Corier/Tolman Reunion 2011

This last weekend we went to the Corier/Tolman reunion at Camp Bethel near Humptulips, Washington. We left our dog, Lucy, with Sarah and her family, took the kids out of school Friday and head out for a weekend of fun and relaxation. We sold our RV a few months ago, so we decided to bring our tent (instead of stay in the lodge or cabin) and pitched it right next to my parents tent. Anson bought he and I padded cots to sleep on, and  we brought our electric blankets and small portable space heater to keep warm. And we did stay warm! Unfortunately my parents froze all night, so we gave them our heater the second night and they were able to stay warm too.

Saturday we went to Ocean Shores and let the kids  go go-carting which is something they do every year. We decided not to go to the beach though because it was pretty cold and we didn't feel like dealing with sand and the kids always seem to get wet when we tell them not to. The boys weren't to disappointed that we skipped it.

Later that night we had an auction. People bring stuff to auction off and we use that money to buy all the food for next years reunion so it keeps the cost down. I brought a framed 11x14 picture that I took of the Portland, Oregon Temple and that went for $38. I only meant for 1 to auction, but people asked if I had more which I did in the car (unframed) and bought the remainder 3 I had for $30 each. That's great and all but that money went into the family fund. Kind of sucks because we won't even be here next year for that reunion and it would have been nice to make a little money to pay for the printing of those pictures but whatever. I know better now.

The kids had a blast like they always do playing on the swings, playing frisbee, capture the flag, canoeing on the lake and whatever else they did. It's total freedom for them all weekend. We did have an incident of Ashton falling in the lake when he was trying to get out of the boat and onto the dock. He came back to the tent completely drenched from head to toe and covered in mud. Luckily the water wasn't too deep and from what I was told he was wearing a life jacket. Somebody falls in the lake every year...

It was fun but I was ready to go home. Here are a few pictures I took on the road from that weekend.

A Home For Lucy

There is a little over 7 weeks before we move and you would never know it. Our house and garage are still packed full of furniture and STUFF, but we have one major thing crossed off our "to-do" list and that was to find a home for Lucy..

We all love Lucy and don't want to get rid of her, but once we're in North Carolina, we want to do a lot of traveling and don't want to bring her with us. It's a pain to have a dog sometimes! And the boys did not want to give her up, but was okay with it - if it was just for the year we were in N.C. and that they would be able to get her back in the end.

Almost everyone in my family in Vancouver already has a dog, Adam, Sarah, Luke and my parents, so I'm guessing that they wouldn't particularly want another one, I know I wouldn't. My brother Josh lives in Utah and he has come up for a couple of visits since we got Lucy almost 2 years ago and really liked her. He mentioned that if we ever got rid of her or if she ever had puppies, he'd be interested. So I talked with him about housing Lucy for a year and he said YES!

We are going to miss that little Goose!

Hiking to Ponytail Falls

I really wanted to go out and take pictures yesterday, so I looked around on the internet and chose to go to Ponytail Falls in The Columbia River Gorge near Multnomah Falls. (I really needed the practice of shooting waterfalls and by the pictures you'll see that I need even more. I was very disappointed by how they turned out.)

We took the Historic Hwy past Multnomah Falls, past Horsetail Falls, and past Oneonta Gorge. The drive was so unbelievably beautiful. Right off the Hwy was Multnomah Falls then a little ways down the road, again right off the Hwy is Horsetail Falls. These are huge waterfalls. It was just amazing. So we kept driving past these beautiful falls and discovered we went too far and had to turn around. The directions I got from the internet apparently sucked, so we decided to pull over at The Oneonta Gorge and sight see. The trail was crappy and there was a log jam preventing us from going any further, but I took a few pictures of the area.

Then we drove down the Hwy past Horsetail Falls, to the Oneonta Falls Trails thinking that is where we would find Ponytail Falls. So we hike to what I later find out is Oneonta Middle Falls.

By the time Anson and I reach it, the 3 boys are nowhere in site. There are lots of trails leading to different waterfalls on this hike and we didn't even know which way the boys went. It was so frustrating. We ALWAYS tell them to stay where we can see them....but they never listen. So once Anson and I get to Oneonta Middle Falls, he tells me to go ahead and find the falls I came looking for and he'll take the other trail and see if the boys went that way. I proceed up the trail and a couple of minutes later I see all three boys heading back down the trail to where I am. I try to call Anson to let him know but I didn't have cell service. Anyway, I told the boys what happened and they start making their way in the opposite direction of me to "go find" their dad. They wanted to separate from me again to go get lost again. Sorry, that doesn't work for me. I let Anson Jr. go and made Ammon and Ashton go with me. They weren't happy, but neither was I. We walk, and walk and walk and this trail seems never ending! The internet told me it was only going to be .8 of a mile from the trail head and I swear that we have been walking for 4 miles. That's not very far, but when you do it mostly up hill on a crappy, rocky trail that winds and curves...it seems like forever!

So finally, we reach Ponytail Tails Falls and it was so beautiful and LOUD. It's really cool because the trail actually goes under the falls.

Ammon and Ashton sitting under the falls.

Panoramic of Ponytail Falls.

I wanted to stay there and enjoy it more then I did, but the Anson's had band practice that night and it was getting late. I asked somebody at the falls if the trail circled back around because there was NO WAY I was going back the way I came. He said there was a parking lot not too far from the falls and pointed me in the right direction. Sure enough .8 of a mile it brought us down to the parking lot in front of Horsetail Falls.

But it wasn't the parking lot where we parked. I finally get cell service and tell Anson where we were, so he drove down and picked us up. By that time it was 5PM and we headed home.


So, moral of the story is: if you ever want to visit Ponytail Falls, park at Horsetail Falls!

Anson and I both had a great time even though we were separated and the kids complained about being outside walking when they would rather sit in the basement playing video games on their day off. Other moral of the story: When one wants to spend some time photographing beautiful places - leave the family home.

Tick, tick, tick....

If you asked me a couple of months ago how I felt about moving to North Carolina, I would have smiled and said, "I can't wait"! Since then, North Carolina and many other states across the south were hit with a tornado outbreak. North Carolina averages 19 tornadoes a year, a lot if you ask me, but more than 60 hit over one weekend last month! 60!!! And they weren't in some remote part of N.C. either, they touched down and killed people in Fayetteville...the same city that we'll be calling home in just a few months. That's pretty scary.

I didn't have any fears about moving there until this all happened. I'm still excited about traveling across the U.S. and seeing cool places along the way and the adventure it will be for our family, but it's not going to be all fun and worry free like I have dreamt it to be.

We're still talking about what to do with our dog Lucy. We don't want to take her with us because it sucks traveling with a dog. We won't be able to stay in hotels along the way unless we pay a huge fee, and once we get to N.C. we want to spend our weekends traveling. If there was somebody who would watch her for a year and then give her back to us - that would be the best option. We haven't approached anybody with that idea yet but time is ticking...

Update for the last couple of months.

Ammon had a birthday on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day and he turned 12 years old. He didn't want a party so we just celebrated at home. He's such a good kid, very responsible, very funny and gets straight A's. He goes to school with a lot of Russian kids and does a Russian accent VERY well. He gets shy when I ask him to do it around other people but when he does it's hilarious. He got braces on the day before his birthday and within a couple of days his front teeth were already straightening out. He hasn't allowed me to take a picture of him yet, but I'll get it.

A couple weekends ago, we took the boys and drove down the gorge to Beacon Rock and climbed up a rock. I had never been before and wanted to take pictures so I carried my tripod along with my huge camera bag with extra lens up a 848 foot rock. BAD IDEA! I wasn't in a bad mood when I started, but once I got going I realized I made a huge mistake by bringing the tripod and bag. Anson and the kids took off without me because I was slower...duh...and I enjoyed my time taking in the view and taking pictures along the way. Once I got to the top it was so disappointing. It was only a small area where only a handful of people could fit and then the view of the gorge was blocked by a couple of trees. I didn't even take pictures up there. We went back down and my shoulders were aching and let me tell you - I was sore for a week and a half because of that camera bag. Not fun.

We also had a garage sale last weekend to just get rid of the small stuff and Anson's music/lighting/sound equipment. We didn't even have our dressers, tables, beds, sofas and everything else and we did very well. We had non-stop traffic and at times we had so many people it was overwhelming! Anson couldn't believe that nobody bought this mask...I think he was happy about it and will keep it, unless it find it's way into the donation pile....shhhh.

What else, what else. Oh, Anson Jr. got his learning permit and started driver's ed. I'm not going to lie, it is stressful to be in the passenger seat while a 15 year old boy is behind the wheel and just learning to drive. At least his has until January of next year to practice, practice, practice.

I'm sure there's more but I'm tired, so that's it for now.

I am going CRAZY!!!

I just want to sell, donate, organize, and clean already! I am going crazy because it's so overwhelming to go through everything we've accumulated over the past 16+ years! I just want to get rid of everything now! We have to keep the big items, like couches, tables and beds until July, but I feel like I'm at a stand still! Anson wants to garage sell EVERYTHING, so nothing has left this house yet! I feel that if we don't get at least $5-10 per item then it should be donated. I think that's pretty reasonable and we'll just end up taking it to the D.I. anyway. I'm just trying to save some time! AAHhhh, it's frustrating!!!

Blessings

Anson Jr. came to me over a year ago wanting his patriarchal blessing but I told him to wait until he was a little older. In December he made an appointment with the bishop and then on Sunday we met with the Patriarch.

As soon as I walked in and sat down and before the Patriarch even spoke I felt the spirit so strongly that it was almost hard to breathe. We talked for a little bit, he got to know Anson Jr. a bit and then preceded with the blessing.

I felt the spirit even stronger then before and tears immediately began streaming down my face as the patriarch began speaking. Anson Jr. is an amazing young man and has a great future ahead of him. I feel honored to be his mother. I thought there were a lot of similarities between Anson Sr.'s and Jr.'s blessing and on the way home Anson Sr. expressed the same thing. It was such a great experience. Anson Jr. has been really cute checking the mail for the last couple of days hoping to get his blessing, but I told him it might be a little while. :)

Update: He got it in the mail this afternoon! That was fast!