$20 and 100,000 Sky Miles

$20 and 100,000 Sky Miles got our family of six to Anchorage Alaska to visit my sister Cathie and her family last week. It was an amazing and beautiful adventure. I will let the pictures do most of the talking. We arrived on the night of summer solstice so the daylight was endless and kept us playing around the clock.

The first morning of the trip we spent at the Eagle River Nature Center. It was so beautiful. None of the pictures will give Alaska justice. There is one of the almost 20 moose we saw on our first day just over Caleb's shoulder.


There were lots of cool trees. Cathie and I have eight kids seven and younger between the two of us. The kids didn't slow us down much - in fact, they kept us quite busy.


The Cara Tree.


Caleb and Colter in a twisty tree.


A little after 10 PM Josh, Keith and I went biking from Flat Top to Hill Top. This was one of the highlights for Josh because we just biked down hill. This picture was taken around mid night and our faces say it all. I have never mountain biked so I was wide eyed and nervous and Josh was in heaven.


One afternoon we went rafting down Campbell Creek which runs through Cathie's back yard.


We went to Beluga Point in the Cook Inlet to whale watch, we didn't see any, but we had fun. Josh has made a tradition of rock balancing when we go on vacation.


It was hard enough to get the kids in the picture at the temple, to ask them to be reverent would have been way too much.


Most of the beaches around Anchorage have quick sand, but we did learn about one beach we could hike to. Emi and Cara thought they were going to Mexico and enjoyed the water and sand in their swim suits. I don't think the temperature ever even hit 70 while we were there, but it was nice in the 60's with a jacket.


Andy spent day after day throwing rocks into the ocean, the lakes, the rivers, and the streams. He was so content.


We went to a real working gold mine, the Historic Crow Creek Gold Mine. Luckily Emi hit the guy up for money when she turned in her panning equipment. Between the kids there were eight tiny gold flakes and the guy was willing to trade them for a candy bar each. I thought that was a heck of a lot better than loosing them.


We did the Hand Tram Hike near Girdwood. There is a hand tram that hikers use to get to the other side of Glacier Creek canyon. Here Cathie is crossing with a bunch of the kids.


It was a beautiful canyon. I have no idea how deep it was, but here is an attempt to show. I had no idea that I would be hiking though rain forest in Alaska.


On the other side of the canyon was another river with a beautiful waterfall.




We spent our final three days and two nights at the Upper Ohmer Cabin in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. About a quarter of a mile from the road was the small Upper Ohmer lake and cabin. We stayed in the only cabin on the lake which was 3-5 yards from the waters edge. It was the Alaskan dream complete with a row boat. (I sure wish I would have taken a picture of the cabin.) Even though we had a cabin it was CAMPING. The cabin had plyboard bunk beads and no running water or electricity.


The kids had a great time and got really dirty. The bummer of the trip was the mosquitoes. I have never seen as many mosquitoes as I did on this trip. They were terrible. We came home covered in bits even though we used a lot of repellent. Andy's souvenir from the trip is going to be a scar above his eyebrow. We aren't really sure what happened, but he hit it against something at Cathie's house.


Caleb got to shoot the bb gun.


Josh is always available to entertain.


Ali was the perfect baby on the trip. She is almost four months and slept 10+ hour nights. She was flexible and rolled with the punches. Really I can't think of one single thing that was hard about her on the trip, just the extra 15 pounds she added to my already out of shape body as I packed her on the hikes.


Unfortunatly while we were there the salmon were not running like they were supposed to be. Josh spent a couple of hours fishing the Kenai River and we looked for salmon at the Russian River and didn't see anything. BUT Caleb, Colter and Cathie did see two black bear. We also had to hit our brakes for a black bear crossing the road near the cabin.


Caleb's favorite part of the trip was fishing, even though there were no salmon. Josh caught a few trout in the lake.


One of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing the salmon jump up the river at Russian River Falls. It was almost a five mile round trip hike which was like a walk around the block for the Coombs family but was totally exhausting for my family. Luckily the little ones got to take turns riding and even napping. Keith and Cathie are so strong I think they could have carried all eight kids all by themselves.


It was incredible to see the strength of the salmon jumping up the falls.


Our final hike was Bear Mountain. It provided an incredible view of the many lakes in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.


It was really the trip of a lifetime. Thanks so much to the Coombs Family for making it so great! We love you and miss you! Now that we have come to visit you can move back to Utah!

If three doesn't kill you . . .

I have been told that if having three kids doesn’t kill you then having four will. It was really the transitions to one and two that were tough for me, and currently it is number one and number two, namely Caleb and Cara that continue to make life crazy. Andy and Ali are a breeze. I really don’t think my life is much harder with Andy and Ali than it would be with just Caleb and Cara. One thing I have found with four kids is that I almost never get all of the laundry done in one day. I used to do all laundry on Mondays, but now I do it all on Monday but I have a bonus load or two on Fridays too.

When I see other people walking around in a store or on another outing with four little kids I look at them and think they must be insane. How could they possibly go with one adult and four kids six and under to the store? But somehow it seems like no problem when it is me. Caleb pushes an extra cart so that we have room for food (which in a way makes it better than when I go with just Andy and Ali.) This strategy also keeps him from running around. I may not look like I have things under control. (Like to the people waiting in line while we were trying to pick a movie at Red Box today. It was Cara’s turn to pick and none of the movies she wanted were in that particular box. Caleb was trying to talk her into letting him pick as the line got longer and longer and then of course there was the fight about who was going to get the movie out of the vending machine.) BUT usually I feel like I have things under control.

There is one major exception to my feeling of control and order and that is CHURCH. I feel like a crazy person at church. This is really mean to Josh, but I love to sit in the mothers room during Sacrament Meeting, and I need to anyway so that Ali is content for both hours of primary. Sacrament meeting is madness. We have simplified. We don’t bring treats or any activity beyond paper and pencils. That has helped allot, but the kids are still loud and crazy. Andy’s anxiety about nursery has made matters worse and it is a constant battle in primary with Caleb. He wants to follow me around rather than sit with his class. This week we dropped Andy off at nursery and Josh went to teach his primary class. After about 10 minutes I was getting ready to go up to teach sharing time. Caleb came to the back of the primary room as they brought Andy in, he wouldn’t stop crying. I asked Caleb to hold Andy and he banged his head against the wall. I must have had a look of terror on my face because the nursery leader promptly took Andy from Caleb without saying a word and we didn’t see Andy again. Oh the irony, Caleb and Cara both went to nursery perfectly. Now that Josh and I are both busy both hours Andy is freaking out.

With the exception of Church, Andy is the perfect kid. He just exists. He follows the other kids around and is almost always happy. He loves to dance and play basketball. Yesterday Josh was channel surfing at my parents and he came across a basketball game. Andy started screaming and clapping and laughing. He was so happy to watch the playoffs. He isn’t just a ball kid, he is a basketball kid. Easily, his favorite toy is the basketball hoop. Tonight I had the garbage can out and he was trying to shoot hoops from his high chair with his food. Andy has changed my world. He is the baby that made me want to have another one right away and he is the toddler that is making having four little kids manageable.


I don’t think Cara can be called “Sweet Caroline” any more. She has entered a very difficult stage. She scrams, cries, and complains. She has turned into the kind of girly girl that I have always bragged she wasn’t. She plays with her cute girlfriends out in the cul-de-sac and they have a great time being girly together. She went to her friend Taylor’s fourth birthday party last week. They wore dancing outfits and Taylor’s mom gave them darling tutu’s and fairy wings. They did make-up and fingernails; they made bracelets, and put glitter in their hair. The three of them came to the door after the party and informed me that they had come for me to take their picture.


Caleb continues to be my challenge. I pray that Heavenly Father will help me to teach him how to control his body and to respect people. I took him to a counselor last month to see if we could get some professional guidance. We came to no conclusion except that I am going to have to exercise super human parenting skills to guide him. He has so much energy that needs to be channeled. I am hopeful that the more involved he becomes extra curricularly as he gets older the better off we will all be. I have wondered if he has a sleep disorder because more often than not it takes him hours to fall asleep. I believe that is partially responsible for his mood swings and possibly also for his bedwetting. When I have mentioned this to my pediatrician he blows me off, but we don’t have insurance that would cover any testing so I am not sure I want to go to the expense of finding out if my hypothesis is right anyway. We seem to be on a good system this summer. He has certain jobs he has to do every day and he earns points for each job. He has to do the jobs before he can play outside, get on the computer or play video games, but if he does them without resisting he gets more points. When he gets to 100 points we will go swimming. We could potentially go swimming every week.


Ali is just a little joy. We all love her so much. She is the model “Baby Wise” baby. She eats at 8:00, 10:30, 1:00, 4:00, 7:00 and 10:00. She sleeps though the night. She almost never cries. She knows I will feed her with out her crying and after she eats she enjoys her awake time. When she starts to fuss I bundle her up and put her in her crib for a nap. How easy is that? She really is about that easy. Breast-feeding has been going much better for me this time than before. I think there are two major reasons why I don’t hate it as bad. First, she doesn’t bite. Andy and Cara were both biters. Second, I give her a bottle for her 1:00 feeding and for her 7:00 feeding. That is a nice brake for me. She is passed around and held by people of all sizes. The primary kids race to me after church to get her. She is a great sport about it all. She is the perfect baby so I will just enjoy that while it lasts. At her two-month well child visit she was 11 lbs. 3 oz. in the 50%. Here she is giving Grandpa Arnold one of her sweet smiles.

2400 Miles

I can’t seem to get caught up from vacationing over Memorial Day weekend. We went on an incredibly spontaneous road trip, and I feel like I have an endless list of things to do to catch up. Our yard looks terrible, and it appears as if we will not be planting a garden this year. I seem to be buried in laundry and housework, and last week I felt like I was constantly doing church work. I have hardly been taking time to check my email although I have been looking forward to blogging about this trip.

Josh’s Grandpa has been declining in health very quickly. Over the past six months Josh and I have both felt a strong desire and responsibility to take the kids to see him. (We haven’t seen him since before Andy was born.) He is confined to a nursing home in Plentywood, Montana, which is 14+ hours of driving time from here without stops. There is no easy way to do that trip! Grandpa Arnold became ill last month and we were scared that he might pass away without our taking the trip so on Monday the 31st we decided that if Josh’s big real estate deal closed (so we had a little extra money) we would leave on Thursday. Wednesday it closed and we left on Thursday morning. The thing that made this crazy 2400 mile road trip possible was the use of our friends motor home. It only took one road trip in an RV to convince me that is the only way to go.

We drove from 9 AM to midnight on Thursday to arrive in Plentywood, Montana at Grandma Betty’s house. Josh's brother Gabe came along and helped out with the driving and enjoyed the trip with us. The kids were so excited to ride in the motor home.


Josh had an air card which allowed him to work and be on the internet using cell phone signal.


We watched movies and relaxed. (Caleb is pro at watching movies.)


We took naps (Andy and Gabe taking a little rest.) And we relaxed like we would have never been able to do in a car.


Grandma Betty and Grandma Sharon (Josh’s mom) were both up waiting for us. It was wonderful to be together. Josh's sister, Sara, moved to Plentywood last fall to help Grandma and Grandpa, and we haven't seen her since Christmas. It was great to spend time with her as well. Our time in Plentywood was worth the drive. When we asked Caleb his favorite part of the trip that was it. Here is the whole gang.


Grandpa was able to visit with us both days. He has a heart melting smile, and he would light up when the kids would give him hugs. I loved being with him. Here are the boys with him.


Ali's middle name is Sophia which is Grandma Betty's real first name. (She is also named after her Grandma.) Betty loved all of the kids but she especially seemed to enjoy holding her little name sake.


Saturday afternoon we headed South to Great Falls, South Dakota where we went to church on Sunday morning and then to Mt. Rushmore. My big regret for the trip is that in our haste I didn't research Mt. Rushmore at all. I thought it was something that you just drive to, snap a picture, and keep driving. I only scheduled about an hour to be there, but I learned that the Black Hills are beautiful and there are a lot of touristy things to do. Like sit on the lap of Abraham Lincoln.


I wish that we would have had a day or two scheduled so that we could have really taken time to soak it all in. Mt. Rushmore itself was awesome. It was smaller than I thought, but somehow better.


Sunday night we stopped in Denver and spent the night with my dear cousen, Emily and her family. The kids had a great time together and we adults enjoyed our visit too.


The last destination on our road trip was Arches National Park. Where we hiked Delicate Arch. It is just one of those things a person needs to do. It was beautiful.


The kids might look a little scared in this picture. They were hanging on to each other for dear life.


I was a little nerve wracked myself with small children and very steep rock cliffs.


This was what we have been calling a bucket list trip. We did and saw some things that many people only ever dream about. Most importantly we spent some quality time with Grandma Betty and Grandpa Arnold. We are so blessed.

Soccer

Caleb LOVES soccer. The season went really fast for me. I haven't even blogged about it and it is over. I don't think I am a big fan of spring soccer because of the crazy unpredictable weather, but it sure is fun when the weather is nice. Caleb is an aggressive player. He isn't the fastest guy on the team, but he seems to hang out in the right spot or else he is really lucky. I thought it was a fluke last year when he scored at every single game, but he scored at 7 of the 8 games he played this year too. One of our friends overheard Josh tell him that if he scored at least three goals that we would go out for ice cream after. She couldn't believe Josh would create such high expectations, but then she started watching Caleb and realized he was totally capable. He did score three goals at most of the games. It was fun to watch him. (When the weather was good.) I don't know how Josh and I ended up with an athlete, but it is fun. He isn't a great runner, but he really likes to play and be aggressive.



The team this year was really fun because every kid was from our ward. It was great to cheer for kids that I already know and love.

Bountiful Baskets

We have been having so much fun using the variety of fruits and veggies in our Bountiful Baskets over the past few months. (For those of you who don't know, Bountiful Baskets is a coop that provides highly discounted fruits and vegetables to its members. Each Saturday we pick up a basket full of a variety of fresh produce. We don't pick what we get, everyone gets the same things.) Thank goodness for Google so that we can learn about some of the produce and how to use it. A few weeks ago the kids and I had a great time preparing and steaming artichokes. We didn't love the way they tasted, but the process was fun.



This week we have to figure out Brussels Sprouts. It is fun to get creative, and having a bunch of fresh produce has helped me enjoy being in the kitchen a little bit more.

Ali's Blessing

Ali was blessed on May 2nd. The day could not have gone better. She was awake and peaceful during her blessing, and Josh did a great job. We had my parents, Merle, Christie (Jeff), Cody (Steph), and Connie (Colby) all there from my family, and Josh's parents, Grandma Alice, Christina (Ross), and Gabe from Josh's family. We had a delicious brunch of crepes, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit and veggies after sacrament meeting. She looked beautiful in her dress. I am hoping someone has a better picture than this of our family, but this will have to due for now.



I had pictures taken of her this week. She is two months old. I just love her. (It was hard to pick just a few pictures to post.)











She officially smiles so sweetly. On her blessing day she gave some great grins. She is also waking up. She wants me to hold her more often than I have time for so today I ordered her a great new mobile. Hopefully it will provide some good entertainment for her and keep her out of reach of her loving brother Andy. He can't get enough of her. He literally wants to eat her. He has been known to bite her head and to lick her. I have to closely supervise.