Bear Lake Wardle Reunion 2008

So here are some of my favorite pictures from our Family vacation at Bear Lake. It was with all of Tyler's family and there were plenty of us! We stayed in in this cabin with 14 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms and had a blast! The adults got to talk after kids bed time, ATV's the beach, jet skis, horses and a whole lot of family... and it was the best reunion since I joined the family... (almost 5 years now!)


Here is Cameron showing his 5 teeth!

Here we are in front of the fireworks (can't keep Kevin from watching them) and our 4th of July picture.


Family Jet ski picture

Have I ever told you how cute my kids are? (as they eat sand)


Here is everybody(us back left)... Here is Grandma and Grandpa with the 22 grandkids



Here is our family pic..

Here we are 4 wheeling.. no one could believe I wanted to take Cameron with us but he loved it! right up until he fell asleep...

Kevin got to go horseback riding for a little bit.. and loved it.. He talked about for DAYS!!

Tyler and Kevin coming back from swimming, our Family beach pic.
Most of the grandkids on the water weinie... Kevin is in the middle in orange. Me and the boys on the beach.



The siblings, and spouses... Our couple picture.. with my new "sassy" hair!


Grandma made All the grandkids these shirts that say "K.I.D.S.- Kousins In Different States" its their "club" and yes that is Kevin screaming on the left.

Tagged

Tag-
3 Joys:
1. Cuddling or napping with my kids
2. Cuddling or napping with my husband
3. Having real conversation with my two year old (I love that he is talking so well and actually understands me!)
3 Fears:
1. Having a family member die.
2. Not being prepeared for something I should be (Hence my Emergency Prepardness hobby!)
3. Not being able to protect my kids when they need me to.
3 Goals:
1. Loose the baby wieght! 22.5 lbs by next July (very reasonable)
2. Support my husband through his PHD without being a burden
3. Keep a postive attitude (stop being so negative)

I tag anyone who wants to!

Emergency Preparedness

I have gotton a request to answer emergency pprepardness questions so if you have any questions leave them on my blog or email me. Here was my first request.

"Okay, for your first "emergency preparedness" quest...I need to know what to do with strawberries (besides the usual freezer jam). Can you just freeze strawberries, or do they get mushy? Any recipes I should try?"

Well as for recipies the first one we always make with fresh strawberries is kinda like a strawberry short cake. You make 1 white cake mix in a regualr 9 x 13 pan, let it cool. Then you mix 8 oz softened cream cheese and 2 C. Powdered sugar, fold in 1 1/2 C. cool whip and 1 tsp. vanillla. Spread on top of cake. Then make 1 pkg Strawberry Danish dessert (top shelf-by the jello at wal-mart) according to the "fruit glaze" add 1 pkg sliced strawberries and pour over top, refridgerate and devour! It is heavenly and becuase it has strawberries I swear it is healthy! :) (this recipie is just one of the reasons why one day I hope to add 52 cake mixes to my food storage, I have so many recipies with cake mix in them!)

As for freezing strawberries yes you can! If you only want to make one thing of freezer jam now but know you will run out later, put just enough strawberries in a gallon size plastic bag for another batch- then freeze, so in January when you run out you can just pull out one bag and make a whole nother batch (thanks Saunya for the tip!) Think, you could keep enough for a few bathches!

As for freezing strawberries just to eat (think on top of yogurt, icecream, in your cereal, to eat plain or for the recipie above.) Cut the tops off and cut in half. Freeze away! I once heard a rumor that if you don't wash them before you freeze them the don't become as mushy, but I have never tried it. I personally just rinse in cold water before I freeze. I have also read that if you add sugar to your strawberries they keep their texture and flavor better than if frozen plain. As for me, who think strawberries have enough sugar, I leave them plain.

I hope that helped, if you have any other questions or need clarification let me know!

I also wanted to share the church's website on what families can do to prepare themselves for a pandemic. Very interesting stuff, if nothing else... just check out what the reverse quarentine is and figure out what it would take to do it!

http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,8041-1-4414-1,00.html

We're back!

That is right we have been gone for over a week on family vacation with Tylers family! There are 6 siblings, all are married and all have atleast 2 kids. (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2,) for a total of 22 grandkids, 12 kids and then Grandma and Grandpa. Talk about a blast! we have a lot of pictures to upload and plenty of memories to keep forever. Kevin and Cameron got to go to the beach (twice) Kevin rode on the Jet Ski, they both rode ATV's, Kevin got to ride a horse, they shot of fireworks and spent lots of time with cousins! Cameron even got two more teeth while we were gone for a total of 5! We are even starting a weight loss program to see if we can as a family loose weight! I am very excited to see where I will be by the next reunion! Pictures of my new hair do, the kids and answers to the strawberry question come next!

Needed: icecream recipies

So me and Tyler are on a hunt for the best homemade ice cream recipe. We are in in charge of making some ice cream for the Wardle reunion this summer and we have already tried two of them, (Ben and Jerry's is pretty good) anybody have any great ones? I made homemade mini waffle cones to put on top and we are planning on getting cookies and candy for toppings, cherries, chocolate, snickers, etc. So if any of you have any great recipes let me know.. and we will try them out!

Woohoo!

Cameron walked! Yes, he was holding on to the walker, but seriously he took like 8 steps! (he probly would have taken more but Kevin kinda threw him on the floor) He has been walking along things for a while but this is real movement! He is one big boy! Growing so fast! He didn't do it walking towards Mom, for that he just dropped to the floor and crawled to me, for the 8 steps, he was walking for.... Daddy!

Some Random Cute Pictures

So I finally emptied the camera, I had some 400 pitures on it, dating back to to May, here are some of the cute ones!

The day after swimming lessons ended Kevin asked to "play in the water in the pool"- This was the closest I could get them to sitting still.

Me and the boys.

Grandma and the boys (ahh Kevin loves Grandma)

The boys enjoying the cockpit. Grandpa sharing contraband with Cameron.

Cameron enjoying the boat. Kevin was telling me about the Train on the shore line.

It is so much easier to throw them in together! Here they are enjoying the mess they made in Kevin's room. They own way to many toys!

Here is Cameron covered in Licorice on Grandpa's boat . Here is Grandpa thinking, it sure is a lot quieter out here without all the Grandkids... ;)

Three Toofers!

That is right, Cameron who had been trying to get his top left tooth through for a couple of weeks now finally got it through! He has three teeth and a slight biting problem... don't get too close! He got this tooth way earlier than I had planned, Kevin didn't get his third tooth unti he was 11 months old!

Swimming Lessons

So Kevin ended swimming lessons and was a very brave kid (more like fearless) He was the only kid is his class to jump off the diving board with no problem,(again! again!) he had no idea that it was supposed to be scary.(All the older kids kept saying.. "hes a baby huh" and kevin would give them dirty looks and jump off faster then them. I just told them "he just little") Now he can kick, use his arms, blow bubbles and all that jazz no problem. He loves to jump in the water and basically wants to go swimming non-stop. Just look...

He's flying!
Too bad we won't be here for any of the other sessions. I hope they have swim lessons in Oklahoma! Maybe he will swim in the lake at the Wardle Reunion?

One great week, weekend and Fathers Day.

So this past week was the first week of Kevins swim lessons...He did great. One day he was the only kid that showed up in any of the classes because it was so cold! but he got in (so did I!) and we went swimming, all over the pool.. (come on, no one else was there!) but one day he was sitting on the side of the pool, kicking his feet in the water and his instructor (Hi Dani!) said you wanna jump to me? then proceeded to tell him to wait until she got to him, well I think he has stopped listening by then because I heard Splash! and when I looked down I see Kevin kicking as hard as he could to get back to the surface in 4 foot water... He came out and was fine he hadn't swallowed any water or anything... Brave kid! Scared me to death, I think I took 2 years off my life :) Other than that he kicks, uses his arms every once in a while and even talks to the fishes (blows bubbles) he likes to jump off the side (usually once he has distracted me into looking the other direction) he doesn't really care to go under water but is working on it. Everyday, he asks to swim in the water in the pool, about a thousand times.

So we had to go pick up our Dog, Oso at my parents house where he had spent the last week. He is a totally different dog, he is so calm now, Kevin can't even get him to go crazy now... I am kinda sad we are getting rid of him now... (don't tell Ty) So we drove to Washinton Friday morning and went sailing on my Dads much bigger newer boat.. it was so much fun!! the boys both did great (until they got hungry). But we got pictures (post later) and basically hung out all afternoon. Saturday my Dad and Tyler spent the day taking the boat out of the water so my Dad could get some work done on it before they take it out to the San Juans. Sunday was a very nice relaxed Fathers day, we had a big breakfast and then the "dads" took naps and we left for home in the late afternoon, it was a very great day spent with the family!

Happy Fathers Day to both Granpa's and Tyler, Hope you enjoyed your day! And thanks for all you have done and do for us!!!

He updated!

So if you would like to see pictures of the father/son campout with Tyler and Kevin see here.

If you want to see about our wonderful day of fling kites outside see here!

What a weekend!

So it all started with 2 hours of sleep thurdsay night, that is right we stayed up late packing and then got out of town about 4:30am to get to Salt Lake but I have to say we were a light load. We didn't have Kevin, He went with Uncle Ken to Wahsington to visit Grandma and Grandpa. But I will get to that later. Me Tyler and Cameron had a long day of flights on Friday and ended up in Oklahoma City about 5:00 that evening, got the remtal car and drove another hour to Perkins... our soon to be home... It was a long day to say the least. We then got in the car (thanks to Lori for babysitting) and went driving around town to see what houses were on the market that we had been staring at over the internet for months. We were to be up te next morning and spend the whole day house hunting with the realtor and we wanted to see what we were in for. On Saturday, the first half of the day we spent looking in Perkins, small town outside of Stillwater (where the college actually is) the second half was spent in Stillwater. We saw one that smelled like smoke (that means a lot of painting and cleaning to be done) one that was cute but didn't have a garage cause they had turned it into a 4th bedroom, a few (4) that all had the exact same floor plan and one that was in the country on 3/4 of an acre, that was gorgeouse but out of our price range... Tyler wanted it. Then in Stillwater we saw some really pretty, newer houses that we would love to own but they weren't in the right ward. Then we saw some that werein the right ward. So Me and Ty sat down and picked our top 3. Two of them are in Perkins and the othe one is in Stillwater. All in the true ward ;) We had a blast other than looking for houses, for one I got semi used to the humidity (I am gonna go through a lot of water taking 3 showers a day) We played with our friend John and Lori, and their kids, ate icecream, checked out the local eateries (Braums) I also ate Sonic (which I have yet to do in Jerome) the 1st sonic ever is still in Stillwater, and I even got a a language lesson in Oklahoman, I don't think I will every be able to pronounce there town names correctly. So the last night we were there I again got 2 hours of sleep. We stayed up laughing and talking until like 1am and had to get up at 3:30 to get to the airport on time. All in all Cameron travelled well, slept alot on the planes, was a lot of fun to pay attention to while I didn't have to worry if Kevin was runing away or not.( I had forgotten how easy life was with one kid) As for Kevin, we had brought the webcam and laptop so we could get on and say Hi to him, everytime we called him, my parents asked if he wanted to talk to us he said no and continued on playing. He didn't miss us at all! Grandma even started to potty train, the grandma way, everytime he would go peepee on the potty she would get him a toy, something I just don't have the budget or the stomache to do at home. He is going on the toilet really well he just won't go Number 2 on the toilet yet (not even for grandma) But Saturday night we finally did see him on the webcam and that only lasted a couple of minutes until he decieded he would rather go take a bath. He was perfectly fine with out us! Which really was nice not to worry about him but really, he could have missed me a little! So I realize that all this came out really sporatic but that is really how it was, it was so much fun, as me and Tyler drove back we talked aobut how we can't wait to move and get on with it! I think school will be hard and that I will always wish to see Tyler more than I get to but it really willl be a very exciting ride! Well I better go, Cameron is needing his Mommy (atleast one of my kids still needs Mom)

I'm an outlaw...

So I was told not to post about the father/son camput this weekend but I could wait any longer for Tyler to do it... I love you honey! I had a canning event this Saturday so Tyler being the loving husband that he is skipped the father/son campout with the ward and camped out in the back yard with Kevin... I have to say it was the best father/son campout ever... why? because mom was there!!! (I wasn't allowed in the tent!) but I was allowed to help with snaacks! so we started off with roasting hotdogs in our new fire pit, then we roasted marshmellows and had smores, and last but not least mom made cobbler in the dutch oven. By the end of the night we were stuffed, it was 11:30 and Kevin was still awake! So Daddy and Kevin t off to the tent and Mommy went to her nice warm bed! (Cameron had fallen asleep after the smores and was in his crib) I thought for sure Kevin would end up in the house but he did great! slept the night away while Tyler read all night. Apparently Kevin doesn't tell Dad to turn the light out like Mom does ;) Tyler got Kevin a green light stick and he loved that and even wanted to fall asleep holding the flashlight.. he is so much fun! We realy should go for a family campout at some point. (I will wait to post the pictures until Tyler blogs about it)

Anybody want a....

... Dog? That is right we have to give our loveable (lab mix) dog away. With us going to Oklahoma we can't really take him with us. He is smaller than most labs, fun and great with kids. Kevin has been known to jump on his back and yell "Horsey!" and does Oso do anything about it? No.. he just gets up and walks away. He is really a fun dog. He is free! And has been neutered and has his shots.. if you want him let us know. He needs a good home that will love him.

Updates...

so I haven't blogged in a while and I needed to update somethings...
The prepeardenss party on the 22nd went well, it was a very small turnout but was a succsess in my book. As for the canning thing on the 31st we brought home over 255 empty cans to be canned (that isn't counting the pouches that we brought back) and 60 some cans of food already canned so all in all it was a good month (probly my last?)
Cameron is saying Dadadadadada... even before Fathers Day! and he zooming around the house now.. nothing is safe.. Tyler says it is hard to do anything becuase he finds Cameron at his feet, and then when he moves again Cameron is holding on to his pants and falls over.. lol. Cute kid. fast crawler!
We have Kevin signed up for Swim lessons in June.. how exciting is that! Its a mommy and me class so we will both be enjoying that! (mental note- losse weight before june:)

My kids are fun...

So Kevin learned something today that just might have saved his life. :) Today was the first day he said "I'm sorry Mommy" and he did it sincerly with a really sorry look on his face- without me telling him to say sorry. I tell ya my temper was getting up there and he looked at me and just said "I'm sorry mommy" It was great! My nerves calmed down and we had a semi-rational (as rational as a mom and her 2 year old can have) chat about what he had done and why it was wrong. Elder Ballards talk was right- Motherhood is all about the moments, it was a great moment today. Unlike two days ago when he ran away, yes he found the gate open and ran away, I found him coming back home after 5 (ok maybe 3) minutes of looking for him, he is now padlocked in the back yard. True escape artist at work, lets see him get out of that!

As for Cameron he is really cute, he says Mamamaamama now, it really made my Mothers day to have him saying MaMaMaMa, we are working on Dadadadaa for Fathers day.

Mothers Day

So I had one wonderful Mothers day, my boys maybe to small to really understand but it was still great. Tyler let me sleep in, made me French toast for breakfast, grilled cheese for lunch and hotdogs for dinner.. I didn't have to cook once! He bought me 12 roses, 9 red and 3 white(my favorite) one for each of my boys, then after a nap (naps are wonderful) the boys gave me their gift, a willow tree called "brothers" it is so adorable! our collection of willow tree is slowly growing! We attended church we watched the primary kids serinade us, and the young women handed out pansies, all in all it was a very relaxing day! A day that I could truly take a break and just be thankful for the wonderful boys that I have in my life! Thanks guys!

Back to decided..

yep yep yep.. we are going to.... Okalahoma State.. We have decided that would be the best place for us so we are going. Ty and I are going to fly out and look for houses sometime in the next month with Cameron and leave Kevin with Uncle Ken... It will be the first time I have every spent the night away from Kevin since he has been born, I'm sure I will have bigger issues then he will, He love spending time with Uncle Ken. And Uncle Ken jumped at the chance to do it, he is even willing to take a day off to watch my little boy! You think I should tell him that Kevin should be potty trained by the time I get home? :) I'm excited, things really seem to be falling into place. No bites on the house yet, plenty of people like it but say they have to sell their house first or they just started looking so they will let us know... come on just by it! We just dropped the price $5,000 so we shoudl be getting more people throught now that is it in the $170's instead of the $ 180's.
As for life around here, it is a little strained.. Cameron won't let me put him down, he is running a fever and doesn't want to do anything but Cuddle, which yes, is one of the best things about being a Mom but really sometimes you need to go to the restroom!
My new project is helping plan the ward preparedness fair for the 22nd and also putting on another "canning day in the gym" on the 31st! With all the stimulus plan money coming in this month we hope that we will have a good turn out and that families in the ward will make food storage a priority. I don't think we will have another 4000 lbs but who knows...exciting exciting! So for all of you in the ward, get your orders in soon!
Thats all for now, I must go give Cameron some attention...

so...

Its a good thing that when we moved into this house we latched things to the walls. The other day Kevin came out of out bedroom wtih Tyler's utility knife- thank goodness it was closed. But Tyler was saying "where did he get that", I said "well that has been on top of the stereo which is on top of the organizer that is over the toilet", the thing is taller than I am! So we walk into the bathroom and the doors were open to the organizer, that is right, my son who is 2 ft tall climbed up on the toilet, up the organizer stepping on the shelves inside the doors to get to the utility knife- can you believe it! I'm so glad we had it teathered to the wall... I don't think I have ever been so thankful for a couple of screws in my life, It would have all come down on top of him including the stereo! I have a monkey for a child! I know that boys think differently than girls but why would he climb up the organizer in the bathroom?!? Funny kid!

He crawled!!!

That is right, Cameron crawled foward (of course it was to get a graham cracker) He is so cute he has had the legs moving foward part for a few days but his hands never moved, now he is moving his hands too! He is cute lifting his butt in the air and trying so hard... I give him a couple days before he gets to something dangerous.... I'm sure! He also now going from sitting to crawling and crawling to sitting on his own.. we are in some big trouble, baby proofing is now a must!