Camp Dumpling

We christened the campsite Camp Dumpling because. . . lo and behold. . . we had chicken and dumplings for dinner. What a great name, eh? The camping area is close to where the boys went on their priesthood camp-out. Here are a bunch of pictures kind of in random order:

Going on a hike and crossing the cattle guards. It was tricky business.

Emmy "hiking" with Dad. What a nice ride she had.

The kids are so cute in the morning. They are just happy and playful. It's a good way to start the day.

Our campsite was really great. A great location with shade and sun and trees and open area, too. We love Camp Dumpling!

Another shot of Camp Dumpling.

The boys had come across this skeleton when they went on the priesthood camp-out. They were pretty excited to show me it. Interesting.

Cute girl enjoying a delicious s'more.

The boys' newest favorite thing to do while camping: play with "fire sticks." They put a stick in the fire and get it smoking. Kind of like sparklers.

A bloodied-nose monster on our hike. Grrrr.

I love Emmy's face in this picture.

Miles climbing up a tree limb. He was pretty nervous about going any further; my boys are none too brave.

This is as far as Jonas got. But it's still fun.

This was our little scavenger hunt we did. We paint these egg cartons at home and then go looking for nature things that match our colors. How pretty, huh?

Our first family camping trip of 2010 was a success.

Happy Fathers' Day

And a Happy Fathers' Day to our very own dads:

Me and my dad - I'm guessing I'm about a couple of days old.

And I just had to show this one even though my dad's head is missing. But it's classic my dad: he in his bath-robe.

Ben, age 12ish, at the Klondike Derby with his Dad. Ben now owns that very same sweater. But not the great hat.

Ben, his big brother Joe, and their father. Circa 1978 or '79. And frankly Jim pretty much looks the same today.

We love our fathers and father-in-laws. Have a great day!

Fathers' Day

Your children love you and adore you. They want to be with you a lot. They are estatic when you come home from work. They think you can do everything.

And you just about can.

I love you and think you are a wonderful, wonderful father to our children. The fact that they truly love and adore you is enough for me.

More Quotes

We went camping this past Friday nite and I'm sure I'll post a ton of pictures of that soon. But I wanted to write down some more great quotes (at least in my mind) from my children.

JONAS

We were hanging out around the campfire and Ben was saying something to me about being smart. I said oh yeah right, you're every bit as smart as I am, etc. Then Ben said (he said, she said) something like, "Well you can do math in your head." Miles was quite flabbergasted as I think he took this literally and who knows what he was imagining. Then I kind of explained what that meant. Then Jonas said,

"I can do art in my head."

AWESOME, I would love to see it.

Where we camp there are cattle that graze in the area. So lots of big, dried up cow poop. Only Jonas started calling them,

"Cow Hoorays."

I think somebody taught his that at the priesthood camp-out last weekend. When asked why he calls him that he said, "Well poop is not a nice word." Yep, I definitely think someone taught him that one.

MILES

Ben was reading a little of the scriptures - the last chapter of the Book of Mormon. So Ben was talking about Moroni and who he was. I asked the kids, "What's on top of the temples?" Miles replied,

"Ramoni."

He's a BIG Ramona fan.

During the same conversation as the "smarts" one, Ben made mentioned how he ate a cereal called "S'mores" (we were eating real s'mores at the time) when he was a kid. I joked around that that was the reason he was unable to do math in his head. The next morning Ben did something that he reasoned was "because I'm smart," and to this Miles replied,

"You must have not eaten S'mores for breakfast."

You got that right kiddo. Good ol' oatmeal.

Week Who-Knows?

Well obviously this is my fourth pregnancy as I do not know what week I am at, exactly. I know I am somewhere between 28-31. If I really thought about it I could figure it out because I know I did my glucose testing at 28 weeks - but I can't really remember if that was one or two weeks ago. Probably just 1 week?

But I do know that I didn't really even want to post these pictures, but I had committed myself to documenting my pregnancy with pictures a little more. But I am totally more self-conscious than I have ever been about the size of my belly. Not because I'm any bigger than any other pregnancy - cuz I don't really think I am. But I think it all relates to looking at past pictures and seeing me at just about 9 months pregnant with Emmy. I get HUGE. GINORMOUS. Not all of me, luckily. But my belly, whoa. My face gets softer and rounder, too, but that doesn't bother me so much. I just wish I had a few more inches for my babes to stretch up and down, not out and out. I'm so self-conscious about it that I only tell people that I am due in August or "in 2 months" (which I've been saying for about a week or 2). It's not totally true seeing as I am officially due on August 23rd. But all my other babes have come 7-10 days early, so it might be somewhat closer to the truth.

Anyways, I guess I was just hoping for some kind of miracle with this pregnancy - as in I wouldn't poke out so much.

But when you are 4 feet and 10 inches tall (I used to say 4'11, but my true measurement is thus that I must round down), perhaps that is too great of a miracle to ask for?

(At least that's my excuse. I won't even dare blame this belly on all those delicious chocolate chips I've had. . .)

Jonasisms

Jonas just has the greatest sayings in the world. Too bad I don't always keep a pen and paper on me because I forget too fast what he says. But here are some of his latest:

Background:

The kids were being watched by Grandma Dixie and Grandpa G. My parents had taken them out to ride some bikes and scooters.

Jonas then says,
"Miles can go first. I am always the nice one."

He's right, too. :)

Background:

At the recent father-sons camp-out Jonas comes up carry a huge clod of cow poop in his hands.

"This would be great for the garden!"

He's right, too. :)

Background:

Miles got quite a little but prominent black eye (he ran into someone while playing at the ward dinner the other nite). Ben told the boys he had a picture of himself as a kid with a black eye. We had gathered on the couch to check out Ben's photo album and Jonas comes running,
"I want to see your black ear Dad!"

Classic Jonas.

Background:

We were sitting at the table eating dinner and I was reviewing what the kids had talked about in sharing time at Primary: the Holy Ghost. We talked about it for a while and the importance of listening to the Holy Ghost. Ben shared a couple of personal stories he has had.

Then Jonas says,
"I heard the Holy Ghost once say, 'Tickle my toes.' "

What?

Father-Sons Camp-out

The stake's annual Father-Sons camp-out was last night. Too bad there was a literal drop of 40 degrees in the temperature from today than 2 days ago. (It's 50 degrees right now.) It rained on them and even lightly snowed today. The boys still had a great time, though. It was just cut short today because of the weather. But they did sleep in the tent, ate camp food, explored trees, played with fire - so it was a success. Ben got a few photos:

Life. . . as Captured by My Kids on My Camera

He wanted to take a picture of the mirror - I don't think he realized he'd be in it, too. :)

Our backyard. Me in the garden - weeding.

The slide that we kept from the playground set we got rid of. It works great off the back stairs!

Me and big belly playing frisbee with Scout. Emmy thinking about riding the scooter that she can't really ride.

Miles taking a picture of Jonas trying to take a picture on the cell phone.

Emmy and mom walking hand-in-hand down the stairs.

Wilson, looking justly suspicious of whoever is behind the camera.

The library's summer reading program chart.

Someone is lurking in the mirror. . .

Cute boy.

Cute Scout.

Last Weekend

Last weekend was really great. We were able to attend one of Ben's best-friend's wedding - Christian. Finally. He married a beautiful bride and we wish them the very bestest of everything!

Oh they look great.

Here are some of the good ol' high school friends. A good-looking bunch - and pretty tall, too. (Well except for the groom and my hubby.)

This is a picture you'd see from all their weddings. Ben has one just like it. I'm not sure of its beginnings or its exact meaning. Support? Whatever the meaning, it's nice. (The extra boys - those not in the previous one - are Christian's brothers.)

Christian and Erin's sealing in the Logan Temple was real neat. Christian's Grandpa Burns was the sealer and so it was a really beautiful and personal sealing ceremony. Then at the wedding dinner later that afternoon we got to listen to the bride and groom's moms and dads (does that make sense?) give a little speech. They were all great, but it was especially neat to hear President Sabey (Christian's dad as well as Mission President in the Ghana, Africa mission) as well, via a speaker phone. He gave a really spectacular "talk." Ben, who obviously has a great personal connection to the whole Sabey clan, was loving every minute of this day. It was really great.

My parents watched the kids all day long - what troopers! They went to parks, rode a carousel, rode bikes and scooters, went on a train ride, played with clay, ate lots of go-gurts, etc.! Whew. My parents have more energy that I do. :)

Before we headed back home on Monday we stopped at the club house's pool. They have a perfect 1'3" - 1'6" depth pool. Perfect for my non-swimming kids (i.e., all of them). It was a good time:

The water was so warm - even at 9am! Must have been because it is so small. Nice.

Jumping in!

Sun-tanning.

Good times surrounded by great people.

Miscellaneous Little Things

Here are a few of the little things we've been doing around the home:

We bought these ABCs awhile ago and hung them up in the playroom. But seeing as we 1. didn't want holes thru each card and 2. didn't want 26 tiny holes in our wall, we hung them up with that blue sticky stuff. But it didn't stick very well and everyday a new letter would have fallen down. Then I came across this picture: http://lets-explore.net/blog/2010/05/pack-clean-repeat/ and thought "perfect." Now, I have no idea how they got theirs to hang straight. But we think ours has that "homespun" look to it. :)

Here are a few of the May arts produced in the home, at school, and even at church. Some Mothers' Day things, "Seraut" inspired paintings, etc.

And today I found these flowers on clearance. I hope they are not too old to still suck up water. I hope it works since I've been telling the kids about colored-flowers for a long time!