Family Reunion

Jorgen and Nicole

Even on vacation, they can't go a day without coloring

I don't know who brought the big ball, but the kids loved it

What a goofball, Andrew!

Playing in the sprinklers at Debbie's house

What a cutie pie!

Andrew is always drawn to sandboxes

Even Dan joined in the fun

Peekaboo


On the way to Soda Springs, we stopped at a "park" in Downey to feed the baby and let the kids run around. It was really just a strip of grass and a few pine trees, but it served it's purpose. We found it using the GPS - I guess "park" is a broad term.

This past weekend we went to the William Alvin Tolman Family Reunion. If you know the Tolmans, you know they love reunions and this one has been going on for decades, I think. I remember going as a little girl, up to Camp Taylor in Idaho, with the big lodge and the sweltering-hot log cabins filled with flies. I haven't been for a long time.

But this year, it was held at an old historic town, Chesterfield Idaho. It is north of Bancroft, out in the middle of nowhere (I'm serious). It has long since been abandoned (I wonder why?) and now it is a historic place to visit. It was settled back in the 1880's by my ancestors. It was along the route of the Oregon Trail, and the travellers would stop at Chesterfield to rest and re-supply. It was kind of cool to see the old buildings and wonder what it was like to live there. It was really hot there, with hardly any shade at all. The only thing around for miles is mountains and farmland.

Luckily for us, my sister Debbie lives in Soda Springs and we stayed at her place, rather than camping at the old townsite. I slept inside with Jorgen, and Dan and the other kids camped in the back yard in the tent.

I mis-placed my camera for part of the trip, so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to, but here are a few anyway. Those of you who did get pictures, send me some more!

It was fun to see some of my mom's extended family, catch up with cousins, and have some time away from home.

Last Day of Kindergarten

Bethany's last day of Kindergarten was last Friday. She was really sad - so sad that she had tears in her eyes when I went to pick her up. She LOVED her teacher, Mrs. Adams. She was an awesome teacher, and was so good at challenging Bethany, even though the Kindergarten curriculum was way too easy for her. By the end of the year she was reading books at a third grade level and doing adding and subtracting on her own. She still asks me to spell everything for her, though. I'm so glad she had a good experience with Kindergarten. It is so important to start out with positive experiences, so that school is always a fun place to be.

Now to celebrate our 3 weeks of summer before 1st grade starts! Isn't year-round school a blast?! (I say sarcastically) 1st grade starts on July 21st. We are both a little nervous about 1st grade. Bethany is the only kid from her class in Mrs. Barker's class, on C track, and we haven't found anyone else we know on that track yet. Except, a new boy on our street that just moved in, he is in her class. We got our 3rd choice, but we'll just have to make the best of it cause they wouldn't let me change it. Luckily for Bethany, she is WAY more outgoing than I ever was in school, so I think she'll come home from the first day with half a dozen new friends.

This Past Week in Photos

Andrew loves to play with trains. He is pretty clever at coming up with different track layouts each time.

Jorgen is content to sit up and play. He has a melt-my-heart smile! He isn't crawling yet, and doesn't really seem interested in it.


Bethany lost tooth #4 on Wednesday night. Now she has a nice big gap in the front. It makes it hard to eat apples and carrots, but she can fit a straw between her teeth. Luckily, the bottom 2 teeth are starting to come in now.



Wednesday was Field Day at Bethany's school. The note that was sent home invited the parents but not the younger siblings - so I didn't think I'd be able to get any pictures, cause I didn't have anyone to watch the boys. But, as it turns out, Dan had a dentist appointment that morning, so he stopped by the school on his way from the dentist to work and snapped a few pictures:

Bethany's class was the blue team. She insisted on wearing her soccer shirt.
I asked Dan if he had Field Day when he was in school, and he didn't. What a deprived childhood! Field Day was always the best day of the year!


Last Friday we went to the Jensen Nature Park, a new park here in Syracuse, for a picnic and just to look around. We all had a good time, but we did get pretty hot. There isn't much shade there.




I was walking behind with Jorgen in the stroller. I thought this was a cute photo.

A Belated Happy Father's Day

This has been a crazy week (in all senses of the word). So I kind of missed Father's Day, but I just wanted to pay a short tribute to the fathers in my life.

First is my Dad. He is a very quiet, private, man. He is quite a bit older than I am (about 50 years older). So there is quite a generation gap between us. When I was younger, we called him Daddy and he was a lot of fun. He would build us things, and he had a secret stash of treats downstairs for us (and for him). His favorite hobby was model railroading. He always talked about how he was going to build a working to-scale railroad around our yard. It never really happened, but it was fun to dream about it anyway. I also remember him letting us put all kinds of barrettes and ribbons in his hair (what little he had anyway). With four girls, you kind of have to put up with that kind of thing.

My dad joined the LDS church when he was a college student in California. He has an amazing conversion story, that someday I should share - when I have a little more time to type it all. I have always admired my Dad for his firm testimony in the Book of Mormon. He doesn't share his testimony very often, or say very much when he does, but I know his testimony is strong.

He served a mission in Tahiti and loved the experience! He always talks about how homesick he is for Tahiti (wouldn't you be?) He had to travel there by boat, since way back then there weren't any flights to the islands. It was a very long journey.

My dad is getting older now and struggles with health issues. But he is still my Dad and I love him very much! Just this weekend, I loved watching him play Tic-Tac-Toe with Bethany (making sure that he didn't win too many times). It was fun to see them interact.

Next would be my wonderful husband, Dan, the father of my three beautiful children. Dan is a great father. He loves to be involved with the kids and get down and play with them. He makes dinner with the family a priority, so he tries his hardest to get home in time for dinner, just so we can all be together. Sometimes the commute makes that hard, but it's been better with him biking/taking the train to work because he always gets home at the same time. Some of the kid's favorite things to do with their Dad would include tickle hugs, blowfishes, riding bikes, watching movies, going out for ice cream, etc. etc. The kids also seem to have inherited some of his stubborness (love ya, honey!). I love to see my kids spend time with their dad. Thanks for being such a great dad!

Finally, I am grateful to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father, who knows me and loves me, and watches out for my family. I know He is aware of all of his children, even the ones who don't want anything to do with Him. He loves us all, and only wants us to return to Him and be happy.

I hope you all had a great Father's Day!

No good title for this

It's been a few days since I updated my blog. My family is going through a bit of a crisis with one of my sisters, and things are a little stressed. I really can't go into much detail, it is a private matter with her. But I just wanted to say, go and hug everyone in your family, or give them a call, and tell them you love them, even if you think they already know - they need to hear it again.

Sometimes I wonder why some people are given more trials than others - it just never seems proportionate. Some people's prayers are answered right away and others, it just takes a long time. Why is there so much heartache and suffering in the world? It's hard to bear, sometimes.

Don't worry about me, I am okay, just having to deal with some hard things. I know I can rely on my Savior to help me and all of us through this, I just wish I could take some of that testimony and give it to someone else, so they know it too.

Midway Trip

Well, it was just one night, so I don't know if that counts as a trip, but we went to Midway to celebrate our Anniversary. We stayed at the Blue Boar Inn. It was VERY nice! It's a fairly new bed and breakfast, 9 years old. The dinner and breakfast we had there were both excellent. I would recommend it to anyone (but save up some money for the dinner, just to warn you!) If anyone remembers the Grapevine in Logan, the food was as good or better.
Across the street was the Visitor's Center for the Wasatch Mountain State Park, and a fishing pond. We might come back here for a family camping trip, it was no nice.


This is the Blue Boar Inn's mascot


We originally had scheduled to go on a hot-air balloon ride Saturday morning, but it rained, so we couldn't do it. We were really disappointed, because it isn't easy to get one night away from the kids, but we didn't want to have to go up again (they were going to give us a gift certificate to come back again, instead of a refund). But the nice Inn Keeper offered to let us trade for a helicopter ride instead. I have never been on a helicopter before, so I was a little nervous, but I have to say it was pretty cool!

Dan was brave and sat in the co-pilot's seat. I sat in the back. I'm a wimp, I know!


This is Deer Creek Reservoir. We flew up over the reservoir, up to Sundance, then over to Soldier's Hollow and back to the Heber Airport. It was beautiful to see everything!


Mountain tops! Without all the hiking!


The pilot took our picture after we landed. It was a lot of fun!

We kind of splurged this weekend, but how often do you celebrate your 10-year anniversary? We thought it was worth it. We really needed a chance to be together, just the two of us, even if it was only for about 24 hours total. It was a quick, but great trip!

Recipe

I'm sharing recipes with some of my old high-school friends. If anyone else would like to share some recipes that would be great! This week is a recipe that shows up often on your dinner table. Here's mine:

Crispy Catfish
3/4 c. crushed saltine crackers (about 22 crackers)
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt
4 catfish filets (about 8 ounces each)
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

In a shallow dish, combine first 4 ingredients. Pat fish dry; dip in butter, then coat with crumbs.

Then you can choose to grill, broil, or bake (at 450) the fish, however you like it, until the fish is done.

I often vary the seasonings, adding dill or Parmesan cheese. You can use breadcrumbs or cornmeal instead of cracker crumbs. We usually use tilapia instead of catfish, but my kids like both. This is one dinner I know both kids will eat! We make it very often!

10th Anniversary

Today Dan and I celebrate our 10th Anniversary. I can hardly believe it has been so long! I dug out this photo from my wedding photos - you can see how skinny we both were 10 years ago. I would have to do some serious workouts to fit in that dress again!

We're celebrating our anniversary by .... going to Bethany's Kindergarten program tonight. What can you do when you are parents? On Friday Dan and I are going on a one-night trip to Midway including a hot-air balloon ride on Saturday morning! Thanks to Dan's mom for watching the kids for us. We were originally planning on something longer, but Jorgen is still nursing so we can't be gone too long.

I love you more than ever, Dan! You are a great husband and father, and my best friend.

4-year-old grammar

Andrew loves to type at the computer. He knows how to open Word and choose a font style and size. He usually types the names of everyone in the family, because they are the only words he knows how to spell. But lately he has been typing what he is doing. Except he can't spell and doesn't use spaces.

So, this is what he typed today. Can you figure it out? Think like a four-year-old.

"Andrew
Ezedegtokocaled
Te and"

Macarena

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