Weekend in McCall

Our weekend getaway with our friends the Petersons proved to be exactly what we needed. It was great to sit and know that the only thing on the agenda was more sitting. Our kids played great together and the only fighting I heard came from the two two-year-olds. And, even those fights were just noise, no hitting, biting, or knocking down this time around. Whew!

JArom caught up on some much needed rest.

Games, play station, and wii entertained these kids almost 8 hours a day. It was great! (Now it's back to reality for all of them, no more rotting their brains away.)

Time for a soak. Watch out for those intake jets though; they leave giant hickeys on your back. Just ask Jarom. LOL!

A little pool, but make sure you play alone, cause fingers whacked by pool balls hurt!

A bunch of good friends. Seriously, I don't think my kids have ever played better than they did with these cute boys this weekend. At one point I heard someone ask, "Are we cousins or just friends?" When it was time to leave, Ethan asked if Halle could come home with him. He said, "She's a Peterson now." We asked if they had gotten married (which I thought would bring a giggle or a "gross"), but they both said, "YEAH!) Uh-oh...

Zane and Alyssa had such a great time together. They are a lot alike, so it makes spending time together effortless.

Thank heavens for wireless internet. Don't worry world, we still knew what you were up too.

The kids had lots of fun in the snow! The cabin is on a hill and the driveway made the best sledding hill. Even I went down (once).

Sometimes those snow clothes can be a little difficult to remove.

Jarom and Brad waiting to eat. We decided to make a trek into town for dinner one night. The kids were really quite well behaved. Oh and by the way, "Hey Jennifer? Ha, ha, you got the word!"

Mommies and their boys waiting for dinner. (Well, one of Jennifer's boys anyway.)

And a trip isn't complete without a visit to the doctor. It was Jarom's turn this time. He had what we thought was a BIG zit on his forehead, but after his ENTIRE forehead swelled we realized that it wasn't a zit. The doc told him he has a staff infection and gave him some antibiotics. Here's hoping they work and he doesn't have MRSA like some other people we know have had in the past. (Brandon, the two of you could be in Horton Hears a Who with your Whoville nose and his Whoville head!)

We had left Jarom's Mustang parked at the Farnsworth's house so we stopped in for a short visit on our way home. David was ELATED when JArom offered to let him drive it to the corner and back. (He's only 14, remember how much fun driving was when you weren't allowed to do it yet?)
Look at the sheer bliss on his face.

Enjoying a little sun after the snow. (Now we're back home in the snow. Boo...but it's melting!!)

THANKS for such a nice weekend guys!!!!!!!

Weekend of Adventure

Whew....so it's been a very busy weekend for us. We decided to drive to Boise and enjoy some warmer weather, visit our dad, and see some friends. We managed to do quite a bit, but sickness rained on our parade. :(

Friday we arrived and settled in for the weekend at our friend's the Farnsworths' house. That evening I started to feel a slight sore throat and by bed time I was miserable with a fever, aches, and nasty tonsils. (I knew it couldn't be good.)

Saturday recap:
Ron was so nice to let Carter help make the eggs. He had SOOO much fun being the little chef.

The Farnsworths spoiled us with homemade donuts for breakfast. The kids (especially Halle) had a ball dipping the donuts into their choice of 4 different icings and then nuts, coconut, sprinkles of all kinds, or sugar. I don't know that my kids will ever want to stay in a hotel again after this weekend.

The Tooth Fairy had to find us in Boise too! And she surprised Alyssa with a Samoan coin (plus an American buck too). Alyssa loves to collect coins from other countries, so this was a fun surprise.

Kate and cute little Penny. The Farnsworths surprised us with their cute new puppy. My kids couldn't get enough of her (and neither could I for that matter). She is the sweetest little dog. How come I can't get one like that?

I felt lousy, but I still wanted to go shopping and find the kids some new spring dresses. Kate cracked me up when she came around the corner with this get-up on. Apparently she had some opinions as to what she was shopping for too.

Oh my word, I just want to pinch her!

Waiting for the urgent care doc-in-the-box to tell me the sad sad news that I tested positive for strep throat. SUCH a bummer! This unexpected event put a damper on my plans just a bit. Such as surprising Jennifer P. with some dark chocolate goodness and flowers because she's been so sick. But I thought I'd keep the bug to myself. (I feel SOOOOOO awful for bringing the bug to the Farnsworths house. I have been praying and praying that none of them, or Jarom, will catch it! But I do have to say that it was great to have all those AWESOME babysitters around 24/7 so that I could take it easy and rest.) Thankfully I caught it early and got on antibiotics quickly, so it never really had a chance to knock me down too badly.

I did manage to dope myself up enough to keep my dinner plans with my dear friend Miki. We had dinner reservations at PF Changs and it was delish. (Well, until I mistakenly identified a full on chili pepper for a piece of red bell pepper. I seriously thought I had scalded my entire tongue, esophagus, and stomach! It was the HOTTEST thing I have ever eaten, but I am thinking it may have burned the strep right off my tonsils!)

When we got back to the Farnsworths' that evening, they told me that Alyssa had gone to bed early. Bad sign, I knew she had to be sick. Sure enough, during the night she woke up throwing up. Yet another lovely bug to pass on to our gracious hosts. They're never going to want us to stay with them again. (Thankfully she only threw-up once and felt much better by morning.)

Sunday recap:

We went to the church Jarom and I attended when we were newlyweds and when Alyssa was a baby. There were only a handful of people still there that we remembered, but it was so fun to see the old familiar faces. It felt like a life time ago that we were there with them.

After church we had a little birthday celebration for Carter.
Halle "helped" Ron decorate Carter's cake. She was so freaked out when she saw her black mouth after eating the black frosting. She said, " Mom, are you going to ground me?" Why she thought I would ground her for that is a mystery to me, but it was pretty funny regardless. (I don't think I'm THAT mean of a mom.)

The birthday boy and his daddy. Spending time with Dad was the real reason we made the 4 1/2 hours drive and we loved every minute of being with him.

Happy Birthday to my favorite son! Ron and Jana made this cool basketball cake for Carter and he thought it was so cool. It was so fun to spend Carter's actual birthday back in the town where he was born and with some of the people who met him very first. I can't believe it's already been 4 years!! Where does the time go? But I couldn't love a little boy any more than I do Carter, he's just the greatest kid, and we are so lucky to have him as part of our family.

Opening a few presents. He's going to have a "pirate party" this coming weekend with his little friends, so there will be more pictures like this to come. He's so excited.

The kids were so sad to leave. They kept begging to stay "just one more night". Poor little Halle asked, "Is there still snow at home?" When I had to tell her yes, her eyes just filled up with tears, it about broke my heart. But it makes us appreciate Boise all that much more and we're ready to do it again!

Manwaring Cabin Trip '08

Thanks to Becky for loaning me some cabin trip pictures. This is such a fun tradition with Jarom's family and my kids look forward to it every year. We rent 3 cabins to house 36-40 people and play and relax for three fun days.

As I said before, the major mishap this time around was the porch collapsing. Aside from having to move to a different cabin, there was no harm done to anybody. I can't say the same for the cabin however.
The way the patio should have looked. Check out all the snow on top!

No more patio and porch!

Me standing where the path to the front door should have been.

Alyssa digging out a snowcave that Ben started for the kids.

Carter all wrapped up and ready to go for a ride.

Kate warming her hands up in my giant snowmoblie mittens. Kate loved riding the machines and being pulled behind. When she first got on one, she couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry, but then it was pure love.

Let's get this party started! Halle and Misssy waiting for the tube to take off.

Becky taking the grand kids for a ride.

When we're not playing in the snow we like to hang out and play lots of games in the cabins.
Playing Bingo in the cabin.

Owen and Ogden unwinding in the hot tub. It feels so nice to sit in a 102 degree hot tub with 12 degree temps. all around you! The bad part is the 3 barefoot-on-the-snow-and-ice steps you have to take to get back inside the cabin.

What a fun time we had!

Massachusetts, the 2nd half

The second half of our trip seems like a whirlwind. We got a lot accomplished in only 2 days. We did a lot of driving and Kate was a pretty good trooper. (Not perfect, but pretty good.) Here are a few more highlights from the end of our Massachusetts stay. Minute Man National Park in Concord, MA. SUCH a beautiful town. Probably my favorite. This is us standing in front of the North Bridge.

The other side of the Bridge, where the British stood. You can kind of see the bridge in the background behind us.

Grave for British Soldiers in Minute Man National Park.

The Boston MA, temple.

Site of the first house built by the Pilgrims in 1621 in Plymouth, MA.

Plymouth Rock!

You can't go down near the rock, but here we are in front of the monument over the rock.


The Mayflower II, (recreation of the original Mayflower)

Monument to the Fore-Fathers. Plymouth, Ma

The JFK memorial in Hyannis, MA. (If you ever go to Hyannis, don't stay in the Four Points Hotel by Sheraton. It was our most expensive and dumpiest stay the whole weekend.)

Kate in Cape Cod. She still doesn't love the beach. If she could help it, she would find any patch on non-sand area to stand on.

"Kuck, sand my hams!" (aka "Get this sand off my hands right now!") She really doesn't like sand.

Here we are the the very TIP of Cape Cod (Provincetown). This really was a very pretty town and the only place in MA where we didn't see trees.

Tribute to the Pilgrims in Provincetown, Cape Cod. This is actually the site of their very first landing, but they decided to move on over to Plymouth after the Indians were a bit hostile with them. Check out the gargoyles at the top, this thing would have fit in better somewhere in Salem.

Monument on Bunker Hill, Boston MA.

Standing in front of the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides). This is the oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world. You can go aboard it, but we were running out of time so we chose not to.


Our last stop was the Old North Church (where Paul Revere saw the lantern's to warn the colonists how the British were coming) and Paul Revere's home. They are right next to each other.

We tried to make it down to Boston Common to get a picture of the Make Way for Ducklings statue, but we ran into a marathon and couldn't get out of traffic in time. I did see the cute little ducks from the window of the car though.

It was a really neat trip and I want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped tend our kids so that I could go with Jarom. I know there were lots of you that helped and we really really appreciate it!