More Camping Pics

JoLynn finally caught her fish.  (With Uncle Blake's assistance.)  She was so proud!  He actually caught it and let her reel it in.  What a guy!

Shae, enjoying her ride.

The Wagenmans!

Me and my Sistas.  Fhew - we look SIZZLIN!

Camping At Big Lake

Okay, so just remember that no one in their right mind wears make up while camping, so if you are of a weak constitution, you may want to skip this one.  

You have been warned.

oh, the waiting!!..............

This little girl thinks it's time to start walking.  I'm sure she'll master it while I'm gone at YW camp this week and I'll miss the whole thing :(.  That's right - I get to go camping 2 weeks in  a row!  If camping with 3 girls is hard, I can't wait to experience it with 29 girls!

Bring it on.

Megan and Tyler catching some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Da Boys with da babies

the craft tent!

hard at work

check out those Grandpa pants on Tyler!  

He is the YUMMIEST little boy ever!

Claire and JoLynn hangin' in the hammock

Hailey adopted this inch worm and named it "Ticklish".  The poor thing was squished, dropped, kicked, pinched, shoved into a dozen different "homes", and lost about 20 times, but the little guy was miraculously still alive on the last day.  He was a soldier to the end.  The "end" meaning when he mysteriously disappeared while the girls were on a scavenger hunt.

Good bye brave Ticklish...we won"t forget you!

Reel Fun

We just got back from camping with my Merrell family at Big Lake.  It was loads of fun!  It was so pretty up there too!   But whoever added camping to the vacation category never camped with 3 babies and 3 little girls.  Basically we packed the entire contents of our house into boxes, bags, and containers, drove it into the mountains, and squeezed it into a tent for the week.   Fhew, camping is a lot of work!  But among all the cooking, washing, keeping my crawling baby out of the dirt, trips to the "bathroom", and yelling my kids' names every 30 seconds to make sure they weren't wandering off too far, we did manage to have some fun.  We had a craft tent for the little girls where there was lots of giggling and creating, we played pick up sticks rock band (a game invented by my brother Blake), and we went fishing.  I'll have pictures to post soon.  (I know the suspense is palpable!)  But speaking of fishing, Jake and Megan turned us on to this little nugget of funny: 

My 3 Girls

Saturday's Funny Photo Friday

So I've been slacking with my all-important duties of keeping up with Funny Photo Friday.  Please accept my make-up work.  Below you will find a series of photos of our family from the summer of '06.  We were in Utah at my Aunt and Uncle's ranch.  It was so pretty with the mountains and the horse-filled pasture!  Unfortunately the one time our kids sat still for a photo shoot, the wind started blowing like a banshee.  This is why we usually don't send pictures with our Christmas cards...if we even get around to sending Christmas cards out.  Enjoy:

Check out Joel's super stretchy arms in this picture.  

He was trying to use his elastic super strength to

 keep us from blowing away.

Me:  "So JoLynn, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

JoLynn: "A peacemaker."

Me:  "Oh, that's so sweet JoLynn.  But what I meant was, is there anything you want to do for like a job, or anything you want to learn how to do when you are an adult?"

JoLynn: "I want to be you."

Me: "Do you mean you want to be like me?  Like do you want to be married and have a family of your own that you get to take care of and stuff?"

JoLynn:  "Well...actually, I just want to be the real you when I grow up."

I love you JoLynn!

Funny Photo Friday

Hope you all have a safe weekend.

Twilight Before Chrismas

ha, ha! I definately liked this version better. You're Welcome :)

(to listen, just pause the music to your right)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to two of the loveliest ladies to walk the planet!

This is Joel's mom, Anne, as a teenager.  What a fox, hu!?  Anne is one of the kindest souls you will ever meet.  Some adjectives I would use to describe Anne are:

 soft spoken

hard worker

teacher

 courageous

dependable

creative

faithful

sweet

accomplished  

This is my momma, Peggy.  I love her smile in this picture.   (I think JoLynn took it.)  She is a wonderful Wife, Mom, and Grandma.  She is dedicated to her family and serving the Lord.  But don't let her holiness fool you - she knows how to have a good time!  Some adjectives I would use to describe her are:

funny

understanding

faithful

hospitable

selfless

intuitive

warm

honest

strong

We love you both!

Funny Photo Friday

Wow.  Hope they find him.  Keep your eyes peeled.

For those of you who didn't believe me

Many of you have asked me if the Rat Tale was for real.  Yes is was.

Can you see how happy Joel was about taking his car apart?

After ripping the seats and the dashboard out, we realized the smell was coming from behind the steering wheel.  Joel said he has a whole new understanding for the phrase, "I smell a rat".

I swear this thing was like 10 times bigger when it was alive and nibbling on my legs.  Keep in mind that it had been decomposing for about a week before this picture was taken.  

R.I.P. Mr. Rat. Hope you like the dump.

Funny Photo Friday

This is dedicated to my Sistas, 

Cindy and Megan. 

Remember when denim shirts were awesome?  I know you can't see it here, but I'm positive I was wearing a braided leather belt, too.  Check out my eyebrows.  How sad.  How did your first eyebrow-plucking experience go?

Youth Gems

I signed up for a subscription to "Youth Gems" and I love it!  You can sign up too at lds.org.  It's  a program that sends you a brief uplifting, inspirational, enlightening email twice a week.  There are different categories to choose from like family, single adult, youth, relief society, etc.  I subscribed to the youth one because I serve with the Young Women... and because I sort of sometimes like to think of myself as youthful.   I totally recommend it - it's super uplifting!  Here's the one I received today:

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now."

Thomas S. Monson, "Finding Joy in the Journey," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 85

Topics: Joy

Tender-hearted

I 

love 

this

 picture 

of

JoLynn...

...except that she's snuggling with a handful of weeds.  Anyone know how to photoshop in a bouquet of daisies or something like that?  

Well, while we're on JoLynn, I think I'll share a story in continuation of my quest to embarrass my children.  JoLynn has very tender feelings.  It doesn't take much to make her bottom lip puff out and cry.  She often cries in her sleep if she's dreaming about someone not sharing or something devastating  like that.  Last night I heard her crying in her sleep, so I got up to see what was the matter.  She was really upset and was barely able to explain what was wrong amongst her sobs.  But she managed to say, "Oh Mom, I really just want a house made out of cups."  me:  ".......okay darling, you can have a house made of cups if you want."

JoLynn: with bottom lip quivering, "okay."

Fun with Shae

What is so scrumptious about a bald, juicy baby in a sleeper?

Unigoat

I know Unicorns aren't for real, but did you know Unigoats are?

This freak of nature resides at one of the many dairy farms here in the Q.C.  That's not his ear sticking up - that's a horn.  Hailey's Kindergarten class got to take a field trip there and it was so fun to go with her.  There was a baby calf born that morning and we got to go see it stand for the first time.  The kids wanted to sing it happy birthday and they named it "cowey".  So cute!

...Not so cute is that giant pile of cow poo right behind our heads in this picture.  Awesome.

They got to sample some fresh milk and ice cream.

Hailey feeding the horses carrots.  They told her "make your hand flat like a pancake so he doesn't bite your fingers off."  That was comforting.