Hell's Backbone

So I am dusting the cobwebs off my blogging keyboard and trying to get back to posting!  It has been so long since I posted that there is a new blogger format for posting that I haven't even used!  But now that I am done with school, I MAY have some more time to blog.  There has been plenty that has happened and I'm not even going to attempt to play catch up but I did want to record one defining moment our family had recently that I don't want my kids or myself to forget the details of.  For spring break this year our family went camping in Escalante, Utah.  What's in Escalante?- you may ask.  But I have to say that some of the amazing scenery we saw down there rivals any National Park we have been too- including Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.  I would recommend that area to anyone who wants to feel like they are in a different world. 

Although I would not recommend taking the drive we took on Hell's Backbone in late March when there is still snow in the mountains.
So we began our Spring Break adventure on a rainy Monday.  There are plenty of hikes to take in and around Escalante but we decided to save those for a less muddy, wet, cold day and thought we would go on a nice pleasant drive through the mountains on a road appropriately named "Hell's Backbone" by our pioneer forefathers.  All the brochures recommended this drive and even though most of the tourism for this area is in the summer, we thought we would be fine in spring in our 4 wheel drive suburban.  We packed snacks, lunch and water and headed out of town up into the mountains.  Our girls were a little bit worried we were going on a road named "Hell's Backbone" (They insisted we call it "Heck's Backbone.") But we assured them that this road was only dangerous to the pioneers who traveled via handcarts and covered wagons.  Surely our modern day vehicle could scale this mountain and any of its imposing dangers with ease. (Are you catching all the overly confident sarcastic foreshadowing?!?) 

The official road started about 10 miles out of town and on our way there we didn't see one other car.  That should have been our first clue.  But we started along the road enjoying the mountain scenery.  We were going up in altitude but for the first little while it was no problem.  We went through a few snowdrifts but had no problem going through them because they were going downhill.  After about an hour we hit our first nasty snow patch.  It was going uphill and we got stuck pretty good.  Finn and my nephew, Michael, got out of the car and pushed it to help get us unstuck.  But the only way we could make it through was for Eric to roll back down the hill and then try to pick up speed back up the hill, following his same tracks and push new tracks in the snow just a little bit further.  We did this over and over on one bad stretch of snow- like probably 20 times before we broke through.  Then another time we were going around a hairpin turn that was full of snow and on one side there was a drop-off.  As we went around the turn I could feel the back tires loosing their grip and swerving closer to the edge.  I turned around to see how close our tracks were to the edge and it was not comforting.  But we finally reached the summit of the mountain and stopped to have lunch, thinking the worst was behind us.  Little did I know that Eric was thinking, "I sure hope I can make it through this road because there is no way our car will make it back through some of those snowdrifts."  He, of course, kept this thought to himself and only displayed his characteristic positive- "Aren't we having such a great adventure?" attitude.  (We tend to get into a lot of "adventures" on our vacations.)  We even took some pictures of the great fun we were having in the snow that would be our ultimate nemesis.

We were about 3/4 of the way through "Hell's Backbone" when we reached a snowdrift that was about 200 yards long and reached to the top of our car's bumper. Plus there were no tracks in the snow-showing that it hadn't been plowed in awhile.  We went about 10 yards into it when Eric finally conceded that there was no way we were going to make it through that snowdrift and we would have to turn around.  So with my 13 year old telling Eric how close he was to the edge, me pushing the car out of the snow and Eric steering the car, we finally were able to get the car turned around.  By this time it was about 3:30 and we still haven't seen many signs of civilization- including people or a bathroom.  Let's just say that my girls got very good at "coping a squat" although they called it "pop a squat." 

But we were on our way home and even though there might be a few trouble spots, we thought we would be home for dinner- or at least I thought that.  Eric didn't tell me until later that he knew we were in trouble when we had to turn around.  Apparently Eric thinks I panic easily and doesn't always share his internal dialogue with me to prevent such panic attacks.  I would beg to differ with him, but then the number of times I had to "cop a squat" because my body was in fight or flight mode, really proves his case.
So we head back the way we came.  We make it through the ones we got stuck in before quite easily because now we have gravity on our side.  But the reverse is true for the ones we sailed through before.  At about 4pm we hit the hair-pin turn where our wheels got dangerously close to the edge.  And to add insult to injury the patch of snow on that turn has been sitting in the sun all day so it is real mushy and soft.  Every time Eric tries to create a track he can follow the wheels just slide and spin.  A few times Michael and I have to push the suburban out of the garbage snow.  Finally Eric says, "Get in the car." and with renewed resolve says, "There is a patch of dirt and rocks, that if I can get to, will catch the wheels and we'll be able to make this turn.  I just have to commit to it."  The reason he has to "commit" to it is because it is right on the edge of the road where the mountain drops off.  I point this out to him and he says, "Well it is our only chance of getting out of this."  He is starting to not sugar-coat things with me.  So he backs up to get a running start, so to speak, and he tries to get the car to that patch.  But we just spin and our back wheels get pulled to the edge.  Eric puts on the brakes and turns to me and says, "We're screwed."  Ah- now he's real.
So Eric decides he will just have to start walking until he can find help because I don't think I mentioned that neither of us have had cell phone service since we left town.  The idea of Eric walking to find help is not comforting at all because we haven't seen another car all day and the nearest town is about 15 miles away- not too bad when you are in a car, but overwhelming to someone who is starting walking at 4:30pm.  I knew Eric would do all in his power to make sure we got help, but I did not like the idea of having to spend the night in my car in the mountains with my kids.  We had plenty of water, food and blankets, as well as a tank 1/2 full of gas so we could keep warm.  But when Eric's instructions to me are to "absolutely not leave the car because it is our shelter" things suddenly switch from a fun, family adventure to a survival, "this is serious" situation.  Plus I had no idea if Eric would be ok. Who knows what could be in those mountains. This might seem a bit of an over-reaction but Eric later told me he saw bear scat on his hike out.
So the kids and I settle into our temporary shelter on the edge of the mountain.  Luckily the car wasn't "right" on the edge and it was stuck in the snow so Eric assured me it wasn't going anywhere. We of course immediately said a prayer that Eric would be okay and find help and that we would be safe waiting for him.  In retrospect it is interesting to see how the kids handled the anxiety of the situation.  Suzie was oblivious and just carried on like normal.  Katie got upset and started crying.  Annie went back and forth between trying to stay calm and strong and getting nervous and asking a lot of questions.  Finn of course thought we were all over-reacting and kept saying, "We're going to be fine." with exasperation.  My nephew, Michael, provided the comic relief by saying things like, "the newspaper headline will read, 'Hottest 12 year old found dead in car at bottom of mountain ravine'"  Or singing, "I'm on the edge of glory" by Lady Gaga.  I think a lot of their reactions are related to their age, but also their personalities.  We tried to stay busy by reading some books that were in the car or play some of the car games that were also in the car.  But all I could think about was the poor family that got lost on an abandoned logging mountain pass a few years ago in the winter up in Oregon and the father left to get help and died from exposure.  I know those circumstances were very different from ours, but it still was all I could think about.(And I wonder why Eric sometimes filters his true fears about the situations we are in!:)  To help pass the time I did get out and take a few pictures of the stuck car.  I don't think they truly depict how close to the edge we were but I still wanted to document it.  Eric didn't really appreciate me doing this but I think he will eventually!

After about an hour and a half, Eric came walking back around the bend up the road.  I had never been so happy to see him!  That meant he was safe and I wouldn't be stuck up in the mountains foraging for berries and searching out water sources for days.  He said that he had walked for about 4 miles and saw another suburban coming up the road.  They stopped for him and informed him of their similarly naive decision to take an afternoon drive on Hell's Backbone.  Eric said, "I wouldn't do that.  My family is stuck up the road in the snow in our Suburban and we need help."  He then asked if they would drive back to town and call a tow truck.  They turned around and Eric walked back to us.  After about another hour and a half a tow truck came around the bend- the second most beautiful sight I had seen that day!  He parked up the road a ways and when I got out of my car I said, "Oh- thank you for coming to rescue us!"  He was an older gentleman who kindly replied, "Well, its my job."  Which I translated as "This isn't a community service I perform.  You will be paying me."  But at that point I didn't care much it would cost and it did cost and it wasn't cheap.  It took quite a few hours for them to get the car unstuck from its position and up the road to where Eric and the kind man from Red Rock Towing and Rescue could put chains on our suburban so it could make it the rest of the way out of the mountains.  And there is NO way we have made it out without those chains.  As we were driving out of the mountains, I was in the truck with our hero from Red Rock and he said, "Make sure your husband buys some chains." I sheepishly replied that we did have chains, but they were back in our garage at home where they were doing us no good.  So after about 3 hours with the towing truck we arrived back at our campsite at about 11 o'clock at night hungry, tired and quite a bit lighter in the wallet.  But the bacon pasta we made that night in our trailer never tasted so good and after the adrenaline wore off I had time to really think about the whole experience.  And I was really amazed by all the "coincidences" that made the difference between this experience being a truly horrible one as opposed to an albeit nail-biting but really just a big inconvenient one.  It was a testimony to me that our Heavenly Father really is in the details of our lives.  Little things like Eric happening to see the one person we saw all day long on his hike out of the canyon or the fact that the towing guy thought at the last minute to throw in a set a of chains right before he left to come get us- like he mentioned.  I firmly believe these were not "coincidences" but rather very specific evidences that even when our decisions aren't perfect, little deciding to go on Hell's Backbone in early spring without chains, the Lord will still help us when we ask.  Which is why I made this post so long and detailed because I want my kids to know that since they were a part of this experience and one day they will probably read this and even though they were there, they may not remember how we were greatly blessed that muddy, cool spring break day.
P.S.- On a funny note, a few days later we were doing more hiking on another remote road where we parked our car then went to climb a rock called "Dance Hall Rock" named again by our pioneer forefathers.  Suzie was asleep when we pulled up to the rock so I stayed in the car while Eric took the other kids out to play.  After a little while Suzie woke up and we decided to join everyone else.  I thought I would play a little trick on Eric.  I took the car keys and locked the car but then I hid them in one of my cargo pockets on my pants.  After we finished playing on the rock we were walking back to the car and Eric asked for the keys cause the kids were complaining that the car was locked.  I said, "Oh I thought you took them."  He looked at me with a mixture of horror and exasperation. "What?!? I don't have them.  Why did you lock the car out here in the middle of nowhere?"  I replied, "Well you never know what sort of bandits could be lurking in the sagebrush?" (We were seriously miles from any sort of convenience.) Michael even unknowingly played along claiming he could see the car keys sitting on the drivers seat.  I let every stew and start to get mad at me before I pulled the keys out of my pocket.  Eric took the keys and gave me the "Too soon." look.  I don't know if I have mentioned this before but Eric communicates about 95% of the time through looks.  It has taken me our nearly 15 years of marriage to decipher them but I am pretty good at it now!

Its all about the youngest- oh and the oldest!

I know my posts have been a bit "Suzie-heavy" lately but I just can't help it cause she is just too funny these days. But if you stick with me I will reward you with a Finn story too- cause i know that is just the kind of reward you want!

I have posted before about the weird snacks my children tend to snack on because I don't keep a whole lot of snack food in my house. This is an example. Well yesterday I opened up the trash can and found this:

I bought a 12 oz. container of raspberries at Costco on Friday. I didn't buy them for any particular reason- just to have on hand. So I was surprised to find the completely empty container in the trash the next day when I had never even opened it yet. I pulled it out and asked Eric who ate all the raspberries- assuming it was him because only he would have a big enough appetite to eat 12 oz. of raspberries in one sitting. So imagine my shock when he said, "Suzie." I said, "Well she probably ate some but this was a brand new container so who ate the rest?" He replied, "No really Suzie ate the whole thing. She brought down the empty container and she said just couldn't help herself because she just likes raspberries so much." Well I guess so!

Pre-raspberry binging Suzie had been sipping from one of these little espresso cups that my kids love to drink hot chocolate from.

As she was drinking she casually remarks, "You know what grieves me?" I should have replied- "No, do tell milady what does grieve you?" But instead I just stared at her dumbfounded for using the word "grieve." She answered her own question by saying "My daughter. She died." Then she proceeded to take a sip of her hot chocolate. I then asked her, "Suzie, where did you get that from? Did you hear it on a TV show?" She gave me a sideways glance as she lifted her cup back up to her mouth and said, "A lady never talks while drinking." Well that seals the deal- Suzie really did live another life in England. (See previous post.) Or maybe we watch too many British comedies on PBS.

Anyone who has been around Suzie for the past four years knows she has a beloved blanket that she carries around with her. She actually has had about 4 of them but she has loved them into oblivion. When she turned 5 back in January Eric told her she had to throw away her current blanket obsession because "5 year olds don't carry around blankets." I wanted to take a kinder, gentler approach to weaning Suzie off her blanket cause sometimes Eric's mouth writes checks his butt can't cash when it comes to parental decisions.-meaning it is sounds all fine and good to have Suzie throw away her blanket but then he isn't having to deal with a whiny Suzie all day who isn't getting her blankie fix. So this was our compromise.

My mom took Suzie's blanket and made it into a teddy bear for Suzie to have. Then it she took a part of the blanket and made it into a small hankie/blankie for the bear. Suzie carries this hankie around like her old blankie. It is her nicotine patch, so to speak. Well a few of the seams had come undone on the bear. I noticed this and was planning on fixing them, but hadn't gotten around to it. One day I found that they had been hastily and haphazardly fixed with some non-matching red thread. This really puzzled me because I had no idea who would go to the trouble to patch the seams. As I was studying it, Finn-who has been taking sewing in his CTE class at junior high- walked in the room, saw me looking at the seam and said,"Oh yea- i saw that the bear needed to be fixed so I got out a needle and thread and fixed it. Pretty good, huh!?!" And even though his stitches wouldn't have lasted for more than a couple days of Suzie-loving, it was pretty good for him to take the initiative to fix it. I've heard it said that the definition of an adult is someone who walks into a room and can see and do what needs to be done. I would say Finn is well on his way to becoming an adult!

Reincarnation might not be all that far-fetched!

If I didn't have a firm belief about where we came from and where we are going, I might be persuaded to believe in reincarnation. The reason why is because sometimes my kids do and say things that I have no idea where they got them from. For example when Katie was just a baby and still nursing, she would wake up from her naps and say "nay, nay". I thought this was just the cute, endearing babble of a baby. But then I was telling this story to my friend Julie- who at the time had just come back from living in Taiwan for three years- and she told me "nay, nay" was chinese for boob! So maybe Katie had lived in China during another lifetime and was asking for a feeding in her native tongue!
Then tonight we were sitting down for dinner. We were sitting at our kitchen table, which we haven't sat down at in awhile- we usually just sit at the counter. As we were all gathering at the table, Suzie remarks, "Well we haven't had a proper sit in a long time."
Proper sit?- Really, who says that? Especially a 5 year old! I asked Suzie where she got that from and she said, "From my head!" So maybe Suzie's previous life was across the pond!

Being taken out of context

Since the campaign season is upon us and being taken out of context seems to be the presidential thing to do- you know how Mitt Romney likes firing people and hates the poor- I thought I would share the latest comment in our house that makes no sense taken out of context. Often I hear myself and others in my house make comments that I think if someone heard them without being in the situation they would wonder what the heck does that mean. One such time was when Eric was loading the girls in the car to go to dance and I overheard him say, "Get in the car and no you don't need a tennis racket." One might think, "Wait, what? I thought they were going to dance, why did he say anything about a tennis racket?" But I, living with those girls, knew exactly what he was talking about. As you walk out of our house into our garage you go down three steps. To the right of those steps is a filing cabinet and in between those steps and that filing cabinet there is a small space where we keep a couple tennis rackets. So I can guarantee as the girls were going down the stairs they picked up those tennis rackets and tried to take them with them for no apparent reason. Hence the need for a "No tennis rackets" rule when going to dance.

Well last night I overheard this comment coming from my bathroom.

"Oh no, my toenails are too long. I can't bite them anymore."

Yea- that wasn't a typo- I said toenail, not fingernail. I don't think I have mentioned this before but Suzie likes to trim her toenails a la her teeth. I have even caught this with my camera once so you can have a visual!

I have no idea where she learned this technique but I also have no idea where she learned to tell me, "No can do, sis" when I ask her to get ready for church. Sometimes its just better not to know.

Anyway- I suppose that last night she went to go do the deed and found that her toenails would require more that just her pearly whites to trim them down. She would need something with a bit more "bite" like fingernail clippers!

Good Deeds Chain

About a month ago I had had it with all the whining and tattling. Not a uncommon sentiment for a mother of 4 youngish children. So for a FHE we talked about recognizing the good in each other rather than focusing on the bad. To practice this behavior I had cut up some green and red strips of paper and told the kids they were suppose to write on the papers either something good they saw another family member doing or an act of service they would perform for another family member. Then we would staple them in a circle and make a paper chain to decorate a smaller Christmas tree we had downstairs. Well I recently took down the tree and those paper chains. Instead of throwing them away I pulled it apart and read them. I thought that after the first week the kids didn't really do it so I was surprised by the number of things the kids wrote. I'm still going to throw the chain away but I wanted to record the "good deeds" we saw/did during the month of December:
Annie shared her soda cans.
Today my dad helped me eat my dinner.
Dad shared his chocolates.
Tomorrow I am going to read Suzie a bedtime story.
Dad drove Annie home from dance.
Katie waited for Annie to do crossing duty.
Mom shared her perfume.
I'm going to rake leaves.
Finn did the dishes.
Tomorrow I will make my bed when I get up.
Katie shared her gum.
I will help Katie clean her room.
Suzie helped Hannah clean up the pillows.
Dad set up the Wii.
Mom helped me with homework.
Annie shraed her drink.
Katie shared her headband.
Suzie LICKED the blueberries and said she was sorry.- think maybe that one started out as a tattle but then the author remembered the point of the activity!
Mom read to Suzie.
Dad will take the girls to school.
Finn let me use the IPAD.
Suzie helped clean up at pre-school.
Tomorrow I will let Suzie play with me and my friend.
Annie wiped off the counters when she was asked.
Suzie organized my shoes.
Annie and Suzie set the table.
Dad emptied the dishwasher.
Finn farted and said he was sorry! :)
Tomorrow I will not cry or whine when I'm getting ready for school. (All the ones that begin "Tomorrow" were written by a certain 7 year old red-head!)
Suzie took my dishes upstairs.
Katie shared her headband.
Finn picked up Katie.
Suzie helped Hannah clean up diapers.
Finn set up lights in our room.
Annie will help pass out papers in her class.
Annie didn't get mad when Katie made her late for school.
Finn walked Suzie and Hannah home from preschool.
Dad picked up Annie from Sister Brantly's house.
Annie got her coat for Katie.

Merry Christmas, Ugly New Traditions and Happy New Year

Every year since Eric and I got married we have taken a picture in front of a Christmas tree on Christmas day. Usually it is in front of my mom's Christmas tree but every once in awhile I take it in front of my own. With Christmas being on a Sunday this year I decided since we all had our Christmas Sunday clothes on I would take it at our house after church before everyone changed back into their pjs for the day. I have a self-timer on my camera but it doesn't make a noise so you don't know when the picture is taken. This picture is about our 6th attempt at a picture because some one would look away or start walking away cause they thought the picture had been taken. It still isn't even that great of a picture- Suzie is looking down, Finn is done with all the pictures and Eric is in the middle of saying "cheese." But when Eric inspected this photo he said, "Good enough" and went to go get Christmas morning brunch started. We had 9 am church on Christmas morning and even though we got all our presents opened in time to make it to church we didn't get breakfast eaten and delaying Christmas breakfast to a 37 year old man is just about as painful as delaying opening presents is to his 4 children 12 and under. But choices had to be made and breakfast got postponed therefore our Christmas picture did not turn out as well as I might have liked. But it does tell a story- which I always like!
A new Christmas tradition got started in Eric's family. Our brother in-law, Curtis, suggested we have an ugly sweater contest on Christmas Eve with each person participating putting $5 into a pot for the winner. With a $70 prize on the line the competition was stiff!

Gary, Eric's brother is the usual winner of any contest we have that involves creativity. He and his wife Camille made these sweaters for their whole family. Not seen is a stocking attached to their backs that made a handy spot for my brother-in-law, Scott and I to dispose of our shrimp tails throughout the evening. Sadly they did not win. I'm not sure if the shrimp tails had anything to do with this or not!

Cami, Scott and Tailyn made this a family affair with Cami sporting a poinsetta as big as her head and Scott sporting a lady's sweater with the tag still attached. Pretty sure that made a return trip to Wal-Mart after the holidays!

As much as Jessica deserves to win cause she is wearing moose overalls- the big prize went to her husband Jeff. I personally voted for him. And it wasn't the $4 DI tag still attached to his too short pants that did it for me. It was the Christmas dickey semi-hidden by the Christmas sweater tied in a prep school knot. So regal yet so ugly.

Eric and I donning our own Christmas apparel- matching, handmade Christmas nativity vests. These were lovingly made by my mom and aunt- not just for this occasion but for any chilly Christmas evening really!

Here is Curtis, the creator of all this mayhem as Eddie from Christmas Vacation with Becca as Eddie's wife. Curtis doesn't usually have man-boobs- it is just the pucker in the middle of the sweater that gives that allusion! Don't know if this was intentional or not!

This is Eric's cousin- Mindy with her husband- Matt. If you look closely at her sweater you can tell that it is an actual reenactment of the cat being fried scene in the Christmas Vacation movie. Very clever!

Here we all are in all our glory. You can see how it was a hard decision to decide who won! But again the Christmas dickey over the snowman turtleneck with the white socks and short blue dress pants was just too much for me! Way to go Jeff!

Now onto New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve has always been a hard holiday for me since we've had kids. You can't leave your kids with a babysitter cause all the babysitters have plans and you don't want your little kids staying up past midnight. Eric and I both have no desire whatsoever to go to those downtown parties the city puts on yet I want to do something fun and different for the holiday. Eric came up with this idea two years ago and I think it will be our new New Year's Eve tradition for the time being. We have a Wii tournament that all the family can participate in. We create a bracket system and choose different Wii games from boxing to Just Dance. The games are written on a piece of paper and put into a bowl. Then when two people face off in each bracket they first have to choose a game from the bowl. They play the event 3 times and the winner of 2 out of 3 times moves onto the next round. The loser gets put into the Losers Bracket. So we have the winner of the Winner's bracket and the Winner of the Loser's Bracket. Everyone gets to play about 3 times. It turns out to be a really fun night that everyone enjoys. Here is this year's playoff standings:

We were at the cabin for the holiday and brought our nephew, Michael along with us. Also Steve, Eric's brother and his girlfriend- Chelsea were there too. Steve was the overall winner and Finn was the lower bracket winner.Eric playing golf.

Annie and Suzie dancing it up!

Suzie boxing.

Finn and Katie playing tennis.

Michael and Finn getting jiggy wit' it!

There were even cool prizes like star wars fans/candy dispensers. (This picture may or may not have been a self-photo!:)

HAPPY 2012!

I'll let you connect the dots

Dot 1- Suzie's aforementioned affinity for choosing a word and then finding all the words she can that rhyme with it.

Dot 2- Suzie finding words to rhyme with one of the words in this sentence she recently heard from Ice Age 2- "Never disagree with Buck."

Dot 3- Suzie having some serious conversations about some serious never to be said again words!

Apparently making sure your 4 year old has good phonemic awareness by encouraging rhyming can have some down sides too!