::yesterday::

Being out east makes conference days really strange. Instead of the sessions starting at 10AM and 2PM with the priesthood session at 6PM we're the day starts with the first session at noon. Then the second doesn't start until 4PM. Priesthood is at 8PM!! It sort of ruins the boys night out for ice cream afterwards. Good thing there's nobody out here to try to take Kris out anyway.

I was inspired by Marilyn--she and her family had a muffin day and ate a bunch of different delicious muffins. I was thinking that would be a fun tradition to attach to conference--at least the October session.
Is there a little boy out there that wouldn't look forward to 8 hours of church meetings as long as there were a lot of yummy muffins involved?

Unfortunately this time I planned a whole bunch of other delicious food too--like chocolate croissants, french toast, apple dumplings, etc. etc. A whole bunch of sugary, delicious, filling foods. So we only got to try two different kinds of muffins during the weekend. (I know, it hardly counts to say "only" on top of all that other food, but muffins are important!)
We had a mix from trader joe's that I didn't like much. It was too healthyish tasting for me really--too much fiber and smushy blueberries and cranberries.
But on sunday I made this recipe--strawberry vanilla muffins. And they were delish. Yum.

Enough about delicious food (for now).

In between sessions yesterday we went over to a little lake in our city so that Kris and Max could try to catch some little fish. They went a couple of weeks ago and caught a bunch while I was taking a nap.

Looks like a pretty nice place from this view, right?
How about this one?

Erg, blech. Yuck.
Remember, the industrial revolution did start around here somewhere. Who knows what's in that lake.

The color of the water didn't stop Max from having fun--or trying to get in the water--or from sitting down in the mud a zillion times.

Kris tried to catch fish.
Max found a groaty spoon.

Kris tried to catch fish.
Max threw muddy sand into the lake and scared all the fish away.

Kris tried to catch fish but,
he caught a tree instead.

Kris tried to catch fish.
Max caught a long long twisty branch (by pulling it down out of a tree.)
and then he threw it in the lake.
So if there were any fish left at that point they ran away!

So at the end, Kris didn't catch any fish, but Max succeeded in catching some time in the time out chair for not listening. Lucky him!

Isn't this a crazy beautiful spiderweb I found in the yucky icky lake mud? It looks like a gorgeous necklace. I keep learning that if I keep my eyes open there are beautiful things to see.
And hear--conference was great too.

::two questions::

Question number 1:
Is there anything tastier than a piece of bread, warm from the breadmaker with honey on it?
I think the answer is no, but if anybody disagrees, let me know.

Number 2:
Where the heck did the top of the milk go when Kris dropped it the other night? How is it possible for something like that to completely disappear. We looked under everything.
That is so dang weird to me.


Yay for October!

::special::

As we were driving up to our campsite in Vermont we realized we drove right past Sharon, VT. This is important to us as members of our church because it's Joseph Smith's birthplace.
So we decided that on sunday when we were on our way home we would stop in and see what there was to see.
First of all the landscape there is totally amazing. Vermont may well be one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and this area is definitely high on the list of beautiful Vermont. As soon as we got off the freeway we could see the rolling wooded hills and the granite rocks. The White river runs right next to the road for some of the way and it has big granite shelves sticking out from the river bed. Hard to describe, but so dang pretty!
It was rainy and chilly on sunday, but the rain just seemed to intensify the leaves that have already changed colors.

We didn't know what to expect at this site. We knew that the church had something there, but not the details.
Driving up was kind of like driving into the temple grounds. Lovely landscaping and flowers--very well maintained. It looks like the stake center for the area is on that property. It was cool because the building is made in the new england style, with white boarded sides and a straight steeple. It's fun to see chapels built in different styles.

When we got out of the car the view was beautiful! And they have a sound system throughout the area with music from the mormon tabernacle choir playing. That had the potential to be a little cheesy and over the top, but it was actually nice. It added to the peaceful feeling there.

There's a big monument to Joseph that was set up in like 1905. It's supposed to be the biggest single piece of granite in the US or something like that. The story of how they got the stone there was pretty amazing. It involved lots of teams of horses, many weeks and a lot of prayers.

The monument looks like it could've been made yesterday, the cuts all look really fresh. It's hard to believe that it's been there for over 100 years.

The landscape around is beautiful and peaceful. Behind the monument there are some dirt roads where you can go back and see the ruins of the foundation of Lucy Smith's parents' home and some of the remnants of the old roads and bridges. The main road from canada to Boston at the time ran basically right in front of the Smith's gate. It sure would be interesting to see what it would really be like to live back then.
The view from the hill is gorgeous too. The house on the left is where they have a lot of paintings and info about Joseph and where the senior missionaries give tours. We're not sure what the house on the right is for.

The tour was really nice and well given. They had recovered the hearthstone from the house where Joseph was born and installed it there. There was also a rocking chair which Joseph had made at some point.
We enjoyed it. And even Max listened for a while.
I was a little embarrassed because we were pretty yucky from camping for three days, but oh well. The senior sister missionary from Reno took our picture anyway and told us to come back for their christmas light show. So we must not have smelled that bad, right?

I'm so glad we stopped. The feeling there was so nice. So peaceful and happy. It's my favorite of all the church sites I've visited. I'd love to go back.
As we were driving out Max said, "I sure wish we could stay here." I asked him why and he said, "Well, Joseph Smith was born there, whaddaya think?"

::nature max::

I spent the last day editing videos of our camping trip. I think Max might be the next Jeff Corwin (as long as he has a really good video editor!)

This is kind of long--about seven minutes, but it's really cute. So I'd say if you're a relation and you think Max is cute, you should definitely check it out. I hope the quality is ok. I hate how bad things look on youtube!!

::found::

I found the coolest leaf ever on our camping trip.  I picked it up because of it's amazing colors and then I realized it had a hidden surprise.

Can you see it?

I've never seen a heart that's grown a leaf before, have you? It made me happy.
The fallen leaves were so amazing and colorful on our trip. I had a hard time tearing my eyes from the ground to look up. Yellow, orange, red, brown, and all of those mixed together. Just amazing. It's such a blessing to have such beauty in our lives!

Camping in Vermont

It started out looking like this:

You can clearly see a wacky boy and a little glimpse of the walking carpet we packed in the back. Max is holding a plastic arrow to his head that is part of a cowboy bow and arrow set we got him to take along.

I imagined him spending a lot of time walking around the woods shooting things, but it turns out he only played with it the first day. Still, it was fun. He pretended to be Robin Hood and then, after our Sunday morning lesson, Nephi, before he broke his bow.

The first thing we did was drive 4 hours Northwest into Vermont. I really wanted to see the Green Mountains. Conveniently, we drove right through Waterbury, home of the Ben and Jerry's factory. Sounds great right?

We went there with great anticipation. We dreamed of a great tour with yummy samples. Unfortunately, we had to pay $3 dollars a person; the tour had a crappy 6 minute movie and then a brief walk-0ver of the production line, which was closed.

Finally, the samples: a scoop in a slightly glorified fast food catsup cup.

Ginna was not that pleased to have paid $3 bucks for less than a cone of ice cream.

This bus, however, was very cool.

The biggest let down came just after we took this picture. Max was having so much fun that when nature called, we were just a little too far from the facilities.

So, while this photo gives you a good feel for the scenery and the factory, if you look closely you'll see a dad with a 5yr old on his back running to the bathroom in vain.

In total, the factory tour cost us $6 bucks (Max was free) for tickets, one pair of used underwear estimated at $5, one pair of orange track pants estimated at $20 for a sum of $31. What we got? A humiliated boy, my sunglasses fell in the toilet while I was trying to help Max out, a little ice cream, some pictures and priceless memories.

We got into camp on Friday night and enjoyed a nice campfire complete with songs and little boys playing with burning sticks. It was really cold, however. The overnight low was near 30 degrees. We decided to let Sultan sleep in the tent with us since we didn't want him to freeze in the car and he proved his worth by lying on Max and keeping him warm.

Max spent a lot of time exploring nature and finding stuff. I love the giant mushroom (out of focus, sorry) and leaf he found. He was very proud of himself. He did a ton of exploring during this trip.
I was very manly and chopped wood to keep the fire stoked.

I also made a ton of hot chocolate to keep my peeps warm. Max had a chocolate mustache the whole time. I rocked the Hendricks' unshaved mustache the whole time which is equally ridiculous looking.

On Saturday, we hiked up to Moss Glen Falls. It wasn't a long hike, but it was significant because we've never seen Max more excited to hike. He loved it. In fact he wore himself out so well that he fell asleep while sitting around the campfire later that night. Here are some pictures from the hike. It was a beautiful waterfall in an old birch forest.


We hiked up to the top of the falls and then on the way down we went to the base and walked across the creek a few times. It stressed Ginna out, but Max and I really liked it.

This is Ginna looking for Max after he learned about being camouflaged.

This is me happy to be hiking and camping with Ginna and Max. This is much better than hiking and camping with boy scouts by the way.

We loved Vermont, except Ben and Jerry's, although we still like their ice cream.

::when five::

When a guy is five, he may see absolutely no reason for walking in a straight line or keeping a relatively steady speed.
When a guy is five he might fall asleep in bed in the middle of doing "exercises" and end up in a very funny position when somebody comes to tuck him in.
When a guy is five he might wear a giraffe costume to the grocery store.
When a guy is five he sure does love his stuffed animals.
When a guy is five he thinks he can do anything.
When a guy is five he might wear his Incredibles costume to run errands.
When a guy is five he might wear his sunglasses in the dark of night--inside.
When a guy is five he might find it very easy to make strangers smile.

::stink, stank, stunk::

While Max and I were off having fun in Florida, poor Kris was home working. Working and slaving away.
What could be worse than being stuck at home alone working while the rest of the fam is on vacation? I know something. How about if the dog gets sprayed by a skunk after midnight on a weeknight? Yeah. That works.
Poor Kris. He was up scrubbing and soaping the dog at 1AM in the cold rain when he had to be at work the next morning. He said the smell was so bad. I'm glad I wasn't there for that. I wouldn't have handled the skunky house well I'm afraid.
By the time I got home Sultan had been bathed at least five times. This is a dog who's really not supposed to be washed more than about twice a year in order to not dry out his hair and skin. He's just not used to it. Nor is Kris. Nobody likes it.
And thank goodness for google. It was a quick way to find out the most effective formula to wash a skunky dog.
When I got home the house still smelled pretty weird. The dog seemed ok, but the house didn't. We aired it out and lit candles.
But then the dog proved he still stank. When he scratched or moved the right way, a smelly stink would rise from him--kind of like the yuck that follows pigpen around in Charlie Brown. The stink was the kind that you can taste in your mouth. Ick.
So anyway, saturday morning the Sul got another wash. By both men of the house this time.

Sultan seemed pretty resigned to it, though we're not resigned to the lingering stench. The wash helped, but there's still something slightly wrong swirling in Sultan's atmosphere.
We're just hoping that the skunk who decided to move in under the shed doesn't come back. And that Sul learned his lesson. (hah)

::::

This is our shelf in the bathroom. Goofy collection of stuff there, eh? There must be some goofy people living here.