Happenings of our lives

Justin and Julie had work and school so we had breakfast with the kids again. We made waffles and eggs and Jordan read A Wrinkle in Time. We wanted to see Nicole and Nate’s house, so we drove there. We had lots of fun with Nicole, Forester really liked playing the Wii and Jordan played with him. We hung out with Nicole until Julie finished her classes then we went to the Boalsburg art fest.

We had so much fun at the People’s Choice art fest. Nate met us at the festival. We bought a cool statue (see picture). The statues that this artist makes are so cool. He takes railroad spikes and makes them into these statues. We’re probably going to get one made that is a canoe with two people in it.

We also bought a HUGE bag of kettle corn, which was probably the best kettle corn I have ever had in my life. There was some really cool artwork, and it was much more affordable than the other art fest.

We went back to Justin and Julie’s and started to get dinner ready for our massive bbq dinner. Ilana and I made crackers and we got the dip ready. Justin started the grill when he got home and as soon as he started putting things on the grill it started pouring, enough that the next morning our car looked liked it had been washed. We started to play mexican bean farmers again and then Justin didn’t want to play so we played spades with Nicole and Nate. Then we played Mexican Bean Farmer’s with Julie and she was the King Bean Farmer.

The next morning we had a great breakfast. Justin made ebilskivers, julie made fruit dip, and nicole made hashbrowns. Thanks so much, it was so much fun to see you guys we can’t wait to see you again.

Thursday Justin had to go to work and Julie had class so we got to spend the morning with the kids. We wanted to make pancakes but when we started to make pancakes we realized we didn’t have any butter left, so Jordan went to the store and got it for us. So Ilana and I made pancakes and had a great breakfast with everyone. Nicole came over and we made some really cool paper rockets and shot them off with something she made when she was teaching. The kids loved the rockets, and loved decorating them.

After we shot off rockets, we went to the State College Arts Fest. We drove and parked at the stadium and rode a bus down to the festival. Aspen was so excited that she got to ride a bus, she said it was her first bus ride. We started walking around and there was some really cool stuff but it was so expensive, Julie met us and we ate lunch. There was a painting that cost $20,000. It was an old man coming out of a swimming pool. We walked around and eventually decided to go home.

We went to Wegman’s bought some great food for Friday night’s dinner. When Justin got home from work we went to The Corner for dinner, It was so busy because of the Arts Fest and the restaurant is downtown in the middle of it all. So when we finally got in we (Jordan and me, and Nicole and Nate) ended up sitting at a different table than Justin and Julie.

So we got our menus and finally decided what we wanted to eat. I got a philly cheesesteak sandwich and Jordan got a Ruban sandwich. All the food was great and not that expensive, which is also great.

Justin and Julie went home and Nicole and Nate showed us around Penn State. We got to go to the Creamery which was pretty fun. The ice cream was good, but I don’t think it is better than BYU’s ice cream, especially because you can split scoops at BYU. We went back to Justin and Julie’s and talked about lots of books, which Jordan made a list of so we would buy them .

Tuesday

We woke up and made breakfast- hash browns, bacon, onions, garlic, and seasonings. We have this pretty often and it tasted great camping. Cooking it in the dutch oven didn’t work very well. Julie had to go to class before we ate breakfast and Nate had to go to to work. We went back to Justin and Julie’s and just hung out. Julie came home from school and Nicole and Nate came over after work. They bought over some tasty donuts (more on that later). We went to the Boalsburg farmer’s market which was really small, but we bought some corn and Justin bought some cheese and tomatoes. We went back to Justin and Julie’s and grilled the corn and had barbecued chicken. W played Mexican Bean Farmers (also called Bonanza) and it was a ton of fun, enough that we’re probably going to buy it.

Wednesday

Nicole and Nate brought some really good donuts over on Tuesday afternoon, so good in fact that we drove 40 minutes the next morning to get them. They were so good. We also went to Bellville so that we could go to the Farmer’s Market there. The farmer’s market was really big and it was really cool too. There were a bunch of Amish people there were even signs that said “no buggy parking.” There were a bunch of animals that were being auctioned off, but still cool that the kids could see some animals. Aspen really wanted to see a chicken and we couldn’t find one. Someone heard her crying that she wanted to pet a chicken and told us that some Amish people were selling some chickens off the side, so we went there. The signs nearby said no pictures, so we didn’t take pictures of the kids petting the chicks.

After we left the farmer’s market we went to the Alan Seagar Natural Area. It was so pretty, Justin told us that it is some of the only old growth left in the United States. Ronan was carrying the backpack that had water in it and the lid came off of the 3 liter reservoir and filled his backpack with water. It was pretty funny because he was like, “guys, there’s water every where” then a couple of minutes later the same thing. So when we finally realized that the water he was talking about wasn’t the creek most of the water had spilled on him.

We drove back to their house and waited for Julie and Nate to meet us. Nicole and Nate when home so Katie could take a nap. We got stuff ready for dinner and then we went to Bald Eagle State Park to go swimming. We went swimming (the water was not as clean as Whipple Dam) and had a lot of fun. We made a really cool huge sand whale but we didn’t take a picture it was sad. We grilled the delicious green beans and corn that we bought at the Farmer’s Market that morning and it was delicious.

The second day we were there was a Sunday so we went to church and left after Sacrament meeting. We wanted to go camping at a campsite that Justin reserved for the week. We drove there and met Nicole and Nate. We tried out our new hammocks which we slept in really well, but we didn’t get to sleep next to each other which was sad. It was also sad that one of our camping chairs that we got when we got married broke, so we needed new ones. We had hot dogs and foil dinners Nicole and Nate made. We also made some ice cream in the ice cream balls. The next day we had cereal and pop tarts and Nic and Nate made biscuits and gravy (yum!). I accidentally grabbed two of the same contacts for Jordan so he had to wear his glasses.

We went to Whipple Dam Park and we got to use the new water guns that we bought. The dam was pretty small and we were some of the only people that were there when we got there, but it got really busy really fast. Nicole took Katie swimming which was really cute, she liked the water a lot. Aspen really liked when Nicole made her a mermaid. We went back to Justin and Julie’s house and got cleaned up and planned everything that we wanted to eat for dinner that night because we were camping again. We decided we wanted to make chicken cor-don-bleu in a dutch oven. We went back to the store and got everything we needed for the next day. I tried to feed Katie an oreo because they are great but she’s too little to eat them now.

We went back to the camp and we had the chicken cor-don-bleu and the kids had mac and cheese. We made roasted marshmallows between oreos (or smoreos) and starbursts. We got to take some cool pictures of the kids’ flashlights and then we all went to bed.

Jordan and I set up the tent it pretty much the worst place ever. It was on a slope down and a slope to the right. So when we woke up the next day we were down in the corner when we woke up it was awful, and incentive to retry the hammocks.

My work was closed the week after the Fourth so we decided that Jordan would take off work that week so we could see Nicole and Nate and Justin and Julie in Pennsylvania. It is a long drive to Pennsylvania (I am writing this as we are driving home). I packed everything the car and picked him up at 3 on Friday and we drove to Indianapolis. We drove to St Louis and returned some stuff to REI then got back on the road to Indianapolis. It was a long drive that first day, especially because we were stopped on the freeway a couple of times. We got to the hotel at about 11:30p the first night, and went straight to sleep.

The next day we woke up and Law and Order was on so we had to watch it before we could leave the hotel (this is a treat for Jordan because we don’t have TV, so the only way we watch Law and Order is if we get a DVD on netflix, which is what he does).

So we got back on the road and drove to Pennsylvania and got there at about 3:30p. When we pulled into Justin and Julie’s they were pulling out. So we got there and called Nicole and Nate and they came over. Jordan got to meet Katie and she looked so cute in her little patriotic outfit. Justin grilled some pizza and it was delicious. Then we went and bought FIREWORKS. I love fireworks, so we bought some cool ones. The only problem is that in Pennsylvania you can’t have anything that shoots in to the air (including the parachute men). In Missouri we can have pretty much anything because we live in the county.

We bought some awesome fireworks and then we went to the coolest grocery store in the world, Wegman’s. We bought all the kids some candy from the bulk bins, Ilana likes to put the PLU numbers in the scale and printing out the stickers. The entire time we were shopping Justin was pushing the shopping cart (the mini shopping cart) and Jordan was riding on the back like a little kid.

We went back to Justin and Julie’s house and we lit off the fireworks when it got dark enough outside. Ronan loved the fireworks, especially the sparklers we took some cool pictures with the fireworks. Aspen got a little burn on her forehead but she was okay after she got a Dora bandaid. So we saved the big fireworks until the end and tried to light them all at once. There were six fireworks and Jordan, Justin, and Nate tried to light them all so they would go off at once, which didn’t work, only four got lit. So Nate took a torch and went back and lit them after the other ones were showering sparks. We kept telling the kids that the it wasn’t safe, and that they shouldn’t do that ever. Those are the pictures that are a big shinning blob of light.

Nicole was drawing a heart, and I was still adjusting the shutter speed. The half that she got done looks really cool.

So it’s May and I still haven’t finished talking about my trip to PA (oops…) I’ll try and cram the rest in a  marathon post.

The 7th Day I was in PA we hung out with Justin and Julie a lot. There was a big storm and it snowed 14 inches, which ended up making my return flight canceled on Sunday.

One really fun thing we did on the 5th was go to Wegman’s and get candy with the kids. They thought that was the best part of the store. The coolest part about it was that you got to weigh it out yourself, Ilana and Forrester liked that. Aspen was kind of being a pill because she couldn’t have her candy and then Ronan was being a pill too. They kept saying, “My uncle Jordan gave me that candy” oops. I did tell them Jordan said that we were buying them some candy. So everyone got candy and when we bought it they were all happy.

They also had live lobsters, which Forrester promptly told me he would never eat.

We hung out with Justin and Julie more the next day and Ilana and I made wheat thins, she was great at doing it. I hung out with the kids while Nicole, Nate, Justin and Julie went and saw Avatar. I spent the night at Justin and Julie’s house and then we all went to church the next morning. You can see how much it snowed in the pictures with Aspen and Ronan. I made some flower clips (also in the pictures) for Ilana and Aspen’s birthdays. That night everyone came over to Nicole and Nate’s house and we got to play wii. Ronan really liked the old pacman game (so did Justin).

The last day I was there (Monday), I got to hang out with Nicole. We got to go shopping and got some cute clothes for Katie. There was a really funny school named Boogersburg school.

My flight was relatively uneventful, except it was snowing really hard when I got back. Jordan left work early and drove 3.5 hours to pick me up. Only to drive 1/2 hour out of the way to pick up my ring that hadn’t been replated like it was suppose to . (I forgot to bring the warranty and then we found out there is a mall 20 minutes away from us that would honor the warranty, oops). We then drove 4 hours home, poor Jordan was so tired and his contacts were bothering him. We finally got home at about midnight.

I decided that this post needs to be split in half. At the beginning of February (end of January) I got to go visit my sister, Nicole and her husband, Nate and their baby, Katie. I also got to see Justin and Julie. I keep telling people that I killed two birds with one stone, but I’m not sure that’s the right phrase to use…

Anyway, Jordan and I drove to St Louis Friday night. There was a snow storm that came in that night, and it was really coming down hard, so hard in fact that Jordan got out of work early. So, it took us a while to get to St. Louis. Here’s a picture of the snow when I was driving to pick Jordan up:

Try not to think too hard about how I got that picture. So, it started snowing even harder when we were driving, but we eventually made it. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel. Can you believe Jordan had never eaten there!?! That is pretty much a crime in my family. My dad loves Cracker Barrel, when we go on trips, he pulls out the Cracker Barrel map and we try and go there.

After we ate dinner we drove the rest of the way to our hotel. We spent the night and Jordan dropped me off at the airport the next morning. Surprisingly, my flight from St Louis to Philadelphia was not  delayed. The flight was pretty uneventful, but there are pictures. I’ve flown a lot, but I’m always amazed by it. I love breaking through the clouds and being above them, it’s amazing. I got some pretty cool pictures of the main part of Philadelphia. My flight to State College was delayed because all the lights on the airplane were broken, I guess that’s a bad thing. Apparently when that happens they have to replace all the batteries that power the lights on the plane, which takes over an hour. So I eventually got to State College and Nicole and Nate picked me up.

I can’t really describe it, but somehow when I haven’t seen family or good friends for a long time, I forget that time apart when I see them . I mean, the last time I saw Nicole she was pregnant, but now she had a baby, but it felt like I had just seen her. Does that make sense to anyone?

It was so fun to meet my newest niece, I just had to take lots of pictures…

Click on the picture to go to the gallery.

Well, this is a bittersweet post. We had a great last day in Utah, we got our truck, and started to load it. Loading didn’t take that much time because everything was packed and labeled. My parents were so nice to invite everyone that helped us over to their house for a barbecue.

It was so exciting to know that we were leaving the next day for our new adventure in Missouri, but really sad to know that it would be a really long time before we would see our family and friends (not too long for me because I went back).

My Parents set up the kiddy pool and a sprinkler for the kids to play in and they had a lot of fun. Ronan had a great time spraying people with the sprinkler and Aspen keep calling the neighbor’s dog a kitty.
Dinner was great and we took pictures with our friends and family. The sunset was beautiful that night; we took some pictures of it too. The sky was orange and purple. At one point it even looked like it was on fire.

Click on the picture to go to the album

On July 18 we drove up American Fork Canyon with Justin and Julie to go camping. We took a 4-wheel drive rode and drove up to the top of the road to a really great camping spot. We checked the weather forecastbefore we left and it was suppose to be clear skies all weekend (there was a 20% chance of rain). This was very important because the place we went camping was pretty near the top of a mountain and when we got there there were several trees that were obviously struck by lightning in the past.

So, we got there and walked around with Julie and the kids and took some pictures.  We got back to the camp and decided to make dinner, we had hot dogs. Ronan wasn’t really interested in eating, he just wanted to pretend his hiking stick was a gun and shoot things.

We made some awesome smores with nutella instead of chocolate bars (it is totally better and doesn’t melt like chocolate). The best thing that happened was that our camera broke after we tried to take some pictures. At the time it didn’t seem like such a good thing, because we love to take pictures and anyone that knows Jordan knows that he loves to look at them so he can remember things (I like to look at them too).  So the pictures kind of stopped there.

This camping trip was really eventful because we woke up in the middle of the night because we heard thunder. We looked outside our tent and then we saw some lightning, then heard thunder pretty soon after. So in the middle of the night we had to pack everything up in the car, and go back down the mountain to go home. Justin did a great job of driving down the mountain and not having us fall off the side.

(just click on the picture for the link to the gallery)

On July 4th, in an attempt to get away from all the crazy 4th of Juliers and their “parade”, Emily and I along with Justin and Julie and four little ones went backpacking up lightning ridge. We started from Rock Canyon Campground making the hike a little easier; however, the trail from that part on is really steep. I was impressed that Justin’s kids made it the whole way up (well, Aspen had a little help from Julie and I carried Ronan sometime) but mostly they did it by themselves. At the meadow where we set up our tents, there were hundreds and hundreds of caterpillars which greatly occupied the kids, especially Aspen. She was scared of them at first but once she started to play with them, she couldn’t get enough. We had to take her current little friend away after getting smashed a bit and would quickly replace it with another little friend. We tried to watch the fireworks from our campsite but our angle was off just a little and so missed them. If we had gone to the very top of the ridge, we would have been able to see them. Emily and I the next morning went to the top of the ridge; it’s so beautiful. We hiked back down on Sunday and made it back in time for church… Darn it…