2012 Call Family Vacation

Stephen and I started by driving to my parents on Wednesday night, the 25th.  When we got to the farm we, as always, stayed up way too late and then got out way too late the next morning.  Kory was hollering at us all morning on the phone.

We drove to Logan and met Kory and Charisse at the jet ski rental place.  Woot woot!  We said our hellos and we were off to Bear Lake.  The water of blue...it's SO pretty!

While Mom and Dad and Karli drove the jet ski's to the lake, Kory and Charisse followed while Stephen and I stopped at a local park while I fed Cooper.  After Cooper finished we stuffed ourselves back into the car and headed on the long, windy road through the mountains.  With Stephen at the helm we were off.  Not even 20 minutes into our trip we passed a police officer who whipped around and pulled us over.  Right after we saw to cop we saw the speed limit sign that read "40".

Crap.

We were not going 40.  The police officer informed us that we were going 63, but he clocked us in a 55mph zone.  Phew.  That could have been a lot worse.  He took Stephen's license and registration and walked back to his police car.

The most agitating moments are when you are waiting for a police officer to come back to your car and tell you if you are being convicted or not.  While we were waiting for Mr. Police Officer to come back I suddenly remembered something...."Wasn't this the year we were supposed to renew our driver's license?"  I quickly pulled out my driver's license because Stephen and my own would expire 6 days apart.  Sure enough, mine had expired June 24, 2012.  That also meant that Stephen's had expired June 18, 2012.

As the officer walked back to the car he turned to me and asked, "Mam, do you have a driver's license?"

I cringed and replied, "...Mine is expired too."

You could tell that the police officer was a little unsure of how to proceed.  He asked us where we were from and we knew we had no way of getting our license until we got home.  In the end he didn't give us a ticket.  PHEW!!!  But as he left he said, "I am going this way," he pointed the opposite direction from where we were going, "don't get pulled over again because you are not supposed to be driving."

And he left.

Wow.

That guy was SUPER nice.  I think that we were saved by our two children in the back and also the fact that we were in Utah and had no way to get a new license for a few days.

We continued on to Bear Lake.  It is such beautiful water!  And I didn't get any pictures.

I know, worthless.

Just know that the jet skis were great and we had fun playing in the sand and the water to our little hearts content.

After the lake we drove to our camp.  It just happened to be about an hour away.  Apparently Kory's only job in planning this vacation was to get a campsite.  He just didn't realize that the campsite he had purchased was in Preston, ID.

We got into camp around 9:30pm.  Maycee was conked out.  We woke her up to feed her hot dogs and hot chocolate and then she was out.  Unfortunately in order for her sleep induced coma to come on both mom and dad had to be sleeping next to her.  I am not a fan of sleeping next to my child.

The next morning Cooper woke up at 5am.  Maycee woke up a 6:30am.  Too early.

Here's Maycee with her early morning 'I don't want the camera to look at me' pose.

 

You can see the hot chocolate all around her mouth because of her binky.

Nathan getting a start on breakfast.  It was good.  Yum.

I'm so tired!  You can totally tell by my picture.

And that, my friends, was all of the pictures that I took on our camp out.  Friday morning was the only thing that I picture documented.

After breakfast it started to rain.  We all found our shelters and held out 'til it cleared.

We found ourselves again in the cars to go to Minnetonka Caves.  I was super excited about this one.  I LOVE spelunking.  As we were driving up the mountain there were a ton of cars coming down.  Once we got to the top we saw a large population of people who also thought that it would be fun to go to the Minnetonka Caves.  It was a little after 12 when we pulled in and one of the tour guides told us that we wouldn't be able to go through the caves until 3:30 or 4.  WHAT!?  We decided to ditch the caves and go for milkshakes.

The Call clan ended up in Paris, ID eating Kory and Charisse's amazing fajitas in a local LDS church parking lot.  We then filtered to a park where everyone proceeded to send Maycee down these suicidal park slides.  They were so steep!  Stephen and Nathan worked on making themselves as sick as possible while Kory turned them in the merry-go-round.

We toured the tabernacle in Paris, used the potties, then high tailed it back to camp where I totally got my s'mores.  THANK YOU!  It seems like every time we plan to have s'mores it never happens.  But it did this time!

Saturday morning Stephen and I made breakfast for everyone and then we packed up camp and headed off to Lava Hot Springs Pool.  Wow.  I. Was. Dead.  I cannot believe how tired I was.  We all parted ways after Lava and the Post Family headed back to the farm for one more night away from home.

Maycee had been riding everywhere with Mom and Dad and Karli.   Consequently when we reached the farm my dad begged for us to leave Maycee with them.  I was going to be driving back to the farm on Thursday while Stephen was at scout camp.  My initial reaction was "No way!", but Stephen pulled me aside and said that it would be good for all parties involved.  So we let her stay.

Lonely mommy.

Not so lonely Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Karli.

Lucky Peak

Last night Stephen and I took Maycee and Cooper to the little lake at Lucky Peak.  I love doing fun things as a family!

We parked all of our stuff on the beach and headed down to the water.  Stephen with Cooper and me with Maycee.

Stephen was busy putting together Cooper's floatie while Maycee was dragging me into the water.  Literally.  It takes me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to submerge myself in water.  Maycee was pulling my finger trying to drag me in quicker.  She finally let go of me and dove in.  She loves the water and is doing so well in it!

After we had been in the water for an hour, Maycee was freezing.  However, she did not want to get out of the water.  She was shivering and her lips were blue, but she wanted to stay.  After a few more minutes she was done and wanted her "tahwahl!"  Aka towel.

Maycee and I cuddled for a good five minutes!  If that is what I have to do to get my kid to cuddle with me, so be it.

After cuddling Maycee and I chased the geese while Cooper and Stephen were sunbathing/taking a nap.  We followed the geese for a while and the geese kept walking away.  Maycee kept shouting, "Geese...come back!  Come back!"  Finally, as Maycee wrenched her hand from my grip and charged a goose, it turned around and hissed at her.  I quickly grabbed her hand and said that the geese were done playing with us and went back to wake up Stephen.

We had fun.

Temple

Maycee has added a +1 to the number of temples that we have.

The Disney Castle.

Every time we watch a Disney movie and that castle appears, Maycee is shouting.  "TEMPLE!  TEMPLE!!!"

No, Maycee, that is not a temple.

Cooper's Four Month Checkup

We went to the doctor this afternoon for Cooper's four month checkup.

Yes.

Cooper is still alive.

He has, thus far, survived Maycee.  Much to her continual abuse and strangling love, he continues to be quite mellow.

Stats:
15.25 lbs - 60th Percentile
24.5 in - 40th Percentile

And yes, I did compare these stats with Maycee's four month.  Cooper is short.

However, I blame Maycee.

In the time that it takes me to throw away a diaper, Maycee rolls Cooper from his back to his stomach and then sits on him.  She says they are playing "horsey".

Apparently I cannot take 15 seconds to throw a diaper away.  Maycee is stunting his growth.

Co-Ed

Stephen and I are now officially a part of a co-ed softball team.  Along with Krystal and Shane.

Just in case you are wondering, it was not my idea.  Much to my sister, Krystal's, debates I really had nothing to do with it.  I was terrified.

Last night at 7:45 we had our first game.

Krystal said that she signed us up in the "beer drinking" league.  So we wouldn't stand out as the worst team on the league.

Much to my amazement we kicked the other teams trash!  We were awesome!  It really wasn't so much anything that I did, as it was the other people that Krystal recruited.

Let me set up a few of the plays for you.

Wait...before that you must know that Krystal is the awesomest softball player ever.  She turned down college scholarships to go where she wanted.  She has played for 17 years.  Yeah.  She's good.

K.

Our team was in the...I don't even know the correct terminology...field?

Not hitting.

The other team was batting and hit a fly ball to center field.  Right in between Stephen and Krystal.  We watched as both of them were running to catch the ball.  Even though Stephen is not the softball connoisseur that Krystal is, he is still a foot taller than her.  They both ran into each other and Stephen reached up to catch the ball.

Stephen caught the ball!!  I was so proud!

As Stephen caught the ball, the other team began to shout, "Let the girl play!"

...If they only knew how reversed the roles were.  They would have been shouting, "Let Stephen play!"

Another play....this was before they knew that Krystal was really good.

We were batting and the bases were loaded.  Krystal went up to bat.  The pitcher told the outfielders to come closer...because she was a girl.  Krystal hit a grand slam and made a home run.  Getting all of our other players home as well.  Woot woot!

Last play...Shane was the pitcher and I was the catcher.  Shane did awesome, by the way!  I was incredibly nervous to play catcher because I can't catch the ball.  Yeah, what was Krystal thinking making me catcher.  She promised me that Shane would also cover home if we needed it, so I acquiesced to her demand that I play catcher.

The other team was batting and one of their players was coming home.  I wasn't paying attention.  Just as I leaned over to move a bat from near the plate, the player on first chucked a ball to me to get the other guy out.  I totally would have been knocked out.

Phew.

Good thing I ducked when I wasn't paying attention.

GRANDMA IF YOU ARE READING THIS DON'T FREAK OUT!!!  I'M NOT QUITTING SOFTBALL!!

Honestly, it was a lot of fun!  Thanks Krys.  Here's to our winning the championship in the beer drinking league.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I caught a ball.  Krystal chucked one from out field to me hoping that I would catch it because Shane wasn't there yet.  I caught it!  Didn't get anyone out, but I caught it.

By the way, I am so sore today.

Up to my Ears in Raspberries

On Sunday at 5pm I picked up Kenna to drive to my parents' house.

We spent the night and then Monday morning we were up picking raspberries.

Surprisingly it was very cool.  I actually needed a jacket!  Until the sun came out at around 11am and fried us out.

I am now the owner of a bajillion raspberries.

That is the number that comes after a trillion.

We will forever more be eating raspberry jam and having weird entrees for dinner that include raspberries.  My food storage is awesome.

Nursery Goings On

Yes.

Maycee is definitely used to nursery.

When I went to pick her up after Relief Society, the nursery leader told me that she didn't cry at all and seemed to have a lot of fun.  The only down side was that the reason she was having so much fun was because she was pushing all of the other kids down.

Gggrrrrrrrr.

Did I mention that last week they split the nursery class?

Did I also mention that not only is Maycee the only girl in her nursery class now, but she is in the class with the "rough" boys?  Apparently there was a reason that no one had figured out yet.

Now we know.

Planking-Water Fun

This afternoon we went to the Meridian Pool.

It.

Was.

Awesome.

Maycee was in heaven!  We went with Marc and Kenna and Avery and fell in love with water all over again.

There was a little homemade slide that Marc would send Maycee down and Stephen would catch her in the water.  If Maycee had her choice we would still be there going down the slide.

The Meridian Pool also had a little kiddy section that was 1 1/2 feet deep throughout the whole pool.  It was all shaded and had little fountains spraying water over one section.  Maycee jumped from the little steps into the pool a million times.  She also would put her face in the water and blow bubbles.  She loved running through the fountain and drowning herself in the spraying water.

We had so much fun!

Tonight we finally took pictures of Cooper's trick.

He is so stiff when you hold him now.

Sorry...Cute pictures first, then trick.

...

Drum roll, please.

...

Isn't it so funny!

Cooper is a natural planker!

Vaca in SF

And by SF, I mean Spanish Fork.  Utah.

We began our trip at 9:15am on Thursday morning.  We drove to Marc and Kenna's to pick them up along with little Avery.  We had to pick up Maycee at my parents' house on the way through so we stopped and had lunch as well!  We also stopped at Stephen and Kenna's Aunt Karlene's house to check in with them.  And of course we had dinner at In-N-Out.  That is a tradition.

Things were smooth sailing until 45 minutes before we got to Brandon and Mitzi's.  Cooper was angry and we were all ready to get out of the car.

The trip down took almost 12 hours...it's normally a little under 7. 

While at Brandon and Mitzi's we had four children in one house that were in diapers.  We had a large sack, specifically designated for diapers, in the garage.  That sack filled up very quickly.  It was a little disheartening to know that 50% of those diaper kids were mine.  Hopefully Maycee will realize that the toilet is the way to go.  Soon.  I hope.

Friday we went to one of their local parks and played on a splash pad and then their playground.  I think that Stephen, Marc, and Brandon had more fun than the kids...they were running around using all of the playground equipment improperly.

Maybe "improperly" is the wrong word.

More like "as dangerously as possible".

After the park we headed off for fancy hot dogs and ice cream.  Stephen and I were burping hot dog-ice cream for the rest of the day.  You can imagine how that tasted.

Saturday came bright and early.  No matter how late you go to bed, the kids always wake up at the same time.  Early.

At 6am, I thought I heard Maycee get up.  We were sharing our room with Maycee on our floor in a sleeping bag and Cooper in the pack-and-play.  I didn't really stir when I heard the patter of little feet.  There were two other kids that it could have been...

Wrong...

It was Maycee's little feet.

Five minutes later Mitzi escorted Maycee back down to our room.  Whoops.  Later that morning I was related the following story:

Brandon was awoken to a little voice yelling on his side of the bed, "daddy...Daddy...DADDY!!!"  Brandon rolled over and found Maycee yelling at him.  Mitzi brought her back to the correct "daddy".  I have no idea how Maycee thought that we were in their bedroom, or that Brandon was Stephen.  That will be a funny story to remember.

Stephen's cousin, Alissa, met us to spend the day on Nebo loop.  That was the only time that I remembered that I had a camera.

Sunday was really fun to sit and chit-chat and take naps.  Maycee did awesome in their nursery.  I was very surprised.  I think that we are finally over the "I'm going to throw a tantrum every time I have to go to nursery" phase.  At least I hope so.

Monday we packed up and headed out.

Of course we stopped at In-N-Out for lunch.  It's a tradition.  This time it only took us 9 hours to do our trip home.

Our final thing of note for this trip was that Maycee has finally learned to say Cooper.

Coop-her.

That's how she says it.  So stinkin' cute.

Marc is the one that finally got her to say it.

Marc.

Not Mom.

Not Dad.

Marc.

Now we just have to get her to understand that Coop-her is actually her little brother's name.  Not Peeker.  Funny little girl.

Fourth of July 2012

On July 3rd, Tuesday, we headed to Hagerman for an overnight-er in our tent.  Mom, Dad, Karli, Krystal, and Shane got there a couple of hours before us.  They found our "campsite".  Apparently Mom and Dad didn't like Krystal and Shane's pick so we ended up at Malad State Park.

Here are pictures of our fancy campsite.

Krystal and Shane are getting ahead of the game by airing up their raft.

Check our Dad's white man fire behind him.  At one point in time the flames were a few feet high.

Mom is running for her life after she got Krystal wet with her water gun.  GO MOM!

Right through the center of the park was a little creek.  It looked like it was a little flooded.

Krystal took advantage of the water and tried to float it.

That night Stephen and I did not get any sleep.  Cooper was in the pack and play asleep, while Maycee was in a sleeping bag between Stephen and me.  She had never slept with Mom and Dad before and she was so excited!  She woke up four times in the middle of the night and had to put her hands on both of our faces just to make sure that we were still there.

Honestly, it was really cute and funny, but I was SO tired the next morning.

Dad, Mom, Karli, Krystal, and Shane decided not to put up their tents and slept under the stars on a tarp.  In the middle of the night they were woke up by a policeman telling them that they were not supposed to stay overnight in the park.

I'm so glad that we were a little more difficult to get to.

Early the next morning a State Parks & Rec guy came to tell us the same thing.  Two more official looking guys followed.

Wow.

You are not supposed to stay the night at Malad State Park.  Had no idea.  In our defense, there were no signs stating that fact anywhere.

Stephen and I were in charge of breakfast on Wednesday.  We brought everything to make omelets in a bag.  They were pretty good!  This is how we cooked them.

The purpose of our Hagerman trip was the river float.  Here's the crew that put there lives on the line for a little fun.

These three did NOT float.  I think I would have had a heart attack.

...And they're off!

Here they are entertaining themselves at the end of the float by throwing rocks in the water.

When we got in the car to drive away, I learned "the rest of the story".

All of the kayakers on the float were beginners.  Not hard hitters.  Stephen flipped over in an eddy in the middle of the float.  Tipping is not really uncommon, but at this particular part of the river it was very dangerous.

When Stephen flipped he came back up and held on to the raft that held Dad and Karli.  Stephen was a little out of breath and was about to ask my dad to help him up.  Just as he was opening his mouth to ask, he was sucked underneath the water.  Stephen was wearing a life jacket.  He frantically kicked to try and break the surface without any luck.  He was finally spit out of the eddy about 15 to 20 feet from where he was sucked under.  He had no idea that he was also being pulled down stream.  He thought that he was stuck in one spot.

My dad went after Stephen's kayak after they found him and they swapped spots.  Stephen was a little out of breath.

When Mom and I were waiting at the end of the float we asked another raft, that was previously behind our crew, if they had seen a group of kayakers.  They said they passed them, but the group seemed to be looking for a "Steve".

I didn't really panic because of our previous kayaking excursions, but apparently I should have been....For future reference, if you are ever caught in an eddy under water and can't break the surface, pull your body into a ball and the water will "spit" you out.

All of us were a little exhausted and went to another park to eat lunch.

Maycee went home that night with Grandma and Grandpa.  Our Utah trip would begin the next day so we just planned to pick her up on the way out so that she wouldn't have to be in the car as long.

Thanks for the fun trip guys!  We will be safer next time.