Sage Hen Reservoir

We went camping this weekend with our great friends the Young's. They chose a beautiful spot about a 1 1/2 hours away at Sage Hen Reservoir. It was so beautiful and just the perfect weekend to go. We left Sunday after church, and I have to say the drive there was terrible...it involved some throwing up, trailer breaks not working like they should, and the truck dieing here and there...but we made it there in one piece. And what a beautiful spot it was! We got out and got everything set up and the girls did some exploring. We were camped right by a huge rock that the girls spent a lot of time rock climbing. We made yummy tin-foil dinners and then went down to the reservoir to check it out. Then went back to the camp and had some cupcakes for Elsie's birthday. The girls had fun chopping wood and playing with their best friends. The next morning after breakfast and some exploring...they collected pine-cones and painted them pretty colors. Then they went back to their favorite rock...but his time the Dads got involved...so things got more technical with ropes and ties and cool knots...they had a lot of fun! Then to the reservoir for some swimming and picnic lunch. We found a good spot and it even had a rope-swing! The girls were very brave and took turns jumping from the rope. The dads had fun jumping in after the ducks that would swim really close to us...boys...seriously! Back to camp to get dried and dressed. We went for a really beautiful nature walk...it is such a beautiful area...we went back to camp, made some dinner, played around with new-found friends, the caterpillars...(poor little things.) We had some s'mores, and just a great time with great friends. That night a huge lighting and thunder storm rolled in...thank goodness for camper trailers!!! We headed home the next morning after breakfast and after packing up all our dripping wet stuff. Can't wait to go camping again. Madi came home with a fever and headache...but seems to be kicking it pretty fast...so my exciting day today will consist of lots of laundry and many cartoons. We really did have such a great time. It is so great being a family!!!

The girls on their big rock

Playing in the water

Happy Birthday Elsie!

Elsie and her buddy Braelyn

Chopping the wood

Don't you love Cassi's face!

Yes...all girls...we are missing baby Hallie in this picture

Painting the pine-cones

I think I say 'Look at my nose' too often...she seems to touch her nose every time I go to take her picture!
Madi climbing up
Cassi climbing up
Cassi down
And Madi down

Good swing Madi
Go for it Cass!

So pretty!

Feeding the ducks bread
Elsie...making the sign for duck
Nature walk

Goofy girl...she thought this was pretty funny to do!
Kara taking Elsie for a walk...she loves it!
Those poor caterpillars!
Elsie...making the sign for Fire
On a walk with Madi

The girls rock
So I decided that this is my last pregnancy...so I will suck it up and be in pictures...I feel kinda bad that I can't find any pictures of me preggo with Madi or Cassi...so as much as I hated it...I asked Madi to take a pict of Brent and I!
Throwing the Ax into the tree...see the orange thing in the air...that is the ax.
Madi wanted to take more pictures...so here is one of Elsie and I My three girlies! So fun!

So I am not going to apologize for all the pictures...because I finally finished my family yearbook that I made for last years blog and I am so happy I posted so many pictures...it made the book so much better! So I am glad to post a lot of pictures...and I will show you the book soon too...turned out very cool!

Happy Birthday Elsie Rose

I can't believe my baby girl is two. I know every Mom would say this about your kid...there is just something special about Elsie and I think that anyone who has met her...or just come in contact with her, can tell that. This little one started out life pretty rough. She was very colicky for the first 4 months of her life, which made it very hard for everyone in the family. But now we know why things were so bad for her. Due to her Mild CP, we now know that her muscles in her mouth were just not strong enough to eat, and the muscles in her body had no way of controlling themselves, so she was very uncomfortable for the first little while.

But man, she went from the saddest baby you ever met, to the smiliest happiest little girl in the world. Elsie waves and smiles to anyone she sees. She makes friends every day in the stores or anywhere we are. Her smile is contagious, and you can't help but smile back. She has such love for life. This little girl has such a special spirit. It chokes me up to think about it. I have never seen someone so little, with the struggles she deals with, have such determination and patience. She has made leaps and bounds since last year. I remember last year for her birthday she could barely sit up and we were still trying to figure out why it was so hard for her to control her body. She has made such great progress and I owe that to her amazing therapists, who also think she is pretty special. Anyway, Elsie is the sunshine in our lives. She is so eager to see everyone in the morning, goes crazy for Dad when he gets back from shift. We couldn't live our lives without this little one. Happy Birthday Elsie Rose, Cricket, our little sunshine!

So big!
It was past 8:00 last night when we took these, and she was so tired and giddy...she thought Daddy was the funniest guy in the world...which he is...but even funnier than normal!
She loves that Dad of hers!

Early Cake

Elsie's birthday is actually tomorrow...but tomorrow we are gonna go camping and we thought we would celebrate a little bit tonight. The cake was Cassi's idea. Elsie got the nickname cricket when she was born...cause she kinda looked like a cricket...anyway...it stuck. She thought the cake was great...not sure about it sticking to her hands...but she had fun anyway!
Love this...she is not too sure about the fire!!!

Cheese...I mean Cake!!!

We know what the baby is!!!!!!

It's a perfect little BOY!!!!!

Can you believe it!!! We were very scared to go find out what we were having....we love our girls of course....but to have a boy...what a dream!!! The doctor teased us quite a bit...making us believe that it was a girl knowing how much we wanted a boy....but when he told Brent to get up and take a closer look, we knew it!!! It's a boy!!! A boy!!! I started crying! What a great day! Can't wait to meet the little guy!!!
Sorry to the new little man for embarrassing him before he is even here...but I just gotta prove it!!! We're having a BOY!!!

Back to Work

Brent went back to full duty last Friday. He was very ready to, as he said, "Drive the firetruck" We hoped...I hoped and prayed that he and his shoulder were actually ready to go back to full duty. Well, he went back just in time to test how much his shoulder could handle. After all day Technical training on Friday, they got back to the fire house and were called out to a massive three alarm structure fire. Now to the person who's stuff is on fire, it is a pretty bad day, but to firemen...there is nothing better! So he spent all night, from 6'ish to after 11, fighting the fire at the Boise Timber Plant. They made an awesome stop and kept it from spreading to the other buildings around. When I heard it on the radio and then watched it on the news I couldn't help but be excited for him...but I was also worried about how his shoulder was taking the weight of his turn-outs, air tank...the works. He called me late that night to let me know all was okay.

So then the next day (he works 48 hour shifts) they got slammed with call after call. The Fire Department also runs medical calls...a lot of people don't know that...but if you call 911, most likely a fire-truck will show up before the ambulance...to give you something good to look at while you wait for the ambulance...just kidding, but I am sure that does help, right! Anyway, they got another structure fire Saturday night. This time it was a residence , with 9 people living there. They kept the fire confined to just the kitchen living room part, so that was a great stop too. Great job boys! And I am happy to say that his shoulder held up great, besides being completely exhausted and dehydrated...his shoulder might even feel better then the rest of his body. Not too shabby for his first shift back, huh!!!

Boise Timber fire

The Boise brigade!

The residence...the small part of the house was where the damage was.

And I had to include a nice shot of him in his turn-outs...this is from a different fire, but...oh, what a man!