142nd Passage

While camping, we did a lot of fun expeditions out. We went in to Stanley to check out the town and the park. We even tried out their disc golf course.

Lydia's camping hair.

 Awesome view there.

 This is supposed to be the most photographed building in Idaho or something. It's a really old cabin, I guess.

Our family also went to the fish hatchery there.

141st Passage

We had a great spot to camp this year, which was pretty secluded. It was very rare that we saw anyone even drive through our camp area. We didn't have any latrines near by, but that's okay because David made a toilet that sat over a hole inside of a shelter thing my dad brought up. 

We had enough space that we could spread out nicely.

Here's camp. The tent in this one was our main gathering area. It's where we cooked, ate, played games, etc. Behind it, which you can't see, is my parents' tent, and another for my brothers.

Our tent is on the right, and the brown on the left is Chris's. The bathroom tent was to the right of the photo. We had a shower tent out there too. 

In camp we had this little creek that ran through it. We used it to keep our ice chests cool, to play in, and to do some sponge bathing. Oh, and once Lydia fell in, which I didn't even know about until she got out and called for me all soaking wet and freezing cold. 

While at camp the kids ran around and played. Sometimes with big sticks which inevitably hurt different kids at different times. The older boys shot bb guns, bikes were ridden, baseball, and fristbee were played, fun was had. 

The adults did a lot of playing too. Frisbee, baseball, boche ball, target shooting, board and card games, and just hanging out. 

Oh, and we ate a lot. We weren't allowed to have campfires, so luckily we had propane stoves and rocket stoves and dutch ovens. 

Creative marshmallow roasting. 

140th Passage

I'm a few months behind in my blogging, so I will do less detailed posts about our summer adventures.
We went on the annual week-long Martin family camping trip. This time we headed up to Stanley. I've never been that way before. If you've heard it's pretty, you're right. The actual camp site and trees and stuff aren't as lovely, but the views are awesome.

First, a faith building story.
We have a little trailer that we used and packed full to haul all of our camping equipment, clothes, and food for a week. We hauled it from Caldwell to up past Stanley, on highways, through towns, and over bumpy dirt roads. As we pulled into camp, where my parents and brothers' family were already set up, my dad pointed to one of the trailer tires and said "It looks like you lost a bearing." I didn't really know what that meant, as my knowledge of tires, axles, and the like is basically nil. But apparently the bearing keeps the tire on. So we parked the trailer, unloaded it, and then David jacked it up to investigate. And then he took the tire off. Just like that. He didn't use any tools, hardly any muscle, it just slipped right off now that the weight was off of it. Yikes!

We're left to wonder then, how in the world we made it to camp after 3-4 hours of driving with a tire that wasn't held on by anything. The only possibility left to consider is that angels literally kept it in place. 

But wait! It's not over! 

Now  we had a problem. We had a trailer in Stanley Idaho with no way to get it home. The little mechanic in town didn't have the parts we needed to put it back together. They couldn't order it in time, either. 

On Sunday we went to church. It was in a tiny building, so there was a big overflow section outside where we could stare at the beautiful view of the Sawtooths. Anyway, we talked to the bishop there and let him know about our situation. As luck would have it, the second counselor worked on a ranch and had the equipment needed to put a trailer back together, and maybe even spare parts. David called him and got permission to use his equipment, but we needed to have the parts brought up. David called his parents and apprised them of the situation and they kindly came to the rescue. David ordered the parts from a place here in Caldwell and his Mom picked them up. David's parents planned on driving up the next morning, bright and early. This next part I might get some of details mixed up, but the gist is this: That night Jon kept thinking that something wasn't quite right and got out of bed to check out the pieces we ordered. I think he discovered that there was an important piece missing, that they hadn't gotten all of the parts we asked for. Needless to say they were back at the shop first thing in the morning getting everything all straightened out. But before heading up to Stanley they stopped at a friends house and he looked at the parts and realized it was the wrong size or something. I know I'm getting things out of order here, but there was something else wrong that was discovered, kind of miraculously, before Jon and Lisa made the long drive and they were able to get all the right pieces and parts. There is definitely no doubting that the Lord was looking out for us during all of this business. 

David and Jon were able to replace the bad parts with good parts and weld things back together at the shop of the man from church. It gave us no problems on the drive home. Whew!

139th Passage

I'm finally updating the quotes. There's a lot of them because they date back to March. Enjoy! Lydia is really showcased now these days. She's getting old enough to say some funny things.

Lydia came up to me in the kitchen.

Lydia: I'm too scared, mommy.

Me: scared of what?

Lydia: going into spider webs. I will die!

Lydia: I got that ball for my birthday.

Owen: your birthday? You've never had a birthday when you were with us; except your three year old birthday, and your two year old birthday.

That doesn't leave a whole lot left...

Lydia: mommy, spiders eats bug. They're yummy.

Lydia: mommy, I just like lotion. I like to lick it! It's yummy.

Me: lotion?! No, it's not yummy.

Lydia: Mmm-hmm! It's 'liscious!

The boys asked what a mule was so I was showing them a picture of one. Then Lydia came up and saw the picture and cracked up laughing and said, "it's a horse-donkey!!"

How did she know?

Lydia: I love otter pops! It's my favorite fruit.

Morgan: You know that commandment that "you shall never kill men?" Well, I was going to grow up and be a super hero, and have a cool costume with spikes all over it, but then I remembered the rule about "you shall never kill men" and so I decided I wouldn't be a super hero.

Morgan was telling me about his dream of an erupting volcano while we were camping and he said, "I looked back and thought I would see pyroclastic flow coming out, but it was just smoke."

Me: pyrocastic...?

Morgan: pyroclastic flow. It's mud stuff that comes out of a volcano.

Huh. So it is.

Owen: William, is that your zero-th page?

Through his tears William yelled, "stop saying I'm not dumb! It hurts my feelings!"

Ugh. It's not been a good morning.

Morgan: I think Satan was trying to force me to take one of those chocolate balls that were from Easter that are on the counter, because I really wanted to just take one, so I think it was Satan trying to force me to.

Lydia: knock-knock

Morgan: who's there?

Lydia: butt-kickin' bottom.

Morgan: butt-kickin' bottom who?

Lydia: Pooping in the toilet!

So much for having a delicate little girl...

Speaking of Allison,

Me: I need to change her bum.

Morgan: Change her bum? How do you change her bum? Do you have a different butt to put on her?

Now where would Morgan have learned such sarcasm??

Lydia: Morgan, after I get 4, I will get bigger, then I will make a rocket! Mommy knows how!

The real ditty: deadman, deadman, come alive, by the time we count to five. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, you're alive!

Lydia's version: deadman, deadman, come alive, for the winter out your eyes. 1,2,3,4,5, out your eyes!

William was describing something from the bathroom to me as "the angel hat thingy". I laughed when I figured out what he was talking about.

William: why aren't you smacking us?

Me: because I have self control.

William: hmm, what's that??

That explains so much...

The boys are a little bitter about Iowa existing since it means daddy has to go there for business trips.

William said he's going to destroy Iowa, them Morgan said, "when I'm an adult I'm going to go to Iowa and dig it out with a back hoe all the way to the ocean. I'm going to turn Iowa into a lake!"

We finished reading The Bridge to Terabithia today, so we watched the movie. Morgan stopped watching it early because he didn't want to see the sad part. And now he keeps saying he regrets hearing the book and seeing the movie, and even thinking about it almost makes him cry.

I heard this conversation about it.

William: after Leslie died I had to go outside sometimes so nobody would know I was crying.

Morgan: you just told everybody...

William: oh yeah!

Me: Lydia, pull the drain plug.

Lydia: I can't.

She puts both hands up and looks at her palms mournfully (think the big rock giant from The Never Ending Story)

Lydia: I have little hands.

Morgan: mommy's are called masters of the house, and daddy's are called the protectors. That's just how it is.

Lydia asked if she could watch a movie. Since she's already spent too much time today doing just that, I suggested she find something else to do. Lydia got off the couch and stomped out if the room and shouted, "I am very MAD! I want Jesus to be sad!"

Goodness gracious, child. At least she knows it makes Jesus sad when we make bad choices?

Lydia: mommy, I hurt my finger! And it didn't hurt.

William: when I grow up in going to choose to be a super hero.

Morgan: uh, the Bible and The Book of Mormon say we can't murder, and super heroes kill the bad guys.

Me: do you need to go to the bathroom since you just woke up?

Lydia: no. But grandma Nelson do. And grandpa Martin.

William just accidentally called Lydia "William". How does that happen? Lol!

Morgan has been very grouchy all morning. Lydia said:

Morgan very rude! We need to take Morgan to the policeman!

The boys were playing baseball in the front yard. They came inside all excited, with two full sized kit kats and a package of peanut butter crackers and told me a story about a bus driver giving them the treats.

Me: didn't your mother ever tell you not to take candy from strangers?

Owen: bus drivers aren't strangers.

Lydia: yeah, it's like the magic school bus!

Owen: mommy, I know something. Sometimes our tummies just faint.

David: you're eyes look like a crack cocain user. You look like you smoke aids.

William: Mommy, is the 4th of July in June?

Me: Owen, you know what I noticed about you? You keep not doing your school.

Owen: you know what I noticed about you? You're cleaning.

Uh, touché...?

David was giving the older boys some multiplication problems for fun, so Lydia asked me to give her a number. I asked, "what's 1+2?" She said, "a bad word."

Lydia's dialogue as she sits on the toilet. "Oh, that was a big poop! Ah! I don't want somebody to see me naked! I'm not naked, I'm wearing a shirt, not pants or underwears. Mimi, come on. It's all gone. Hum hum hum."

Alli was whining so I said, what's the matter? What do you want?

Lydia: I think so he wants to go camping.

Me, in a singing voice: I love my baby, yes I do...

Lydia cuts in with a very enthusiastic song and finishes up: I love your baby tooooo!

We got back from church and Owen asked the question: what is an incestor?

After some mental shock I did some quick thinking and answered. "Ancestor! Aaaann. It's your grandparents and great grandparents and their parents and on and on. Make sure you say ancestor."

Lydia just came inside and said, "mommy, also, you're my husband."

Driving down the road Lydia said, "look mommy, I see a ribbon right there!"

Me: what's a ribbon?

Lydia: a water snake.

William: mommy wanna hear something funny? I asked Morgan where Jesus was born and he was like "I don't know" and I was like "really? It's Abraham!" And Morgan didn't even know.

Me: wait, are you being serious?

William: yeah.

Me: Abraham was a prophet.

William: oh. Then where was He born?

Me: Bethlehem.

William: no, what state?

Me: he wasn't born in America. He was born in Israel. There weren't any states back then.

Making fun of Morgan sure backfired.

Me: laundry! Ugh, I hate laundry.

Lydia: you should eat laundry.

Lydia: mommy, I ate a little tiny eraser and I didn't die!

Lydia: mommy, we have bones! And we have braaiiins!

Lydia: mommy, can I have one of these? (She picks up the bottle of tums from my bed stand).

Me: no, those are for my heartburn.

Lydia: my heart is burned too.

Morgan: what's an anniversary?

William: an anniversary is when you celebrate the day you got marinated.

Me: we get to go get daddy from the airport tomorrow.

Lydia: eeeeeee!! It's going to be amazing!

Lydia: daddy's parents were married. His parents. And your parents were married too. And you're married. When I grow up, I'm going to be a husband also.

Morgan: daddy, can we get the cartoon movie of 101 damnations?

Lydia came inside from the backyard all excited.

Lydia: mommy, I peed in the grass!

Me: what? How? That's not okay, you can't do that.

Lydia: but Morgan always does it...

Owen: mommy, don't you think I'm kind of like Rafael?

Me: like Rafael?

Owen: yeah. He's mean.

Lydia: mommy, Owen's going to tell on meeee! I don't like telling.

Lydia: mommy, I always love you.

Me: I always love you, too. Know who else I always love?

Lydia: yeah.

Me: who?

Lydia: food.

Lydia: mommy remember that last time I pooped on a hippo?

Me: what?!?

Lydia: I pooped on a hippo.

Me: Lydia, you didn't poop on a hippo.

Lydia: yes I did. A live hippo.

Me: you never pooped on a live hippo, silly.

Lydia: I pooped on a live elephant.

Lydia and I were talking about the new baby coming.

Lydia: it's going to be a boy, and I'm going to call her Abby.

Post-it #217

Two things: Adorable

And: This is what Alli does if I have braids. She always has to be holding one.

Post-it #216

Allison has always been great in stores, but now she loves it even more since she's big enough to sit in the cart.

138th Passage

We had an exciting day in July for the Martin family. My little brothers Cameron and Casey both returned home from their respective two year missions in Mississippi and Tennessee. 

Casey arrived first. We used this sign for both returns.

 These Martin kids had a different sign for each uncle.

 Casey was sighted.

 Casey was greeted by his mother.

 Casey was greeted by excited nieces and nephews.

 Casey was greeted by his favorite sibling.

 We took up a lot of the escalator.

 After collecting his luggage, we all went to Ann Morrison park for a picnic and play while we waited for Cameron's plane to come in. A couple hours later we headed back to the airport.

We waited awhile for the delayed plane, but it finally came in.
Cameron was sighted.

 Cameron was greeted by his mother.

 Cameron was greeted by his excited nieces and nephews.

 Cameron met and held Allison for the first time.

 Cameron was greeted by his favorite sibling.

 Cameron was at the bottom while the rest of the family took up all of the escalator.

We then went to my parents' house for dinner and visiting. David wasn't able to be at the airport due to an extremely busy day at work, but he was finally able to join us for dinner.
Welcome home, brothers!