.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Chuck's summer outdoors, part two


Chuck and I had the opportunity at the end of July to help out as leaders for a Young Men/Young Women Super Activity camping trip. Chuck was recruited as a Scout leader since the mid-week activity fell on his days off and I . . . well, I invited myself :). It was relatively soon after Chuck's appendectomy so I figured I should tag along and helpfully remind him not to do too much. And since I've been in Primary/Cub Scouts since we moved into our ward three years ago, I was excited to hang out with the youth a bit and you know, learn their names :).


Here we are rolling into the campground near Stanley. The drive up was pretty fun, minus the guilt we felt about the Otto boys having NO leg room in the backseat of the station wagon. It's all good, it only took them a few minutes to be able to walk again :). We listened to one of the 'Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites' audio books on the way up, which was pretty good once you acclimated to the ridiculous cheesiness.

Our excellent accommodations, complete with . . .

a little welcome mat area that Chuck created!

The YW leaders had some team building activities for the kids to participate in, which was awesome. This was an activity where (without speaking or stepping off the log) they have to put themselves in birthdate order. We laughed soooo hard watching them and their various strategies. I'd done this activity quite a bit in Peer Mediation training back in high school, so it was extra hilarious to them get sooo close and then have to start over when someone fell :).

One of the best aspects of the two days was definitely the food. Chuck, Bishop Fleshman, and Brother Van Vleet had been in charge of the grocery shopping and they took care of it one afternoon while they were a) hungry and b) without a list or plan or menu. The result was an abundance of really good food. It was fun to see all of the kids help out with food prep and dishes, (mostly) without complaint.

I really love this picture. Chuck and I captioned it "Well, I guess dinner's ready . . . " on the poster we made for the bulletin board at church, but that's actually quite misleading since this occurred while they were washing the dutch oven. But that's a minor detail :).

One afternoon we walked/hiked/balance beamed on trees a couple of miles to Stanley Lake and enjoyed the views along the way; Paulina and I were pretty excited when we found the wild strawberries.

The water was FREEZING. What cracked me up is that all of the Young Women jumped right in and swam and swam, while the boys took much, much longer to get in (and even then, they usually got right back out). My original plan was just to stick my toes in a bit, but I eventually gave in to peer pressure and went all the way in. I'm pretty sure campgrounds in a five mile radius heard my shrieks.

Group shot of almost everyone before we left the lake. In total we had ten young women, nine young men, three adult male leaders and five adult female leaders: 27 campers in all!

Quick hilarious story: at the lake, someone saw this on a nearby tree and was like, "What the? Is that a camera right there?" And we were all super confused/alarmed as to the idea of video surveillance at a campsite. And then someone walked up closer to it and realized it was a roll of toilet paper. And then we all laughed really hard.

There was a really nice balance of planned activities and downtime on the trip. Plenty of time was spent relaxing around the campfires and getting to know each other. This is where one of the young men thoughtfully (and accurately) observed, "Sister Izatt, when you're talking to all of us, you call us 'team'. And when you're just talking to one of us, you call us 'friend.'"

We also spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the latrines a couple miles away from our campsite. A couple of times a day we'd organize carpools in one of the two minivans to herd the kids (okay, mostly girls) for a bathroom trip. It became a big joke because the selected listening for these trips was a Brian Regan CD that most of the kids already seemed to have memorized. It was my first exposure to the comedian, and I have to admit that he's pretty hilarious - here one of my favorite bits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpBIZgvjWmA If you don't have time for the whole thing, start it at about 4:27 and then die laughing. "Umm, ohh, you know Kevin?" Hahahaha.

We also had movie nights. Well, everyone else did. This tired, pregnant lady went to sleep :). But the set-up was awesome with a projector and a hanging white tarp. The first night's selection was an old Western/favorite of the Bishop's called "Support Your Local Sheriff" and the next night was one about the life of Joseph Smith.

Seeing as how it was a church activity, we also made time for the spiritual stuff. Each morning we all gathered up for 'family' scripture study. Bishop invited all the kids to ask questions or offer comments/insights and it was so neat to hear what they had to say. The morning we broke camp and left, we all went around and had the opportunity to share a favorite scripture and its meaning to us - such an awesome experience.

The Bishop was very set on playing Capture the Flag, so he and Chuck created all of the flour sacks one afternoon.

And that night was the battle! Chuck got out of it on account of his appendix but my pregnancy did not afford me the same escape (although I did only play the first round).

And then it was time to head home: tired, sunburned, DIRTY, but verrrry glad we were able to go!

(And as always, mucho gracias to Grandma Pam for taking excellent care of the little boys while we were gone!!)

(Oh, and happy birthday today to my dear brother Sam! I love you buddy!)

Friday, August 26, 2011

Chuck's summer outdoors, parts one and three


Chuck's calling at church is the Boy Scout Committee Chairman, and over the summer he had the opportunity to take the Scouts on some adventures.


First was Scout Camp for the 12 and 13 year olds back in June. With help from the other leaders (and input from the boys) Chuck planned the menu, activities, and logistics for the four-day adventure.

This left me at home with the little boys, which I didn't mind at all . . . until I realized that he apparently spent the time being chauffeured around the lake in a canoe manpowered by the Scouts :).

The boys had a great time and a few of them got closer to earning their Wilderness Survival merit badges by building shelters and sleeping in them one night.

By the time Thursday rolled around, Clyde and Will were pretty psyched for Chuck's return, so they enthusiastically painted a sign for him.

All taped up on the garage!

And Chuck sweetly created a mini-Scout Camp for the boys the next night. It was delightful; they slept out in the tent and I slept inside. I love backyard camping!!


Part two was actually a Young Men/Young Women camping activity that Chuck and I both were able to go on, which means I have lots of pictures and lots to say, necessitating a separate post.

Part three was a high adventure hike the second week of August.
Over the course of four days, these two leaders and two boys covered thirty-something miles in the Bighorn Crags.

The group visited twelve alpine lakes in their wanderings,

and I'm pretty sure that between Chuck and Brother Kirkendall, at least half of their pictures were postcard-worthy and Chuck made sure to explain each one to me in detail when we were reunited. There sure is a special, if somewhat cheesy, relationship between boys and nature :).



Monday, August 22, 2011

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming . . .


The little boys were able to take swimming lessons again this summer and they both loved it.

Clyde spent most of his time underwater (usually with permission from his teacher). Little nut; he's already waaay more comfortable in the water than I am.

This was Will's last year of 'parent-tot' lessons and he loved having either Mommy or Daddy in the water with him. Really, he just loved being in the water period.

He was actually much more cautious about jumping into the water this year than I thought he'd be. I was pretty nervous too, though, about catching 37 pounds of crazy kid without letting him take me under :).

Clyde's class routinely moved over to the deeper end so that the kids could practice scooping/kicking one at a time with the teacher. The rest of the class got to freeze on the side of the pool, poor Clyde!

Here's Clyde going down the slide with his teacher the last day of class, aka his favorite aspect of swimming lessons!

Will was a big fan, too!

I'm pretty sure the boys miss being able to play in the pool every day. Personally, I miss the awesome naps they would take afterwards :). Can't wait for next year!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

It's . . . a . . .

BOY!

We obviously should have had a buy-in for the poll, because I'm pretty sure the three 'boy' votes were Quinn, Jayna, and myself :).

Here I am getting ready to head in for the ultrasound. And since I know some of you are now completely distracted by my awesome shoes, here's a closer look:

Aren't they beautiful? I'm kind of obsessed with them. I found them during an impromptu shopping trip to Shoe Carnival a couple of weeks ago after lunch with Emily and Aubrey. The final price (thanks to $5 off clearance and buy one get one 50% off - Emily and I combined our purchases) was eight bucks. Have I mentioned I love them??

Anyways, back to the ultrasound. It was so fun! Our technician, Amy, was really sweet and friendly and explained everything we were looking at. The baby measured perfectly with the due date and looked wonderfully healthy, and it is definitely a little boy in there! I'm not going to lie; I was pretty dang relieved. I know boys. I have everything to dress boys. I love boys.

Sweet little profile picture.

Afterwards we went to retrieve the little boys from the care of Grandma Pam and Unky Cody, who was very intrigued by the ultrasound pictures. Then we came home, where I promptly left all the boys so I could go enjoy myself at a super fun lunch that Nicole and Paulina put together to celebrate the ultrasound! Of course, Nicole was almost as disbelieving as Lynndi; they both were SO sure I was having a girl :).

And here are two people who will be parents of THREE in a few months . . . yiiiikes. Funny how seeing the baby on the ultrasound really makes it hit home, ya know? All of a sudden yesterday I wanted to move the crib and start setting up the nursery - luckily that bout of nesting/ambition passed quickly, although I do have a pretty awesome plan for the room. Aaaand Chuck and I settled on a name, which for the time being we are not disclosing publicly. But we are really, really excited to have another sweet boy to love and teach and be entertained by and attempt to protect from his own clumsiness :).

Monday, August 15, 2011

A 'great' Grandma Izatt and Great Grandma Thomas visit!


* Chuck made an astute observation recently that I've gotten ridiculously far behind on blogging, which I acknowledge and vow to remedy - sooo here's to another attempt at catching up! And while I'm acknowledging things, I may have (definitely) left a word out in the poll options to the right - the second choice should say 'I hope she looks GOOD in blue.' I haven't decided yet if I'm more embarrassed about the typo itself (dang pregnancy brain) OR the fact that it was my twerpy little brother Quinn that pointed it out to me . . .

Father's Day weekend (yep, back in June!) we were excited to have Chuck's mom and grandma come for a couple of days to visit. We missed Grandma Thomas last summer when she ventured out west, so we were really glad we got to see her this year. It was a quick trip but we fit a lot in!

We made good use of the beautiful weather and spent a lot of time in the backyard. Terri brought a fun frog ball for the boys, and Will engaged Grandma Thomas in a pretty serious game of catch. He laughed and laughed and laughed every time the ball was thrown and caught; it was soo cute!

We introduced Mom and Grandma to Settlers of Catan and it was a big hit, despite Chuck winning. Grandma put on an act about being confused about all of the rules and possible strategies, but turned out to be a pretty ruthless player and came in second :).

Pops had sent along a really neat floor puzzle which provided a lot of entertainment.

One of the sweetest things was having Clyde read 'Red Sled' to Grandma Thomas - the book's author! How many kids have that opportunity?? Even cooler, 'Red Sled' is dedicated to the four great-grandchildren who were in existence when the book went to the publisher in late 2007 - Mallory, Courtney, George, and Clyde.

Clyde got some more reading in with Grandma Izatt, who (naturally) brought some new books for the boys to enjoy. She also helped them compile 'Buckets of Fun' to combat summer boredom. The buckets have crayons, notebooks, games, bug kits, etc, etc, plus slips of paper with activity ideas. The boys have loved their buckets and they've been my saving grace many a day this summer :).

Thanks again for making the trip up to see us; we had a great time and we love you both lots!!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Rock the (baby gender) vote

Sooo remember how I'm pregnant? Well I am, and in a crazy turn of events I am already nineteen weeks! The second trimester is just trucking along, which is unfair since it is the best trimester and should therefore linger rather than whiz by. Anyhow, I'm seriously showing which I'm totally down with because I hate the awkward "chubby or pregnant??" phase; I want it to be clear that I'm both :).

The big news is that my ultrasound is scheduled for Wednesday morning and we will absolutely be finding out this baby's gender (yes, I also support opening Christmas presents early). If the baby opts to mess with my head and cross its little fetus legs, I will poke/prod/do jumping jacks until it adjusts itself. Let's all hope it doesn't come to that. Now, here's where you come in - I figured we'd do this right and create a little poll! So please take the time to vote on the sidebar.

For those of you who prefer to do some research before you cast your ballot, here's some possibly relevant information (although I personally do not subscribe to any old wives' tales):

* So far, we have two sons.

* My first trimester of this pregnancy was completely different than either of my previous first trimesters. With the boys, I threw up. A lot. This time, I felt miserable and nauseous and wanted to throw up but I only did like twice.

* I feel like the baby is pretty low right now. And maybe a little on the sides :).

* Heart rate so far: 174 and 156.

* Chinese Lunar Calendar says girl.

* Food cravings/aversions: I mostly dislike chicken. I'm actually okay eating it, but thinking about it in advance is dreadful. Tortillas sound awful, which is sad since I used to live on cheese quesedillas. Definitely haven't had one of those in three months. I ate french fries dipped in ranch three times a week for a while, and I usually eat french fries about three times a year. I love hamburgers/cheeseburgers/steak. I love grapes, not super crazy about apples. I preferred sherbet for a while, now I'm back to ice cream.

* I am the third child in my family and the first girl after two boys. Chuck is the second child and first boy . . . which clearly has no relevance, I just figured I'd share.

* Right now there are nine grandchildren on the Izatt side, five girls and four boys. There are three grandchildren on the Braden side, one girl and two boys.

* I have absolutely no special mother's intuition. If I had to guess, I'd say girl . . . which pretty seriously terrifies me.

I think that's it. So vote in the poll, feel free to comment and share the reasoning behind your guess and we'll all find out on Wednesday, hooray!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Some 'official' pictures from Quinn and Eden's wedding

Quinn and Eden! All of these pictures are courtesy of Mandie Anderson, and a few more can be seen at: http://capturedmomentsbymandie.blogspot.com/2011/06/eden-quinn-boise-wedding-photographer.html


Here's the big group shot with everyone who came to greet them as they came out of the temple.


I love how these shots slowly shrink - here is everyone at the temple who is somehow related to Quinn or Eden.


Here are the immediate families - moms, siblings and spouses, and nieces and nephews.


And just Quinner's side, minus Cody who couldn't be there :(.


Quinn and Eden opted to comprise their wedding party of all of their siblings and siblings-in-law. Here are the brothers who were able to be there - Chuck, Sam, Quinn of course, Nathan A., Adam A. and Adam F. Not pictured are Josh, Brandon, Nathan M., and Cody.


And here are the sisters! Terri, Jana, Eden!, Aubrey, Kamela, and Summer. Not pictured are Marcie, Melanie, and Brenna.


Quinn and Eden with some of their many nieces and nephews. Again, some were not able to be there, but I'm not even going to try to name everyone! :)


The cute couple with their amazing moms.


I love this one!!

* Scroll down for the (un)official pictures of the wedding day, complete with my rambling recounting of all the fun we had!