Mother Daughter Weekend and Camping

May is generally packed with activities and this May is no different. Last weekend we went to the Marmon Valley Mother Daughter Weekend. I took Jenna and Sarah for a weekend of horseback riding, camp food, sleeping in bunks, petting animals, hayride, rock wall, and more! Shelly, Grace and Regan also went. Grace is Jenna's friend and Regan is Sarah's friend. So it worked out perfectly! It was similar to Skyview Ranch where we went with the 4th - 6th graders. Both places are Christian ranches. We even had devotion time here at Marmon valley. It was a wonderful time together.

Our beds

 On Friday night there was a barn dance. Jenna already knew many of the dances since she went to Pioneer day in 3rd grade. Sarah had fun dancing but didn't know the steps. Who doesn't love barn dances?

Chuck Wagon Breakfast

 We also had smores and saw the animals. Marmon Valley has this gorgeous peacock. I can't describe how beautiful the blue coloring is on the peacock. It is a wonder.

A beautiful peacock

 On Saturday we had a chuck wagon breakfast. Meaning they took us on a hayride out to get breakfast. We had hashbrowns mixed with peppers and onions, eggs mixed with bacon, and toast over a campfire. Yum!!

Then we went on our first horse ride. All the girls brushed their horses down and saddled them (with help!). Jenna rode on Rosie, Sarah on Faye and I had Scarlet. Rosie's stall was right next to Scarlet.  The horseback riding was beautiful through trails and over a stream. And we rode for over an hour.

Jenna on Rosie

 Next was lunch and back on the horses again. We rode from 1 -2:30 this time and even galloped a little bit. For the second ride Sarah was given a new horse: Topaz. Faye kept wandering off and eating grass. So they gave Sarah an old Grandma horse (that's what they called her) so she would be able to handle it better. Sarah cried to be losing Faye but loved the old Grandma horse.

Sarah on Faye

Along the trail

 After our second horse ride we went on a hayride. Sarah covered herself in hay. She probably still has hay in her hair....

The hayride

 Then we went rock climbing. Jenna and Regan were pros! They were up at the top in no time. I actually really like rock climbing too but it was for the kids only. Bummer!

Rock wall

 I highly recommend the Mother Daughter Weekend at Marmon Valley. We had such a great time, the weather was perfect, and I got to spend some quality time with my girls!

For mothers day every year I take each of the kids on a date. This year both Jenna and Matthew chose Starbucks. So I took them to Starbucks for a frappucino and a treat. Sarah chose Tim Hortons. While at Tim Hortons I found this amazing treat! This is a chocolate hazelnut donut filled with nutella. SHUT UP! Oh yes... It was amazing.

Where have you been all my life hazelnut donut?

 Jenna had her final strings performance of the year. She did really well and is enjoying playing the viola. Next year she is also going to join the band. Erik does not want me to steer her in any direction but I told her she probably should play saxophone since it is the coolest instrument.

Jenna's final strings concert

 This weekend we went on our first camping trip of the season to Alum Creek State Park. We had a beautiful spot right next to the camper beach. The kids were COVERED in SAND! Yes they still played in the sand and water even though it was rainy and yucky outside and the water was freezing. Apparently they don't care.

Alum Creek

Hiding in our camper

 The most unfortunate part was that it rained so much we could not build a fire.  So we ate our hot dogs and brats by cooking them in our camper toaster oven. And we didn't get smores. GAH! What is a camping trip without smores??

Puddles around our fire ring

Things are adding up with our new house. We have to fix several issues the sellers are not willing to fix. Thus Erik has put us into "poor mode" again. He told me I need to buy less chicken (we have chicken a lot) because it is expensive. Yikes! Hopefully we can get renters soon or we will have to start eating ramen noodles. It better never come to that!

Flubber and Skyview Ranch

May is a great and yet busy time of year. The last three weeks of school are packed with concerts, field trips, enrichment day, field day, the last of the testing, parties, programs, write shop, and more. It is jam packed in May but it's all good. To relieve stress, we created flubber. Flubber? I found a recipe here and the kids LOVE it. Sarah has a fascination with slime and all things slimy so she really loves flubber. Matthew has enjoyed playing with it too.

Making flubber

 Ben is one of Matthew's friends in school and lives 4 houses down from us. Here is a pic of Matthew and Ben. Unfortunately Ben will be going to kindergarten next year so he won't be in the same class as Matthew. Bummer!

Matthew and Ben

 Last year we worked with Sarah to ride her bike without training wheels. I was worried that she would forget over the winter but she didn't. In fact, she is riding like a champ! We rode bikes to school and our next stop will be to ride bikes out to Handels ice cream. It just needs to stop raining! The beauty of this is that Matthew is riding on Erik's trail bike and I don't have anyone on the back of my bike. I'm free!!!

No more training wheels

Monkey bar queen

This doesn't seem balanced

Matthew on the trail bike

 Last weekend our Club 456 at church went on an overnighter to Skyview Ranch. It is a Christian camp about 2 hours away and we took 15 kids (10 girls and 5 boys) in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. I had a car of 5 girls for the trip and they were all Jenna's friends. Marissa, Campbell, Abigail, Grace, and Jenna. The main thing I learned from this trip was that boys are crazy. The boys were out of control and I don't know how Shane (the leader with the boys) survived.

The accommodations at Skyview were excellent. We had a hayride, bonfire, swimming (I did NOT go swimming in the freezing water), did archery, petting zoo, games, and horseback riding. Jenna's horse was named bogey and mine was chuckles. Jenna really loved the horses.

Every year our church does this retreat and I loved going as a chaperone. I think I'll plan on going in the future.

hayride

smores

horseback riding

Jenna on the horse

Ticket to Ride

In other news:

1. A missionary from our church will be moving in with us. He takes mission trips to Mexico and Brazil and needs a place to stay in between his trips. Since we have an extra room he can stay with us!
2. Our home inspection went well with only a few minor things. We close May 20th and plan on working that weekend to get the house ready to put up for rent.  
3. I finished the Broken Eye by Brent Weeks. LOVED IT! I really love that he is a Christian and has become one of my favorite authors (next to Brandon Sanderson). His characters have real struggles with God. On page 559 of this book is the following sentence "The Most High will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten". Ummmmm that's Joel 2:25. This isn't the only example, it's just one I found blatant. Now his writing is pretty gritty (in between GRRM and Sanderson) and he uses the f word but I like his style. (note: the f word is not fairy....)
4. This session I'm teaching 3 courses and in charge of two course developments. It should be busy but not too crazy (crossing my fingers). I've taught all the courses before and I'm not teaching onsite like last session.