He's Alive!

Well, our pioneer came home today. He's tired and DIRTY, but doing well. He was one of the lucky few who didn't get any blisters on his feet. This picture of him is right after they finished. They were in the sun the whole time with no shade, but they finished at this park where there was three things they hadn't seen in four days: grass, trees and shade. They were so happy to be done! I went up to help them with their celebration. They had several different games and activities, but I have to say that the one I did was the most popular. I worked at the bath house where everyone could have their hair washed and the girls had their hair braided. When we got there and started setting up people gathered around and practically drooled at the sight of shampoo, even the men. One woman cried for joy when she heard that we were going to wash her hair. It's amazing the things we take for granted every day, but when it's taken away for awhile you come to really realize how lucky we are! They were arranged into "families" for the week with a ma and pa and about 8 kids. Keaton's parents were some really neat people from Umatilla, and he said that everyone got along really well. It was weird for me to hear him calling other people "mom" and "dad". I accused him of cheating on us. HAHA. We are supposed to hear a full report tomorrow of everything that took place. I don't know if you can tell, but his lips were VERY chapped. Why didn't I pack lip balm for him? Duh! So I let him use some of mine, then took it home with me. He still had 24 hours until he would come home. Hello McFly! What kind of mother am I?

Just so you can gain a full appreciation of how dirty he was, I've taken some close-ups of his clothing.




Yeah, I'm sure you really wanted to see that! But I was just so amazed at how dirty all these kids were! Keaton went straight to the shower when he got home.

Keaton's trek

This morning Keaton left for the trek. For those of you that don't know, it is a reenactment of the trek that the Mormon pioneers made across the plains in search of a safe place to live. They faced persecution and hardship and many people died. Lots of them didn't have animals to pull their carts so they used handcarts, meaning the people pulled them themselves. This is what Keaton is doing this week. It is for kids age 12 to 18, and Keaton turned twelve in March, so he was very excited to be included in it. Each person had to fit all their belongings (other than their sleeping bag) in a 5 gallon bucket. We were very surprised to find that he fit everything in easily and still had room to spare. So we threw an extra shirt in there and called it good. Here he is this morning dressed in costume and ready to go. Just one last look through the fridge is all he needed.

Then he did a quick scan of the horizon and he was off! What a goofball.

Please remember him (and all the other kids) in your prayers this week. They are walking 34 miles and it's supposed to reach 94 degrees by Friday. I almost feel like I shouldn't use my air conditioning in solidarity for them. Almost.

To the Top!

On Sunday my mom finally decided to give the kids back to me. I think they had finally worn her out. Either that or they ate all her food. Probably both. Along with other things that she won't tell me about for fear that I would actually PUNISH them for what they did. (How could I dare?) So after church I drove to Multnomah Falls to meet them. That's about halfway between her house and ours and it makes a good meeting place. We used to have a tradition of hiking to the top every summer, but we haven't done it in a few years. We always seem to be in such a hurry when we're traveling that we don't want to stop. But I thought that this would be a good time for the kids to spend some energy before getting back into the car for the 2 1/2 hour drive home. They did so well with little to no complaining. It's only about a mile, but it is uphill the whole way with several switchbacks. Jantzen was really excited to get home to be reunited with our dog so she wasn't too excited about taking the time to hike, but I stashed a few candy bars in my backpack and told her that people who don't whine get candy at the top. It worked like a charm, and no, I'm not above bribery. She ended up loving it in the end, which is usually how it goes with my kids. They don't want to try something new but when they do they're always glad that they did. Such has been the case with snowskiing, innertubing, roller coasters and now hiking.

Carson and Jantzen wanted me to take their picture with their candy bars. I guess they really loved them?!

This is our "more bars in more places" picture. Cute, huh?It was a race against the clock because the sun was going down, but we made it just in time. This picture was taken at the top, just as the sun was going behind the mountains. I love the way the colors look. We hurried down and got to the car at 9:30. Then we made the long trip home, arriving home at about midnight. I'm still wondering why the lines on the road were so wavy.

Big Five

Big Five Sporting Goods opened in our small town today! We are growing slowly but surely. Big Five isn't my favorite sporting goods store, but it's a step in the right direction. I can't tell you how excited we are to be able to buy shoes in this town! In the past if we needed running shoes or cleats we had to drive 45 minutes to Tri-Cities. WOOOHOOO!!!
In other "FIVE NEWS"...
With my half marathon coming up in four months, it's time to get serious about adding miles to my training regimen. I've gotten pretty comfortable with my usual 4.3 and for some reason 5 seemed like so much more to me. But I'm happy to report that I survived it this morning. It wasn't pretty, though. With the weather getting warmer it's getting harder. And it probably doesn't help that I haven't been cooking balanced meals for the past week since the kids have been gone. I think I've had popcorn for dinner twice and graham crackers once. Terrible, huh? So I guess it could be said that kids keep their parents healthy in some ways. I guess it makes up for all the gray hair they're giving me.

OHMYGOSHTHISISTHECUTESTTHINGEVER!!

***Two posts in one day? Did I mention that my kids are gone? ***

Last Saturday was Jantzen's dance recital. She was in the "baby ballet" class, meaning that these girls are way too young to really learn much, but the dance studio is happy to take our money and try anyways. We all know it's really for the moms. She's been taking this class since last September, and they began practicing their dance for the recital on the very first day of class. So you'd think that they would have it down pretty good. But they didn't. And that's what made them so irresistably CUTE!

Here they are backstage before the big performance. Mine is the cute one. You know, the one all the way on the right. She looked forward to this day for a long time and "counted sleeps" for the last ten days. Mostly because she got to dress up like a fairy thingy and wear an obscene amount of make up.

Isn't she cute? (If I do say so myself.) I am working on getting a video posted, so check back. You won't be sorry!

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Gone Baby, Gone!

What's gone? You might ask...

The hair on my legs? No.

The weeds in my garden? No.

The little blades of grass on the floor of my car? No.

The pile of dirty laundry? No.

The five-years-old applesauce in my freezer? No.

SO WHAT'S GONE? MY KIDS!

Yes, folks that's right. I loaded them into a minivan with a strange man. Okay, only a little bit strange. But I didn't notice any guns, duct tape or rope in the car. So I figured it was okay. We said our goodbyes, then they drove off to Grandma Shanna's for the week. YAHOOOOO! Now I know that it may sound like I don't love my kids. But that's not true. I LOVE my kids. What I don't love is cooking for them, cleaning up after them, buying groceries for them and breaking up the incessant fights betweent them. This is my one week per year to rest, rejuvenate, eat popcorn for dinner and do some sort of project on the house. I think my project this year will be replacing these tiles:

I know, there's nothing wrong with them. They're beautiful the way they are. Well, that's what their mom tells them. But I'm not too crazy about the fact that some of them broke off and ran away. Then there's the paint they got all over themselves. I just turned my back for ONE SECOND and they had gotten it everywhere. I tell ya. Tiles these days are terrible. When I was a kid we didn't act like that. Well, I suppose I'd better go. I've got some serious popcorn popping to do.

Beautiful Dreamer

Twas the night before cub scout day camp
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even the mom who had to volunteer the next day

The lunches were packed and the sunscreen set out
In hopes that the sun would actually show its face
The dog was asleep at the top of the stairs
How do I know this?
Well, she snores.

Then what to my sleepy ears did I hear?
It was "Beautiful Dreamer", some old fashioned song that my mom chose for my doorbell chimes
Now, I'm not usually scared when my hubby's away
But this was different, I sure can say
It was one in the morning and I don't know how to shoot a gun
So I grabbed the next best weapon...my phone.
I tiptoed to Jantzen's room to check
If I could see anything, but no. AW Heck!
I stood and watched and waited and waited
Disturbances in the night I decided I hated
So what did I do, you must want to know
Back to bed I quickly did go.

School's Out! Yeah! (I think)

So yesterday was the last day of school. Woohoo for the kids! Already I have the brain melt that happens during the summer. You know, where you forget what day it is and you can't seem to remember to take the kids to where they need to go? Keaton got out of school at 12:30 yesterday. At 3 he was supposed to have a guitar rehearsal for his upcoming performance. We totally forgot about it, and went to the movies instead. Two and a half hours!! That's all it took me to become a total summer flake. But I must be totally honest. This condition began last week. Because we forgot his guitar lesson last Friday, too. Yeah, his guitar teacher is LOVING me right now. Now if you'll excuse me while I go buy him something.