Holy Smokes!

Oregon's on FIRE!

Today our governor declared Southern Oregon's wildfires a state of emergency.  This means white, cloudy skies of smoke everywhere around us. We have been advised to keep children inside. The real concern is that the fires are just barely contained. While I am not concerned that we are in any kind of immediate danger, I think we have a while to go in these conditions. Sad.

Mary is very worried for our safety. She closes her nose when she goes outside. The campfire smell sticks to you the second you step outdoors. I keep praying for some kind of miracle and success for our fire fighters. This could be an interesting summer.

Unpacked and Back to Normal

I got nine hours of heavenly (almost completely uninterrupted) sleep last night. Then I woke up and got busy on some church work and unpacking. I picked up the kids from Christine's and we finished unpacking and cleaning the house together. They really couldn't play outside because of the smokey air from all the Oregon fires. It was so nice to be at home and actually get some work done today. As Mary and I practiced piano I realized I hadn't heard much noise coming from Cameron.

"Cameron, where are you?" I called.

"Chocolate," he replied.

This is what I found.

It's good to be home.

On the Road Again!

I have to say that these long 12 hour drives are getting easier. They're still not my favorite, but they're much easier without a newborn or young toddler. Between the coloring books, snacks, and movies the kids can stay pretty entertained. We left Utah at about 5am and arrived to a smokey Central Point at about 4pm. I guess there's been a lot of fires in some of the wooded areas hundreds of miles away, but the smoke is getting trapped in our valley. It's really white and stinky.

We had the car packed last night so we could just gently wake up one child at a time for a quick potty trip and straight into the car, our usual routine. Margaret made some delicious pancakes which made them happy and then we stepped out into the dark crisp early morning air.

Within ten minutes of leaving Noah asked how much longer until we would be home. This continued what felt like hundreds of times throughout the entire trip. Next trip I am going to tally the number of times he asks that question...just for fun. Noah also got too hot along the ride to wear a shirt. Hilarious.

Nicole's questions were just as constant but of a unique variety. These were the first ones of the day I took a moment to record. They just kept coming....

"Daddy, is Grammie and Papa Steve going to miss us really much?"

"Dada, how is Grammie going to fly to our house?"
     "On a plane"
"Oh, I thought she was going to fly in her car."

"What happened to Grammie and Papa Steve's kids. Did they die?"

"Dada, did you know that one time today in Utah I hurt myself in Grammie's house?"

"Dad, how many minutes was we staying at Grammies?"

"Is this road is there going to be a sign that is bye to Utah?"

The first thing they did when they got home was go and see the cousins, some who they hadn't seen for almost a month! Jared and Christine offered for our kids to sleep over. I took them up on it because I really needed some sleep after a week of some really late nights. Cameron was in love with being home and especially alone with Aaron and I.

The Last Good-Byes

This morning we headed to church with Steve/Margaret and James/Rebecca family. When we returned Rebecca started packing up while Nikki and Kirabo played on the Kindle. I hate saying good-bye to them. The house became really quiet.

About a half hour later we got a visit from Tiffany and her kids who were in Provo. The kids were so excited to see each other; it was such a sweet reunion. They played happily for hours and it was so relaxing since it kept them busy and we could chat for a bit. I think we are all ready to go back home and back to a normal routine. Annie brought Mary a lunch sized bag of potato chips that she knows is her favorite. I thought it was so cute that she thought to save it and bring it. We are incredibly blessed with so many good and loving cousins and both sides of our family.

Once Tiff and crew left, we ate another one of Margaret's delicious dinners and then decided to visit Tom and Marilou. I stayed back with a very exhausted Nicole and Cameron so I could pack for our return trip. Mary and Noah said Marilou is the nicest person. She gave them some tasty ice cream and they got to ride their child sized electric corvette. We should have gone the night before, because I'm sad I missed them.

Good-byes are just really hard.

 

The Beginning of the Good-byes

Margaret and Steve had the kids gather together a few times during the trip to share talents, spiritual thoughts, and sing Amazing Grace. Most of the families packed up and left this morning. We went swimming in the afternoon again and then out to the movie, Turbo. It's hard to see it all come to a close. What a fantastic trip.

Boating and Movies

Today we all headed out to the lake for some boating summer sun. We set up the camp along the shore and the kids traded off tubing and skiing. We headed home for a scrumptious dinner and an outdoor movie, Chasing Mavericks, complete with concession stand. Before the movie we broke the pinata that we didn't have time to do the day before. All our kids fell asleep during the movie, except for Mary.

And happy birthday to my incredible Pop! I love you!

Birthday Celebration

The kids played on the jump house, we organized and enjoyed a pirate treasure hunt with obstacles around Heber City that we completed on teams (Blue Pearl, Green Scurvy, and Orange Tooth), and we celebrated Kate/Luke's birthdays along with everyone else's un-birthdays. James and Rebecca and family arrived and we stayed up late dancing again...just can't miss out on that! Stacy took the teens out for a midnight run to Beto's.This reunion is jam packed fun!

Dancing Nadauld Style

We did a variety of activities today while the men went on a four-wheeling trip. We made crafts and puzzles that Stacy brought up for the kids and we all wrote letters to our missionary Murphy. The jumpy house came and the kids played like crazy on that. We had an amazing barbecue dinner from Steve and Stacy followed by fireworks and a dance party. The dance party was seriously the most fun thing ever!

Can I just say, we are really exhausted!

Park City & Boating

Some of the local families had a few commitments to attend to in the morning. So, our little family headed to Park City to shop at the outlets and visit the Olympic Memorial. Then we headed swimming at Zermatt, made Hawaiian Haystacks for the masses, and packed up and boated for the rest of the evening. Note to self: 4 large cans of cream of chicken is too much! Here's what I should have bought (for future reference--missing James and Adam's families---2-3 large cans cream of chicken, 1 bag frozen chicken shredded, 1 tub sour cream, one pot of rice, 3 green peppers, 4 green onions, 2 bags of crunchy noodles, 5-6 cans pineapple tidbits, one bowl grated cheddar cheese, 5 diced tomatoes).

We hung out on Steve and Stacy's boat for some surfing action. There are some awesome skiiers/surfers in this family. I can't believe Lindsay is 17 weeks pregnant and hardly got her hair wet! The most hilarious part was watching Max get tortured by Nick and Taylor while he was surfing. I laughed so hard I could hardly breathe!

Tie Dye & Aspen Lakes

We gathered together our white t-shirts and tie-dyed away. There wasn't much ink left by the time I got ours prepped so some of ours are pretty white.

Then we headed to Aspen Lakes where we canoed, zip lined, raced in obstacle courses, and laughed. The best part of the day was Margaret hopping on the zipline and jumping into the lake fully clothed. Worst part of the day...Estelle's leg scrape and prying the leech off of Matt's arm. Luckily, Kelly is always prepared for emergencies.

This family knows how to have fun!