Looking For Baby Items?

Have someone in mind you're hoping to bless with some sweet mommy/baby items that are beautiful, high-quality, functional, and support something meaningful?  May I boldly implore you to check out Already Love You?

Already Love You is the Etsy store our friends have opened to help fund their adoption fund.  Is that not a wonderful idea?!?!

I'm anticipating "needing" some things for our Baby #6 come April!

The First-Ever Whitney All-Family Camping Trip - Part 2

(Why I didn't just publish this 2 months ago when I wrote it is a mystery.  I'm not even bothering with trying to edit/find all my errors.  Time goes too quickly!)

So, where did I leave off from our camping story?  Ah!  Yes!  We had an amazing breakfast prepared by my oh so wonderful hubby-bubby of sausage and soaked pancakes.

The video I wanted to share of William cooking in the rain would not upload.  (Blogger and Mac seem to not work well together.  Or maybe it's just me! And, if one of them must go one day, it will not be our Mac!)  Here's the video (using You Tube):



Did you see his hustle?!?!  What good fun in the outdoors and sweet memories!

Day 2 of the trip found waking to wetness all around but enjoying a spectacular breakfast. After breakfast the rain did begin to slow down.  It was still damp so we opted not to attend the program of events we signed up for through ICHE.  We gave the kids the option and they were cool with just hanging around the campsite, playing in the sand area near the beach and exploring.

By the time breakfast ended and the rain stopped, we had to clean up after breakfast.  Camping is WORK... just like home.  But, with Hubby along for the fun, it certainly wasn't terrible.  In fact, it was oddly fun as we ended up with that outdoorsy mentality of, "Hey, everything's dirty, don't worry about getting it too clean!"

Paloma outside the tent after breakfast.
Notice the winter hat.  It was freezing in the early hours!

Once clean up was done it was almost time to get the fire going again or our lunch would not be ready on time.  Work time again!  The menu?  Hot-off-the-grill ham and cheese sandwiches with tomato!

After lunch Daddy took the bigger kids exploring around on some paths while I kicked back and tried to have a quiet time while the 2 little ones took an afternoon nap.  I think I read all of 3 verses and crashed!  I guess I was a little sleepy!

The naps were short so playtime came quick, especially when the bigger kids arrived with Daddy.  The kids played in sand, pulled Autumn in the wagon, dug an enormous pit near our tent, fished, and even enjoyed swinging on the swings.  Oh, the simple things!

We had dinner with the rest of the ICHE campers so it was an easy night.  Of course, we did end our evening with more S'mores!

Because the sleeping on the ground thing was way more painful than I anticipated, I tried to make it a bit easier by folding a blanket underneath us to give us a bit more relief from those annoying acorns.  I had no idea the acorns would be the least of my problems.

Yes, night two was... LONG.  We survived rain but... would I survive my husband turning into a barbarian?  Let me explain.

I was tossing around a lot trying to get comfortable and stay warm after getting up multiple times for kids being scared and Autumn wanting to eat.  Hey, it is like we're at home after all!  Once the kids were totally down though, I began to hear the wild animals.  Wild animals kinds freak me out.  Especially since the first (and last time!) I went camping with my husband and we were attacked by wild raccoons.  Yes, those crazy raccoons kept pawing at our tent!  It was horrible.

William knew my fear of the wild animals so what does he do?  He decides to go out in dark and mark our territory.  Okay.  So, he relieves himself.  I'm thinking he'll come back in the tent any moment.  Well, next thing I know, I hear him let out a small gasp of momentary pain.  Pops fell into the deep pit the kids dug!

Surely he'll come crawling back into the tent any moment, right?  Nope.  I hear him walking all around the tent.  What on earth?  I get nervous.  What will I do if my husband is attacked by a wild animal?  Then I see fire.   A LARGE fire!  So large our tent is now lit.  My husband went CRAZY.  I unzipped the windowed of the tent to peek out and I see a man I did not recognize.  And he stayed out there for a couple of hours!  Finally I whisper to him, "What are you doing?  You've been out there for hours?!"  He had been unaware of how long!

He comes back in and mumbles something about protecting us using fire.  Well, one thing was for certain, no animals came trotting over to our spot anymore!

The rest of our trip was typical.  Kids playing outside and getting filthy.

Fishing.

Sitting around and marveling at God's creation.

Throwing sticks in the fire.

And then, the inevitable final clean-up and pack up time.  (Note to self: have a plan for this as this wasn't as smooth as set up!  Prepare for the kids to have assigned duties.)  Once in the minivan I made our sandwiches and passed out lunch.  Yay!  No having to stop for and buy junk food!

My verdict?  The Whitney All-Family Camping Trip was a tremendous success.  Looking forward to our next one (most likely late Spring 2011).  Anyone up for joining us?

Nine Years... and Counting!

Today my prince and I are celeberating our NINE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!  And though we've been apart for many hours, we are so connected and on the same page.  My oh my I love being married to my man!  Apart from my Savior, there is no one I rather spend my time with than my hubby!

In fact, to quickly share a little story from this morning, we were all enjoying some Breakfast Cake at the dining room table when Saraina asks,

"Mommy, why are you the only one that's brown in our family?"

Just a moment later, Joshua pipes in, "Well, why is Daddy the only white one in our family?"

After a few giggles, Daddy replies, you see, "Before Daddy and Mommy got married, Mommy really liked vanilla ice cream and I really liked coffee.  We thought, we should get married because she looks like coffee and I look like vanilla ice cream!"

Then Kadin asks, "Well, what are we?"

Without a hint of confusion or doubt, Saraina answers him, "We're mocha."

Well, my vanilla ice cream shake, I am so thankful to be married to you!  Happy 108 months of marriage!