Marriage Retreat

Caleb is happy he has his own bed, at the hotel

Joseph is stuck in this swing

Joseph and Sam in their bed

Austin and Betsy in their bed

Travis in front of the "popcorn popping" tree, as I call it.  It even lights up as different colors at night
 

This week, Austin decided to be sick on the day that I needed to can peaches.  So all day I canned peaches, made strawberry jam, and strawberry/peach/pear fruit leather.  A lady in the ward with 3 of her small children came over, and I taught her how to can and make strawberry jam.  It was a very busy day.  But at the end of the day I had 29 quarts of peaches and she had 12.  We made tons of strawberry jam, and fruit leather.  Austin helped me, once she started feeling better, and we had a good time.  Wednesday, Caleb and I waited at the Uhaul storage unit for an hour and a half trying to get into the storage unit that some of our stuff had fallen into from our 2nd story unit we had our stuff in over the summer.  They were auctioning off that unit, and Caleb and I had to wait until they were all done, before we could get in and get some of our stuff that was in the back, and we never did find our missing sleigh bed piece.  Wednesday night I was going to an FRG coffee (just a get together for the officer's wives of the battalion)(no actual coffee)(although their was wine, I didn't drink any).  Anyway that morning Travis told me he had to teach institute that night, so I had to scramble for a babysitter, which thankfully I found.  I really enjoyed meeting some of the ladies, they were a very fun, and energetic group.  We ate yummy food, and played a game, kind of a trivia game, and pretty fun.  I had a really good time.  Our main event this week was going on a marriage retreat to Vail, CO that Travis and one other chaplain were in charge of.  We took the kids out of school early, Friday morning, and drove the three hours to Vail, CO.  The drive went perfectly.  I rented some redbox movies for the kids, and Caleb slept almost the whole way.  I read Thomas Monson's biography to Travis while we were driving.  The drive to Vail was absolutely beautiful.  The trees were changing colors, and there were beautiful yellow, oranges, and reds mixed in withe green coniferous trees.  The hotel we stayed in was nice, and we had two-adjoining rooms.  Once we had unpacked, the kids and I went out and enjoyed their heated outdoor pool, while Travis attended to his chaplain duties.  We had the pool to ourselves, and enjoyed playing sharks and minnows, duck-duck-goose, and London bridges among other games.  Once the kids got tired of that (well they weren't tired, I was) we went and soaked in their king-sized hot tub.  All our meals were provided by the hotel (buffet-style), some of the food was good, and some wasn't that great, but we were always able to find something to eat.  And the girls loved the endless supply of cookies and brownies.  Childcare was also provided by the hotel (of course the army paid for it all) for the 4 different marriage retreat sessions that we went to.  We also had free time, and Travis and I even had a date time, where they watched the kids, and we went and explored Vail for 2 1/2 hours.  We walked through the Betty Ford gardens, and wandered through all the shops and things to see in Vail Village.  I should of taken more pictures, but I kept forgetting.  We took the kids to this playground area near the Betty Ford gardens that was amazing.  It was like a castle with tons of bridges, slides, steps, ropes, see saws and swings.  The kids had a blast.  Caleb didn't like going to childcare, but he always calmed down, and we didn't have to go back and get him.  The older kids, Samuel, Betsy, Austin, and Joseph got to go on the Gondola ride up the mountain and do a little hiking that the childcare workers took them to on Saturday.  Austin said that's the first time she has ever had butterflies in her stomach.  We had a wonderful time, and Travis did a great job leading the marriage sessions.  Most of it was videos of a stand-up comedian/pastor teaches us about the different ways men's and women's brains are different, and how it affects our relationship called "Laugh your way to a better marriage".  It was pretty hilarious, and taught some really good things.  We drove home today, hoping to catch a sacrament meeting along the way home, but hit traffic, and missed the meeting.  But made it home safe and sound.  I read to Travis again, so at dinner tonight, I told the kids all the stories about Pres. Monson as a kid.  They loved them!

Betsy's Baptism and adventures

Betsy's Baptism dress that we made from an over sized t-shirt and some accessories

Caleb loves to spin the pinwheels

Sam and Joseph being gladiators

Joseph rock climbing

On Friday, Joseph had a swimming class about 1/2 mile from home, so the kids and I rode our bikes to drop him off at the swimming pool.  We looked quite the site, with me in front with Caleb on my bike, and then four kids riding behind me on their bikes.  We made it just fine, and then rode our bikes back home.  When it was time to go get him, we rode our bikes to go get him again and did fine until we had a turn, and Samuel was going too fast and slid across the gravel into a tree.  He was fine, just scraped up his hands and chest a little bit.  On Saturday, the kids and I went to a bike race at the park the Chick-fil-A was hosting, and we heard there would be some free food.  Well there wasn't any free food, but they had fun playing in the bounce houses and things there.  Then we went to the Chick-fil-A restaurant afterwards, because everyone was hungry, and discovered that if the kids drew a picture of their favorite hero they would get a free kids meal.  The kids were way excited, and colored their pictures and got their free food.  After we got Betsy home, we were talking about Betsy's Baptism, and Betsy asked where her white dress was, to wear at her baptism.  I told her she would wear the white jumper at the church to be baptized in.  Betsy told me she really wanted a white dress to wear, because it would make her feel clean and pure.  So I called up a boy in the ward to babysit, and took Betsy dress shopping.  We couldn't find any white dresses anywhere, so we finally bought and over sized white T-shirt, and then went to the craft store, and bought some lace, and little white flowers, and came home and I altered it, and added lace and flowers to turn it into her baptism dress.  While I was putting the lace on the bottom of the dress, my sewing machine broke, so I had to finish sewing it by hand.  Travis got home from being in the field, and we got to talk as I finished sewing.  Betsy's Baptism went really well, except for Caleb being really fussy, and Sam grabbing the microphone right as Austin was saying the opening prayer, and yelling "boo".  I played the piano, and Travis lead the music.  Joseph gave a short Baptism talk, and then Betsy was baptized.  I sang a song to Betsy, and then Travis gave the Holy Ghost talk, and Betsy was confirmed.  We had everyone write letters to Betsy, so she can keep them in a book.  Betsy said she felt warm and clean inside

Caleb, Betsy and I at her Baptism

Daddy and Caleb reading together

the back of Caleb as he is running away, once he is caught messing with the flour

the front of Caleb after playing in the flour

the tracks Caleb left all down the entry way

the flour mess Caleb made

On wed. this week it was pouring down rain the entire day.  Normally it only rains about 15 minutes here, so after taking the kids to school, I let Travis take the car to work instead of riding his bike.  Unfortunately, the weather never let up, so I ended up needing to take Caleb in the jogger stroller and going to pick up the car from Travis' work, so I could pick them up from school.  I didn't want Austin walking home in the rain, because she had been sick.  I put the rain cover over the jogger stroller, and Caleb and I took off.  I would jog for a while and then walk, and then jog again.  I haven't gone running in a long time, so this was a big workout for me.  I knew how to get to Travis' work in the car, but the jogging path was different, and ended up taking me down a different road, without me realizing it.  I went 20 min. in the wrong direction.  I called the school and told them I was going to be late, but the bell had already rung, so they couldn't get them any messages.  I finally got to the car after an hour of running/walking through the pouring rain and red mud.  Caleb stayed nice and dry in the jogger stroller, but wasn't happy to be in the stroller for that long.  I drove home to check to see if the kids made it home, and opened up the door, and the kids were sitting there watching T.V.  I'm glad they made it home safely.  I changed into clean wet clothes, and drank a lot of water.  I was sure sore the next day. 

Friday, Travis took Sam and Joseph on the father/son ward camp out.  I think they had a good time.  The girls, Caleb and I had a good time as well.  Saturday morning, we picked up our huge order at bountiful baskets, we ordered lots of peaches and strawberries so we could do some more canning and jam making.  Then we came home and walked around the neighborhood garage sales, since it was the post-wide yard sale.  We found lots of good deals, including a new couch and dresser.  Travis and the boys got back that afternoon, and spent the rest of the day cleaning up after camping. 

Today Caleb got into the flour, while the kids and I were playing games, and Sam fell in the garage while playing on the Gazelle (exercise equipment) and bit through his lip and scraped up his chin.  The poor kid is still healing up from his bike accident, and gets hurt again. 

"Hi dear, I'm leaving in 5 min., be back Sat. night"

Today was quite the busy day.  The morning was filled with getting lunches made, eating breakfast, finding backpacks, shoes, helmets, and having morning devotional.  As soon as Caleb and I got back from taking the kids to school, we ate our own breakfast and showered.  Then I made a quinoa, chicken, grape, salad to take to PWOC (Protestant Women of the Church), it's a bible study that I go to every Tuesday, as part of my chaplain wife duties.  I called the CYS (child, youth, services) registration to see if I could take Caleb to the on-site child care, and they said I was finally registered, and I could come pick up Caleb's traveling folder (I have to have that to receive child care services) So, Caleb and I rushed to get all ready to go by 9am, and drove over to pick up his folder.  When I got there they said they just realized that Caleb was late on some of his immunizations, (they told me he was fine before), and that I would need to either get the immunizations, or have a dr. note saying he is on a catch-up schedule.  So I drove over to PWOC and dropped off the food, then went to the hospital to the pediatric clinic to try and get a dr. note.  They told me that the nurse would have to take care of it, and she would call me when it was ready, and that she had 72 hours to do it.  So Caleb and I drove home and missed PWOC this week.  We played around at home until it was time to get the kids from school.  As soon as we got back, we realized Travis was home from work.  But, unfortunatley he was just packing and getting ready to leave.  He told us he was leaving to go out in the field with the soilders and would be back Saturday Night, and that his ride was coming in 5 minutes.  Talk about a shock.  I quickly told all the kids what was going on, and we said our goodbyes and he left.  After that came getting kids snacks, helping them with HW, and then getting dinner ready, eating, and then taking the girls to activity days, and Joseph to scouts.  We came home, and I put all the kids to bed, and now I'm off to bed.  Whew...made it

Things I learned this weekend

Things I learned this weekend:

It is not a good idea to peel garlic, and then go put my contacts in

I don't know If I will ever have a smooth Sunday morning getting ready for church

In a primary class of 7 boys and 1 girl, at least 2 of the boys are bound to be trouble-makers

Carrying a 7 year old boy to class becuase he refuses to walk is pretty ridiculous

Even when I talk to the kids on the way to church about good behavior, they still fight over who sits next to me, and Samuel still throws an etch-a-sketch across the metal chairs we are sitting on

When we go as a family to walk all over base to deliver cookies, I should really change out of my Sunday Shoes.

When we go to Denver to go to the temple, I need to bring food for a picnic, it costs way too much money to feed our whole family at a restaurant.

When the army does their best to protect their walls from doors (those door stoppers that screw into the bottom of the wall) my boys will unscrew the doorstop, and slam the door into the wall and make a huge hole

If we buy Caleb shoes with squeekers in them from the farmer's market, we will always know where Caleb is, but everyone will look at us