Camping

The order is backwards...again. You'd think I could get it right. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. We've heard that before somewhere, right? Anyway, Nathaniel's brother, Matthew, a few of his friends, our family, and the Santini's went up to Mt. Lemmon to camp on July 10th. I was really excited because I have never been camping with my little family before and I thought this would be so fun. I always had such a blast camping with my family growing up. The difference is, my mother was doing all of the work then...I am the mother now so the planning and prep is now left to me. Where's my mom when I need her? It's moments like these that you understand all that your mother REALLY did for you when you were little. Well, I wanted to be very prepared. It is monsoon season and I didn't want to get rained out in the middle of the night and have to pack up and leave because we ended up soaked. Nathaniel and I went and got all the food ready and we were set for a great time. We got up to Spencer Canyon and it was so beautiful. I felt like I was in Utah or something. There were trees and shade and the weather was fantastic. The kids had so much fun exploring, especially since Matthew had brought my niece, Autumn, over from Yuma so we could play with her for a few days. The girls were in heaven just wandering around on the rocks and trails. It was secluded enough that I didn't even have to worry about them. Nathan on the other hand is so busy. He doesn't grasp the concept of safety or common sense. I don't know if it is because he is a boy and is "adventurous" (hey, I'm on this really big ledge, I bet I could jump off of it since I am still trying to master walking without falling on my face) or if he is just at "that age". He loved things like fire, dutch ovens, big rocks (to eat or to try to run around without falling, which wasn't always successful), sticks, etc. It was exhausting to keep up with him. After awhile of chasing him around, I thought, I'll just put him in the pop up crib...that we didn't pack. Yeah, I had forgot the ONE thing that was my salvation. The kid doesn't sleep without being in his crib, which left me looking forward to bedtime. We had dinner and just as we were finishing up the clouds started to roll in. Luckily we saw it coming and got everything put away, or most things. As Nathaniel and the Santini's were putting things in the van, it started to hail really hard. I tried to get the kids into the tent, but they were frozen with fear. They didn't know what was going on. Nathan started to cry as I was calling to Kate to get her to move and I realized the hail was probably hurting his head since it was almost the size of marbles and really coming down. I put him in and ran like a hen gathering her chicks to get Autumn and Kate. Matthew grabbed Eliza and brought her to safety with him. It hailed for a good 15 minutes or so and we just hung out in our tents. Autumn wanted to know why the rain hurt. When we opened the tent door Eliza thought it had snowed. Moroni, Matthew's friend, didn't think this was a good time and started complaining. He really wanted to leave and it got to the point where it was humorous to listen to him try to con people into leaving...if only I knew what lay ahead I would have taken off running. Bedtime came and sure enough my little guy, exhausted as he was, wouldn't give up. It took over an hour to get him to bed. The girls were angels and went right to sleep. I didn't even have to threaten their lives. Nathan woke up every 15-30 minutes all night. Or until 3 a.m. I should say, when he decided he was awake and wanted to play. He woke Eliza up and she teamed up with him and thought that was a great idea. She tried to get Autumn in on the deal, and that's when I decided I had had enough. I took Nathan out of the tent and Nathaniel took Eliza over by him to keep her away from the other sleeping children. Nathan wore me out so Nathaniel and I switched. He ended up in the van with Nathan buckled in his car seat. It didn't work, but at least we didn't have to hear him crying...well, I didn't. First thing in the "morning" the girls were up and playing and having a grand old time. I was ready to pack up and leave. That was the worst nights sleep I have ever had. I even preferred being in labor with Nathan all night to that torture. At least then there was something to be excited about. By the time we got everything loaded up I was worn out and ready for a break, but when you have kids, you don't get breaks when you call for them. It's only when they give them to you. The exception is my sweet husband gave me a fat nap. What a keeper! There were definitely fun parts to the trip as well. I don't want to be all negative. I loved being with friends and family and seeing the kids have so much fun outdoors was great. I just went into this thinking I was going to convert Nathaniel into a camper and instead it went the other way. I decided I don't love camping at this point in time, but love to day trip up to the mountains. If only I would have brought that stupid pop up crib. The whole experience could have been different. Our campsite. Beautiful, huh? The kids loved those rocks to climb on. I would definitely come back to this site again.
Our crew in the morning. I love that the Santini's only brought flip flops. Silly folks!
Matthew, Nathan, and Kamber. We just adore Uncle Matthew. He is such a fun time! Notice the makeshift tent in the background. Someone forgot the tent poles and luckily they had a tarp to use instead. It didn't slow anyone down...except Moroni who ended up sleeping in the car. In his defense, his sleeping bag did end up wet. I would have done the same. I did enjoy meeting Matthew's friends.
This is right after the hail storm. It really does look like it snowed. Luckily that didn't ruin our trip. Maybe Moroni's trip, but everyone else was fine with it.
Here are the kids playing in the bear box. There are black bears up in the mountains here so you have to lock up all of your food and garbage in here. I think locking the kids in isn't a bad idea either. Nathaniel and I had a serious debate about putting Nathan in there for bed once we discovered we had forgot the crib. We did vote against it, but at 3 a.m. it looked very appealing.
The girls all had little camping chairs that they would haul around with them. They found this to be a desirable place to rest. They played together so well and had such a good time. See, I'm not all negative. They had a fantastic time. Just like me when I was little. I tell you Mom, I have a lot more respect for you and all of your camping efforts.
Here is Nathan the first 10 minutes at camp. He was just out exploring. Let's just say his onesie didn't make it through the trip. It ended up with holes all over it. Boys...

What a Hoot!!!

Nathan LOVES to tease Katelyn. It really cracks me up because even at 15 months he knows what he is doing and gets such a kick out of her reaction. I find it very amusing. Nathan had been following Kate around Nana's house for a while and taking the shopping cart from her. He has learned that he can use his weight much to his advantage. He has an iron grip and is pretty solid in the weight department. He gets a grip on something (in this case the shopping cart) and leans back slowly going to the ground knowing Kate can't get it back from him. He wins every time. We had followed the two of them around trying to get it on tape and finally we got this. Kate had really had it by then and threw a tantrum which is not like her, but she was past her limit. Poor girl. Nathan only does it to her, not Eliza. I think it is because he can win with her and Eliza would give him a run for his money. What a good laugh! Brothers are such a tease! I love the smile on his face and his laugh when he gets the cart and Kate is screaming. I tell you, he loves to tease her! Don't think I am too heartless. I do go to Kate's aid and give her back her toy...I just do it laughing a little.

Fart on Me

The other day when we were singing "Slippery Fish" it got to the end where the whale burps and says, "Pardon me." Eliza said, "Mom, why does the whale say, "Fart on me?" I tried to explain that it was pardon me with a P sound and that meant excuse me. I thought she understood until yesterday when one of the kids burped and I reminded them to say excuse me. Eliza said, "Or you could say fart on me!" I thought she was saying it just to be funny (which it was), but as I reminded her about how it is PPPpardon me she said, "Oh yeah." The world through the eyes of a child.

Naked Nap

Nathan learned a new trick the other day. I put him to nap in just a diaper since it is really hot inside and out. I had a fleeting thought about putting at least a pair of shorts on him to ensure his diaper stayed on. I ignored it though since he has never taken it off yet. Well...there are always firsts. He was playing a lot before he fell asleep and I was going to go and check on him, but decided he would just get more mad if I left him in there. So, when Nathaniel brought our naked boy down the hall after his nap I burst out laughing. He had yanked his diaper off and chucked it over the side of the crib. He had peed in his crib and a small stream hit the floor. I had a good laugh and have now been forewarned. I considered myself lucky that we didn't have to clean up more. I don't think I would have been laughing quite as much!

I'm Done!

Nonverbal communication is very effective, don't you think?

Clarification

When I was announcing my pregnancy I wrote the P.S. as a joke to show my husband because I do get sick of the rude comments and I thought he would get a kick out of it. I never intended to post it though. I was going to erase it but Nathaniel thought it would be funny to post it anyway. I was on my way out the door to girls night so I was going to erase it the next day, but the internet was out the next two days and by then I figured people had already read it and so I didn't bother changing it. I have had several comments made to me wondering why I was so blunt/harsh and how that was kind of taking away from the joy of the first part of my post. Like I said, it was just me blowing off a little steam to my husband.

Fun in Yuma

We had a great time in Yuma as we always do. We got to celebrate Dad's birthday with the family. Mom made a really great rice crispy train stocked full of candy that the kids just loved. We went swimming everyday and Eliza is really loving it. She has turned so much more bold and brave around the water and it is fun to see. Kate was terrified of the water (or at least to go under water) the whole time we were there, until the last half hour as I was packing to go. Then she gave it a try and loved it. Last summer she was such a fish and could swim half the short length of the pool. This summer she has been so timid that it was fun to see her start to be her old self again. We had Autumn spend the night the first night and then Eliza stayed with her for a night. I can't believe she is getting old enough to do that kind of thing. Nathaniel wanted roasted marshmallows and Eliza joined in the fun. They grabbed the roasters and decided to go ahead and do it inside, right over Mom's clean stove.
We always have so much fun it wears the kids out. This is Kate at lunch one day. She was trying to sleep on the two stools.
Uncle Matthew had these masks from a party he had recently had with his friends. Eliza loved them and made sure everyone was wearing one. I was glad Matthew and Nathaniel played along. They looked great in them. (Matthew had just got done doing a swimming lesson, hence the shirtless look.)

The river is one of my favorite places in Yuma. You can see in the picture that it is really narrow and shallow. It is so fun for the kids. We had a really good time as a family and with Nancy, Quentin and kids.
Nathan just loved the mud. He couldn't get enough of it. You can see that from his face. He kept eating it...and we saw proof of that for the next few days.

Summer is Here!

This is just one of the joys of living in the extreme heat. These nasty creatures are called Palo Verde Beetles and this is a small one. Disgusting, huh? They also have pincers on the fronts of their head and FLY! I had to catch one and freeze it to send to my nephew, Taryn. I better get aunt of the year for that one! The cell phone is only in the picture for size purposes. The other fun things here in southern Arizona are the humidity and the monsoons that bring some crazy thunder and lightning storms that I love. Humidity drives me crazy though. It makes the heat so much more unbearable. I am really excited to see the huge downpours that come with the monsoons. We have only had light rain thus far. Something to look forward to. Unfortunately, the bugs get worse during monsoon season as well...oh, joy!
(Don't worry Megan, he's not dead, just frozen forever in still life!)

Change

We have had a few changes lately that are bittersweet. We had some boundary changes in our ward and stake that gave us the boot. We are now in both a new ward and a new stake. We left our closest friends in the last ward, but we know we will keep in touch just as well. Close friends like that don't end with boundaries. Our new ward is very large with a lot of young families in it. We are very excited about getting to know people. We have a ward campout tomorrow that will help us in the getting-to-know-you process that we hope will be a lot of fun. Let's hope the weather will cooperate!

"Gus"

Kate has started to call Nathan "Gus" or "Guts". It is hard to tell. She hasn't done it just once or twice, but several times for the past couple of days. She made it up all on her own. Today though she has started calling him "Boots". I don't know where she gets these things, but I think it is adorable.
Nathan and Katelyn have been quite the match lately. When one of them has a toy and the other wants it, they just use brute force against each other. Nathan will hold onto the toy and use all of his arm strength and then all of his weight to get the toy away from Kate. Katelyn is an equal match and will not release the toy from her grasp. She will sit there and yell, "Mom, get him, get him!" It was funny the first few times, but now the battles are more frequent and therefore the refereeing is constant. What a pair! Sometimes I admit it is still a little funny ;)!