Mother Daughter Hike

I had the opportunity to go on a mother/daughter hike with Alexis for an activity day girls activity. We took a picnic lunch and ate together. Then we exchanged letters with each other. Then we hiked (more like walked/strolled) around a park. It was really nice to spend time alone together. We enjoyed being in the outdoors and had a really good time.








Lex and her Activity Day Leader Sister Godfrey

Mother's Day Tea with Emma

Emma's class hosted a Mother's Day Tea this year. They worked very hard preparing for this. They wouldn't even let us moms come in to volunteer that week because we would see all of their surprises. The week prior, Emma walked around the house singing a song that I wasn't supposed to hear. She would catch herself and say 'oh, you're not supposed to hear that' and I would say 'oh, I wasn't listening anyway'. Lex thought that was funny because she felt I was doing the tune-out-my-kids-mom-thing, but really I was just humoring Emma and sneaking in a little listen on the sly.

When all the parents got to the classroom we had to wait out in the hall until they were all ready for us. Then the teaching assistant came out and gave us some instructions and then in we went. We were greeted by 2 of the children, 1 of which was Emma. The kids performed some songs for us and then each one stood up with a tissue paper corsage one at a time and said one reason why they loved their mom and then walked over and put the corsage on their mom. Emma said she loved me because I am pretty. I'll take that!!

Door Greeter


My corsage



Then our kids gave us little flower pots decorated with their own fingerprint bugs and a page with their hand prints on it. We finished off the program with desert including muffins, strawberries and punch.

I had the best time with Emma. I love that she loves me and that she was so excited to honor me.




Emma and her best friend Crayton Faye


Emma with her dear friend Lori (she's an angel)



Emma with Mrs. Fredenburg (teacher's assistant)


Emma with her teacher Mrs. McLaurin



Thank you for my Mother's Day gift Emma! I love you!!

Cougars with Character

The kid's mascot at school is the cougar. Each quarter they award a child from each class a character award and they call it 'Cougars with Character'. This quarter the character trait awarded was 'good judgement' and guess who came home wearing a yellow ribbon with an award and lots of goodies.................. Alexis & Emma!!! Way to go girls. They were both nominated by their teachers because they often exemplify this trait.

Earlier in the year Jacob had received the award for 'courage' and both girls had been a little disappointed that they hadn't received an award. I kept telling them that just because they didn't receive an award it didn't mean that they weren't good kids. I told them to just be themselves because they are wonderul. And see, it paid off.

I am so proud of my 3 'cougars with character'!!!!!!!

Easter

This year for Easter we got this great idea from my friend Alison to make our Easter eggs glow in the dark. We had the general idea of what to do and through trial and error we made it happen.








We put the egg dye and the 'juice' from glow sticks together and then soaked our eggs. We didn't realize that the 'glow' wouldn't last long this way. It lasted for a bit but not long. We dyed them around 5 and then sat down and taught Alexis and Jacob how to play the game "B.S.". We had a lot of fun with fibbing and learning to read each other's faces.








We waited until it was dark to pull out our super cool eggs only to find out that the glow had worn off. Luckily I had a plethora of glow sticks that I had been saving and so we emptied more glow juice into a bowl and rolled the dyed eggs in it. Then we got to business.




First we made a track to roll/race them down. Our backyard has a small hill so we used boards and ran them down the hill and voila! we had our track. Then we through them at a target that we painted with glow in the dark paint and stapled to our fence. It was a ton of fun to see them explode!!

This picture is blurry but you can see how cool the eggs look while they are holding them.



Our glow in the dark eggs reminded us of how things glowed in the movie Avatar





Then we sat by the fire, jumped on the trampoline wearing our glow sticks and rounded out the night with a camp-out on the trampoline. Dusty and the kids slept outside while I stayed inside anxiously awaiting the Easter Bunny's visit.




Sunday morning was filled with finding all those eggs the Easter Bunny hid and seeing all the fun stuff he left in our baskets.

We had a really nice Easter celebrating Christ and his Atonement. We are eternally grateful to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for his sacrifice for us.

Karate

I took a women's self defense class at a local karate place back in February and they gave me passes for the kids to take a free month of karate with a free uniform. I let all of the kids decide if they wanted to or not. At first Emma said she wasn't doing it. So we went the first day and Lex and Jake got their new uniforms and went to change. Emma stayed with me and waited. While we waited the Sensai asked Emma if she was going to do it and she said no. After Lex and Jake got changed class started and all of a sudden Emma realized that she DID want to take karate. The Sensai was very nice and paused teaching to hurry and get her a uniform to wear. After that we couldn't keep her away. Her little "ki-ya's" were so cute. We were very grateful to get to learn a bit about this sport for free. Thank you Mr. Houston.

Nebraska Bound

We are moving back to Nebraska!!! We are so excited to be moving back to work for Cabela's in Sidney, Nebraska again. We left there almost 2 years ago and it hasn't been the same since. So we are headed back. We are leaving NC May 26 and will be moving in to our home in Sidney around June 1st. Our drive out will take us through some of the church sites including Nauvoo, Liberty Jail and Winter Quarters.

Thank you to everyone for your support as we make this change. We know that this is the right thing to do and have received confirmation from the Lord. We feel very blessed and know that it is only through our Heavenly Father that we are able to do this.

Stay tuned. More info to come.

Camping Trip

We took a camping trip back in April and had quite an adventure!!

We went to a public hunting ground that has campgrounds and a lake. Since there was no specific hunting season at the time we didn't have to worry about it being crowded and we were the only people there.

Friday night we set up camp and headed into town to eat dinner. We decided not to cook that night because it would be dark before we had it done. We were visited by rain clouds and lots of thunder that night. But we stayed warm and dry in our tent/mansion with a heater.

Saturday morning we ate a yummy breakfast of pancakes and sausage prepared by Dusty. We brought our Camp Chef grill but didn't realize that we were out of propane so he cooked it all over the fire. It was much better that way!!

We went for a hike that day while Dusty scouted turkeys. We walked really far and saw a lot of wildlife tracks. By the time we were done we were hungry and ready to rest. We ate sandwiches for lunch and took naps. Dusty, Lex, and Jake went on a bike ride later that day while Emma and I hung out back at camp.

Later that day we heard a siren of some sorts - it sounded like a tornado siren. The clouds above us were very dark and menacing and the siren continued to sound. Dusty and I both got a bit worried being out in the middle of nowhere. We weren't sure if the town was sounding the siren and if we needed to be worried. So we hurried and drove in to town to find out. There was no way we wanted to be in our tent with a tornado coming our direction. Dusty went in to the grocery store to ask if the siren had been a tornado siren and the people literally thought he was crazy!! They asked him if he was going to faint. They said that they hadn't heard a thing. They really did think he was a lunatic or that he was very, very sick. When he came back out to the car we laughed so hard about that. But we really did hear a siren. So to make our trip in to town worthwhile we stopped at McDonalds and got ice cream cones and then headed back to camp seeing as there was no danger.

That night proved to be interesting. I was sweeping out the tent (I just can't have all that dirt and leaves in the tent...it bugs me) and I stepped out of the tent to empty the dust pan and saw a guy talking to Dusty. He was wearing camo and had a fishing pole and had a bike with him. He was enthralled with Dusty's bike and was asking him questions about it (Dusty and I were both looking at each other thinking 'it's a cheap WalMart bike' but whatever). Let me just say that this guy was creepy. So he asks Dusty if he can take it for a ride and try it out. So Dusty says o.k. We were supposed to be starting dinner but I was not about to give this guy any more reason to stick around. While he was riding the bike I told Dusty that he better get the guy to leave. When the guy came back he said he was leaving to go fish at the lake. Luckily there is only one road/path in to the lake and you have to pass our camp to get to it. So we watched him head down there to fish. We hurried and cooked our hot dog dinner and ate it, still not wanting to invite 'company'. A while later I saw the guy coming up the hill from the lake and in code word let Dusty know that the creepo was coming back. Dusty mumbled under his breath "Just keep walking buddy". Do you think he did? No way. He came back over to our camp. By this time it was dusk and we were getting our fire going. The guy walks up and says "Could I bother you for a ride down to the gas station? It's going to be dark before I get home and if you could give me a ride then I won't have to ride my bike along the 2 lane road in the dark". I am thinking to myself "HELL NO"!! Pardon my french but I had visions of my husband being massacred on the side of the road in our minivan while giving this guy a ride. Dusty automatically says "YES" and I am thinking just give him the stupid WalMart bike and tell him to leave. I was floored but could say nothing because the guy was standing right there staring at us. So Dusty pulls the van around and loads the guy's bike into the back of the van and they drive away. Let me just say that I was a mess. The kids were worried and they could tell that I was. I tried to not let them see but it was no use. I kept watching my phone and the time just kept ticking away. I kept watching the only road in waiting to see headlights. I knew how far the gas station was and it was not that far. I finally decided that if he wasn't back in 15 minutes that I was calling the police (luckily we could get cell phone reception). And then wouldn't you know I saw our van pulling up. But I was petrified that the guy had axed Dusty and that he was coming back for me and the kids. Yes, maybe I have watched too much Prison Break or Law & Order but this is what I was thinking. All 3 kids herded behind me without being told and we waited to see the van as it pulled in front of us. Luckily it was my wonderful husband's face and not the weirdo. When Dusty got out of the van I questioned why it took so long and why he would even think about giving the guy a ride. He said that he figured he would give the guy a ride because then he would know where the guy lived and it would also get him away from us a lot quicker. So he told the guy that he would take him all the way home and not just to the gas station. Smart Dusty. After talking we realized that we should have had a sign for him to give me like flashing the headlights when he came back or something so that I would know if it was him or not. So naturally I was still worried that this guy would come back that night while we were sleeping. This is when we got the shotgun out.

So it's dark and we are sitting by the fire as a family. A truck pulls in. Now remember you have to pass our camp to get to the lake. The truck drives down to the lake and we hear it park. Dusty and I are thinking "o.k. well it's probably kids coming up to party and drink beer at the lake". We can handle that. But oh no they didn't do that. Instead we hear them start shooting guns. It was pitch black!! And they are shooting guns. What idiots!!! We didn't know if they were intoxicated or if they were target shooting (in the dark) or what. So we put the kids to bed. Lex wouldn't go because she was too scared that they were going to sneak up to our tent. Luckily there were so many fallen leaves around us that there would have been no way for them to 'sneak' up on us because we would have heard the leaves crunching. So she went to bed and Dusty and I stayed up enjoying the company of the fire and holding our dear friend the shotgun. We kept wondering what they were doing because they had stopped shooting guns and we heard no voices at all. They stayed for at least 2 hours and by this time we were exhausted. But there was no way we were going to bed until they were gone. We finally heard them start up their truck and they drove by. All the while Dusty stood by the fire where they could see him with the shotgun fully visible.

Oh, how I wanted this day to be over. I was done with being alone in the woods with creepy people coming by. So Mr. Shotgun slept with us that night all warm and loaded ready to ward off 'Bike Man' or the crazy gun shooting lunatics. We had been asleep for a couple hours when we heard another car pull in and head down to the lake. Who goes up to the lake in the middle of the night? The only thing I could think of was because they needed to dump a body in the lake. Again, too much Prison Break and lack of sleep contributed to my theory. Dusty thought they were hunters out scouting turkey because turkey season was the next weekend. When we woke the next morning we were all alive and kicking. I made haste and we ate breakfast and got out of there. I learned that I don't like to camp all alone. I prefer to camp when there are other campers around. I was just too freaked out. It was probably because of 'Bike Man' but I was done and ready to go home. While Dusty and I packed up and loaded the van the kids had fun shooting the BB Gun. Dusty and I got some shots in there too.

We had a good laugh driving home joking about all of the weirdos we encountered during our excursion. And then Dusty informed me that he was going back up there to camp the next weekend for the opening of turkey season. WHAT? I let him know I would not be accompanying him on that trip.

We definitely made memories on this trip. It is always fun to camp as a family and to sit around the fire (holding the loaded shotgun) and talk and laugh and make jokes.

So without further ado, here are the pics from our camping trip.

Emma in her pajamas and polka dot rain boots on the last day. You see there were no bathrooms there and we had to go potty in the bushes. Emma tried really hard but her 'aim' was off sometimes and she got it on her clothes. I thought I had brought enought but by the last day we were out of clothes. So she had to wear her jammies home flying free underneath.



Emma


Our Camp


The end of the hike...we made it!!


This is what a woodpecker does to wood.


Lex & Jake hiking


Our 3 kiddos


Dad and his Princess


The Lake


On our way home we came across this old cemetry just stitting of in the woods with overgrown trees and leaves all around. We thought it was neat and walked over and looked at the old grave stones. It was neat to see how old they were and to read what they had put on the headstones.



Goofy pics