We Survived Big Kahuna

But it was a close call!!!!!

These are pictures from our Jackson Hole river rafting trip.

Anticipating! Looks like we hit it just perfect. No comments

about the dumb look on my face please.

Wow that was a lot bigger than it looked at first. Oh crap the look on Melissa's face says it all. She is the one screaming. Then look in front of her at Emily. She really is scared out of her mind.

Hitting the first wave perfect threw us sideways to hit the next bigger wave. At this point I thought we were going to completely flip our boat

Lost 6 of our 12 passengers. Who by the way were the newbies to the river

and most scared of falling out of the boat.

Caption me

Here is your challenge. Put on your journalist hat and pretend you were given the task of captioning the below picture for your local newspaper. What would you write? Go ahead, poke a little fun or even poke a lot of fun because the true story of this photo is sad and pitiful.

So go ahead and comment.

The real story. We arrived at 9:00 AM with the scouts for the beginning of our scout camp in the high Uinta mountains (10,000 feet). We were told by a scout "leader" (who had not yet graduated from puberty) to grab our trunks and head to the lake for "swim check". Knowing that in no way that I or my fellow leader Josh Carmack, had to swim I still choose to "represent" and "motivate" the boys and jump in the bitterly cold lake.

As my faced surfaced from the frozen abyss 3 feet from the dock, the sound heard around the valley was a mixture of shock, anger and fear, but mostly fear. I was asked to swim to a target not too far off, return, float on my back for 1 minute and tread water for 1 minute. Not a tall challenge for a strapping slightly husky lad as myself, right? Well this moment changed my life forever. Only Josh truly knows how close my kids came to losing their papa bear. There was a moment when the heavens opened and angels guided me to the dock. This is no exageration, I nearly died...as did the power craving dock scout that told me I'd have to start over if I touched the dock...how close you came to a swift death my young scout nazi.

The photo below takes place just seconds after I got back to the dock. After looking at it now for a week I realize that I have never had the expression on my face before. I've come to define my look as "anxiety ridden euphoric hate."

The good part of this story is that this singular event has caused a mighty change in my heart and waist. I've since started the Brittany Spears diet and have lost 5 pounds with another 35 on it's way off. So in a rather peculiar way I can thank the Boy Scouts of America for the hellish kick in the arse that was "Swim Check"

Sprinkler Fun

Simple fun. Sprinkler, no swimsuits, and an umbrella.

My Monkey

Dave came home from work with this Beckham jersey last night. It is going away for safe keeping until next year when it fits. Here is a few shots of Ronan sporting it in the front yard.

New trick of the week. Climbing up on the toilet, then to the counter to get to the toothbrushes. All my kids have had a love of Davy's toothbrush. It is never mine, which I think is hilarious. Sorry Davy it ends up all over the house.

How to Milk A Cow

When we were at the historical farm in Logan I was asked if I wanted to milk a cow. Everyone else went eww no thanks. But being the try anything new type of person I volunteered. It was gross but interesting. I am happy that I have learned a new skill that I will never have to try again. The smell of the cows teet made me want to vomit and I washed my hands as quickly as I could find a sink.

24th Pioneer Style

Dave went out of town to Toronto. The kids and I went up to my parents for a few days. As always Nana and Papa kept us very busy. To the pool, a circus, The Historical Farm, and the pool again. It was fun and a needed break from the everyday same old.

My wild boy in a rare moment of stillness.

Papa taking the kids for a ride in the handcart.

Ronan riding the horse. I thought it was so cute both Nana and Papa stood on either side of him.

My girls are best friends I love how they take care of each other.

Great Aunt Rachel

I dont know if that makes me really old. This is my nephews baby. She came for a visit the other day. How could I resist a quick photo shoot. Beyond being one of the cutest babies I have ever seen she is also an angel.

Haven't Blogged Because of THIS!

My adventurous 16 month old Ronan decided he would no longer stay in his crib to sleep. During the middle of the night I woke up to him screaming. In his room I found him holding onto the railing from the outside of his crib. The next day each time we tried to put him down for a nap he would climb out and lay on the head board part of the crib. I would have been fine if he could get out safely but we saw only visions of broken arms. So I cleared all the furniture out of the room except for the mattress on the floor. The only solution was to create a giant crib with a locked door. I had 3 days of no naps and lots of crying. Yesterday he found the diaper rash cream under his crib. He was covered, the carpet was painted, and then me. We all smelled funny the rest of the day. A thought to you who haven't cleaned that up. I would rather have to clean any other substance, poo included and I can compare. It took me hours to scrub it out of the carpet and comforter. I even threw away his sheets because I figured the 20$ would be worth not having to scrub one more thing. But there has been some success. Finally today it sunk in and he is falling asleep without crying on his bed. When he wakes up from a nap he knocks on his door. Here is a picture of him I took tonight.

The Jewelery Diamond Party

This was the easiest party I have ever put together. I found diamond wedding cards already made at Target. Another good Target find was the foam hats for 25 cents. The kids made their own party hats when they got to the party.

All the kids modelling their hats.

The girls made their own necklaces with pony beads and boondoggle. We also painted fingernails.

Happy Birthday my big 5 year old girl. I hope you had a dazzling time.

Adventure of the Week - Tracy Aviary

I want you to look closely at Leah's arms. That is the position the arms were held in for 2 days following her kindergarten shots. Finally I figured out that she thought the band aids would pull if she moved them. We ripped off the band aids and by the next day her arms were back to new.

Ronan was so excited about these birds.

The kids are all looking at a bird egg.

We were planning on playing in the waterfalls but they were closed. Does anyone know if there is a place you can find out if they are open or not? It is a good thing there is water at the park because we were all in our swimsuits and needed somewhere to get wet.