Whiskeytown Lake

OK, so as I mentioned we spent last week at the most beautiful lake known to man...OK, maybe it's just the best lake that I know of, but still. It's located in Northern California just outside Redding and is well worth the 12 hour drive from Utah. My family has been going there every year for a long time and this year was no exception.

Usually, we spend most of the day swimming in the lake and soaking up the sun since it can get very hot there...we're talking in the hundreds. However, since we went earlier this year--June rather that July or August--the weather wasn't as hot and the lake was still pretty cold. That didn't stop us from jumping in and freezing our rear ends off, though! However, since it was so cold, we had to improvise and find a way to give Chloe a warm bath. We filled up her floaty with warm water and she had a great time. She loved it!

Chloe's favorite activity this year was jumping off every rock she could find. She loves to climb up things and then jump off. I call her my little monkey. She also spent a good amount of time on the hammock with dad or looking for wild animals. One day, she found an acorn on the ground and my mom told her that is what the animals eat. After that, she wouldn't let any of the other children pick them up because they were for the animals. If she would see a squirrel or deer, she would pick one up and try to throw it to the animal to see if they would eat it.

We always do the traditional camping activities; namely games, s'mores, camp fires, walks, relaxing, etc. Chloe especially loved it when we made s'mores. She would take the whole marshmallow and shove it into her mouth!

We all had a great time and are already looking forward to next year's trip. To try and make it easier on Chloe (and us...she cried or whined most of the drive there), we decided to drive trough the night. Aaron was a trooper and drove all but the last two hours. I took over once it got light having slept while he was driving and we arrived home at 7:30 a.m. in morning. We've still trying to catch up on our sleep!

Boulder Creek Falls

While camping at Whiskeytown and with the weather not super hot like it usually is, we had to come up with some other activities to entertain ourselves rather than spending all day in the4 lake like we typically do. So, we found a hike to a waterfall that we could take all the kids on and headed off. It was only a mile hike each way so Aaron sat Chloe on his shoulders and we were off.

It was more of a walk than a hike and most of it was in the shade, so it made for a very pleasant afternoon. There were actually three sets of falls on this trail but only one was accessible to children. The way to get up to the other ones was on a very narrow and slippery trail. My mom was nice enough to hold Chloe for a while so Aaron and I could go explore the other falls. They were beautiful and well worth the hike.

Brandy Creek Beach

We spent last week camping at Whiskeytown Lake in Northern California (more on this later). One day, we decided that it would be fun to take all the kids over to a maintained beach area to let them play in the sand. Chloe loved just sitting on the shoreline and filling up her bucket with sand and then dumping it out all over mom and dad. The only downfall of the beach is that an icy mountain creek feeds into the lake right near it.

Rumor Has It

Yep... for all of those who might have heard but didn't want to ask just in case... yes I am pregnant and not just getting fat! We are so excited for Chloe to have a little brother or sister (Chloe keeps telling us that she is having a baby brother, so we'll see).

After about 8 months of trying and figuring out that I was going to have to be on fertility treatment to make it happen, it finally did! I took a pregnancy test that came back negative. So, I go to the doctor to see why the medicine wasn't working and then surprise..."You're pregnant!" It was pretty fun to surprise Aaron at work and tell him what I had just learned. He didn't believe it and made me take another test when I got home. :)

So, our new baby is due January 3 (just 20 days before Chloe's birthday) and we can't hardly wait!

Memorial Day Moab-a-thon

For the past four years or so, it has been tradition to go down to Moab for Memorial Day and go Jeepin'. It started off with just Bob's Jeep, then Aaron bought one and so there were two Jeeps down there. Then the Cummings got one and started coming and then this year, we finally convinced the McKinlays to bring their Jeep down from Idaho and join us, bringing us to a total of four Jeeps. Hmm...who can we convince to buy a Jeep now?

Since there are young children with us, the days usually go like this: The guys go out on their long hard trail in the morning and then when they come back, we take a shorter family trail. Then in the evening, we go to the park, hang out, go into town and relax. This year, Aaron's sisters brought some art projects for the kids to do. Chloe's favorite was coloring her new plane and then flying it.

Overall, the trip was a blast and no one broke anything major so the trip was a success. On the last day we went to the park for a picnic and water fight. Chloe was a be timid about getting squirted, so Aaron held Chloe and chased the kids around. I think he had more fun then the kids did. :)

Feel Good Moment

I was at the store today and as I was walking out, I heard my name being called. It was a parent of one of my students that I had three years ago. We stopped and talked for a while and she told me that her son, Gavin, still talks about my class and how he misses me. Gavin was also there and it was so fun to see how big he has gotten. He was acting shy around me, but did give me a hug. His mom said that if he didn't he would regret it once they left. It was too cute!

It just made me feel good to know that I did have an impact on some of my students and that they still remember me. With special education, you don't expect your students to come back years later and tell you how much they loved you as a teacher, but today I actually got that. So, needless to say, it made my day!