Flaming Gorge

We just returned from a fantastic week (4 days) at Flaming Gorge!  We camped at Hideout Canyon campground.  We had to load up the boat with all our camping supplies and boat-in to the campground.  I LOVED it!!  The campground assigns a dock to two different sites who share that dock.  Nobody was in the other site until Saturday as we were leaving which left us with the entire dock all to ourselves.  The boys loved getting up with the sun and running down to the dock where they quickly retrieved fishing poles and fished off the dock until Taylor & I woke up and made it down.  We would then go out and fish for a couple of hours.  The first morning Parker caught a big trout soon after we left the dock.  He was so excited and the best part for me was that his brothers were excited for him.  I loved hearing all the positive feedback he was getting.  We took the fish back to camp and cooked it up with our breakfast.  Quite tasty.  We then spent the afternoons swimming in the water and pulling the boys on the tube.  They loved it.  Parker was quite the dare devil and kept asking Taylor to go faster.  Unfortunately the front of the tube went under water and scared him so he was done for the day and definitely didn't want to go fast again when we finally convinced him to get on again.

The first night we were in camp Mitchell came back from the bathroom and said, "Mom, I think I just felt the Holy Ghost."
I asked, "What happened?"
"Well, I needed to go to the bathroom and Parker said he would take me to it.  As I was coming out of the bathroom I thought, 'I'm so glad I have a family', and I felt really good inside.  I think it was the Spirit."

I was so pleased with that conversation.  As a mother, I'm always hoping the boys will have opportunities to feel the spirit and wonder if they will know it when they feel it. We had talked about feeling the Spirit on the Sunday before we left so I was grateful to realize that he was listening and it had made a difference in him recognizing it when the opportunity arose.

I was worried about food before we left - keeping it cold; having enough; having a variety; etc. But I think it turned out well.  In fact, I had a half a block of ice still in the cooler when we got home on Saturday.  We had tin foil dinners on Wed night and I cooked Rhodes cinnamon rolls in the little camp oven that night.  The boys thought that was quite the treat.  We also had tacos one night, french toast & sausage, pancakes & bacon, chicken croissant sandwiches and fish.  It was all pretty tasty.  The one thing I was glad I did this time was take up quite a bit of fruit.  That always tastes so refreshing.  I also bought a "over-the-fire popcorn popper" and made popcorn one night.  It turned out perfectly! It was fun and tasty!

I was excited because I actually drove the boat so Taylor could water ski.  I had never done that before and was glad that I could do it.  I'm sure Taylor was too because he enjoyed skiing!

The three less than great things that happened were:
1. Our second night in the tent Mitchell threw up - and didn't even realize it until it was all over his face.  That was less than great to have to clean up in the middle of the night without running water - but we did and lived to tell.
2.  Parker went to cast his line out and threw his Spider-man pole in the lake with the fishing line.  He was very sad.  So was I - that pole was his perfect match in size and he had spent many hours casting the line out all the while really enjoying himself.
3.  Taylor's down rigger was pulled in to the lake - not fun watching $150 being pulled down to a watery grave.  I guess he knows what he's getting for Christmas!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable week.  So great to do something fun like that as a family.  We really needed the family time and I am so grateful it turned out to be such a success!

Mitchell's Wisdom

Mitchell announced his favorite friend was Spencer F. "because he always agrees with me!"  Well, he's figured some things out real early in life!

Mother's Day 2012

Stephanie and I got our Mother's Day fun to St. George to watch Brian Reagan; hike in Snow Canyon; and relax with no schedule and no children to remind us to make a schedule!  It was so much fun to just be sisters again. 

Sunday morning Taylor made me breakfast - well, ok, not really.  Preston had made waffles on Saturday morning while I was gone so for Mother's Day breakfast I found Taylor carefully laying the leftover waffles form Saturday in the waffle iron to reheat them - a little rubbery but hey! I didn't have to make them!  The boys showered me with wonderful homemade gifts - as is tradition.  They spent most of the morning before church shut up in their rooms making things like twine necklaces with paper hearts (a little itchy), pictures, and cards.  I loved it all!

I did tell Taylor I have figured out why Mother's Day can be kind of difficult (minus all the guilty feelings from realizing I could be doing so much more so much better)  - it's the fact that although my children have a tendency to act the same way as any other day  - for instance painting in their room and getting blue paint on the carpet - I, as a mother, am not allowed to react negatively to anything.  Sometimes, that proves to be rather tough!

All in all, it was a beautiful day!

Like Steven

I came home from a soccer game with Mitchell & Parker one day to find Preston (who didn't go to the game because he had Scouts) making cookies. He picked a recipe out of a ward cookbook that I had never used before - pretty much because it called for TWO cups of olive oil - What!?  The recipe?  2 cups of olive oil, 4 cups of sugar, 7 cups of flour, six eggs . . . you get the picture.  I was trying to remind myself to take a deep breath as I asked him why he didn't wait 15 minutes for me to get home to which he replied, "I just wanted to be like Steven - he makes good things for his family and everyone likes it!"  We had just been to their house and he had made snickerdoodles and being only 15 yrs. old, Preston thought that was something to imitate - which it is . . . with the right recipe!

Apparently Trix really are just for kids!

Trix are for Kids:  0.
The other day I bought a box of Trix cereal for the boys.  When Taylor got home he saw the box in the pantry and said, "Mmmm, Trix! Those look good!" Mitchell quickly responded, "Dad! Those are for kids!"  Taylor and I grew up seeing the Trix commercials of the rabbit trying to steal the Trix and being told everytime he did, "Silly Rabbit - Trix are for kids!" so we immediately started laughing.  Mitchell couldn't figure out what was so funny - having not ever seen that particular commercial.  Guess it's really true - Trix are for kids!

Something Wonderful

Today is the start of something wonderful . . .  well, at least the start of this blog.  I've been wanting to create this for awhile - it only took a sick child and a chilly day to get me going!  I have 3 cute boys that inspired the title.  Life is definitely not about sugar and spice and everything nice - sugar, maybe but frogs and snails and puppy dog tails - definitely!!