Guess what...

I ran a stinkin' 5K on my treadmill today without stopping.
.
.
My longest run was 2.5 miles on my 40th birthday, almost 4 years ago.

.
My longest run recently was 1.5 miles a couple of weeks ago.

.
What Was I Thinking?               I Dunno!

I thought it would never happen. A 5K, I mean.

For a NON-runner, that is a serious milestone.

I have to pass so many WALLS when I run.

Usually every lap is a WALL.

WooHoo for me.

(It won't be happening again any time soon.)

History of the Tree Swing on Kaibab

There was a man named James Nelson who was the father of the mother of my father. Haha sounded good, anyway.

Grandma Myrtle's father, James, had some younger brothers named Jonathon and Smith who were also loggers on Kaibab. Their father was, their brothers were, my grandpa was, my dad was.....

Jonathon and Smith are the ones who put up the tree swing in the 1940's for the kids to play on while their dad's worked. (This story is told by Bernice Pickett (Mich's mom) who is the daughter of Jonathon Nelson.)

The Nelson's logged at a place called Mile-and-a-Half Lake. They held their reunions there every year until about 10 years ago. They used to visit the swing.

About twenty years ago, my dad drove to Kaibab and my hubby and I followed. My mom, Bryce, Jana, and Cheryl were also on the trip. We went to the swing and had a picnic.


Fifteen years ago, 1996, my dad died of cancer.

Nine years ago, in 2002, my hubby and I bought a travel trailer, and started camping on Kaibab.

In 2002-2005, my hubby, myself , and our kids spent a lot of time driving around the mountain looking for the tree swing. We were looking for signs of what we could remember from when my dad had taken us there. We could never find it. We asked rangers about the swing, and they had no idea what we were talking about.

In 2006, we found the tree swing. We had gotten limited directions from Uncle Verl, "Go down, down, down, till you can't go down anymore...." and we drove right to it. The cable was only attached to one of the trees, and my kids loved swinging around and around the tree like a tether ball, then switching directions and doing it again. We always took a family picture there.

In 2006, there had been a fire that had swept across this mountain, and it burned the whole west side of the tree.
I think this may have killed the tree. The fire also burned the board that was used for the seat. It is still usable, but barely.

In 2007, it took us awhile to remember how to get to the tree.

In 2008, the wind had blown the top half of the tree to the ground. The cable had spent its years embedding itself into the tree as the tree grew around it. This made the tree vulnerable to the wind and it just snapped it off.
































In 2009, we went to Kaibab, but didn't make it to the tree for some reason. I think it started pouring on the second day of our visit and didn't stop. It was 3 weeks before Kamarie was born.

In 2010, we didn't make the trip to Kaibab, cause we were out of work and didn't have money for gas, and we had taken a long trip to Bryce Canyon for a family reunion.

                                               -insert no pictures here-



This year, 2011,  the cable fell off the 40'-50' stump of the tree with barely any force applied. It missed landing on my 8-yr-old's head by 8 inches.

On this particular trip, my dad's baby sister had asked to tag along. She had never been up to Kaibab. She and her hubby came as well as her baby who is 17. They happen to climb trees. Casey scurried up a new tree with the cable, and with the help of Kyson and Mike, secured the heavy, heavy cable about 30 feet up in a living tree.

Then Mike scurried up a tree that was about 10 feet away and using the old, old u-bolts and nuts that were already on the cable, and a wrench that he happened to have in his Rhino (a new fangled jeep), he secured the other end of the cable to the 2nd tree about 20 feet up. Voi La. A new tree swing.

My kids prefer the swing to be tether-ball-like.

Right now it is lopsided as you swing, and it is quite a balancing act to stay on.

I remember going there as a child. I was around 5 years old. That is the last memory I have of that place till I was married. I remember wanting to swing as high as the big kids, and they wouldn't let me. I remember two men had to swing the swing higher by standing on either side of the swing and flinging it with a rope, since the swing was too high to reach. I remember my brother, Bruce being a bit stubborn and not wanting to let them swing him, so he put his foot up to stop the rope. I was there also as a 2-year-old, I know, cause my mom has pictures.

I have no idea why I am drawn to Kaibab so much. I just am. I like to go there at least once a year. My kids will ask to go there if we miss a year. They enjoy it, also.

I don't know much of the history of the place, but that is my tidbit to add to it.

In honor of 7/11

Ahhh, Kaibab...

For some reason, I am always reminded of my dad when I am on Kaibab...

The year was 1969.

Doug, Dave, Danette, Mona

Doug is almost 7, Danette is almost 2,

Here's Doug in 1972, almost 10.

Here you can see how high that swing could swing. This is Mona and Doug in 1972.


The swing got higher every year. To get a good high swing, someone else had to use a rope to swing you higher. One person on either side, catch the swing with the rope, and fling the swing backwards. Bruce is trying to kick that rope.
Mona and Tina 1972.

Danny, Tina, 1972

In 1992ish, we went looking for the "swing". Danny hadn't been there in years. The roads were gone and new roads had been made, but once he got in the right area, Danny drove us right to the spot-no road necessary. Danette, my hubby, Danny, Bryce, Mona .

The rest of the story

to come later, after the court of honor.

Add caption

Do you like my new heading

I changed the phrase just a little bit.

(Haha, I'm just so funny sometimes, I make myself laugh.)

Now if I could get my husband to look at my BLOG!

Kashton's Eagle Picture

Kashton's Eagle Court of Honor is coming up

Here is the "before", before my professional photographer gets ahold of it.
(It's a long-distance relationship.)
Watch for further updates of the magic.

 

Kauri is on a roll

We went to Tiffany's reception, and there was watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew in a fruit bowl. Kauri apparantly has not had a whole lot of cantaloupe, cause she asked her dad what it was.

She excitedly replied, "HMM! It stole this one's RECIPE!" as she pointed to the watermelon. She thinks they just "food colored it, cause it does NOT taste different."

lol

Another one for Kauri

The bigger sister in our house shares a room

with Kauri, and the bigger sister

refuses to change in her room

ANYMORE,

 cause Kauri says she has

"MAN BOOBS!"

ahh ha ha ha!

oh man,

where does she come up with this stuff?

(and whose man boobs has she been looking at?)

Kauri's Funnies

I needed to get a message to Hubby,

so I told Kauri to go out in the garage where Daddy was,

 and tell him something for me.

"OK!!!"

She was sooo excited to get the assignment,

that in her haste to get out of my bedroom,

she had to push her way past Hubby to get out my door.

LOL

LOL

LOL

Oh, man, I giggled till tomorrow!

I put Koby's name on his PIZZA!

He turned 15!!!

and

he loves

PIZZA.

BUT,

this

is

NOT

PIZZA,

 it

is

his

CAKE!

Kyson's Funnies

Kyson was running for student council because his friends wanted him to.

During his interview with the "powers that be", he summed up why he was running as

 "for the people" 

LOL

Ingeneous!

He WON the election, by the way,

so now he is the senior class president of the pm studentbody

of the Success Academy.

(Where you get to take your high school credits

as college courses and get an

Associate's Degree,

for free,

a month before you graduate from high school.)

Yes, he is the president over

22 kids!!!

WOOT WOOT

Kashton's Funnies

Kashton yelled, "UUUUGGGHHHH!"

I said, "What?"

He was standing in the kitchen babying his foot.

He said, "I just stepped in spilled yogurt......again!   For the third time."

I said, "Why don't you clean it up?"

He said, "Cause I didn't spill it, Kamarie did."

I said, "It would take less time to clean it off the floor than it would to wash off  your foot three times."

.

.

He didn't clean it up.

.

He stepped in it two more times.
One of those times his foot slipped hard enough to ram it into a chair.

hahaha

lol

Kort's funnies

Kauri was mad about dinner cause she doesn't like PUH-sketti.

.

.

Kortlen corrected her, and said,

"It isn't PUH-sketti, it is is BUH-sketti!

.

.

.

hahaha

Word of the Day

From Kauri:

Succulent

She said," Yummm, this strawberry is the best, most succulent strawberry I've ever tasted!"

I have never heard a Kindergartner use the word succulent.

She told me what it meant and then explained that she'd seen it on a princess movie where everyone  brought the princess presents. One of the presents was a succulent strawberry.



Easter Picnic !!

HA!

What you don't se here is how many "takes" it took to get any of these shots!

And,

Me with laryngitis trying to yell at the kids to look at the camera and quit distracting the baby!!!

Coming soon will be all the out takes of Kyson

while I try to get a decent shot to post!

Kauri has a funny friend, so she made my blog today.

The friend only hangs out with adults, so she is very articulate for a 5 year old.

Kauri was on the phone with her and made a rasperry sound with her mouth.

Her friend asked her if she just farted.

 lol

Then, the friend made arrangements for Kauri to come over and play for awile before the friend plays with her cousins.

Kauri had to wash her face and feet and brush her hair first.

While she was doing those things, the friend calls back and says,

 "Can I start over for asking you to play, cause I forgot to ask my family first."

Then she told Kauri that she CAN'T play with her.

Then Kauri said, "You mean that I got ready for NOTHING?"

Then a 10 minute conversation about how bad they want to play with each other today. Funny

It's not completely Koby's fault he made my blog

I don't think any of my kids have seen me boil potatoes in their skins before.
I had just boiled two pots full of eggs to color for Easter. (Remember, we have 7 kids that want to color eggs.)
I was boiling the pot of potatoes for potato salad.
Koby peeked into the pot and asked me with a big puzzled look if we were going to paint potatoes, too.
lol

Kauri's Commentary

Kyson declared that he was having a staring contest with Kauri cause she was looking at him.

They stared at each other for a few seconds and when Kauri blinked, Kyson told her that she blinked and declared himself the winner.

Kauri didn't want to accept defeat, so she said,

"I blinked inside my brain."

We were going to swim team practice one day last summer, and Kauri was sick, and I wasn't going to let her get in the water. I told her we needed to get her some medicine to get her better and she told me,

"The water IS my medicine."

Kashton's funnies

We were all headed to ball games in one vehicle since gas is now reaching $4.25 a gallon for diesel in the truck.
All the kids were already seated when I got to the car, and the only place left was in the back seat of our Suburban.
So they LET me sit in the back.
Kashton always complains when he sits in the back, but he moved his seat to let me climb past it and told me to  let him know how fast my legs get CONSTIPATED. Ha Ha
I think he meant cramped or claustrophobic. lol

KysonSullivan signature guitar!

He needed some attention on Kyson's birthday

Kortie did it again! (made my blog)

He wanted to use the humidifier tonight, cause he is stuffed up.
I saw him in the storage room getting it out, stuggling with it cause it was so heavy.
He managed to get it out of the room and dropped it as soon as he did.
I told him to stop, since it was not a humidifier.
It was a bread making machine.
lol

It sucks to be sick

on your 17th birthday!!!!
Sorry, Kyson.

Kortie's Funnies

Yay, Yay, Yay,

Kortlen FINALLY made my blog!!!

Kort's NintendoDS has a broken hinge, which means it doesn't work.

We have the parts to fix it, but it is in the halfway done phase. 

This is torture for an 8-yr-old.

Hubby was playing a DS this morning, and I asked if Kort could play that one if Kort's room was clean.

He nodded to me, so I told Kort that dad had nodded his head.

Kort had the most innocent look on his face as he asked me,

"Which way?"

as he unintentionally mimicked a bobble head doll.

LOL

My science experiment: Dingy whites to whitest whites

I read somewhere (and I don't know if it is true) that garments are DYED WHITE. So, when they are bleached, the bleach takes out the white dye and makes the garments dingy grey!!!

So, buy some white dye and dye them white, right?

What WMart carries in the Rit dye section is not really white "dye", but it claims to whiten and brighten dingy whites.

Well, the ingredients have some of the sodium and hydrowhatchamacallits that are similar to my oxidizer powder.  I'm not a chemist, but I was hoping there was a big enough difference to make a bigger difference.

I've tried using the oxidizer powder on the dingy garments to no avail. But, it makes sense that the oxidizer won't make the dingy whites whiter if the dye has been all bleached out of them...

So, I followed the directions on the "whitest whites" rit dye,

I even used hot, almost boiling water.

I stirred it for 12-15 minutes,

and rinsed them with warm water.

What I was hoping for was to NOT to have to spend $50 to replace the dingies.

You know, so I feel like I can wear white t-shirts again

and not feel like I don't know how to do laundry

(which apparently, I don't.)

The experiment was a waste of my time and the $2.20ish that I spent on the ritstuff.

Not completely a waste of my time, I guess, cause now, I know.

I don't mind the "now, I knows" as long as it didin't cost me too much.

Well,

I guess I am going to make that trip to the DB (DeseretBook) on Monday to get me some whitey whites.

Wait,

I guess I did figure out how to get the whitey whites after all.

Hubby says to try spray paint...
maybe I will.

Kauri's Commentary: riddle style

Brushing her own hair, she tells me, "I'm trying to make that white stuff on the top of my head."

What is it?

Kauri's turn to fold the stuff that goes in the kitchen drawers, and she says,

"I can't do the ones with the ropes."

What is it?

Look

below

for

the

answer.

I

have

to

do

this

so

people

who

use

a

google

reader

can't

cheat!

A part.

An apron

Ward Conference

Both of the counselors in the Stake Presidency are in our ward or have been.
The one that was our bishop for a year 13 years ago and not in our ward anymore made his way to the front.
As he reached the stand, he looked like he just saw the biggest ice cream cone in his life!
It was fun for me to see that.
He immediately went over to where Koby was playing the prelude music and offerred him his praise.
Afterwards, both counselors made their way over and offered their praise to ME.
That was fun, too.

V Day 2011

Kamarie Funnies

Last night, Kamarie wanted me to put her to sleep,

which means sit in my rocker recliner chair and nurse her to sleep.

We were by my closet when she was making her wishes known to me.

 This usually consists of her whining, pointing at the chair, and her doing her lithalithalitha thing with her tongue.

She could tell that I was undressing to get ready for bed, so she started to help me:

I have these favorite lounge pants that I wear A LOT.

(warm, thick, cozy, big, comfy)

She reached into my closet,

grabbed hold of these lounge pants that were under a nice size pile of other clothes,

pulled them out,

and handed them to me.

LOL

Kamarie has been very sensitive to gas in her intestines since she was born,

therefore, I sleep with a hairdryer next to my pillow.

When she has a gas problem in the night and can't get back to sleep,

I turn on the hairdryer and she usually settles right down.

She also like to nurse during the night when she wakes up.

I don't always want to nurse her in the night,

 cause it makes it hard for me to fall back to sleep.

I have started turning on the hairdryer when she wants to nurse.

A few times it has made her fall right back to sleep,

and I have gotten to go back to sleep as well.

The other night,

she was whining to nurse,

and as I reached above my  pillow to turn on the hairdryer,

she grabbed my arm and yelled at me:

"NOooo!"
(She didn't want me to  put her to sleep without nursing her.)

LOL

Smarty pants.

She is only 18 months old.

church funnies

Bro So-and-so bore his testimony and added that he was also grateful he was the scoutmaster; the boys have taught him so much.

The top baseball player at our high school gets up and sings praises to the local trouble-maker saying how he is so nice to him, you know, the one I've been having problems with ever since I asked his mom to stop letting him drive with my kids in the car while he doesn't have a license. The athlete's father is also the baseball coach and decides who makes the team and who plays in the games, so of course the trouble-maker is going to be butt-kissing, brown-nosing nice to them.

Then, theYM leader of the Teachers Quorum gets up to bear his testimony (he had t-m in his class so knows him well), and states that this is a church of MIRACLES! Since Bro. Soandso can be "grateful" to be the scoutmaster, and said trouble-maker can be a role model.

LOL      LOL         LOL
        LOL       LOL         LOL


PS. Then t-m gets up there to the pulpit of testimony meeting and thanks the girl in our ward for asking him to the girl's choice dance.
LOL classic.

This night is not the same as last night.

When I asked Kauri about throwing up last night at 5 AM (this was the other day),
 she said, "THIS night."
I said what do you mean THIS night?
and she reminded me that she did not throw up LAST night, but that it was THIS night that she did.

meaning: it was still dark so it was "night," but it was more toward today than last night, so it was "THIS" night.

It makes sense to me...

We are going "viral."

Four weeks ago I made a trip to the Dr. four nights in a row for 4 different kids with ear infections.
We have had the on and off cold symptons most of this winter.
I don't think I even know Kyson without a cough.

Last Friday, Kauri came home from her soccer practice feeling sick and throwing up later.
Monday and Tuesday, Kauri had no school for the Parent Teacher conferences.
Tuesday, Kamarie woke me up at 6 am throwing up. Every 30 minutes for the next 7 hours.
Wednesday, Kauri was all dressed for school with her coat on ready to leave when she told me she was "freezing." Checked her temp and it was 102. she was devastated to have to miss school 3 days in a row.
She spent the day on the couch watching Bubble Guppies with Kamarie.
Thursday, Kauri's temp. was 103, so she stayed home again. She spent the day with a bucket next to her for her off and on spurts of throwing up.
Friday morning I heard her throwing up at 5 AM, so I checked her temp and it was 105.5. Gave her some ibuprofin and let her watch tv. She didn't even complain. Fri. night, Hubby told me that she had a sore throat and maybe we should check her for strep. I knew it couldn't be strep if she hadn't complained about a sore throat all day every day, but I got a flashlight and checked her throat. Holy Cow! I had never seen anything like it before. Her tonsils were the size of quarters and they were covered with white patches of cottage cheese looking stuff. The nurse told me it was a virus and not to bring her in.
Friday night, Kort started throwing up.
Saturday morning, Kinzie felt like throwing up, but played her soccer game anyway.
Kamarie's eyes started gooping up, also, and we immediately started treating her for pink eye.
She only gooped up a couple more times, so we think we got it under control.
When we got home, Koby felt sick, too. He started throwing up later that day.
Last night we took Kauri and Kamarie to the Dr. and got prescriptions
for Kamarie's pink eye and for her ear infection?
Yeah, we never would have known about her ear infection if it weren't for Kauri's swollen lips.
Kauri's swollen lips and 104 fever helped us decide to take them both in.
First, Dr. Karl ran a strep test on her that came back negative.

Dr. Karl listend to Kauri's symptoms: very high fever for lots of days, swollen and cracking lips, swollen tonsils, pink tinted around her eyes and then he said, "Let me see your hands."

When he said that, I said, "You are not checking to see if her fingers are peeling are you?"

He said that he was.

Dr. Karl is the one who diagnosed Kashton with Kawasaki Disease 11 years ago.

A few differences are that Kauris fever actually goes down with ibuprofin.
And her mouth hasn't been sore, sore, sore, and has not been complaining about her whole body hurting.
Dr. Karl said he wasn't going to rule it out, but does not think it is Kawasaki.

So, three or four different viruses at our house right now.

My annual "too busy for a day" post.

Thursday:
2:30 Kinzie Parent/Teacher conference.
5:30 L.L.softball tryouts for Kinzie
5:30 L.L. baseball tryouts for Koby and Kashton
5:30 L.L. baseball tryouts for Hubby since he is coaching and has to pick a team.
6:00 Cheer banquet for cheer leaders and parents.
6:00 Parent meeting for Koby since he is doing the college/high school program next year that Kyson has been doing.
7:00 Kort's first Pine "View" Derby. (pinewood derby)

Our 21st anniversary!

His name is James

but his mom calls him Jimmer.

A little tidbit you might have missed...

A guy named Elder Rogers served an LDS mission in Glen Falls NY.
He met a guy named Al Fredette and taught him the gospel. Fredette's married a Catholic girl, and when they had kids, they let them choose which religion to join. They both joined the LDS church.

Elder Rogers had a son and named him Stephen. Stephen is from Mesa, Arizona.
Stephen is now playing on BYU's basketball team (sophomore) with the son (Jimmer) of the guy he converted.

cool?

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700102377/BYU-basketball-reunites-Fredette-Rogers-families.html

Kashton turned 13!!!

He

wanted to have a birthday party

to celebrate

his alter ego.

Many

of his friends

occasionally call him "money."

Since he loves money, (and who doesn't)

we decided to have the theme be

Kash

Moolah

Money

Dollars

Coins

and "ton"s of it.

Get it?

Kash  ton.

This

was

my

first

experience

using fondant!!!

I even made my own......if you can believe it.

The rope was made of licorice that I dunked in chocolate milk powder.

This

is

what

he

got.....

plus some brain games

and

a book.