This week

     Some of you know this, some of you don't, some of you may not care, but I want to let everyone know because we would appreciate any prayers that we can get!  We have been trying to get pregnant for over a year now and have not been able to.  Before we had Austin Jason had to have surgery.  When we had been trying, unsuccessfully for almost a year he went to the doctors and found that having surgery again may help.  SO, Jason is having surgery this Friday.  Although it is a pretty simple surgery, it still requires general anesthesia and all of the risks that go with it.  So please keep him in your prayers this week. 

Come see us!!

Just putting this out there in case you didn't know...

We would love to have any of you visit us at anytime!!   

I was thinking to ask mom and dad to visit us sometime for a holiday, Thanksgiving or Christmas and then I thought it would be fun to have any of you with us at holiday time.  I know we are in an out of the way place, but you are all always welcome here!

So, think about it...  We miss you.
Love you all!!!

Blessings

Last night I was preparing my lesson to teach today in Relief Society.

It was based on Elder Packer's talk And a child shall Lead Them. As I was reading it again yesterday trying to get ready for today I was frustrated. It is a great talk. And just what I needed to read, but there was no substance to it. Nothing to really "teach" if that makes any sense. I wasn't sure why it had been chosen to be taught as one of our Teaching for our Times lessons.

So I worked hard and came up with a lesson plan and prepared my lesson. I had my reading parts ready and everything I was going to say. I had my kids write out each of the words in crayon to the title of the lesson to put up on the board. (my visual of children leading them)

I sat in sacrament meeting and read through my lesson. I felt pretty good about it. Either way it was going to be over in less than three hours.

In Sunday school we talked about tithing and I listened and shared a personal experience. I was beyond stressing about my lesson. Time was counting down. It was coming whether I was ready or not.

And then the first counselor in the bishopric came to the door. He interrupted the lesson. And he spoke the best words I had ever heard: "After this meeting we will be ending church, we have no water in the building."

I had to restrain myself from jumping for joy! Maybe that talk really was chosen just for me to answer my prayers.

YMCA Family Camps

My friend  just got back from her family reunion.  They had it at Estes park Colorado YMCA family camp.  For 4 days, their family of 6 stayed in a cabin, had activities to do, and the food was made and served to them.  It cost them $1000.

She told me it was a great time, and they also had a big gathering room for games and hanging out.  The activities were age appropriate and included in that price.

If anyone is interested in looking at it a bit, here is a link.  I have not played around on this site, yet, but I see that there are many many states with options in them.  Oh, they also only had to reserve it 2 months ahead of time.  Anyway, it's worth looking into for future family reunions!!

http://www.ymca.net/find-a-y-camp/

Reunion

Sorry that I am so slow to post...no excuses, just an apology.

1. We do not need to go somewhere to swim. We like to swim, but we don't need to swim. We are just as happy to go to a splash park somewhere. (We don't mind swimming either!)

2. We don't mind paying to do some things. If there are things that we want to do, we can pay to do them. We will not stress about the cost of things (to some extent!!).

3. We are bringing a craft, air compressor rockets. Super fun for all ages! This craft can be done anytime, anywhere (ok, not really, it has to be near Mike's air compressor)

4. We like to take family walks and like to play at the play ground, so we do not have to have every minute planned and we will not just sit around and annoy people by asking what we are supposed to do. We will be happy to have some down time that we can just go to the playground and rest.

5. We are all super excited to see everyone!

Plan updates/changes

Hey, just FYI, I updated and changed a few things on the previous Reunion post, you can scroll down to see it.  The changes are based on comments and posts that were shared since then.  I tried to highlight them in blue.  Please let me know if there is something you don't like or any errors I have made.  I also seem to think we are changing the Fox Run park date?  Is that true, where did we move it to?  Also, I made FHE assignments.  If you no likey, you better say so!  Thanks for your input!

Answers to Mandy's post

Ok, I'm finally getting around to answering Mandy's questions in the last post.  Here are my thoughts:

I think Saturday is a busy day with the farm and then the park so I was thinking we don't need a big activity that day for the afternoon activity.  I was thinking something more relaxed that we don't have to plan--perhaps backyard play or water games or a craft.  Something along those lines.

For Sunday Mike doesn't want to do a family fast.  I was thinking since it's a Sunday we could either do some family games (minute to win it type stuff or some other group games), a nice walk around the neighborhood (does anyone like doing this or is it just my family?) or a drive to the cemetery.  

On Monday I was thinking a girl time type activity, bowling, park, or maybe this would be a good time for the savenger hunt?  For the FHE assignment, we  can take care of the activity because I think it will be easier for us to do that since it's at our house and we can plan for that easier probably.  The only deal on that is that whoever does the lesson will need to tell us the topic so we can try and coordinate (which I guess doesn't matter too much)

I was thinking maybe Wed, the 4th of July would be a good day for the splash pad.  I was thinking Monday but Monday is supposed to be a swimming day.  Also, I can't find any parades going on that day but found this link http://www.cohomepages.com/Holidays_4th_of_July/page_2087791.html if anyone wants to check it out and is interested in any of those activities.  I think fireworks are illegal in colorado springs (it's dry and windy here).

There are some thoughts.  Oh, I plan on exercising whenever I am able so maybe some walks or something can be squeezed in there somewhere.  Also, I'm trying to figure out where we will swim but if you want to swim, you will probably have to pay some money for it.  If you don't want to do that--speak up or forever hold your peace!!  Or, we can not swim and just do the splash pad.

Reunion Plans

Wanted to try and get the reunion info here on the blog.  Let's see if I can do it...  It didn't work well to copy and paste, so I will try something else.


The basic schedule for each day is as follows:  Between eating we will have activities.

7am Prep Breakfast
7:30      Breakfast
8am      Get ready for day
10am    Snack
11:30    Lunch Prep
12:00    Lunch
3:00      Snack
5:30      Dinner Prep
6:00      Dinner
8:00      Snack/Dessert
8:15      10 minute cleanup
8:30      Scripture and prayer
9:00      Quiet/Bed time

Saturday
8-12:30 Farm day with lunch
Backyard play, water activities, free time
3:30-7  Fox Run park with dinner
Baths

Sunday
9-12    Church (This is fast Sunday, I would suggest we all not fast, do it another week)

2          Cheese Tour and Tasting
Visit Cemetery, go for walk, nap
Mom makes Roast dinner (should we eat our big dinner right after church or in the dinner hour?)
6:30     FHE Assignments:
            Prayer
            Songs:  Jess and Jason
            Conducting:  Dad
            Scripture:  Andy
            Lesson:  Mom and Dad
            Activity:  Mike
            Treat:  Mandy

Monday
Scavenger Hunt
Afternoon Swimming
Evening Unbirthday party-do we need some assignments here?

Tuesday
9:30 Garden of the Gods
Adult Lunch out
Carnival  Assignments
M&D:  Photo booth, relay races
R&L?
M&M:  Bean Bag Toss, Football throw, Bags for prizes
J&J: cupcake decorating
M&A:  Balloon Darts, Ring Toss
A&L:  Face Painting, water balloon/egg toss/bob


Wednesday
Splash Pad
BBQ Lunch
Afternoon activity
Evening activity  Watch fireworks??

As you can see, there is still much to be filled in, in the way of activities and assignments for prepping/cleaning up meals.  Activities don't have to be big things, but something to keep us occupied and not bugging each other :)

Some ideas we've had before:
family pictures
bowling
game time
family olympics (obstacle course, long jump, noodle throw?)
trampoline tricks
scavenger hunt(my kids LOVE these and they are pretty easy to put together, so I guess I'm offering to do one if others are interested)
Girl time (shopping/pedis/manis/just go for a walk, make overs, etc)
Boy time (basketball, football, sports, cars, races, etc)
Force the children who play piano to give us a recital
Minute to win it                            
We talked about each having some activities(craft/game/story time) ready to go, should we put those into the schedule so we know when they will be happening?  I personally would love to spend some time with my sisters and momma... I still like you boys, but we sometimes like to do different things.

If you would be so kind as to comment on the highlighted things, that would be great!  Also, was everyone happy with the food ideas and schedule??  Did I miss anything?  Oh, is anyone interested in having a reunion tshirt??

Farm Day

Do we know what day we are going to do farm day?

Reunion Plans

Ok, peeps, let's get going!!

Are these the days we'll all be there?

Saturday:

Sunday: church of course, but what low key things could we do? do fhe this night?

Monday: FHE, make some assignments?

Tuesday:

Wednesday: fireworks/bbq/picnic?

Ideas we've discussed and some from Adrianne (thanks Adrianne!):

Cousin Carnival: http://www.landeeseelandeedo.com/2011/07/summer-activity-idea-cousin-carnival.html

Farm day: would this be an all day thing or just a morning or afternoon?

Unbirthday party: games? pinata? food??

Family pictures

Denver: zoo, temple grounds, Casa Bonita(http://casabonitadenver.com/) open lunch or dinner, would probably do best to make a reservation here

-Garden of the Gods—easy hikes or longer ones

-Hikes in the mountains (maybe roasting marshmallows)

-Focus on the Family (playing and ice cream) open 10-12 and 1-4pm for the slide (http://www.focusonthefamily.com/about_us/welcome-center.aspx) this is free to enter

-Fox Run Park (really fun park with playgrounds and big open fields—it’s in the middle of a forest—also has BBQ pits and stuff) play games here? Frisbee, football, etc?

-lots of fun game ideas(survivor, amazing race, poison, etc)!! Maybe a game night, or a few planned and ready to play during down time?

Girl time, for just the girls, while the boys have boy time?

Bowling, roller skating, swimming?

Any other suggestions?? Let's talk!

Plans!!!

Can we start planning now??

Us too!!!

I just bought tickets!!!  And they were less expensive than I expected! 

We are flying into Colorado Springs  Wednesday June 27, 2012 at 12:54pm

and flying home on Wednesday July 4, 2012 at 5:45pm

Can't wait to see everyone!!

We're Coming!

We have decided we will arrive in Co Springs on Tuesday the 26th and fly out on Thursday July 5th. We haven't decided yet whether to take advantage of Mike and Adrianne's neighbors' hospitality or to stay in a motel, but we'll let you all know when we decide. We are excited with the prospect of being together and hope Ralph and Laura and family will somehow have a miracle and be able to come.

Dates

I know some of us have been waiting on others to state their dates that work for this reunion....

Here are our dates: We will drive out the 29th of June and drive home the 5th of July. Now the rest of you who have been waiting can state your dates!!

Then lets get to planning the fun and the food!

Farm Day During the Re[n]union?

I talked to my boss that is a "farmer" to see if we could come see what he does during our family reunion. He sent me this link describing a previous farm day. I think it would be fun to do as a family (at least for those who are interested). Let me know what you think, and I'll let him know. When we get dates finalized, I'll schedule something with him, if people are interested.

Sleeping Arrangements

Our basement is all but complete. I was able to get the extra carpet that we had in the basement before and combine it with the left over carpet from our installation and cover the majority of the storage room with both pad and carpet. It looks pretty good and feels just as nice as the new carpet in the rest of the basement. That leaves our house with the following sleeping options:

2 unoccupied upstairs bedrooms (one with a crib)

1 smallish-basement bedroom with a queen-size bed in it

1 good sized play room in the basement

1 big (and nicely carpeted) storage room in the basement

I envisioned something like this: Mandy and her family upstairs between the two rooms, Jessica's and Andy's families in the basement between the bedroom and the play/storage rooms.

We also have our neighbor next door who has a guest room that Mom and Dad could sleep in if they don't want to be in the hotel the whole time. And, we have all the main floor couches/floor space for Ralph's kids if the want to come without there parents, or if Ralph and family can come, we have a neighbor down the street has an empty finished basement that they could occupy.

For bedding we have an extra queen size bed, 2 blow up queen sized mattresses and 1 blow up queen size that belongs to Andy (he accidentally left it here...). We've also got 4 sleeping bags. We can borrow other blow up mattresses as need, too.

Those are my thoughts...

Ok, so I made my blog private and then posted. I sent out invites to you all, if you didn't get them, please let me know. Thanks!

Reunion??

So it seems that we have not made a decision about a reunion this summer...

What are you all thinking? Is it a no for this year, but try again for next? If we do that then let's say that we pick a time and place and commit. Hopefully we can all go, but of not those who can go will go.

Or are we on for this summer, those who can go? I think we would all love to this settled so that we can each make our summer plans.

Please respond to this post by the end of this week what your opinion is. We will have a decision by the end the week.

I hope we all know that we love each other and would love to see each other. We also know how busy each other are...

I built some shelves in the utility corridor for food storage soup cans and such. Thought you might like to see it. Mom unloaded all the cans from her pantry into it, and it nearly filled it up, but alleviated much weight on the pantry shelves.

Mike's place answers to Mandy's questions

If both Ralph and Andy can't make it to our place, then perhaps our place isn't the best choice. I won't be too upset if it doesn't work to come here, but if it's an open discussion, here are my answers to Mandy's questions:

Housing: We have 3 unused bedrooms, and room on floors and couches that could house a number of people. We haven't asked yet, but we are pretty sure that either our next door neighbors would let some people stay in their basement or Holley Lucero will also let people stay in her house. The weather here is conducive to children sleeping outside, too, if they are so inclined.

Things to do:

1. Focus on the Family is about 15 minutes away from here. It would be a good part day activity.

2. Garden of the Gods is about 20 minutes away and is good for a couple of hours.

3. There is a good park within walking distance that has basketball courts, soccer fields, a merry-go-round, swings, and ... play things.

4. There is a crazy park about 25 minutes away that has lots of spinning play things to make you sick...

5. The US Olympic Training Center is about 25 minutes away. We haven't been there, but it looks interesting.

6. I guess you could just look at this.

7. In addition to what we can do here, Denver is only about an hour North, and there's all kinds of things that we can do--Including Casa Bonitas (remember that place?) and a natural history museum that is free for military people (that's all we've done up there, though there's certainly more).

Tentative Family Reunion Plans

So, after lobbying everyone (except Ralph--I haven't talked with him yet...I'll call you or you can call me...), it looks like everyone would be okay coming out to my place for a family reunion this summer. It looks like the best time frame would be sometime between 27 Jun (Wednesday) and 4 July (Wednesday). Jason has class on 26 Jun and Jessica has class on 5 July. Andy doesn't want to take leave on those days that he doesn't have to work anyway (which I understand). How would everyone feel if we aimed for a few days that we all want to be here, say 27 Jun to 30 Jun (Wednesday through Saturday), and then say everyone is welcome to come earlier or stay later than that as their schedules dictate. That way, if Andy wants to make the trip worth his drive, but not cut into his non-leaving-consuming-non-work-days, he could come around the 25 and leave 1 July, while the Crowl family could come 27 Jun and leave 3 July. Those are just examples.

I propose that everyone consider what I've suggested and say when you think you'd like to come and when you'd like to leave (that way we can see when we'll have everyone together and how long we'll have company here). If you could log into blogger and enter your plans right below mine instead of commenting, that would make it easier to consider. If you can't, just make a comment and I'll add it to the post.

Mom & Dad:

Ralph: Our life is completely on hold right now. If we are still training we might be able to take a short trip. If we have a store all bets are off and we won't have any time off for a long time. So whatever the plan is we won't be able to commit until we are extremely close. Sorry we can't be more certain, but that is our life right now.

Mandy: Haven't checked Mike's schedule yet, but I have to be here for girls camp 6/26-6/29... so we'd be there after that. Could possibly come on the 30 at the earliest. I guess that messes every thing up, sorry!

Jess: It appears to be slightly more expensive to fly into Seattle (looking today).  If I had to buy tickets right now I would save $350 by going to Denver instead of Seattle.  But to fly into Colorado Springs it would be about the same as Seattle.  Either place we are looking at $1500-2000 in plane tickets.  We would be interested in borrowing a car either place we went (we could rent one, but that would really add to the trip expense). Also, having a place to stay is much more appealing knowing that flying out is going to cost an arm and a leg!  Otherwise we are excited at the thought of getting together and will go whenever everyone else is!

Mike: We'll be here the whole time. If people are here for much more than a week, I'll probably go into work for part-days beyond the week--but we'll see.

Andy: If we all come to Washington, Ralph, Laura, Rebecca, Steven, and Sarah will have a better chance of spending at least some time with everyone whatever is going on with their new store. Laura and I have been discussing a trip to Argentina, and we're not sure we'll be willing to spend the money to go anywhere else this year. Of course we might try Space A travel... In conclusion: Come here and visit us!

Family Reunion

Hey all,

Do we want to have a reunion this year? Mike's family is starting to talk about dates for this summer. If we want to get together, which we would love to do, then we need to start talking dates. As of this moment we have no plans. Our school is out before memorial day and starts up again the last week of August.

What say you???