Goings on and other trifle information

Holy cow can you believe I'm actually blogging again? I don't know what's wrong with me! Just thought I would share how happy I am that it is Friday (o.k. Tuesday, but in my work world it's Friday)
and "I'm leavn' on a jet plane" back to my family. We have been having so much fun together lately. Things are crazy as usual and I do have my mommy meltdowns still but life is so good and hey my favorite month is just around the corner. I actually almost cried when I had to leave Sunday night for my commute to work in SLC. I think I need to go on a trip to remind myself why I do what I do. Thank goodness Disney is only two weeks away! Maybe I can sneak in a side trip to Seattle. Boys update: Ben and Jared are currently playing in the flag football league, they look so cute in their jerseys. Isaac opted out of sports this year, but I think we will hopefully start him in swimming soon. Libby update: I was released from YW's a couple of weeks ago and in a moment of sheer panic (what to do with my time?) I volunteered to be Jared's room mother and at Isaac's middle school (yes he is in middle school here) I volunteered to be in charge of their value treat days (which of course is turning out to be more demanding then initially led to believe) but I love going to their school and hearing the whispered "That's my mom" and then the pointing finger and the giggle (o.k. that's jared, Isaac just smiles and says hi to me) Oh I also got a gym membership for my b-day, and am a new avid lover of SPINNING! Yep Katie the bug has bitten me too. Which means as usual people are trying to get a hold of me and only get my voicemail which leaves them constantly saying, "you are so busy" "Yes, yes I am and it makes me happy!"(most of the time)

TRUE COLORS

Last weekend I went to a great class that my Relief Society had. A friend of mine, sister teaches about how you can have a closer family and be more charitable by understanding each other. She calls it, "Family Color Works" basically the concept isn't new. We've all heard at one point in time "What color are you?" It's a little different then times past. She says that by knowing what a persons color is (or personality) as well as whether they are an introvert or extrovert, you can be more understanding and charitable (not get so impatient with them, instead you can say "Oh I understand why you are acting this way) She taught a section on how to determine what color you are and then how to determine what color your kids are, so you can try to be a better parent,spouse,friend, etc. I found it really interesting. She also taught how to deal with the "stressors" that come with each color type. For example, I found Jared was an Orange. One thing that will stress a person who is orange out is a time limit. They like their freedom and if you give them a time limit, it doesn't go so well. Jackson likes to call out time limits especially when getting ready for bed and Jared always melts into tears. Poor guy. So now we know we need (and when I say we I mean Jackson) to handle it a different way. Go to www.familycolorworks.com to determine what you are. (if you are an introvert be aware that your first color is usually the color you hide, the second color is the one you exhibit.) On this website it is for determining 10 and up. For kids she has a little bit different method, but you can still figure it out from this info. I found I have a very colorful family:
I am a blue/gold extrovert
I'm still working on Jackson I think he is a green/orange
Isaac is a blue/orange extrovert
Bennett is a gold (boy is he a gold!) green/ introvert
Jared is an orange/blue extrovert

One thing she did advise us is to be very careful about determining someone elses color. Just because someone shows traits doesn't mean there motives match the color.
Happy color hunting!

The Boys Are Back in Town...

Last weekend our house was full once again. This time it was filled with lots of boys. We had the first annual Boys Weekend. My parents came in from Seattle and on their way they stopped and picked up one of the grandsons in Boise, I brought up another one from Salt Lake to meet up with our three boys. (their are two more but they are still to young) Papa took them all to get fishing gear so they could try their hand at fishing. I haven't been fishing for a while, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Although most of my time was spent getting worms on the hook and fixing fishing line, but it was well worth the hard work, especially when we started catching the fish. Papa and grandma also took the boys to a movie and Uncle Jackson took them to the splash park. Uncle Adam flew in as well and went fly fishing with papa. Things overheard during this weekend,

"I'm not supposed to be putting worms on a hook" grandma

Some people think I'm strange because I remember things." Kp

"I'm never going to catch a fish!" bennett

"It's not called catch a fish, it's called fishing" papa

"I caught another one" cade

"Mom take a picture of me, this way" Jared

"We had a good day" Uncle Adam

"oh man!" Isaac

Adventure to Yellowstone


We knew at some point we would be going to Yellowstone (especially since we're only 1 1/2 hours away) so over the 24th Jackson's family decided to gather the whole family (21 people total) to our house. Luckily we have enough room to accomodate everyone. (I had a friend ask how I was fitting everyone into my house) We had a fun night of fireworks and then headed out to Yellowstone the next day. I haven't been there since I think I was 6, so I have some memories but (mostly steam and things that were yellow). We really had a great together. Jackson's sister-in-law and brother booked a great camp spot right off the Madiosn River for to stay. It was really beautiful with all the different wildflowers and river.


Highlights:

* yummy conference mix (swedish fish, goldfish,pretzels,nuts and skittles)
(got it's name because we have it a conference)
*Bennett complaining that "Old Faithful" was NEVER going to blow and us telling him he was right that today was the day "Old Faithful" wouldn't be faithful. (later when asked what his favorite part was, he said Old Faithful)
*The Bison we saw walking down the highway as if he was just another car. He passed right by us. (There was a man on a motorcycle behind him trying to decide whether to pass or not)
*Having icecream at Mooseberry's
*Wildflowers everywhere
*The amazing colors


Lowlights:
*Our poor niece who had a high fever for most of the trip
*Libby getting grumpy because of low bloodsugar
*The smell and heat from the pools
*The trip didn't last long enough

Heading down South

For the 4th of July we went down to Blanding for Jackson's mom's family reunion. All of his brothers and sister went with their families, so we had a great time ATVing, roasting marshmallows and even being in the Blanding parade. I did have a moment of wondering what my kids thought of me as a mom. As I was taking a little nap after dinner I heard Jared walk up with his cousin, she asked where I was and he told her he thought I was sleeping in the tent. He then said, "Do you know what happens if you wake her up? You get grounded!" Now I don't recall ever telling him that, but I do tell them not to wake me up unless someone is bleeding. Later he was walking by with his 3 year old cousin, I overheard him say, "Now you just stay by me and I'll take care of you. If you are scared of anything just let me know and I'll take care of it. (pause) except for bears, I won't be able to do anything about bears." So funny! There was a little stream running through the campsite so the boys had a great time building a dam and fort. Thank goodness they had showers, I don't think I would have recognized them after three days. We also were able to spend two days in Moab. We had always driven through but had never stopped so it was fun to go explore. We went to the Canyonland by Night tour. Where you go on a raft up the Colorado River while it gets dark and then float back down while people shine great big spotlights they have mounted on a truck, up on the mountains. It was pretty cool but I'm not sure it was worth the money we paid. While sitting by the pool at the hotel I had one of those 20/20 moments on "what would you do." Jared and another little boy had gone over to the hot tub (that really wasn't hot) to do some swimming, when 4 girls ranging from 15-5 decided to go in. Jared had hopped out but the other little boy stayed and was having fun splasing around, the girls didn't like this so proceeded to tell him how rude he was and started making fun of him. I looked around for at least one set of parents to notice. The girls were from another country, the next thing I knew one of them had been dunked by the little boy (served her right I thought) but then the girls really started being mean, so finally I decided I'd better step in. You know me I can't not get involved, so I walked over and told them they needed to start being nice to each other and to make good choices. As I walked away the girls started talking in their language, I'm sure the ridicule turned to me but at least they stopped. We also went to Hurrah Pass, Jackson was thrilled to be able to go four wheeling with our four runner. We were able to see some famous Petroglyphs and get some good pictures. As we drove out we went past a big red sand hill. Jackson and the boys thought it would be fun to run down it in the blistering heat. I stayed behind and took pictures so I was unable to do it. (Darn)

Going on a Trek

Where do I begin? In the few weeks before trek I went through really great highs, where I was excited about the experience we were going to have to really low lows, basically consisting of rolling up in a ball and laying in my bed wondering how this was all going to come off. Here I was telling these youth that they just had to go because it would be life changing. But then I had a realization that Jackson and I were the one's planning this. No Pressure! In one of my "ball" moments I finally realized that I could plan and plan but Heavenly Father already knew what we would need to happen and that He would take care of it. We just needed to prepare as best we could. So bright and early (4a.m.) on June 19 we began the adventure. In April we had gone to Martin's Cove for training, we had taken the route through Driggs, which meant 10% grade hills (translation: very very steep) we knew there was another road but felt it would take too much time. So the Bus Driver followed our support vehicles and we went merrily on our way. (ok not so merrily, the bus driver showed up with 1/2 a tank of gas and really no idea of how to get there, this was not in the schedule) As we started descending into Jackson Hole I began getting nervous when you could smell brakes burning and when we pulled off to the side the bus slid and then bounced into the air. It was all very dramatic, we had to have one of the pa's keep his foot on the break while the bus driver went out to look at the breaks. (great photo op) Soon we were on our way, with a few unscheduled stops. Basically our 7 hour drive turned into a 9 hour drive. The kids were troopers through it and by the time we arrived we were the last group to go through, so it was nice not to have anyone around us. The spirit in Martin's Cove is so amazing if you don't know the history go to http://www.handcarttreks.com/. After some great talks we had to go another hour back to Sixth Crossing (the Willie company rescue sight, just before Rocky Ridge)where we would camp. We had planned to have square dancing that night but we were already 2 hours late and still had to eat. We drove in and there was another group with their generators and nice kitchen set up. We just pulled out our 2 stoves and told the families they would need to start getting there dinners together with the stars as our canopy.The next morning we got up early. One of the Pa's was going to have to leave in the afternoon so we had to drive his car down to where we would be later in the day. I forgot that we needed to send our refill water tank with them and realized it right when we were getting ready to start trekking. Suddenly I was looking around for Jackson to see what he wanted to do. But he was no where to be found. I told them to start trekking and I would drive one of the pa's new truck to drop the water off. (He wasn't to excited about this since his wife hadn't even driven it yet but he handed the keys over)and meet them later they started off and Jackson materialized looking very green. We drove the water where it needed to be, while doing so the gas light came on. So basically we figured we had about 30 miles worth of gas and the closest gas station was 40 miles away. At this moment Jackson turns to me and says you're going to have to leave me here . I started to say I can't do that, but thought about all the times he had stepped up to the plate for me, so I said, o.k. we'll work it out. I cried all the way back to the meeting spot. I parked his truck and went to wait for them, formulating what our action plan would be. I had passed a camp on my way back and had the thought that we should ask them for gas, otherwise we would have to have the 1:30 departure Pa take his car and get gas and bring it back. So as I'm waiting I see one of the missionaries come over and waited for our group. Just as they are getting closer the last handcart stops. My friend is the Ma on this cart and I yell to her to keep going. She yells back she has a bloody nose. Not to concern I yell back that she isn't allowed to have one. I start talking to the truck owner to let him know the problem and what I think is the solution when suddenly I see my friends husband carrying her. Our medical person walks up and says her nosebleed won't stop. Now I'm worrying about whether we need to evacuate her out, I still need to get gas and 1:30 departure Pa is reminding me he has to be gone at 1:30. Where the #@!% is Jackson!! I had everyone coming at me at once finally I look at the bishop, hold up a finger and say "Give me a moment" so I walked away and said a quick prayer. Again this was not on the schedule!I came back and told them what we needed to do. Some weren't happy with my decisions but I knew it was what we needed to do. My Friend went with our Medic in the truck (which wouldn't have been there incidently if I had remembered the water;tender mercy 1)The owner of the truck went with them to fix the gas problem (later I realized I hadn't told him about my prompting but when we caught up he told me don't worry I had the same prompting they had 2 gallons of gas; tender mercy 2) We finally caught up at the meadow where Jackson recieved a blessing and so did my friend. The women's pull was next. This is where the boys are called off to serve in the Mormon Battalion leaving the girls to pull on there own. This was at the most difficult part of the trail. The boys left teasing the girls, but it was a different story when they saw the girls pulling the carts up the hill. The bishops wife gave an amazing talk about how we can do hard things. She said the "c" stood for commandments; "a" stood for always remember him; and "n" stood for never give up.

The youth were really effected by this experience. We didn't let the leaders help so it was hard watching just 3 girls to a handcart try to get up the hill. Later we came to the Sweetwater which is the river that the 4 "valley boys" carried pioneers across in the freezing weather. We had been told the week before the river was to high and it was unlikely we would be able to cross. The Sunday before Jackson asked the Priests if they would be our Valley Boys. Afterward I asked if he warned them they probably wouldn't be able to, but it said every time he went to say it he couldn't. So we continued praying that the youth would be allowed that experience. So we were really happy when that morning the missionaries told us we would be able to cross(tender mercy 3, although it was chest deep. We had a great talk about Enduring and Hope. The boys then carried some of the girls across and others walked through. David Kimball is my great great uncle, he was one of the valley boys, so it was an amazing experience to cross the river. During this Jackson was not himself, in fact every time I turned to look for him he was no where to be seen. It was really frustrating, because I depend on him so much. I guess it was something I had to learn. We got back and had the families cook dinner then had a devotional about testimonies and the enos experience (solo time) We had a great testimony meeting the next day where pretty much all the youth said they didn't want to come, but were glad they did. One of the missionaries told us that we were doing things the "right way" I asked him how. He said that a lot of the groups come in and have the priesthood take over setting up everything and the kids just sit around, but he was impressed by how we involved our kids in everything, he continued to say it was a mark of great leadership. I don't think he knew how much I needed to hear that after a day of making hard leadership decisions.(By the way my friend's bloody nose stopped there were 4 doctors at the camp they stopped at that helped her) Sorry for such a long blog but I wanted to share what an amazing experience we had. The stress and worry were all worth it. There were some great funny moments as well. One included one of the Pa's asking a youth from another group to dunk one of the girls bonnets in the water. He barely got it wet and in response our Pa (he's around 60) says, "Crimony, son that's just a fart in the wind! Dunk that sucker!" to which the boy fully dunked it and in return he told him, "that's the way to do it. Good job!"

How grateful we both are to have been able to have this experience once again. It was a testament to me of how Heavenly Father always knows what we need to help us.

Has anyone seen the Sun??????

I got up the other morning and as my usual day starts I peeked through my blinds in hopeful anticipation that maybe today would be the day my old friend would return. But no such luck. Maybe you know him (or her). He really isn't hard to miss, he is usually up in the sky, is yellowish/orange, and round. He's usually really hard to look at because he's so bright and during this time of year the heat he radiates is fantastic! Yes, I am literally going CRAZY! I thought my parents were the ones who moved to Seattle but it seems it must of been us. The temperature here hasn't gone above 60 degrees and during the night it goes down to freezing. I still have to cover my flowers at night so they don't freeze. We just put up our porch swing a couple of weeks ago and every time I go out to sit and read or hang out, I'm driven back inside because of the cold. We would love to go camping but most of the campgrounds are still covered in snow. We still have tulips and daffidols coming up! If you happen to see my missing friend please send him my way I could really use some thawing out!