Camping Retarded

Camping Retarded
/kámping ri-ˈtär-dəd/ adjective: Describes people who haven't been camping for about 5 years. They pack tons of food but forget other necessities such as sleeping bags, formula and water.

We are camping retarded. We forgot our sleeping bags on our camping trip. After driving 2 hours away and up into the mountains it dawned on us that we left the sleeping bags. I also forgot Zoey's formula, but luckily had an emergency stash in the van.

Thank goodness, I'm a cold (not "mean cold", but "physically cold") person and brought blankets because I was worried about my kids getting cold during the night.

We used blankets the first night and we FROZE! Zoey and Ben ended up in the van in the middle of the night. The rest of the kids and I huddled together under the blanket. The kids played tug of war with the blanket and Xander slept really well on the cold hard tent floor without any blankets. Everytime I tried to scoot him closer to me, he pushed away. When one kid would wake up crying it was like a domino effect and everyone was up.

By morning time, I felt like I had 2 hours of sleep and Ben was sore all over. Our kids on the other hand, were in good spirits. We heard complaints about being cold during the night and then later I heard comments like, "I love camping" "Camping is so fun!"

Gotta love short term memory!



Camping in the redwoods is just amazing! You feel so tiny being surrounded by these giants! At any second you could be swallowed up and there would be no remains.

Some of the kids' favorite things about our camping trip:

Making smores

Laying in the hammock

Going on hikes

This is the chimney redwood. As a result of a fire, it is hollow all the way through.

Eating candy

Xander peeing on the trees

Thank goodness there are no pictures. Although, Mia did draw one and left it in a tree after seeing a group of people doing a scavenger hunt.

Climbing on the trees

We ended up driving home the second night. We did everything that we were going to do and when it was time to go to bed, we just drove home! It was a great decision!

We loved camping at Big Basin Redwoods. It just happens to be the FIRST state park ever!



We can't wait to go camping again and next time, we won't be leaving the sleeping bags behind!

Did Someone say More???

Guess what came in the mail today?

More cards!!!!!



Best birthday ever!

Dog gone it, People like me!

Yesterday, the kids and I were just getting back from a walk and Ben got the mail. He was so surprised at how much mail was in there. I didn't even look up because I was thinking all of it was junk mail or advertisements or mail for William Wallace. . .

I finally looked up and Ben had a giant stack of letters! Any college kid or missionaries dream come true! Like a little kid, I ran up to Ben and tackled him down on the ground and made him wince like a girl until he released them all to me! Okay, that's not how it happened, but that's what I felt like doing.

I acted like any adult would and counted and sorted and took pictures of my cards! I also vowed I would not open them until my birthday.

Yay! Something to open on the day that's really not my birthday and who knows if I am really 33, I think I am only 25 which means I got married when I was 17 which wouldn't make me legal, and I would have been 14 when CJ was born. . . okay, so maybe I'm like 26.

Today, my own kids brought me cards they had made, flowers they had picked for me. Inside CJ's card were these sayings. . .

I hope you never die. Me too!
Thanks for being my Mom. Anytime!
I hope no one else wants me. They better not! You're mine!
Thanks for helping me with homework. Really? didn't I make you cry last night?
You are the best Mom I have ever had. This really means ALOT to me!
I love you. Right back at you.
I hope you have a very nice day, Oh, I will, thanks to you!

Love CJ

* * * *

I've opened the cards and loved all of the cards! I got this one from a Kameron??? Good thing he put "(future brother in law)" by his name. Now I know who he is.

Just kidding.

The kid cards were amazing and made me flashback to my teaching years when my students made me homemade cards. Loved that!

I feel like I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and dog gone it, people like me!

Thank you, thank you, thank you SO much everyone! I feel loved.

Mother's Day

My kids are SO cute! They made me the cutest cards, which just keep coming and Xander keeps bringing "presents" to my nightstand. Presents like his Batman toys. CJ just made up a song for me and sang it to me. I'm the luckiest Mom in the world!

In Mia's card, she had a question sheet that she filled out. I think her answers are funny. This is what it said:

My Mother's favorite color is purple.
My Mother's favorite food is macaroni.
My Mother's favorite animal is chicks.
My Mother's favorite TV show is America Home Videos.
When I am at school, my mom goes to preschool with my brother.
My Mother's favorite thing to do is clean house.
My Mom weighs about 76 lbs.
She is about 23 years of age.
I like it best when she combs my hair.

I think my favorite answer is how old she thinks I am and that I only weigh 76 lbs. I also crack up at the idea that my favorite thing to do is clean the house.

Ben also got me an hour massage. Can I tell you, I can't wait?



Last night was Ben's work party. Such a blast. I like to call it "Adult Prom". It's fun getting all dressed up and dancing like I'm a teenager. Ben and I were also a part of a flash mob. There were about 200 out of 2400 people at the party involved. A flash mob is a large group of people, at a set time and place, doing a choreographed dance out of the blue. You can see one here.

Yeah, Ben and I are SO cool!

Check out my roses from my rosebush. They are seriously gigantic!

So today we had our Family Home Evening and we played Simon Says. We were all sitting on the couch and CJ said, "Stand up." Mia jumped up and CJ said, "Simon didn't say." Mia shouted, "I had a wedgie, whatever!"

Then when it was Mia's turn to be Simon, it went like this, "Simon says, do the splits", she pops up in the air and lands straight down on the ground into splits. Everyone else just looks at each other dumbfounded.


Another one was,"Simon says do a bridge on your face". That's doing a bridge and turning your head so you can touch your face to the ground.

Guess who got out?

We were so glad when Mia was done!