Nothingness

I am posting today out of frustration. I hate having bad days and it seems I've had too many for my own good lately. Some venting might be nice. Jeff would probably appreciate me using this to complain over corralling him for the night. I'm pretty ready for school to start and give my two oldest boys the stimulation they need. I admit I will be quite sad because that means it is time to usher in colder weather and I find myself hating the cold more and more each year.
A lot of the kid's friends have moved away from our condo and it's hard to find friends for them to play with that I approve of. If we ever get a house in a nice neighborhood I might just have a heart attack from joy. I know that a house will not get rid of all my gripes but most of the people that tell me that have a house and it's hard to feel much comfort coming from them. I hate being stretched to the point of breaking and it seems I feel that way at least every two months. I think the Lord sees me as the stretchiest rubber band on the planet because he seems to think I need more and more and more.
I'm finding it so hard to lose my last 10-15 pounds so I can get back to my Weight Watchers Lifetime Member weight when my life seems to be so tumultuous.
How did Job do it? Maybe he was obese from dealing with all the stress and pain he dealt with. Just Kidding. I'm sure he was close to perfect and I'm glad I wasn't his neighbor. I'd hate to be around someone like that who's life completely and utterly fell apart and never showed any signs of cracking. Don't we all crack at one point?

I hope you allow me this forum to complain a little about my life and not judge me too harshly. Sometimes you just gotta scream. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHH
I think I deserve two screams!

FHE on Temples

We took the kids to the Timpanogos Temple for Family Home Evening. We talked about the work we do in the temple and showed the kids our wedding picture and our temple recommends. We then gave the kids the camera and let them each take pictures of whatever they found beautiful. Can you guess who did the first three?

Who took the next three?



Okay.......who took these last four pictures?




I found it very interesting that the kids' personalities came out in what they thought was beautiful. Kyle took at least 10 of just flowers and colors=He loves art! Katie took the next three=I guess she's too young to really decide why but I love the random shots. Joshua took the last four=It makes me smile because Joshua always watches people. Whether he's at the library, school program or baseball game he's always observing others. He took a few shots of the building and then took the rest of his family. I love the last picture of me with my sweetheart. My mother in law always tells me that a person's smile is different when someone they love is holding the camera. I guess that holds true because we look so happy!

Silver Lake

What is wrong with us??? We have been fishing twice in the last month. Jeff and I never went fishing as children but we have made some great friends that have taught us many things about enjoying Utah's outdoors. Valerie has taught me to can so many things that our family enjoys and how to gut a fish. Thayne teaches us how to fix things and untangle fishing lines. They've taken us camping with them and take us on their motorcycle and four-wheeler adventures. Our kids love spending time with their 4 girls too.
Here we are fishing in Silver Lake Reservoir. After driving 3 very very SLOW miles up a potted, rocky, dangerous dirt road we came upon this gorgeous spot in American Fork Canyon. We were here over 4th of July weekend and there were not that many people there at all. Our kids got to pile in the back of their pickup truck and drive across a creek. (Jeff rode in the back with the kids and I'm sure he lost some of his hearing from the kid's excitement) We drove past the reservoir to a campsite and had a picnic and then took Thayne's new GPS system and found a Geo Cache.

Here's Kyle's second fish. He caught three that day in about 1/2 hour. Josh and Katie were dissapointed they didn't catch anything but they sure had fun. I still have not mastered the art of taking out the fish hooks so Thayne helps us. One of these days I'll figure it out.

Kate (as she wants to be called now) didn't catch a fish but was sure happy to hold this one. Just look at her hair. Where is her mother???

Caleb sure enjoyed his picnic lunch. Especially the Carter's cheetos. That face is so cute I could kiss his lips off.

We got to eat the fruits of our labor Monday the 5th. I guess Josh was the only one of our family that ate the trout but it was well worth it.

Conservation Carousel

Not the most interesting post but I thought I'd post these pics of my CUTE kids at the Zoo. I don't know how I'm going to keep the girls away from Josh. He already comes home with phone numbers in his backpack. I'm so not ready for this!

Caleb did very well riding the Leopard. Not much phases Caleb though.

I'm secretly glad I have a photo with Katie's hair done. I swear any time a photo opportunity arises her hair looks ridiculous. Here is proof that I actually comb her hair for all of you doubters out there

This is the best shot I got of Kyle. It was hard with him on the inside animal.

Cancelled camping trip

We had a camping trip with friends planned in the middle of June but when the weather wouldn't cooperate we cancelled and spent the day hiking Stewart Falls and fishing. The hike was quite interesting. The kids were great on the way to the falls with Katherine only falling once. Since she gouged her palms on some rocks and she walked like a snail, I left the falls early with her and Caleb in the baby backpack. As we started down the trail, some clouds came and started sprinkling. We could also hear distant thunder now and then. This made Katherine climb that mountain trail faster than any grown man could. She would not stop for Mommy to take a break. I was dying but couldn't stop. Those backpacks are nice but it still means your packing an extra 30 pounds!! She finally stopped 3/4 of the way down and waited for the rest of our party when the clouds had completely moved on. When Jeff caught up with us he informed me he had had the exact same experience with Kyle just 10 minutes behind us. We were exhausted but made it to the car in one piece.

We stopped at a reservoir up American Fork Canyon for some hot dogs and fishing. The kids were dying to use their fishing poles they received at Easter. Luckily our friends are very versed at fishing and helped us rig up their poles and get started. The problem was that the fishing was terrible. We talked to quite a few people who were told by the rangers that a lot of the fish have been dying because the spring runoff was so strong. Bummer!!
We packed up at 8:30 and crawled into bed thoroughly exhausted.

How do you like Daddy's new daughter? We forgot to bring any jackets because they were packed in our suitcases for camping. Thankfully our trusty friends had their camping suitcases in their truck with two jackets for their kids. The trouble was that this family has four girls. Kyle was a trooper wearing a lovely lilac jacket all day.

Daddy and his "girls".

Wasatch State Park

We went Camping over Memorial Day Weekend. And like it is every year....It was too cold. We drove up and down each night because Caleb is at the age where he cannot stay under covers and won't sleep if he's in bed with us. The kids sure had fun with their friends and it was lovely to get all the good stuff of camping without having to set up a tent, sleeping bags and suitcases.

Here are the kids playing some games we set up for them. We had competitions to see how fast you could knock down a tower of cups with a squirt bottle and which team could fill up a hanging cup first. Dollar squirt bottles are the best things I have in our camping supplies. Each kid has their own and it takes up hours of time.

We saw a whole new side of Caleb on this trip. He ate everything in site and tons of it. He ate a plateful of Mountain Man Breakfast, cobs of corn, watermelon, strawberries and our favorite was this smore he devoured

Wasatch has electricity, flush toilets and warm water. I know it's wimpy but it sure is nice especially when the kids sit still for an hour and watch a movie.