Not Again!!

So, Jaiden cut her own bangs -- again!!! Granted, it is not near as bad as it was when she cut them clear up to her scalp last October.... but still!!! You would have thought she would have learned her lesson!

It was another hot day today and the kids had been swimming. I was talking with Rick later in the evening when Jaiden came up to me in her swimming suit with a crocheted snow hat on her head. She is usually in one costume or another and so I didn't think anything of the curious combination. She kept saying, "Mom -- I need to talk to you!" I was brushing her off, "not now -- I am talking to dad." Finally I finished talking and she led me somewhere private. Then she got all teary eyed as she pulled off her hat exclaiming, "I cut my bangs again." JAIDEN!!

Of course school pictures are on Wednesday. Oh well. If I curl them and brush them to the side a little, then it is not too noticeable.

Youth Boating Activity

Rick and Janika went on a youth boating activity to Quail Lake with our Deaf Branch. We only have a few youth in our branch and so they usually combine with another ward for church and activities, but they like to have some of their own activities as well. These first couple of pictures are of Janika Jensen and Maddie Pemberton.

We are so grateful to have the Pembertons join our branch! They are an awesome family and such a wonderful addition to the Deaf Branch. Grant Pemberton is an interpreter for the deaf and was called to be one of the counselors in the branch presidency. He and has wife, Toni, have four great kids. Maddie is just a year older than Janika and those two have become good friends. I know Janika is glad to finally have someone her age in the branch. The Pemberton 's youngest daughter is close in age to Janelle and so she has been a good play mate for our younger girls.

We were glad that Rosa Lampe was able to come on this activity too and hope that she decides to come back to the branch with her parents in the future!

The fourth picture is Maddie, Janika, and Rosa. The pictures below that include Rick Jensen and Grayson Pemberton and Grant Pemberton.

Cub Scout Day Camp

Busy day! Bright and early this morning I had several cute, energetic 8 and 9 year old boys knocking on my door. I was the "parent chaperon" for Jared's cub scout day camp. After I accepted the assignment, I found out that Janika and Rick would also be gone on a youth boating activity today. I considered hiring a baby-sitter but then decided that Jase could handle the remaining three children at home as long as I took the baby with me.

Janika had a blast boating and was gone until around 7:30 p.m.! She came home tired and very sore. I was worried that she would get sunburned but she informed me that she applied sunscreen seven different times throughout the day. Way to go Janika! She actually got a nice tan. Rick had come home earlier in the afternoon in order to attend a training session at the temple.

Jared and the other boys had a great time at their scout camp. The theme was "Under Cubstruction." The boys learned how to: shoot BB guns, use maps and compasses, use the scientific method, make a lighthouse and a little hockey game, play badminton, explore one of those giant balloon thingies, and so forth. They passed off lots of requirements towards belt-loops and advancements.

Thankfully, Jase and the little kids survived at home alone. Jase even managed to get all of his jobs done without being asked and the house was reasonably clean and so that was pretty impressive! Thanks, Jase!

He ended up tending a little longer since I just HAD to take a nap when I got home. I was beat (even though I hadn't done anything but sit around in the shade and watch rambunctious boys play all day)!

09-09-09

Today's date is 09-09-09!!! Cool, huh? That doesn't happen very often! Well, we have been having a lot of problems with our technology -- camera, computer, internet and so forth. So I haven't really been able to keep up with my blogging lately. But since I noticed it seems to be working for a spell I will hurry and take advantage!

Anyway, I just have to say that I LOVE it when my kids take responsibility for things on their own. It sure helps my job a lot! Today, I was driving the little ones to school and I spurted out, "Oh shoot! I forgot to check the calendar to see what color you were supposed to wear to school today, Jaiden!" Jaiden is in kindergarten and for a couple of weeks they are supposed to wear the color each day that correlates with the color they are focusing on that day. In a very grown up rolling-her-eyes sort of voice, Jaiden exclaimed, "Mom, I already know! It is gray!" Then I peeked into the rear view mirror and sure enough there she was wearing her little gray shirt with denim skorts and her cute little flower sandals. "Oh. How did you know?" She sighed in that exasperated voice again, "Our teacher tells us you know." Oh, of course. I guess I just didn't expect a five year old to remember something from one day to the next. My bad!

Then Jase comes home, changes into his scout uniform (oh yeah -- scouts -- glad he remembered because I didn't). He starts scrounging through the cupboards because he is supposed to bring the treat. It would have helped if he had given me this piece of information but he managed to come up with something and so all was well.

No School on Saturday!!

I went to pick up the kids from school and our "bus" made this big boom and then stalled. Hmmm... so I left it right there in the middle of the lane and told Rick to take a look at it and took the other van.

Janelle was "queen for the day." And Jared? Well, he had found this old rubber-ball and obviously thought it would make a good hat. Then he had to roll down the window and yell at everyone we passed. I said, "You know, those girls are going to think you have a crush on them now." That shut him up.

I asked Jared, "So, how was President Obama's speech?" He said, "I was so worried that he was going to say 'you have to go to school on Saturdays,' but he didn't. He just said, (imitating Obama's voice) 'you need to work harder.' Whew! "

Jared was so relieved!

Camping at Pine Valley

Last week, some friends of ours (Laymon and Tara Adams) invited us to go camping at Pine Valley with them over the weekend. They have several kids that are the same ages as our kids and so they all had fun playing together. The Adams had arranged to stay Thursday night through Monday, but we were only able to go Friday and Saturday.

All of the kids (except for Janika) were ecstatic about the prospect. But unfortunately, Rick became ill on Thursday and was feeling way too lousy on Friday to go camping. I hated to disappoint the kids; however, and so I decided to brave it alone. I left the baby home with Rick and since Janika didn't want to go in the first place, I left her home to help take care of Jenna so that Rick could rest and recover. I was nervous about doing the whole camping thing without my hubby!

Friday morning the kids and I hurriedly threw everything together and packed a lunch. It took all morning to get ready. We packed a ton of food and stopped at the store to get some more. I had never driven to Pine Valley before but luckily it is really easy to find. When we got there, Laymon Adams and his boys were there and helped Jase and Jared put up our tents. They were really disappointed that Rick and Janika hadn't come. At least I didn't have to worry about watching the baby while I was there. She would have been crawling around eating dirt and rocks the whole time! Tara and the girls were not there when we arrived. They had gone back to town in order to get a bunch of supplies that they had forgotten. The camp-ground was beautiful with tons of tall pine trees and a stream running right next to our camp-site. And...flush toilets!! I was very pleasantly surprised at that one!

I forgot a bunch of things -- including flashlights! I can't believe I forgot that! Usually I totally over-pack for trips, but since I knew we were staying only one night I had only packed one extra outfit for each of the kids -- and wished I had packed more. And I totally forgot Jaiden's extra clothes, so all she had was the outfit she had on and her PJ's. She had kept picking out these cute little dresses which I told her were not very appropriate for camping. So I said, "I will pick out an extra outfit for you." But then I forgot! And of course she was absolutely filthy within minutes. That is why she is wearing her PJ's on the hike. Plus I didn't know that there was water there or I would have been more prepared with extra pairs of shoes and socks. I brought an extra pair of shoes for Jaiden, Josh, and myself, but the boys had their only pair of tennis shoes soaked right away and had no back-up. Jared ended up wearing my extra running shoes even though they were several sizes too big. I had asked Janelle to pack her sturdy sport sandals as a back-up, but she didn't. So she and Jase were walking around in wet shoes.

In spite of not being as prepared as we could have been, the kids still had a glorious time. Jase kept bugging Laymon to take them fishing and so on Saturday he took Jase, McCabe, and Logan to the small lake. They didn't catch anything but a nearby fisherman must have felt sorry for the boys because he gave them one of his fish. They had fun scaring the girls with the fish-head and Jared put his thumb inside the head so that it looked like a big tongue was protruding from the mouth.

The stream was absolutely irresistible to all of the kids and one of the favorite past-times was catching water-skeeters in little cups. (See the picture of all of the little black critters swimming around in the red cup). Jared started the whole water-skeeter-collection and soon there were about a dozen kids from other camp-sites that joined in the fun. They all had contests to see who could collect the most. They wanted to burn them in the fire but I made them dump the little critters back into the stream. After all, water-skeeters are God's creatures too.
Tara had brought a bunch of little sand toys which the little kids had a blast with. She had several packages of little rubber snakes and lizards and even little plastic babies. Josh was in heaven. He carried around his collection in his t-shirt. When I changed his shorts into ones with pockets, he crammed them full of the little toys. It was so funny!


Friday night we had a delicious dutch oven dinner that Laymon cooked and then the kids roasted marshmallows. Then it was bed-time. I got a little stressed out trying to get all of the tired little kids ready for bed by myself in the dark -- bathroom visits, teeth brushed, PJ's on -- etc. Since I am still nursing Jenna I also had to bring my pump. By the time I came back from my own bed-time routine, the three little kids who shared my tent (Janelle, Jaiden, and Josh) were all fast asleep.

I woke up around 2:00 a.m. to the "pop, pop, pop" of rain plopping down on the tent. It sounded just like popcorn exploding in the microwave. The rain grew louder and stronger until it was pouring. There were bright flashes of lightning and extremely loud thunder. I couldn't help but wonder if any of the tall trees ever got struck by lightning. I don't see how anyone could have slept through that storm, but here were three little children all snuggled with me -- sleeping soundly through the whole thing. The tent did it's job and we stayed dry -- except for a few drops that made their way through the tent on to our faces. The rain kept the boys up too and I could hear them all talking and laughing in the other tent. After about 2 1/2 hours the rain finally stopped and I was able to go back to sleep for a little while. When we got up in the morning, everything was very wet and cold.

We started a fire and cooked up a big breakfast of french toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon. Then I brought all of the kids on a hike until it got too muddy. The kids enjoyed the rest of the day playing around. The sun finally came out and it was a gorgeous day. Laymon had brought a bunch of bikes and the kids had fun riding around. Jase and McCabe played chess and Jaiden played in the stream with some little girls from the next camp-site. I was able to get a little bit of relaxing time here and there in in order to sit and chat with Tara. We left around 4:30 to head back home. The kids kept begging me to let them stay longer, but I wanted to get them home and cleaned up in order to get ready for church the next day.

I would like to go back to this camp-ground again some time. It had all of the elements for a fun experience. But it sure was good to sleep in my own bed Saturday night!