Our Camping Trip

Well, we have officially broken in the camper. We made it out of town at about 10 am on Friday morning for a weekend full of what we hoped would be fun. I have to admit that I was very worried about being in such tight quarters with all of the kids and really no where to go except out into unpredictable weather. By the time we actually arrived at "camp" to set everything up, we had been in and out of the car for six hours. The kids all behaved very well. I finally met one of Grady's coworkers that I actually knew from way back when...before high school. Our friends from Ten Sleep came up and ate dinner with us, which made the kids' day by-the-way. And, one of them had went to school with the wife of our campmates. WOW, that was a mouth full, but all I'm trying to point out is that it is a small world.
Our first morning in the camper (travel trailer for you, Momma Rose & Sharilyn!). The kids ate cereal, Grady made bacon, and I made homemade Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls. I need to move a shelf in the oven since the bottoms became pretty hard, but I would like to see someone get those made in a campfire! Myles loved the fresh air and altitude. He ate and slept soooooo much up there. What a great camping family we have.
Saturday we headed across the way to where the family was bringing down the cows. The kids hopped on the wheeler with Nana. Yes, we had an extra with us. Talk about a car full. I ended up going down the mountain with Myles in arm to visit a doctor. I have been having some problems which I dismissed as normal, but others were worried, and therefore put some fear into my head (like I needed that!). To put minds at ease, I gave in and had it all checked out. I'm perfectly normal--or at least the ER doctor thinks so--he needs to visit MY house for a day with me and my four children....then we'd see what he'd put me on. I returned to camp on time to help Grady put the babies to bed. He and I stayed up way too late both nights playing games. It was so great to have US time with no television or children to bug in.
While I was going down to Worland, Grady headed back to camp. He got a flat tire on the road, and had to change it with FOUR children. What a man I have. Actually, he said that Fiona slept through it all; and the older three got out to see it and then climbed back in for some movie viewing. Lucky for him. So, the ole suburban has to drive around with an odd wheel....better than a donut I guess.

Sunday we packed up pretty early. It had rained all night and things were too wet for a fire and for the kids to play. We aired up the spare in Ten Sleep and then stopped for our first dump. I was so happy to see that our campmates were right ahead of us pulling into the RV park. When our turn came, I wanted to get out the camera for some pictures, but Grady though I was weird. The entire time, I was fearing the exact duplicate from the only dump I've ever seen which happened to be on RV. I was assured that that could NEVER happen, but wanted to be prepared for the funniest scrapbook page. For the sake of any embarrasement, I chose just to observe with my own eyes. It went so smoothly. I'm glad that I could put that thought out of my mind.

Once in Worland, we dropped the babies off with grandma to get the camper cleaned out and winterized. We were starving for room for the return trip. Simon had ran away at the storage units, and we were both were kind of hoping that he wouldn't return before we left. For starters, we packed too much food and had to haul tons back home in the car only. I'm glad that we put the Thule on top, but still needed more. We had to put the flat in back with the two dogs, and had food and extras packed around all of the carseats. TUNA TROMBLEYS is what you can invision.

We were preparing to winterize with the RV antifreeze. We'd purchased three gallons since the dealership said it would take two. Grady went through all of the steps that the mechanic had told him, and was pumping the antifreeze out of the gallons. He could not get it to pressure up. I was worried about the drain below, but he assured me that it would not pump antifreeze into the fresh water holding tank. He ran to the store to buy some more, and I broke out the owner's manual. I thought that we needed to have the faucets turned on while pumping. Another gallon later, and still no pink stuff came through. Grady started pumping the fifth gallon of antifreeze and ran outside to check. Sure enough, it was pumping the antifreeze right out of some valves that he was told to open. Back to the store for some more. We were finally able to accomplish our goal, but it took us EIGHT gallons of antifreeze. We arrived home at 7:30 last night to pouring rain.

This was sure a trip of laughs. I can't wait for spring so we can begin preparing for more. I think that we need to take a notebook and write down all of our funnies. I can think of more, but for my reader's sake, I'll save them for us.

I hope that you all had a great weekend too!

A Second Home

We bought a camper! I'm not quite sure what brought it on, but with the year end closeouts, we really couldn't afford to miss out. Here are a few pictures of the inside, but we haven't taken one of the exterior yet. The kitchen and dining area
Macy & Stuart's bunk beds
The bedroom area
The front door and couch

We loved this one because it has five beds, enough for everyone's own beds. We figured it would be better to have some space and ENJOY the camping vs. being cramped and grumpy. We're headed to the Big Horn Mountains to camp this weekend and then will store it for the winter. Just had to share the news with everyone. I better go tend to some diapers.

Stu's Words & One Crafty Momma

Here's some pictures of a few craft pumpkins that I made this week. These are left over posts from the bed making process in Washington. I have a few more to try snowmen and fireworks for their respetive holidays. I had to post this just for Sandy, so I hope you like them. I made the signs last fall with my lovely Cricut which I have missed dearly. I'm going to get it out this week though! And a closer view of the pumpkins. They were spray painted and then the kids and I put on some brown paint for the older look. I curled some black wire around a pencil, and rounded up some cut branches from the shrub we removed earlier this summer. I then sprayed a weather sealer on them and have a few on the porch. I'm pretty happy with the way that they turned out....it's one vision that worked for me.

On Sunday morning, Stuart did not finish eating his cereal. I told him that he would not get any snacks at Church if he didn't get back up to the table to finish it. He looked at me and then said, "How can you say that I won't get any snacks. We get samples of bread and water and then in my class, I get snacks?" I guess that threat will not be a viable one anymore.

Yesterday he came in from playing in the sandbox. It was a bit breezy out, and he gave us this story. "Jesus just warned me. He talked to me and told me that a storm was coming in so that I could stop throwing sand with the rake into the air so that it wouldn't get into my eyes. He was talking very quietly." To which I responded, "That's what we call the still small voice." Which in turn prompted Macy to start singing, "Listen to the still small voice, listen, listen, when you have to make a choice...", all day long. (I can't get her to sing it in primary though).

The whole talk yesterday came about from Macy having to remember some lines for the program at the end of the month. One line is: He can warn us. I explained to Stuart that a warning would be like the decision to stop throwing sand when the wind was blowing outside to keep it from getting in his eyes. This was last week that we talked about it. YES, they do listen.

That's it for now, I've gotta go get something accomplished today.

Weekend Warriors!

We spent this weekend at home preparing for winter by finalizing some of our "projects". Grady has been working on leveling a spot for the trampoline for sometime now. It seems like everytime he had time to go out to work on it, it was almost 100 degrees out. Never fail, it was pretty warm again this weekend, but he was able to get it completed. I kept changing my ideas on the ordeal which is what spread it out so much, but I am very happy with the end result. We put a sandbox under the trampoline with some pavers for a shady place to play. The only err on that part is that Fiona is the perfect size to walk under the trampoline right now. We have to make sure no one is on top when she is running loose. She loves to get on the trampoline, but hates it when someone is jumping. Here she is throwing a terrible screaming fit because Stu would not stop jumping. We also had to organize the garage. We've been bringing things (mostly baby) from Worland and just stock piling them up. The garage door guys were here today to replace the doors, so we had to make room inside for them to work. I'm so happy that we've tackled that project. Now we will have room for our crafty projects and the suburban (maybe another vehicle someday too!) We're gearing up for a yard sale to rid the garage of some baby girl clothes, so if you know anyone that needs 'em, let me know.And, what is a post without a current picture of Myles? Here's our sleepy head this afternoon. He's had a few bouts of hours of awake time, and I think that today is his way of cathing up on some zzzz's.
The kids were able to have a little fun this weekend. We found some ducks in a yard and pulled over to feed them out of the car windows. It was a fun time, but I think that we better plan a safer area next time. And, after the backyard was finished, they had a slumber party on it. Fiona, Myles and mommy stayed in and the big kids took a snooze out there. I was not expecting them to finish the entire night out there, but I took this picture at six the next morning. Macy does have a few bites to show for it too, but they had a great time. They also went to the movie yesterday. I'm glad that they have such a wondeful daddy to take them to do these things.
That's an update from the state with the most wildfires (smelled them again last night). I hope to hear from everyone on their happenings soon too! Have a wondeful week!