Hot Diggity Dog

We've had hot dog roasts in some great and interesting places. The fire pit from Costco that we had once upon a time, the big fat black thing, and the snow cave. But our much-beloved-by-some roasts have found a new home. We now have a permanent fire pit thanks to the endeavor of getting rid of a lot of yard. And here we are having our first trial run:

And it was a lot of fun!

Last Summer Hurrah

Our friends (names removed to protect the innocent!) invited us to go boating with them this last weekend. We LOVE spending time with them and have gotten to a lot this summer--it has been great. They are living here going to school and I just assumed that they would just find a job here next year, but one of them told us that they might not necessarily find a job here. And for that I am sad, so Grant and I might need to move next year as well to follow them. Because how does one live without best friends?

All right, back to boating. We went boating with them, and it was so much fun. I could post about a 1,000 pictures today, so consider yourself saved for only seeing a handful. The kids all got to go tubing. Karmin went first. And this is what she looked like the whole time:

Thumb constantly up saying that she wanted to go faster with the biggest smile ever. Even going through huge waves, the smile and the thumb up stayed put. (This is where I cold post a few hundred pictures of her going through all types of water situations and she is forever smiling and telling us she wants to go faster.)

Ben went tubing too, and somewhat enjoyed it. This time he enjoyed staying in the boat hanging out with friends and sometimes getting to be the flag-holder.

Lydia also got to go:
She loved it.

 Trevor went tubing and we kind of forgot to be informative parents on this one. It never occurred to us to talk to the kids about what to do if they actually fell out of the tube. Woops. Trevor had the biggest smile on his face when he started out.

I haven't seen that big of a smile in a long time on him. But then a few bumps came and this is what happened:

Again woops. I've never seen a tube do what it did after that. It was a crazy way to be flipped out. But he recovered.

Grant also got to try out wake boarding. Apparently it was something he has always wanted to do. Who knew? He did amazing and had a lot of fun.

 It was a great day! We loved it!

Movin' on Up

This is a bit late, but no less important because I have been slacking on posting about my most amazing husband. He really is so cool.

He got a new job in November. It was a huge blessing. He had been looking for a new job for several months when this opportunity just fell in his lap. Our good friends told him about the opening--and we are so grateful for them for thinking of Grant when they heard about this job that turned out to be no less than a miracle. When Grant got the job, we were a bit worried about how we would survive financially, but we both felt that this was were the Lord wanted us to be and that He would take care of everything. So with a lot of faith, Grant took the job. He was hired as a temp---as they do with all of their employees for about 3 months to make sure that it is a good fit. Within a few weeks, he was officially hired as a permanent employee. Then just a couple of months after that he was promoted to a assistant nurse manager, out of the other 10 or so other nurses. After 7 months of work there, he was then promoted to a nurse manager.

I tell this adventure for a couple of reasons: 1) to show the world just how cool of a man I am married to and 2) that if we follow the Lord and go where He wants us to go...even though it doesn't make sense at the time, He will bless us and everything will work out.

My Birthday--Part 3

Growing up I spent most of my summer time up at the cabin. I could be wrong, but in my memories, I spent about all my Birthdays up at the cabin too (before I started working). One thing that I loved about my Birthdays was sleeping outside on the dock and watching all the stars. The great thing about my Birthday is that the Perseid meteor shower peaks on the night starting my Birthday or the night of my Birthday (depending on if it is leap year or not). One of my favorite memories was my cousin Jeff and I were sleeping outside and my Grandpa came and woke me up in the middle of the night. We went down to the beach and watched the meteor shower. It always seemed kind of special that on my Birthday was the meteor shower.

For a few years I have wanted to share that memory with Grant and my kids. But the last few years it has either been really cold or cloudy. This year it was perfect. So we  all slept out on the trampoline. At first I got really nervous that the kids wouldn't see anything, but then all of the sudden the shooting stars started going off. It was like the fourth of July with all of the "Oohs" and "Ahhhs." I'm glad that they got to see it. I think it was the first time for all the kids to see a shooting star and satellites (because those are fun to find too). My whole Birthday was so much fun. What a great weekend!

My Birthday--Part 2

I was so spoiled on my Birthday. Grant got me a bunch of pots! I needed some big ol' fatty pots and pans to cook with. So many times when I have been making soup, I would have to use two pots to fit everything in. And cooking corn on the cob was nearly impossible. (However, I did think that it was a stroke a genius to cook the cobs standing upright instead of on their sides...the only down side was that the ends didn't get cooked.) They are great.

Grant's parents made me my "cake." They know that it isn't my favorite so instead they made me some yummy Peanut Butter chocolate cookies--with a candle. Karmin made crepes for dinner (I think that is the kids' favorite thing to make), and we had chocolate milk shakes. It was a deliciously sugar-laden day.

I got spoiled by other people too. I thought this lovely gift deserved a spot on the blog. It is from my sister. She calls me Dork, so she decided I needed a book bearing the same name. Sweet, huh? She is very thoughtful like that.

The whole weekend/week was great. I'm thankful for friends and family who are so sweet who e-mailed, called, facebooked me, etc. I have a great life with great people in it.

My Birthday--Part 1

Yes, that is right--Part 1---that is how cool my Birthday was. It deserves multiple installments of blog posts.
My mom was here the week of my Birthday and so Grant concocted a plan with her help. Friday morning Grant told me to pack my bags and meet him at the temple after he got off of work. We went to the temple and then after that we went to a local historic hotel. It was amazing. It was quiet. It was clean. I didn't have to make dinner; although I had already made dinner for my mom and the kids for Friday night--I didn't have to clean it up. It was the first time that Grant and I have been away from our kids without any nursing babies accompanying us or a baby in my belly toting along. I loved it.
Sure enough Saturday morning I woke up at 6:00. I loved it because I could just stay in bed and I didn't have to get up and get breakfast for anyone. Grant slept in until about 8:30. So I just thought and contemplated life. I fell back to sleep for a little bit and then would wake up and think again. And did I mention that I relished in the quietness of it all?

It was totally awesome. I have the best husband ever.

The lost lost tooth

Karmin lost a tooth while watching a movie the other day. And then she really lost the tooth...as in literally. We both went into the movie room and looked for it and we couldn't find it. Someone had snuck in some Saltine crackers in there and so there were crumbs everywhere (hence the sneaking because we don't allow eating in there for that very reason). And apparently Saltine cracker crumbs look just like lost teeth. We couldn't find it. Karmin left and I went to play with the other girls outside.  After awhile I went back into the room just to look again. I walked in the room, looked down, saw her tooth. I gave it to Karmin and she got a smile on her face. She told me that she prayed that we would find it so that she could give it to the tooth fairy. And I love that. I love that our prayers are answered and miracles happen so that we know that Heavenly Father knows us--even to the smallest of us.

Piper's Eyes

It is so hard to get a decent picture that actually depict Piper's eyes. This is the best one that I have found. It has brown on the tops of her eyes and around the edges. Inside it the edges it has some blueish gray streaks, but the bottoms of her eyes have a lot of green in them. They just have a little bit of everything if you are able to look closely at them. But everyone says that she has brown eyes when they see her...so I think that is what we will officially say.

Picking Raspberries

This week while my mom was here, we took Karmin and her cousin Savannah to pick raspberries. I was hoping to make about as much jam as I did with the strawberries, but I think I set my hopes too high. The plants where we went were still pretty small so we didn't get very many berries. The girls were very patient even though it wasn't that easy. We picked for about a bit more than an hour and only got about 6 lbs. It was fun to do something with just the girls though.

The Road to the Cabin

These are some of my favorite landmarks going up to the cabin. They just make me giddy looking at them:

The first sign that you are almost there: The Dumpsters---alright so there are no longer dumpsters there anymore, but it will always be the dumpsters to me (FYI--this is where we found our cat, Dumpy, and hence her name). It is the first time you can really see the lake.

The last time you are on good road: The Pond---Gretch and I use to leave the cabin on foot before my parents left and try to beat them to the dumpsters. It was a game to see how far we could get. Usually we would at least get to the pond. And we would get a bit distracted and try to find turtles. It is so pretty.

The last big landmark: The Mailboxes--When you get here you know you are almost to Grandma's. On the mailbox is Grandpa's writing, so it is even more personal and you can totally claim it as your own.

Now this just makes total sense doesn't it? You want it this fast because you are just itching to get there.

And then you are there. It is a great trip!

Grandma's Party

My Grandma turned 80 earlier this year. My dad's family had a Birthday party for her when she turned 80 down in California, and then another one for her 80 and a half Birthday up here so more friends and family could come. I had the privilege of putting her pictures together in a frame for everyone to sign. I loved looking through old pictures of her. I think she was and is absolutely gorgeous. In looking at some of the pictures, Grant remembered a time when we were up at the cabin looking through old pictures and my Grandpa came over to look at them too. We had a picture of my Grandma in our hands when she was in High School. When my Grandpa saw it he said with sincere adoration, "Gosh, isn't she just beautiful?" He loved my Grandma, and for a moment it was like he went back in time remembering one of the reasons why he fell in love. I'm glad we got to spend this day with her. She is a great lady. (And no pictures for the blog since they have other people in them)