a much needed break and some big steps

1. We headed down to Moab, for some much needed QT. It's been a long summer/fall of refinishing the outside of our house on top of a busy season for the business, so there hasn't been much fun had in this house for a while. Some might even use the word 'neglect' when describing the care of our children. Adam, miraculously, had a few days open in the books, so I set down the paintbrush, packed up our sandals, and off we went.

We had so much fun! We went for a ride in the Ranger, chased lizards, hiked to Delicate arch, went on a bike ride, played mini golf, went swimming, chased more lizards, tried to explain why we can't live in Moab to Isaac (for the 10th time), and why that doesn't mean that other people shouldn't be allowed to, did another hike, finally caught a lizard, and celebrated Elise's first birthday!

Like I said, it was a welcomed break from a lot of work. The only bummer was that Elise woke up sick on her birthday... oh, and that the time went by too quickly, but we were grateful for the chance to have some fun together.

Game: Find the commonality in the first four pictures.

Give up? Luke... and his rock.

Oh look, another rock.

Elise loved the ride in the Ranger.

The lizard!

Elise loved the sand!

The boys loved the big sand hill on our way out.

2. Today, at church, Elise took her first steps! I was in the middle of my lesson and some kids in my class got her to walk to them. It was actually quite cute to see how excited they all were with her big accomplishment. Unfortunately, Adam was on his way to Canada, so he missed out on the fun.

3. As I just mentioned, Adam is on his way to Canada for a moose hunt. He will be gone for over a week -unless he ends up taking one earlier (fingers crossed). We're already sorta kinda missing him. Isaac was pretty emotional all morning because he missed his dad. When he was talking to Adam this afternoon I overheard him say, "I love this family. I love you and mommy because you plan fun stuff for us. I really love you daddy." Now, if that doesn't just melt your heart.

4. I had a flashback to my childhood as I overheard a conversation that Isaac and Luke were having. They were looking at a toy catalog and talking about all the toys they wanted, as they often do. Here is their conversation:

Luke: "This is a baby toy."

Isaac: "I think it looks fun."

Luke: "Yeah, it's cool."

Luke: "Oooo! Is this really cool?"

Isaac: "Dumb."

Luke: "Yeah, I think it's dumb."

Luke: "Is this dumb?"

So, my older sister Steph, who I oh-so looked up to, would always mess with my pathetic, insecure little self. She would say something like, "Oh, I LOVE this." So, of course, I would voice my love for said thing, only to have her retract her love and replace it with disdain, which would leave me no choice but to do the same. And, although Isaac wasn't intentionally setting Luke up, it had me laughing.

5. The painting is done! Thanks to the selfless service of family members, the painting on the house is done! I did about half of it myself, but thankfully we have an amazing family, who jumped in and helped finish the rest... I wouldn't have been able to finish it before it got too cold, otherwise. Painting (and calking!) an entire house? So not fun! I would like to give a special shout out to Carol, Jon, Adrianna, Lynn, Maddy, Ifti, Dani, Katie, and Chris for all of their help! And, let's not forget Jer, Wes, Jon, and Matt, who helped us get the fun started! Once the soffit (sp?) and facea (sp?) is finished, I will post some pictures.

Some pictures:

What is this, you ask? Well, isn't it obvious? It's a fireman with his oxygen tank, breathing devise, and water hose.

And now, here's three fireman.

This was the boy's summer project: Nailing scraps of wood from our house project onto the stumps in the chicken pen. It evolved into something new on a daily basis. And, although Adam wasn't too happy about the constant disappearance of his hammers and nails, I enjoyed the countless hours that it kept them busy (Remember what I said? Neglect).

Any reason for concern? BTW, those are not my 'nude' colored pantyhose. I bought them to store onions in... yes, onions.

Yet, another item that quickly disappears from Adam's garage - latex gloves.

Luke was quite excited about the size of this potato from our garden, so he insisted on a picture.