Blueberries - - -

The other day, we went and picked blueberries.

I'd like to say the kiddos helped a lot in filling the container with the different kinds of berries, even though they picked a lot, not too many made it home. ;)

We'd never picked blueberries, and spent a lot of the day just snacking on them. I decided that we'd have blueberry pancakes for dinner.

Something happens to the mild flavor of fresh blueberries when they're added to pancakes . . .

magical sweetness that everyone in the family enjoyed, even though it was dinnertime ;)

To the beach!

Tuesday,

we loaded up our gear and headed to topsail island.

We played in the sand -

rested under any shade we could -

gave Herman his first experience with unlimited sand and surf -

enjoyed taking turns on the waves -

and got pretty covered by sand and sun. Actually, really covered by the sun, maybe someday we'll figure out the art of re-applying sunscreen, until then we'll peal off the consequences, and enjoy longer memories of the beach ;)

Gone climbin'

The other day, our neighbors stopped by, inviting us to an event in the neighborhood put on by their church that was for the whole family. We were a little late getting there, but had fun once we did, trying out their rock wall. A first for all of us, it was a lot of fun, and everyone did great.

I loved how Benjamin and Lily could make it up the wall so well. They were both a little worried about the height factor, check out that reach.

I just had to point out that the middle was the "hard" part. I think I could get into rock climbing, as long as safety equipment was heavily involved. I made it to the top and rang the bell, and only after getting back on the ground noticed that my fingers were sore. I wasn't expecting finger pain.

I think Jeff broke the day's record up the wall in 24 seconds. He still remembers that over a week after, kind of funny eh? Way to go Jeff!

They had popsicles, and not just any popsicles, locopops! The kiddos love locopops, so it was an added bonus they were included in the activity. Thanks for the invite!

Running is fun

Some of you may have noticed a little graph at the bottom or our blog. A while back (81 weeks or a year and a half ago) I set a goal for myself to run one day for each month that I have been alive. This week I surpassed that goal. It has been fun, I have enjoyed my time running. Sometimes I have gone with Kathleen, sometimes I have gone with Benjamin (on his roller blades), sometimes I have gone with the girls in the stroller. I have run a lot recently with Herman. A few times I have run with Benjamin in roller blades on the left, the girls in the stroller in front and Herman running to my right. Mostly, however, I have gone by myself. My favorites were the long runs up to Umstead, and getting to the end of the road right as the sun came up. So, since I am a scientist and I like graphs, here is my "data":



The graph at the bottom is now for my new goal. You can look at it if you want. It will take a little longer. I think it is funny that I enjoy running now, I remember not wanting to do it when I was younger. Things change.

Big-girl bed.

Before leaving for Oregon, Lindsay let me know that she had a little bed that we could have, and would work great for our Grace. So, last week I was finally ready to have her graduate from her crib to her big-girl-bed.

She has really taken to her new bed, and feels like such a big girl. Thanks Lindsay!

Sick day at the "beach"

The other day, the kiddos had the strange 24-hour-fever-with-irritability-following sickness thing. Seeing as we couldn't go away from home, I thought we'd bring the "beach" to us.

Can you hear Lily saying, "He got water on me" and Benjamin thinking, "oh yeah, that was awesome!"

See, all they needed was approximately four inches of water, some sun, and time together to forget they weren't feeling well for a little while.

Gardening adventures.

Here are some of the "fruits of our labor" this year. We harvested the potatoes, beats, and most of the kholrabi, and have replanted there. We also planted some black-eyed-peas this year, and started harvesting them. I don't think we have enough for a meal yet, but we'll keep collecting. I love the different types of tomatoes, each with their own texture and flavor. For the record, the small orange ones called sungold are my favorite, but they never last very long after ripening; they're generally eaten off the vine.

4th of July fun

We had some friends over from the ward, and had a lot of good fun and food.

This is Thomas. I was trying to get some pictures of everyone, and he's a lot faster than he looks . . .

This is what happened to my dinner, and so I filled a new plate. No worries, but it was kind of funny.

Herman spent time inside while everyone was eating, but managed to find a hotdog on the grass when everyone was done. Let's just say we shouldn't have let him eat it, people food does not sit well with Herman's tummy!

We had two varieties of frozen treats: Lime yogurt, provided by Juli, and "blackberry sledge" provided by me. Apparently, I didn't use enough salt with the ice, and even though it had been going three hours by the time we ate it, the custard was not completely set. No one seemed to mind though, and both were quite tasty.

There was a football being thrown around for a while, and then an intense game of boccie, okay, so maybe it wasn't intense at all, but it was lots of fun to play and watch. I love how the boys of all ages wanted to play together.

We didn't wait until dark for sparklers, but we did have them and some pop-its. They were in awe of the flames at their fingertips. Giving little ones fire to play with, probably not the smartest, but we just did it until someone grabbed the flame, then we were done. Thanks to everyone who came and made it a party!

After the festivities at our house, we headed over to the ball park. After the seventh inning, you could just walk in and find a spot. Some families were nice to move a bit on their own so we could sit together and enjoy the fireworks. They spanned three whole songs, and even though Grace was a little bit scared at first, we all enjoyed them.

Hoofing it back to our car, after a full day of celebrating the freedoms we enjoy, and the land we live in. Happy birthday America!

Blackberries!

Last Thursday, we went and picked some blackberries for the fourth, and to eat and freeze. Juli Paxton and her girls came with us, and it was fun to see the little ones picking, and eating as we went. Grace mostly ate, but we were all amazed at the size of the berries, quite impressive! Thanks for the idea Juli ;)

Raingutter Rigatta

The cub scouts had a race using rain gutters and little boats that they made within five minutes on the spot. I think this was a pure measure of the cub scouts' skill, there wasn't a lot that could be done to improve the boats, it was all about technique. I thought it was a fun event, and nice that almost all the boys won at least one match. Benjamin got to be in the finals, which was great. I think the boy who won was one of the youngest in the troop, with the best technique, he didn't blow in the sail, but on the water behind his boat. . . something to remember for next year;)

The leaders were nice enough to let the girls make their own boats too, even though they didn't get to race them. They were so proud.

While Jeff was away . . .

We spent time at the museum -

pool -

and took in "music on the lawn."

This time it was a blue-grassy group, and we enjoyed a scrumptious picnic and fun.

a moment . . .

Tonight, during family home evening, Grace was laying across Lily's lap, sucking her thumb and enjoying her big sister's attention. Just one of those moments that I'd like to freeze, even when Grace's finger moved from her mouth to hunt in her nose, and elicited an "ew, ew, ew" from Momma, they were still pretty cute. I love the fact that they have sister moments, the sweet kind.

Rafting the Chattooga River

Well, as Kathleen stated, as soon as she and the kids got home I was off on the high adventure camp with the young men. This year they were going to the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Our first day was spent doing the high ropes course. I got to stay with the boys and help belay them as they did the 20 and 40 foot high courses. In the end I got to do the free will drop-a 40 foot drop. If I can get the video that the young men have running around I will post it here.

After doing the ropes course, I took a few of the boys to hike on the Appalachian trail. I figured that since I was here I had to take a little time to go on it. I was pretty impressed, I thought it was beautiful.

As you can see, the trail was beautiful. I would really like to do an extended hike on it. We will see what ends up happening in the future. Ironically, as I was on the trail, it was the same day that the Governor of South Carolina was apparently there too. I didn't see him (probably because he was in Argentina, but I digress).

I took some time to fish on the beautiful river there. It was just gorgeous. I didn't catch anything, but it was well worth the time I spent there. The accommodations at the NOC were really nice, I was very impressed. After the trip was over, as we drove home, we stopped at Sliding Rock. It is this beautiful flat rock, that has the river running down it. You could slide down and splash into the pool at the bottom (8 feet deep). It was a great way to wake me up for the rest of the 6 hour drive home. This collage shows the river that I fished on, the boys right before getting in the rafts, the sliding at sliding rock, and the bunk house that I stayed in at NOC.

The next day we left for the rafting trip on the Chattooga river. The Chattooga is the border between Georgia and South Carolina. It is the river portrayed in the '70s film Deliverance (which I have never seen). We had an awesome guide, who informed us he had never flipped a commercial boat on the river. As you can see, we were his first.
I made it a point to give each of the boys a nick name on the trip. I earned my nickname from the boys on this rapid. After I fell down and knocked T-Bar (nickname, not real name) out of the raft, he named me "The Overwhelming Force of Kapow". The best part about the nickname was showing up to church and being called Kapow.

It was an awesome trip and I was glad that I got to go.

A little more fun . . .

One evening, Jared and I played on the Wii fit. My favorite option is the hula hoop. No matter how much you might try not to, you just look funny, and it's great. Jared really "worked it."

We spent some time up in the cherry trees, trying to get the ripe ones before the birds. We also got to chuck the rotten ones at each other, so that's always fun. The cherries were just so pretty!

I love spending time with my family, and having great conversations with my mom and dad. I even went through and minimized boxes from my youth, and got to walk down memory lane. I loved just spending time in the moments. We just kept doing, and I thought I was doing pretty well, right up until it was time to say goodbye, and I didn't want to let go. Sure love you!

Jeff had gone home a week before we did. He needed to get back to work, and we talked with him everyday, but we were all excited to get home and have our little family back together again. I'd never flown with all three without help, but they really did pretty well, even with the long delay, and jumble in Minneapolis :(

Benjamin and Goose loved watching the planes. I like to think they were thinking about all the wonderful adventures we had, and of Daddy waiting for us at home. I came to realize that Home is where we're all together, no matter where that happens to be. I was definitely ready to see my Jeffery again. We were all together for about 12 hours before he went on the high adventure camp with the young men (which I'm sure he'll tell about soon!), and Benjamin was a bit distraught about wanting our family to be all back together again. I'm thankful we are now!

Open House

This is one of my favorite pictures from setting up for the open house. Jared had been helping out with moving heavy doors, stumps, tables and chairs around for quite a while. There were a few down moments when we were deciding where to put things, and looked over and he was genuinely asleep.

This picture doesn't quite capture the awesome classiness of the open house, but it gives you a glimpse. The ambiance was magical . . . very nice!

I love that Grace and Veral, the oldest son of my cousin Stephen who are only days apart, had a chance to play together! I think they were both enthralled with the horse trailer we used to bring all the decorations in.

The night was just getting started, and they had a great turn out.

I love the look on Megan's face, and the screen that we retro-fitted with pictures. I so want to make one!

Time . . .

I think we made it home at one of the most perfect times of year: Raspberry, strawberry, pea new potato and cherry season! So, there were more things on, too, but those are the highlights, and we enjoyed harvesting with those who were able to be home when we were.

Can you guess the type of fruit in Nanna's hand? Those, my friends, are raspberries, HUGE raspberries! The kiddos and I were out for a bit, and Grace had down pat how to eat as many as she could find. We did actually bring some in though, and Nanna put them to good use in a yummy smoothy ;)

As I mentioned before, Joseph and Megan's colors were black, white, and candy apple green. What better dessert to compliment the theme, than apple pie? The weather was perfect for baking, too, in the seventies most days, so bake we did! Nanna was responsible for most of the 40, yes 40 pies taken to the reception, and I helped with the mint brownies from Bishop Alan Peterson (thanks for letting us use and slightly modify it by the way). Soooooo good, but testing them was probably a big part of why I feel like I need to find a race or something? . . .

Nanna hard at work, it's amazing how fast and beautiful she can turn out pies, and did I mention tasty? Yes, they were great!

While the weather was great for baking, there were only a couple days that made us want to get in the pool to cool off. Jeff got in with the girls on a day that was a bit warm, but I don't know if you can tell by their faces, the water wasn't necessarily. Jeff was a good sport about getting in with them though before he had to get back to work while we stayed and had fun with the family!

Eagle's nest

Spencer finished his Eagle project before we were all out, so we got to be at his court of honor. It was fun to see the boys in their Eagle splendor, and we all sang, "America the Beautiful" together. Way to go Spencer!

If you look closely at this picture, you'll notice there are two people missing: Joseph and Megan, but we understand, they did just get married two days beforehand!

I loved seeing Nanna and Grandy with all the grandbabies. Pure Joy.