Traveling with Elvis

We just got back from our Summer 2008 Vacation. We went to the black hills of South Dakota with my family (Mom, Dad, John's Family & Quentin's Family) and friends (Kristin Brown & Lloyd Finlinson & his wife and a couple they know). It was a lot of fun...so here is how it went down.

Friday- We left and traveled to Dave's house. We visited with them and Jason was able to catch up with Jacob, but sad to say we didn't have time for marble works. Flying planes though was just as fun.

Saturday-This was a travel day and thanks to Elvis, we didn't have any melt downs. Josh is such a trooper. I still do not understand the link between Elvis and Josh, but I do not question it since Elvis keeps Josh happy and quiet. We stayed the night in a hotel and Josh got his first taste of swimming. He didn't really like it even when dad took him around for a swim. Now we have issues with bath time. I put him in, he stands up and tries to get out. We have ruined the enjoyable bath time by scaring him with the swimming pool. At least now I know with the proper motivation, he can pull himself up into the standing position without a problem. On Saturday we also checked out Cabelas (Jason forgot his biking shoes & I later found out I needed a coat...it was cold) and ate at this yummy steak place.

Sunday-Yet another travel day. We arrived at our cabin in the late afternoon after meeting up with Quentin & his family. The rest of this day was eating & talking...a true vacation.

Monday-Our first adventure was Mt Rushmore. This was my first trip there that it was more to me than faces on the side of the mountain. I was able to enjoy learning some of the history behind it. My mom was also nice enough to keep Josh occupied so I could enjoy it a little more. On the way home, we got the call that my Grandpa Guernsey had passed away. That was hard, but I had already prepared myself for it and done most of my crying. Jason & I couldn't go to the funeral (it was the following Saturday) due to financial reasons & his job. Plus sometimes its easier for me not to go to the funeral...emotionally draining for me. This way I can just think to myself that it will just be a while longer before we go visit him...in heaven.

Tuesday-So the schedule changed to biking today & tomorrow so the guys went biking & the gals stayed and talked, slept, sewed, and tended to the kids. Later, after the guys got back, the gals went shopping while the dad's watched the kids. Wait a minute are we on vacation? This sounds like a regular day.

Wednesday-Yet another biking day. Jason decided to join the guys later on the Michelson Trail. He went to a gold mine and toured it and then hopped on the trail with the rest of the biker guys. The gals on the other hand squished into one minivan. Jessica & Liz in front, followed by Jessica's kids (Jaquelyn & Calvin) , followed by me squashed between the two car seats of Josh & Andrew. We drove around Custer State park in search for buffalo. We were able to see buffalo and more wildlife. We even got to see as Calvin calls them gummy guys (army guys). They were doing a training session in the park. Wednesday was a long day for me after our wildlife hunt we were meeting the guys at this buffet that we found out later is only open for dinners on the weekends so. We have been driving around all day without naps. Both Andrew and Josh cried/screamed the whole way home. I cried when i got home. That was mom torture therapy.

Thursday- Thursday morning we parted ways with Quentin's family & my parents as they traveled to California for my grandpa's funeral. Jason & I were left with the duty of driving the van back to Kansas. I told Jason he was driving because I don't like having bikes on the back and we were heavy and it freaks me out going over bumps because sometimes it would scrape because we were riding so low. The fun of today was going to wind cave. Cave's are so fascinating to me. I would love to come one day and take the hard tour where you are actually caving & not walking on a paved path. Josh loved the cave so much that half way through he was asleep. Andrew was in a back pack on John's shoulders. I got a kick out of hearing him say duck every time John told him to duck. After that, we were going to see crazy horse, but we opted out because it kept raining. Instead we ate out and came back and watched a movie.

Friday- It's all about the bears. We went to bear country today. It's like a drive through zoo. It's expensive..$15 per head, but fun. We saw elks, reindeer, wolves, buffalo, bears, and other animals. It reminded me of Jurassic park without the dinosaurs. I think I liked being in a minivan because you are up higher and so you are farther away. I think I would get freaked out if I was in a car and a bear came up beside it. At the end you get out of your car and look at the different pens they have with the baby animals. The baby bears were so adorable as they played with each other and climbed up the tree. When we got home we packed up the cars and ate left overs and finished our Bourne movie marathon. Those are good movies.

Saturday-We got checked out and drove to Dave's House and yes we listened to Elvis for at least half the drive and we got Braum's ice cream on the way...yum. We stayed the night and Sunday morning we drove the rest of the way back home. It felt good to be sleeping in my own bed.

Pictures to follow....

Rain is Falling All Around

If you would like to sing along page 241 childrens song book....

Rain is falling all around, through my house-top to sites unfound.
Rain is falling through my pane, down the wall and to the drain.

So with new houses comes new house problems. We finally have all our shingles and I believe with the warm weather they have adhered to the top of the house, but we are still getting water through the roof. Somewhere between Josh's room and the 3rd car garage. We called the roofing people again on Monday and they are backed up a week and half....Justin our builder called today and they are coming tommorrow or the next day depending on the weather. Go Justin.

Also our basement was leaking which Justin came out today and hopefully fixed. It was leaking in 3 spots. 1-was around the sliding glass door...all the water went down to the basement (thankgoodness). Aparently the workers put this tar stuff on and then the caulking which they aren't suppose to because it doesn't adhere to the windows. 2- was the window in the basement. They didn't seal it on the outside. 3-was a leak down the side of the basement. They didn't solve this one. It had everything it was suppose to have. They thought since there was a lot of flooding that is the cause?? Whatever I will be calling them again when it leaks again. The main problems are fixed for now though before we go on our trip.

We also had the main plumming line fixed today. There was a very small leak. Thank goodness I don't work anymore so I can be home to have everything fixed.

The verdict is in. My house loves water.

More Time?

So I thought that becoming a full time mom would allow me more time to do things around the house and run errands that I need to do. I guess not. Since Josh & I are home all the time it seems like things get messed up more, new projects always arrise before old projects are complete, and I seem to get side tracked doing fun things for me like blogging while Josh is asleep. Either that or I just don't have the energy to clean the house after going around in the house helping Josh to walk. (He like to walk around holding my hands). Anyway, life is settling in a little. Dave & Heather came out for a week, starting on mother's day. It was nice seeing them again. We went to the petting zoo and fed the goats, looked at the bunnies, chickens, cows and other animals. Josh's favorite part of the day was swinging and taking a nap while Jacob mined for gold. Last weekend Jason & I went to Lawrence for one of my old co workers graduataion party. That was fun to see Ginger & some other EMR employees. Part of me still misses work. After talking with Heather, she says that goes away after the 2nd child. After the party we stopped by Erin's house and chatted for a bit. Last Monday was Jason's Bday. To celebrate, I made him a dinner he requested and bought some yummy cheese cake. He will be getting a gym membership for his Bday gift to the gym that all his coworker go to. Last night we went over to Kimberlee & Aaron's house for dinner. They are a couple in our ward that has a girl that is a couple months older than Josh, and Aaron loves flying as much as Jason does. It was a fun night and I'm glad I got to meet/socialize with more people in our ward. I found out that our ward has play groups, quilting group and a book group. I guess the relief society doesn't do a very good job of letting new people know about these. I'm a little disappointed that all the summer playgroups are at parks since Josh is not walking yet all he really does is swing at a park, but maybe that will change in a month or 2.

Closing a Chapter

So yesterday was hard on me. I closed a chapter in my life. The day started out crazy. Jason left for work with the boy to drop off. I was going to finish getting ready for work...makeup & breakfast but then I realized that there was a diaper bag on the table. So I basically packed up and left since I had to go the opposite direction to drop off the diaper bag. I was an hour late to work. At work, I tried to get everything done and I of course didn't, but I guess that is someone else's job now. I organized my desk so that someone else could hopefully pick up where I left off. I just know it won't get done though since the client is in the midst of taking their accounting back in house...they gave their notice last Friday...and my coworkers/boss barely have time to do their jobs. Oh well not my job now. So I was the last one to leave the office today and I was packing all my personal belongings and it hit me and I started crying. Getting this job was a trial for me and an answer to a prayer. I have met wonderful people who have touched my life that I may never see again. I probably won't work again until my children are grown and maybe not even after that. Looking back at the path I have gone down and how much I have grown because of this job and all the good memories just makes me want to cry and smile at the same time. It was hard taking off my name plate on my door. I remember that I started in a storage room where people didn't even know I was there unless they were filing something. I then moved to a cubicle, then to a better cubicle, and then to an office with my name on the door. Well I guess I'm now moving home and you can't get better than that. Josh's favorite book at the moment is Goodnight Moon. So I will end this post with...Goodnight Neosystems, Goodnight EMR, Goodnight work, Goodnight commuting in the Car. Goodnight taxes. Goodnight faxes and Good night all my wonderful coworkers and friends.

Roof

So I slacked a little today and started playing WOW (World of Warcraft) again while Josh was sleeping in the morning. I hear this thud while playing and thought they were working on the houses next to ours. So I looked out the window out back and no one is there. I hear another thud and it sounds like it is coming from Josh's room. Fear struck me and I thought that he had pulled himself up & out of his crib & had fallen out. I rushed to his room to find a peaceful baby in bed & I hear another thud...It's on my roof. I looked out the window & saw some guys and a truck. Yea they are fixing our roof again! I didn't even have to call this time. That was on my list of things to do today. Hopefully it will be the last time the have to fix our roof. I swear our house is situated in a wind tunnel sometimes. I did get to explore Gardner a little bit. Josh & I went walking on a trail and found a cool park to go swing at. This other little boy kept staring at Josh and then he told his mom that Josh wasn't wearing pants and that he was in his underwear. I about died laughing. Josh was wearing shorts. I have enjoyed my 2 days of mommyhood. I will be going back to work on Friday, but that should be my last day. :) Yea!!

Garage Sale Success!

Today was the big Gardner garage sale day. We drove around neighborhoods looking for an exersaucer. That was the main item on my list. Those things run about 100 bucks and Josh loved the one at Wesley's house. So we saw a few, but they looked small, dirty, or they didn't have things to play with on them. I got real good at spotting them. There was one that I spotted. It looked good from the car, but when I went into the garage and got a closer look, I realized it was still being used by the happy baby sitting in it and not for sale. Just when I thought we wouldn't find one, we drove by a house and there was a cute one that looked really nice. I was so excited! I love garage saling (if that is a word), but usually I'm very picky and don't find anything so this was the icing on the cake for me. Happy Late Bday Josh.

Weekly Recap

So Josh's B-day party went well. I was a little concerned because my parents were 30 minutes late and the later it gets the crankier the boy gets. I understand why they were late though...they found out on Monday that they will be housing missionaries. They were going to move in Wednesday, but that is the day my parents were leaving for CA to go see Grandpa Guernsey who is practically on his death bed. (which I have not talked about on my blog. I guess I don't handle death too well.) Anyway so they moved in on Tuesday...my mom had 1 day notice. She knew they were considering her house, but didn't think they would actually use it since my sister comes home in June. So back to the party. Josh didn't know what to think about his cake. He poked it and then started pealing off frosting and throwing it on the floor. Jason was like "not the response I thought he would have". After we all stopped watching him and focused on eating our cake. He got the hang of it and started putting it in his mouth. The present opening was not as fun Christmas. He cried through most of it which was funny. After GM got is bottle the right temperature, the gift opening was a lot happier. Josh came out with a book, a sippy cup, some keys, lots of clothes to mommy's happiness, and yet another bike. Josh is going to be the popular kid on the block. We have 3 cars & a Tonka truck. I need to have a play group over.

Things I'm looking forward to...The Office tonight. I love that show. Go Toby. This weekend Gardner is having a city wide garage sale. I'm excited. Josh & I are going to go around town if it is nice outside. I love going to garage sales even if I'm not a big spender. It is just fun. Since Josh is an earlier riser, he can get me out of bed for the good stuff before it sells. Also this weekend is the father/son camp out and of course it is suppose to rain on Friday. It would be nice if father would take son but father made up this potty training rule. I think it would be easier to camp with a son in diapers. You wouldn't have to hear about having to go to an out house. Anyway...Here are some B-day pictures for all to enjoy.

So Here is my Jessica knock off smash cake. I think it turned out rather cute.

Here is the rest of the cake.......
Joshua was very polite about it and not too messy to himself...my chair and my floor and different story.

He is a little more messy....

He liked using a fork. The start of good manners. :)