Cabin in the Woods

     Joel has been wanting to take my family to Travis and Joanna's cabin for a while. This is the same cabin where Joel and I had our honeymoon and we have gone up there was Joel's family a few times. He thought they would really enjoy it so when grandma told Joel that Lisa was coming and they were looking for something fun to do; Joel called Joanna and they graciously let us use their cabin. When Joel got a new job we were a little worried if he would be able to get the days off of work but luckily he did. In the end several of my family members were not able to go but Joel loaded up some four wheelers and we all drove up in my dad's truck with my mom, my grandma, my brother Josh, my cousin Ryder, and my aunt and all of her girls following behind us. It was a three hour drive. We had all three girls sitting next to each other in the back and there was quite a bit of fighting but we all made it there in one piece and were pretty excited. Summer slept trough almost the whole drive.

     As soon as we got there my cousin Hailey was panicking because she wasn't getting any service on her cell phone. I thought they all knew that there was no power or anything up where we were going. They were all worried about what we would do without cell service for three days. We ate lunch and then went exploring the cabin and outside. The view up there is pretty breathtaking, even with all of the trees that are burnt from the fire they had a few years ago. Joel brought several four wheelers and everyone had a great time riding those four wheelers and exploring in the woods. We made tin foil dinners and roasted marshmallows that night. The kids did some crafts, played with toys, we played a few games, and then we went to bed.

     The next morning we all woke up pretty early. Joel and I slept downstairs in one of the bedrooms and we ended up with Summer and Kyla in our bed the next morning. That bed was huge though so we barely realized they were in there. We need to get a bed like that. Annalyn ended up sleeping with grandma Sherry and Brynlee crawled in bed with grandma Verna so none of our kids actually slept in the bed we made for them when we got there. As soon as everyone ate breakfast we went off exploring. My girls found all kinds of pretty flowers and rocks. We saw some deer and a whole bunch of prairie dogs and chipmunks. We walked down to this little river and my aunt Lisa actually got service on her phone when she stood on this one particular rock. She stayed there for a while checking all of her text messages. Kyla slipped right by the water and got pretty wet so we all headed back. Later that day we ate lunch and went back to that river to try our hand at some fishing but we never did catch anything. Ryder fell in the water while we were doing that and he almost lost his shoe, luckily Joel saved it for him. He had a bad sunburn so he was in a lot of pain during most of the trip.

     After fishing we went back inside and did some more crafts, watched another movie, played some more games, and had fun talking to each other. The older kids all went on some more four wheeler rides. We went to bed that night and then woke up, ate breakfast, and cleaned everything up. Then we headed out for a better fishing spot before we went home. Of course we couldn't leave without taking a few pictures. 

The little pond we stopped at was loaded with trout and Joel and the kids caught a fish right away on their first cast. Brynlee refused to touch the fish at first but eventually warmed up to the idea. Kyla never did touch the fish and Anna didn't mind touching them at all. We released all of the fish after we caught them. Annalyn helped to catch a few more while Brynlee caught at least 6 or 7 fish. She kept messing up her rod when she was trying to reel the fish in so she would just walk backwards up the hill and drag her line out of the water. She became a pretty good little fisher by the time we left. Everyone else there also caught several fish as well. 

     Before we left for home we ate a quick lunch. Brynlee wasn't feeling well that morning and threw up on the way home. She was in grandma Sherry's car when in happened but then she felt much better and was fine the rest of the trip. She keeps begging to go back to the cabin again. It was pretty fun. I am glad we got to go and spend some time with my family.

July

      I am not ready for summer to end. We have had so much fun this last month and been crazy busy. The family reunion trip to Canada and the fourth of July celebrations were a blast. We hung out at home a little bit, we spent some time playing in the pool in the backyard and rode bikes in the front. Joel got some more sod laid in the back so it looks much better but half of our backyard still looks like a weed jungle.

The girls and I went to the library once a week for their library program. They did several sports things this year and we even got a free sno cone and pancakes on the last day. They did a big drawing for a whole bunch of prizes and Summer won one of the big toys. I almost didn't sign her up but the kids had a blast playing with the little water table/sand toy that she got. The girls and I also went to the park for playgroup once a week and I took the girls out to Melba so they could do school with their cousins twice a week.

 

     We helped to throw a baby shower for my brother's wife Heather. That was fun. We spent time playing with the little kitten aunt Lora rescued. My mom came over one day and took all of my girls to McDonalds and she took Brynlee to my sister Heather's house to get her bangs trimmed. They finally look even again. I took the kids to the movie theater where we watched Finding Dory and then we went to the park. They all liked the movie and even Kyla sat really well through the whole thing. We went to a mission farewell for Tyson who got to leave a few weeks sooner than expected for his mission to Ghana. We will miss him.

     For the last week of this month my aunt Lisa and her three girls flew in from Texas and we had a really great time hanging out with them. The stayed with my grandma but she just got called as the Relief Society president and had two funerals she had to help with that week so we came over and entertained them while she was gone. We took the kids to Jump Time and we all went out to eat one day. This was the first time we have ever been to jump time and my kids had so much fun. Joel and Brynlee and Annalyn went with my aunt and some of my family tubing down the river on the last weekend of the month. They went on a longer run and it sounds like both of my girls got a little nervous but they had fun and can't wait to do it again. Kyla and I waited for everyone to return and Kyla went on a little ride with her dad when he got back. I think that was long enough for her.

     Little Kyla has still been struggling getting to sleep at night so for a while I stopped giving her a nap. she wouldn't fall asleep in her bed anyways but that just backfired and she started taking late naps on the middle of the living room carpet. She would just lay right down and go to sleep. She was also falling asleep on every car trip and then waking up super grouchy. She is usually such a happy kid but when she wakes up from a late nap she is really cranky. Kyla's other latest thing is to pretend to be a puppy. She likes to crawl on the floor and have me play fetch and she eats things with her mouth like a dog.

Brynlee had a friend who told her that Zombies were real and then her cousin Ryder let her watch part of The Walking Dead. I made her stop watching it as soon as I saw what they were watching so she only watched 2-3 minutes of it but it had her terrified of Zombies. For a while she wouldn't leave my side and followed me wherever I went so I could protect her if a Zombie attacked. Luckily she seems to be over that phase.

     Annalyn had her speech evaluation. She was really dreading going but she had such a great time that she prayed that night that she could go again. She qualified for their services so she will start going every week soon.

     Summer is such a happy baby and is happy to just be along for the ride. We love having her in our family.

     As for Joel, well he got a new job this month. We are all pretty excited about it. He was getting pretty tired of framing and there was nowhere else for Joel to go with his old company so we were really praying about what to do when my brother Brian, who was working with Joel during the summer, got a text message about a job fair. Joel was debating if he should go or not when he ran into someone who previously worked for this company and he told Joel how it was a great company to work for and he even put in a good word for Joel. Joel applied for a job as a supervisor but since he doesn't have any experience as a supervisor they gave him what they called "a career path." They will train him and then have a talk in 30 days and then if things go well he should have a higher paying job with benefits in 90 days. So far he is learning a lot and liking what he is doing.

     Joel has also been busy working on the Suburban trying to get it fixed and he bought a little four wheeler for the kids that he painted all nice and has been working on it. He thought he had the whole thing fixed but for some reason it will only go in reverse in every gear. I am still not exactly sure how we ended up with that thing. I think Joel was just itching for some "fun" projects. Joel went to work so he could get some tools he needed to work on the list of things I needed finished and he came home with a four wheeler instead. I never did get that list finished. Then a few weeks later he said he was going to go to the bank and that he might stop by the junk yard for some parts. I told my mom that he probably just wanted to go to the junk yard and that the bank was just an excuse. He came home from the junk yard all excited about these great deals that he got. He never did make it to the bank that night.

      I have spent most of my time looking after my four little girls lately. It is time consuming and sometimes the days are long and overwhelming but for the most part I love it. I love going on adventures with them. There have been some crazy days. One day last week started out with Summer having a huge diaper blow out all over the clothes I had just put on her. This was her worst one so far and it grossed Brynlee out so much while she watched me change her that she threw up all over the bathroom floor. Then Annalyn wrote all over my couch and was just naughty the whole day. She even knocked down the bathroom mirror that I had just bought and broke it all over my bedroom carpet. Joel and I were going to take all of the kids to the rodeo but I decided that Annalyn needed to stay home so he just took Brynlee with him to the rodeo for a little date night and it sounds like they had a blast. I really do love what I am doing and I cherish these moments with my girls.