lake powell

we took our vacation this year to lake powell, and stayed on the shore with the houseboat just across the way. it is the best of both worlds. you can camp on the shore, and see stars like you will never encounter in the city. but you also have the comforts of having a stove and microwave, electricity, and a toilet (though you are supposed to pee in the lake, so the hold only has to be emptied once!!). we got to play in the sand, wade and swim in the water, and just relax. the more adventurous of us went water skiing, wakeboarding, and tubing. even colby went cliff jumping, which is amazing!! he didn't want to at first, but daddy called him a pansy enough that he just walked off the edge. and loved it!! go figure..
nathan got to drive the speedboat several times. it was second nature to him, and he thoroughly enjoyed sitting high in the seat with the wind blowing past him. i think he looks pretty happy in this picture!!




rebekah absolutely loved anything that was scary or dangerous. what a nut. she is not a daughter after me, but just like nathan!!
and here is travis, he is the coach at kris's kids school, meridian. we needed another man to help anchor the houseboat, and do all the other manly jobs. he graciously agreed to come on vacation with us. who could pass up a week on a houseboat??
there were many interesting experiences, but the one that keeps coming to mind is in the middle of week, when we needed to move the houseboat. nathan, josh, collin, rachel and i took the speedboat out to scout a good spot to bring the houseboat to. we went up and down the coves, dissappointed in what we were finding. we went down one, around twists and turns not seeing another soul the whole time. before we left, dave told nathan there was half a tank of gas, so we didn't really pay attention to the gage. we reached the end of the cove, and turned around to come back out. the boat sputtered, and stopped. we were out of gas completely!! we hadn't passed another person, and were way out of cell phone reception zones, and had no radio on the boat. we were completely at the mercy of the water, and had no way to help ourselves. josh and nathan got out the trusty oars, thinking we could paddle back by morning. the current and the wind made that impossible as well. we just went in a circle. i guess i didn't really understand the dire situation, or i knew something would happen to help us. either way, the others were getting a little nervous, when around the corner came a boat!! and not only another person, but a person with 3 containers filled with gas strapped to the front of the boat!! it was the answer to our unspoken prayers. the man wouldn't accept payment, and just told us to help another if the chance arose. we were so grateful!! now we didn't have to suffer through the night with rachel screaming, and being hungry and thirsty. we zoomed out of there as quickly as the boat would go. we have never been so grateful to see our families and houseboat in our lives!! nor do i think we ever will again.
other than this little experience, we had a wonderful vacation!! we celebrated caleb's 4th birthday, and rachel built sandcastles. it was great.

crazy painful days

ok, so i don't have pictures, i was too frazzled to get any!! we have had a very fun and enjoyable couple weeks. nathan's brothers and sisters and their families were here, minus 2 hubbys and a son. it was a little crazy at night trying to put 17 kids to sleep in the living room, but i think they all had a blast and made some good memories. everyone had gone home by sunday, except for aaron and his family. we decided we would each get a night out without the kiddos by trading. we stayed home with them on monday night, and they stayed home with ours on tuesday night. everything was going well, with no major injuries so far. until around 530 tues night. that is when we got a phone call from aj asking if we were on our way home yet. we were, so she told us we would need to take rachel in to get stitches. the story was unclear then, but since, we have figured it out. rebekah carries rachel around like a little dolly, and this time, she put her down on the air mattress in the living room. rachel walked across it, and lost her footing, flying headfirst into the corner of the fireplace. so she had a 2 inch long gash that bled a lot, as all head wounds do. it didn't stop her or even slow her down though. after giving her some tylenol, we took her to the er. she ran up and down the hallways, into other rooms, and basically made a nuisance of herself very well. finally, the doctors came in and gave her an iv line to administer concious sedation to do the procedure. if you can imagine our little tiny girl fighting with all she was worth, and 4 of us trying to hold her down enough to get the iv needle in without blowing a vein. it was a little crazy. finally, the doctor came in and did the actual procedure while she was staring at the wall off in lala land. she ended up with 2 sets of stitches, one at the base of the gash, which was a half inch wide, and the other at the top to close it. then steri strips over that, and gauze and a bandaid over that. all because she fell while playing with rebekah!
then, she had been whiney and irritable, but who could blame her after that. the next day, she woke up with a goopy eye and runny nose. i didn't know if it was because of the injury, or something else entirely. i took her to see her doctor yesterday, and he found that she had ear and sinus infections, on top of an eye infection!! no wonder she hasn't been her normal happy self!! so now she is on antibiotics, pain meds, eye drops and cold meds. poor girl. here's to a normal, non-injury, 4th of july weekend!!

we love grandpa and doggies

rachel was sitting under the table playing with natalie's dog, ruby. when i looked under there, this is what i found. she was grinning and giggling, and playing with the poor dog's nipples!!
she thought it was great fun, but i don't think ruby agreed! she didn't nip at her though, for which i was proud!!

then, grandpa picked up rachel, and snuggled her right up to him. she loves that grandpa so much. when we walk out to their house, she gets so excited and runs over to hug grandpa who is sitting on the floor with his arms outstretched for her. he gives her soda and treats too, she loves him!!

rebekah had picture day for her last day of dance practice. it was very exciting, she looked gorgeous!! tonight is her recital, hopefully she will remember what she worked on, and make us proud!!

and here is rachel munching on an apple. she doesn't like it when you cut it up for her. give her the whole thing, and she will be happy to take bites herself. silly girl!!

zoo fun and silly kids

we went to the zoo this week. nathan's 2 brothers and 2 sisters and their families were here, so we decided to do something fun. it wasn't too hot, so it was actually bearable. it was overcast, and humid, but now there is a new water attraction that broke it up nicely.
here i am with the giraffes, and nathan walking with rebekah.




before you even enter the actual zoo area, there is a statue of a monkey that nathan likes to sit next to and pose. he is very funny.

and here is rachel sitting in a box lid. she does very silly and cute things.

caleb has finally decided he likes rachel enough to hold her hand. now he'll run up, grab her hand, and say, take a picture mom!! he is a funny kid!!

too much fun!!

wow, where do i start?? we have had quite the time the last few weeks!


first, it was rachel's 1st birthday!! june 10, can you believe it? i still can't. i feel like this year has gone by in a whirlwind of waiting and uncertainty! it's insane to me that time just keeps on every year. nuts.















then my sister's friend is one of the directors of the phoenix children's museum, and she offered to get us in for free! who could pass that up?? so we went on friday to see what it was all about. can i just say, i had no idea really what to expect, but it was AWESOME!!! there was actually something new and exciting every time you turned around! not even kidding! the kids had a blast. here are some pics. caleb is racing cars in one of the areas, and the boys loved it there.















there was a pretend carwash the kids could ride trikes through, and i got a cool shot of the kiddos with rachel.













caleb's favorite (ok, too many to count!!) was this little display where you roll wheels down and it rocks the little pegs over, and they fall down to the next one. he did that for like 20 minutes, with rachel doing it too. it was so fun to watch!!






and caleb doing his dance of joy at the handkerchief that flew out at him!!
colby popping his head out at me








rebekah with her handkerchief of joy!
anyone need a good 24 foot box truck? we are trying to sell it :)
















here is monica holding sleeping rachel when we first got there. aren't they cute??

and the 4 little monkeys in the tub after swimming for the trillionth time today. did i mention we got out pool fixed? it is gorgeous, and so much fun!! yay!!
we have lots of cousins coming at the end of the week, so we are getting the house ready for all the chaos 20 kids brings. bring on the fun!!

bread making fool!!

ok, there's more here than just the bread making, but i am really proud of those!! :)

rachel is just cute, and i have to take lots of pictures of her doing cute things!!






when we went to costco the other day, and they had their pork products on sale for dirt cheap! we got this 3 foot pork loin, that is about 8 inches thick or so, for 13 bucks!! nathan had fun making inuendos and carrying that around. silly boy!!



and here is my bread masterpiece. marie helped me a little bit, but i did it mostly on my own. i was dang proud of myself!! i doubled the recipe, and it made 7 little loaves and 2 big ones. we made short work of the first 4, but we still have the rest. the kids absolutely love this bread, and come back for 4ths and 5ths. we put honey and butter on it, and it is so delicious!! yahoo for me!! :)

rebekah's day

i don't have any pictures, i know i'm a bad mom. today was the fathers and sons campout for our ward, and rebekah was feeling very left out and sad. so i told her that today was her day, and we could do anything she wanted, within reason of course! my sister and her kiddos were here around lunch time, so once the boys hit the road, we did too. tattie graciously offered to stay here while all the babies were napping, and rebekah and i went to see the new movie, "up". it was quite a cute and touching little story at first, then gets a little creepier and made the poor girl jump out of her skin. i kept reassuring her, it's just a movie, it will be ok. thankfully, all the other kids were whimpering with her, or i might have been embarrassed at the constant, "mom, i'm scared, what's gonna happen now??" i enjoyed the movie, and at the end she breathed a gigantic sigh of relief. then she told me, "mom, i don't know if we should get that one when it comes out, it was a little scary for the younger kids!" i burst out laughing, and said, you mean YOU?!?! what a character. (don't let that turn you off from seeing it, it really was a good flick!)
then, she wanted a lot of options for dinner, so i thought souper salad sounded like it would have all the choices, and wouldn't break the bank. after trying everyone i could think of, it looked like we were going solo. then tattie, who had just left my house, called to see where we were going, and could she come too. so it was a little crazy to have all the babies at the same table, but it was fun. and rebekah even got ice cream with sprinkles. yummy! then we went to grandma scooter's house, which they lovingly call my mom. we all played and chatted there for a few hours, until i took the exhausted kiddos home to their little beds. tomorrow we are going to pick out some new nailpolish colors and have a little painting party before the boys come home. sound like a good enough time for rebekah's special day?? i hope so!! and here i sit, pondering why i am typing instead of sleeping. hmmm..... i think i'll do that now. night y'all!