Fun stuff

A couple of weeks ago we went camping at Torreya State Park even though rain was coming. We were able to set up camp, eat dinner before the rain started. Mom and Frank came to visit us and brought us marshmallows. It rained all that night and we got a little damp. The next morning it wasn't raining. We ate breakfast and went for a great hike. Uncle Michael came to visit us on the hike and help keep us on the right path. We then played hide and seek with the walkie talkies, soccer, played on the playground, played sequence (we had never played this before and now have one to put under the Christmas tree). At some point we were driving by where we had earlier walked and Brandon said stop I see a snake and I didn't want to hurt the snake so I carefully backed up and it turned out to be a rattler. I tried to downplay it for the kids, "oh, if one of us got bit we would just need to get to a hospital, the chances of us dying would be minimal, la dee dah, I was freaked!, but we weren't leaving. A lot of work goes into camping and it has to be serious to leave after one day. Well, later on the second night mom and Frank had visited with us again and taken Hannah home with them. We were ready to have a great night. The kids were so exhausted from our hike and activities that day Cole was begging to go to sleep so we got the kids down and we were enjoying the campfire. Mom calls to tell us our weatherwoman Carmen said there was a tornado watch out for our area. We were like well we'll wait and see, there had been rain all around the area and it hadn't hit us hard yet. A little bit later mom calls back and says there's 100% chance of rain, there's going to 1-2 inches and having been through less rain the night before and mom's only 10 minutes away we decided to head in. So we pile up and go sleep in civility. The next morning Brandon and I went to break camp and there was all of two drops in our tent and all seemed well. Better safe than sorry I suppose. We enjoyed ourselves and loved the time w/o other distractions, we played with each other...it was fun! We're looking forward to going again as long as we don't think about the rattlesnakes too much!








Recently Scott, Julie and Scotty came to visit and it was so good to see them, we went down to St. George Island for family pics and we got some good shots. The beach was wonderful, the kids were dying to play in the water and of course it was my Laura who ended up soaking wet before long, at least it was after pics.

Fay & FHE

I didn't get pics of Fay, it did rain a whole lot, but nothing terrible here. Brandon's coworker from India who lives on the other side of town said it rained harder than she had ever seen and apparently it rains a lot in India. We just got a good washin and family fun. It's rare we get a day to just do nothing. The kids and I cleaned the house real good Friday so Friday evening we hung out and on Saturday everyone got to pick a game. I think Hannah's was ring around the rosie, Cole and Laura's was charades, they both love that...I think choices fizzled after that, but we played a new game I found in the back of the closet, not that we lack for board games but it's called hit the deck and Brandon, Cole and I had fun with that Saturday night. We ate good, had ice cream after bed time Friday night and a huge brunch on Saturday morning thanks to our chefs, Brandon and Laura. Hannah went down for a nap on Saturday afternoon, Brandon and Cole played Legos while Laura and I painted nails then we put on Star Wars and I had a long nap It was so much fun. Sunday the weather cleared enough to go to Stake Conference then we hung out and that evening we had thunder which hadn't accompanied the rain the previous days and every time it thundered Hannah screamed out, Rain guys, rain and we had to recognize it or she wouldn't stop. The child talks more than all of us put together...seriously.

Tonight for FHE we had some small successes and more laughs so I thought I'd document it ;). Cole conducted and didn't whine, he selected people for song and prayer and there were no complaints. Everyone spoke their turn during family business even if it was to say they had nothing to say. Laura gave a lesson from the friend that she chose, with me whispering in her ear - it makes it go longer, but it's important to her to "do it". It was about a boy who was turning eight and and his friend's mom said he couldn't be friends with a mormon. So he's talking to his mom about it. His mom reads John 1:5 and talks about Joseph Smith seeing Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the other occurrences he had. He eventually prays to know these things are true and gets a warm feeling and hugs his mom and knows that he has to do hard things like Joseph and as his little brother's come bustling in his room he says "Shhh, I don't want this feeling to go away." And Brandon said I think I can feel that here now too and there was no doubt about it...the kids didn't say a word...and that's saying something. Then for closing song Brandon got to choose the song and he chose Love is spoken here cause he loves it and we sang it the best ever, with Hannah chiming in on "here" at the end. Brandon had the activity and said since Hannah doesn't get to participate very much in FHE we would all choose a song that we know she'd like. He started with If you're happy and you know it and to say the least the kids were not excited about this activity. Laura did join in and chose Hannah's very favorite the alphabet song. Then I suggested ring around the rosies and everyone loves this one, even grown up Cole (eh and the other grown ups too) and we laughed our heads off. It was the best. Our home feels full of love and peace...a great weekend......We're sorry to interrupt this highly irregular showing to bring you back to reality. :) Ah well, it was good while it lasted.