Can I Help

Mimi- "Here Sweet-E go put the salt and pepper on the table"

Sweet E- takes the salt and pepper shakers from Mimi and heads into the dinning room. A few minutes later she returns the salt and pepper shakers to Mimi and says, "Here all done!"

Mimi- Confused Mimi goes and looks at the dinning room table.....to find that her granddaughter is ever so obedient, and that next time she needs to a little more specific!

Sweet E did what she was told she put the salt and pepper on the table....ALL OVER THE TABLE...she was very thorough too she made sure that each plate had some too! That is Sweet E for you, she is very obedient....just be careful what you ask for!

Day 6- The End!

Here is the whole group....minus my Aunt J....photographer extraordinaire....she is behind the camera

Sunday brought the end of our time in the mountains. We went to church and then packed up and headed out. Before we left town we stopped by and visited with my Grandpa Jack (my dad's dad)and his wife. The boys helped my grandpa remove some old fencing, while his wife gave us tours of the old "shack" in the mountains. They have made a lot of improvements....but it still needs a lot of work. The boys all got to see the inside for the first time. They were all in awe of all the antique appliances that still work.

Following visiting my grandpa we all caravan-ed down to Granny's, hopefully next year she will be able to join us for the fun. We said our final goodbyes as we headed our seperate ways. We are lucky to have such a great family. We had fun fishing, playing, chatting, and joking together....but most importantly we made memories that will last a life time. So thanks to everyone that came, thanks for the good time, and thanks for the memories! I can't wait until next year!

At the end of it all we were reminded of how much we LOVE each other and how lucky we are to have each other to share this cRaZy, and often times chaotic journey we call life!

THE END

Day 5- Happy B-day America

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

We started our day off with another round of fishing at the lake. It was a little busier so we did not get our lucky spot, however, we still caught plenty of fish. We enjoyed our time by the lake. We fished and relaxed, and took a TON of pictures! We are so lucky to live in the beautiful country that we do. There are so many beautiful creations for us to enjoy here on this earth. I am grateful for my freedoms, and those that work hard to defend those freedoms on a daily basis.

By lunchtime Sweet-E was pooped! She passed out in the hiking backpack on the way back out to the car....too much vacation :-)

We ended our day by going to the park in town. There is a lake and a fun park. We had pizza and homemade ice cream and brownies. After dinner we enjoyed the beautiful sunset as the kids feed the ducks. After the sun set we decided to head further into town and stake out a good spot to watch the firework show. Everyone had brought poppers and were having too much fun playing war with those while we waited for the show to begin. Aunt S got one in her ice cream without knowing it, she then ate it and it popped in her mouth! Poor thing if the black eyes weren't enough...she was worried she broke a tooth....luckily she had not. Needless to say the poppers quieted down after that. The firework show began and we all enjoyed the scene. We brought the kids ear plugs this year since they both had issues with the noise in the past. It worked really well. We are sure are glad we live in America!!

Day 4- Into the Wild

On the fourth day of our trip the gang headed down to the river to our old stomping grounds. Things have changed a bit since I was a kid, but you can still have the same kind of fun! Mr. C was insistent that he get into the river. He wanted his swimsuit on as soon as we got there. Big B was more than happy to oblige since I think he secretly likes playing in the river too! As you can see what we desert rats call a river is more like a creek.....but I have lived here my whole life....so to me it is a RIVER!

Earlier in the day we made Navajo tacos and had a YUMMY lunch! It is kind of like a tradition....we have been doing it as long as I can remember. However this year my mom said that next year we are just going to buy them from the natives at their little shacks on the side of the road. I don't see that happening....but we appreciate all the hard work that goes into making them....THANKS Mom and Aunt J!! In the evening we cooked hot dogs and s'mores over the campfire. Mr. C wanted to tell ghost stories....but as soon as Uncle J said that Elmo lived in the forest that was the end of that.....Mr. C is deathly afraid of Elmo....it has something to do with meeting a costume Elmo at a Fourth of July celebration when he was 2.....that is another story. Anyway, we had fun talking and eating around the campfire.

Mr. C was being INSISTENT, and ever PERSISTENT that he needed to sleep in the forest and have a real camp-out. So we set up a little spot with our picnic blanket. He was just off to the side from the fire. My mom joked we had laid him down in a patch of poison ivy.....not funny after last year....Big B and Uncle J had the NASTIEST case of poison ivy after a rousing game of Sharks and Minos held in the dark in the middle of the forest! Anyway, Uncle J and his friend Big Nate scared Mr.C enough to convince him that he really did not want to sleep in the forest! No real chaos on this day, other than Aunt C saw a active bear trap and got her self scared out of her mind! She is deathly afraid of bears....so all the boys had a good time trying to scare her about that....boys will be boys.....even if they are grown!

Day Three- The Mighty Fishers

By the third day, everyone had finally arrived. We decided to head out and enjoy some of the cool mountain air. We headed to one of the many lakes to try our hand at fishing. Mr.C liked fishing as long as he was getting bites. He was lucky our first day as the fish were going crazy.

Sweet-E was sleeping when we got to the lake, but she eventually woke up to try her hand at fishing. She was not nearly patient enough, but she enjoyed reeling it in for mommy.

If you let your line sit for too long you ended up catching a crawdad. Mr. C called them "Crab-i". He thought they were funny the first few times but quickly became annoyed with those stinking crab-i's!

Here is Sweet-E with her catch of the day. She did not like getting too close. In this picture she is purposely trying to not think about the fish her daddy is holding.

Big B proud of his first catch of the day! Don't look too closely for a picture of me....I only caught one this day and it was not until the very end of the day when we were sick of the camera.

The BIG catch of the day came to Mr.C on his little baby fishing pole. Look it is as BIG as he is!! (Thanks to daddy's picture taking skills!)

This is more like it...Mr. C did catch the biggest fish of the day on his tiny pole. It was nearly 14 inches, which it AWESOME for fishing from the shore at this lake. He was thrilled with himself. He said that because he caught the biggest fish of the day that his head was getting bigger. He is such a goof sometimes!

Uncle J got a little hungry after our long afternoon of fishing.....sushi....lake fish sushi.....YUCK!!

At the end of the day we ended up taking home nearly 45 fish between all of us. We caught more like 60 but we threw the ones we could back. Needless to say the boys and Aunt J had a lot of fish to clean that night.....I will spare you the pictures of that....they are NASTY!

Day 2- The Beat Down

Day two of our Vacation started with the rain beating down. We were lucky and really only had to deal with it our first full day. The kids enjoyed using their rain boots and playing in the rain. Sweet-E had her first memorable experience with thunder. She jumped further than we have ever seen her jump when she heard the first clasp of thunder rumble in the sky. The kids also got a kick out of a big gray squirrel that was hanging out in the trees by the cabin during the storm.

Early in the morning I text everyone the story of the "bat". Aunt S (my littlest sis) replied and we talked for a little bit. Then about 45 minutes later I got a call from my other sister, Aunt C. She said, "Ok...don't panic. But Aunt S is in an ambulance on her way to the hospital!" I of course was like, "WHAT?? I was just talking to her she was at work." Then my sister explained, "Aunt S had passed out at work while she was out on the playground, she hit her head on a medal trash can, then fell backwards, it is unclear if she was breathing or not, but the staff started CPR on her, and she was out for nearly 4 minutes." I was like, "WHAT in the WORLD!! Why did she pass out??" Anyway, Aunt C went on to say that she had been at her classroom setting up when she got the news, she said she was so nerves when she jumped in her car and nearly crashed backing out, but that she was on her way to the hospital and her teacher friend was following her to make sure she was ok. At this point I was like, great what should we do, then Aunt C went on to say that Aunt S was awake and coherent when the paramedics were taking her and that she would call me back as soon as she knew more. Anyway, I was a little scared to say the least. I did not know if we should pack up and head down the mountain or what. I gathered my little crew and we said a quick prayer for Aunt S. Then I began recounting the story to Big B to see what he thought we should do. In the meantime one of my friends called our cell phone, this friends' mom happens to be Aunt S's boss, she is in a panic looking for a way to get a hold of my parents. So that made me even more worried. I decided that we were going to get ready and start cleaning up and see what we heard over the next hour. Then the phone calls, and texts from Aunt C began to come in. It was like a roller coaster ride hearing the different versions of the story as all the pieces came together. In the end Aunt S was ok, and most likely passed out from the heat, and she had never stopped breathing her co-workers just panicked and started CPR when they should not have. Besides getting a good story out of it, Aunt S got a good beating out of her adventure. Aunt S and Uncle R came up to the cabin later that evening with my parents. Poor Aunt S looked like she was in tons of pain. The picture does NOT give it justice. We are just happy she was ok....but that will explain why she is wearing sunglasses in all of the pictures from our trip. From her beating she got 2 black eyes, a cut up swollen nose, a cut lip, and a big bump on her forehead.

It is just not a good vacation if someone doesn't get hurt! Last year it was poison ivy! One time it was a broken collarbone! So count yourself warned! If you ever go on vacation with us make sure you have your insurance card with you!!

Day One-The Hunt

So Big B and I decided to head up a day early to the cabin. I packed the kiddos up and headed to Big-B's work and picked him up and we began our trek out of town when he got off. The kids did ok for the most part of the trip. We stopped half way for a potty break and to visit Granny (my grandma). The kids loved visiting her. She took them up to see her neighbors' miniature horses and their new baby. Sweet-E was sad to leave Granny's house, for the whole second part of the trip she just kept asking where Granny was. Of course when you stop to see Granny you have to get some yummy Mexican food, so we grabbed some to go and headed up to the mountain. Once we got there, we stopped in town to get some groceries, and then headed on to the cabin. By that time both the kiddos were asleep. We finally arrived at the cabin, only to find that someone had left the HEATER on and the cabin was well above 80 degrees inside....it was HOT....we thought....so much for getting away from the heat! So we quickly opened all the windows and doors trying to cool the place off before we went to bed. We got the kids to sleep and unpacked the car and rearranged all of our "stuff" and started to watch a movie. We quickly realized that we were both too tired to watch a movie, so we decided just to go to bed. Big B went upstairs to close the loft door when he yelled, "LOOK A BAT!!!" Sure enough a bat had flown in while we had the doors open. I was down stairs and quickly took cover between the wall and the staircase. Big B said, "how do you get a bat out, you really can't shut off the lights, they like the dark." Needless to say we tried lights on and lights off each with no luck. One time Big B told me turn the lights off one more time, so I did, then he said, "well I don't see it anymore maybe it went out when I was not looking." So I turned the lights on, then I had a weird feeling and decided to check the bedroom that had the door open downstairs, sure enough I looked in and the thing came flying at my HEAD! I slammed the door shut and screamed like a baby! So in comes my mighty hunter of a husband.....I will let the pictures explain the rest!

Ever clever Big B decided a fishing net would work as the weapon of choice. He also used the night shot of our video camera to locate the varmint. Then he handed me the video camera so I could video tape him in action!!

Big B quickly realized that the net alone was not going to cut it, so being ever resourceful he grabbed the nearest trash can!

Here is the little varmint. It was so tiny that it was trying to get out through the holes in the net! Big B wanted to keep him as a pet....I said, "NO WAY!!! Let it go NOW!!"

So there you have it....Day one....never a dull moment when we are around!!


PS. And if you are wondering...no you can NOT see the video....at one point the thing flew towards me and I nearly dropped and camera while running away, and may or may not have said a bad word....all while the red record button was still on....uhhh another shinning star for me!

Update At Last

Here is the whole gang (minus J's friend Big Nate who is taking the pic) in front of the cabin
Uncle D-don't kill me I needed to post a pic where my kids were at least looking....sorry :-P

Ok...Ok I know it has been awhile since I last posted. Did you think I had given up on this thing already?? I tried....but every time I walked past the computer it was calling me back....so here I am FINALLY! Truth be told early in the month we went out of town....when I came home I started to unpack and decided that I needed to unpack a lot of my house to the local Goodwill, or trash dump! So I got a little distracted....but it had to be done! Things are a little more under control on the home-front so I will begin the much anticipated.....long over due....tons of picture re-run of the last month! So hold on tight!!

Like I said earlier we went out of town at the beginning of the month. We headed up North to Big-B's parent's cabin for the Fourth of July. On a side note Big-B spent the summer we were engaged building the family cabin....but that is another story. Anyway, my family all joined us up North for the long weekend. It was a much needed vacation and break from the heat. My Aunt J and her family, and my Uncle C joined us up there and we had a blast!

As a kid my family would all go up to the mountains each summer to spend some time at the river. My grandparents, and great-grandparents spent the summers up there. It we were lucky we got to go for a week. Some of the BEST childhood memories I have are those from the mountains. I remember many summers crying as we drove home wishing we could stay longer. When I think of my great-grandma, I picture her in the mountains. I always am so grateful for those memories and the opportunity I had to spend special time with my grandparents. When Big-B and I got married I told him that I wanted my kids to have those same memories. It has been fun the last few years to take the kiddos up to the mountains and do some of the same things that I remember doing as a child. I don't know if it is just me, but it seems like a vacation to the mountains equals fun family memories and moments. So without getting more emotional about it let us begin the overhaul of Fourth of July up North in the mountains!!