Camping

This weekend we did a trial run of all our new car camping equipment. We are going to Yellowstone next week and have bought a lot of new supplies. We tested them out and it was a good thing, there are some things that we are still missing. We have never done much car camping, we have always gone backpacking so this will be a new adventure for us. We had a good time and had a great spot. The small creek was running really fast right behind us so we got to fall asleep to the sound of running water. I was surprised at how well the girls slept. I thought they would have more trouble. We only stayed one night and came home early so we could be sure to make it to the ward birthday party and now we can't wait for next week.

Mallorie and Lola loved "their bedroom". We have two tents that zip together.

We had bacon and eggs for breakfast.

This is Abby trying to escape from the tent. The only place she could be set down was in the tent because she was very facinated by the campfire and I have a thing about her not falling into the fire pit, especially when there is a fire in it.

Most of my parents photographs were destroyed in their house fire last year. Some were salvagable, but they smell too bad to keep. I have spent a lot of time looking through other family members' photos for ones of us for my mom and through the stinky ones. The ones that I found I scanned into the computer this week and I am now using Shutterfly to make a photo book for her. Here are a few of the gems I found.




I love that red couch, it is one of my earliest memories!!


Here is me about 3 years old.


Here is our family



My brother was a really cute little kid!

Disney Princesses evil?

I found this article and I am posting it for all to read. I got a kick out of it and I knew that Ann would too. I have put a moritorium on Disney Princess purchases at our house a while ago because they seemed to have become an obsession with my girls. My feelings on this are neutral. I am just helping people be informed about our children's toys. WARNING: This website is very liberal, in fact they describe themselves as "the flagship of the left." I read there every now and again for entertainment, most of what I find there I just laugh at.

Little Girl Blue

Miss M has a blue marker that is her favorite and has had for a while now. Some times she forgets to put the lid back on and leaves it out. Sis S gets a hold of it and turns herself blue, usually this irritates me, until about a week ago. I fed her, she got the marker, I cleaned her up, and Tubbs came home all within about 20 minutes. Matthew was playing with her and she spit up, like normal, except it was blue. He freaked out a little bit. I was laughing at him so much that I couldn't tell him what happened. Well, she got it again today. I laughed again thinking about the blue spit up.

Cake decorating contest

This weekend Mallorie and Lola participated in a cake decorating contest by The Purple Cow (the new book store in town). The contest had them decorate a cake like their favorite book, Mallorie chose "The Sneetches" and Lola wanted the pale green pants from "What was I afraid of". Here are some pictures of thier cakes.

Concert in the park

The friday night concerts on the park started again last night. It was cold but we took a blanket and had a good time. The music was by an inspirational band called Joshua Creek. It was guitar and I loved it.

Havard Commencement

I just read the commencement speach given by JK Rowling at Harvard last night and thought she did a pretty good job and some of her ideas are worth listening to. Here is a link where you can listen to, watch, or read her speach.

I especially liked what she had to say about failure:

"Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies."

Like Rowling, I don't remember anything about the commencement speach from college, but I wish I had heard something like this then. Maybe I would have been better prepared for failures I experienced and not have been so devastated by some of them. Certainly I will make sure my children are better prepared for life than I was.

A family bike ride

We went for a family bike ride on saturday. Matthew always has Mallorie attached to his bike, but today Lola wanted her and Abby to be attached to him as well. So, he got to pull everyone and all I had to do was drag myself around. It was fun. Matthew looked like a train going down the road.