It has been a couple of long weeks for me. Kevin was out of town last week from Wednesday early morning through Friday evening. Then again this week Tuesday early morning till Wednesday late. Besides being out of town, the days he is here, he has class at night. So, needless to say, I’m glad I’m not a single mom, but I’ve felt like one lately. I was looking at friends blogs and found this article posted. It helped me feel better after a long hard day.

http://www.ldsmag.com/articles/080527sacrifice.html#top

So last Friday we took a trip up to Tahoe and hung out for the day. Jameson slept for almost an hour on the sand. Not too bad. He was nothing like another little boy, though, who slept for the entire afternoon IN the sand. It was so funny. He had crawled under an umbrella and crashed. The poor kid had sand all over his face. Pretty funny, though.

Then Saturday we went to our tri-stake Pioneer Day celebration. We set out a blanket and listened to the musical numbers. (He had some pretty dang cute shoes on too!)

This kid is crazy. I got a snow cone and he wanted some. I tried to give him some on a spoon, but that was not what he wanted. Jmo wanted the whole thing.

 

While we were watching the presentation, I looked over and Uncle Claire was kneeling right by us. Cousin Ryan was standing by him so we turned and said Hello. They joined us on our blanket for a time. Jameson wasted no time in playing with his Great-Great Uncle Claire’s hat.  (Notice those two sharp bottom teeth!)

On a side note I have a funny story… Our Uncle Claire and President Earl are indeed the same person. When Jameson was blessed, we asked him to participate in the circle. So he came and sat on the stand as usual. The counselor that was conducting that day went through announcements then turned a little confused and said, “And we have some stake business.” Well Uncle Claire shook his head no, so then the counselor turned back really confused and said nevermind. I was asked later who all participated in the circle. (We had a big circle, I think 9 people.) I started naming names and when I said Uncle Claire, this person stopped me. Said wait… Uncle? So I explained that he is my Grandma’s younger brother. She replied…”Oh, I though he was just being nice and stood in your circle. I was wondering why the Stake President would stand in a baby blessing.” I was laughing… I thought it was really funny.

Anyways, back to the pioneer day…

We waited while friends went on the log ride… Jameson was not tall enough to go but he has the funniest look. (And yes, I cut my hair, and it’s now just above my shoulders.)

By the time we got home…

And that was our weekend last weekend.

Thought this was fun!

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Every Friday is Lake Day at Sand Harbor for anyone in the ward who wants to go. It was the first time I have gone, and actually it’s the first time I’ve gone to that beach. Every time I have gone to Tahoe, I’ve been taken to beaches we had to hike 20 minutes down a hill to get too. So I packed up the kids and picked up Sariah and Camden and we headed up the mountain. Ramona decided she didn’t need a morning nap and Camden was very helpful in giving her her binki back every time it was thrown. 🙂 We got to the lake, and packed everything to the beach including the kids. Then I think we both got a little light headed trying to blow up toys and the pool. (I brought a blow up pool. That way the babies can enjoy the water in safety and the water heats up from the sun and sand.) I’ve been pestered to get some very important pictures up so here was our day.

Sariah took Camden and Trent out in their boats

Jameson and Ramon. He played forever in the pool, and she loved the sand. I think she ate a few handfuls when I would turn around.

Jameson found some beef jerky another kid left behind. He LOVED it. He chewed on it till it was soggy. I know, gross. But he is teething right now, and I’m sure it felt good besides tasting good. So I actually bought a bag, and I think every once in a while he might get a piece.

Jameson and Rams enjoying a trip in the boat.

Jameson chilled in the surf while Ramona walked in the water. She loved it. Even when she fell face first in that freezing water, she got up smiling. A lot of kids will cry when they fall face first in water, but not her. She was even shaking, because it was cold and got mad when I tried to take her back up to get a towel.

Jen and Sariah took the kids on a boat ride, then decided to jump off the rocks. So for Jen, here is the proof you did it.

The first picture is of them on the rock, the Sariah, and finally Jen’s turn. Awesome girls! (Sorry the pictures are blurry. I had to zoom in really far.)

All three kids crashed within 5 minutes after getting in the car. Got to love how tired kids get after a day in the sun!

Monday, the 14th we had a huge rain storm. It didn’t last long, but it was long enough to clean the air and get some of the smoke out of the air. After the rain we were able to enjoy a ward picnic at Bower’s Mansion. It was lots of fun, but I didn’t take any pictures. Kevin missed out, since he had class. Not to much longer of this single mom stuff… He doesn’t have too many classes left!

Jameson in the rain… well in the water that collects on the front porch

Jmo has decided he is too big for baby food and will only eat it when he feels like it. So now it’s on to Ritz crackers.  He loved it!

   

Today we went the The Bagel Stand for some shaved ice. Jameson didn’t know what to think. He did want more, though.

 

Ok. So it all started when we came home from vacation and found this little guy in our yard.

We found out Kevin’s mom had got it and his family put it in our yard. There’s some history here to the lawn gnome. Kevin and gnomes go way back to high school, but I can’t officially tell the story because he was never caught. Let’s just say there were a lot of gnomes, one yard, and Police had to have original owners reclaim them. (And it happened more than once.) This is why the gnome was so funny. But what do you do with a creepy little man? You put it in someone else’s yard! So we left this little guy in our neighbors yard. Well Greg found it in the morning when he left for work and told Sariah they “Got gnomed!” If it is such a thing. She couldn’t figure out what he was talking about till she walked outside. They pretty much figured it was us. This little guy had a nice home in their yard for the past few months until last night when he decided disturb the peace in our backyard.

Well Sariah called asking where I was, and I reminded her I was still in Fernley making jam. She asked where Kevin was, and I told her he was on his way home but would probably be about 45 minutes. I thought she needed something since she had family in town. Maybe she ran out of sugar or something. But NO! I just gave her all the information she needed. So I got home, we went to bed. This morning we were in no hurry to get up because we had no baby. Well I let Nikki out about 10 to go to the bathroom and yelled for Kevin. I kinda scared him. This is what was in the backyard.

If you notice there is a tree (if you can call a trunk with a bush on top a tree) roots and all, tied to our back fence. The gnome is in the grass. I’m a little embarrassed because this shows what slackers we are and how long our grass is. To give you an idea the little guy is probably over a foot tall. We were laughing so hard. It at least motivated Kevin to cut the grass.

Apparently while they were tying the tree up my brother opened the back door to let our dog out. He happened to be at our house and totally caught them. Well they scared him first. All he saw was a guy in our backyard with a tree. Until they called his name and he realized who it was. Then he got in on it. TRAITOR!

So this little guy now sits in our front yard again. Don’t worry, one day he will take up residency across the street again.

Saturday Jameson and I headed to Fernley to make Cherry jam. While we picked cherries Jmo chilled in the swing. He was so content to just sit.

Having fun picking cherries

While we were there Grandpa and Grammy picked up some new additions to the farm.

Kevin getting back to his farm roots

I like to call them Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s dinner.

After the pig break we got busy and finished the jam, which turned out great. Kev headed home before me, and I got home late after we finished. We left Jmo for a sleep over after a quick trip to Wal Mart for some supplies. Thanks for keeping him even when he’s teething!

It’s so fun to see the daily progression in Jameson, and kind of scary. The more he can move the more nervous I get. I just know once he can walk we’ll be making many visits to the doctors office for stitches, because he is so interested in EVERYTHING! As of now, he can pull himself up to standing on things.  I don’t know if 7 month olds usually can do this, but he is ready to walk.

 

Here are Jameson’s 6 well 6 1/2 month pictures.  I told Kevin I’m no longer allowed to go pick out pictures by myself because I’m a total sucker. Most of the time it’s not too difficult, because out of all the pictures there’s only a few the kid smiles in or is looking at the camera. Not with this child! I had a hard decision. Then when I go to pick up the pictures they always send a few extra and they were just too dang cute so then I bought those. So as a result, next time someone will be with me for some intervention. Here is the result…

                     

For the 4th of July weekend we went to the family cabin. We have had it planned for a while and were meeting friends from Vegas there. Paul got food poisoning Tuesday (that’s why you don’t eat the raw stuff at sushi places) and last minute he ended up not going. Jeremy ended up riding in our car since Paul didn’t drive. I got everything ready by Wednesday so we could pack the car that night. On a side note: While I was packing things Jameson was scooting around in his room. I went in to check on him and he was sitting in the middle of his floor. He figured out how to sit back up! Anyways, we got in the car Thursday morning by 6:45 and started our journey on the loneliest highway in America… HWY 50. It only took about 10 hours including all the stops. Jameson did pretty good though.

Lovely Nevada

This is pretty much what it looked like the entire way.

You gotta love when they fall into a deep sleep and the binki pops out.

We met Jenna and Jared in Cedar at Wal Mart. That town needs another Wal Mart. It was crazy. The funny part was everyone was either in tank tops or those that had modest clothes on you could see their “g” lines. I guess the whole way up the mountain Gavin asked “is that the cabin?” Jenna said it was only cute the first few times :). Gavin went nuts once we got there. He ran around forever looking at everything so excited. (He’s 3) So I’m going to post lots of pictures so everyone else there has access to them. It was so much fun, though!

The boys ready to show their support for the 4th! Jameson lost his shoe and tried to get it, and we couldn’t get all 3 boys to look at the same time.

We all went on a ride to Dead Lake. Jameson HATED his helmet. It was a little big so it wouldn’t turn with his head and he couldn’t see. Pretty funny though.

We made it up and had lunch. Jared tried to catch a fish. We could see them jumping but he didn’t catch anything. Gavin went exploring with no shoes on. Preston watched the bug on his leg. Jameson tried to drive the beasty 4-wheeler Jeremy’s brother let us borrow. Jenna and Laura tried to fish.. I think Laura cast the line about 3 feet into the bushes 🙂 Kevin and his brother Jeremy (we had 2 Jeremy’s) put Jameson in the cooler and bungy corded him to the front of the 4 wheeler. Don’t worry, we didn’t drive with him like that! Gavin tried to fish with a huge stick, and couldn’t figure out why his dad stuck it in the mud. Umm.. I think that pretty much explains everything in these pictures.

On the way home we had Laura and Jeremy take Jameson on their beast. They hardly felt the bumps and could handle the hills and streams no problem. Thanks for holding my sleeping baby the whole way back.

Jeremy, Jameson, Laura, and Gavin

Jared, Preston, Jenna

Me and Kevin

Jeremy on his beast. He would have to run with the bike up hills because it didn’t have enough power. So funny!

The best idea I’ve ever had… I brought this pool for the kids. It also served as an outdoor tub.

We went to Mammoth Caves. We walked halfway through the big cave then Kevin, Laura, and I brought the two little ones back while the rest the boys finished crawling through. The caves were created by lava flows so they’re all underground.

Me, Jeremy, and Kevin took a ride up to lookout. I drove up, and it was time for a little payback. 🙂 On the way back down we saw a wild turkey with her chicks. The two boys got a little out of control and I almost made Kev get on with Jeremy. I wasn’t going to be the one getting off, are you crazy!

Hanging out at the cabin

On the drive home we stopped at a look out point. This is at the top of Cedar Breaks. There was a whole spanish caravan that stopped right in front of us. Jeremy would stand on the edge of the group and before they took every picture, pose on the end. We were laughing so hard. They’re going to look at the pictures and be like… “Who’s the white guy on the end?”

Our scenery the whole drive home…

Although it was like a 10 hour drive, the cabin is worth it.