Webster's This and That

Monday, November 5, 2012

Welcome to Wyoming!

Hotel living hasn't been to bad. Here is why:

I never have to make breakfast
Free cookies every night
No washing towels or bedding
No cleaning (other than a few dishes and wiping down the occasional counter)
Lots of TV for free, mostly educational cartoons (something we normally don't have)
Free apples, bananas, and hot chocolate whenever we want
swimming pool
get to meet lots of people
Any time my kids act up I can blame it on the fact that we live in a hotel
No projects or chores, so we can spend the weekends exploring

We had snow for a few days. The boys loved playing out in it whenever we could.

Christine seems to tell everyone that we live in a hotel. We escape as often as we can. The boys and I drive Christine to and from school everyday. There is a play group on Mondays and we are on a first name basis with most of the library staff. We go to the library two to three times a week. We frequent the park by our house when ever we can. These horses live just down the street from the park by our house.

On the weekends we go exploring. We spent one Saturday in Saratoga, just down the road from us. There was still a little snow on the ground and cold, so the hot water in the hot springs felt great! Afterward we ate at Platte River Pizza Company. I highly recommend it.

Once a month they have art club for all the kids k-5th and any family members 2 and over. We decided to try it out. This month they made masks. It was fun! Next month is ginger bread houses.

Halloween was fun. They have trick or treat on downtown streets. We got to go into lots of the little shops downtown. I made a mental list of places I would like to go to again, and those I think I will avoid.

After dinner we went to the ward trunk or treat. They had games, donuts, and a craft for the kids. Then they did the usual trunk or treat. The kids got enough candy to last until Christmas!

This weekends exploration took us to Seminoe Reservoir. I love the sign there. Of course we took this road to see how rough it would be. The explorer has 4 wheel drive and had no prolems. i think Jer was a little disappointed at how easy it was to drive on it.

It was so calm up there. Tim commented several times on how quiet it was. There was eventually another car that came by on the road by where we stopped for lunch. Other than that it was us and the wind. Oh, and one magpie that came to eat Daniel's crumbs.

Just up the road from here is the miracle mile. One of the best fishing spots in all of the US. We still have lots of exploring to do. If it doesn't snow this weekend we will see where the road takes us.

After the 15th we won't have as much time to explore, so we are taking advantage of it while we can.

Last days in Washington part 2

These are "treasures" Christine found at the river.

The kids and I spent every minute we could at the river. The weather was perfect for the end of Sept beginning of October. One of the days we were there it was warm enough to go swimming. There were lots of boats out, but not to many by where we were. We saw lots of ducks, geese, pelicans, cranes, and sea gulls. It ws if they all came out to say goodbye. Even the sunset was perfect.

I am so grateful for good friends that helped me while Jer was away, for a surprise ice cream treat, for watching the kids, for spending so much time with us. To those wonderful friends I left behind...it's never goodbye, but rather, I'll see you later.

Last days in Washington Part 1

Jer got a job in Wyoming working for Sinclair oil (the dinosaur gas company). While Jer was gone to scout camp I had the impression several times that when Jer got released from young mens it would be time to move. Little did I know that that would be happening sooner than I thought. As I mentioned in the last post he got released the day after he got back from scout camp.
We started looking for realtors and getting the house in mint condition to sell. Everything fell into place so easily. Jer was flown out for a job interview and he was pretty sure he had the job. So we had the realtor come and take pictures. That same day Grandma Cookie came to stay with us, and we got the official call that Jer had the job (Sept 12). Of course it was after the realtor had already left. The next morning the realtor came back and put up the signs. By that afternoon the house was on the market. Jer and I took advantage of having his mom here and took the canoe out just the two of us for the day. We thought it would only be a couple of hours but ended up being 6. It was fun! I'll miss the river.
Friday morning we headed to Spokane to spend the day. Just before we left a phone call came. Someone wanted to look at out house that afternoon. Since we were on our way out it worked out perfect. We spent the afternoon in downtown Spokane, shopping and going to the park.

Saturday morning we went to Cabella's. While we were there we got a phone call. We had an offer for the house. Then it was off to Silverwood.

Everyone had fun at Silverwood. It was late by the time we got home. Somehow when we got home that night even though the house was still ours, just seeing the sold sign out front made it seem less like ours.

We spent the next week organizing, picking apples, making apple sauce, taking care of the last of the produce in the garden. Canning tomatoes, freezing peppers, and trying to go see and do all of our favorite things while Grandma Cookie was here.

I knew fruit would be less available in Wyoming so we made lots of apple sauce. The boys and I went apple picking twice. I'm sure all that apple sauce will be nice during the long Wyoming winters. Grandma Cookie made it feel like Christmas. She bought me several kitchen gadgets that made canning SUPER easy.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The rest of the trip

My Grandma's funeral was beautiful. It was simple, with lots of music. I think she and Grandpa watched from above and were probably laughing when Tim told me in a loud voice that he needed to go potty. I explained to him that there isn't a bathroom at the cemetery and he would have to wait. We had just gotten home from a camping trip and I guess he figured if there wasn't a bathroom he would take care of business where ever he could. He got up and walked over to the cars. My dad was speaking and I didn't really want to walk away in the middle of his talk, but I decided I better go see what Tim was doing. He was hiding behind the cars and taking care of business. The only problem was he didn't hide himself and if anyone wasn't paying attention to my dad speaking they were probably laughing at Tim. So embarrassing.

I loved singing with my family. We sang "Teach me to walk." We used to sing that song as a family when we were young and in a branch. I've always loved the words of that song. It really hit me after Christine was born in the second verse it says, "come little child and together we'll learn..." I love that. Even as parents we are learning and growing all the time. Ever since I have been home the words of the song keep coming back to me over and over. Daniel loves to hear me sing it now and will often request it for his bedtime song. He can sing the first verse pretty well for a 2 year old.

My dad chose to have the family sing this song because my grandma was such an example of how to be a righteous teacher and how to teach your children. My grandpa was not a member and after he joined the church there were times that he was inactive. It would have been easy for grandma to let the kids stay home with dad while she went to church. But she didn't take the easy way out, she did what she knew was right. I am very grateful that she did. Because now I have a father that went on a mission, married in the temple, and taught all his children by his example how to live the gospel. After the funeral we went to the church and had a luncheon.

The picture above is my niece Berlin trying on my sister Dani's shoes. I think all the nieces tried them on at least once.

It was nice to talk to family I haven't seen in years. We just let the kids play and we talked. All of my siblings were there except for my brother Randall. This summer has been unusual; I got to see all of my siblings and most of them twice.
This picture is of Christine and her cousins Addy, Payton, and Kailey.

After spending some time at Kenzi's house and letting the little ones nap we went to a Mexican restaurant. Matt (my brother) had mentioned that they don't have any good Mexican places to eat in Ohio where he is living. So we had to make sure he got to eat some good Mexican food. It is a Booth thing to eat Mexican food as a family. It was my brother-in-law Todd's birthday the next day so we sang happy birthday to him. I don't think he minded to much.

Saturday we started our journey home. When I was a kid we used to make the trip to my grandparents in the summer. We didn't always get to go every summer, but when we did we would always stop in Kayenta at a Burger King that has a Navajo talkers display. We would read about how they used Navajo during WWII to keep the Nazi's from understanding them. It seems like every time I go they've added more to the little museum outside. They have all sorts of hogans and things now. The kids thought it was fun to go inside them.

The drive takes us through Monument Valley. Another place I would like to explore more. I think because I grew up where it was humid and most of the year quit wet, and spent part of my summer in places that were dry and hot, I have grown to appreciate the beauties of the earth. I've heard people say they can't see the beauty in places without trees. I see the beauty no matter where I go. A cactus flower blooming in the desert is as beautiful as an Indian blanket flower blooming in the grass covered prairie.

We spent the last part of Saturday until Tuesday morning in Hurricane. I got to see my grandparents and lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousin’s kids. It's amazing how much kids grow when you don't see them very often. I hardly recognized most of them. My cousin Katie gave me an amazing hair cut. My head feels so much lighter. I misplaced the camera while we were in Hurricane so I unfortunately didn't get any pictures. We stayed at my Aunt Susan’s since my grandparents AC went out. We ate some amazing food. The first night we were there we had some zucchini casserole that was so good. We ate fresh peaches with every meal (my grandparents and Aunt Susan have peach trees). I also ate the best peach pie I think I have ever had. I am going to have to get the recipe from Aunt Susan. I think even Jer would like it and he's not a big peach pie fan. On Monday night we had a BBQ and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins came. I forgot how much family I have living in that area. It was so fun to see everyone!
WE left early Tuesday and headed back up to Randall and Allison's. In the afternoon Allison was kind enough to haul my kids and all our stuff to the car repair place so we could get our car back. They did a great job of fixing it. I think it drives better than before it got hit. We spent the night with Richard and Kathy again. It was Kathy's 50th birthday so we bought kreamies (something we loved when we lived in UT and ID and they don't sell them here). I wish I could have brought a box home.
Wednesday we drove to Boise and stopped to see an old roommate of mine. It was fun to catch up and see her cute house. Then we went to Great Uncle Leon's to stay the night. The kids love that place, especially the sheep. They have a fun swing set that the kids played on until it was dark. Thursday morning it was hard to get them to want to leave. They were having so much fun petting the sheep and chasing the chickens.

They added a canning room since we were last there and I was envious of it. It has a dish washer to wash and prepare jars, sinks for cleaning produce, lots of cabinet space to put empty jars. They have several camp type propane stoves and lots of pressure cookers and water baths. It would be so nice not to heat up the house and ruin the stove.

We finally made it home on Thursday night. We had a few days with Jer before he left for scout camp. Which was, by the way one of the most memorable scout camps of his life, complete with lots of fish catching, people getting sick, a scout breaking his arm, Jer getting to feel like a pirate (wear an eye patch), and then to top it all off they all came home with...head lice. What a great welcome home present. Luckily, Jer took every precaution to insure that the kids and I didn't get it. And since Jer was in need of a hair cut anyway it made for easy removal for him. He did however get some laughs from the boys on Sunday when he showed up with a shaved head and face (most of them have rarely seen him with a clean shaven face). To top things off, Jer was released that Sunday from the young men (I cried). And that brings us to a topic for another day.

Never Park your Car on the Street!

Opps, I forgot to finish posting about our trip. Here is some more. I'll post the last of it in another post so it won't be to long.

Wed morning came. I was planning on taking my kids to temple square and to see all the new changes that have been made since we lived there. I wanted to stop by our old apartment complex and go wading at a fun park we used to go to regularly. None of that happened. Shortly after breakfast someone knocked on my brother and sister-in-laws door. My sister-in-law was busy and my brother was at work. My niece said she didn't recognize the person so at first I was tempted to ignore the knock. However, when I looked out and saw a mother holding a baby I reconsidered. The lady had come to tell me that she accidentally hit my car. She had already called the cops. At first it didn't look to bad. I figured I could still use the car and then get it fixed back in Washington. Then my sister-in-law suggested that I make sure I could open the driver side door. It wouldn't open. After waiting for over half an hour for a cop I was finally able to get the information I needed to call her insurance company and start getting the ball rolling to get the car fixed. For some reason we were NOT supposed to go to temple square that day.

Luckily, for us their was an opening to get the car looked at and get an estimate that day. It gave us just enough time to run to Cabella's for a little while and then take the car in. While driving I realized that their was more damage than I thought to the car. It pulled badly to the right and I was glad I didn't have to drive it to much that day. It must have been quit a sight to onlookers to see me get all three kids in the car and buckled and then climb in the passenger side door and slide over to the drivers side. When we got out by the time I slid over and climbed out Tim and Christine were already waiting beside the car for me. We were a few minutes late for our appointment, but the people ahead of us had a VERY damaged car and it took them longer than their appointment time so we ended up waiting. Luckily, we had some of the apricots we had helped pick the day before. We snacked on those while we waited. The man that helped us was very nice. He even bent something back into place so I could open the drivers side door. He helped us find a place to get our car fixed while we continued on our trip. We finally ate lunch at 2:30. Dropped the car off at the repair shop at 3:45. I think they wanted to hurry and get the kids out of their waiting area. At first they told me it would be awhile before someone could look over the car again and get me the paperwork. The kids were building a huge tower out of magazines and the few blocks they had. I let them each have one piece of the candy they had on the counter, but Daniel kept sneaking over there while I was filling out the paper work and taking some. I found some in his pocket later and one in Tim's. I guess they felt like we were in the way because they had us out the door 10 minutes later. They had someone ride over in my car to Jer's aunt and uncles house. That was a little awkward. With three car seats taking up the entire back seat he had to sit up front. He had tattoos and earrings. His hair cut was...wild. I kept wanting to ask him if he didn't get enough attention at home, but decided to be kind instead. He helped me unload all of our stuff onto the drive way. We usually don't allow eating in the car, but on a trip by myself that rule was voided for my sanity's sake. It was a mess! A few minuted before 5 I was finally able to sit down and relax.

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Richard were so kind. They helped me out with the kids. Fed us grilled chicken and twice baked potatoes. It was so yummy! Uncle Richard took the kids for a ride on the four wheeler (which they loved!). It was a nice way to end the day.

Thursday morning my parents picked us up and we started our drive to New Mexico. We stopped in Moab. Every time we go through that area I want to stop and go hiking. I've never actually been to arches National park, although I've driven right past it a dozen or more times. Someday I will! We pointed out the temple in Monticello so the kids could add that one to the ones they have seen.

We arrived at my sisters house in New Mexico in time to eat dinner, change clothes, and head to the viewing.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Unexpected trip

Where did summer go? Just yesterday I was making summer plans, getting the house ready for a family reunion, pulling out the swimming suits for days spent on the river, picking good weekends to go camping, and now the back to school propaganda is all around me. It's a good thing that we don't start school for a few more weeks. I need to savour every last minute of summer that I can.

The last few weeks have been an emotional and somewhat physical blur. The happy kind that you wish you could pause, hang onto, and remember every detail. It all began with a great camping trip for Jer's birthday. We took the canoe and the kayak. Good thing we did because it was in the 100s everyday we were gone. We spent as much time as possible on the lake. It's the same lake we went to last year and even though we have made our own memories there, it reminds me of a farmers pond we used to go camping at when I was a kid. Falling asleep to the sound of frogs, crickets, and coyotes at night. Splashing in the water. We left on Wednesday and came home Friday afternoon. That evening I got a call from my mom that my Grandma Booth wasn't doing very well. Saturday morning she was gone. We had planned on me dropping Jer off at the river with the canoe and picking him up later in the day. Instead he spent his birthday with the car changing the air filter, checking tire pressure, and putting in a new battery. I felt bad that he spent his birthday doing it for me, but we checked plane prices and flying on such short notice was out of the question. He knew how important it was for me to go to the funeral so he gave up his birthday for me.

I spent most of Saturday doing laundry and packing. We still had camping stuff all over the garage. The lawn didn't get mowed before we left for camping so it was looking pretty shaggy. The beans had been picked, but not frozen yet. It was chaos. I spent the extra time I have on Sunday making a nice meal for Sunday dinner. If I was going to be gone at least I could make one last good meal. Between the phone calls to set up places to stay during our travels, planning my trip, and trying to pack it didn't feel much like a Sunday, even though we went to church.

I've said it before, but I have the best neighbors and friends. Monday morning I frantically finished packing. My good friend across the street took the kids for me for a awhile so I could clean the house before I left. Other than the camping stuff in the garage and the sleeping bags airing out upstairs the house was clean when I left. I grabbed the kids from the neighbor and after a quick stop at the library we were off. As I started to drive I kept thinking about all the things I didn't get done. As we passed out of city limits I smiled feeling free and excited. There was nothing I could do about that to do list now anyway. We made good time and right before dinner time we were in Boise at the Calls house. The Calls had been in our ward when we first moved to Washington. They moved to Boise awhile back and we still keep in contact. The kids loved playing with Nerf guns and I enjoyed catching up and talking about our husbands jobs. There aren't to many IHs around so when you meet another wife of an IH the subject naturally comes up. After a yummy breakfast Tuesday morning we said goodbye to our friends and headed up the road.

Our next stop was the Twin Falls temple. We've seen it from the highway before, but have never taken time to stop. I have a habit of taking a picture of my kids by whatever temple we go by. Our GPS has most of the wests temple addresses saved to favorites.

We walked around quickly since Daniel was insisting it was time to eat. After grabbing a bite to eat we went to Shoshone Falls. It was fun to hike around and see the waterfalls. The kids loved having the freedom from the car and being able to run. They loved the sounds of the waterfalls. There was a slight breeze and it didn't feel as hot as the weather we left behind in Washington. I could have laid for hours on the grass listing to the sound of water and feeling the breeze on my face.

I found a list of the biggest waterfalls in the US and was surprised at how many of them I had been to. Shoshone Falls was on the list so wanting to add another check to the list I made sure we stopped.

Brigham City was our next stop to see...you guessed it the new temple. The kids were getting restless and I was anxious to be done driving for the day so we made it quick and headed for Randall and Allison's in Orem.

After a healthy supper (which was sooo good after eating fast food and junk food all day), we went to a house in Provo to pick apricots. The view of the Provo temple was amazing. I wish I would have gotten my kids in the picture. I did make sure to point it out to them so they could add it to the list of temples they have seen. A small rain storm blew in while we were picking. It didn't rain to long and I wasn't struck by lightning. I love how thunder sounds different depending on the landscape around you. With the mountains so close it had the echoing effect. The best part was when the rain was ending it left behind a beautiful double rainbow for us to enjoy. As we drove back to Randall and Allisons the kids watched fireworks. It was July 24th afterall and in Utah that is almost as big as July 4th. Tim and Christine threw poppers in the driveway with their cousins while I put Daniel in bed. He asked to go to bed and did not want to see the fireworks (he has a slight fear of them). I love how excited the kids were about throwing poppers. The big fireworks were pretty, but poppers even though they are small were more fun.

Here are some things I learned or was reminded of during my first few days of travel:

Daniel is a crazy sleeper. He is all over the place!

I don't really enjoy Ice Age enough to watch it over and over (we had Ice Age 1 and 2, but when you are driving it all sounds the same). In fact I wouldn't mind not seeing it for a very very long time.

I really like avocados. I forgot how much I like them. Sorry Jer but they will be on the shopping list sometimes now.

Quiet thinking time is great!

M&Ms keep me from feeling sleepy when I drive.

Sunglasses are a must on long trips in the summer!

My kids are amazing!

Small and simple things...

The next leg of our trip did not go as planned...

Monday, May 14, 2012

Tree stump vs. Tim.

Daniel loves to fish. He asks to go fishing almost every day. So in honor of his 2nd birthday we went camping this weekend and went fishing. The weather was great (no rain!). The ride there was beautiful. Jer caught lots of fish (116 fish is LOTS of fish). The kids got to help catch a few fish. They enjoyed a fun walk around the lake. It was complete with deer tracks, slugs (yuck!), and an old tree that arched over the trail. The whole camping trip came to an abrupt end when Tim decided to pick a fight with a tree stump and the tree stump won. He was leaning over the side of his camp chair to help Daniel with his toy car when the chair suddenly tipped over and Tim was dumped face first into a tree stump. It happened so fast he didn't even get his hands up to block his face. I got ice on it right away, but it swelled up fast. Luckily the doc says it looks worse than it is. Nothing in his face was broken. His teeth are all okay and his cheek is badly bruised. So much for another relaxing day at the lake. These pictures were taken 3 days after it happened. The swelling has gone down, but it is still really bruised.