John and Autumn's Wedding

John and Audi's wedding on the dock was very beautiful.

Even though I have four brothers in the military I have never seen them in uniform for more than a parade so seeing the Marine part of the wedding was new. It certainly added a respect and solemnity to the event, clear up until one of the sword carrying Marines swatted Audi on the seat end with his sword. Evidently, that's tradition and it did bring a giggle from the crowd. I can see that John has really made some brother-friends during his military service.




The traveling part of this trip was just as much fun as the actual event. Flying with Mike, Kate, and Kara made for side splitting laughter as we spent our wait time in the airports watching crazy You-Tube videos and swapping stories. Playing games in the hotel also had us laughing like we were little kids. The night before the wedding we crowded Mike, Kate, Kara, Kellie, Mom and I onto one bed (since there wasn't enough floor space) to battle out a game of Word on the Street. John showed up a bit later and added even more silliness. I love game time with my family! What fun we have together!

Date Night with Derek & Justin

A couple of weeks ago we went to the "Concert in the Park" to hear a good friend sing and while there we were given tickets to Ultimate Idol night on campus. Since we are fans of American Idol we thought we'd give it a go.

Derek and Justin were very excited to leave behind the dominating older teens and the attention stealing toddlers to spend an evening with mom doing something out of our ordinary routine.

Ultimate Idol is set up to run like American Idol. . . there were auditions, there was a Ryan Seacrest wannabe for the host, there were singers, there were 3 judges, there was text voting after the concert. BUT it runs a little more like a ward talent show with a cheesey announcer, high school like talent, 3 Paula judges who compliment the person and their wardrobe and go red in the face and fidgety at the slightest hint of criticism, and they don't have the stressful vote off just a happy announcement of who made it from the last week. Typical Rexburg. Not that I wanted an all out Simon-fest but it could have been a little less . . . mormony.

After a little grumbling at the set-up we agreed that it didn't matter how lame it fell in comparison with the nationwide hit reality show. What was important was to have a fun evening together! Once we set aside our misguided expectations we had fun laughing and cheering and singing along.

There were 12 singers for the night and after each set of 3 there was a competition with members of the audience. Imagine Justin's surprise when he won a t-shirt with the Ultimate Idol logo! He beamed with pride and waved it in the air after he caught the audience bound prize. Unfortunately, it is an adult XL in size so after hugging it in winner lust for the evening and trying it on "just in case it fits" he handed it over to Derek, who proudly wears it as a reminder of our fun night.

After the concert we went to Twizleberry for frozen yogurt. Darn Twizleberry has a new flavor that I just could not pass up. Dulce de Leche. Ahhhh . . . cheaters heaven! The boys enjoyed their gummy worm topped frozen yogurt compost of flavors.

By the end of the evening the boys were begging me to get tickets for the final night of Ultimate Idol. I'm not sure if they are really set on Ultimate Idol or if they just want another trip to Twizleberry or maybe they just want another night out with mom and her full attention.

Thank You Elder Holland!

It was a difficult emotional day as I helped my oldest child pack up his room and watched him move out of our home. I have listened to your words over and over again during the last 10 days to gain comfort and hope that maybe I did alright in my efforts to love and teach and lead one of God's sons. Thank you for the reminder that there are angels watching over me and my little ones. Thank you for the encouragement to enjoy and love more fully my role as mother to the five wonderful children that remain in my trust for a few years to come.

~Kimberly

Liberty 5K in Rexburg

On July 3rd I ran a race. The first race in 21 years. Actually, until February of this year I hadn't run more than an occasional pathetic jog to remind me that I'm not a runner. Well, this weekend I was a runner! My half hearted preparation paid much more than it should have and I found myself enjoying the race. It seemed to be over so quickly and I wanted it to go longer. And now I'm looking forward to the next race . . . an even longer one.

In the top picture there is just under a mile left. I ran most of it with my jacket on because it was sooooo cold! When I started, my fingers were numb and there were goosebumps on my legs. During the last mile I took my jacket off and the wind felt good as I covered that last stretch to the finish line (bottom pic).

Kara was here from Utah so she and Erika and Erika's friend Bri came to cheer me on and take pictures. The power of someone cheering for you is wonderful! Each time I heard a "go mom" from the crowd, no matter who it came from, I took it.

My friend Mary also ran this race and she was such an inspiration for me. A month ago she had surgery, did not have a very easy recovery, and there she was ready to run (and she beat her previous best time). When I started to wimp out mentally I thought of her and kept going. Great job and thanks Mary!

5K = 3.1 miles = 32.23 sec

4th of July

After running the Liberty 5K race I raced home (drove actually) to quickly shower and take the kids to the parade. Derek was carrying a flag and marching with his CedarBadge friends so I didn't want to miss it.



The kids favorite part of the parade is the chocolate milk that is handed out for everyone. It was funny to watch Max and Hyrum try to figure out how to drink out of a little triangle.



Our neighbors (the Hicks family) made cotton candy to sell during the parade and gave us some of what was left after the parade. The kids were a sticky but sugar happy mess afterward.

Cedar Badge

Derek left for a week long Cedar Badge Youth Training early Monday morning after we got home from our Texas trip on Friday. I was worried about him the whole week because he was so tired and sick the morning that he left. He was extremely sunburned from all the time that he spent in the lake in Texas, his ears were bothering him, and he was just plain tired from the trip and not feeling well.



When we got there Saturday morning to pick him up I was elated to see him cheering with his group and having a great time. He rambled on about the crazy experiences that he had and then zonked out on the drive home. When we got home he took a nice long shower and then he slept for the rest of the day. We took him in the following Monday and found that he did indeed have water behind his eardrums and a terrible ear infection but through the power of a Priesthood blessing it hadn't stopped him from enjoying the scouting experience.

And he is already looking into being a leader for next year's Cedar Badge Training.

Family Trip 2010: Mesa Verde

I remember going to Mesa Verde when I was about 10. Though I do remember being impressed with it, I mostly remember being terrified! The road trip from the entrance to the tops of the mountains left me wanting to scream, cry, throw up and wet my pants - all at the same time - because of the winding roads and the extreme drop offs and the fact that there were no guardrails. I didn't want to relive that part of Mesa Verde as a 38 year old so I did all the driving. It is soooo worth the winding road to see!!

The hiking was very enjoyable: a perfect temperature, a slight breeze, steep hills for a workout and level spots to catch our breath. Nathan and Hyrum were amazing hikers! At one site it was a 1 mile round trip hike and at the other site it was a 2 mile hike and they both walked it all (with the exception of a brief shoulder ride for Hyrum). Once again, I was a little nervous about the extreme drop offs to the rocky depths of mountainous oblivion but the kids were all good to watch out for each other and it was very fun. Erika kept torturing me by pretending to jump off the edge so we posed for a picture.

Rock, rock, rock, and more rock. Yet we were never bored by the view. We were in awe at the size, the shape, the colors, the foliage growing out of rock. It was all gorgeous! The really great thing about hiking among rock is that when you get to hot it is easy to cool down by going to a spot of rock in the shade and pressing your hands or face or back to the rock.

Once we got to the dwellings were starting wondering. How did they build it? Where did they get all that loose rock? How many people lived there? Why did they leave? Were these Nephites or Lamanites? What was their water source? What did they eat? What did they do without a Wii? It was fun to imagine family life in the rock homes of these mountains.

Behind Erika you can see the area that we started at and the other side of the canyon that we hiked down to. And more of the scenery as well as the silliness of our family. It was so fun to not be on any time schedule so that we could just wander and look and laugh and wonder and be (and not have any cell service available).




Because we couldn't take the guided tours (time and toddlers) we took the trolley ride to look at the more remote and larger dwellings. There we did another 1 mile hike to see 4 separate mini-dwellings. The circular, underground dwellings were the very impressive. The picture with Levi squating down next to a big circle shows the depth and size (and how well he ignored that "stay behind the ropes" sign). It made sense that they were underground and built with rock to have natural cool air inside their homes. Justin is standing next to one of the covered, more shallow, underground dwellings.

We spent about 6 hours at Mesa Verde and didn't even see half of it. It was long enough for the little guys in our group and had we had camping stuff it would have been fun to stay and hike the following day. For this trip, it was the perfect ending.

Family Trip 2010: Edards Family Reunion

That's not a typo. That is the family nickname and Robin even used it on her Face Book album.

On our first night in Texas we stopped in at Lenora's house where we met up with all the family. We make up a LOUD crowd! But it was super fun. It took a bit of time for my travel worn children to open up with their cousins and to follow the several different conversations going on during dinner but as soon as Rock Band was pulled out they were fast friends.

Nathan took all of the pictures in this collage. He thought he should have the guitar or drums the whole time and that wouldn't work with the number of kids that wanted to play so his feelings were hurt. I recognized the little-kid-stuck-in-a-big-kid-world look and went to get the camera for him. He felt very important taking pictures.

The Edards Reunion took place at a lake. When I heard that we were going to be outdoors all day long I thought we would all suffocate and fry to death in the humidity and heat. Luckily, the day was only in the mid 90's and I don't know what the humidity was but it was bearable. It helped to have a few clouds now and then. Levi didn't ever swim but spent the day shirtless working on his hot tan and he ate and chatted the day away with his cousins, Jarlath, Heaven, and Danielle. Erika and the other boys all swam off and on when they needed to cool down. Derek and Lilli spent nearly 5 hours in the water together and despite all that sunscreen Derek was burnt to a blistering, bubbly, red, sore, scream-when-touched sunburn.

It was so great that there was a full playground for Nathan and Hyrum (and Justin, Derek and Lilli). It had a fun climbing wall, little mini tree houses, slides and oodles of things to climb on. With the mixture of the heat and the playground workout, Nathan and Hyrum and I zonked for a while in the air conditioned camper (THANK YOU Scott and Lenora!!) which re-energized us for more fun.

It wouldn't be a complete reunion without food. Lenora and Amy planned everything (which was soooo nice!) and we all had plenty throughout the whole day. Somehow, the food seems to bring everyone together for reconnecting and a day full of chatter. It's not just for nourishment but a vital part of a true "reunion". Oh, and that big picture of Papa . . . my kids call that him "Cool Papa".

And of course there must be family pictures. We snagged a couple of strangers to take our big group picture and then we all took our turns taking each others family pictures with Papa and Grandma Cynthia.

The grandkids with Papa


One of my favorite memories from the lake is playing horse shoes with Robin. The guys had set up a whole tournament and we were stuck in there for a comedy round. We had some pretty wild tosses but in the end we did find all of our horse shoes and no one in the crowd was injured by a misguided throw. It was a long and close game (even though we only went to 7 points) but Robin won in the end. Great laughs!

My other favorite thing from the trip is Hyrum's love for his "Papa". He gets so excited when he sees his picture and every once in a while he will say "Go, Papa" or "where Papa". It will be a long time before he sees his Papa again but hopefully we can keep that love alive in the pictures and phone calls.

Thank you Edards family for a very fun reunion!! Next year . . . Georgia?

Family Trip 2010: Traveling

A common size for a solitary confinement cell is 8' x 10'. It is used for punishment or torture. Not intended to be fun. The seating space in our Yukon is 8' x 6'. In less space than is used for punishment for one person we stuffed 8 people for 48+ hours . . . and we had a GREAT time!!!

I was mentally prepared for 24 hours of argueing, whining, complaining, and major boredom leading up to 12 hours of yeah-we're-a-family-and-happy-to-be-here-at-this-reunion followed by 24 hours of whining, complaining, even more boredom and all out fighting. The only preconceived problem that did sneak it's way into our travels was a bit of boredom but beyond that we laughed, sang, watched movies, read, played games, laughed more, slept, told stories and, of course, snacked away on everything not good for us.

A few of the highlights:

*There were just enough technological things to save us from too much interaction with each other and just enough interaction to make good memories.

*Hyrum started to say "pee, pee" thinking it was the only way he could get out of his carseat. Hey, it worked for Nathan.

*I have never seen the pee-pee dance done in a carseat before but Nathan perfected it as we would frantically search for a decent place to stop. We are such responsible parents that he didn't pee once on the side of the road.

*Public restrooms are disgusting. The silver lining: after a weeks worth of hover squatting over filthy toilets I have fulfilled my quad workout for the week, and then some.

*Souvenier shops are money pits. Each of the kids had their own hard earned spending money for the trip and Nathan was thrilled to find a cowboy set complete with gun, sherriff's badge, holster and kerchief to take home as his Texas trophy (yes, the same one you can get at any dollar store in Idaho). Hyrum wanted a gun too. I have this thing about guns, even play ones. I don't like them, especially when my two year old keeps pretending to shoot me. I tried really hard to find something else for Hyrum and the closest thing I found that could replace the gun was a purple princess blow dryer. Even at two Hyrum knows the difference between a prissy purple princess blow dryer and a shiney silver sharp shooter. They both came home with guns.

*I consumed enough caffeinne and confections to either cause a lifelong addiction or a diabetic coma. It's so not fair that LeRoy can suck on the same tootsie roll (or licorice or bit-0-honey) for 30 minutes (what fun is that?). I can finish a bag of candy in the time he eats one piece. Oh, and how does 1 pound of tootsie rolls convert to 4 pounds on the scale? Not fair.

*I did listen to my ipod running list several times. I'm hoping that it somehow tricked my brain and muscles into thinking that I actually worked out instead of just pigged out this week. Unfortunately, my metabolism, blood sugar, fat cells and muscles are all well aware of the sugar high that has been constant for almost a week so it was probaby just a good music list to keep me awake while driving.

*Derek's motion sickness was held off with monitored doses of Dramamine and he did very well until we got to Idaho Falls, only 30 minutes left to go. I've never seen LeRoy pull over so fast!! Poor Derek.


*Not all hotel rooms are created equally. Thanks goodness they all have air conditioning. Some have more floor space than others. Some have more hot water than others. Few are made to hold a family of 8. Our house seemed HUGE when we checked back in.

I thought that since school was out for the summer that I would be free from the last minute surprises like, "hey mom, I have a report due tomorrow and need a poster board". Nope. I remain the on-the-spot mom.

12:45 Sunday afternoon - "I can't find my shoes!!!"
(as we are heading out the door for church - good thing Heavenly Father blessed me with a knack for storing away a plethora of photographic mental images of lost things)

6:30pm Tuesday night - "I'm supposed to take treats for young men's."
(which starts at 7pm - thank goodness I have all that junk hidden in food storage.)

Time for Bed - "But I'm hungry, I wasn't here for dinner."
(uggh, can't I send them to bed hungry?)

10pm Sunday night - "I'm getting an ear infection in both ears and they are killing me."
(why couldn't he tell me 3 hours sooner?)

Coming from Derek I don't question it. He's had them his entire 14 years and is never wrong, he knows. The problem is that all pharmacies are closed and he is supposed to leave at 7am for a week long scout camp. I'm already nail-biting worried about him since this is his first time being gone that long and it isn't a ward thing so he won't be with anyone he knows. Adding the ear ache only makes me worry more - I can't make myself go to bed because I don't know what to do about it - and he's not even gone yet. Will he be bold enough to tell someone if it's really that bad? Will someone take care of him? Will they call so that I can go get him? Can he show up late so that I can take him in first thing in the morning or will they not let him go once they know he has an ear infection?