Midwest Workshop

Kayaking

Hpoefully more pictures to come. This was a great adventure. My
favorite part was going from lake to lake.

Blurb from our kayak website:

This is the perfect trip to fill that morning, afternoon or evening
void in your schedule. Families love this trip, Girls night out,
mother-daughter, father-son, boyfriend -girlfriend: It's just a FUN
TRIP.

Situated in the heart of the Matanuska Valley and within minutes of
your valley lodging (call us we can book your room) is a lake chain
most visitors never see. As the glaciers retreated they carved a large
channel that filled with water from the melting ice. This chain of
four lakes all connected by gentle flowing streams makes for an
enjoyable paddle anytime of day. It is common to see, eagles,
muskrats, beavers, salmon, trout, and assorted water fowl.

May is highlighted with multiple families of mergansers and grebes in
the streams. Children love the bright yellow flowers and green petals
of water lilies which highlight the month of June. July and August
find the streams FILLED with RED SALMON: And the best way to view
salmon? From a kayak of course.

You can select the four lakes or the three lakes tour. The four lakes
tour involves a portage of about 100 yards and a climb of about 100
feet. The three lakes tour has one small portage across a road;
otherwise you paddle in streams that connect all the lakes.

You park at the Kayak Center on Wasilla lake, leave your car, and we
will shuttle you and your boats to Cottonwood Lake. Off you go for a
great paddle. The average trip time is 4 hrs. But, you have your boat
for the day so take your time.

We give you a map, (hard to get lost) a quick paddle intro if you need
one, and off you go.

Clothing: You get wet (paddles drip, water fights happen….), we
recommend nylon pants, a shoe you can get wet, pack to carry extra
clothing in, wind jacket just in case.

Crow Creek Pass

26 miles.
26 miles of beauty.
26 miles of bugs
26 miles of rivers, glaciers, and waterfalls.
26 miles of scorching sunshine.
26 miles of blisters and aches and pains.
26 miles of accomplishment.
26 miles.

(Christian loved it and would do it again. Tanner and Eric struggled,
really struggled with the heat, the water corssing, the longevity of
the adventure.)

Fwd: FW:

Another Fun weekend for the boys.  The Turner sure spoil them.  

....................  From Mrs. Turner:

Thanks for letting us have your boys!  They are always great to be around
:)

When the Cat's Away

 . . . The Mice will Play.

I found this picture on Tanner's iPod.  While jumping off the deck onto the tramp is forbidden, it looks like they've found another way to entertain themselves.

Family History

I saw several family names along the way.

11

My Samwise turned 11 today.

Sam continues to be my sweet and sour child. Most of the time he is
sweet. He's helpful and kind and loves to please. But boy howdy,
watch out for the sour side. The pouting face is my favorite. He
also likes to engage you in debate with question after question after
question.

He loves playing outside, jumping on the trampoline, riding his bike,
tossing the football, hanging out with his friends (Dallin, Jared, and
Caleb), creating imagination games, and drawing. He LOVES movies and
XBOX (mindcraft) and is put out that we heavily limit the amount of
time he gets to do either.

Sam has a brilliant ear and can play almost anything on the piano
after hearing it a couple of times. He enjoys math and art.

Sam loves to cut corners. He does most jobs 7/8 of the way. I think
he's the most aware that I can't check everything and uses that to his
advantage.

Holland adores Sam. The little girls in the circle follow him around
and he's got quite the fan club at church too. He's still anxious to
wear deoderant but doesn't need it yet. He's just a size smaller than
C&T in clothing and I would suspect will be one of the tallest of the
Bacon Boys.

Sam is happy in almost any situation. Whenever I ask him, "How was
this or that?" It was great mom. He rarely has a bad thing to say.

He actually listens and participates in family scripture reading. He
really intuits spiritual things and shares mature insigths.

I sure love my Sam!

Midwest Workshop

Eric and I had the opportunity to attend the Midwest workshop last
week. Together with 27 other employees and their spouses (there were
54 total) we toured the midwest including Independence, Liberty, Hans
Mill, Far West, Nauvoo, Carthage, Mt Pisgah, Council Bluffs and Winter
Quarters with several other small stops along the way.

It was an incredible experience and a marvelous reminder of the
nobility and faith of our Pioneer Heritage. I have such a reverence
and respect for those early Saints who forsake everything time and
time and time again to follow the Prophet and do their part in
building the kingdom of God.

"Let the fire of the covenant which you made in the House of the Lord,
burn in your hearts, like a flame unquenchable." Brigham Young.

It was a holy experience to attend a session at the Nauvoo temple. I
gained a witness that it was those covenants that the Pioneers made in
that temple that allowed them to close the doors of their home and
step on a frozen Mississippi River into the unknown. The temple
serves as a spectacular reminder of what truly is important and the
covenants that we make within those walls give us greater perspective
of our purpose and part.

Holl's Hand

On Saturday (we were still in Omaha) Holland put his hand in some hot macaroni and cheese.  Poor baby.  Our dear neighbor Lucy administered the first aid (hand in cool water) and gave him some ibuprofen.  That night he had one little blister.  

By Sunday morning these blisters had appeared.  The one on his index finger went all the way around and only his little nail bed was showing.  He had huge blisters on four of his five fingers.  

Several of them popped on Monday as he went about his normal activities of crawling, clapping, and eating.  He doesn't seem bothered by them a bit but they are sure horrifying to look at.  

Kari and Kids in Alaska

My Sister's Blog post about her trip here. . . 

 We had a great time in Anchorage.  As always, Steph was an absolutely amazing hostess.  Right after we arrived the bishop called Steph.  They had just made a lot of changes in the other church auxilliaries and she thought possilby they were calling her to tell her she was going to be released.  NO!  They asked her to speak in sacrament meeting that Sunday.  She told the bishop she would and I even heard her thank him for asking her.  Crazy!  Above we went to the school so Steph could prepare her talk.  She gave an amazing talk on fathers!

Sunday, after church, we walked to this waterfall.  Alaska is beautiful but the mosquitos were having a hayday sucking my kids blood.  At one point we counted over 30 bites on little Addi.

We went to the Lake in Anchorage because it was so hot.  Steph thought it was a good choice because there would be no bugs and it was so hot.  The kids had a great time swimming and playing on the beach.  Steph's boys are such great kids!

 

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Time with the Turners

The Turners invited C&T to go deep sea halibut fishing with them over the Fourth of July.  Aside from C getting a little sea sick (he miraculously was able to shake it when they moved to a new location) the boys had a great time each catching three halibut. YUM!

Fwd:

C&T put their heads together and came up with this creation (drawn by C, colored by T) for their Scout Troop's camp flag.  

Sent from my iPod

Fwd: One LOVED Little Whipper Snapper

Nothing melts my heart like seeing my big boys with my little boys.  Holland and Mudgie are the twins favorites and those two never lack for brotherly affection and attention.  

Fwd: Best Summer Yet

It has been a spectacular summer.  Loads of sunshine.  Lots of heat.  Trips to the lake.  Swimming, sprinklers, and more than 300 otter pops. Bike rides.  Hikes.  Shorts and Flip Flops.   It is awesome.  

Oh What Do You Do In the Summer?

I love seeing things grow.  After a winter of black and white, I cannot get enough green and color in my life.  Oh, how I LOVE my little garden.  I have zucchini, squash, and lettuce already growing.  The peas and green onions are not far behind.  With the heat I may even get a tomato or two.  

I put fresh cut lilacs in a vase and it brought back all sorts of childhood memories.  

How do I capture all of this green and excitement and bottle it for the winter?

Shoveling It In

This boy insists on using utensils.  Tonight you could tell that he thought he was king of the mountain as he shoveled in his spaghetti.  Can the boy walk?  No.  Can he feed himself "properly"?  Yes.  Pretty much defines the Bacons. . . we are master eaters. . . and proud of it.

Cha-Ching

This is what $5800 looks like

(luckily, with dental insurance, we only paid $3800)

Family Hike

Tuesday at 7:15PM we left our house as a family to hike to the top of
Baldy. We didn't realize that it was going to be a 3 mile mudslide of
fun and would take not only strength but strategy to get to the top.
I pulled out one of my favorite sayings several times on this hike,
"Adventure is Misfortune correctly understood." (Thanks Leslie for
not only teaching me that phrase but modeling it so well.)

I was so impressed with my little family of hikers. Warner made it to
the top first. Amazing. Mudgie hiked his own little self to the top
without a single complaint. The bigs boys took turns shadowing him
just in case he slipped on the mud. Eric miraculously muscled his way
both up and down with the baby on his back.

By the time we made it down the mountain we were tired and covered in
mud. The adventure itself warranted a chocolate dipped cone from
McDonalds and I was thrilled to finally make it to the top of this
mountain.