Independence Day!

July 4, 2014

We started off our 4th of July with a ward breakfast at the neighbors. They served delicious breakfast burritos and pancakes with my favorite topping; strawberries and LOTS of whipped cream! It was a good time!

cutest baby in a lifejacket!

     
     After that we quickly got our stuff together and headed to the lake for some boating, which I hadn't done in 2 years so naturally got zero pictures of me skiing. On the way up we could see smoke and just across the bridge before Spring Shores the hillside was on fire. We crossed over and then parked by Katie and Tyler and the boys to watch the planes and helicopters. There was already 2 BLM crews there working as well. Nate said it made his adrenaline start pumping and a part of him still longs to be out there firefighting with them!

playing on the beach, this boy LOVES water!

     Once we got situated we all did a little boarding or skiing. Nate had to work at 2 and as we were headed back to the beach to pick up all his stuff, our boat died! Brayden and Nate grabbed paddles and started rowing us to shore. We were ready for Nate to climb up the hill to the road and hitchhike back to the car. Dad messed around with things for a while and we finally got going again and Nate made it to work alright.
     The rest of us had a really great time of getting the boat on the trailer (did I mention it's been a while?). We got it on once, pulled out of the water, realized it was wrong, put it back in the water, the trailer then came unhitched from the truck, tried again, and then things were successful. What a day. And of course Spence cried much of the way home. But he sure looked awful cute all day in his lifejacket!

these boys had to have a throw down.

     Once we got home we had a little lunch with cake to celebrate mine and Katie's birthdays. I got some running stuff and my favorite snicker's cake from Albertson's. Heaton then entertained us all with some firecracker tricks and I ran 2 miles. Nate and I have had 3 independence days since we've been together and we have yet to watch fireworks, maybe next year!

these 2 stayed dry by hiding in the boat.

Spence and Oma.

Fishing while yurting.

     I failed to mention our yurt was 20 or so miles outside of Idaho City. On the way up we stopped so Nate and my dad could do some fishing on/at Crooked River (I don't know if that's really where we stopped, but the name Crooked River sounds familiar like it was mentioned at some point), Nate caught one little guy was all so it wasn't very successful.
     On our way home we drove a different way in hopes of stopping along another river for the guys to fish at. I want to say this was along the Salmon River (dad?). We did stop and check out some hot springs, but it was at least 90 degrees out and none of us really thought sitting in 100+ degree water in the hot weather sounded that nice, so off we went again.

me and Spence watching the guys fish.

     A short while later Spencer got awful crabby and my dad knew of some ponds for fishing (and being close to a raging river with a baby kind of scared me) so we stopped there. The fishing was ok. I think Nate and my dad each caught 1 medium sized fish in the hour+ we were there. I saw a muskrat, and Spencer took a nap.

     Then something awesome happened, a fish and game truck pulled up right next to us and dumped 1,000 fish into the pond! To say the fishing got good was an understatement! Every other cast they were catching fish! My dad remarked it felt like cheating, so they challenged themselves by removing the barbs on their hooks. That made things interesting and challenging because as soon as they'd get the fish out of the water it would slide out of their hands and flop along the ground until it made it back in the pond.

     As we were leaving a truck pulled up and a guy asked me how the fishing was. I told him it was excellent and he was like well the fish and game did stock it yesterday. I was like no no, they just stocked it like an hour ago! He was excited about that! Successful fishing all around!
     The boys each kept 4 out of the billion fish they caught and we cooked them up on the grill when we got home and they were very tasty!!

don't be fooled, I didn't catch this.

   

Yurt-ing.

June 30-July 1
   
     Nate had a few days off in a row and we wanted to do something fun! My dad being the outdoorsman he is, booked a yurt for us to go stay in. Then he packed us all up, drove us up there, biked all our stuff in, and caught lots of fish for us. It was a pretty fun experience and I am a BIG fan of yurt camping for these reasons: real beds to sleep on, a stove for if you get cold at night, and lights!

     This particular yurt we had to bike about a mile or so to get to it, which I really enjoyed even though I'm an awful biker. It probably helped that I didn't have to pull a trailer full of gear or a baby!

     We only had 1 bike trailer (from when I was a kid, ha!) so my dad ended up making 2 trips. While he was gone Nate was starting a fire for dinner. 2 things to remember about this moment, the first being a wonderful Nate-ism:
he had just built a tee-pee style fire in the pit and was about to lite it.
Nate: HA! They didn't call me Mr-boy-scout-1998 for nothing!
And it immediately fell over into a big mess.
Way to go Mr-boy-scout-1998 ;)
Shortly after, Mr-boy-scout-1998 DID in fact get a mighty fine fire going.

     As we are sitting around the fire waiting for my dad to get back with our last load of stuff, I was just gazing at the hill across from us, about 75 yards and all the sudden this good sized, sandy colored, cat-like creature, with a long tail, slinks across the dirt on the hill I'm watching. I didn't think too much of it and asked Nate what it could have been. He said it sounded like a mountain lion and got really excited. I got scared outta my mind (have a mentioned I have completely ridiculous fears, one being getting attacked by a mountain lion which until this moment I had never actually even seen one?). Nate really wanted to go look for it which I was not about to let happen, I was sure it would eat him! Then he wanted to ride his bike to meet up with my dad, which I was also not going to let happen because I KNEW the cat would come for me and Spencer as soon as he left! Finally, he did go look for it and alas, couldn't find it. When my dad got back and I told him what I was he was like "COOL!" What is wrong with these guys?? Don't they know that is a scary wild animal?!
     Anyway, we never did see it again, and for that I am thankful, but it was kind of cool to see and I'm alright with never seeing another one.

     We roasted hot dogs, had smores, and then set up our beds. Spencer had a better night than when we went tent camping in Palmyra, and I didn't freeze so I'd say it was a success!

    We also did some fishing, but that's its own story for another post.

Waaaaaay behind.

     I have quite a few things to catch up, but for now I just wanted to remember this snippet from my life with a 7 month old...
     In PA I learned to ALWAYS bring an extra outfit for Spencey to church with me (it may have taken 2 gigantic blowouts and church being a 15 min drive from our house for me to learn, but I learned nonetheless). Well today in Idaho I learned another lesson to add to that...ALWAYS take the extra outfit with me when I change him!
     Toward the end of sacrament I started noticing that foul odor I know all to well, sure enough, it was my kid. I did the once over and noticing no leaking poop, grabbed our dipes & wipes and headed for the bathroom, though I thought about changing him on the carpet in the foyer like I normally do, alas, it was too crowded today. (Side note, the only bathroom with a changing station is in the basement of the building, and totally not conveniently located whatsoever) I lay Spence down on the counter and by the time I get him unbuttoned and diaper off, there is poop smeared halfway up his back, all over his outfit, and all over the changing station. My life is awesome. I completely undressed him and then stood him stark naked, on the edge of the table while I scrubbed his back down. Of course he was facing the door so he and all his glory was the first thing anyone would see if they walked into the bathroom, of course someone had to use the bathroom at this exact moment, of course it was the only time I've ever run into another person in that bathroom! After I had him all cleaned up (half a box of wipes later) I diapered him and cleaned the table off. I started to try to clean his outfit, but it was a total lost cause so I just folded it up to let oxi-clean work its magic. Then came the awesome part of walking back into sacrament meeting with my baby in only a diaper. Not obvious or anything. I made a beeline for my seat and rolled my eyes to anyone staring. Funny baby, blowing out his drawers at church! I didn't want to make more of a scene by leaving with a naked baby AGAIN, so I just dressed him on the pew. Crisis over.
     I will however, be bringing my whole diaper bag to every diaper change from now on. Thanks baby Spence, you sure make my life fun! ;)

     And because what's a blog post without pictures, here's some randoms for your enjoyment.

sometimes when you're baby's nursing and totally sweaty you make a bunch of spikes in his hair!

we had my dad take a couple of family pix for us since we had none!

and this is the stinky guy today after the big fiasco, i still love him.

7 months old!

On June 16 our baby turned 7 months old!
I think I say this every time, but man time is flying!
     He can sit up like a pro and is trying VERY hard to crawl. He doesn't like to hold still or sit in one spot and can sure get around by rolling and scooting all over, but he is wishing he could just CRAWL! He has also had enough of his bouncy seat and can now successfully plop himself right out of that thing (unfortunately for his mom).
     He is still eating anything and everything. He wants a bite of whatever and still loved to chew on fruits and veggies through his mesh bag however, nursing is still his favorite! And he FINALLY had his first tooth pop through!

     Sleeping has gone waaaay downhill in the last 2 weeks. He went from sleeping in his own bed and waking up once a night, to sleeping in his own bed for 2 hours, crying out of control where only nursing can calm him down, and ending the night by sleeping in my bed connected to me. The last 2 nights of dealing with this have been miserable! He just can't sleep more than 2 hours in his own bed now! Not sure what's going on, but its making this mom crazy!! And he is a terrible napper as well, will wake up the second I put him down. We have our work cut out for us with the lack-of-sleeper.
     He is still a pretty mellow and quiet baby, not a whole lot of babbling going on or laughing unless he is being tickled. He does love his uncle Heatie though and Heat can make him smile and laugh or just calm down by using a deep voice and saying "hey baby!" Though he's mellow, he is not a cuddler! He will not just lay his head on your shoulder, in fact he doesn't really even like to be help facing in, he likes to face out and see what's happening. And he is busy! His legs are always moving and he is always reaching and grabbing at anything he can.
     Last thing, his hair is looking like it has decided it wants to be red. Or at least a little orange, still mostly blonde, but it definitely has a red hue to it these days!

     He is a handful at times, but he's awful cute and I think we'll keep him :)

Hand. foot and mouth.

     A few weeks ago Nate came home from work feeling sick. He had a fever and was going back and forth between the chills and the sweats. It lasted for about 24 hours and then left him with a terrible sore throat and weird rash looking spots on his fingers, feet, and around his mouth. After visiting the google doctor I diagnosed him with hand, foot and mouth disease.

     If you've never heard of HFM or don't know much about it, it's a disease that little kids usually get and it leaves "blisters" on the hands, feet, and mouth. They don't itch or hurt but Nate did say they tingled and made his grip really weak. Around the mouth it just looks like teenage acne. It's a virus and because of that you just have to let it run its course, nothing doctors can give you to help.
     So the next day Nate said it was the worst sore throat he had ever experienced. I looked in his mouth and the back of his mouth and throat were filled with these awful blisters! It looked incredibly painful! Nate's little brother was getting married in Utah the next day and we debated whether to even go since he was feeling so sick and we didn't want him to infect any of the little nieces and nephews.
     We went to the wedding because after 5 days neither me nor Spence were experiencing any symptoms and Nate was supposedly not contagious anymore. I think he was feeling pretty crappy for most of the trip, but he was a good sport so I even got him a large frosty to help his throat:) And as far as we know no one else he came in contact with got sick, so even though he didn't get to hold or be close to the kids, it was for the best!

one of about 3 pics I took at the wedding.

Pool boy.

Spencer LOVES the water. He went swimming when it was only 76 degrees and his mom was too chicken to get in. He loves to kick and splash and gets a big grin anytime he gets to play in it!