Sunday, October 13, 2013

Blue Lake = not a cheap trip.

...as I was saying, next up the camping trip.  Now as for camping, I do sometimes enjoy it depending on how long the drive is, who we will be going with, what wild animals are known in the area, and if the weather is perfect.  This particular trip was at Blue Lake with the Lorenzon sisters.  Yay for the cool people to hang out with, boo for the drive to Blue Lake.  It is on a road that was not intended for anything but an ATV.  Somehow, every year our group makes it up the brutal road.  I have usually said all the best swear words many times by the time we reach our spot.

We rented a paddle board for some entertainment.  I was surprised at how easy they are to ride and how  much the kids loved it.





Randy hooked our tubes to the back and made a train to take kids across the lake.


They almost made it without falling in...almost.  Brrr that water is freezing.


As the day went on, the train got longer and longer!  Alisa joined the fun in the canoe.








Kate had plenty of little girls to make necklaces with.






Laura and her cute little girl Ryan.





Sean had to get in on the jewelry making.  He made a cool bracelet out of sea shells.


Did I mention the new rain gear?  Well we broke it in.  It poured for a few hours.  Luckily it wasn't at night, so it didn't get too cold.




All the other kids started catching frogs, Randy even caught a salamander.  Our kids were determined to get one.  It took hours of hunting, but we finally found a frog for each kid.





Now for the fun part.  It was time to go and I knew the frogs would probably not make it home alive, nor did I want to deal with them on the crazy bumpy road that was ahead.  I convinced my kids that the kind thing to do was release them back to their home to their family.  I don't know what the other moms were smoking, but they all allowed their kids to take their frogs home!  Awesome, I knew the tears were coming and I was going to be the mean mom.  I almost considered going back and trying to catch them again, but instead I told them that if they were good I'd take them to the pet store and get them pet frogs that would actually stay alive at our home.  

All in all, the actual camping trip was fun, although, it is impossible to have enough fun to justify the amount of work that goes in to camping.  I usually just suck it up and do it once a year since Randy and the kids love it so much.

As for the rest of the story that starts with the pet store and ends in 4 pets plus a giant bill for damage to the car...stay tuned.



posted by Barnhisel Blog @ 8:16 PM   1 comments

Wrap up of summer.


I have to move on to all the fall activities we've been up to, but first, let me wrap up the summer events. Crazy Aunt Amy talked us into floating the Weber River with the kids.  It only took 3 hours and ended in a a lightning storm and pouring rain.  We had a great time for the first 2 and 1/2 hours, and then the storm hit.  I didn't know how we were ever going to make it out of the river.  My only consolation was that there were at least 100 other people trying to get down the river too.  At least someone would probably be able to find our bodies.  The very end of the river is also the where the "rapids" are.  We were so cold, lips blue and chattering, and were being pounded with heavy rain.  At one point Katie and I just started laughing uncontrollably.  I think our mother of the year cards will be revoked.   It was one of those parenting moments where you just wonder what the f you were thinking.  The kids had a great time, and were unaware that they could have been struck by lighting or slipped into hypothermia at any given moment.  All in all, I'd do it again, but I'll make sure to check the weather report next time.



We got in a few weeks of swim lessons...




I pulled off a killer, pinterest worthy baby shower for my dear friend Katie.  She hid her pregnancy until 8 months, and then by some slip of the tongue, her husband spilled the beans at church.  I had about a week to prepare this shower, but it turned out great.




My awesome diaper cake.  This one has over 100 diapers, shoes, binkies, hair bows, wipes, and a rattle.  Not quite as impressive as the motorcycle cake, but still pretty darn cute.


I've learned to decorate with gifts instead of lame decorations that get tossed.  This way when the shower is over, you just grab everything and send it home with the guest of honor.  Then your house is clean and you don't have to throw away expensive decorations.



My other BFF, Melissa, (who's daughter is Kate's best friend and is named Kate and born a week apart) helped with the food.  Love the killer pink spread we had going.


Melissa and Katie are two of my favorite people.  We were all in the primary presidency.  I used to love going to church because of these ladies.  Then someone at church got their undies in a wad and screwed it all up, releasing all of us.  Now church is mweh.  I miss seeing them every week.  It's like someone stole your best friend.  Being moms we can't just get together once a week and catch up on life.  I haven't even seen Katie since this shower...or her cute baby Essie.  :(




Kate and her little friend Ava playing hello kitty.


My cute Sean.


This is the first picture of all the cousins.  Too bad it is also the worst picture I've ever taken.  The Chapmans pretty much lived with us for the month in August.  They came for 10 days at the beginning of the month, then returned 2 weeks later for Sean's baptism.  We love those girls so much.  Why can't they live by us?



Oh, and there was a sale on rain gear at Gymboree.  This will come in handy for our camping trip.  To be continued...


posted by Barnhisel Blog @ 3:08 PM   1 comments