Camping- 4th of July weekend

This camping trip had been planned for almost a month... but even the most perfect plans cannot predict natural disaster. As a result of the resent forest fires, the area we normally camp, Forest Lakes, had been shutdown for the holiday weekend! This caused Kenny and I some heartburn because we had already taken the trailer up to Forest Lakes. Plus we now only have one truck and cannot haul the quads and the travel trailer in the same trip... what to do?

Fortunately, everything worked out just fine! My mom borrowed my dad's truck and hauled a quad up and Kenny and I pulled a quad up on a trailer and loaded the bed up with trailer stuff. Then when we picked up the travel trailer in Forest Lakes we moved the quad into the bed and put all the supplies into the travel trailer. It took Kenny and I 6 hours of driving, but it was worth it to make the trip happen. We were lucky enough to have some old friends save us a spot up in Flagstaff. The Thompson's are a family friends from my old LDS church. Their daughter, Candice and I were practically inseparable in 6th- 8th grade and as a result our parents became friends and their youngest son Jonathan was even the ring bearer in Mine and Kenny's wedding! Anyway, we camped with their group which was an absolute blast! 

We did some riding right away on Friday and found it was VERY try and DUSTY! You couldn't go on a ride without coming back covered in dust- exhibit A: 

Kenny Kruger and Kenny Kuhn 

Exhibit B: 

Brian 

We had a nice little camp spot -

Little Kenny chose to stay in a tent not the trailer...

Our neighbor at the camp ground built a zipline through the camp ground!! They were super nice and after Jeff's lead I tried out the line. It was really fun, but a little nerve racking just because it was a homemade line and made mostly for kids...

For meals we all decided to take turns cooking. The men (Kenny, Brian and Little Kenny) each made a dinner and mom and I took care of breakfast (although we left a day early so she lucked out of cooking).
When I went to use the stove we realized we had another bird nest in the vent! 

That afternoon Little Kenny, Kenny and I took a ride with Jeff and Jonathan and a few others to do a little repelling. I haven't repelled (except at an indoor rock climbing gym or at the ziplining place in CO) for almost 14 years. When I was 14ish I went on a day trip with the church and had a pretty bad accident. After repelling down the cliff I was climbing back up to the top and neglected to hold onto the rope... I ended up tumbling about 30 feet head over feet down the rocks headed toward a cliff. Luckily Jack Mecham was standing at the base of that area right before the cliff and stopped me from going over. I really don't know how far down the cliff was that I would have fallen off of, but it was enough that I would have been seriously hurt...

Anyway, it was very cool to get to do it again today. The rock we repelled off of was only about 30 feet high, so it was a good one to start out on.

Little Kenny after the long dusty ride to the repelling spot

Jeff setting us up

See my brand? We were that dirty... 

Little Kenny giving it a try

While the Kennys relaxed - My mom and I spent some time over at Stargret's place and worked on crafts. Jonathan had precut wood stars and squares for us to decorate with paint, pattern paper and other embellishments It was really fun thing to do on a camping trip! ( I swear our trips will never be the same after the trip with them : ) )

I of course want to do everything so we were off within an hour to our next adventure : The Cave! 

Don't you love our outfits? This was our attempt to keep the dust out of our faces!

Brian

Kenny and I 

Here is our group after the long ride, rough ride to the cave:

Little Kenny, Mom, Kenny, Me and Brian 

Little Kenny heading on into the Cave

Kenny, Little Kenny and Brian taking a rest in the cave

Kenny 

Saturday night's sunset 

We were out playing with the dogs in the field and the guys started playing football with the dogs. It was pretty comical !

Saturday night Stargret hosted a desert bar! It was really fun! Everyone brought a dessert and we all pigged out on sweets. Then it was time for a few games of LCR. If you aren't familiar basically you have 3 dice and they either have an L, R , C or a dot on each side. You start with 3 items (quarters, dollars, cookies whatever) and if you roll an L you move one item to your left, if you roll and R you move it to your right, a C moves to move to the center and a dot means you keep it. You do this until one person has one item and that person wins the entire pot. It is super fun how excited people get about it... I even won one round! Woot woot!

Sunday was a riding day-

Little Kenny 

Me

Me

Little Kenny 

I am pretty much a beginner when it comes to my quading skills and I am constantly getting hurt... Saturday for example I went full throttle UP a jump and threw myself over the handle bars... It knocked the wind out of me and really shook me up. Little Kenny was super patient with me and helped me to do a great (safe) jump! We had a great time out riding together! I just can't wait till he moves here!

Little Kenny 

We decided to beat some of the traffic and head home on Sunday afternoon. But is was such a great trip and I was so happy to have my mom there with all of us. I hope we can do it again soon!

Toby chilling at camp

Challenge

I sort of feel like Barney from How I Met Your Mother when it comes to this challenge (he always thinks people are putting him up to a challenge when they even mention something and they aren't challenging HIM at all). During the craft party my friend Janesse mentioned her sister had put out a challenge to her family to organize something each day for the next week... sounded like a fun idea to me! SO I did it and it felt good! I could only participate Sunday thru today since my cousin came into town on Thursday and then we went camping. 

Sunday- Master Closet- I spent 2 1/2 hours working on our master closet Sunday evening. This is supposed to be a walk in closet... but it has gotten so crowded you can only tip toe in there... Part of the problem was my cedar chest was moved in there when my brother was living here and we just never moved it back out... instead we just stacked stuff on top of it.  I took everything out, vacuumed and dusted the shelves and base boards... which had not been done since we moved here in 2005! My hubby ended up getting ride of an entire bag of shoes (woot woot!) and a few clothing items and I got ride of 3 garbage bags of clothes. Well I haven't actually gotten ride of the items because I am trying to decide if I should have a yard sale or just donate the items. Plus I want to try a crochet rug I saw out of old t-shirts...

Before 

 2 1/2 hours later - taa dah!

after

Day 2- Monday- Kitchen island- This project was another 2 1/2 hour project. I was so irritated that this one door wouldn't shut all the way,  so this project was a high priority. When we first moved here and unpacked everything we had... the island was empty! Now we have SO many appliances and gadgets they can't all fit in the island and are stuffed in both pantries and the hall closet! Sadly we barely even cook! I am happy to report after my project ALL appliances happily live in the island now : ) When Kenny walked in from the gym he said "wow it smells lemony in here" I guess I went a little crazy with the pledge. Ha ha - but it looks SO much better! I will probably freecycle my old kitchen towels and misc items I need to get rid of... 

before

after

after

Day 3- Dresser- 45 mins -Tuesday- Dresser - Tuesday night I had plans with my buddy, Blair for dinner so a big project was out of the question... The dresser took Kenny and I about 45 mins. It went from this - 

 to this!

I threw away all my socks and bought a new package :) Need to get some new chonies too... Kenny actually said, "Thank you for making me do this, I found so many black socks I didn't know I had!" LOL so awesome. 

Too Much

Its true. I have been known to over book our lives... I like to be busy, but sometimes it gets to be too much. This may have been one of those weekends. Kenny wanted to go to the cabin for the day so that he could fix the a vent that had broken in the trailer (again!), but I was already signed up for the Sewing Sampler class at Scrapbooks Etc... he said said he didn't mind going on his own so he headed North and I headed East! The sewing class was fun and we made a nice little set of kitchen accessories- a plastic bag holder, hot pad and potato bag (you microwave potatoes in it).

I splurged and bought this kit to make this gorgeous Halloween Apron... Look I know I don't cook, but I just love to collect Aprons! They are just so cute.

After class I hit a few yardsales (very few because it was getting HOT). I ended up getting a BOX of hardback books for $2... I couldn't review all the titles before I purchased them because they were so stinkin' hot! There are some Bible studies, a Beth Moore book and more... heck ONE of those books would have cost more than that on amazon. I also got some cute high heals and a few other items.

Meanwhile Kenny had driven up the cabin and was enjoying the weather and chatting with his Nana. When he worked on fixing the trailer she was right by his side holding the ladder and helping him out. She is never one to sit back when there is work to be done. They went out for lunch at the local steakhouse and both enjoyed Kobe burgers (a new found favorite for Kenny). They hung out for awhile, but Kenny wasn't feeling to great so he headed home.

That evening we had plans to have dinner with Jereme and Melodi and then go check out our first Flash Mob. We got a Rotisserie chicken, Cesar salad and mashed potatoes from Costco all for just $20.


Kenny really wasn't feeling up to going out, but encouraged us to go.. so we did and he rested while we were gone. 


We had thought about participating in the Flash Mob, but weren't sure what to expect and didn't have the time to learn the dance so we just decided to go and watch. The Venue was a really neat place called Dos Gringos in Old Scottsdale. 

 

We had some snacks and waited for the 9 PM. I was cool how you could feel the vibe that something was going to happen. We noticed different people who might be involved and others who would be totally surprised by it. It didn't happen till about 9:10, but when the song same on people popped up and took a place out in the open areas. Although the mob took place in the middle of the outdoor seating of the restaurant/bar it was a little more 'expected' in that venue than say a grocery store where it would be completely unexpected.

The whole place was filled with smiles and laughter. I think everyone enjoyed the Flash Mob experience. 

Craft Party

Becky, Bev, Mom and Blair

Its really no secret I have some sort of hoarding problem when it comes to crafting supplies... Yes I do some craft projects but not near enough to justify the entire room I have stocked full of awesomeness... So I thought how can I share these things... I have purged A LOT of stuff and given it to friends and acquaintances, but I had an idea in the back of my mind to have a PARTY/CLASS! I am most productive when I have a specific time set aside to work on a specific project (ie classes at Scrapbooks etc to make cards or a mini album). I decided to model my party in the same fashion. I picked a bunch of simple projects and set up stations around the living room and kitchen. I ordered Pizzas and my mom brought a veggie tray, lemon bites and brownies...yummo! 

Amberle's added touch to the HB card 

The projects we worked on 

I invited crafters and non-crafters a like... I was nervous about having about 10 people to 'teach' the projects to, there being only one of me and all, but my mom helped out a lot and the girls started helping each other. It was awesome.

One of the highlights of the night is when Blair sewed for the very first time in her life with a big old smile on her face and let out a squeal!

My friends Janesse and Amberle came with their beautiful new babies and we all stayed up till 2 AM talking and crafting. It was amazing... I don't even know what all we talked about, I know we created some pretty fabulous coasters ha ha.  I felt bad because they still had to drive back to the other side of the earth to go home and I could just walk to the bedroom and crash.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves so I would say it was a success, however it didn't make much of a dent in my supplies... I will just have to have another party! I am thinking bi-annually?

Chinese Auction

I have talked about these Chinese Auctions before , but here I go again... I don't need anything and in fact I am trying to purge clutter, BUT its so much fun... So I took two ladies from work (Kim and Donna) to their first auction and we all had a great time. We each won something, but Kim and Donna did both got their numbers called when they didn't bid-- painful.  The snacks are always my favorite... BLT dip with pretzels and praline dip with marshmallows... yummo. 

Circus

I think Melodi and I were the most excited when we discovered we could purchased 1/2 off tickets to the Circus for opening night as neither one of us had ever been. Kenny and I decided to take the boys too and make an event of it.

I really don't think they boys knew what to expect, but they are pretty excited to go anywhere we take them (at least in the beginning ha ha ). 

We took the boys to eat at McDonalds before we headed off to catch the pre-show entertainment. The pre-show was pretty awesome. The boys (and I) got to try on authentic circus costumes! I was surprised how heavy they were! 

Little Brian 

Jacob

Brian, Me and Jacob 

They also got to meet clowns-

Little Brian, the clown and Jacob

And try a dance-

Jacob looking at the elephant and holding on to Uncle Kenny 

The boys sat and stared and were very quiet during the entire show....

 At intermission we went out to get them some souvenirs and snacks... I was SO disappointed to find out the light toys were $20 each ... I just couldn't justify spending $40 on toys that would be history in a week after we had already paid for tickets, parking and dinner.  We settled for $12 cotton candy that came with a hat. They were quite pleased!

Little B 'juggling' 

Elephants- my favorite part! 

I wasn't sure they boys even liked the show, because they didn't say much at all the entire night... until we got in the car to drive them home. They were little chatter boxes talking about the different things they saw and heard. I think their favorite sight was the elephant pooping into a giant shovel (not part of the show). 

We dropped the boys off just after 10PM hopped up on soda and cotton candy- best part of being Aunt and Uncle! Ha ha Brian Sr! 

My brother later reported that the boys would put the hat on and pretend to juggle :) I think they had fun! Next year I will be more prepared to pay the crazy prices! 

Father's Day and Dad's Birthday

I lucked out and had the boys on Father's Day morning so I took the opportunity to help the boys make cards for their dad and grandpa. We brain stormed ideas about what they loved about dad and made a list inside the card. It was really cute and included things like, "When you tickle us, wrestle us, feed us, take us to the park etc" They were especially excited to give their dad this "Fart Extinguisher" we made...  they also were very proud of the body wash they picked out at Walmart. 

My mom even included Uncle Kenny in the mix and got him a fun t-shirt

ice cream cake :

Rockin Weekend

 We hadn't planned on babysitting the boys this weekend, but once given the opportunity I can never pass up time with them! We had a Groupon for Rockin R Ranch out in Mesa that was expiring Monday so I quickly made our reservation and purchased tickets for the boys ($22 each for kids! So much for saving money with a Groupon!) We picked up the boys on Friday afternoon and decided it would be fun to try to find some Cowboy clothes for the boys to wear to "The Cowboy Cookout" I was surprised how excited they got to pick out clothes! We really lucked out at Other Mothers and got them both nice pants, western looking shirts, cowboy hats and boots for little Brian. We didn't end up finding boots for Jacob, so he settled for 'work boots' and was very pleased with them. The boys really wanted guns to go with their cowboy clothes so we went to Walmart (because you know I can't say no) and bought cap guns. We bought one set, so they each had a gun and a holster and it works out perfect that one of them is right handed and one is left handed. Since the set only came with one belt Kenny had to 'make' them another one out of an old belt he had. It came out great!

Little Brian 

For dinner we went to Kenny's favorite little Pizza place in Surprise. The boys just love Pizza !

Jacob sure knows how to eat a good Pizza! 

Saturday we mostly bummed around all day and then in the late afternoon got all dressed up and ready for the what the boys kept calling, The Cowboy Cookout. They were just too cute in their clothes!!

We got to the place early enough to try the gold panning, see a magic show, taste test some biscuits cooked in a dutch oven and see an old fashion medicine man show. The guy who did the Medicine show was really great. He told his whole story in Pig Latin!

Then it was time for dinner. We ate BBQ chicken, beef brisket, beans and baked potatoes on tin plates. The emcee joked that the meat had rattlesnake sauce on it which really freaked Little Brian out and he didn't want to eat his food. Kenny and I were a little frustrated the boys barely ate  (Jacob did okay) because of the price we paid for the meal, but what can you do?

The 'show' was just a music show so I was a little worried the boys would get bored of it, but they seemed to really enjoy it. Kenny and I liked it a lot. After the music show their was a pretty neat gun show outside which of course the boys loved and kept talking about.

It was a pretty expensive activity and I doubt I would go back, but it was a fun thing to do once.

Etc Buck Auction

Scrapbooks Etc has a new program where you can earn Etc bucks... well since we don't live very close we don't accumulate many bucks, but we decided to go to the auction anyway. I had seven bucks and my mom had three bucks. They had some really nice items they were auctioning off.. like homemade quilts, aprons, bags etc.
I was lucky enough to find an apron in the 'buck store' to buy. It was a fun little trip out to Mesa, but we both agreed we wouldn't go back next time unless we had more bucks.