More camping pics

Because they all have to do something if one of them is going to do it, here are the three buddies in jogging stroller for two.

These kids were on an errand. Their errand? To bang their sticks on the tree trunk, of course.

Morgan loves animals. He was tentative around Sadie, (she's a big dog!) but loved her anyway.
The kiddos couldn't get enough rides.

Mmm, yes. Morgan is wading in the freezing creek water while it was cold enough outside to wear a jacket. :) We didn't have much heat the last couple days of camping. But he wanted to play in the water!

Log Wars

The first day of our camping trip, my three younger brothers were sent to gather firewood on the four wheelers. Casey came back with a huge log, which we turned into a bench. (He claims that this was his intension all along, but who knows?) :)

Cute kids utelizing the bench. P.s. That isn't snow, but ash from the fire.

But extra seating was not what we used it for initially. We introduced the whole, "I'm the King of the Castle" game into our camp life. The game is simple and familiar. Two people stand on the log and push each other. Grabbing is against the rules. The last one standing is the winner.

Here I am besting my two youngest brothers. :)

Most of the log wars occurred before Chris and his family arrived, so when he did, Jason had to challenge his untested brother. The problem was, I was sitting on the log eating my lunch. I was there first! Ah well. Let the games commence!

I'm ready for my close-up

This post I dedicate to Morgan. Thanks for bringing a smile to your mommy's face every day! Here's why:

Four Wheeling while camping

While we were up in Idaho, Morgan and I went camping with my family. So much fun! We found this place near Anderson Ranch Reservoir, which is pretty much in Mountain Home. Who knew there was anything pretty and foresty in Mountain Home? It was a great spot with lots of ATV trails, which was great considering we brought 4.

We got there Wednesday and stayed till Saturday. It was my parents, the three youngest boys still at home, Shelly, (Jason's GF) and then a day later my older bro Chris and his family came up. Morgan was much happier when his cousins arrived and we didn't hear as much of the "Let's go home, mommy" complaint.

On Thursday we went on a nice ride. All who were at camp went, which meant that each ATV had two people aboard, but it was still quite fun. I sent Morgan with Grandpa. On the back of my Dad's machine there is a bit of a backrest for a second rider. Look at the series of photos of Morgan with Grandpa.

The ride started like this.

Then Morgan started to slouch a little. Not long after that Morgan was laying down comfortably. He even put the brim of his hat over his face to protect from the sun and dust. Once while we stopped briefly, we lifted the hat to peak at him and he was sleeping! How do you fall asleep on a four wheeler?
Jason and Shelly.

Mom and Cameron.

Casey and I were on another, but I didn't really get a picture of it.

We found some beautiful views on this ride.

Morgan is so adventurous. Look at him go!

I thought it was cute when Morgan, Kaien and Emmy all hopped aboard their own ATV and took to the imaginary trails.

Ison Family Reunion

I guess it's time to get this post posted. The Ison family reunion, one of the reasons for my extended trip to Idaho, was great. Many of you know the details of it already, and the other portion of you might not care much, so I'll just pretty much cover the Saturday night bit.

The Fish Pond. A great idea and so much fun. Morgan loved the loot he got.

The contents of his first fishing experience,

And the second...

I didn't get pictures of his third or fourth times through. :)

Morgan loves motorcycles. At one point I looked around for Morgan and didn't see him anywhere. I finally found him admiring Wade's motorcycle.

That night we also had an auction. That was fun. It would have been more fun if I won more stuff. :) Though I did get some cute homemade cards and some adorable flowers to garnish the hair of little (or big) girls.

On the way home that night Morgan fell asleep with his new army hat on. Oh so funny.

Girls night

One of my last nights in Nampa I hung out with my Sis-in-laws. First we went to Studio D where Chanel and I got our hair cut. We brought in the pic of Ashley Simpson below to show how we wanted our hair cut.
And the finished products. They actually look a bit different. But we have different hair types. I kinda like my hair, but I haven't been able to get it to look as good as they did. It won't get as straight and sleek. Oh well.

Then we went bowling. Fun! I haven't been bowling in a long while. Jack in the Box was our next stop where we all got oreo shakes, among other things. I ended up dropping my debit card at the drive through window, which was impossible to retrieve without pulling the car forward and then reversing again to pay and get our food. Sheesh! Ah well. A fun night!

Ouch! It stung me!

We're finally back home. We had a good time visiting family, but we're happy to be home. Now I have some blogging to catch up on! Todays post will be smaller though. I plan to gently work my way up to the things that require larger posts with more pictures.

One evening Morgan and I were hanging out at my parents' house. Most people were gone. So I took my boy outside and we mosied over to the little garden area. I found some delicious, hidden cherry tomatoes and was busy picking them while Morgan played happily near by.

I was by the plants and Morgan was bouncing on that board there.

But then he started screaming in a panic. I looked at him and there were a few wasps hovering around him, so I quickly picked him up and whisked him away to safety. My poor boy was stung three times. Once in the forehead and twice on the arm. He wouldn't let me near him for a little while, but I finally convinced him to let me put a baking soda paste on his stings and that seemed to help immediately. Then, because Morgan associates hurts with bandaids, I put some on him.
Now Morgan is wary of bees and their stingers, which is probably good. Morgan's first bee sting was tripled.

After taking care of Morgan, I took my brother out to the garden area. We found wasps hovering around the tail light on the pickup. Cameron got the wasp spray and drenched them and their home, killing the mean insects that hurt my Morgan.

This and that

First an anecdote. Today, (I'm still in Nampa with family) I went to the temple with my mom, and left Morgan with my younger brothers to be babysat. When I got home I was greeted with this story.
Morgan approached my brother Cameron and informed him that he had a ball in his nose. Sure enough, Cameron checked and saw one of those airsoft gun bullets jammed up there. He tried to get Morgan to blow it out, but Morgan would sniff instead, so that was unsuccessful! Cameron couldn't get it out and so decided to call my dad or try to see if my Mom and I were out of the temple and able to answer a phone, but before he did Morgan came back to him and said, "I got it!" He held up the ball as proof. Phew! That could have turned in to much more drama. I just read a friends blog who had the exact same thing happen to her two year old, only they ended up at the doctors office with the nostril widening tools and everything.

Thing two. Our tenants are a nightmare! They moved in in April, paid first months rent and one third of the deposit. They immediately tried to steal gas, which resulted in us having to pay for a replacement meter or something. They paid the next months rent, but no deposit. And that's it. Nothing in June, nothing in July, nothing in August. So we're evicting them. They were supposed to be out by the first of the month, but they have been making excuses and begging for extensions. Yesterday I went to the house, expecting it to be empty because we were told that they would be out by Saturday, "no ifs, ands, or buts" in their words. When I pulled up to the house there were two cars in the driveway and five motorcycles on the lawn. What the heck? After all their excuses and outright lies, (the check is in the mail!) I was ready for some confrontation. I ring the doorbell and the female renter comes out. I'll call her Hailey, since that is her name and I don't feel the need to protect her privacy. But not only does Hailey emerge from the house, two large dogs lumber out with her. She is able to keep a third one inside. We specifically mentioned that there were no pets allowed. She makes a comment about the dogs being there until her mother-in-law gets off work. But....she's proven not to be honest, so that means nothing to me.
Hailey shews one dog back inside, but allows the other to remain out, so during the whole conversation that follows imagine a dog jumping up on me and licking my knees.

Me: "Hailey? I'm Melanie Nelson. I own the house."
Hailey: "Mmm-Hmm...." This is intoned in a way that says, "Yeah, and? Your point? What could you possibly want?" Grrrrr!
Me: "We understood that you would be out of the house by at least the fifteenth, no if's, ands, or buts." You better believe I threw those words right back at her!
Hailey: "Yeah, I emailed your husband and said we would be out by tonight."
I pause for a moment, as I am a little taken aback by her words. I happened to know there was no agreement for that since I called my husband moments before ringing the doorbell. Plus, I'm really not good with confrontation or being mean to people I don't know well. Not that mean was what I was going for, just firm, and serious.
Me: "Well we obviously never got that email."
Hailey, interrupting : "We'll be out by tonight. When my husband gets off work we'll take everything out, clean everything up and leave the house in the order that we got it."
(I've heard that before! From her. Two weeks before.)
Me, still trying to show that I mean business: "Well we've done you lots of favors, and we really need you out by tomorrow."
Hailey did more of her assurances, all with the expressions and intonations that say that she thinks I'm an idiot and she shouldn't have to keep explaining things to me.
Me: "You mentioned that you would mow the back..." I deliberately lean over to peek through the fence slats to peer into the back yard. I see tall weeds.
Hailey: "Yeah, my husband will mow that tonight. He did half of it, he just has to do the other half."
Me: "Alright, well, I'll be back tomorrow, so we really need everything gone. I have to get home."
Then I leave feeling like I lost.
Today I went back. I was relieved when I saw that there were no cars in the driveway and no motorcycles on the lawn. I rang the doorbell for good measure, but let myself in with my key when no one answered. There was still stuff in there. Not a lot, not furniture, but still stuff. The carpets were disgusting. Pretty blackened. Nothing was cleaned, but there were still some cleaning supplies there, as well as a vaccuum. I called Aaron, who then checked his email and found a new one from Hailey. Once again she was demanding an extension. This time it was so she could finish cleaning, so I wasn't going to argue. Otherwise I would have to do more work! But I did notice that two cupboard doors had been broken off in the kitchen. The screen door for the sliding glass door was laying in the weeds in the backyard, which, by the way, were high everywhere. In no place did he mow them down, like Hailey claimed. But, a point for them, the upstairs looked okay. It had been cleaned and the carpet wasn't too bad. Also, the carpet wasn't good when they moved in, but it is tons worse now, and they were only there for a few months. I just hope they clean up all the beer cans in the back yard.
I guess I get to go back tomorrow. It had better be finished.
Wow, this ended up being very long. So sorry.

A poem

I feel the need to post. So I will post a poem I wrote last night. I was playing this game/deal with my family where we chose a topic and all took about ten minutes or so and wrote a poem about it. All the poems were pretty good, I thought, and it was fun. So here is my poem. I tried to make it mockingly serious or something. The subject matter was dust mites.

The Enemy Within

Under the bed,
Under the chair,
In the corner over there.

On unloved books,
As thick as sand
on the blades of the ceiling fan.

Dust Mites.

So gray, so worn,
Bleak and forlorn.

Picked up by breeze,
Hanging in air,
Landing softly in your hair.

Finding your mouth
And on they float,
Till they stop in your throat.

Dust Mites.

Coughing and sneezing,
Choking and wheezing.

Sniffly nose,
Watery eyes,
Anywhere the dust mite flies.

Allergic reactions,
Curses and scorn,
Are children of the dust mites born.

So mean, so vile,
Like hate filled bile.

Dust Mites.

There it is. Disclaimer. I only had a little while to write it! I know it's silly and some of the rhymes are dumb, but it's a poem about dust mites, for petes sake. Don't take it so seriously. Sheesh.

Cute things Morgan says

Here are a few of the things that Morgan has said that has made me laugh recently.

Yesterday he went up to a mirror, used both fingers to flare his nostrils and tilted his head to get a good look inside his nose and said, "boogers!" I didn't even know he knew that word.

Aaron bought Morgan a package of Matchbox cars, which Morgan was thrilled about. He had them all out and touched each and said, "I love that, I love that, I love that," etc.

Another one, this morning he got up before me and went to find Grandma. A bit later he came back to the basement. I heard him coming down the hall and saying, "It's kinda dark." You may not think this is all that funny, but I sure did. I don't remember Morgan ever saying kind of before.

Baby Ammon!

I finally got to see my new nephew. He is lovable and tiny and precious. He was blessed yesterday, so I was able to attend that here in Nampa. Now I will be in Nampa for three weeks. Booh yeah!
Here is my nephew. Ammon Washington Martin. He's a little bit over a month old. I love him.

Morgan had a GREAT time playing with ALL of his cousins. Well, Ammon didn't really join in the fun. Nonetheless, Morgan had a great time.
Look, here is a picture of them all. This photo and a few others like it, mysteriously ended up on my camera. I didn't take them and didn't know about them, but they are good ones to have anyway.