Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

Mesa Verde was a wonderful place. It was amazing to see what the native people made and how they lived. The cliff dwellings are truly amazing! The kids were fascinated with the houses in the rock. We camped one night in the campground, and then headed to Moab.

City of Rock, Idaho

 On our way to Oregon, we had planned to meet up with our good friends from Kalispell, Montana in Idaho. 
Luke is the one that got Tyler really into rock climbing, and this was a rock climbers dream place. So many rocks to climb! And they were HUGE!
The first night there was great. It was great to catch up with Becca and Luke, and the kids ran around and just loved playing together... and then....

 We got sick. Kellen, Soren, Ayla and myself all ended up sick. Throwing up sick, not just tired sick either. The hammock worked out great, because you could keep away from the ants, and just lean over the edge and throw up. I know, gross.

Ayla got it the worst.... she was sick for 3 of the 4 days. We actually got really worried with her eyes sunken in and the inability to keep anything down. We took her to the local (60 miles away) ER and they gave us some anti nausea medication, but said she was right on the cusp of being dehydrated, but they didn't want to stick her with a needle if they didn't have to (thank goodness, because that girl is awful with needles!)

Kellen's sickness only lasted a day... so he was his usually rascally self for the camping trip.

These guys are adorable! It is hard to believe this boy will be one soon!

Our last stander! He never got sick... his immune system must be pretty good. 
Oh, wait... he did get sick like a week later. But we cannot verify it was the same illness.

Above is camp for the first couple days... everyone asleep under a sheet...

and here is our last day. Having a fun little snack picnic under the shade of a big rock while Tyler climbed with some of the kids.

 Colton getting in a climb with Tyler... he went climbing a couple different times with Tyler and the crew, and I stayed back nursing the kids and myself back to health.  

But still... the sickness really wasn't very fun for any of us. Our trip was supposed to be fun filled with some awesome people... 
Instead, the awesome people tried to keep a respectable distance from the sick camp... I can only imagine how it was back in the day when part of the group got cholera or whatever!!

Soren doing his bear crawl... he still does it and it always gets some chuckles from people!

 Ayla getting in a climb. For a girl who was sick and couldn't keep anything down for 3+ days... we were amazed. She climbed up a HUGE rock (like 6 stories tall or more), without stopping. All she had eaten was a couple peanut butter crackers and gatorade! Yes, not good on our parenting, but she REALLY wanted to climb once, and we were leaving that night! So.... memories were made.

 Becca and I encouraged Kellen to go find a big rock, he looks up at the HUGE rock Tyler was climbing with Colton, and says with his hands in the air "It's too BIG!" It was so cute.
Kadence and Gracyne were so sweet while we were sick. They made cards for the kids, and would bring little gifts. I wish it would have been less sickness, and more fun!

 The kids doing some "rock climbing" at base camp.

 Look at that dirt!!! What cute brothers.

The geological area of City of Rock was so neat. It was just like pastures, and then all of a sudden HUGE rocks jutted out of the ground all over the place. I don't know the history, but there were wagon trails that went through the area, and some of the pioneers wrote their names on the rocks. It was really neat. We hope to go back again sometime.

Lots of swimming; lots of lounging; lots of fun...

that was our Memorial Day weekend camping trip at Lake Possum Kingdom, here in Texas.

The first two days, our awesome friends, the Lucas', were with us, and then they decided to pack up early because of the heat (or maybe we smelled too bad?!) and headed home on Sunday. But then the Shepherds joined us for some camping.

The kids really loved swimming there and it was hard to get the older two out of the water! Kellen likes to sit on the beach and play, and Soren LOVES the water... he could sit and splash for hours.

You know, trying to camp while doing the vegan diet was a little different, but we really just planned pretty well. Here is what we had::

Our first night, the Lucas' (Monica really, who are we kidding, did all the cooking!) made chicken kabobs, and I just took the chicken off and had the veggies in a tortilla.

Second night, we shared with our campmates some Black Bean, Quinoa Chili that I had made the day before we left. The kids all ate it, and the adults all enjoyed it as well, although, I am pretty sure some wouldn't have minded some meat thrown in there!

And the third night, we had Spicy Black Bean burgers (from the store) with a Thai Coleslaw... really, I thought we ate pretty well!

We always do oatmeal for breakfast (and hot chocolate), and peanut butter and something for lunches, making it pretty easy to relax most of the time(as you can see from all the time spent in our wonderful hammock!) Paired with these, this hammock is AWESOME! One of the kids (12 year old) even slept in it!)

We did have some noisy neighbors, some ant bites, and a bit of a stomach bug, but really a fantastic camping trip.

We headed home by way of the Fort Worth area so that we could catch a Mariner (against the Rangers) game. Unfortunately, the M's lost, but we were okay with that. Tyler is a die-hard fan, and any baseball in the real form is good enough for him!

Heading home from there, we had a little potty accident (seriously, Colton! A 5 second warning that you have to go pee, before actually peeing all over your carseat, is NOT enough time!!!) But we managed to take care of that before heading home to Abilene through the storm that was headed for us! Lots of wind and rain and lightning, but we made it!

I am loving (still) my new haircut! It is pretty short, and pretty light... 

Our neighbor just had a baby (her 5th!) this morning at home in their house... I kept thinking all morning (because two of her kids were at our place) A BABY IS BEING BORN ON OUR STREET! It was a neat feeling. And the baby is SO cute! They were hoping for a boy (they have one of those, and three girls all 5 years old and under!) but were happy with a sweet baby girl! 

I am sitting here writing this blog with my own sweet little boy sitting on my lap, not showing any signs of bedding down for the night (It is 730pm!) ... we will see how this goes.

I think we will research IPads a little bit more.

Oh, and the running bit is going awesome! I recently read "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall, and put some of what I learned into practice. Instead of running to get it over with, I started running because I can; and it is wonderful. I know it sounds corny, but I started making an effort to run with smile on my face, and it actually makes it more enjoyable and easier to run that 3 miles! By the ay, awesome book and highly recommended by me!

Being off of Facebook has been wonderful, in case any of you were wondering. I find myself with more time on my hands, and less clutter in my mind. Although it does hinder keeping in touch with some people.

REST IN PEACE Uncle Jeff! You will be missed. I remember you as the cool, Harley riding uncle, who always took the time to say hi to us, even when we were little. I have very fond memories of just being around you and your family. One of my favorites is that other house you guys used to live in with the big garden across the street that you tended. I loved going over there and watching how you grew your plants and what not. We ran through those garden rows all the time. Thanks for being a great Uncle.

Enjoy your weekend

(And Monica, in case you are wondering, the reason I don't really have pictures up of you guys is for one, I only had a couple, and for two... I wasn't sure if you wanted them roaming the internet....)