Mammoth Cave Trip

So, Sunday July 20th we woke up at 9:00 a.m. Well, that would be what time our church starts!! OOPS!! I had my alarm set and apparently when it went off for the 3rd or 4th time I turned it OFF!!! So, we decide since we have already sluffed today we would make it a family day and do something fun with the kids. We decide to go to Cedar Mountain to Mammoth Caves. The kids were stoked. I was stoked and Jeff was searching for flashlights. We managed to come up with enough and a lantern which would make up for a couple individual flashlights. That was about an hour process by the way. Trying to find a flashlight at our house is next to impossible, well one that is still fully functionable with batteries, and all ya know. Any who, we head out for our journey. The weather was great, a little overcast, which made it cooler than normal. It rained on us the way up there, not too bad though! We find the caves after Jeff is completely heartbroken over how "commercialized" it has become, since it has been like 15 years since his visit there.. It is supposed to stay the same. The road is graded, fairly decent sized. There are intersections, and BATHROOMS!!! And even a parking lot! Jeff was devastated at this recent discovery called CHANGE!!! Then again he counted about 1000,00000 cars that we passed on the way up the mountain with Nevada plates.....not too sure whats wrong with NEVADANS!!!!! HEHEHEHE!! LOL! Anyway, we find the cave surprisingly it was where Jeff's memory had told him! We head down it, and go thru the barred entrance that you have to shimmy thru. They have erected the barred fence to protect the bats that hibernate in the caves. EEEWWWW!!!!! We go thru the large cave for about 1/4 mile maybe thru the rocks and mud. It was soo fun! The kids loved it! Chayden thought he would follow dad in this section right before it gets to crawl spaces literally, and finds the MUD SPOT! If you know Chayden very well, then you know his "faster shoes" they happen to be Cars and they are not exactly the tightest shoes on his feet. Ya, every time he would try to move his foot, his shoe would get stuck in the mud and stay in the mud while he took a step. He was going in circles and falling down IN THE MUD trying to get to a rock to stand on. It was hilarious to watch, I was having a ball! Jeff got a huge piece of ice for the kids to see, they thought that was pretty awesome! We made a U-turn and headed back for the entrance.
Once we made it out of that one, Jeff wanted to try this other one that he could remember going in when he was younger and smaller! We had to shimmy on our belly's thru this one most of the way. I had a hard time this time, because I get freaked out if I am in a small confined space. I am very claustrophobic! Can't breathe, and start panicking. But, I managed thru it. I only got a little frantic a couple of times. Charger kept trying to stand up. He would bonk his head on the rocks above him and fall back down. The poor kids' head had to be SO sore. He kept going ahead of me and turning around saying "Mommy" while holding his hand out to help me. What a sweetheart to look out for his mommy! I loved it. Chayce, Chanley, and Chayden went ahead to make sure we had an exit without turning around. Needless to say they were out of the cave and back in waiting for us for a bit. They kept yelling to make sure mom was ok. I will tell ya, that is one thing that is nice about all these sons, is that they make sure that Momma is taken care of! I couldn't ask for anything better! We finally made it out of the cave and had to walk a bit to get back to the Tahoe, it was perfect!
We decided to head back home and go thru Hatch, on into Coral Pink Sand Dunes to let the "kids" play in the sand. Jeff was wishing pretty hard that his four wheeler would just appear in front of him so he could ride it. The kids went "rolling" down the hills, getting sand in places you wouldn't care to know! The storm was working it's way to us, and by the time we were back in the car after playing there for an hour, it started to rain. We headed back over the Caines Bed Road that Jeff had heard so much about and had to explore. We renamed it "beer can road". They were everywhere on the side of the road.
We made it back home in six, one pieces safely. We even had a little bit of leftover energy to make dinner and have a great evening to the perfect "mini-vacation" day with our great little family! We absolutely love these days, and we will miss them.....when they're gone that is!!!

I HATE PICTURES OF MYSELF

Ok, here is the deal. I needed an UPDATED picture of myself for my new business cards. I have been trying to find the time to take one for the last couple months. Finally it is down to the wire, and I can wait no longer! I made the switch to St George GMAC Real Estate from another company and at that point needed new cards, DUH!!!! Well, I was going to just use my old photo, but Jeff finally informed me how he hadn't particularly liked that photo! He thought I was much prettier than it turned out in that photo. HELLO..... I have been using that photo for about 2 years!!! Thanks for finally telling me this now! RIGHT???? Well, ok, down to the point....I am at the point where I need it done TODAY! So, I ask Jeff if he will take the photo for me. He is like more than willing to. YA!!! SO, I get all ready and tell him I need it done now. He is pretty excited at this point...literally!!!! So we are trying to find a good spot that is not dark or too bright (I thought). He has the great idea he wants to take it on the back porch, about 9:30 AM, facing the EAST.....FIGURE THAT OUT!!! I said no way, I will be squinting in between my sneezing...not a good idea. He doesn't like my disagreeance of the choice he made. So back inside we go. We find a spot in the kitchen, and I guess I was not to clear on WHAT PART of me I needed a picture of. I end up with like all these pictures of not my face, if you get my drift!!! I get totally peaved and tell him I will just pay someone else that can handle the task, he goes into his office and closes the door. Well, I still need the picture done today, and Chayce is hanging out with me. YA you get my point. Chayce is a great picture taker, when he presses the right button, and holds it long enough, and gets it straight, with me actually in the picture, and is super short so I am actually looking down. Ya, obviously that didn't work out too well. I call Jeff back in and finally get the picture taken...turned out just fine, but it was interesting getting to that point!!! Thought I would share!
GREAT TIMES!!!!!

We are taking the plunge....

Jeff and I are finally starting our process to go back to school. WOW, alot of stuff to do! We have both applied to SUU. We are wanting to start in the fall of this year. Jeff is being very optimistic on his calendar days on how many credit hours he is pursuing. I, on the other hand, will probably only take one or two classes to start out with and see how my time management skills actually are!!! It will be interesting. We are both excited though. I have a very long road ahead of me. Jeff should be done in half the time as me. He has also found a position in Sevier County that he would love to have, so he is in the process of scoping out that opportunity. It will be interesting to see what happens. It is amazing how you want to do something or have something you want to pursue things start to fall into place for ya. I am absolutely amazed at how things work out. I will keep ya posted on how our progress goes with this whole school thing!! In the meantime it's work, work, work!!!! : ) But I am sure you know what I mean!!

Chayden's perception of a brush...

On our way to the library Thursday, July 3 we were running a little bit late. We started walking out of the house to leave, and I look up as I am ussuring children out the door, and Chayden is standing at the top of the stairs stark naked. OH WOW!!! What else, when you are super late, right! Well, I guess he wasn't getting himself dressed today, he wanted me to do it for him. Ok, fine. Gather him some clothes, put them on. Ask him to go grab the brush and the hairspray and I will come his hair on the way. Meanwhile I go out and get the rest of the kids buckled up ready to go. This time we brought our friend Kellen with us. He is a well-behaved kid that lives near us. I come back in to see if Chayden is almost back down from his errand I sent him on, and he is looking for his shoes. He is carrying a "PAINTBRUSH." I asked what he thought I was going to do with a paintbrush on his hair, and you could almost see the light go off in his head that I actually wanted a hairbrush!! WHOA, the things our kids come up with!

I LOST MY PERMANENT TOOTH

Last night, wednesday, Chayce was outside with Jeff and I while Jeff was fixing a bike. It was about ten thirty or so. Chayce was climbing our front tree, and for some silly reason had a rope that he was holding on to with his front teeth. He climbed it safely, then started to get out of the tree when, I am still not quite sure how, but he fell out of the tree and started screaming. "My permanent tooth, my permanent tooth!" He was holding his mouth and blood was oozing out of his gums, immediately he fell to the floor and started looking for his tooth. Apparently it was just his side tooth right nest to his front top premanent tooth. He freaked out that it was still his permanent tooth. Then you see Chayce, Courtney, and myself on the ground with this huge spotlight and a couple flashlights looking for a tiny little baby tooth in a bunch of rocks....NO LUCK!!!! Can't find the tooth, but Chayce is not too sad because apparently the Tooth Fairy still came to visit him. He made a quarter of off the whole deal. Now he walks around with his quarter telling everyone his tooth story. Maybe he should've gotten more than a quarter huh, what a cheap Tooth Fairy!!! LOL!

Dogs are very Smart

This was Wednesday, the day before the whole In-n-Out, Library trip and Kellee and I had the marvelous thought getting beck from scrapbooking that we should invite Charity tonight to go to the library with us tomorrow. It was 10 o'clock at night or 10 in the morning. We chose to invite her tonight. I go to the door, and the lights are still on, so I knocked. She answered and came outside with us, Wiley is one of her dogs, and can get out of the house by himself because of the type of handles they have on their doors. Well, we heard him behind her scratching at the door and didn't open it so we didn't think too much about it. Until she decides to go back inside, and we were headed back across the street to get kids into bed, and same with Kellee, when behind me I hear Charity say my name sounding a little scared. WILEY LOCKED HER OUT! She was barefoot, and didn't have her keys, cell phone, or anything else that could get her back into her house. David, her husband was out of town, so we could not call him. They have a friend that has a spare, so we call him. We only have the phonebook, so have to call his house, and of course he doesn't answer. His cell number is in her cell phone inside the house. Of course, with her husband gone, she has her house locked tighter than tight! All of the windows are locked, every door is dead bolted, even the garage door is bolted shut. Her windows even have reinforced locks on some of them. SAFE HOUSE!!!! It was virtually impossible to break into without busting the windows. Jeff and Dave (our other neighbor), and Courtney (Kellee's husband) work on this for a while. We decide to go to hurricane where her friend lives to see if we can get the key. He is not there, and the keys are nowhere to be found. We get back home, and try some more to get in, and finally after about another hour or so, are successful! It was now about midnight or later. Her husband David had tried calling her 5 times but her phone was inside the house, she was now concerned he was freaking out. She stayed calm and waited til morning and he called her back and had a good laugh at he situation the previous night. So everything worked out just fine, and we found some humor in it.

WOW!!! I am loosing it!!

Thursday, June 26th...Kellee and I went to the library for story-time and invited our sweet neighbor to come along. Our usual "Traditional" story-time date is we go to the library, and participate in story-time, then checkout books, and then we go to MacDonald's. Sounds bad when you think about it because there are a total of 8 kids between the two of us....it's really not too bad, we kind of have it down. This time Charity came, mind you she is pregnant with her FIRST baby, but she is a second grade teacher. She has very good patience!!! Here is how it started..... We had to drive our van because Kellee was maxed on her seat capacity in her truck. No problem other than, the air conditioning is out. Well, maybe we will not be in the car too long for it to make a huge problem for us. Well, then after story-time our kids draw prizes if they read all their books for the week, this time they happen to draw coupons for Del taco (Kellee's kids) and Charity says she has never been to In-n-Out Burger. WHICH IS A BIG MISTAKE AROUND KELLEE AND I!!! We love that place. It happens to be right next door to Del taco...see where we went with this!!! YEP!!! We drove into St. George with no air, and only the driver side window rolls down, because the passenger side tends to not roll back up. We get all the kids situated at Del taco. Kellee stays with the kids while Charity and I walk to In-N-Out to get the ADULT Food. Outside was no cars thru the drivethru, WE SHOULD HAVE DRIVEN THRU!!! Inside was everyone!!! Finally we get our food, get back and we all eat.
Then, we get to attempt the errands I have to run. We have to go to Lowe's to get stuff for the garden, and Verizon to get a new phone because mine has finally broke enough that it is not working. We decide to go to Verizon first. We get there, which is actually in Bloomington and we came from Washington where we ate WITH NO AIR STILL!!!! The kids by this point are all wound up from the play place at Del taco, so have no interest in behaving in the quiet cell phone store. Luckily the person we are going to see is my cousin Karl, and there is only one other person in there and he works there...not too bad. Come to find out, the phone I want they do not stock, they have to order (which is a whole new story!!)
Now we get to go to Lowe's, which is in St George on the far east side (Yep we are backtracking, with a pregnant lady, and NO AIR!!) Get to Lowe's and find our section for the tomato blossom spray, and this man starts up a conversation with me about what I think works and what doesn't. Not a big deal; however, my kids by this point are climbing in the shelves, out of control because Mom is distracted, and Charity is like "OK, WOW" she didn't say anything, bless her heart, but I am sure she was thinking it. I had a basket that I had Charger in and Chayden was having issues with staying inside of it!! When I was talking to my new friend, I felt "the basket" brush up against me and I reach out and grab it without looking, out of habit. I finish talking with the man and turn to look at the basket and get a head count for kids at the same time Charity is gently tapping my arm to make me aware of THE BASKET I am holding. IT WAS NOT MINE! It was another man's that is just standing there looking at me. Once I realize, I pull my hand off in sheer embarrassment, and his reply was "it's ok, I would've went with ya!" OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I was so embarrassed!! Charity of course was laughing pretty hard, and I was rushing to gather my children and get out of the store.
We finally make it back home safely, Charity seemed to survive the whole thing, and was very polite might I add. But, WOW, I say, WHAT A TRIP!!! I love it though, and I will miss it one day, I am positive!