Hiking the Borrego Trail

Rus and I used to be great hikers. Adventurers, really. There was a time when we owned TWO kelty packs. We created the NM Adventures 101 blog. We gave tips on how to hike with your children. 

Then I got pregnant with Marianne. 

We haven't hiked in a really long time. We've been reduced from "avid hikers" to "sporadic walkers" who tote around scooters and helmets and leave our dog at home because we have too many children.

But no more. 

This is the year that we emerge from our self-made cocoons as even more adventurous adventurers. This is the year that our children become super hikers themselves and the only one we have to tote around is the Bug. 

We began to enforce this resolution with an ambitious four mile loop on the road to the Santa Fe ski area. We took the Borrego trail to the Windsor trail to the Bear Wallow trail, which took us back to our van.

 In an effort to reduce the number of rocks that perch on my window sills and under the beds of each of my children and show up in the wash on a regular basis, I created "The Rock Collection." It's a big shadow box with the best of the best, and each rock is labeled with it's date and location of acquisition. On this hike I made a rule that we could only adopt the extraordinary rocks, and we still came home with a dozen. The kids really enjoyed the hunt, though!
Here they are crossing one of the bridges: Colonel was the only one who ventured into the water. Did I mention it was SO COLD? We were dressed for a high of 70 and as such, had to hike briskly so that we could warm up in the 48 degree weather.

 This was near the meadow that we had lunch in. I would have showed you the picture of us eating lunch, but Rus caught me mid-bite and I don't feel the need to share that with the rest of you.

 It really was a cool environment where we hiked. It was downright moist. There was moss and old man's beard growing on the trees. There was fungi! Jacob loved the fungi. We had to go home and watch Ferngully after I told him how the fairies in that movie would perch on fungi like the ones on this log.

 And another bridge:
Bekah was easily the best hiker. She is so full of energy. She quite literally bounded most of the way. Jacob also did well. He complained of tired legs on the last mile and Rus told him how he would need to be strong if he were to go backpacking with dad later this summer. I told him how animal experts have to walk long distances in the wild. None of that seemed to help him forget his tired legs...
Beau also had tired legs near the end, but his legs are so little, I wasn't surprised. He did really well. And Marianne was happy to sit in the backpack the whole time...

 We had a great time. I would count the experience as a success, with room for improvement. Hooray for adventures!

(Did I mention Marianne peed in the woods? We are SO on our way to establishing our little troop of hikers!)

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a terrific Mother's Day. I usually do, thanks to Rus. Even the year Bekah made me pancakes and used 1/2 cup of salt instead of a 1/2 teaspoon... I get adorable homemade cards with cute drawings of me and my children and corny poems (that totally make me melt), like "Roses are red, with long thorny stems, but I know you love to eat M&Ms" This year Rus had the genius idea to combine my favorite "roses are red" poems and candy bar letters into "roses are red" candy bar cards from each of the kids. I got white kit kats, reeses peanut butter cups, peanut butter m&ms and 100 grand. I ate all of them, mostly by myself, in one day, and only felt guilty for a minute.

The kids each picked out a potted flower for me that I could plant, and they made me pancakes and let me sleep in and Rus even fixed dinner (out of leftovers I'd made the night before...) Bekah made me a sweet shrink-a-dink magnet at school and wrote a poem for me. Beau made me a sunflower out of clay (just like the one Jacob made me two years ago). I have a beautiful collection of sunflower art, actually, and just recently decided to display it on a wall in my house (using push pins because the idea that I'll hang it when it's framed never seems to pan out).

And now for the best gift I received:
On our way to church we pass a little park. On Mother's Day as we were passing the park, we saw a man get out of his car, pick something up out of the middle of the road, and leave it in the parking lot of the park. As we passed right by him and got a better look, I saw that the thing he was relocating was a turtle! I exclaimed this to our kids and they insisted that we turn around and check it out. We did and I have to admit that I was right there along with the kids, asking Rus if we could take it home and "rescue" it.
 


So we did. We used a cage that is normally reserved for protecting our veggies from rabbits, gave the turtle little bowls of food and water, and left him there so we could resume our drive to church.
I think that after three hours of church, everyone knew that we had rescued a turtle from sure death. I have never had my children assemble so quickly after church. They were anxious, worried that he had somehow escaped his enclosure. (And after talking to a few people myself at church and learning that turtles are impressive escape artists, I was a little worried myself.)

It was the best Mother's day present because my children spent hours following that little turtle around my backyard...they were happily entertained and they didn't even fight!

When they weren't stalking the turtle (who proved to be surprisingly fast and well camouflaged), they were researching desert box turtles...like what they eat and how big they get and what type of home they like. Oh, and how to tell if it's a boy or a girl turtle. (Boy.) Within a few days I had planned a little turtle paradise for this guy, who the kids (after much debate), named "Rocky Sarge Mr. Wiggles." I emailed the local turtle and tortoise club (not kidding, there really is one), and received even more information, like that Rocky was probably not a formerly wild turtle but rather an escaped or released pet and that we'd be doing them a favor to keep him and care for him.
By the next weekend, we had erected the "Rocky Sanctuary," [Side note here: I purchased all of the supplies to build this enclosure with Marianne and her friend Noelle in tow. I felt a little superhuman purchasing four 2x10x10' boards (heavy!), two cinderblocks, a big bag of peat moss, medium bark, a water dish and a flat of flowers with two TWO YEAR OLDS "helping" me. Noelle was an angel. My child was running off, playing in the fountains, scaring onlookers by almost running into the parking lot twice, and to top it off, hiding my debit card in my wallet so that I couldn't find it when it was time to pay. Oh such a horrible child...(I type with great love and also great residual resentment)]
I planted most of my Mother's day plants in it, along with impatiens which turtles reportedly love to eat.

...complete with a hibernation pit. (The cinderblock in that far right corner leads to a covered pit where Rocky likes to hide and sleep.) Here is an up close view of that pit...

Again, it was an awesome day. I'm so grateful for Rus and the way he supports me and teaches our kids to respect the role of all mothers.
And I'm enjoying the turtle. Maybe if we keep him secure and alive for a year we can adopt a friend for Rocky. :)

Rus the Lumberjack at 36

Rus had a birthday last week, and lucky for him, it fell on his Friday off. Even luckier, my mom and dad volunteered to keep Marianne overnight Thursday night so that Rus and I could enjoy Friday together while the big kids were at school. 

Earlier that week my neighbor hired a guy to come cut down her huge ponderosa pine tree because it was dying. He came and asked me if I'd like the wood for fire wood, I said yes, and hours later there was a ponderosa pine tree in my side yard...It was cut into smaller bits and thankfully he restrained himself from giving me the needles and tiny branches, but still! It was a huge pile o'wood! I was dismayed at the thought of cutting it into appropriate sized logs for fire wood, but Rus seemed energized by the opportunity to try out a chainsaw a friend had given him. 

So on his birthday I left to teach an art class at the school and he busted out his chainsaw (with newly sharpened blade), and went to work reducing the daunting pile of wood into manageable bits. When I came home an hour and a half later he had made a significant dent in the load...I was amazed at my man's lumberjack skills. If you need an earful, just call Rus and ask him how his little chainsaw worked cutting up those logs...he was happily surprised by how well it worked.

We went to lunch and then to buy his birthday gift (thank you tax returns!): an air powered pellet rifle. It's a 22 caliber and Rus can shoot it in the backyard and the pellets are easily attainable and dirt cheap (compared to regular ammo). (Can you hear Rus's reasoning for needing it coming out here?)

Rus seemed eager to prove that his 36-year-old body could do a 20-year-old amount of work and so he continued working in the yard that afternoon. We purchased some split rail fencing for the rear part of our yard, so while I stacked firewood, he put up the fence.

That night we had dinner with my parents (who bought him a wheelbarrow, can you see the yard work theme we have going on?), and the boys enjoyed shooting the bb gun and pellet gun.

It was a great day. Rus worked super hard and got super spoiled. I'm so grateful for him and his ability to do hard work, to be able to fix anything, and to rock a pair of work-worn carharts.

Here he is sighting in his scope on his pellet gun.

 Oh how Jacob loves his BB gun!! And he's not too bad of a shot!

 Grandpa was Jacob's spotter here...

 Here is the fencing Rus put up. If your'e confused by this view it's because there used to be a hill here...we leveled it a few weeks ago.

 A tribute to Grams here: A bearded iris blossom from the irises she planted years ago.

 So I think we're set for firewood...

The end.

Zoo with Cutesy and Grandpa

During spring break I asked all the kids what they wanted to do (projects, movies, pjs, bowling)...and then I asked Cutesy what she would like to do. She said the zoo, and so we decided to take advantage of a beautiful day to go see the animals. We lucked out, seeing a baby chimpanzee and a baby orangutan, but paid a price for it - I think we were there with about 20 field trip groups. I let Jacob and Bekah take turns being "photographer" and consequentially had about 300 pictures on my camera - at least 10 for each animal and a good 10% devoted to the sky, the trees, and empty looking enclosures. But some were good, and I included those here...

Jacob has recently discovered the hilarity of bunny ears, and takes every opportunity to photo bomb with his two little fingers.

I am so glad that Grandpa (or Mustache Grandpa, as my kids refer to him), was able to come so he could be the muscle to carry Marianne and lift her up high enough to see all the animals.

Me and my own little monkey. *taken by Bekah*

Aren't they just a dashing retired couple? *taken by Bekah*

I think the kids had the most fun climbing on the tree trunks and rocks during lunchtime. Jacob and Marianne have a really cute relationship. He is a great big brother, always looking after her and offering her piggy-back rides, and she adores him for it. Also, fyi, Jacob has grown over an inch since January. I think it's the second and third helpings he has every night for dinner (as long as I've fixed something he likes). And - he is very proud of this - he is a solid half inch taller than Bekah!

Grandpa and the girls. Bekah has also been growing a lot already this year. She has grown about 3/4" since January...and she is SO skinny! Skinny jeans and leggings were made for this girl!

I always consider it very lucky to see a peacock in full array...*taken by Jacob*

"Swing me! Swing me!" Good thing my parents are so strong, because Marianne and her relentless pleas for swinging are pretty irresistible.

I swear these tigers have been sleeping every time I have visited them for the last eight years. (Rude, huh.) But this time we actually caught them awake! *documented by Bekah*

And a final shot of my Beau-monkey. He's getting so big, he loves school, and you should hear him read - he is an awesome reader!

I'm excited to be able to see a little more of my parents now that my dad is retired (but still finishing a big project at work), and they are living in Los Lunas (sort of - they are still trying to sell their home in SV and so they aren't here full time yet). I'm grateful that my kids can spend fun time with them like this and that my parents are up for the adventure!

Hungry Whale and Shark

When talking about "things to do over spring break," Jacob had only three requests:
Pajama day
Watch lots of movies
Make a sperm whale out of fabric that has a zipper mouth that is big enough so that when they have their epic battle, the whale can win and entirely devour the squid.

He's really not a very demanding child...it's just that his demands are highly concentrated.

So I got to work. I found a pattern-ish link that sort of told me how to cut the different pieces and then Jacob drew out how big he wanted it to be and then we went to work. The zipper was tricky. But it worked. And he was SUPER happy. He wanted to name him Spermy; I encouraged going a different direction, "Wally."

Ingesting the squid...

Beau also wanted a stuffed animal. Originally he wanted a "shark-lizard," but after the success of Jacob's whale, he decided to just go with pure shark. With a zipper mouth, of course. There were a couple tricky things on this guy - the zipper, and the part where the belly meets the tail - but it worked out okay.

Beau was really pleased with Sharky, I could tell. He did come up to me once saying, "This fin is not the same size as the other fin," but after a short lecture on how rare symmetry really is, he seemed to accept any flaws as character trademarks.

Next up will be a kangaroo with a pouch for Marianne...hopefully.

Riding Bareback

I know I shouldn't. But I am. Because when your feisty two-year-old uses the bathroom, but then streaks through the house before you can help her get her clothes back on, and then you find her in the living room riding the rocking horse butt naked...You just kinda have to take a picture of her. In all her birthday-suit glory.

Be grateful you got the blurry picture... (Actually I did that for you, Marianne, so you won't be completely humiliated when your older siblings show this off to all of your friends when you are a teenager...)

General Conference 2014, IN SLC

My sister in law Katie lives in Anaktuvik pass, Alaska. Don't know where that is? Neither do I, really. But I do know it is super remote and far away and thus we don't see Katie and her family very often. She planned to remedy this by getting all of us gals together for a general conference trip, and while we weren't all able to go (Carla because of her baby and DeAnn because of her pregnancy), those of us that did had a wonderful time.

Emilee and Louise drove up to ABQ on Thursday night. On Friday morning after a hectic run getting the kids off to school (except Bekah), getting the oil changed in my van, and picking up last minute goods, we were off (with Carla's daughter Libby). I was driving and said I didn't know how to get there, but we needed to head in the general direction of Santa Fe, right?
Right, they said.
And then I actually drove to Santa Fe, missing our exit by about 30 miles. So we took a different route to Utah, and it worked out fine, and Louise and Emilee were much better navigators after that.
We drove and drove...I'm not really used to doing 10 hours in one swoop, but I know a lot of families that do it and my hat is off to them. I felt blessed to not have all my kids with me, and to have Emilee's awesome playlist to keep me musically entertained. And to have survived driving Price Canyon at night. Seriously. That road is not safe.
We met up with Katie and her daughter Claire that night at the hotel, and we all were happy to go right to sleep.
We had tickets for the Saturday morning session of GC, so we had to get up bright and early to get ready and catch our Blue Line to Temple Square on the Trax. (I think riding the Trax was one of the girls' favorite things to do!) I had been texting my BFF Lindsey to coordinate where and when we were going to meet at temple square so she could go in with us, and right as we were getting of the train at temple square, I got a text from her that she was at the same intersection. I looked around but couldn't see her, and so, with crowds all around me, I simply yelled, "Lindsey!" as loud as I could several times. I still didn't see her so we all crossed the street and began to walk towards the conference center. The crowds cleared and there she was, saying, "I heard you calling me so I turned around!" Ah, happy reunion! I love my Lindsey!
We happily made through the crowds with none of us tripping up the stairs whatsoever and into the conference center. Our tickets were for the terrace, where all the people on the stage look miniscule and it's easier to just watch the big screen tvs. But it was still awesome. I just kept telling myself that if I were to yell President Monson's name really loud, he would hear me.
Before the speakers spoke, I made a list of questions and concerns that I have. Bekah made a list as well. I was so happy when her concerns were specifically addressed by one of the speakers. We both looked at each other and knew that Heavenly Father had answered her prayer. It was a special experience. I have failed to mention how completely excited Bekah was to go to conference center! She had watched the women's conference with me and had been excited for the whole week to actually be in SLC, at temple square, in the conference center. I gave her a little backpack to hold her pens and notebook and snacks, and she had everything laid out before the first talk - pens, paper, snacks. She kept wonderful notes that she insisted I read after every speaker. She did it for every session and never once said she was bored or tired. She wants so much to be good and choose the right, and I am so grateful for her valiant example. Favorite talk: Jeffrey R. Holland (If he were a Baptist, he'd be pounding the pulpit, and I love that about him!)

After the first session (and working the crowds for lunch and a tiny bit of shopping), we made our way through temple square to try and find a good place to watch the second session. Katie had been teasing that at least one of the girls needed to be photographed in the Ensign - Katie's kids and Carla's kids have been in the Ensign before - and as we were walking towards the tabernacle, we saw a man way across the lawn with a big camera. We told the girls to run over towards him because he was the Ensign guy and maybe they would get their picture in the Ensign. They took off running while Emilee and I made "caw-caw!" sounds to get the guy's attention. He must have heard us because he turned our way, saw the girls running towards him with their umbrellas, and immediately started taking pictures of them...which made them immediately freeze and start posing. It was hilarious how instantaneously they turned on the charm. (That's where the above photo came from.)
It turned out that the guy was planning to submit pictures to the Ensign, and he wasn't just some guy, he was a friend of Lindsey's that she hadn't seen for a long time! I uploaded the three photos here from his blog, you should check out his other amazing conference photos at timhansenphotography.com
We wound up watching the afternoon session in a movie-theater-type-room in the visitor's center - with way comfier seats and a better view than we'd had watching it live. And again the session was wonderful. Favorite talk: Craig W. Zwick about communicating more compassionately
Afterwards we tried to peruse Deseret Book with about 1000 other people, and the best things I found in there were the Richardson's (from SV, AZ), and these heavenly lemon-covered almonds. Mmm...
I had to say my goodbyes to Lindsey at this point because she needed to head home to her sweetheart. I have to tell you, Lindsey is the most insightful person I know - always studying and praying and learning and being taught. I love that about her.
The rest of us ladies headed back to the hotel (yay for Trax again), enjoyed a fun dip in the pool, opened Emilee's eyes to the world of IKEA, and had a super late night dinner at the Cheesecake factory (it was worth it).
Sunday morning was nice and slow - amazingly enough those little girls slept in until 9am - and as the adult staying in the room with them, I was super grateful. (Favorite talk: Elder Bednar) We watched part of conference on the TV and then headed back up to temple square to have a picnic lunch with Katie's inlaws. We had tickets to the afternoon session that day, and so after lunch we made our way to the conference center. We had seats on the balcony this time, the highest level, because the girls really, really wanted to sit up there. I think the spirit dissipates the higher up you sit because I found myself behind a large family that couldn't stop massaging each other's backs and hands and arms...and in front of a group of college kids who really liked to audibly quote the scriptures along with the speaker, and then leave during the closing song (rude). Please, please, if just for me, DON'T spend two hours massaging your companion's back. I don't care how much you like them or how bored you get. The person sitting behind you might not be able to control their puking-reflex as well as I can. Favorite talk: Marcos A Aidukaitis
After that session, we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then went back to the hotel for another dip in the pool. We knew we had an early morning the next day, so we headed to bed before midnight that night.
The drive home (with Katie and Claire now joining us), was long but swift...even swifter because we went the right way that time. I am so grateful that we were able to take this trip. I love Katie and Emilee and Louise and I feel very blessed to have had that time to spend with them! And I am grateful for the time I had with Bekah. She and I have had some rocky times together, and this trip was really good for us.