Land of the Lost

I feel like I have come back to life after a long time of inactivity. It kind of reminds me of a show I watched when I was little (hence the title, Land of the Lost). Looking back, it probably was a little scary because of the sleestaks (I'm sure that wasn't the right spelling) or these alien/reptile looking creatures that would appear when this little band would wander the wrong way. They were usually asleep, and walking in on them would make them move rather slowly, so the heros could run away in plenty of time. So, they could have some more shows! I feel like the slow moving sleestak right now, but I am getting better. After all, I've moved up from saltines to some real food now!

This all started about 1:30 am on Thursday. I had no idea that it was coming and my week schedule would be so changed. After the purging that the virus had in store for me, all I could do was stay in bed on Thursday. No BSF, no spending time with the kids. Woody had to call in to work to take care of the kids. And, I was diligently trying to stay away from the family and disinfect the bathroom each time I entered (because, of course, we only have one bathroom). I was able to get up on Friday but the plans we had that night had to be scrapped because I still didn't feel good, the house looked like a disaster after 24 hours of neglect, and I had the food but none of the prep work done. But, it turned out to be the right decision because Natalie started throwing up at 6:30pm, which would have been in the middle of dinner. She, however, was blessed with a much better recovery and is zooming around like nothing happened right now. However, she is only eating crackers, applesauce, and banana even though she could probably expand that.

Today, Woody and Nicole escaped to the mountains to hike together while Natalie and I enjoyed some quiet home time with crafts and coupon cutting together. We went outside into the bright warm sunshine also to soak it up (it felt so good!). But, we're all back together now and enjoying time together.

Falling In

After snow tubing, we came back home to warm enough temperatures to go hiking. I had grocery shopping to do, so I left right after breakfast to try and get that done before we went hiking. There is a spot that we can walk to go hiking, but we do have to "bushwhack" a bit and ford a river to get there. So, we headed off with Rosco and the girls to do some family hiking. All was going great and we crossed over the river to get to the hiking trail. Rosco slipped a little on the slippery rocks on the way over, but seemed fine. The girls were having a great time, even though we started off with a few whines due to there only being one leash to hold. Then, Rosco stumbled and acted like his rear right leg was hurting. So, with him being 180 lbs, we decided to head back to see if he could walk back by himself. We made it back to the river. Poor Woody had to get Nicole across, less-than-agile me had to follow to hold her while he went back for Natalie. Natalie's job was to stay put in one spot during this time. That seemed to work okay, because she had a stick that she was pretending to fish while we slowly made our way across due to my slowness. But, before we made it across, there was a splash and a yell. Natalie had tried to move across the rocks and fallen into the river! So, I took Nicole while Woody went back to rescue our wet (and cold!) princess. So, we had to walk back with Natalie soaked from the waist down. But, we came back to a warm bath, clean & dry clothes, and hot tea for the princess. She did really well not complaining too much on the way back. Although, she says she won't be swimming in the river by choice any time soon!

Snow Tubing

We planned a trip for the 3 of us (Nicole to stay with grandparents) to go tubing. It was a special time where we could have just some one-on-one time with Natalie. And, she really had a good time. We went up traveling right after BSF on Thursday. Most everything in the area was closed because they have had so much snow. The main roads were great for traveling, though. We went out shopping after stopping at the motel to check in to get Natalie some goggles. Then, we went out to a really nice dinner, where Natalie was very well behaved. But, we were next to a table not so behaved, but they settled down after a while. It was a great meal! And, then we went shopping at the mall to walk off some dinner. Natalie really liked the motel and was thrilled that we were all sleeping in the same room. We watched a little winter Olympics then called it a night. We woke up, ready to get some breakfast and then head out to the tubing place! Here we are at the tubing place, ready for action! We had to wait in line for quite a while, but finally were released. They had 4 tubing runs. 2 of them had "magic carpets" or ways to get back up without much exertion. We started on those, but found the less crowded paths were the ones not with magic carpets. We opted for less crowds with a little more work on our part.
Natalie with the tube. She wasn't allowed her own tube because she couldn't stick her feet out to stop.
Natalie with Woody. Not many pictures of us actually on the lanes because they forbid cameras. I can see why...it would be a lot of time taken up. Plus, they wanted to sell us their pictures.

Look at all the snow in the area! It was really a winter wonderland...

Natalie with Woody on the back tube lane. We let her go down a couple of times by herself because we ended up the only ones on the back paths. Nobody wanted to tug their tubes up the slope!

Here we are all together. It was a great memory!!

Valentines and Birthday

What a week! After a few weeks of routine (except for snows), we have had quite a few days. It was great getting ready for Valentine's Day. We had fun in the snow before hand, and got ready for church the next day on Valentine's. How neat to have it on a Sunday! We had all the presents and cards ready on the table. We ate a good breakfast then opened up the gifts. There were a lot of candy but other small things to balance it out as well. I had a really neat wooden picture gift handcrafted by Woody with pictures of us on it. Very creative! Here is a shot of me & the girls on the way to church. Of course, we didn't know there was only one combined service at this time. We came back and then went back for the late service. Woody was working, but at least we spent the early part of the morning with him.
Natalie's Valentine's party was the next day. They swapped Valentines and little gifts of candy and other small items. They really had fun together enjoying the time. Nicole was here too, just running around terrorizing the room when I was trying to take a few pictures. I'm grateful I can take her with me during these times so I can go too! Here is Natalie with Elysia, her BFF:

Praying before the "meal" of cookies, strawberries with chocolate dip, chips & salsa, and juice boxes.

Then, it was my birthday. Here was the decorated room that Woody worked so hard on the night before! He really did a great job. The kids loved waking up to all this festivities.

Here was the purse cake that Natalie & I decorated. I would say that Nicole helped, but she really only helped herself to candies waiting on the table to be decorations. I must say I have learned a lot about making cakes. I understand now why people get them at bakeries now instead of trying to make them like when I was growing up. But, you do miss out on a lot. Natalie & I had a blast trying to copy the one in the book. Fun and a good memory. We'll do it again most definitely! I'll try to get more experience for next year...

It was a great Valentine's and birthday! Thanks to all the family with all the love!!