Bikes

The other day the young women went peddling around the neighborhood so Brad got his bike down from the ceiling of the garage for me (it's been there since we moved in). Since it was down I've been more inclined to use it so lately I've taken it out with the kids in the front yard and we've all ridden our bikes around together. I'm trying to get Alex more comfortable on her bike. She's a little nervous on it even with the training wheels on. I guess she's had a couple of spills that have injured her confidence. We can't go far because Johnny's on a push and go kind of bike so I usually circle around him a little until we can catch up to Alex. Yesterday however we were on our way back towards the house and in approaching the slide across the street from the house Johnny abandons his bike for the slide. I tell him to bring his bike with him since it was down the street a ways. So he runs back towards his bike and I'm watching Alex down the other side of the street. I don't hear Johnny pushing along (it's not the quietest bike) and when I look back he's carrying it down the street with one hand on the front and one on the back. The bike looked so big and he's so little so I suggest he puts it down and rides it the rest of the way. He simply shakes his head, says "no" and keeps on hauling it the rest of the way home. If only I had a camera handy, it was too cute. I guess he was tired of pushing himself around on his bike.

Super Johnny!

Johnny has been wearing this Superman cape ALL DAY today. My sister Sariah made it for her son and she's since passed it down to Johnny. He's attached. I couldn't resist getting the camera out when he was on the swing "fly high sky!" (flying high in the sky).

Rock Climbing

Johnny

Maddie

Alex

Brooke

Luke

We went climbing yesterday for the first time since I got pregnant with Johnny. We brought along our friends the Johnsons (Jason, Suzy, Luke, Brooke & Maddie). I remember bringing Alex when she was about Johnny's age and she would sit mostly on a rock and watch us while she ate a snack or something. Johnny was ALL OVER the rock. It was ridiculous. As soon as we got up there he saw some guys climbing next to us and he wanted to climb the rock himself. I told him he had to wait until the rope was set up and he could have a turn. One person had to always be at his side at all times, he didn't want to stand still for a second with all of these boulders to climb around him. At one point it was my turn to climb so I had to put my climbing shoes on. Brad was all ready to belay so we made him sit in time out on a rock just so he would stay still and safe for a moment until someone could watch him. He bawled the whole time and then Suzy asked if he could get out of time out and we told her he was only in there because he wouldn't sit still for us. So she watched him on the rocks while I climbed. Brooke and Luke both wanted to go a second time and they did even better than the first time they tried. Alex wanted to try but once she got up as high as I could help her she wanted back down. She's still pretty young, we'll see if she's interested next year. Johnny was beside himself when it was his turn. He mostly just used it as a little swing and hung there for a minute. Brad started pulling him up further, he was so light he probably could've pulled him up to the top if it wasn't for the protruding rocks and the fact that the harness was a tad too big for him. Johnny liked the experience though and I'm sure he will be excited to try again next year.

Ward Campout

Brad joined us in Cascade Friday evening and we left a distraught Johnny at the cabin with our family that was staying there and we took off to our ward campout located 10 minutes from the cabin. Brad and I both made ourselves go for the one reason that we haven't done any camping this summer and Alex couldn't go a summer without sleeping in a tent. Last year Johnny did not prove himself to be a good camper when it came to sleeping through the night so he was not invited back. He was sentenced to a year suspension from camping and we will try again next year. And when I heard everyone else's kids up all night long I was happy that I could just lay in my bag with earplugs in place and fall back to sleep. We had a good time though. Brad piled about a dozen youth in our truck and took them bridge jumping that night, they came back quite cold but smiling. Alex loved running around the campground with her girlfriends and had fun with Mom and Dad's head lamps when it grew dark. My Young Women lead the group in some fun camp songs and near the end of that time Alex asked when we got to get in the tent and go to bed. We put her down and two minutes later she was out with her Ellie snuggled up next to her in her very own mummy bag.

The next morning we woke Alex up at 9:30 for breakfast which has started a little earlier. And after awhile we packed up our truck and headed back to the cabin to pick up Johnny and pack up the rest of our belongings before heading home. On our way back home we passed the bridge the youth were jumping off of (let me clarify that more were out that morning with other adults supervising at the time) and saw an ambulance parked nearby with it's lights flashing. Later that evening we found out it was our dear sweet Heidi who is our #1 babysitter for the kids. Alex absolutely adores her. She shocked everyone when she jumped because she wasn't the type to take such a risk and apparently she was shocked as well when she came up calling for the doctor in our ward that thankfully was there at the campout. She broke her ankle pretty bad and was life-flighted out of there to the nearest hospital.
Today Alex and I were making "Get Well Soon" cards for her. I made mine first while Alex colored her a picture and this is Alex's attempt in copying the block letters I used on my card.

She drew the inside of the card first and then went to the front of the card to write "We Love You" as I had on my card and her "W" was all over the paper and she soon became frustrated. So we turned the "W" into a castle with princess Heidi in it and my sister Anna gave me a great tip on teaching Alex how to draw block letters. So we wrote out the name "Heidi" in pencil and she traced around the letters with a crayon. Then she erased the pencil marks and she ended up with beautiful block letters spelling out Heidi's name. Thanks for the tip Sis!

Another weekend in Cascade!

We spent a three day weekend in Cascade this last weekend. I went up Thursday with the kids and made a trip to the lake with their cousins. It wasn't the warmest day out but the kids enjoyed the water. Johnny was fearless of course and didn't know his own limits. I taught him soon what those limits were and he was a little more cautious in the water and around the rocks. Apparently I need to invest in better water wings because Ethan is able to float above the water just fine in his "Speedo" brand water wings and Johnny's 99 cent Wal-mart knock offs don't have quite the same affect. Not that either of them did much floating in the lake that day. He and Ethan ate/dropped in the sand a lot of watermelon while we were there. Alex is happy any time she gets to hang out with her cousins, Brayden & Logan. She tried making sandcastles, but the sand was too course to be very affective. She spent some time writing her name in the sand and a little while climbing up the 5 foot tall banks just off of the shore. Needless to say, she didn't feel too inclined to do a lot of swimming either.

Cowboy Up!

It was a first for both of us. I took Alex to the "Valley County Fair and Rodeo" in the little town of Cascade. We watched bare-back riding, bull-riding, calf roping and barrel racing. I found it quite entertaining for a small town rodeo.

The food was terrible but they had lots of treats to make up for that. And honestly, the treats kept Alex attention longer than the show did. There was just too much waiting for them to set up the next rider in the event. At one point we let the kids go down and watch along the fence for a better view. But then all they did was play with the fence. I guess at one point I had mentioned something about rodeo clowns because she kept asking when the clowns would come out. I pointed out to her the "clowns" many times but she was not satisfied and assumed I was trying to pull one over on her or something.. I don't think I'll be dragging Alex to one of those again for a long time but I am looking into going to a much bigger one here Boise that's coming up soon.

Blue Lake

We took the kids on their first real hike and it was to beautiful Blue Lake. It's a mile down into the lake, about 1/4 mile around the lake and then the mile hike back up and out of the lake. Our nephews, Brayden & Logan came with us along with their dad, Jason.

Johnny had to be watched constantly because he always wanted to explore and go wherever his sister and cousins were going. I think that he believes he can just float in mid air or walk on water if ever the need arises. Brad got a nice little siesta while watching the fishermen reel in a few fish.

We did a little catching of our own but it was of poly wogs and frogs. Actually, a combination of the two caught in the middle of metamorphosis at every stage. This was the most "frog-like" one that we got our hands on. We put them in a water bottle for awhile so the kids could watch them swim around. When it was Johnny's turn to hold the bottle he was a second away from downing the frogs and poly wogs before I snatched the bottle out of his hands. I wonder what he would've done if one of them had ended up in this mouth.

On our hike around the lake we came across fields of wildflowers. I was leaning in to take a picture of this particular flower and a bee flew in a landed on it just as I was pressing down the button on my camera. Perfect timing.

This hike is definitely a due over for us. It was just the right size for the kids and the area was beautiful. It's too bad the first part of the hike isn't the uphill part though since that's when the kids have the most energy. They were quite fatigued hiking back up to the trail head.

Brushing in the Dark

Have you ever tried brushing your teeth in the dark? Well for my kids it is now a must. I found these cool "firefly" toothbrushes that blink when you press a button on them and it lights up the whole toothbrush. They're so much fun that I have to hide them when it isn't time to brush teeth and Johnny walks around asking for it whenever he passes the bathroom. They brushed their teeth for so long tonight it was hilarious. In the dark...of course.

The Perks of Serving in Young Women's

Yesterday Brad and I went rafting with the Priests and Laurel's in our ward. I make sure I am a chosen leader to help out any time we go rafting. Brad was asked to man the "Big Blue" which is a monster of a raft boat so he came along too. It was nice to be out on the water with him. I was asked to head up the little group of kids that wanted to try kayaking. The man in charge, Br. Hoover, always makes me out to be an expert kayaker. Oh if the poor kids only knew my inadequacies in guiding them through the rocky terrains. For the first time in my trips down the river I made the plunge off of the 25 foot tall bridge that a group of the youth usually jump off of on every trip. The river below is icy cold for the fist little while until it meets up with a larger river and right away you're thrown into white water that you have to eventually swim out of and off to the side of the river where the group is waiting to see who's head pops up through the rapids next. It was a fun trip and hopefully next time you see pictures of us on the river Alex will be in them too!

New Words

Johnny's newest favorite word is "Aoh-Kaaay". At first I thought it was really cute because he says it in response to everything you tell him to do or not to do. And the way he says it sounds so sweet. But then things like this started happening...

Me: Johnny, don't throw the rocks!

Johnny: Aoh-Kaaay...(still throwing rocks)

Me: Johnny, keep the rocks out of the grass!

Johnny: Aoh-Kaaay...(more rocks in grass)

Me: Pick up those rocks and put them back in the playground.

Johnny: Aoh-Kaaay...(walking away from the rocks)

Me: I mean it, you're going to get a swat and sit in time out!

Johnny: Aoh-Kaaay...(swinging on the swing)

Now it just sounds like he's saying "Ok, whatever Mom".