Let’s Go to Liberty!

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Kami Hymas

Two years ago Rock’s family had a reunion in beautiful Ogden Valley, a hidden gem, in my opinion. We have wanted to go back ever since and this month we did! One of the small towns in the valley is named Liberty so we took advantage of the theme.

We were on the opposite side of the valley this time and though it is dryer than I prefer, we still had a beautiful view.

Even being in the same room together is often hard for our family, but we did pretty good. The rental was big enough for people to have their own space and there was lots to explore.

Levi could not WAIT to get outside on these hills and explore.

On his first romp outside he found a rattlesnake skin.

He was thrilled!

I was not.

Rock appeased me by taking them all hiking further up into the hills.

These two.

I think they were best buddies in heaven and Levi promised to always

look after and take care of his little sister. He was helping her down the steep hill.

Rock introduced the boys to the game of Risk, cause all boys have to learn to play Risk, right? Isn’t it like a right of passage or something?

He destroyed them.

Liberty and I started her first sewing project. She’s been dying to learn to sew. I sew only when I have to, it’s not something I enjoy much anymore, but she is super excited about it.

Later I found her curled up in her bed sewing away.

On our second day we went swimming at Pine View Reservoir. Again, a small miracle occurred and all the kids got along and had a blast.

BBQing after the beach.

On our third day we went hiking. This got a little dicey, but as long as we kept the kids separated it worked. The story of our lives.

Liberty picking flowers (every 5 feet) on our hike.

Near the top

It was very important to Levi to go first on the way back down because

Reagan had gone first on the way up.

After our hike we stopped at a super yummy ice cream place. Farr’s Ice Cream.

It was right by the river in a beautiful spot.

And that was our Ogden Valley family vacation 2016!

Wesel Women in McCall

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Kami Hymas

My sisters, mom and I went up to McCall last month for a girl’s weekend away. We have never done anything like that and it was so much fun! I love hanging out with them. We laugh too hard, stay up too late and eat too much junk food. We should make this a tradition!

Our beautiful boat ride on Payette Lake

Our captain informed us at this point on our ride that we were at the 45th parallel. Alli and Sarin decided to celebrate, though it took them several tries to get it right.

Ponderosa State Park

Sarin couldn’t figure out how to put her sweatshirt on correctly, but we let her hang out with us anyway.

Other fun (ny) memories: Alli and I trying to get into the wrong cabin, the squeaky restaurant door, Steel Magnolias-once we finally figured out the 5 remote controls, and the great air conditioning secret.

No trip to McCall is complete without a trip to the Pancake House.

We liked it so much we ate there twice!

Beautiful flowers in the morning sunshine.

Love you, Bean!

Let’s do this again next year, Ladies!

Random Summer Happenings

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Kami Hymas

Look what we woke up to practically in our back yard last week! I heard the loud swooshing sound that a hot air balloon makes and knew there was one very close. I ran to the door to look and found this! I had no idea it would be THIS close!

And then there were two!

They landed in the park behind hour house to deflate. The kids all went over to watch. When they got back, Alli, who was visiting said, “Who wants to do a doughnut run??!” and Liberty said, “Can’t we just walk?”

A few days later Cade got his cast off.

It’s a little nerve wracking for a mother to just sit there while a virtual stranger takes a loud buzzing saw to her child’s arm. The nurse assured us it could not cut him, but he and I were still skeptical and I will admit to holding my breath. She was right, though. Go figure!

5:00 AM Scout Camp departure. Yuck.

I’m the lucky one who had to get him up that early.

Rock was up at scout camp for a night and caught this one of Reagan fiddling with the 2nd of two knives he purchased at camp which brings his total arsenal up to five.

The same day Reagan left for camp, Levi had his gum graft done. The boy has no gums at the bottom of his front two teeth and that is not due to any harm or accident that he has gotten himself into, believe it or not. The gums just didn’t grow there right. The Periodontist (now you know what a gum doctor is called) did a transplant of someone else’s gums onto Levi’s. Here he is drugged up and loopy before the procedure.

Doctor’s orders were to keep him still for four weeks. Yeah, right. This is LEVI we are talking about. He can’t go five minutes without getting hurt. But I’ve done my best to follow the Dr.’s instructions. He has not been able to run, jump on the tramp, eat anything sharp or hard, or ride his bike. I finally let him out of the house but he has to recite the rules before he leaves. Mom: “Levi, what are the rules?” Levi: (rolls eyes) no running, biking, jumping (on tramp), no bats or balls (if other kids are holding them) and no rough housing.” We are on the home stretch now. One more week. I don’t know whether he or I will go crazy first. Between Cade’s cast and Levi’s gums our summer has been much lacking in adventure.

But thanks to Liberty it has not been lacking in humor. Here are some funnies I have been saving up.

1. While cuddling with mom one morning she said, while half awake; “I like it that pandas aren’t mean like other bears.” Yeah, I was just thinking that same thing.

2. One afternoon when I was trying to get her to eat all her lunch she said, “Mom, let’s make a deal.” I don’t even remember her proposition because I was laughing so hard.

3. When she got a card from grandma that said “Follow your dreams” she made a face and said, “I’m not going to do that.” Totally confused as to why she would say such a thing, I asked her why and she said, “Because I had bad dreams last night.” I then had to explain to her that there are different kinds of dreams.

4. While waiting for brownies to finish baking one day I captured this picture as she said in despair,

“This is never going to end.”

July Double Play Part II

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Kami Hymas

Cade Turns 12!

Cade and his friends are into Minecraft so we did a Minecraft party, complete with a birthday cake from the game itself.

He invited four friends to play a special version of the game that Rock found for them. It was the easiest party I’ve ever given!

They had an absolute blast. Way to go, Dad!

Putting his lego gifts together.

His actual birthday was on a Sunday and he was so excited to turn 12 and join the deacons quorum.

Does this picture scream deacon or what?

Love my smart, creative and driven boy!

July Double Play Part I

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Kami Hymas

Both Liberty and Cade have a birthday in July. This year they both had a “friend” party which equals lots of work for mom. I’m pretty sure they were both happy with the results, though.

Liberty Turns 6!

The Cake

This cake was the most difficult of any I’ve made. But I have been waiting since my 9th birthday party, when my mother made ME a castle cake, to make one for my little girl.

Totally worth all the work! And a shout out to Aunt Alli for moral support.

The Friends

Admittedly, going to all that work for only three little girls is a tad crazy, but when you are homeschooled, live on a cul-de-sac full of boys, and have a birthday during the busiest summer month, you don’t have many options.

The Craft

The Pinata

It seemed rather in-congruent to have three dainty little girls trying to beat up a frilly pink castle, but she has watched her brothers do it for years and she really wanted a pinata.

The Gifts

Liberty got these from one of her grandmas and she played with them for a week straight.

An Apron for Liberty

And just in case you thought her smile could not get any bigger….

We were worried a 20 incher would be too big for her and it was really, but she was a trooper and kept at it till she could start and stop on her own. Now we just have to cross our fingers that it lasts her.

Glad you came to live at our house, Baby Girl!

Summer Stuff

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Kami Hymas

We’ve had a busy summer so far. Not even a week after school was out, Cade broke his arm-again; 2nd time in two years. Left hand this time. He had just won a tug of war at a scout day camp and fell backwards over a log. Not too glamorous as far as wounds go and not how you want to start your summer. But he took it all in stride and was excited to get a cool cast.

Swimming lessons started the following Monday so needless to say, Cade missed out.

Levi Backfloat

Libby attempts the front crawl

Reagan has his first official job this summer peer tutoring at a local elementary school.

Liberty is reading everything she can get her hands on. She sat outside for an hour or more one day reading all of these.

The 4th of July

Ready for the neighborhood parade

A festive house

Proud to say Reagan can still recite the Declaration of Independence.

Alli and Sarin planned this game of shoot the Red Coats with Snap Its for the kids. It was a big hit!

No one can resist ground blooms in a bucket.

Grateful for our Liberty this 4th of July!

Father’s Day

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Kami Hymas

Happy Father’s Day!

Reagan continued the tradition and made Rock a home made cherry pie with

cherries picked from our cherry tree!

If you look closely you can see Reagan up in the tree.

The kids were all too happy to give Rock his gift; a fire pit! Ok, I was too.

I have to say, this was a long day. I wanted to give Rock a break and so I did the lion’s share of kid duty today, as I try to do on most Father’s days. The kids were already super hyper and excited about the fire pit and then I let them have some of the brownies I took to my dad, cherry pie, and then s’mores to top it all off. Next Father’s day we are only feeding the kids vegetables and they will watch Sunday movies ALL DAY. Rock is so wonderful he put the kids to bed because he knew I’d had it. He does it on most nights and I wanted to give him a break today. No, I really did! Proof he is an awesome father AND husband!

No Parles vous Frances-Our Trip to France Part 5

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Kami Hymas

After days of constant walking and sight seeing the most famous of sights, we decided to take it easy our last full day in Paris. We slept in, had our usual crepe for breakfast and bought our souvenirs. We stayed in the hotel much of the day. I blogged, Rock slept. We had one thing planned for the day and that was a concert in the Sainte Chappelle, a beautiful old cathedral with more stained glass than I have ever seen! On our way to the concert we did stop at the Luxembourg Gardens.

Luxembourg Palace

One of my favorite pics!

Love the square trees.

The sun finally peaked through on our last evening in Paris.

Then it was on to the Sainte Chappelle Cathedral, a chapel built by our favorite king, Louis XIV to house France’s important religious relics like the crown of thorns. The relics are no longer kept there, but the chapel is such a gem, they had us go through as much security as the Eiffel tower or the airport!

The chapel was so much smaller than the other massive cathedrals we had seen. It was a beautiful and intimate setting for the concert, a string quartet with an accompanying harpsichord. They played Pachelbel’s Canon, The Four Seasons and Chaconne by Vitali. With the twilight shining through the stained glass and the amazing acoustics of the room it was the perfect ending to an almost perfect trip to Paris.

Here’s a video of Pachelbel’s canon. I didn’t want to invade other people’s viewing so I just filmed the windows. Sorry. You can see the cellist and that’s about it. Still fun to listen to, though. I mostly recorded it so that Reagan could here this one. He knows how to play it.

The cafe across the street.

One of my favorite things about France is the medieval architecture mixed with the modern cafes.

We left France the next morning. Our plane left an hour late, so we missed our connection in DC. We were re-routed to Chicago and then had to stay the night there when I got sick. Ironically enough we stayed in the same hotel at the airport that we stayed in when our honeymoon was hijacked by a hurricane and a volcano fifteen years ago. This trip to Europe was our fifteen year anniversary trip so I guess that was apropos, to borrow a french term. But I told Rock I never want to fly to O’hare again. Only bad things happen there. However, I do consider it a bragging point that we have now walked the entire length and breadth of the Chicago O’hare airport. Every terminal, every concourse. When you are stuck there all day and want to exercise, that’s what you do. Just in case you wondered, there is at least two McDonald’s, one Chili’s and several Starbucks in every terminal.

It is good to be back in America. There are things I appreciate now that I never did before. Free public bathrooms-with toilet seats, my native tongue, colorful clothing. In France everyone wore black or dark colors and I stuck out like a sore thumb in my bright pink coat. There were times when I was the only one on a crowded subway car wearing a color other than black. One of these is not like the others… In America people wear bright colors and I am grateful. But I will miss the crepes and the cafes. I will miss the history that oozes from every turret and spire, the amazing architecture and the beauty.

People keep asking me which I liked better, London or Paris. I don’t know how to answer that. They were both so different. In England everything was more orderly, its people more reserved, but it felt more like home, less foreign. In France things are big and messy, more flamboyant. The buildings are huge, the street signs crooked and covered with stickers people stuck on randomly. The people more loud, more emotional. It felt more strange, but I loved the personality of Paris. It was a wonderful adventure to see these two countries, these two cities, and compare them to each other, compare them to New York and America, to home. I guess that’s what world traveling is all about. I’m a lucky girl to have seen them all.

No Parles vous Frances-Our Trip to France Part 4

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Kami Hymas

The Phantom of the Opera

The Paris Opera house, also known as the Palais Garnier after the architect, might be my favorite building we toured in Paris. It was extraordinary! And we wouldn’t have had time to see it if the Seine had not flooded and wrecked our other plans. This is the opera house Phantom of the Opera was based on. Turns out there really was an accident in this opera house that gave the author the idea for the novel. Just after it opened, a counterweight that held up the chandelier (not the chandelier itself) fell on some poor woman in the audience and killed her. And there were rumors back when it was being built that one of the workers asked to live underneath the Opera house and was never seen again. And there IS a lake under the opera house. When Garnier was digging the foundation he ran into an offshoot of the Seine and no matter how they tried to work around it, they couldn’t fill it in. So he finally decided to create a cistern type place down underneath that just held the water. There was also a young opera singer named Christine who was supposed to sing the night the opera house opened, but mysteriously canceled and never actually performed there.

There were a lot of people there the day we went and so I will use some pictures from the internet so you can see it without all the tourists in the way. Besides which, all of these buildings look better in the sun, which did not show its face on our trip until the very last few hours of the last day we were there.

Entryway

The Grand Staircase

Me!

The auditorium

While we were on our tour they had this mostly closed off because of a practice going on. But they let us peak through a small window to see a single ballerina dancing on the stage.

The Door to the Phantom’s Box

The Grand Foyer, where guests would gather for h’orderves at “intervals”.

Here’s a video of this amazing ceiling.

The lake underneath the opera

We didn’t get to see the lake on our tour because apparently you have to pay for a guided tour to see it. We didn’t find that out until after the fact.

View from the balcony

Ballet costumes from the Paris Ballet Company

A statue on the outside of the building

Phantom of the Opera has always been one of my favorite plays, but I’ve never read the book. I started it as soon as we got home. I’m hooked already.

Opening paragraph:

“The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade.”

Stay tuned for our final day in Paris…..

No Parles vous Frances-Our Trip to France Part 3

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Kami Hymas

The Eiffel Tower-Going UP

Saturday morning we braved the crowds to finally see the Eiffel Tower up close

and personal. Just like everything in France, it doesn’t look that big in pictures
but when you get up to it, it’s HUGE! Honestly I did not expect to like it as much
as I did. For a big metal structure it’s quite beautiful. And even nonprofessional
photographers can get amazing pictures of this thing. You will probably get sick
of all the pictures, Rock got sick of me taking all of them. I would ask him a
question and then see a good shot and stop to take it while he kept walking and
talking…to himself. But there were just so many great shots. I’m sure the family
photographer, Sam Hymas, could teach me a thing or two about quantity vs.
quality.