June Through July! My, Does Time Ever Fly!

June started off with me already up at girl's camp!  This year I was asked to help with camp by serving as a stake first level specialist.  It was a great learning experience!  And as usual, it was great to get home.... and get some sleep! 

Camping in Missouri is so different than what I grew up knowing to be camping.  First, there isn't any green grass where I've camped... and especially, there is no such thing as mowed grass!!  Even though it isn't rugged, surrounded by evergreens, with the air lacking in oxygen, it is really pretty!  The girls opted to try cooking turkeys in our reflector ovens, and everyone cooked biscuits and muffins in the reflector oven boxes next to the fire. 

I had wonderful youth leaders who managed everything sooo well!! 

It was a wonderful experience!

All work and no play makes Jane a dull girl.  It also makes Jack rather boring too.  One Monday evening in June, we packed up hambugers and ran up to Nine Eagles on an impulse.  It was a good impulse and we had a great time!  The burgers were great, the water was fun, and the sunlight was perfect for pictures!



By the end of June we managed to complete the downstairs bathroom in our Nebraska house.  Just in time to show it of to my parents, and Grandma!  We hadn't seen Grandma in six years and this was Gracie Anne's first time meeting her.  After she warmed up she had so much fun talking to Grandma and showing her all of her toys!



This is a bloom from the old rose bush next to the front yard gate.  They do have some charm to them!!



Here is a shot from the gate up the road.  Tim is getting the mail.  Our wonderful neighbors, Ruth Ann and BW are so sweet to think of us and mow the strip of grass next to the road!



While the Grandparents and Great Grandma were here to visit, we squeezed in a quick trip to Nauvoo.  It was a beautiful day along the Mississippi!

We also had an amazing experience to rescue this little puppy from off the middle of the highway.  He was starving to death and couldn't stand for more than a few seconds at a time.

We cleaned him up, fed him and named him Gilligan.



However, within two weeks it became apparent that Gracie Anne was not yet ready to be a dog owner.  A strange "sibling rivalry" came to be and the two were at each other constantly.



A friend of ours helped us find a new adoptive home.  She places rescued and abandoned animals.  She interviewed lots of people and we decided that a young couple who lives 1/2 mile from a dog park would be the best dog owners ever!

So we all cried, said our goodbyes and sent our Gilligan on his way.  We were told that the first meeting was beautiful.  He ran right up to his new mama and crawled up into her arms.  We miss him terribly, but we just know that Gilligan is in good hands and is being loved and spoiled rotten! 

Bushy Bushy Blonde Hair-do

Choosing music to run to has been a lot harder than I imagined!  Is it because I'm getting older?  Or am I just a lot more cranky when I run than I used to be forever ago, and it takes a real special kind of song to take my mind off of being cranky?  As far as types of music go, I think I could be considered somewhat eclectic, the nice way of saying wierd, in my music choices.  I am finding, however, that some well loved songs really make me aware of and impatient with my murmmering muscles, or maybe the music isn't crazy enough to drown out my jiggly Christmas Cheer singing Joy to the World as a plod along on my very merry way?  As I ran, I tried to figure out the rhyme and reason behind what music worked, and what didn't.  Some of what kept me pumped up and moving was pretty obvious why, but others that kept me going were suprising and started my wheels churning on what it was that kept me going!  Whatever magic was in some of that music, it took me from yesterdays 1.5 mile run to todays forty minute 3 mile run.  It was a good run!  It was a very slow run, but, I did happen beat my shadow today - just barely!

Still, ABBA just doesn't cut it for me, and I love some of their music.  What has worked is Crazy Frog's Axel F, compliments of my children who pressured me into that one.  Speaking of pressure, Queen's Under Pressure RAH Mix really gets me moving too!  Cheryl Crowe's Real Gone song is another fabulous one!  MC Hammer Can't Touch This!  That one takes me down memory lane in a powder blue VW Bug with Carrie.  We were in high school, in the land of perpetual summer (I can say that because I've survived six Missouri Winters and I really never knew what cold was until now)!  Here is a shocker, though.  Toad the Wet Sprocket, REM, and Hootie have been fired!  But the Beach Boys?  Both California Dreamin' and Surfin' USA! 

(San Diego, Tara and Me on Christmas Eve)

The only thing I can figure on those is that they appeal to a very distant place inside me, where the days were warm, the sand was even more warm, the air smelled of salty ocean water and coconut flavored suntan oil, and grapes never tasted better, or more sandy! 

Me, Lara, Carrie & Michelle - Santa Barbara



And the bushy, bushy blonde hair-do?  Well, I had a few of those too! 



Just love those days of big bangs!!


Where ever the power of those two songs come from, I may never figure out.  However, I figure if I have 12 'power' songs, I should have more than enough to get me through a 5K at my snails pace!  Any ideas are greatly appreciated!! :)

Wondering if I should go perm my short locks and go for the bushy hair-do again...

Temple Run

I was talking to Jenae the other day about cub scout things when she asked me if I was planning on running in the Temple Run.  Huh? I asked.  So she told me all about it.  I told her I wasn't sure if I would be ready for the run.  During apple season I pulled a muscle in my calf (I thought it was an awful cramp and that I would be sore for several days but since the pain lasted closer to six weeks before it started to go away, I figured I pulled it) and I hadn't run since.  Besides, I am still packing five pounds of Christmas cheer and five pounds of harvest bounty. 

After I gave her my pathetic excuses, she told me that she would walk with me if I wanted to go.  Awwww!  She is such a sweetheart!  I know full well she can run it under 30 minutes and I'm not going to be responsible for holding her back.  If this isn't her first 5K (I know she was hoping to run in a couple last year), then it is still some of her firsts and I don't want to spoil that.  Hence, the dust was removed from the treadmill, the mp3 player charged up and the running shoes warmed up.

Photo is taken from http://kcldstemple.blogspot.com/

The Temple Run is slated for April 30th.  So I searched and printed of a workout plan for Couch 2 5k in six weeks (instead of the original nine!) and got to work.  That didn't last long.  After the initial soreness dissipated, I bagged the plan and ran to see if I could make it a mile without stopping.  Amazingly, yes, I could.  After that mile I ran sprints and walked in between to recover.  Today I did the same, but managed another 1/2 mile after some sprints (compliments of a rambunctious song my boys talked me into downloading - Crazy Frog Axel F).  Tired!  Sore - yes, still in places.  For the most part, surprised!  I guess I imagined starting over would be going back to the beginning of my running endeavors!  And I certainly deserve that!  I would have to say that I'm relieved that this run is a little more within my reach than I realized and I'm excited about that!  I still have a lot of hard work ahead of me!

Pruning, Some More...

It is that time of the year again, where we all try to prune as much as we can and hope that what we actually get done will be enough!  This last week we made pretty decent progress in the Avery Section, our youngest bunch of trees.

 And as it goes with most mechanical type thingies on this farm, they don't usually like to start up when you need them.

So while the Apple Farmer worked on Snappy - our pruning thingy -  I tooke a picture of Taffy digging for rodent type critters.  Don't worry, I didn't take a picture of her eating them....

And before too long -

I found myself on the top of the orchard looking down on creation...

(oooh, the literary technique of allusion...  my kids will be so proud)

Our Merry Christmas Trip

How can six people (our family!) be so blessed!!  This trip to CA was more fulfilling in more ways than I can possibly put into words.  We loved every minute of it (except for the puking parts - darn flu - oh!  and except for the part when my camera disappeared with our train pictures and Avery's baptism pictures).

We met the most wonderful people on the train.  Martina, her brother Anthony and their little sister, Holly, got on the train in Provo.  What a wonderful visit we enjoyed!  And Gracie Anne met a little girl after her own heart - a busy body who loves to go vertical too!

These pictures are from the Christmas Eve progressive dinner that we had on the 23rd, instead of the 24th.  What a joy to be surrounded by wonderful family.  I stole a moment to just listen to the sounds of laughter and conversation that surrounded me.  It felt wonderful to hear the noises of family!

Moments before the large gathering of boys took down cousin Kory!



Uncle Dave and Avery Michael discussing the meaning of life...  Well, probably not, but it looks serious.  My guess is Uncle Dave is trying to talk Avery out of his Christmas present from Aunt Dana.  What Uncle Dave doesn't realize is that Aunt Dana gave Avery a gift bag full of NOTHING!  But Avery isn't going to let him know about this before they agree on a deal.

Charlotte and Gracie Anne, with mouthfulls of candy from the pinata!

Gracie Anne could hardly wait to meet Charlotte and Louisa.  She had only seen pictures of her cousins from the computer.  She was very shy and didn't get much playing in, but we did manage to capture this moment of the two together!  

From Charlotte, Gracie Anne earned the nick name "Pony Tails."  Charlotte, at one point in the evening, Charlotte informed her Aunt Shelly that she wanted to go and "see Pony Tails over there."  Charlotte didn't know Grace's name yet so she came up with her own!!  Hilarious moment! 

Vaughn showing us how the Italian Sodas are made.

Next day, Aunt Dana treated the boys for their birthdays!  It was so fun that everyone got to join up!  We went to John's Incredible Pizza Experience in Roseville.  What a place!  As you can see, the kids had some fun!  They all went in and got two lava lamps with their tickets.  One for Missouri and one for California.

Gracie Anne won herself these glasses!

Not included are pictures of all of our visits with family and friends!  It was such a treat to spend the time we did with them all and how we miss everyone so terribly already.

Our trip back home was uneventful.  It was hard to say goodbye.

We enjoyed the scenery and kept ourselves entertained.  

No one knows it, but Callan has hacked into the train's operating system and he is the one who is really driving the train!

A fun and challenging round of Rush Hour.

Deep thoughts.....



Some serious coloring!  THANKS to Aunt Dana for the wonderful colorbooks, games and play-doh!



After 3 1/2 weeks, we once again found ourselves back home.  This time full of wonderful memories and good times that we enjoy talking about daily!