Memorial Day Camping

Gotta love, the rain sheild- most of us discovered water pooled under our sleeping bag/matteress when we were packing out!

So, I finally figured out my life's big riddle! "What riddle"- you are probably wondering...well, I will give you a hint: I have 3 boys 4 yrs old and under. Yep, that's pretty much the riddle! The answer is *dum-dum-dum* : CAMPING! My boys are SO happy and busy when we are camping that they just don't have time to power battle, fight, whine, destroy (well they do this but it's outside; so who cares!), get bored, etc. (At least not as much.)

Best buddies, Kai totally loves Kaleb he kept trying to climb up wherever Kaleb was sitting- he can't wait until they can both run around!

Jon and I have always loved to camp and I am so stoked that my boys have such an affinity to it too! They even go to sleep for us without much hassle AND at a fairly decent hour- giving us some time to hang out with all the other big people.

Everyone hanging around the campsite. We played this really cool murder game (thanks Jill), ate way too many marshymellows, and just talked- good times.

My first post ever was about last years big Ensign Ranch camping trip so I feel like I am a true blogger now. We were joined this year by our friends from last year and some newbies. We had such a blast- what a great group of people to campout with!! The weather was circulating between rain, overcastness, and perfect hot sunshine- not too bad for WA. We had fun setting up the tent in the rain and getting rained out on our carefully planned out picnic dinner (in which we all fled to our tiny shelter and ate soggy hot dogs and froze our buns off (ha-ha get it, so funny).

We did the slip'n slide again this year and Clay was a total daredevil! Last year, he would only do it a couple of times on Jon's lap and Eph loved it. This year, he was rockin' the whole time (mostly all by himself!!).

Okay, I know all my pics are by the fire but we were having too much fun to have a camera with us all the time! Plus, the Ellis' have some pics of the slip'n slide I'll post later, promise!

We were invited to attend sacrament on Sunday with a Korean branch that comes to Ensign Ranch every year. The sacrament testimony service was also attended by one othe area Seventy (his name escapes me at the moment)- so that was cool. There was a translator there but I didn't get a headset until halfway through the meeting. It was such an incredible experience- Icould feel the spirit even though I only remember a handful of words in Korean. What amazing testimonies- the Church is TRUE!!! Another cool part was that I can still remember how to read Korean so I could sing the hymns with them in Korean which was such an awesome thing for me. It kind of reignited my desire to relearn Hangook (Korean). They even invited us back next year!

Who could have asked for a better weekend?!

See you all next year!

Happy Mother's Day

Me and my little guys.

I have to admit I find Mother's Day kind of bittersweet.

First, the sweet part- I feel so grateful for a day to look back on my childhood and appreciate my own mother. My mom was so amazing; she could do (and did) everything! She was always very active and adventurous, she was an awesome teacher - I think she planted the seed of desire I have to teach, she was always willing to try new things, she always spent time with us, she always listened to me and knew how to balance our friendship with motherhood, she was and is an incredible spiritual example to me, she was tidy but not obsessively so (I got that from my grandma), she instilled in me the passion for reading, she knows EVERYTHING ( I'm serious!), she has a silly sense of humor (remember the poor headless bunnies Mom?), she is generous, and I have always known how important and special I am to her- THANKS MOM!

Another sweet part- I love being a mother! I have never done something so noble and important before becoming a mother. Motherhood is hard work but is incredibly rewarding; nothing can make me feel more joy then a hug or snuggle from one of my children. I can't imagine how I could ever live without them now that they are mine.

That said; I am brought to the bitter part of Mother's Day- guilt (thank you Chandra *grin*). You are probably wondering how I could possibly feel guilt on a day like this- well I will tell you a well kept secret; I'm not perfect. Wow, it feels good to get that off my chest! No, but seriously, Mother's Day always makes me feel like I don't deserve all this celebrating. I remember all the times I've lost patience and yelled or spanked my kids, or all the times I've picked cleaning or reading over playing with my kids, or all the times I've thought about what my life would be like without my kids and I wonder if I even DESERVE my kids.

Then I kick myself and say, "Of course I do!!!!!!!" No one could care for or love my kids as much as I do. And I realize that today is an opportunity not to throw myself a pity party, but to celebrate and rejoice in the fact that my Heavenly Father has entrusted me with three of his precious children. I can take this time to think about ways to be a better mom, ways to have fun with and teach my children, so that when Mother's Day rolls around every year they will be grateful that I am their mother; just like I am grateful that my mom is mine!

My boys collected some river rocks from their camping trip over the weekend. After they came home on Saturday they went out and bought a vase and some sand at Michael's to put together the most beautiful floral display ever!

Bridal Veil Falls Hike

This weekend was the father and son's campout for our ward- which for me meant I had the weekend (well at least Friday and Saturday) with only Kai. What a nice Mother's Day weekend gift!

Last year when our "men" were on the campout, Andrea Ellis and I went on a hike at Wallace Falls with our little babies in our Bjorns. It was refreshing and beautiful and we had so much fun that we decided to do it again this year at a new location; Bridal Veil Falls (Index, WA). This year Chandra joined us with her little Victoria.

So, we headed out on our adventure at about 10am following some directions that I had printed from Google Maps. Unfortunately, the directions didn't lead us to the trail head, they led us to some random wilderness with some old cabins and the road ending in a cliff. We decided to ask a local cabin dweller for some directions (after making a very complicated and dangerous turn-around by the cliff). We picked the least creepy looking abode and knocked on the door. A few young boys answered and we instantly relaxed when we realized they weren't creepy cave people but normal kids on a vacation get-away with their mom. Anyways, the mom was very helpful in pointing us in the right direction to get to the Bridal Veil Falls trail head. When we finally arrived we realized that you had to have a parking permit to park there! UGH!! Well, we were able to get a permit after driving around a bit and asking a lot of people.

Finally, our hike began (after filling out a form with our names, etc. just in case we never returned from our adventure)! Although I consider myself in fairly good shape this hike was tough. I figure with the combination of pack, supplies and Kai; I was carrying a good 35 extra pounds on my back and although it was strenuous, it felt great and the hike was absolutely beautiful!

The beginning.

Andrea & Kaleb.

Chandra & Victoria.

Me & Kai.

The total hike up to the falls was about 2 miles and at one point near the end of the hike you reach a Y where one leg leads you to Lake Serene (which I hope to do someday) which is another 2 miles and the other leg leads you to Bridal Veil Falls which is only another 1/2 mile. So, at this point we are feeling pretty jazzed about seeing the falls and reaching our destination; and after about 1/4 mile we reach a river with logs to cross and on the other side- SNOW! We couldn't see any trail to speak of; just a lot of snow. So dejectedly we came to the conclusion that we were not going to be able to see what we had hiked all this way to see; the waterfall!

Bummer.

We resolved to come again when the snow was melted and sat down for lunch. The good news is that we did get to see some of the lower waterfall at our present location and we could hear the big falls up ahead so that set a nice mood for our lunch and lifted our spirits a bit.

Lunch.

After lunch, we hiked back and when reaching the bottom, I took off my pack and looking at my friends and their kids, I felt a deep sense of accomplishment and gratitude for such great friends, a healthy body and a beautiful earth; all things given to me by a loving Heavenly Father. I have a renewed vigor to get out and explore and enjoy the outdoors with my children. What a great day!

Downhill hiking is so much easier!

Us at the end- all smiles!

Them at the end- pooped out!