, let me tell you. Plus I was sick. And worn out.

But, with the help of Payden and Michaela, we got a hole dug. We had a little kitty funeral, then we filled it, and I grabbed a tree stump that was back there to put on top. I figured it would make a nice seat, and also discourage any digging from any critters. Then we put an angel cat statue there as well.

Our cats are like our family; losing them is difficult. But this was easier than I imagined, she was old and hurt and I am sure she is happier now. Plus, I am too busy and have too many other things to think about than my poor Poofy.

We will miss her she was a good cat!

Your input, please...

So I got a new job, one I will be working in addition to LDSFS. One of the aspects of this job is that you are promoted online, which is both awesome and scary. So, I need a picture to put on the website, therapytribe.com. Look for me there soon! Anyway, this is the one I chose:

But I thought maybe this one would work as well...

Does one say "I am a professional who knows how to help you" more than the other does? Smile or no smile? What do you think? And a big THANK YOU to my awesome daughter, Michaela, for taking the pics!
And also, my nose is just. huge. Just sayin'.

First Day of School 2011

First off, I have to apologize for the sideways pictures. I have a new computer, and even when I rotate them in my file, when I upload them to blogger they are still sideways. I can't figure it out. Anyway, we had a good start to the school year today. Somehow, I managed to get everyone where they were supposed to be on time and still get pictures. This involved me getting up early and getting ready for work, getting breakfast on the table, ( I made lunches the night before), getting the girls up and hair done. Then I took Michaela to school, dropped Ninny off at day care, and came back to get Payden and Ava to take them to their school.


That is a sharp looking bunch of girlies!

It seems that the older my girls get, the less chances I get for pictures. I didn't get into Payden's classroom, this is outside her door. Sixth grade will be great this year, Payden is excited. She likes her teacher and has already made friends. I happened to see them sitting in the hall as the teacher talked to them. Payden didn't know I was there, and I observed her raise her hand and tell her class how her class in Idaho did things. I was amazed. I never would have put myself out there like that in a new school on the first day; Payden has amazing confidence.


Here is a sideways picture. This is Ava and her teacher. I asked her if she liked her teacher, and she said no, she is a little bossy. I said that teachers have to be a little bossy, and this seemed to improve her outlook.

In front of the door. First grade! All day school! Getting so big.

Here she is in front of her desk. Ava was a little apprehensive about me leaving her. She was kind of clingy and scared, but she was brave and did well.

Here is Payden and Ava outside their new school. They think their mascot, the husky, is a great improvement over their last school's mascot, the buffaloe. I tend to agree.

And the biggest first of the day, Corrine's first day of day care. I have enrolled her in a Montessori preschool and day care, and she really likes it. I hate having to leave her, but since I do, this seems to be the best place. She had a great day. She was a bit clingy too, but I think that was because she was the first one there and it must have been scary being the only kid. But as soon as I got her interested in something, she didn't even look at me when I said goodbye. She is very social and loves being with other kids, so this will actually be good for her. When I picked her up, she was laying on a cot with a blanket trying to take a nap. So cute!

This is what got her attention; little beads in cups and sugar that you can pour from one container to another.

How I wish I didn't have to leave this sweet one. It doesn't really seem fair to her, the only one of her sisters to have to go to daycare, but when is life fair? I have really been talking it up to her and she is thrilled about the idea. And I was SO happy to see her when I picked her up. That is one thing about being away from your kids all day; you really eat them up when you get them home.

And last but certainly not least, Michaela's first day of 8th grade. As I said, the older they get, the less picture I get. Here you have the back of Michaela as she walks up the steps. She wouldn't even turn around!

Michaela got lost on the way home today. She was supposed to get a ride home with some ward members, so I didn't go pick her up. I actually didn't even know what time school got out, so I didn't start to worry until about 3:30. Then I went up the the school to look for her, and asked some students what time school got out. They said 2:55. I went home and asked some neighbors if they knew if she had gotten a ride ( I didn't even know who she was riding home with). None of them knew where she was, and the person she was supposed to ride home with saw her walking away from the school.

Well, after driving around looking for her, and having the neigbors do the same, I was starting to get worried. You might remember this happened last year on her first day, and she was just at the school. After calling the police, they found her quickly at the school. So I went back to her school for the second time, had her paged, and she wasn't there.

I called the police and was starting to get worried. The officer took her info, and asked for a picture. I just moved and couldn't find one, so I logged onto facebook in the police officer's car and got her picture from there.

The neighbors went back out again to look, and after about 1 hour, the next door neighbor found her. She had been walking for about 2 hours, trying to find her way home. She has a cell phone, but the minutes are out on it. She was so tired and thirsty and scared. I felt so bad for her. Our ward is so great, all that help and the bishop's wife brought us pizza's for dinner. Even with that horrible afternoon, we still had a great day. I am grateful for all the ward help, but also feel like we are making a spectacle of ourselves. I don't want to be THAT family who is always needing help.

I told Michaela that no matter what she says, I am picking her up from her first day next year. We don't want a third episode!