My Zen

Over the weekend, while Shane and Caulen were in Price, Shane took a break from the buggy build  and took Caulen, along with Trent to shoot guns. Caulen is so obsessed with toy guns and shooting that Shane and I figured it was time for him to understand WHY we don’t point guns at people or ourselves among the other safety factors. From what Shane has told me and the pictures, you can tell he LOVED every minute of it. He keeps asking me if I want to go watch him shoot guns. I am excited he is really learning about them and so excited about it.

That is who this post is ALL about. Caulen got taken fishing by Grandpa Herzog last weekend! He was so excited all week to go. He kept asking me how many more nights he had to sleep before he could go fishing.  Scott took him to a fish farm pond in Helper, I don’t remember what the name is, early on Saturday morning. Caulen was up and ready to go. Grandpa Herzog got all the fishing gear for Caulen, even a cool fishing jacket, loaded in the truck and they were off. When Caulen caught his first fish he called Daddy and Mommy to tell us how exited he was. Scott said he caught and reeled the first on in, on his Toy Story fishing pole, all by himself. He even caught it with a fly instead of live bait! Thanks Grandpa Herzog for taking him.  With TWO Grandpa’s who are so amazing with fishing, Caulen can’t be anything but a pro. I got some shots of them before they left and Grandpa took the rest.

On another note, Caulen had his first day of Preschool today. He really, REALLY, misses his old teacher Miss Kinsey, but it was time to move him up in the education system, and a little closer to home now that we have added to the family. He is at a Montessori school. Really cool teaching method and small class sizes so I can’t complain. He wasn’t to into smiling for the camera this morning since the sun was in his face or I was just too uncool to smile for…but you can see his classroom and the hallway where all the classrooms are held in. I think my favorite part is all the natural lighting the school has. Lots of windows in every direction and in the classrooms…I mean I know there are windows in all classrooms, but its small enough where the lighting in the hallway enters into the classrooms to give out a really good vibe. If that makes sense.

Shane and I got invited by our dear friends, The Dimicks to head to lake Powell with them for 4 days for an anniversary getaway for Shane and I. It was just so amazing.  My wonderful parents said they would watch the kids for us, which I was personally proud I could let go of my 6 month old so soon, while we were in Powell. I know they had so much fun with the kids and spent every waking hour making sure both of them had the time of their lives.  Thank you Mom and Dad! 

We found the most beautiful campsite to be at deep in one of the Powell Canyons, though later it became our demise for leaving but that comes in a few more sentences. I did try to wake board again, and very successfully failed. I think even ONE shot before making my attempts to wake board is probably the reason why I STILL cant get up on the board. Its been 5 attempts for the two tries I have had so far. Sad story….and slightly embarrassing. haha.  I did do a little cliff jumping, okay just one jump, in Escalante. It was awesome. I would say I am a moderate adrenaline junkie. It was a pretty high jump, I didn’t think about it I just hiked up with Trent, looked over the edge and jumped. It was pretty awesome. The water back there is unreal, this insane emeral green color along with the reflections of the canyon walls and all their natural beauty is just remarkable. I can definitely understand why a people call it their personal Heaven.  It would be like Lake Powell is OZ and Escalante is the Emerald City.  Shane and I got decently burned and proceeded to peel for the next month..I think I just stopped peeling. It was an Epic trip with really good friends that also made it so memorable. The last day we were leaving we had flash flood weather ensue in our area from the wee hours of the morning until early afternoon. Basically, because we were so deep in a canyon the debris from breaking trees, bushes and other things vomited out in two directions blocking any chance we had of getting out. There were beautiful waterfalls pouring off the cliffs all around us, not to mention a sweet mud filled water fall that Shawndra got some good pictures of. The water was so strong that massive rocks were falling off the cliff on the opposite canyon walls. All of us spent the morning packing the inside of our tents and keeping the water out of them, since apparently Walmart, Coleman tents DO NOT hold strong in flash flood conditions. -_- Us mommies were SOOOO stressed out because the families who were watching our kids had no idea what was going on. Usually the day we leave we are, up, out, and back to the marina around noon, but since we had NO cell reception and not a chance in hiking anywhere there might be a chance of a few bars,we just sat waiting and stressed until FINALLY the storm halted for a little. Tanner and Shane hauled out of the canyon to check out the main channel to see if the weather and winds were safe enough to travel in, which it was, and within 15 minutes the three couples were pack loaded and PTFO of the storm to the marina. It was really cool though, to be in a massive rain storm and not be cold.  The waterfalls and attitude of the weather was just fascinating. So below are some pics of some of my favorite people, the storm and Escalante among the other random pics.

I took Caulen to the park EARLY this morning with Genevieve so he could get a good ride on his bike in before the storm came. I figured it was a great opportunity to get some photos of them “together” if I could, but mostly they were apart. There were so many fun ones, but I chose my favorite to share. I think Baby G and the Teddy Bear is my favorite, as well as Caulen being super silly on his bike.   You may not enjoy them as much as me, but they are my kids and anything they are in is perfect, and awesome and wonderful!!! lol

Here are some HDR Shots that I got in Ouray Colorado. I have more to edit, but it is just finding the time to do ANYTHING. haha They arent awesome but they are progress. lol

The family and I headed out to Olathe to spend a few days with my parents. It was so relaxing and beautiful there. They are in one of the coolest, most laid back RV Resorts I have seen them at yet.  The crew and I arrived there Thursday night, unpacked, had a few glasses of wine and went to bed. The next day we all got up and headed out to Ouray Hot Springs. SO GORGEOUS!! Shane was really excited since this has been, by far, his favorite area of Colorado. We all hung out in some warm water, played and then went walking around Main Street in Ouray. I wanted to TRY to get some decent HDR shots as well as shots of my beautiful family. After that we drove back to Olathe and my Dad then taught me out to carve a beef tenderloin to create filet mignon. It was AWESOME and I am so proud that I know how to do it now. It was so delicious, cut like butter and melted in my mouth…all for about three bucks per filet! I forgot to “steal” the leftover, uncooked filets from my parents freezer. lol jk Mom and Dad.

Since we were only there for two days, and were a little burnt out on driving, we all hung out at the park. Caulen and I played in the water, I helped my Mom make our famous family recipe of Peach Dumplings and grubbed down on one of my favorite dishes. My Dad busted out the guitar later on around the campfire (my most favorite way to sit around one) and cranked out some tunes. We had a few fellow RVers come over and hang out as well. I even heard SHANE singing along! YAY!!! lol.

So here are some pictures, I will post some HDR ones later.

Of course we were in Price so Shane can keep cranking out the buggy, but we did have some really good family time. Most of the time we just hung outside and played with Grandma and Grandpa but Shane had his friends over for a BBQ at his parents house on Saturday. It turned out good. I made a really great fudge cake with cream cheese ice cream and strawberries and blueberries to create a flag look. Scott made his families mustard pickled cabbage recipe so that the 5 of us could deck our brawts out in that. Itwas SO yummy, but don’t ask for the recipe, this one is staying locked in the Herzog vault of yumminess!   We lit off some fireworks for the kids, I managed to give myself a second degree burn on my thumb, but it was all for the kids! LOL. So on Sunday, the 4th, The Herzog Grandparents, and my family loaded up and went out to the fairgrounds in Price to watch the fireworks show there. We munched on some Subway for dinner, lots of cookies and played Go Fish waiting for the darkness to come. At one point Scott took Caulen to the free kids station where he got to decorate a cupcake and grabbed a balloon on the way back.  Our neighbor tailgaters shared their sparkelers and ground fireworks with Caulen to also help occupy the time till the big show. It was definently a good family night and I loved hearing Caulen ask why the music was playing during the show and how awesome the fireworks were.  Genevieve stayed awake in Grandma Herzogs arms the whole show just watching all the fireworks go off. I tried to get some pictures of the show, but since I failed to do some minimal research on taking photos of fireworks before we left….they suck. haha.  Enjoy the photos.

Last weekend a friend and I threw our own little wine tasting party at her Moms house in Price. It was just awesome. We each had four different wines with four accompanying appetizers to go with them that we made. I made chocolate covered strawberries, spicy meatballs (which I got asked the recipe for several times), bagged popcorn (hey is goes with the Chardonnay), and a tomato Caprese salad on bamboo skewers. Rachael made lots of her amazing Greek food including lamb, which was delicious, Spanakopita, chicken, and an amazing cheese and cracker tray.  We were so excited to eat and drink that we ended up forgetting which wines went to what. LOL. But who cares, its not like the wine was a hundred dollars a bottle or anything.  Rachel’s mother has an acre of yard that she fully landscaped, crafted and built with her two hands. It was AMAZING!  I don’t even think my photos did it justice. I feel lucky I got to hang out there! lol. I am VERY fond of a nice fire pit too, which she had.

This was also Genevieve’s first time eating rice cereal. Though I got some super cute photos from it…it really sucked balls. She still isn’t super excited about the whole thing, but she manages to consume and swallow at least two tablespoons a day…hopefully we can build up to four tablespoons.  Caulen took to it really well, so silly me to assume she would do the same. LOL. None the less she has been such a good baby and is now 4 months old!!

Last but not least, DA BUGGY! Shane bent more tube and got the motor out of his old buggy and placed in front of the new buggy so he can build around it.  He has been busting ass on it every weekend throwing down 24-38 hours per weekend on it.

Well since Moab.  Shane started on the four seater. 75% of our summer will be spent in Price on the weekends so hopefully it will be ready for ROCKTOBER CRAWL!!! :D  Here is hoping, but things go wrong all the time so I wont get my hope TOO high.

The rest of the summer will be visiting my parents in Colorado, visiting good friends in Silt, CO. I am excited to check out AJs elk ranch and see their new baby girl Paycee. MAYBE….just MAYBE….if I can detach myself from Genevieve…my dear dear friend Shawndra offered to bring us to Powell on their amazing boat at the end of the summer. Who knows though. So lots of fun stuff going on. Laurey has managed to turn her backyard into this perfect little oasis for kids and adults. We were there last weekend and basically stayed outside the whole time. Its really cool. I will get some better shots than the ones I got so I can show how fun it is. There is one HDR shot I got of her flamingo. Its cool.

Baby G got her 4 month check up yesterday, Wednesday.  Her doc was super surprised to hear that she was grabbing things at 2 months old and rolling over at three months old. She was letting me know that she would be starting to do these things like, reach out for stuff and try to roll over. I told her what I had just said above and sure enough baby G reached out and grabber her hands to munch on and her doc was REALLY surprised. ha ha. She was like, ” Well she sure is acting 6 months old. lol”  I really think Baby G will be a visual learner like her mommy. Caulen is so much like his daddy with just being able to figure things out without instructions or being told what to do.  Okay that is ALL the bragging I will do out loud with my kids. Its just more of expressing excitement for early milestones in their development over bragging. HAHA.

Well I have some cute pictures to share. Nothing of real substance except for the BUGGY BUILD, DA DA DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!!

lol…so I guess this isn’t coming after my post below since technically its being posted above…details.

Anyways, there are HDR shots that I got in Moab during the Memorial weekend. They aren’t great but still fun.