We were able to go on a great vacation. It certainly wasn't one of the best because Neil didn't get to come with us...but other than that we had a marvelous time. We first met my family at the City of Rocks in Almo Idaho. If you have never heard of Almo, it is okay because even though I had been to the City of Rocks before, I hadn't ever heard of it either. It is a very small town and there wasn't any cell phone reception so I was glad to see a little red sports car turn around in the middle of the road and start following me into town. It was my dad and Sarah coming to rescue us from getting lost in the middle of no where. Then we had fun climbing Bath Rock. It is called that because there are baths on the top of the rock where I guess you could take a bath right when the snow is melting. But other than that I don't remember there ever being enough water in there to take an actual bath. Brendan started climbing the big rock...but then wanted to come back down. I went up to get him, but then my sister Jamie carried him down so that I wouldn't fall and get hurt. My center of gravity is a little bit off these days with my belly sticking out so far. Then everyone tried to talk me into climbing to the top...again the center of gravity thing...plus, I don't remember it ever being as steep as it really is. When we got back into cell phone range I called Neil and told him that we will have to stop at the City of Rocks and climb together as a family when I am not pregnant and the kids are just a little bit bigger. Brendan, Eliza and Kaleb stayed down at the bottom with Grandma Bedke and I and climbed on their own big rocks. I need to get the pictures from my mom! They really had a lot of fun on the rocks. Right when we got out of the car Eliza started playing in the gravel in the parking lot. She is my ROCK LOVER! Did I mention that it was very HOT that day?After the City of Rocks we traveled into Oakley, Idaho to celebrate Oakley Days by watching the parade...we were a few minutes late and I guess they started the parade a few minutes early...so we missed the whole thing. The kids were so tired they even slept through the fire trucks running their siren as the parade was ending. Oh well. The whole reason why we were at Oakley was for the very extended Bedke Reunion. The Bedke Family has been there for 130 years and it was them that settled in Basin (right next to Oakley) when Frank Carl Bedke came to America from Prussia that many years ago. Is this riding in style or what? I think she is pretty comfortable! All I know is that I wouldn't be able to do this right now...So we celebrated the extended Bedke Reunion on Sunday afternoon at the original homestead site and had yummy food there. Kaleb and Eliza took naps with uncle Adam and then were ready to play together after that. Here are the cousins that were there from the Dave Bedke line: Kaleb, Brendan, and Eliza. As you can see, Eliza is quite the cheeser these days!Then we went to the open house for the Twin Falls Temple on Monday morning. I was so proud of the kids when they acted reverently inside the temple. They were really good and it was extra special to have my dad's old friend from high school, roommate from college, and now Area Seventy Brent Nielson take us on our very own private tour.
We finally got down to Park City on Monday afternoon and were able to have fun with all of my cousins and all of their cute kids. It was fun to see everyone again and to visit with them. Eliza fell in love with the bag dolley thing. It was really fun to spend more time with my family, too. Chelsea, Christopher, and Andrew were such big helpers with Brendan and Eliza. I know that Brendan and Eliza had a lot of fun with them! This is a picture of Brendan and Chelsea riding up the ski lift (Brendan calls it the big swing) to be able to go down the Alpine slide together. I am just glad that the body board that they put on our chair didn't have to be used by us! When we got up to the top we had to get our sleds. I wasn't sure that me, my belly, and Brendan could fit on one of those things, but we did! We had fun going down the slide together. Here we are waiting our turn. Brendan said that he didn't want to go down the big slide, but I told him that was the only way down the mountain. He finally consented...and when asked if he was having fun on the way down, he said he was!

I'm not in the next picture. It was taken at the top of the zip line...that I went down, too. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bedke who watched my kids, I was able to be outside playing all day! It was a lot of fun. The Bradleys from Indiana were in Utah at the same time as we were and came to visit us. It was fun to get the kids together again. Brendan and Ryan were a bit cold at first but then when we were eating dinner they just started giggling for no reason that we could see.
I think that Brendan and Eliza liked the water the best. They didn't much care for the big pool, but the hot tubs were a great hit! Brendan swam almost every day with Chelsea or Christopher or Andrew staying longer with him than what I could. Thank you guys!

All in all...it was such a fun reunion. I loved the company, the food, and the t-shirts! I can't wait until next reunion. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We did get to talk to Daddy on Chelsea's webcam. Thank you Chelsea...

We are glad to be home and be able to see Neil in real life. :) We were able to get home on Sunday just in time to see him before he left for Seattle...only 2 weeks left!

Moments

Elder Ballard's talk from last conference really has been on my mind lately. When he was talking it was if he were talking directly to me as a daughter of God. I so appreciated his words. The part that has been on my mind lately is:

So today, let me ask and briefly answer four questions. While my answers may
seem extremely simple, if the simple things are being tended to, a mother’s life
can be most rewarding.
The first question: What can you do, as a young mother, to reduce the pressure and enjoy your family more?
First, recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.

And I really am coming to see that the answer is really that simple. I have been and want to continue to look for the shinging moments of joy and satisfaction with my husband and children. I have to be honest and say that right now I am going through a hard time in life and that sometimes it is so much easier to be frustrated rather than joyful. With Neil being gone for five days in a row...WOW! I look forward to Friday afternoons when he walks through the door.

But just because life is hard doesn't mean that it can't be full of joy and satisfaction at the same time. I am so grateful for my kids! Looking for and appreciating the moments makes the hard times much lighter.

Some of these moments have been Brendan calling to me: "Watch mommy, watch" and then he proceeds to show me something that he has discovered that his body can do i.e. make noises with his mouth, curl his tongue as he sticks it out his mouth, pull down his eyelid so that the red stuff is showing, spread his legs, jump, kick out his knees from under himself...and then my favorite part: "it's pretty cool, mommy." And he is right. It is pretty cool that he is learning so many new things that his body can do...not to mention going potty in the toilet! He really is a pretty cool kid!
Now don't start to think that Eliza is even one step behind Brendan in being pretty cool...she adores her brother and would follow him to the ends of the world. She is a spitfire and I love her for this. She can hold her own. She loves to read books and I appreciate the extra moments of sleep that the books occupying her in the morning when she wakes up gives to me. But I have come to love the calling out for "mommy" in the morning. And when I go in to get her she is so excited to go in the morning. She has been a shining example to me of how we can be so excited for life to begin each day. And she is just going all day long. I enjoy the quiet moments in the afternoon when she is taking a nap and how that gives me time to rest as well. She sings all of the time and is so friendly to everyone. She is the first to say hi to any passerby when we are out and about. I love the smile that she flashes all of the time (except when a camera flashes towards her...it is so hard to get a picture of her smiling!) She is a JOY!
These are just a few of the things that I really have taken notice of lately. Oh, and I love that Neil comes home and helps on the weekend. He is a lifesaver and I love him even more for all of the little things that he does to brighten up my life. He really does make things a lot easier for me as a wife and mother. He finds such joy in being a dad! He gets a kick out of the kids and plays with them so well. I think he had good examples of this growing up!

Heavenly Father has really blessed my life and I hope to be able to recognize all of the moments that bring joy and satisfaction into being a mother. There are a lot of ways that I need to improve my life right now, but I do believe that by just recognizing the shining moments can help me be a happier mom.

It's POTTY time

So before Neil went off to school in Seattle, he gently reminded me that it really was time to potty train Brendan. I thought to myself that that may just be the straw that is going to break the camel's back while you are gone...but then decided that I should give it a try. By the way, my mom reminded me that she potty trained all of us by herself while dad was gone and that he really didn't do much to help us go potty in the toilet when we were young. So we've tried it! Eliza was the one who started going pee-pee in the toilet first. Brendan was scared to even sit on the porcelain throne. He kept on saying that it was Eliza's turn. So we put her on a couple of times. She has gone twice...mainly because I haven't really pushed it that much, but have had Brendan as my number one priority. We will potty train Eliza when she gets a little bit older...but wouldn't that be wonderful to have them both potty trained by the time #3 arrives! I think that could be my goal down the road. The first day was probably the craziest...well maybe I should back up and say that the first day that we tried to have underwear on was a disaster. Half way through the day and accidents in all of the pairs of underwear that Brendan had in his drawer and Brendan's solution was: "I need a diaper and wipes." I agreed and put him in one right away. I won't count that as his first day because I really didn't know what I was doing at all. I was frustrated and I know that he was too. The next time that we started with underwear was much better. We set the timer for 20-25 minutes all day long. And we sat on the potty all day long. I think we read all of the books that we own at least once if not twice... (that is why I have to wait at least a month before trying with Eliza). But Brendan was a good sport and I don't think he had any accidents that day. A pretty big difference from our last try. I won't say that we haven't had any accidents since then, but I will say that it freaks out Brendan a lot worse than me and he is trying really hard to keep his underwear dry. He is even telling me when he has to go now instead me always prodding him. I do try to remind him a lot during the day though. We are just so proud of him being a BIG BOY now.
We know that it is just around the corner for Eliza. She insists on wearing Brendan's Shrek and Elmo underwear over her diaper everyday and she even came out like this today...so after a few more good weeks with Brendan maybe it will be her turn to finally get some candy for going potty.

We are having a lot of fun at home, but miss our dad so much. We look forward to webcam conversations and Friday nights all week.