White River Campgrounds

July 19-20, 2013

White River Campgrounds

Randy took a random Friday off of work.  It ended up being a great weekend to go camping in Mt. Rainier National Forest with Jamie and Cameron.  We had reserved a spot at Crow Butte, but decided to go to the Westside when the forecast said 102 degrees both Friday and Saturday.  Our initial plan was to go to Ohanapacosh which is a 2 1/2 hour drive.  We left promptly at 9:30 hoping to get one of the 38 first-come-first-serve spot.  No such luck.  We headed another 45 minutes to White River campgrounds and lucked out.  We found two next to each other and began setting up camp.

The view of Mount Rainier is so beautiful.  Remember, this is the middle of July.  Look at all of that snow. 

 The river running through the valley is White River. 

 We set up a little of camp and decided to take a hike during the hottest part of the day.  We were all a little stir crazy after so much driving.

 At the trail head.  Randy was taking something back to the car, so I got a quick picture with my kiddos.

 We took the hike down by the river.  It is so vast and so beautiful!

 The water truly is White!  It looks this way because of the arctic run-off.  Cameron said that all of the rivers in Alaska looked like this.  It was seriously cold!  It sure felt nice on my feet after wearing shoes and socks all day.  I can't tell you how much I HATE shoes!

 It was running so fast.  At one point, it sounded like thunder or fireworks.  It turns out, it was moving boulders in the current.  So majestic!

 My explorers!

 It was nice to just sit next to the river.  The rush gave off the most luxurious breeze that cooled even though we sat in the direct sunlight.  It was such a nice time.

 The water may be icy white, but the dirt underneath was the darkest black.  It was almost as if it was sludge.  Or an oil slick.

 Isn't that so gorgeous?!

 It was fun to watch Tyson use the stick as a bow staff.  He was wielding it around with sound effects.  It was just so cute!

 Caden and Randy decided they needed to make a dam.  The rushing river made it pretty much impossible to get a pool big enough to wade in.

 Can you spot the splash Randy made with a boulder?

 I love that my little Keilie does what the big boys do.  She is always up to go exploring and love to follow after Randy and Caden.  She's good to keep up, and only occasionally needs assistance.  Kudos to my sweet girl!

 I LOVE this family!!!

 Jamie helping Cassidy with her dinner.  Evelyn was already a pro!  Little Caleb can barely be seen.  She's due on August 21.  We'll see if she makes it that long.  Both of her girls were exactly 16 days early.  We're both ready for him to come.  Her for obvious reasons, me to hold a baby again.  Love me some baby snuggles!  I understand that she's big for her usual size, but man, she is so tiny for how big I get!  I was due August 27, 2003 with Keilie and gained twice (truly) as much as she's gained.  I was MASSIVE by this time.  She's such a sport to have gone camping!!  I admire her for more reasons that one!

 Dinner!  Yummy!

 Cutest train ever!  Love how well these five get along.  Shelby will be in First grade, Brennon and Evelyn will go to Kindergarten, and we figured out that Tyson and Cassidy will head to Kindergarten together in two years.  Crazy how that works.  Tyson will be one of the oldest, while Cassidy will be one of the youngest- like me!  But not as young as Keilie.  Remember, she started Kindergarten and then celebrated her 5th birthday 4 days later!  Now that's young!

 Love my B-boy's face.  He's been having such a fun silly face phase.  He can make these kind as long as he continues to give me his award-winning grins on other more-important ones!

 I love the lazy times of camping.  Sitting around the fire is the best.  I love the fire, just not how it makes you smell when you get home:)

 I think this boy is a bit tired:)

 We're sleeping soundly while others play around us.

 Just kidding!!  We had you fooled, didn't we?!  I'm pretty much the worst pretend sleeper.  Ever!  Not to worry, I have no plans of quitting my day job for a career in acting!

 Again, we tried our hand at pretend sleeping.  Brennon wins.  Then Tyson.  Shelby looses.  She's got my acting genes, apparently.

Caden got to take his own little tent.  We got this for him in 2002.  Can you believe how well this things has held up?  It's fun for him to be able to be a little more independent, but still close to me.  He set it up all by himself!  We had such a good time with the Burch's.  We've made a plan to do it again year after year.  We staked out the spots we want next year to ensure we get a spot next to the river.  Next time we're not leaving it up to chance!

Lesson

I used my ring trial as the basis for my FHE lesson this week.  Since it was still fresh on everyone's mind, I knew it was a perfect opportunity to teach about the Lord's time.  While sitting in Sacrament meeting directly after Randy had found it, I had a thought hit me pretty hard.  If I would have found it Wednesday night after I prayed to find it for family prayer I wouldn't have learned the same lesson.  We wouldn't have learned the same lesson.  I had to get to my most hopeless state, feel as if I would never see it again, to fully understand the blessing I was given.  Just like Lazarus.  His sisters knew that if Jesus had been there while their brother was alive, but deathly ill, He could have healed him.  However, the true miracle came because Jesus waited.  Just like the song by Kenneth Cope, "If he had been here, when we hoped he'd been here, we might be doubting his power over death."  My ring was definitely not a life or death miracle, but it did teach me a profound lesson.  My Heavenly Father loves me.  He answered my prayers for something as insignificant as a worldly ring.  He waited to bless me with my miracle until my hope was gone, my resolve set that I would never see it again, before he showed me his power.  He answers prayers.  Sometimes his answer is no, just as my two lost babies had been.  Sometimes his answer is not yet.  Sometimes we need to be tested.  But our prayers will always be heard by our Heavenly Father.  He loves us, He wants to bless us.  He knows the desires of our hearts and wants us to return to live with Him again.  Randy ended up finding the ring in our closet.  He doesn't really understand how it happened, either.  He was pretty confused as to how it all came about.  I was too!  The night before I had been on my hands and knees combing that very carpet.  Randy said it could have fallen out of a crevice of a suitcase he took out to get ready for today's business trip, it could have fallen when he moved around some of the baskets we use as "drawers," or it could have come out when he pulled his socks out.  Regardless, it was pretty camouflaged in the carpet.  I have no idea how I missed it, my fingers touched every inch of that carpet.  Again, I know that finding my ring didn't save lives, didn't restore health to the masses, will not be broadcast on national television as a remarkable story, but to me, it meant the world. 

I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father, who loves me, and I love Him!

Tender Mercy

It's lost! 

My ring is lost.  Tyson has admitted to taking my ring.  The hard part is that he can't remember where he placed it.  He doesn't understand that he's shot a hole straight through my heart.  He doesn't realize that when he says "I took it because I love you" he's making me even sadder.  He's come up with a few hundred stories as to where it is, all of which I can't believe, but still hope one might be true.  "It fell through the floor with the ants and then fell into the grass with them."  This one had Caden out twice in both the front and back yard with his metal detector.  Nothing.  Then he told me that he had dropped it in the hallway.  There was a pile of clothes slotted for the washer, so I checked through the load.  Nothing.  So, I looked through every piece of clothing we own.  Including the ones that were hanging up already.  I remembered the time when my friend Kim Longhurst found her wedding ring in a sweater she was wearing at a friend's baby shower.  We all heard a gasp, looked to Kim and saw her start crying with her ring held up for everyone to see.  She had been looking for it for years and finally found it.  She had even checked all of her pockets.  This prompted me to look again in every piece of clothing we own.  Nothing.  As the hours passed (and now days), my hope dwindled more and more.  I found myself falling to the floor in agony because my legs couldn't hold me up any longer.  Or gasping for breath as the tears fell from my eyes.  This is the only worldly thing that I care most about.  My ring is my most favorite possession, my most favorite gift I've ever been given.  The thing that I don't share with anyone.  It's all mine and makes me the most happy.  And it's gone!!!  The last time I felt this bleak was September 10, 2005 when I found out that a second baby had died in my womb in less than a year.  The baby that I was told I had a less than 3% chance of losing.  I wondered if I was going to have any more babies, asking my Heavenly Father why I was being denied this righteous desire.  I was in total despair.  I feel it again, except this time I have no chance of obtaining my desire.  It's not like there is another waiting in heaven to join my family, one destined to be mine.  I have searched my entire house on hands and knees, touched everything in our home twice, called everywhere we went on Wednesday asking if they'd found a ring that could have been dropped by my three year old son, cried so many tears, and prayed so many times.  And then looked again.  I can't find it!!  I don't know where else to look.  I don't know what else to do.  I don't know which of Ty's many stories is the one that ultimately was the right one.  I don't know if I'll ever see my ring again!!!  I don't know if someone found it, if they appreciate the value it holds to me.  I wish I hadn't known that you shouldn't wear your ring to wash your hands, shower, or wear your ring to bed.  I wish I was able to wear it at all times.  I wish I hadn't gained weight to make it uncomfortable to wear.  I wish I didn't need to have it next to my bed or else I'd forget to put it on each morning.  I wish, I wish, I wish... it doesn't really matter now.  I don't have my wedding ring!  And I don't know how I'll ever stop this hurt.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Randy found it!!  Miracle of all miracles, he found it!!

I first noticed that it was missing at 8:04PM on Wednesday.  It has been the hardest 91.5 hours of my entire life! 

This morning, I asked Tyson again where I should look. 

"In the toilet.  I put it in the toilet.  Next, I flushed it."

I acted nonchalant, while dying a little on the inside.  He'd flushed my ring down the toilet?  Is he telling the truth this time?  I told Randy that of all of the stories he's come up with, this one makes me the most sad.  As we were getting ready for church this afternoon, Randy came to me and asked, "Will you marry me?" while opening his hand to reveal my ring.  Again my legs felt weak, my head felt faint, my heart beat fast, and I burst into more tears.  He joked that I had more of an emotional reaction this time than the first time he asked me.  It's true!!  I knew he was going to as me to be his Eternal Companion sometime, I never thought I'd see that ring again.  I had written the above post but couldn't post it because I couldn't proof read it through my tears and anguish.  Today I can, because these are tears of joy!  Such a tender mercy I've received today.  Keilie prayed this week that I'd be blessed with the miracle of finding my ring.  I know with every part of my heart that it was found because of her faith, and the faith of many others.  Ashlee asked me what Randy had said when I told him I couldn't find it. 

 "Honey, you're not going to get out of our marriage that easy.  I'm not letting you go!"

And just like that I was reminded that I married the best man on this earth.  He not only gave me the best worldly gift I've ever gotten, but is also the best gift I get to take with me into the Eternities!

 

Snarls? Nope!

The morning after her haircut, Shelby was seen carrying around a brush the whole day and preening herself in the reflective piano.  I asked her if she still liked her choice, to which she said in an exasperated voice, "MOM, there are no snarls! I can brush my hair by myself now!!" All of this was said while bouncing up and down, clapping, and giggling.  I was so happy.  While talking to my friend Jamie about it, she commented that she had longer hair than Shelby when she was in third grade and got a huge cut.  She said it wasn't a big deal to her then, either.  It might be because Shelby hasn't waited for her hair to grow long.  She just went from a nearly-bald 3 year old to a Rapunzel 6 year old.  No waiting, just living.  All I know is that we both love that we don't cry each day because of her hair! 

Locks of Love

Each and every time I brush this girls' hair there are tears.  Each time we go somewhere, she knows I'm going to do her hair, to which her request is, "Please don't brush my hair!" It was a scream-fest each time.  Not just her, either! It was getting out of control.  So when she asked to cut her hair, I knew I wanted to donate it instead of taking off a few inches.  I pulled up the Locks of Love website to show her what she could do with her hair.  At first she was all for giving it to someone that needed it.  After she saw the pictures of girls that were bald and then with wigs, she changed her mind saying "I don't want daddy to freak out!"  A few days later she asked again if she could get a haircut.  She said, "Mom, will I have to take my wig off?" I was so confused!!  She said, "At night?  Will I have to take my wig off to sleep?"  Then it dawned on me, she thought she was going to be the bald little girl getting the wig.  She thought I was suggesting that she cut off all of her hair to give and then she'd be the one getting a wig.  So, I talked to her again about what she'd do and told her to let me know if that was something she wanted to do.  Today she asked if I'd make an appointment.  So I did!

 She was bawling her eyes out while I washed it, picked through it out, dried it, and then brushed it again.  I made her smile after each:)

 So long and beautiful!!

 Down to her waist!!  And so golden!!

 Sitting in the Barbie Jeep, ready to go!!

 Look at how fun this place is.  Monkey Dooz in Richland is a Party Place that cuts hair, does nails, and hosts parties.  It's perfect for kids!  Each station had a screen for them to watch a movie!!

 Her hair dresser decided to do two ponytails so that we could keep the hair longer in the front.  I was all for keeping it longer than the "pixie" she had to have when Keilie chopped her hair HERE! Or when I had to shave it HERE!

 The first cut!! She was too engrossed in her show to even care what was going on!  I was more affected than she was!

 Doesn't she have the cutest face?!

 I forgot to actually measure these bad-boys, but you have to have at least 10 inches tip to tip.  From where I measured the other day, these are right about at 10 inches.

 Love the stacked look in the back!  And that face of concentration watching her show:)

 All done!  Ta-da!!  Love this little girls' decision to give it to someone that really needs it!!  When we went to pay, the girl said they always do FREE haircuts for Locks of Love.  I only had to pay for her tip and send it off.

 Missing her Golden Curtain of hair, but still such a cute little girl!!  It will grow back- it only took 3 years to go from practically bald (click link to see more pictures) to her waist/lower back.  And...she has 18 1/2 months to grow it long for her BAPTISM!!!  I'm guessing it will be to the mid/bottom of her shoulder blades with how fast her hair grows!!  Good thing we'll have a perfect reference.  And that this haircut wasn't as traumatizing as her last one!

I sure love this little sweetie!!

Loser Guys

For FHE tonight we learned about the Holy Ghost.  It was a good lesson where I used a pin drop as the "still small voice."  I played music loudly to prove that you couldn't hear the pin drop if things in your life were too loud. Caden chose to play Scene It Disney for the activity.  Not to brag (well maybe a little) but I have never lost a game of Scene It Disney.  Ever!  Tonight was no different.  Caden called for Tyson to be on his team, Brennon was on mine, Shelby was with Randy and Keilie was on her own.  After our victory, Brennon got a little hot headed.  Victoriously celebrating, "Guys, I am the winner.  And you are all the loser guys! YES!"  Can you guess what next week's lesson will be?  Humility!

Literal #2!

I came home from a meeting yesterday and found Tyson waking from a nap.  I was surprised to see he'd taken one so earlier, and even more surprised to see that he'd fallen asleep on the couch.  When I asked how long he'd slept, Randy said he would have slept more if Shelby hadn't kicked him in the head.  Shelby piped up, "Dad, I didn't kick him in the head.  It was my knee!" Again, so literal!

Literal

Let me begin by saying Randy likes to do EVERYTHING as a family.  This doesn't bother me most times, but tonight it grated on my nerves.  He loaded us all up for an outing to Walmart to get Caden some stuff for a campout with the Scouts.  2 items to be exact! I HATE taking all of the kids shopping.  They aren't bad, per se, but I don't like it when they aren't paying close attention and wander into the aisles.  Or wander away from us.  Or hang on the cart.  Or grab stuff off of the shelves.  Or simply just walk in too large of a pack.  It's just stress.  Especially when it's crowded, which it is most of the time at Walmart.  It was not a fun time tonight.  Shelby ended up skipping ahead of us, around a car that was pulling out, and then just sauntered over when I was SCREAMING at her to GET OVER HERE!!!!  I was at the boiling point by then.  I made the hasty comment that, "Now I know why my parents NEVER took us to the store!!"  After a minimal amount of time, Keilie asked, "Mom, were you amazed?"
 "Amazed how?"
 "When you first went to the store?" 

This made Randy burst out laughing.  Hard!  Which then got me laughing.  Then the whole car, but Keilie, was laughing.  She can be so literal!  The tension was lifted from the car, but the questions still remains... Will we ever take all of our kids to the store again?

Probably

Hood Park

Saturday morning, Randy and I went to the Temple.  It was wonderful.  I think I found an easier way to kneel for extended periods of time without passing out.  I was able to do many names without even feeling faint.  This was my first time not passing out!  It was an amazing feeling!  We came home, packed up, and headed back to the river.  This time, we tried a place closer to home on the Snake River called Hood Park.  It was amazing.  We got the most coveted spot.  It was a table that had constant shade right next to the water.  It was perfect.

Of course, Brennon took a long time to convince to get in.  Entertaining ourselves on the beach.

 You can see Caden and Keilie far in the top left-hand corner, Ty a little closer in the mid-right, and Shelby on the tube.  They got in the second they had their spray on.  I don't know how they can totally disregard the coldness as fast as they do!  It took me a while to get all the way in, including some almost-hyperventilating huffy breaths.

 These two were so much fun to watch.  Love Tyson's face!

 Then we pulled out the big guns.  We bought this on clearance one year in Casper to maybe float the North Platte.  We never did.  This was the maiden voyage.  It was the only thing that got Brennon out on the water!

 Love my beautiful girls!

 Proof that I got out in the water.  I need one with me completely in the water!  At one point, we had Randy, Shelby, Brennon, and Tyson on the raft while I swam next to it pushing them out to the buoy.  It was fun!

 Proof that Randy got in.  He never made it past his waist.  Wimp!

 Brennon wanted on the raft, but didn't want to go out too far.  I laid down to anchor the raft to the shore.  Tyson would run from the beach, jump over the seat back face first and then the boys would LAUGH!  He did it over and over, each time getting the giggle I love most from Brennon.  It was so much fun to watch.

 At one point, the boys laid down in the surf.  It only took Brennon 3 hours to finally consent to getting wet.

 It wasn't sandy at all, but that didn't stop the kids from burying my legs.

 And then begging me to bury theirs.

 FINALLY, Brennon got up enough courage to let Randy take him out on the raft.  He even allowed him to let go of the handles and spin him in the water.  It was fun to hear his laugh from the shore.

 I had to take a picture of his little nose.  On Independence Day he was playing with our neighbors, having a good time, when tragedy struck.  He ended up falling off of one of their skateboards directly onto his face/nose.  It was pretty purple that day and then turned into a scraped up mess.  He commented days later that his forehead still has a bruise.  Poor little guy.  Doesn't distract from his radiant smile, though!

When asking if we should come back to this park, we got all thumbs-up responses.  It was so much fun to spend four hours as a family on the water.  We absolutely love living here.  There is so much to do and explore.  Next week we have plans to go out to another place we heard about over the weekend.  Again, on the water.  There is so much to do!!!  I love Tri-Cities Washington!!!!!

Independence Day

We had a great Independence Day this year.  We started of with a family breakfast of pancakes.  I love me some pancakes.  Our next activity was something I'd found in Family Fun that I knew the kids would like.  We cut out a star stencil with cardboard, misted the grass between the stencil with water and then sifted flour onto the wet grass.  Keilie had the idea to lay out the actual cut-out and flour around it.  Look how neat that is! 

 

Happy Independence Day!!

 

We were going to go bowling with our KidsBowlFree passes, but they were closed, so we came back to get ready to head to the river.  We tried a new place on the Snake River and ended up having a great time.  The Burch's came along for the ride and made it an unforgettable adventure.  We found a spot where we got our own beach with at least 100 yards of shallow water.  The paddle boat was so much easier to maneuver without the current!  At one point, a gust of wind actually picked up the canopy and blew it into some trees.  We were reminded of Casper in that small moment.  I'm not sure how long it will take us to stop thinking/comparing everything here to there.  We stayed for a few hours, came home to relax and have a simple meal, watch a movie together, and then went to a firework show.  Jamie invited us to sit with them in a spot she goes to each year.  We parked across the street from the soccer stadium and sat in the back.  The kids had free reign for an hour to run with their friends.  We ended up finding another ward family to come and sit with us.  There were no less than 18 kids in our group-all running/tackling/squealing in delight.  The fireworks were beautiful.  Ty asked if we were on one of them when it went off if we'd pop:)  The finale was quite disappointing, but we had to remember that they had almost 30 full minutes of constant fireworks!  The finale was only about 10 going off at once and then it was over.  It just proves that it doesn't matter how well the show is going, if the ending is terrible, the rest of the show is forgotten.  We loved our full day with Jamie and Cameron.  We're so blessed to have such close friends.  Ones that know Washington well from years of experience, and who are willing to take us on our new exploring adventures!

Another Cleaning Game!

LOVE Brennon's face:)

 

Preface: It has been HOT here.  Today it hit 110 and it was only 2:30PM.  Last night I checked the temperature at 10:00 to find it was still 95 outside.  It's just HADES here right now.  Not sure how hot it is right now, but I know I don't want to go outside.  That hasn't stopped us from doing fun stuff this week, just not stuff that requires us being outside in the sun without shade and a sprinkler to cool us off!  We've spent a lot of time indoors, though!

 

With all of the hours spent inside, it's easy for our little home to get messy and feel quite cluttered.  We went to the library yesterday for 2 hours and came home with 53 books.  All of those books were scattered on our front room floor at one point.  Add this mess to the overflowing sink full of dishes and the laundry that needs to be folded (only one load this time) and you have a cluttered house.  Not one that you want others to see, hence no pictures!  So, while at Wal-Mart for some milk this afternoon (this is how I know what the temperature outside was) I picked up a giant bag of gummy bears.  I'm always trying to find ways to get my kids to clean with the least degree of whining.  They aren't too bad, but with the rising heat comes a rising intolerance for disobedience.  So, with my candy in hand I made up another cleaning game.  For everything they picked up and put away IN THE CORRECT SPOT (Keilie and Shelby are the worst at this step) they got a gummy bear.  I kid you not, a house that was a complete dive was SPOTLESS in 15 minutes.  They were running around cleaning anything in sight.  This includes Cloroxing all three bathrooms!  So, for $3.75 I got a CLEAN house.  The kids commented that this was their favorite game yet- surprise, surprise! My kids are always enticed by food.  It won't happen often- it was a huge bag of candy- but, it was one of my better games.  And to prove that the sink was full...I got 84 gummy bears and still had to do some by hand:)