Legacy

So, in case you are wondering.....which you probably aren't.....but I will tell you anyway- this campout that my family goes on every year is just my family. My parents and my siblings. It is the Jay Cole Family Campout and we started it the year Mike and I got married. So we have done this for 9 years now. Every year one of us children is in charge of it. We plan where it will be and organize it all. Each of us kids (and our spouses/children) is in charge of one meal for the whole group. It makes it nice that way because we all eat together. My brother is big into Dutch oven cooking, so we almost always can count on something in that form from them. This is my mom and dad. They're not grumpy- they just didn't know I was taking pictures and didn't know to smile. I like candid pictures that way!
They are good with their grandkids. This is my dad with my nephew Shiney. They like to hang out and Shiney is grandpa's little shadow.This is my mom with my nephew Caleb on the teeter-totter that was at the campground. He wanted to play on it and she was a good sport to do it with him.
This is them with all their grandkids minus one. Jarom is 21 and was working and couldn't come to the campout. But all the rest of them were there. Good times!!

*extra points if you can find all of my knuckleheads in the picture

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY (except I'm gonna explain it anyway)

We camped out by the Challis Hot Springs. We got unlimited swimming and we were in the pool almost every chance we could be. I had changed Sidney into her swimmy suit and the other girls and I were putting ours on when I looked over at Sidney on the bed and noticed that she was trying to put my bra on! I laughed so hard. Then I yelled for one of the girls to grab the camera for me so I could take a picture. When we all got changed I took the camera and went out and showed my mom and sisters and anybody else who wanted a peep and proclaimed loudly, "THAT is totally gonna go on my blog!"

Garbage Can dinner

Someone from Bulgaria and Hong Kong visited my blog yesterday. I guess these camping posts are more exciting than I thought. Just kidding. Maybe.

Every year at my family's campout we do a Dutch-oven Dessert cook-off. This year it was decided to forgo the dessert part (seems everyone is on a diet or its too much sweets or some such nonsense) and the children would vote for their favorite meal and the family that was in charge of that meal would get the coveted trophy until next years campout. My sister Amy and her family were in charge of providing Saturday night's dinner and they made Garbage Can dinner. No lie. It was so cool. They bought a metal garbage can. Inside of it was placed the husks of corn on the cob, followed by layering of different kinds of veggies and meats. They used chicken, little smokies, polish sausages, zuchinni, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, onions, red peppers, green peppers, potatoes, corn on the cob (broke in half), and seasoned it with salt and pepper and season salt. Then she put about 6 inches of water in it and put it on their camp chef stove and let it come to a boil. Once it is boiling it doesn't take long for all the veggies to get steamed and the meat to cook.
When the veggies are done, you drain the water off.
And then dump the contents of your garbage can dinner on the table.

The kids went wild for it. No surprise that it was the winner of the favorite meal! The best part was that there is so much in it, that you just take what you like and leave the rest for someone else.
Fun, huh???

The "incident"

On Friday, day 2 of our campout, Meghan went out in to adjacent field with Grampa Cole, Uncle Lorin and the older boy cousins who were playing baseball. Grampa and Lorin were hitting them to the boys who were catching the balls and throwing them back. It was a game called 500 or something like that.

My kids are not the most sportsy-coordinated kids around. They are great at dance and gymnastics (must be their Ukrainian blood...), but they kinda stink at actual sports stuff. I was not really surprised when Rachel went out by Meghan and tried to catch and got hit in the knee with the baseball. It left a nice big mark that I forgot to get a pic of. Meghan stayed out there after Rachel's accident for a long time. I seriously kept expecting her to get bored. And then it happened. She got clocked right in the face by the ball that she was trying to catch. I took this picture about 1/2 hour after she got hit because as Mike and I were walking back to our campsite with her, I noticed that one of the lenses had fallen out of her glasses and we all had to look for it in the grass. Thank heavens that Gramma and her sharp eyes (ok, actually her bifocals) saw it in the grass.

Today Meghan sports a smaller bruised area above her eye. It is not swollen anymore, but the inside of her eye next to her nose is black and blue. I don't think she is going to try to play baseball anytime soon.

Just a teaser to get you to come back and read all about our fun camping trip this past week. Oh yeah, baby! I've got some great stories.

Campfire, dirt, kids, and more dirt.........what do these things have in common?


We are going CAMPING! Can't wait! My family goes every year on a big 4-5 day campout as our family reunion. It is so fun and we have been to lots of different places over the years. This year we are going to a HOT SPRINGS, so we can swim too! The kids are so excited that they can't stand it, and I just want to get out of Dodge.

Anyway, look forward to the pics when we get back and be thankful that I posted something so that my stupid twinkie story is not the only thing for you to read. ;)

5 is too many

Last night was our Ward Party. There hasn't been one in forever, so we decided that we should go and have fun. It was pretty great. There was fun games and things for the kids and good food to eat (I took my Snickers Salad), so we were having a good time.

Then came the contests they had planned. Twinkie and Marshmallow eating contests. My curiosity got the better of my diabetic self and I went to watch....and then some. The guys were up first and I thought they were a bunch of sissies only getting through 2 or 3 of their 6 twinkies that they needed to eat in 2 minutes. I mean really! It's a twinkie, right? Who doesn't love those? Then the ladies were up and probably because I had talked smack, they were telling me to go do it, and I caved. I can't help it. Peer pressure is too much. So I, being the good friend that I am, made my activity days co-leader do it with me. There was 7 of us ladies. The Elders Quorum President put 4 twinkies in front of each of us and it was to see who could eat the most in 2 minutes time. Oh yeah. No problem I thought. Meanwhile wondering, "Is there enough insulin left in my body to counteract this much sugar?" The timer started and we began shoving them in our faces. Oh yes, we were oh-so-ladylike. Anyway, I always try not to outdo myself in things like this. I don't want people to think that the reason I am fat is because I CAN EAT, but rather that the fat just miraculously attached itself to my body and I can not remove it. So, being in the twinkie eating contest probably wasn't the best thing for the image I am trying to uphold.

That was the least of my worries though. Two twinkies in and I was feeling it. Others had stopped by then. They were trying not to gag. Garbage cans were brought over. It was insane. And yet, I kept going. THEN, times up! Me and two others in a three-way tie having eaten 3 1/2 twinkies in two minutes. Now the conundrum was how to determine the winner. It was decided to make us eat one more and whoever did it the fastest was the winner. Keep in mind friends that the prize was a $25 gift certificate to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Clearly, whoever won would be spending that on a new garbage can since their other one would be ruined from barfing up twinkies. Anyway.....

I kept telling myself that I could do it. I could do it. I was like the little engine that could, but shouldn't. The lady to my left swallowed and showed her empty mouth a split second before me. And I lost. (After gorging myself on 5 twinkies. More than the winner of the guys eat-off contest.) Then she promptly got up and went into the church restroom and made herself barf. I didn't. I think there should be a clause in the contest rules that says, " If the winner is unable to keep the twinkies down or fails to uphold her position as winner of the twinkie eating contest, then the title of winner goes to the runner up, who clearly is so demented that she has not barfed and is more deserving of the prize."

That's what I think. One thing for sure is that I WILL NEVER EAT A TWINKIE AGAIN FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE. I don't care what they are offering as the prize, I am not gonna participate in the contest.

And that, my friends, makes ME the true winner.

My obsession and my therapy

"Crafting" is therapy for me. Yesterday during naptime I did Jonathan's box. He was a little mad that it wasn't more "froofy". I said, "well, you are a boy so get over it!" Front of the box. His favorite color is orange and he likes Dinosaurs.
Back of Jonathan's box. I love the word paper. I saw that at Roberts and knew that I had to buy it for his box!
This is Jenny's. I did it this morning during Sidney's morning nap. Seriously, these boxes take hardly any time at all. Jenny doesn't have a real favorite color-she likes them all. I thought this paper was adorable and when I found ribbon and stickers that totally matched it I was like "SCORE"! Hers is my favorite of the ones I have done so far. Click here and here to see the others that I have made.
This is Meghan's. Her favorite color is purple, and she likes butterflies. It's pretty simple and I kinda like it that way. This one took me about an hour to do. It's a fun naptime project!

What he means to me

In my life I have been blessed by knowing some wonderful people who have touched me and made me better. My Uncle Darrell is one of those special people.

He was always my favorite and at every family reunion or get-together I HAD to sit by him. I loved it when we went to visit him and he always gave the best hugs. As I got older, this did not change. I still had to seek him out and have my own little time with him and he still gave the best hugs. When I came home from my mission, they offered to let me live with them while I went to college. I jumped at the chance to be around them day in and day out! Uncle Darrell and Aunt Connie were the best to talk to about stupid boys at Institute and work and life and my goals. I treasured my time with them.

While living with them, I met somebody that I fell in love with. Uncle Darrell gave great advice and when I would get home late at night after our date, he and Aunt Connie were always waiting up to hear me tell them all about it. They were so supportive. Even when he would tease me about how I was helping Mike pick out appliances for "his" house. Uncle D would say,"Jana, what are you gonna do if he gets finished building this house and then starts dating someone else and marries her?" And I would tell him, "Oh there's no way. It'll be ME in that house"! He would just laugh. He once told me that the two things young couples fight about the most are sex and money. He was right. He knew a lot, but he also knew how to tell you what he knew without being preachy. Not many people have that gift.

He was awesome with my kids too. They adore him in their childlike way, just as I did. They searched him out at family functions and craved his hugs. He returned the love they shared with him and made them feel so important, just as he did for another child I remember...

This great man passed away on Saturday afternoon following a brave fight with prostate cancer, and complications that arose from a surgery. I love him dearly. He will be missed.

The silver lining in losing someone so wonderful and awesome is the opportunity to reaffirm to my kids about eternal families and why the gospel is so important to us.

Good-bye Uncle Darrell. LOVE YOU!

Friends are a blessing.

They totally are, you know. My best friend Deanne visited me on Saturday. This is a big deal to me because she has been my friend since we were 5 years old. Seriously, she is the first friend that I remember. Our moms carpooled us to Kindergarten together. She was with me through the rough years of junior high when I was a brat and thought I was too cool for her. She was still my friend. In high school she kept me grounded. Not "grounded", but normal. She was the one that I could watch old movies with (Sabrina, Seven Brides...., Scarlet Pimpernel), and we had the BEST personal jokes that no one else understood- "It's the Schwans man!" :) Anyway, she moved away to go to school at Purdue lots of years ago, and eventually she got married and started a family, but she always makes a point of stopping to use the potty and visit with me when she comes out west to go home and visit her folks in Idaho. I love her to death!
Our boys are 3 months apart in age. They see each other once a year and play like they are best buds and see each other every day. I love that! We miscarried a couple of years ago around the same time as each other, and then we were both pregnant again at the same time. Our baby girls are 4 months apart in age and were so cute yesterday when they were checking each other out for the first time.
Deanne's hubby is so awesome! Here is Deanne, Andre, Dallin (son), and Avery. I am so grateful for true friends. She is a soul sister, a kindred spirit, a better friend to me than I have probably been to her. I love her!

Flashback Friday...of sorts....

My boy crazy 9 year old daughter LOVES the Jonas Brothers. I think I am constantly hearing allllllll about them and their songs and the contest to win tickets to go see them and mom-didya-know-this and mom-didya-know that all Jonas Brothers. And I so don't even care. I mean look at their hair. Weird. Get a real hairstyle I say. She even wants a poster of them for her room. Ha HA Ha. Not even. Sigh.

And then I remembered myself when I was near to her age and the boy group that I thought was the shiznizzle. New Kids On the Block! I mean really. Have you ever in your life seen such Hawties? NOt since the late 80's early 90's at least. And their hair is so not much better.

Sigh.

But I am still not getting her a poster.

Woo Hoo!

Is that not the prettiest Temple ever? Oh, I am so happy about this! I grew up in the small town of Buhl, Idaho and the closest Temple for a long time was the Idaho Falls Temple. I remember being about 9 years old and my family went to the open house of the Boise Idaho Temple. It was wonderful and an experience that I shall never forget!

And now the Twin Falls Idaho Temple is all done and ready for its open house. Woo Hoo! We are taking our kids and going through it so that they can see how beautiful the Houses of the Lord are. My parents are thrilled to be able to drive 20 minutes to go to the temple now, instead of going on Stake or Ward temple day when they rent a bus and it takes the whole day. Now, they can go whenever they want. What a blessing for the people of that area!

Wordless Wednesday, missing my Daddy, and Walking away from Mommy!

My obsession, part 2

Remember my new obsession? Here is the latest one that I have made. It is for my sweet Rachel to put her treasures in. It's already shoved full of stuff! I think it turned out cute though!!