Happy Birthday Madi, Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Parks and visiting Mom

We were all packed up and just needed to put it in the car after I finished up the last day of school. We got on the road by 2:00 and made it up to Jay and Brynn's in time for dinner and a little early celebration for Madi's #6 b-day.  It was fun to spend the night and a little bit of the next morning with them.  Happy Birthday Miss Madi!  We love you!

Wednesday we drove to Yakima and spent the night.  And then Thursday we made it to Mt. Rainier arriving at the Steven's entrance only to find that it was closed - bridge out and roads still being cleared.  We did get to do a little hike - Grove of the Patriarchs - as far as the broken bridge.  There were a few sprinkles and it was cold, but very beautiful!  Love these awesome giant trees and just the fact that there are so many trees and SO MUCH green!  

After we left that section of the park we found a nice picnic spot that we shared with a nosy, jumpy little squirrel.  It nearly joined us at the table a few times.  Then we drove southwest to the Longmire entrance of the park where we enjoyed more beautiful things - rustic buildings, giant trees, waterfalls, amazing stonework.

We found a great camp spot by Mary's Corner at Lewis and Clark State Park.  We enjoyed the evening walking through the park's forested roads until time for bed.  We slept well with only a short rainstorm waking us once in the night.  Friday we stopped in at the Quinault Ranger Station and were directed to hike the Rain Forest Lake loop along with a few other side trips along the trail.  It was a beautiful hike and we enjoyed the berries along the way.  (They told us you can pick a quart of berries and carry away a handful of seashells according to park regulations.  I don't think we ate a quart!)  We lunched after our hike and then headed on to the coastal section to see some beaches that the ranger said were not to be missed.

 

 En route we stopped to walk through a metal sculpture garden.  These pictures are only a handful of what we saw there.  We loved it!



We stopped at 3 beaches.  One was just a numbered beach and then we went to Ruby Beach and Rialto Beach.  And, of course, each one was beautiful!  And at each one Paul added to the other stone piles!

Before we got to Rialto Beach, we saw a stop for the Giant Cedar Tree.  We checked it out and it was amazing.  There were also a couple of other giants in the land nearby the posted giant.

At the end of our amazing Friday we found a great national park campsite above the beach.  We were happy to find that we got the senior park pass discount!  It was pretty crowded being the Memorial Day weekend, but people were really considerate and we were happy to find a place to camp.  We got set up, walked the beach a bit more and then it started raining!  We ate dinner inside our tent while it rained, rained and rained all night long!  In the morning it was still raining!  They don't call it a rain forest for nothing!  But we were dry even if our tent needed to be hung out to drip dry another day! We needed to drip dry a little too!  Thank goodness for waterproof clothing!

Saturday we decided to visit the last place the ranger recommended - Hurricane Ridge.  It was a beautiful drive to and from and freezing and windy at the top!  It was just too cold to enjoy and a too early for the wildflower display, so we enjoyed the views quickly and then headed on to our most important destination of Kenniwick to spend time with the Mom and the Brooks.  These two parks deserve at least a week each to really see and enjoy them and it would be better a little later in the season, but we loved what we saw and probably missed some of the crowds by going early.  

I did not take pictures while in Kenniwick.  Mom was not feeling all that great and pictures of her not feeling well are not what I want to remember.  We did enjoy visiting and spending time with her. Janet and Tony are wonderful hosts and so much fun to visit with. They fed us home made quail nuggets as well as other delectable food!  We got to visit with Kriston and Andrew and Careina and girls too.  Janet and Tony take such patient, loving care of Mom.  It's been more than 10 years now. She is part of their home.  It is hard to see her winding down and trying hard to endure the troubles of an aging body.  You wish she could move on but hate the thought of it too.  Paul and Tony gave her a blessing just before we left and it seemed to help her.  She's a grand lady who has endured it well for a long life.  So thankful for Janet and Tony helping her as she tries to keep on enduring it well.  We had an enjoyable Saturday evening, Sunday and Monday with them and after lunch it was time to start the trip back home.  We made it to Twin Falls where we spent the night inside and then on home Tuesday.  I did try to entice Paul to stop at Great Basin National Park for one more night of camping and a little hiking, but we needed to get him back home to work for Wednesday.  We did a quick pit stop and enjoyed a little Pony Express history along the way.

Here are a few random shots of fun things.  A blue jay was hanging out and Paul took his picture before he flew off.  Flowering plants, bushes, trees were everywhere.  Just a couple of shots of those. We will have to visit Paul some time when we are in Idaho again! Slugs of all kinds abound in this wet country.  Sea Stars were part of the tide pool gang.

School's Out!

High five!  Made it through another year of school and came out only a little bonkers!  This year was a unique one.  We had a student intern teacher with us the whole year as well as a para for a couple of special needs kids and we had other kids who almost needed one because of their behaviors.  And I took on the added job of doing OEK (optional extended kindergarten) lunch, computer lab and recess duty. It was a real struggle for me at first and I almost wished I hadn't asked to do it.  I'm not one who wants to be in charge, but I was.  Then I lost my helper and had to do it alone for a few weeks until I got another one.  It ended up being a real learning experience, and I got to know a lot of great little kids other than just the ones in my class and the people who worked with me. They are both great ladies that I admire very much.  Some days I thought Bear and Darry would make me totally bonkers. And Paxton was always yelling, "Mrs Nillywhite, I can't hear on my computer."  And then everyone would start yelling for me all at once!  And then there was Juan who loved to sing along loudly with the songs on his computer.  Here's how my co-worker described one of his solos: "During computer lab yesterday, one little boy (with headphones on) belted these lyrics out to the tune of Farmer in the Dell... "The Farmer and the Whale, The Farmer and the Whale, High- Low the Lady Ho, The Farmer and the Whale." I died."  Just a regular day in the computer lab!  Something else pretty unique became part of my routine.  On Wednesdays Trigg came to school with me just long enough for LaTressa to finish up and then he went home with her.  I think he had fun!  The AM kids really took him in and made him feel at home. He's in the top left picture with LaTressa.

Recess/snack with regular class - Fruit by the Foot makes great long tongues in case you didn't know!
And lunch and computer time with my OEK gang!

Here's the last day of school.  We did just a little bit of program practice while we waited for everyone to arrive...then it was off to the performance.  I love the top left picture with Jikzabella showing how we all felt - CELEBRATE!  We left for vacation right after I got home.  Next day we got a phone call inviting me to come and receive some kind of certificate or something for being and aide for 10 years.  Oh well, I'll just have to wait for 11 years!

Zade times!

Zade has had some big times of late.  He has had a whole mouth full of  loose teeth.  Everyone wants to help him pull them out, but he's not too keen on it.  Grandpa "just wanted to check on one"...and out it came!  Zade was happy until he saw a little blood, then happy again.

Then he got to celebrate #8 with a cupcake.  Next came the great day of receiving his Bobcat rank, 1st one in Cub Scouts and also got to help with his first flag ceremony at Pack Meeting!

Zade's baptism!

Today we got to enjoy the occasion of Zade's baptism and confirmation.  Life is full of choices and I don't think we even realize what an important choice making this first choice to start on the covenant path back to Heavenly Father is.  What a wonderful thing to have this blessing as early as possible to start participating in the atonement and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  We seem so susceptible to the Spirit as little children and then as we grow older the world starts pressing down on us. Making this covenant and getting the opportunity to have a member of the Godhead helping us as much as we make it possible is so important to do before the world's pressing makes it even more difficult for us to make the choices that will keep us on the path back home.  So happy that Zade is now in that path as fully armed as he can be at this age to fight the battles that are sure to come his way.

I loved that the program cover for Zade's baptism included his mom's drawing.  It made us feel a little teary not having her there in an earthly way, but it reminded us that she was there in spirit for this important day in her child's life.

Here are Derek and Zade before and after!  There were so many loving, supportive people there letting Zade and family know that they are there for them as they do these important things and to let them know they are supporting them as they press forward on the hard path without Lenae.  It was a lovely time.  Congratulations Zade!  We are so happy for you on this wonderful day!

Catching up - family dinner

We had a family dinner that I totally spaced.  Supe and Beacher cooked and Moss and Christy provided the house.  We had great food as always and lots of fun visiting.  The kids enjoyed fighting Star Wars and Super Hero battles and also played some Scum!

Fun with Trigg and Eliza

Wednesday has been our day for the last little while.  I pick up Trigg in the morning and we hang out until story time at the Library with Mrs. Mann.  After story time we play on the computer, pick up a Happy Meal and head down to my job at school.  Aunt La Tressa works there in the morning and when I get there she's about to leave. Trigg goes home with her and then I pick him up afterwards and take him back home.  We have had a good time, but summer will interrupt out regular schedule for a bit.  Hopefully we can do it again in the Fall.

This day we saw a balloon coming down and drove over to watch the whole putting it away process.

One day while cousin Eliza's parents were out of town she joined our fun!

A couple of days Eliza was there and while Trigg was visiting other people for the day.  She and Grandma had a good time doing lots of fun stuff!  

Mr. & Mrs. - Kara Lillywhite and Michael James Brown

A few weeks ago, April 30th, we got to take Grandma Kurtz and go down to be at Kara and Michael's wedding at the Phoenix temple.  It was such a nice time to be with family on such a wonderful day!  Hope these two will be blessed with a wonderful life together and for eternity!  I think Kara was happy to trade in being lillywhite for being brown!

Oak Grove Trail...it's a doozie!

We decided it was a good time to do it before it gets any hotter.  It was a great time weather wise, but we weren't expecting quite so much elevation gain!  Wow, a bit over 3,000 feet in 3 miles up to 9848 thousand feet.  We took a long time because we kept stopping to breathe!  The views were magnificent!  We ran into 7 people on the way up; one that we knew.  Would I want to do it again?

NO!  Am I glad I did it?  Yes!

The other day the weather was so great here that we took a picnic up on the Red Hill for FHE.  Love this place!

Cathedral Wash and Lonely Dell Ranch

I seem to measure time now from BC and AD.  This hike was the first of any length that we have taken since all of this began.  It's also the first time we used our finally got it new camera from Christmas.  This was a really great hike down to the Colorado River.  It starts over by Lee's Ferry.  At first we weren't sure we would make it past a very sketchy place, but then met a Frenchman who was very helpful in showing us the best way past.  After that, it was all good!

The river was very cold!  And it was windy.  My foot was all I wanted to put in that river on this day!

Kaebri - Science Olympiad 2016

Kaebri and friends have been going to town.  First they took first at the District event in bridge building.  Then they headed up north for the state finals and took a medal there too.  So awesome and wonderful that they have done such a great job!  Congratulations!