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!