Count 'Em. One, Two, Three

I missed my own blogoversary. My blog button wasn't working earlier and by the time I came back tonight, it already reads 364 days until my next blogoversary. How sad that I missed it. However, that doesn't change the fact that I have been blabbing away for three years now. What can I say, it makes me happy.

Thanks as always for reading.

Pioneer Pictures

We have been to Martin's Cove. We have seen Willie's Crossing. We were at the rescue site. We made the crossing. But we're too tired to blog it. Look for more tomorrow. For now, here's Ivory: 

For the five-and-a-half hour drive home, I kept thinking about how we were making this journey in less than a day. The pioneers took another month to make it to Salt Lake.

You can see some other pics of our journey here: http://www.caziercreative.com/clients/v2MartinsCove/. If you know who TaskMaster is, ask him to see the video.

Oh CRASH! my BASH!

Let's start with the self portrait; lest you forget what I look like.



Of course my arms aren't long enough to get my whole face apparently, so Tyler was nice enough to snap this photo for me later.



The fourth was crazy busy and fun. We went up to Idaho to see the other half of the family. Grandma got a new rig. She got a whopper of a truck, but it was necessary to pull around her new abode. I like how the kids said, "Grandma got a new house." And it could be, the thing is that enormous.



Thirty-nine feet long, sleeps ten. It is bigger than our first apartment. But it was a nice space to step into after playing on the hot dunes.

We spent Saturday up in St. Anthony, gallivanting over the sand dunes. And we gallivanted in style.



That little number is also a new addition to the Cazier family. It is called a side-by-side and the one Ty's family got is legal on most trails. I think I could do some serious 'hiking' in that thing. As for cruising the dunes...I left that up to the others. I did go out twice with Tyler, but that was to spend quality time with HIM, not the dunes or the side-by-side. The kids on the other hand seemed to really enjoy the experience, complete with overly large helmets on their small noggins.



I spent most of my time in the trailer or trailing kids. (Nifty word use, eh?) There was a small park nearby that got quite the workout from our crew. I loved the swings there.



They were old school. Tyler even got into the action. He would swing so high, he would end up upside down.



They were super good for underdogs.



There aren't a lot of cousins to choose from, but I don't think that matters. What you lose in quantity, they make up for in quality. Kat and Kolb's three boys are little gentlemen.



They play so nicely with the girls and help out the younger children. I really enjoy their family. Kathryn is talented, beautiful, and helpful. She loves my babies and my babies love her. (All my children have smiled for Kathryn the first time they saw her, including Pearl, who had not smiled for Daddy at the time.)



The only girl cousin is Rozzlyn. I think she is always happy to see my gaggle of girls cross the border. And why shouldn't she when she has generous cousins like June who will bury her in sand.



Oh the sand. It was everywhere. But really, you expect that when you go to the dunes. Half the fun is just getting covered in sand. Daisy spent a good portion of the time with this shovel and bucket, displacing sand from one spot to another.



We were all covered in a light dusting (at least) by the time we were finished. Look at this little duck.



She almost had a beard by the end of the trip. (Sticky face + sand = a pretty good five o'clock shadow.)

The only downer that I could see was getting stuck in the sand in the last five minutes we were there.



The van was no match for this 'quick' sand and after a tow from one brother, we were on our way.



The whole weekend was great. Tyler left Monday and the girls and I stayed a few more days.

Highlights:

Grandpa drew names on their foreheads as usual for church. (Yes, I put that in highlights Grandpa.)

Playing at Kathryn's and seeing her remodeled bathrooms. (I might hire her someday.)

Making Blueberry/Rhubarb freezer jam and eating it on Grandpa's world-class waffles. Ahh, heaven.



Making jewelry with Grandma.

Going to see Eclipse. (Pearl's first movie. I think she was team Jacob.)

Lowlights:

We missed Dad.

Moxy (still traumatized from our last vacation) kept escaping and following us down the road. The night I packed, she snuck under the fence every time I went out to the car. I'm sure it didn't help that we left her there (since we can't take her to Martin's Cove.) That poor dog is going to have serious abandonment issues after all this. We're looking into a doggy psychiatrist for her separation anxiety.

I lost my car key right before we had to leave. J.R. had to get me a new one from the dealership. (Slightly embarrassing.) Then I found the key in the car on the way home. (More embarrassing.)

Driving all five girls home by myself. Okay, it really wasn't that bad. We didn't even use the DVD player on the way back. This picture was taken while we were there.



Pearl was even pretty good. This is how I usually see her.



All in all, a great trip. Kudos to you who have made it through this post. Here's my favorite picture of the trip.

Great Quote

"Why does it feel like it is raining only on my feet?"



I guess this is the first time her feet have fallen asleep.

Tid-Bits

Yep, still need to blog the fourth. And this is why I blog so often people. So I don't get behind. I don't like it.

And Martin's Cove is right around the corner and that will be more pictures.

So I give you a few tid-bits so I can catch up on my thoughts.

We have a lot of children's books. I moved a book case from one side of the room to the other and I was amazed at how many books are on that thing.



Oddly, they didn't all fit back on. Did they multiply while they were on the floor? I wish. I can't get enough of kids' books.

The bottle battle is going really well. Pearl has accepted the bottle with panache. Robyn had her turn feeding her, and I think her cheeks are getting fatter. (Pearl's, not Robyn's.)



The best part so far was the other day when I took a nap that lasted longer due to the fact that Tyler got Pearl up and fed her a bottle instead of getting me up. Okay bottle. You hurt my pride, but I think we can be friends.

Plus, what would Ivory do without you?

Beware of Muggles

If you have never been Geo-caching, the first question you're going to ask is, “What is Geo-caching?” Well, according to Wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo-caching) it's “an outdoor activity in which the participants use a GPS receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches").

According to Geo-caching.com (http://www.Geo-caching.com/faq/), “Geo-caching is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geo-cacher can place a geo-cache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geo-cache’s existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache.”

According to me, Geo-caching is a good way to get lost with the family and not have to worry about asking directions.

The next question is usually, “How do you do it?” You can find caches online at www.Geo-caching.com. With a free membership, you can be off to finding geo-caches ANYWHERE in the world. And there are more than just a “few” caches lying around. Within five miles of my home there are 598 caches to be found! And if I'm willing to go ten miles, I could find up to 1,366 caches! Grab some coordinates, load them into your GPS, read the post (some times there are useful tips on finding these caches), load the family into the car, and use the GPS to guide you to the location. Note that these caches are generally expertly hidden (to avoid muggle curiosity, see below), so the GPS will get you to within five feet of the location—but from there, it's just good ol' fashioned common sense that will help you find the cache. Once you find it, sign the log book (you always have to do that—it's like saying, “I was here” officially). If it's a larger cache, and you've brought some treasures you can trade treasures with what's in the cache.

Couple of rules of the game:

1. Beware of Muggles. Don't let people who are not geo-cachers know what you're doing. In the craft, they're referred to as “muggles.” It's not bad to tell people about geo-caching, but it's forbidden to allow other people to witness you finding a cache. This sometimes takes great skill as some of the caches are literally located in the middle of the street.
   
2. Keep an accurate log. Always sign the log book, and then find your way back to Geo-caching.com to log your visit and mention if the cache has been “muggled” (what happens to a cache when a muggle finds it and either tampers with it or destroys it); or tips on finding the cache; or praise to the original hiders of the cache.

Be fair warned, there are some fanatics around that have hundreds or perhaps thousands of Geo-caching notches on their belt. I won't even try to brag about our cache list—it's not long enough to brag about yet.

Now that you know the terrain, here are some shots of some recent muggle-avoidance we've participated in recently.

Up in Washington, we went geo-caching with Grampa and Tim. Grampa thought it was cool; Tim loved it. Here we are in the woods of Washington. It looks like back country, but to anyone who lives in Washington, this is about 150 paces out of the parking lot. We stopped at this ant hill (3:00 to 5:00 in the photograph). It was swarming with an ant hive. Kids thought it was awesome.

But it was Robyn who pulled out the win on this cache. She's pointing to this AMAZINGLY well-hidden cache. It had moss over the top of it. It took a lot of looking to find this one.

Tim and I went to find several other caches. June and I found some other caches. One of my favorite cache's coordinates led us to a round about with a big eagle's nest bronze statue on it. Ironically, we didn't find that cache, though I'm told it has been found recently--so it must exist.

On another cache that we did locate, the girls and I hunted around for half an hours after arriving at the coordinates. There wasn't much to search through though, since there was just dirt, a fence, and more dirt. We searched a lot of dirt before we started feeling along the chain-link fence for any sign of something. Dad was lucky enough to put a hand down on the fence post cap and feel it shake a little bit. It was too loose to be held on just by gravity, unless there's a chain attached to it, hanging down inside the fence post. Awesome hide.

July, What?

This going out of town thing is killing me. I have all these fun pictures and no time to post. We just got back from Idaho and I haven't even downloaded my goodies yet. But I feel actual pain when I see a week go by with no new posts. (Okay, not actual pain, but something close.)

So instead of Idaho, you get some leftovers from Washington. We went to a park one day and just played. Pearl was digging the swing.



She is so small, she gets almost lost in that seat, but she seemed to enjoy it.



The girls tackled the tire swing, which made me almost sick just watching.



Tyler would spin them at a supersonic velocity and they would scream with glee. I remember doing something similar at that age, but long gone are those days.

We all took a turn swinging somewhere.



How hot is this Daddy, and how awesome is her hair...always.



Sometimes you just got to unwind and let your hair down.



Hope you all had a great Fourth!