{Catch up Day}

I wasn’t feeling like blogging because I had been reading so many other cute site and felt slightly depressed when I came back to mine.

Why do we always have to feel so inadequate?

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After an eventful week I’ve got some photos to post.

I’ll start with soccer. My girlies from high school asked me if I wanted to put Emma in soccer. At first I laughed and thought… No way! She’ll just pout or cry. She’ll be the kid sitting out in the field looking at the grass and bugs that pass by. But to my surprise, when the hubby heard of it he was pretty excited and thought we’d give it a try. Didn’t he know Emma’s personality well enough? I guess not. He was willing to shell out the cash so we went for it.

Well, after 2 games I regret to say that I was right. Their has been a lot of tears. The poor little thing can’t seem to understand that she has to go get the ball. Her teammates and opponents are not going to pass it to her. They obviously want to kick the ball worst than she does. Most of them run after the ball and it is so overwhelming for her. She watches with her fingers in her mouth then she cries and is so sad.

The battle begins to get her to go out again just one more time.

Sigh… it really is funny. Age 3 is just too close to still being a baby.

Emma’s happy when the game is over and treats are involved. Just look at that smile. Who would have thought that she had been so sad just minutes ago.

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I rearranged my decor on the walls a little bit and I think it made difference on how things flow. I was having a hard time figuring out where to put my clock… it found a perfect home over my fireplace and it’s easy to see and is a focal point. I arranged my picture frames, shelves and wall vase in a rectangle just like I would a layout and it worked, I think.

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Have I told you about our family adventures? This is what typically happens…

We feel the need to get out and stretch our legs so we decided to go on a hike. I would like to say that Jer drags me along kicking and screaming but most the time I like the idea and go along happily. But the nice leisurely hike quite often turns bitter. Something ALWAYS happens. Here are a few real life examples…

- It starts hailing and raining/snowing. The kids start screaming.
- The trail disappears under the deep snow. We are wading up to our hips in snow.
- Jer finds a large snake.
- We get lost and hike twice as much as we were planning.
- We run out of water.
- A child wets, blows out or throws up leaving us with out fresh clothing.
- We get trapped in a scratchy undergrowth and come out covered in red marks.
- Someone falls in a river.
- We come across large wildlife.

So on saturday we had another lovely (can you hear the sarcasm?) adventure. We headed up to the top of American fork canyon only to be greeted by hundreds of four wheelers. The road was dusty and we though “we don’t want to hike along this dusty road with four wheelers flying by with the kids and the dog!” So we found a small stream with a trail along it that came down the mountain side.

We started heading up… the trail and the spring ended. I thought we’d head back down but Jer wanted to see what was at the top of the hill. Sometimes when you are at the bottom of a mountain it is hard to see how high it rises. We continued up the steep side. We soon realized that there was no where to go at the top. Their was a cliff to one side and just more steep mountain. I wanted to get down.

We found a raven that appeared like an easy way down. Jer held Emma and slid down on him bum. He created a small rock slide but it seemed easy enough. I put Isaac on my tummy in the beloved Ergo carrier and I followed. I was smacked in the back with a rock. Owwwchh. But there wasn’t any turning back. We were committed and it wasn’t much further. We made a turn around a corner and realized there was more rock sliding to come. Steep! Right down into the river. I imagined my self rolling and plummeting to the ground being pounded by rocks all the way. Deep breathe. I had to keep going. I think Isaac could feel my anxiousness because he’d complain a little and then look around nervously.

As I slid down, grasping on to small roots and branches, I noticed a little girl down below pointing me out to her mother. Ahhhh! How embarrassing. The last thing I needed was an audience. I think that added greatly to my anxiety. What kind of mother would slide down a mountain with her small infant strapped to her. Only us.

I went down the second half first. We had to take turns so that we wouldn’t pelt each other with falling rocks. I did slip once and caught my self on a log. I landed in a thorn bush though and had to sacrifice my arm so Isaac wouldn’t get scratched. That was the scariest moment.

I finally made it down to the bottom standing clear of the falling rocks and nervously waited for Emma and Jer to come down. The were making WEEEE noises and were obviously having a great time. We had to cross the river which wasn’t that bad but I was shaking so it made me nervous. The lady was still watching. I smiled and shrugged. Who knows what she was thinking. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible but Jer sat down on a rock to empty out his shoes. The husband returned to camp and I got to stand there and watch the wife tell our tale to this man. Pointing and all. Arggg. I mentioned to Jer that I had been pretty scared up there and he just laugh.

Later I told him I was serious and then I got a hug.