Aldous Lake

Last weekend we took the kids camping/hiking/backpacking. The place was Aldous lake (I think it's about 30 north of Dubois, ID and close to the Montana border). There was a 1.3 mile trail (only accessible by foot) leading to the lake and our campsite. We loaded our packs with all of our camping gear (Curtis's was 75 lbs, mine was about 35 lbs, but I also carried an awkward 30+ lbs of cooler) and hiked the 1.3 miles with the kids. Xander hiked all of it by himself carrying his backpack black bear with shoes that were too small for him (sorry buddy). Tayla wanted to walk, but Curtis ended up carrying her on his shoulders for most of the distance.

When we reached the campsite at the lower lake, we set up camp and cooked dinner over the fire. The mosquitoes were terrible! By the end of the 24 hour trip, we were covered with bites (except for Tayla -- apparently mosquitoes don't like baby blood.) They loved our faces and hairlines, our elbows, and Xander's legs. The kids went right to bed without a peep -- they must have been really tired from the hike.

The next day, we decided to hike another 1 mile uphill, to the upper lake. We carried the kids on our shoulders for the entire distance. The lake was worth the hike. It was pretty how it was nestled next to the mountain peaks. The kids had fun throwing rocks into the lake and listening to the echo of their voices off the lake and the mountains. As we hiked back to camp, Tayla fell asleep on Curtis's shoulders completely folded in half. We aren't sure how she could sleep like that! She was so tired! We got back to camp and put her in her tent and she slept another hour.

We decided to only stay one night because we had to get back home in time to speak in church on Sunday. So we packed up and hiked the 1.3 miles out to the car. Xander's feet hurt by this time, so I ended up carrying him on my shoulders with my pack. Curtis carried Tayla and his pack (a total of 100 lbs for 1.3 miles). I think I have a super duper husband!


This is us at the trail head. Notice that Xander has a stick in his hand. He traded them for better and better sticks along the way. He is a dawdler on the trail unless Tayla is chasing him.
What a cutie with his black bear made into a backpack! He carried that bear the whole day! Such a big boy, hiking all by himself. We saw his confidence grow as he stepped over big rocks, logs, and bridges. I think this was a great character building trip for Xander. Not only did he become more confident with his agility, but he battled the mosquitoes, pee'd on sticks, and helped with the tents and campfire.

Tayla wanted to hike. We let her walk some of the way when we could stand going at Tayla's slow pace. She kept tripping and falling. By bedtime the first night, her legs we all scraped up so I decided to put her in Xander's jeans the next day to protect her legs. (She doesn't have any pants except for leggings which are not appropriate for camping.) I am definitely getting her a pair of jeans for this fall, if not sooner.

This is probably our favorite picture from the trip. Isn't she so cute! This is Tayla sleeping in her sleeping bag for the first time ever. I expected her to wiggle out of it, but she was cozy and went right to bed. In the morning we found her sleeping bag on the opposite corner of the tent as her air matress and we found Tayla in the bottom of her sleeping bag.
Here's all of us hanging out in mom and dad's tent at about 6:30am. Too early to get out of bed!

Yummy muffins for breakfast.


They could have done this all day! This is the upper lake that we had to hike an additional 1 mile past our campsite.

And this is how Tayla fell asleep folded in half!

Muffin Tin Monday

Today's theme was Patriotic/4th of July. I don't normally buy muffin tins like this, but after two stores, this was the only 6-cup muffin tin I could find. Featured in this muffin tin is all things red, white and blue!

Pasta and spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese, blue Jell-o and whipped cream, strawberries and whipped cream, vanilla yogurt with patriotic sprinkles, and blue cotton candy.

I enjoyed doing it and the kids liked it too! Everything was completely devoured except, Xander didn't want pasta after all that sweet stuff and Tayla doesn't like Jell-o.

For more Muffin Tin Monday Fun visit Michelle's blog: Her Cup Overfloweth

Muffin Tin Monday

It's Muffin Tin Monday!

I found this cute idea on my new favorite blog; Her Cup Overfloweth.
Every Monday is "Muffin Tin Monday." She has all sorts of creative themes for building a meal out of a muffin tin. This being my first muffin tin meal, I copied an idea from one of her followers.

This was our "Very Hungry Caterpillar" MTM. It goes as follows:

Hole 1: Sugar and Spice Yogurt dip

Hole 2: "He ate through one apple"

Hole 3: two pears

Hole 4: three plums

Hole 5: four strawberries

Hole 6: five mandarin oranges

Dessert: grape butterfly Jello jiggler


This made dinner a fun occasion. My little caterpillars were NOT still hungry after this meal. Xander LOVED eating "caterpillar food." And they both played with the butterflies...pretending they could fly over the dinner table. It was weird eating only fruit for dinner, but that was my fault and the kids didn't seem to mind. Overall, it was a success and we may be doing more MTM's in the future.

Funny Things

Tayla (17 months today) made Xander and I laugh. We were eating soup for lunch and she kept saying we were eating "poop." Another one that gets Xander every time is when we ask Tayla if she wants to go to the zoo. She responds, "eww." She is a parrot; repeating the last word in every sentence we say -- but it's still humerous to listen to her mispronouciations.

Here's some of our favorite Tayla words:
Boop (Book and her first word)
Mee mow (Mickey Mouse)
Bubble (Incredibles)
Beep (Sheep)
Bee-ar (Bear)
Bink (Blanket)
Nana (Banana)
Meal Peas (Milk Please)
Ans (Dance)
Tee (Teeth)
Ning-ers (Fingers)
Wah wer (Water)
Wee Wee (toes, this little piggy went wee wee)
Mummy (Monkey or Tummy, depending on the context)
Asses (Sunglasses)
Nan-ner (Xander, one of her favorite things!)
Daddy, work (Daddy is usually followed by the word 'work' lately)
Habby (Crabby)
Appy (Happy)

I am loving this phase, because we never got this phase with Xander. I swear I couldn't have made a list like this. If he said a word, it was the right word -- no baby talk. I LOVE that Tayla 'baby talks.'

Another funny difference between the two kids is in their singing. When Xander sings, I recongize the song only because I recognize the sequence of words he's saying, not the tune. When Tayla sings, I recongize the song only because I recognize the tune not the words. It's funny how even at a young age, they have very different talents.

14 miler

I ran 14 miles today! Crazy, I know. But it's just over half of a marathon...which I'm signed up to do just less than 3 months from now. Today I ran from our house in Idaho Falls to my in-laws' house in Shelley. I'm proud of myself.

I think a lot while I'm running (what else is there to do for 2+ hours by yourself). I may have had some profound thoughts, but I can't remember them right now.

The whole time I was waiting for Curtis and the kids to drive up and give me some water/Powerade. They finally showed up at about the 10 mile mark. Hooray! What was even more thrilling was when they came back on the 4-wheeler to say 'hi' at the 12 mile mark. I was thinking that they should do that the whole 14 miles, but I never got a chance to tell Curtis to do that. Somehow he read my mind and it really made my day. Thanks, honey.

When SAHM's day goes arwy.

Anyone wonder how a SAHM (stay at home mom) could have a bad day? Well this is just represents part of one afternoon (maybe just 1 hour). I was doing some dishes and my 1 year old daughter was 'helping' me. She kept taking the glasses out, I kept putting them back into the dishwasher. As I was putting a glass in the dishwasher it completely shattered and the force of glass flying everywhere shredded my thumb in several spots.

I locked my daughter in her room so I could clean up the mess without her getting hurt. I start dropping chunks of glass into the garbage, when I notice my thumb is bleeding onto the floor. I decide to go patch myself up before finishing the glass mess. I go to the bathroom closet for our first aid kit, as I open the door Curtis's electric razor falls from a really high shelf and bursts open, leaving whiskers all over the bathroom floor and hallway. (I had previously put the razor on that high shelf because I caught my almost 3-year old son holding it over the toilet earlier with it still plugged in. I was worried about him getting electrocuted...I don't know if he would have, but better be safe than sorry.)

Anyways....I patch up my thumb, vacuum up the whiskers, clean up the blood off the floor, pick the glass out of the dishwasher, and empty the trash before I can let my screaming daughter out of her room. And then I go back to doing the dishes and making dinner with a bandaged thumb.

On a plus side, earlier today I scored some items at a garage sale. A headboard for our new bed, a plastic shelving unit for our new apartment, and a chutes and ladders game for $20 total! I haven't done a whole lot of "garage sale-ing", but this was fun!

Anyone else have a SAHM bad day?

We are moving...

While we were on vacation in Ohio, we sold our house (just 1 week after putting it on the market). It was amazing that it sold so quickly and I only had to clean and stage the house once! Curtis said, "Aww, I didn't want to SELL our house." "Well why did we bother," I say. We sold our house because we have to move to a different region for Curtis's job.

We have been searching for houses and rental properties over the past week and a half. We found nothing we really liked and nothing that worked out for us until yesterday. Here's the plan: We are going to rent a basement apartment in Pocatello for about a year. With all the money we save, we should be able to make a significant impact on our current debt. Our goal is to be debt-free in 5 years and be ready to settle into our "dream house" for life.

Now about our new living situation: We found a two bedroom apartment in our landlord's basement. Sounds small, dark, and creepy right? Well when we saw it, this place just felt right. It was very clean inside, and not too small considering there are only two bedrooms. The landlord seems like a nice guy and he actually remodels for a living -- hence the nice apartment in his basement. The yard is beautiful too and the backyard is fenced in. We will basically be on vacation for a year -- reaping the benefits of someone else doing repairs and yardwork. We are sad to move away from our friends and life here in Idaho Falls, but excited to see what adventures this move will bring.