Yellowstone vacation

Here are some picture of our most recent Yellowstone vacation. Everything was picture worthy. I had a great time.


Yellowstone Lower Falls.

Castle Geyser

Lodgepole pine hot pool

Mammoth Springs. I am so glad we made the drive!

Wildlife pictures:

Lindsey and Brett on the walk with a bison. They did not really follow this warning very well:

Yellowstones famous geysers:

Another fun picture. Warnings like this are all over Yellowstone. Sometimes I guess you just have to be graphic.

Asia had a really hard time with the "STINKY!!" geysers.

My kids' favorite: Old Faithful (and contrary to popular belief as "faithful" as ever)

The Family waiting for Old Faithful

Column at Lewis and Clark Caves (100,000's years in the making)

Chromatic Pool - Old Faithful Upper Geyser Walk (I love this picture!)

Yellowstone canyon. Looking from the falls.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Much prettier in real life!

Sisters

Sisters

If sisters were flowers,

I'd still pick you.

I'd let the sun shine so you'd never be blue.

I'd show the world how beautifully you grew,

with bright bold colors and strength through & through.

If sisters were flowers,

I'd pick you right away.

Because you cheer me up and bring smiles each day.

If sisters were flowers, for what it's worth.

I'd always pick you ... the best sister on earth.

Author: Gina Lauchner






"Mom, I wish Asia and I were twins because then we could go to school together and wear the same clothes all the time."

When they are home, they do everything together...

They work together to solve problems, like how to get a sled to go uphill. And how to be safe when riding the sled (bike helmets!)

Sometimes Asia is the mom and Kara is the child. Sometimes Kara is the mom and Asia is the dog. Sometimes Asia is the mom and Kara is the Dad. But you never can tell because it will switch mid-game.

"Here Asia, you can use the little broom and I will use the big broom, cause I am bigger." Then they both go to work. Both are humming while they clean. A habit they picked up from their mother. Today it was high school muscial. I would have joined in but they were each humming a different song as loud as they could.

They love to play school. Guess who is the teacher....

They compliment each other. Kara invents the game and Asia brings the creativity. Kara just goes along with the changes Asia makes to the game. Here they were experimenting with stirring colored yogurt together to see what color came out.

Oh and the dancing! As soon as music comes on in my house, Kara and Asia have dresses on and they are dancing. They feed off each other to learn new dance moves and to perform for each other.

Asia always gets Kara to give her a back rub. I have never seen Asia give Kara a back rub though.

I love this picture. They are both sitting watching Hannah Montana -their favorite- TV show and eating -their favorite- apples (Kara - green, Asia-red with no skins) and cuddling with their "blue blankets" (Kara's really is blue which is why she named it that. Asia thinks that "blue blanket" means favorite blanket hence the name).

They truely are each other's best friend!

Sissors

Cleaning the girls' playroom, I stubbled upon two very curious bags....

At first I thought, What is this? Oh no...

Yes. It finally happened. Kara discovered that her paper sissors could be used to cut hair. Immediately I went to Kara. I was furious. "What is this!" I exclaimed, while holding a bag out to her. I could tell by the look on her face that she knew exactly what it was and that she was terrified. (Had I never explained to her that sissors are for paper only? -Oh yea this was Kara who never broke the rules- She probably didn't even know it was wrong.) After those few seconds, I calmed down. It took me a lot longer to convince Kara that she could tell me the truth and I would not ground her. ...

"Mom, I just wanted them to have short hair..."

It didn't help that Tyler thought the haircuts looked good.

This was a good time to talk about asking mommy before cutting hair off the dolls and stuffed animals (Elmo included). Thank goodness it was just the doll hair.

Anniversary Month

First of all... Dad, I saw this in the paper today and thought of you!

Happy Anniversary AGGGHHHH!!!!!!

On January 6th we were married 8 years. Not only was it our anniversary on Jan 6, 2009, but it was the day that the tempurature out side finally rose, very quickly melting the 5 feet of snow around our house. I have learned and been warned that when this happens there is always a flood warning. I had been checking my basement all day for water leaks, etc. At 10:30 pm we were ready to go to bed and one last check in the basement showed a small amount of water collecting on the basement window ledge.

Outside we discovered a window well full of water! Easily fixed. Tyler scoops all the water out of the window well. Then we dug in the snow to find the rain gutter pipes so that we could make sure the were not freezing to allow the 5 feet of snow (now water) to drain off the roof. A half an hour later, we checked the window well again. FULL!!!! Oh no.....

We stayed up until 3 am trying to fix the problem. Tyler shoveled all the snow for a 8 foot radius around the window. I ran to the only open Walmart (30 miles away) to get sandbags. After packing the window and shoveling snow, it was still filling up fast. The rain gutter was leaking near the window, so we put a large bucket to catch the dripping (we were empting that every hour as well). Still the window well was filling up. We found out that the water was coming from the bottom of the window well up. Apparently the ground was frozen and could not hold all the water from the melting snow.

So... After 3 am. I woke up every hour to clean out the window well. Tyler woke up at 6am to go to work. Pour Tyler he was on call the next day and destined not to be able to make up the sleep. Finally the next day I got up with a ladder and temporarily fixed the rain gutter with a piece of quilters pattern plastic. The ground thawed, the rain gutter was fixed and the soil was not saturated anymore = crisis averted. While looking for rain gutter peices at Home Depot (which they did not carry!!!), I heard many more stories of waking up to flooded basements. I am so glad that we checked our window before bed. Right next to that window was my bookshelf full of my favorite books!

Happy anniversary!

Here is the gutter problem fixed. The bottom picture shows the piece of quilting plastic circled. I put this picture up by request of my mom.

Love/Hate snow

My love/hate relationship with the snow

Love: The beauty of the snow. Every tree is covered with white delicate snow and the landscape is breathtaking. Some times I get distracted by the view when driving (not good when driving in snow.)

Hate: The Slushy mess of melting snow. Just as the snow is beautiful after a morning snow fall it is gross as it melts. The brown slush stains everything and every store is sold out of snow boots. I am running out of tennis shoes!

Love: Chains. With tire chains on, I feel like I am a four-wheeler off-roading. And I can put them on in 5 minutes flat! Occasionally a man will stop to ask if I need help with my tire chains, but I decline. I am sure that I am ten times faster at putting them on than he would be. Too bad I can't go over 30 mph with them.

Hate: Being stuck inside during the blizzard. Another woe of a two-wheel driver. Which is why Christmas was very small this year. My husband's favorite gift this year: unsented chap stick!

Love: Sweaters. I love to wear sweaters. Soft, cozy, cute.

Hate: Going to church in the snow. Walking in church shoes with the only covering for the legs being a thin skirt and nylons, and the men in their suits deciding the temperature should be set at 65 degrees!!!

Love: Space Heaters. I would sit infront of one all day, even if I was sweating.

So far this season, we have received over 65 inches of snow! Roofs all over town are colapsing. Walmart (yes Walmart) was closed for 4 days to clean snow off the roof. I heard a rumor that if you were looking for quick money to show up at the Costco in town and get immediately hired by the roofing company for $50 an hour to shovel snow off roofs!

Tyler was up on the roof shoveling off snow. The thought in my head at that time was "It would be cheaper if the roof fell in and we had to replace the roof and get all new furniture, than if Tyler needed back surgery from falling off the roof and breaking his back!!!" Too bad he didn't listen to me.

Speaking of backs, I have discovered muscles in my back I never knew were there. Growing up my mother or older brothers always shoveled the snow. At first I liked shoveling the snow. I felt like I was getting a good work out. Now I feel like I am just abusing my body. A week ago I could not lift my left arm because I had injured my elbow shoveling the burm left by the plow. I was not going to complain though. I was so happy just to see the snow plow in our culdesac.

To be fair, I am not shoveling as much as most people in our city. My neighbors have a snow blower and love to use it. This morning my neighbor was out snow blowing my driveway at 8am! I wanted to go out and hug him (only it was snowing and I was in my pajamas).

Asia walked out of preschool a few days ago and asked, "Mom, when will it be summer?" Not for along time. Occasionally, the kids are having fun outside in the snow. We have went sledding a few times. I laughed myself to tears watching Tyler fall 4 times while trying to sled down a hill in a sled that was too small.

School is back in session tomorrow. I am so happy! Many parents are upset due to the fact that the sidewalks are buried in 5 feet of snow and the school roofs are flat (making them in danger of colapsing). The problem is that when they write to the newspaper about it, they have 10-12 spelling errors in each paragraph, making their arguement of not sending the kids to school null and void.

Good and Bad it has been quite the winter so far!