Goodbye Camping Season . . . .

We just returned from our last camping weekend of the season . . . sigh. It's always hard to close out the season - every fall, as I'm emptying the camper for the winter, I find myself wondering: when we get this camper out again, where will we be? What will be going on in our lives? Will next season be as fun and successful as this one? And lately I'm becoming more and more aware of this question - how long will it be before the kids become too busy to do this, or not even want to go anymore? I can't even imagine. Sigh again . . . . Despite my current Sunday evening melancholy mood, we had a wonderful weekend - more fantastic weather, (fall camping is absolutely the best), perfect location, wonderful friends and we even got in some time with my family. This last trip was to Spearfish - we wanted to check out the fall colors in the canyon, and we were not disappointed - wow, what spectacular scenery God painted for us.

So, in honor of our last camping weekend, I thought I would show you all the things I love about camping:

Enough said.

What?!?!?

Excuse Me???

I LOVE to read - love, love, love it - so much so that my hubby hates it when I get sucked into a book because he knows I'm "gone" until I'm done with it. I gravitate towards mysteries - that's always been my first choice. So a few weeks ago, when I was checking out the book selection in Sam's Club, I grabbed this book for some reason (probably because I've heard a lot about the author and his other books) - thought I'd branch out a little and try something different. (Spoiler Alert!) Ha. Now I know why I like my mysteries so much. This started out a little boring, then picked up in the middle, and I was actually really enjoying this sweet love story . . . . and then wham! It kicked me in the stomach. The ending was AWFUL (in my opinion). Just sad, sad, sad. Why couldn't this guy just let a happy ending be a happy ending? What ever happened to happily ever after? Tell me, are any of his other books any better? What a bummer. Back to my trusty old mysteries.

Pickles

Moving on . . . Mark reminded me after my last post that I didn't mention our evening of pickling a couple weeks ago. It's been our tradition each September to can pickles - mainly for Mark who is our resident pickle addict. We first started this back when we were newly married, and we'd do it in Minnesota with Mark's family, under the direction of his grandma, and would do over 100 jars (no joke) at a time. Now we just do it at home, and only make enough for our family. Jack and Noah have gotten into this as well, and each do their own jars. I wish I would have taken some pictures of the process, but I was up to my elbows in vinegar, salt and cucumbers. Here's a sample of our handiwork:

Camping

We had a fantastic weekend camping last weekend - beautiful weather, great friends, it was all just perfect. We stayed at a campground on the Mickelson Trail so we were able to bike a few miles - it was just beautiful. Our friends have a camper with a bedroom in it that has 4 bunk beds, and so they invited Jack and Noah to stay in their camper one night - their son and our guys had a little slumber party - oh my word, were they excited. Their first "friend overnight" ever. Here they are climbing rocks off the Mickelson Trail . . . .

Look at this -- beautiful!! I LOVE where we live!!!! Wow, am I going to miss camping season.

Back to Reality . . .

Well, after our fairy-tale-like weekend last weekend, reality came crashing back to our household this weekend!! A fair amount of catch-up homework had to be done and soccer started with a vengeance. Uggh. This season, all of our games are on Friday nights AND Saturday afternoons (two games per week - yep, a little difficult to go camping with THAT schedule). Anyway, Friday night's game was miserable - pouring rain the whole game - and I don't mean misting or sprinkling - it was cold and RAINING - even with an umbrella Mark and I got very wet and the kids were just soaked. Ummm, excuse me, they are 7 YEARS OLD - why is it we have to play in the rain?!?! And Saturday wasn't a big improvement - the rain was gone, but Ike Jr. showed up here - the wind was blowing 40-50 mph. No joke. Yep, sitting through that was a lot of fun too.

Moving on - my poor hubby had one heck of a weekend, glued to the computer waiting for news on Lehman Bros. - the name of a 158 yr. old company that I had never heard until a few months ago, and has now become a household name here. I have never, in 13 yrs., seen Mark so out-of-sorts and worried. Yikes. I'm so incredibly blessed with an eternal optimist for a husband - always cheerful and happy, never moody, doesn't get mad about much of anything - so to see him like this is highly disruptive to my peace of mind. This is not a good time to be an investment advisor . . . . he was even making comments this weekend about packing it in and moving to France. And he was only half-joking. We'll get through it, hopefully with him still employed, but I wish I could take away his stress. Last night he was looking at Jack and Noah being silly and said "oh, to be seven!" Amen. At least we get a little comic relief from our resident goofballs.

Speaking of, at least Jack and Noah remain unaffected by the tribulations of the real world - we were going through their "fast words" reading list last night and we could not get through it even once without them laughing hysterically about a couple mis-pronunciations by Jack. Their laughter is just great for the soul. They started Awana on Wednesday night, and in flipping through their book for this year, I immediately became concerned - it looks SO HARD to me. God immediately taught me a lesson about underestimating my kids, though - they eagerly grabbed those books this weekend and have already solidly memorized 5 verses, complete with citations. Amazing. How cool is that?!?

As for me, I started Bible Study Fellowship last week - an intensive weekly bible study, and I'm very excited about it - it looks awesome. I also started helping at school on Thursdays and Fridays, was asked to serve on the "decorating committee" for our new church building (how fun is that?!?! Right up my alley!!), have my small group on Tuesday mornings and start sorority on Wednesday night. Whew. I think that's enough for now!!!

We're heading out camping on Friday - yep, being the rebels that we are, we are SKIPPING the Friday night soccer game but will drive in for the Saturday one. :) Family time comes first, no matter what . . . . . .

The Pledge of Allegiance

From a speech made by Capt. John S. McCain, USN, (Ret) at the 1988 Republican National Convention:

"As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room. This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.

Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School. Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967.

Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country-and our military-provide for people who want to work and want to succeed. As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing. Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it. That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.
The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag.

He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to pledge allegiance to our flag and our country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world. You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

My own note: And to think, the OTHER man running for President of this great country won't even salute our flag. Wow.

Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Horak

Yep, it's official - my brother is a married man, and had the most beautiful wedding on Saturday!!! Aren't they CUTE?!?! This is why I've been MIA for the past week or so. We had just the most amazing weekend as a family - these last few days were ones we will remember forever. The boys and I packed up last Wednesday and headed to my mom and dad's in Spearfish and stayed until yesterday afternoon (yes, the boys missed 3 days of school, but it was well worth it). While there we got to do all the stuff we love to do together as a family - big family dinners, shopping, planning, visiting with extended family, being entertained by the kids and totally loving seeing Josh so happy on the biggest day of his life. The wedding went off without a hitch - just beautiful and perfect, and so filled with love. I won't get into ALL the details, but here are some highlights:

• Jack and Noah were ushers, and part of their duties included escorting the mother of the bride (Julie) down the aisle - - well, at rehearsal on Friday night, we're all lined up, ready to practice the processional, and Jack, the little nut, smacks Julie on the rear end!?! Thankfully she is a wonderfully sweet woman, and got a kick out of him. I however, was mortified . . . .
• The Buffalo Jump Steakhouse and Saloon in Beulah, WY (location of the groom's dinner) is a VERY cool place - we'll be frequenting that place in the future!
• Having 10 women all getting their hair done together in the same room is actually a lot of fun - never would have thought . . . .
• I LOVED reconnecting with my aunts/uncles/cousins - I adore them and wish I could see them more often;
• It was so heartwarming seeing how much my brother is loved by so many people . . .
• Noah was IN LOVE with his tux - it's so interesting to see this little piece of his personality - he loved wearing it, so much so that we couldn't hardly get him to take the jacket off at the reception. He especially loved the SHOES.
• Noah was also entranced by Marcy - he just would sit and stare at her - it was so cute;
• Jack . . . well . . . . see below for the story on Jack . . . . oh my word.
• Mark had explained to the boys that sometimes people cry at weddings because they are happy (so they wouldn't be concerned) . . . at the end of the evening, Noah told Mark "I think I saw mommy getting happy during her speech to Josh and Marcy." :)

Here's "a few" of the 260 pictures I took over the weekend - WARNING - there are a lot, so I apologize ahead of time. Here's Cayel (Marcy's son) at the rehearsal - as you can see he's really into it: :)

Here's the rehearsal bouquet I made Marcy - mainly out of bows and ribbons from her shower, but I also had to add some "Josh flavor" to it (pheasant feathers) . . . .
My sister and her husband, Marcy and Josh, and me and Mark at rehearsal . . .
At the groom's dinner my dad supplied cigars for everyone after we ate. This was the coolest place - this is out behind the restaurant - they have a HUGE bonfire pit with tables around it. The happy couple:
My dad and Josh . . .
Josh and Mark . . .
My cute mom and dad . . . .
The morning of the wedding - this is hair and makeup central -
Here's the back of MY hair for those of you who like details . . . although this is after 4 hours of dancing, so I'm not sure it's an accurate representation . . ? It was sprayed so much it was like concrete - I probably could have slept in it.


My handsome boys, all ready to go . . .

The Four Happy Campers -

Noah and Jack, at their posts, ready to hand out programs . . . .

My sister and I at a "pit stop" between the ceremony and reception :) . . . .

Josh changed his cream vest and tie after the ceremony to the "Mossy Oak" version, which he claimed was more comfortable. With him, I believe it.

The boys warming up the dance floor . . .

The boys had the best time playing with this 6'9" groomsman - they just loved him.

Okay, so here's the story on Jack - whatever happened to him during this dance was unbelieveable. He became the entertainment - we are now totally convinced he will be some kind of performer when he grows up! He turned into a dancing fool with absolutely hilarious moves, and ended up with most everyone on the dance floor in a big circle around him. People were just rolling, he was so funny. I truly didn't know whether to die of embarassment or laugh, so I opted for the latter. I was laughing so hard I was crying. There just aren't words to describe it - he was just unreal. He went HARD through about 8 songs (including the likes of "Baby Got Back" - oh my) and then we finally pulled him off the floor, a sweaty and exhausted mess. Noah was out there the whole time too, dancing away, but wasn't about to be the center of attention! They finally headed to bed around 10:45. Mark and I were in such shock over the whole thing, we don't even have one picture or any video of it - I'm hoping the videographer got some footage. It was something we will NEVER forget.

The dollar dance . . . . (that's Mark)

Noah with Marcy - is he stinkin' cute or what?

And so is Jack!

Noah and Grandpa . . . .

The three most handsome men on the planet!

Now recovery mode sets in. We are exhausted. Uggh. The past week, no . . . make that the past FEW weeks, are a complete blur - being at home today seemed very strange to me - not a good sign! It's kind of a bummer that so many things are over - summer, the Olympics (yep, we were addicted), the wedding, the RNC (anyone see Palin speak? She ROCKS!) - now what do we do? Ha, nevermind - school, PTA, soccer, Awana, sorority, I start a bible study this week, our list goes on. Even though we've had a ton of fun, I think we're all ready for some sort of normalcy to return to this household.

Today I allowed myself a lounging day - cuddled in on the couch with my laptop and worked on pictures, napped and watched TV all day. It was AWESOME and so needed. May have to do it again tomorrow. But then that's it. Maybe.