Merit Badges

Okay...I can think of a couple of things to say I guess. Kendall turned 11 in July and the next week, his scout leader was put in a different calling, so....she's been double dutying for 2 months. Needless to say, they haven't always had a lot of activities. Jon took Kendall and Kristen and 2 friends on a merit badge outing, where the boys worked on their bird study merit badge. They worked hard, played hard, and had a blast!

It's Been Awhile....

I just realized that it's been about 2 weeks since my last post. I really don't have much to say I guess. We are in the swing of things now---the kids are all back in school and doing well; Kendall is playing flag football again; Kristen is dancing 3 hours a week; piano lessons are in full swing; etc. etc. etc. I've also had a taste of single momhood this month and let's just say, kudos to any single parent--it's NOT easy!! Jon's been busy traveling this month for business--California and Germany. Lucky! The German chocolate makes it all worthwhile. :)

Jenna

Jenna....where do I start with her? She has got an attitude! The other day I told her that she had watched enough tv for the day, so she huffed off, telling me that she didn't love me anymore. She swings one of her arms and marches off. Then she tells me that she's mad because she has mad eyes and then she'll glare at me up through her wild curls. Yesterday, she was mad because I wouldn't let her have a snack--dinner was 5 minutes away from being on the table--so she went and found some green teeth and told me that she was a mad "zampire"--could see her mean green teeth? Then, after awhile of holding her grudge, she comes back and tells me that her eyes are happy again and that she loves me again. Woe is me--how will she be as a teen?!

Anyway...Jenna has to have surgery on her mouth and I KNOW she's not going to be happy about it. She is tongue-tied--it's connected almost to the tip and her upper lip is connected to her mouth right between her top front teeth. Apparently, this could have all been taken care of in a doctor's office, but since she's so "old" now, we have to have it done at the Children's Hospital. The dentist pointed it out in June and they tried to do the tongue, but there was a misunderstanding with the insurance company, so after 2 months, we decided to talk to her Ped. They won't do it, so we had to make an appointment with an ENT and then the dentist office called back, saying that they could resubmit the preauthorization and it would take another 2 months to see what would happen. We just took her to the ENT. They're building a new hospital a mile down the street and it will have a Children's unit. So...the ENT suggested that we wait and do the surgery in November when he can do it at this new hospital. It will be good to have it done!

Family Vacation

We just got back (late Monday night) from our family vacation to Mt. Rushmore (among other places). Just a word of warning---this will probably be a long post, so feel free to stop reading at any time. I use this blog to keep friends and family informed, but also as a journal. :)

We left last Wednesday morning and drove to Casper, WY, stopping at Martin's Cove (a pioneer site) on the way. Casper is an interesting city--built all along the freeway and in the middle of nowhere! The next morning, we headed to South Dakota. The black hills are amazingly beautiful! Jon thinks they're called the Black Hills because from a distance they look almost black because of the heavily wooded areas, but I kind of thought it was maybe because all of the trees were actually black in the first area we entered, due to a forest fire years ago. :) We stopped at Jewel Cave, the second longest mapped cave in the world right now, and went down 250 ft. and looked at a "room" down there.

We headed to the Crazy Horse Monument after that. I was expecting some rock carving of maybe 6 feet high, but this thing is carved right into a mountain! They have the head done and they're working on the horse head now. They said every 2 weeks for 2 years they'll blast away rock with dynamite to get it ready for carving and they've been doing the blasting for a couple of months now. The guide's estimate of completion (nothing official, but just to give anyone an idea about when) is in about 40 years. WOW! There was a very neat center with a lot of displays and souvenirs set up. Poor Jarren had an upset stomach---strange since he'd had the stomach flu the week before we went.

The next stop was to get groceries and then check into our cabin in Custer State Park. Yes, it cost a little more than one of the lodges, but it was soooo worth it! Right in the middle of the park and we had wildlife wandering through--mountain goats and buffalo. On Friday, we took a very fun road (Iron Mountain Road) to Mt. Rushmore. This road passed by big-horned sheep, deer, antelope (or as Jarren and Jenna called them--"cantaloupe"), buffalo herds, a pack of burros, and had a few one car tunnels that offered a glimpse of the faces when we came out of them. Back to the burros...we stopped to see them and had the windows down. Two of them immediately trotted over and took turns sticking their heads right into the van--of course it was on my side and I was a little worried about being nipped.

Mt. Rushmore was sooooo cool! You walk up a pathway and they have this walkway set up--each column has the name of two states and when they became a state, along with the state flags on them and then to see these presidents heads looming above them--very cool. There was a trail that we took that you could walk right down to the base and it offered different viewpoints.

There was a mystery area a few miles away (Cosmo's) that had some fun (yet hokey) entertainment. We went in to Rapid City and found this FUN park---Storybook Island.

We toured the Wind Caves (4th longest mapped cave in the world) on Saturday--we spent about 45 minutes down there going along and through it. We also went to Mammoth Site--a place where 35 years ago they found a HUGE cache of two different kinds of mammoth (wholly and one other kind) bones/fossils were found.

Sunday morning, we started our journey home, by way of Nebraska. I had never been that far east in the USA before and always thought it was flat. Well...in a way it is, but it's more like rolling-hills-with-no-mountains-in-sight flat. We stopped at Chimney Rock, an important marker for the pioneers.

We stopped in Denver, CO for the night. On Monday, we took a tour of the US Mint--and yes, Jarren was sooooo hyper and thrilled to be there with all that money! They said they make between 10 and 20 MILLION pennies a day--among the many of the other coins. We then headed home through the majestic Rocky Mountains.

The kids did sooooooo great!!! But the trip home was long--Jenna's bottom was tired of sitting and Jarren was still obsessing over money and made up a song about burping to keep himself entertained and Kendall wanted it quiet and Kristen was tired of Jarren singing and talking so loud. But we did it! And we are soooo glad we did. It was one of the most fun vacations we've ever taken.

Random Stuff

Just a few random things....

Jenna is completely potty trained now! She hasn't had an accident of any kind for almost 3 weeks now! And she has even been dry at night for months. It's so nice to have that dreaded chore over and done with.

Our tadpoles....after 6 months, they never changed. They never grew any legs at all. Their food got all moldy and I had read that they don't eat food anyway until their tail is gone--absorbing their tail is how they "eat." They seemed dead so we got rid of them. I don't know why it took so long and what was wrong with them.

The kids went to school on July 27 for 3 weeks and are now wrapping up their first week off-track. I like the track we're on because they go back to school and get a feel for things, but then they get a second summer. They go back for a long time the day after Labor Day (September 8). I'm glad they were off this week, since most of them had the stomach flu--one of my least favorite illnesses--so no school was missed.

Jon and I have planned a fun trip to Mount Rushmore for next week. Jenna is soooo excited to see "Mountain Mushmore"---well, all of us are really excited!

Wind Storm

Last night we had a huge wind storm come up. There was lightning and high winds, but no rain. I was making dinner and it was just about ready. Kristen was at the neighbor's and they didn't answer the phone so Jarren went over to the door and he said, "Why is it growing so fast?" I thought, "What in the world is he talking about?" I went over to the door and saw that this dismal flower bed was very very green. It suddenly hit me--one of the park strip trees blew over! I yelled for Kendall to come and we went out and investigated it. Within about 10 minutes of it going down, I had 3 awesome neighbors over cutting it up and moving it--it blew into another tree and they didn't want it to force that one down too. The tree has been dying and we've slowly been cutting branches off it--it's been leaning a bit too. Anyway...the wind helped us out and got it down and thankfully no one was under it when it went over. Jon got home from work and 2 of the neighbors came back with chain saws and helped us get it all cleaned up. I can't believe how helpful they were! Anyway....those trees don't do too well here, so we may be planting something else in the near future. It's just sad to see it go.

Hair Clarification

Just to clarify---I'm not totally gray, I just find a few grays here and there and it's getting to be a pain trying to pluck them all out. I guess it's only natural--I'll 35 in less than 6 months now. I doubt I'd look like a 90 year old women--yet--if I just let it go. :) I just don't want any grays at all--not until I get much older. I still haven't decided if I like the new color or not. I'm sure I'll get used to it and then when I try something else, it will look strange to me.