The Redneck Workshop is back in business

In anticipation of the all the toys Keith wants to get for the vansion, he decided he better get another job (he dreams big).  So he put the Redneck Workshop back in business.  Christmas craft fairs, watch out....

Can you believe this girl?  She can run a drill in high heels without hesitation.

Another lost tooth!

We didn't think Bennett's teeth would ever come out.  And now his second in 3 months!

More fun with Grandparents

We were able to convince Keith's parents to come visit us in September.  After being on their mission in Ireland for two years, its hard to get enough time with them!  They left on their mission at the same time we moved to Carson City so they had never been here before.  We took them to Virginia City and, of course, the beach and had lots of fun showing them around.

Park days

I love living 2 blocks away from a great park.  

Missionary Mom and Dad

My parents passed by our house on their way to their mission for our church.  And what's a visit with me in warm weather without a trip to the beach?

They are going to be living in Oregon for a year and managing a youth camp, Camp Alpine.  Let the party mission begin!  Follow their adventures here.

The Lemonade Stand

Bennett came home one day and decided he needed a beyblade toy.  He needed to earn ten dollars.  Pronto.  So he came up with the genius idea of selling cookies.  And Leah decided to join in on the fun and sell lemonade.  I bought them a poster board and told them I would supply the goods if they would do all the work.

They got down to business and were serious about making money.

It was the cutest thing ever.  Leah ended up being the secret weapon.  Bennett got discouraged when we would have dry spells with no customers but Leah never gave up.  She stood on the corner for hours shouting "Lemonade and cookies!  25 cents!"  And she raked in the dough.  They made almost $30 that morning.  Leah got more of the money since she did more of the work but they were both laughing all the way to the toy store.

First Day of Second Grade

Bennett was so excited to go back to school!  At his school, they keep the same teacher for two years in a row so he couldn't wait to go back to see Mrs. Pendleton.

After spending all summer with him, I hated sending him away.  Leah would love to have hopped on the bus with him but luckily for me (and sadly for her) she still has another year before kindergarten.

One last family beach day

I have denial issues when summer starts winding down.  I could live like this year-round.

Tahoe Rim Trail: A Family Adventure

We had a crazy idea.  Keith and I really wanted to do a full section of the Tahoe Rim Trail instead of the out and back trips that we had been doing for our date nights.  Doing a full section would have cost way more than we wanted to pay a babysitter for.  We're talking 20 miles so it would be a pretty full day.  Then we (actually, I'm giving Keith the credit for the idea) decided that we should make it a family affair.  Bennett could ride the trail on his bike.  Surely he could keep up with our running pace while we pushed Leah and Bryce in our hardcore off-road Chariot stroller.  And so it was decided.  Tahoe Rim Trail: A Family Adventure began.

Our shuttle system involved the scooter.  We dropped the scoot off at Spooner Lake and drove to our starting point at Mt. Rose.  We packed food and about 5 pounds of candy (I'm almost not exaggerating) and set off.  It was a gorgeous day!

Bennett did awesome on the bike.  He was getting serious props from the riders that were coming the other direction.  

Don't you love pictures taken by random strangers?  This one cuts out an entire member of the family.

And this one gets an extra thumb.  Awesome.

And right about here is where it started to get bad.  We were probably 9 or 10 miles in when it got really rocky and Bennett started to melt down.  Meanwhile, one of the rocks decided to chew up our front tire.  It messed up the pin so the wheel popped off and wouldn't go back on.  Fabulous.  So we did what anyone would have done at that point--we sat and gorged on some of our 5 pounds of candy while we reconsidered our thought process for including the kids on this adventure.

Then we picked ourselves up and kept going--with the front of the stroller tipped up since we didn't have a front wheel.  We were so close to halfway at that point that it didn't really matter which direction we picked.  Either way, we were pretty hosed and the stroller slowed things nearly to a crawl.

But look at that view!!!

We looked down at all the people sitting on the beach at Sand harbor and thought: "Why would you be sitting under an umbrella on the sand when you could be up here with 3 kids, a broken stroller, and 9 miles to go?  Suckers!!"

And you know what they say about karma?  Well, it's true.

We blew a tire.  This situation was particularly dire since we were already doing a balancing act on the two remaining tires.  Balancing several more miles on one tire was out of the question.

 Although we did have a patch kit, the tire already had slime in it so the probability of the patch holding was questionable at best.  But we did get the tube to hold air so we shifted all the weight in the stroller to the side with last good wheel (which meant Leah got booted out) and kept going.

And then we walked.

 And walked.  (Deep sand and some seriously crazy drop-offs kept Bennett off the bike for a while).

And walked.  Keith looks like a pioneer pulling his handcart, no?

And this is how we enjoyed the legendary Flume Trail.  We kept walking until we had about 5 miles to go.  At this point Bennett had come 15 miles on his bike and Leah had walked close to 5 miles. These kids are amazing.  (We're going to once again give a shout out to the candy stash.  Don't leave home without it!)  But they were tired.  We had been out all day and if we kept up at our current pace, it was going to get dark on us.

So, I pulled out all the stops and jumped on Bennett's bike.  Since Keith knew the trail well, he knew that the last 5 miles were almost entirely downhill so I could speed things up by getting the the end as quick as possible.  I needed to ride the bike to the scooter which was waiting for us as the end of the trail, ride the scoot to Mt. Rose to get the car, then come back to get everyone else.  It was so ridiculous that it was comical.

This was the world's most uncomfortable 5 mile bike ride.  It only worked because I was coasting most of the way.  My long legs could not pedal the little bike so all I could do was hang on and go.  It hurt like crazy but the comedy of me on that little bike cruising down the trail made me laugh most of the way.  I cruised past a bear and I'm pretty sure he laughed at me too.

When I did make it back with the car, Keith and the kids were just walking into the parking lot.  Perfect timing.  And the kids were still smiling. (a sugar high, perhaps?)

20 miles+busted stroller+tiny bike+tough kids+candy stash=an unforgettably hilarious, exhausting, ridiculous family adventure.

One more Utah trip

We fit one more trip to Utah in right before school started.  There were pretty cramped quarters at Grandma and Grandpa's house since Shannon and her kids, Steve's family, and us were all staying there.  Having so many cousins around was crazy loud and crazy fun!

We got to see some Tour of Utah events including a ride with OGDEN'S MAYOR!  WOW!!!!

Mindy also sang the national anthem (she's amazing!!) and we got a bunch of fun freebies at the expo.

Another night we got to take lawn chairs and blankets to a fun outdoor concert.

More summer fun

We went to Lake Tahoe every single chance we could get this summer.  So much so that Keith called me a "beach whore".  I considered my beach time justified since I was using my Tahoe days as a chance to swim in open water for the triathlon I was training for.    But I guess if the shoe fits...

Bryce can turn anything into a cool race car in the sand.

The kids also spent bunches of time at the swimming pool.  Swim lessons!!!

Summer date nights!

Keith and I spent every date night this summer doing long trail runs on the Tahoe Rim Trail.  Best babysitting money spent--EVER!