Ensign Ranch

Ensign Ranch is one of the "Northwest Area Recreational Properties" owned by the church. We've heard quite a bit about it and decided that since it's fairly close to us (it's on the eastern side of the Cascades, just west of Cle Elum) we needed to check it out. We invited Joe (Jason's brother) and Samantha's family to join us. We all stayed in a family cabin (a few beds, no bedding, a refrigerator, microwave, table and hard wood floors ;) ) which made set up and clean up pretty sweet in comparison to tent camping. Ethan spent some quality time debating the pros and cons of cabin and tent camping. In the end I think he decided it was a toss up.

We had a great time being with family and just relaxing. The kids LOVE playing with their cousins. They have had so much cousin fun this summer they are going to be dying to do it all again next summer.

Canoeing on Crabtree Lake

This is a man-made lake that's kind of murky and mossy but great for a little canoe trip. Everybody but the babies spent some time in the canoes.

Rope Swing

Jason (first) and then Joe exhibiting differing levels of manhood and abdominal muscular prowess on the rope swing

Slippin' and Slidin'

This was everyone's favorite activity.

Rock Collecting

Kate and Scottie were rock collecting maniacs. I think I remember this phase in my childhood. I remember asking my mom, "Don't you think they are beautiful?" and receiving an unenthusiastic, "Mm-Hm." Though there were some beauties in the group, my eyes were not nearly as dazzled as these two girls'.

Bike Riding

Way to go Nathanael! A few weeks of practice without pedals made all the difference. Thanks for the tip Becky!

Hanging with the cuz's

A few pictures of the babies. . .

Twin Falls

After our camping extravaganza we dropped down to southern Idaho to see old friends and a new temple. The temple is gorgeous! The fact that it is beautiful is no surprise, but all the details are amazing. The mural that includes Shoshone Falls was a favorite of mine. We missed having our good friends, The Wasdens, as our tour guides by one tour! But we did see them the next day so that was great.

After the temple we went to Burley to enjoy some good ol' farm hospitality. Bonnie and fam were wonderful and it was so great to see them. Monica and Dimond were also in town. One of my favorite things about going to the farm is staying up way too late chatting. It's so fun to catch up. Saturday we stopped in to see Grandma Z and we visited Grandpa Z's grave. Ethan often talks about Grandpa Z and we are so glad he had to opportunity to know him.

Saturday afternoon Ethan FINALLY got to spend some quality time with his BF from TF. Tanner and Ethan were great, great pals and Ethan has yet to find a friend he clicks with like Tanner. He was a little bummed that he didn't get to be "alone" with him (meaning he would have preferred that Kate and Nathanael were far, far away. . . like another state maybe), but it was time nonetheless and the rest of us enjoyed spending time with Tanner's family.

I spent the afternoon having lunch with my BF's (Heather, Lani, Roxanne, Rebecca, minus Tierra- we missed you!) from TF at the Garden. I think they got a new cook so lunch wasn't as fab as usual, but it was still wonderful (especially that chocolate mousse pie!) and the company was even better. I didn't have my camera (what was I thinking??) so I am patiently waiting for my dear friend to email the picture to me. . . you know who you are! ;) After lunch Heather and I went to our local scrapbook store for me to spend my free $20. What more could a girl want? Yummy food, good friends and money to spend on scrapbooking! Heather even left her camping trip a little early to be back to see me. Thanks! We loved going to our old ward and feeling at home there again. There are so many people we love there and we feel loved and missed whenever we go. It was a great trip and we were so lucky to see so many friends in such a short time.

Red Fish Lake

Little Red Fish Lake

Our annual trip to Red Fish Lake was so much fun! This year as we watched gas prices go up and up and up we talked about not going. We thought we might have to drive two cars since it appeared that Eli's car seat wouldn't fit (because it's rear facing) in Jason's truck (the six of us did fit in Jason's truck, but it was a tight fit). We talked about gas for next year and the possibility of not going next year depending on gas. We got kind of sad thinking about it. Well, we had a BLAST and now the attitude has changed- we'll be doing whatever it takes (within reason) to get there again!

We were so happy that our schedule could coincide with that of our friends who also go there every year. The Brown family (I affectionately call them the Twin Falls Mafia- there's a ton of them and at one point we had I think six of the families living in our ward, holding various leadership callings, including the bishop!) was there when we arrived and we were very lucky to get a campsite right next to Ryan and Roxanne. It took us a few hours to get camp set up and during that time I was having trailer envy as I stared at their trailer knowing all they had to do before heading up to the big lake is put the truck in park and unhitch the trailer! Nathanael and Kate had so much fun playing with Phoenix and Gabriel. I had a hard time keeping them at our campsite. After the Browns left some more friends (Jeff and Shara Miller's family) showed up (totally by chance) and camped right by us. The kids spent a lot of time playing with friends, riding bikes and catching butterflies and guppies. We were blessed with great weather, great friends, a great campsite. . . a great time.

Here are some things what we love about Red Fish and camping in general. . .

Sleeping (or not sleeping as in Eli's case) in a tent

Hiking

Fishing-or in our case just casting (no license and no bait) and watching the minnows chase the hook

Going to the fish hatchery to watch Fish & Game empty the fish trap

Dutch oven cooking (pizza-this is so YUMMY!, cobblers, mtn man breakfast. . . Thanks Jason for being an awesome camp cook!)

Enjoying a warm fire each night and morning (Thanks Jason and Ethan!)

Watching Ethan play with his RC boat (we remembered the battery this year-whew!)

Drinking a TON of hot chocolate

Swimming and playing in the big lake

Relaxing on the beach for hours

Playing in the sand

And just being together!

Who wants to join us next July??

Happy Birthday Ethan

One decade ago our lives changed forever. Ethan was born at 1:47 am on July 24th (Pioneer Day) in Ames, Iowa. His first APGAR was terrible, like 2 or 3 and he didn't breathe for what seemed like a long time. I was pretty out of it after nearly three hours of pushing, but Jason says that the nurses were frantic. The shot of vitamin K was the ticket to finally getting him to cry and then he pinked up nicely. He was 7 lbs 15 oz, 22 inches long with lots of black hair. Now he is 5 feet tall, weighs 90 lbs and, according to him, is FINALLY ten.

Here are ten things about Ethan. . .

1. Ethan is vorascious reader.
2. Ethan loves to exercise (he's making a good walking/running partner for me).
3. Ethan works hard and only complains about it as much as the average ten year old.
4. Ethan loves swim team (even the meets), even though he thought he would hate it.
5. Ethan's favorite sport is basketball.
6. Ethan's favorite food is poppy seed chicken.
7. Ethan's favorite subjects are reading and math.
8. Ethan's favorite place to go is Red Fish Lake (it's on the brain right now).
9. Ethan's favorite color is green and has been since he was old enough to answer the question.
10. Ethan hates cheese with the exception of having it on pizza and a few other special circumstances. (He gets this from my brother, thanks Eric!).


It's been a great ten years Ethan, we love you!

The last few weeks

Here is my attempt at blog catch up. I'll just warn you now- it's way too long.

Life became insanely busy for a while. It still is but I am making a blogging effort now.

During the last full week of June Ethan’s activities dominated our lives. He had cub camp tue-fri from 1:00-8:00 pm. Add another 30-45 minutes to the beginning and end of that for meeting at the church and transportation and that makes for a long day. Jason and I both volunteered to help a little with the boys and had a good time. I was honestly surprised at how much fun I had. This camp was a lot better than last year's and it wasn’t as hot and the boys were really good and the activities they did were awesome and when my turn was over I was surprised at how fast it went. That same week Ethan started swim team and had basketball camp. Plus Kate and Nathanael started swimming lessons and all three of them started chess club (free at the library). It was a little crazy and I was glad when the week was over.



The next week we left on Wednesday to go to Boise for the 4th of July. We had a blast staying at my sister’s. My brother Eric and his family came too and we all relaxed for a few days. The cousins loved staying up WAY TOO LATE together, sleeping on the tramp, swimming and sliding at Roaring Springs, watching fireworks and just being together. We also had a little family piano recital. Ethan was pretty worked up about it. The kid does not like stressful situations. But he did great and my mom and dad watched it all via Michelle and Corey’s videophone. It was awesome to be able to be with so much of our family and have my mom and dad sort of there too!



We left early on Saturday morning and drove to Seattle for our nephew’s baptism. Gunner (Jason’s brother’s oldest child) was being baptized at 4 pm. We drove as fast as we could and only stopped at home to switch luggage. We were a little late but we made it and the kids were once again in cousin heaven. Of course we didn't get any pictures at the baptism. We blame it on sleep deprivation.



The following Monday Ethan started his round of swimming lessons concurrent with swim team and Kate and Ethan started a conditioning camp that a high school here puts on. It’s awesome. Everyday it’s an hour of running, jumping, stretching. . . good old fashion exercise with a bunch of kids. They love it. On Thursday Becky and George (Jason’s sister) made it to our house. My kids have been so spoiled to play with cousins so much this summer. Ethan kind of did his own thing but Kate was a little mommy to Nathanael, Jeb (5) and Kimball (3). We played at the parks and were lazy! Becky and I did steal away alone to the farmers market.



Friday night was Ethan’s first swim meet and he swam 50 yd breast (3rd place) and 50 yd free (1st place!). We also had a movie outside that night. It was a busy day.


Sunday evening Jason was at a youth fireside and the kids and I and Becky were outside chatting. Ethan was swinging a baseball bat. Then there was the awful sound of glass shattering. Ethan had accidentally let the bat go and it flew about twenty feet straight to the basement office window. We are so lucky it didn’t go through the next window over where George was holding Dorothy or that Jason wasn’t sitting at his computer. There was glass all over the place!



Last week we finished swimming lessons (I’m ready for a break) and Ethan spent his days doing a load of chores that Jason came up with for him to earn some cash to pay for the glass for the window. He is still working and still earning. . .

On Saturday we had a ward picnic. The organizer of this event happens to be a person that I kind of struggle with. I will leave my opinion out of this and just present the facts. She was using a megaphone with a loud, attention getting siren that she would turn on whenever she wanted to talk, which was often. The problem was that she used it so often that people soon ignored it and that was rather upsetting to her. Overall, it was a nice picnic with lots of games for the kids and pretty good food since they made it a cook off in an effort to get people to bring decent food. The ward provided fried chicken for the main dish. The committee overbought on the Albertson’s special fried chicken and near the end of the activity the megaphone was blaring again. She informed us that the fried chicken would be repackaged and sold for the price they bought, like 6 or seven pieces for $5. The person next to me said, “I believe that this is the first church function in a lifetime of church functions where the organizer has tried to sell the leftovers.” I second that motion. It was crazy. Apparently there weren’t too many takers so after a few minutes she lowered the price to $3. Now the leftovers were on clearance.

Saturday evening our modem died and because we have VOIP we had no phone either. Jason plugged in his spare modem (the one he uses in his truck/office) so we had phone until Sunday when he left. I had a quiet week! I was unreachable until today (Jason got home late last night) and that had its advantages.

Happy Birthday to Ethan. He is 10 today. I will post something just for him. Soon . . . very soon. And there I thought I would be caught up!

Uno

Kate and Nathanael playing Uno.

Kate: Sorry Nathanael, really I am sorry. I don't have anything else. (as she lays down a wild draw four)

Nathanael: hmmmm

Kate: Actually you should say thank you because you might get something good.

Quotes of the Week

All kids say the craziest things. I try to write down the good ones to use as bribery some day or at least for a good laugh when I need it. Here are two pretty good ones from today.

Nathanael: "Mom, sometimes while I'm at swimming lessons I feel like I'm on a rabbit hunt. "

Me: (think, think, how could a rabbit hunt be related to swimming lessons. . .) "You mean like when you go under water to look for something?"

Nathanael: "No, like I am in the woods hunting rabbits."

I was stumped and didn't respond.

Ethan has some hard labor ahead of him since he broke a basement window on Sunday. I am sure I will get around to posting about it sometime soon. He has to earn some serious cash to help pay for the glass. Jason made a long list of stuff to be done. Ethan thought he might take a year or so to finish these chores, not realizing that Jason wants it done by Friday. He will get a new list on Monday. Today Ethan came in after working for about twenty minutes and told me he was done for the day. I swallowed a chuckle and we had a little talk about getting this work done. Needless to say Ethan was less than thrilled and stomped back outside. A few minutes later Jason called and wanted to talk to Ethan. Their conversation went something like this. . .

Jason: What's wrong Ethan?

Ethan: MOM'S MAKING ME WORK! SHE CAN'T MAKE ME WORK!!

Jason: She certainly can make you work.

Ethan: NO SHE CAN'T! THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY!!

Ahh, the injustice of youth. I love how living in a free country means you don't have to work. Except of course if your name is Ethan and you have really mean parents who make you work to earn money to pay the window you broke.