Family Night

With all the struggles we all go through everyday, it is always nice to have the simple things make it back into your lives. We have discovered that the simplest outings are the funnest. Our ward has made August family month. We took that to heart this year. With no scouts or other meetings they have given us a list of family activities to take advantage of. This has been one of the kids favorite outings. It seems that we have taken a lot of things for granted through the years. We always do the big things with the kids like trips, camping, snowmobiling but it is the simplest trip to the park that they enjoy the most. We have done this for two weeks in a row and Chase is loving it. We go get a cheep pizza and head out to the first park we can find. Spending a few hours away from home, stress, the business in our basement that we both get so wrapped up in, and just spend a few hours running around the play ground and playing a good game of catch. This trip Colten was at football practice, he always has something going on, but he will be making it to all the other family nights we have planned. This is one thing that we are going to incorporate in into our lives from now on.

Don’t they make the cutest group of girls?  Brit put them on the back deck and they did the Cha Cha dance for all of us.  Gage and Garrett take dance and they have some really good moves, my boys on the other hand, did not get the dancing jean from me and were not really sure what this was all about. These are the times you are glad to have camera’s and video, these pics will come in handy in the future for some good blackmail!

We have fun watching the two of the interact with each other. Makenzie loves her big brother, and he is pretty good about it (most of the time).  We don’t know what she is going to do when Chase starts school in a couple of weeks.

They played Farkle, Uno and watched a dvd, before going to bed.

In the morning, we cleaned up around the cabin, put the trailer in place, then went for a walk to the top of the hill. There were some barrels that dad filled with water last year, so we poured them into the water tank. Kenzie and Chase were so helpful!

As Marcy and I grow older (especially Marcy) and our lives continue to change – big time lately – we appreciate just being together with the family as much as we can. We’re continually talking about how fast our kids are growing up and how we wish we could “freeze” time.

We’re so glad we have somewhere like “The Cabin” to spend time.

Rainbow Bridge – July 2009

We took the kids to Rainbow Bridge this summer. This was one of our many stops on the 10 hour trip down stream.It was really hot on the hike up and Kenzie was not in the mood to hike any more. I had to carry her all the way up which wouldn’t have been so bad if it was not so hot out.  This was the first time that Chase and Kenzie had been here. Colten was with us 7 years ago, but it was a longer hike.

I learned something this trip that I hadn’t heard before. If you look on the lift side of the Rainbow, you can see the shape of a huge lizard crawling up the side. The kids thought that was a neat story, and you can actually see it.

Kenzie had fun on the hike down, she found a lizard and that was about thenly thing that would make kenzie walk for 5 feet without me or Russ holding her.  She would not let the poor little thing out of her site. She never did catch it but it was a lot of fun watching her try.

He’s the neighborhood bum, always out looking for someone to play with. If there is anyone that wants to have a sleepover, he’s on it. He is always looking for something to do. In fact, almost every time we are on our way home from somewhere he’s asking, “What can we do today?” Of course, mom and dad are looking forward to getting home and relaxing, but Chase always has other things in mind. He’s a goer.

Chase enjoys all types of sports and outdoor activities. He plays baseball, soccer and also wrestles. He loves to go snowmobiling, camping, boating, motorcycle riding, and 4 wheelin. He tells me that he hates hunting, though. “It’s boring.” – I think something is wrong with him???

Chase is a great helper. He’s always wanting to help. He says he likes to work. It doesn’t matter if it’s painting or sweeping the garage floor, he wants to help. Did I mention he’s a goer?

Chase is a thinker, planner. He’s fun to be around and everyone loves his company. He mostly stays out of trouble, except when he’s teasing. He loves to tease. Loves it.

Everyone should have a chance to play a board game with Chase. He’s a cheater. It amazing me how he finds ways to cheat, he just waits for the other players to catch him. It’s almost like he dares them to catch him. I watched him cheat his mom in UNO several times just the other day.

Chase is so smart, it’s almost scary.  I can’t wait to see what’s still to come as he grows up. He’s truly fun to be around.

I love my little man. I wish I could pause time and keep him where he is for a while, but I am also looking forward to fun times with him as he grows up. I have more and more fun with him every day.

This last weekend we decided to throw everything in the truck (after the baseball games of course) and head up to the cabin. Of course, the first thing the kids asked was, “Who’s coming with us?” They were told, “Nobody, just us.”

“Can we bring our motorcycles?”

Dad ran down to the store to pick up some corner bead and drywall mud for the walls that need to be finished while mom packed the cooler.

Within an hour or so, we were on our way.

It’s amazing how different it is when you are 9300 feet above sea level. As soon as we pulled up, the shorts were off and pants and jackets went on. It was a little chilly. In fact, it was snowing off and on. This didn’t stop the kids from playing outside and riding their motorcycles (for a while).

Colten had the campfire going before any of us could tell him not to start it yet. There was not much wood left from winter. Sure felt good though. The kids all love to roast marshmallows (and burn them).

Joe showed up a little later with Abbey. Kenzie sure loves to help Abbey around (even though Abbey is bigger than her – she is still in charge). They played so good together, riding the little red 4 wheelers all over and playing with their babies.

After some time around the campfire, it was time to settle down for the night (it was getting too cold to be outside). We lit the woodburning stove to take the chill off and keep everyone warm for the night.

UNO is the favorite card game these days around the kitchen table. You have to watch Chase, he cheats bad! I noticed it right off the bat (I must just have an eye for things like that) but it took Mom a while to figure out what he was doing. If he didn’t have the number or the color he needed, he would just draw and lay down whatever card he drew. Sometimes he would even throw in a “whew” to make us think he got lucky and drew the card he needed. Red 4′s on top of green 2′s – it didn’t matter.

After a night full of Peety and Joe snoring, Kenzie waking up screaming, Abbey asking her dad, “What is that noise” or telling him  ”No snoring, dad”,  and so on, it was morning. Colten said he had the best night’s sleep of his life (even through all that).

Time to go to work and get the first layer of mud and corner bead on the new walls (from the remodel). Chase is my helper, he always wants to help. He says he likes work – I guess this is a good thing, right?