Remembering the Sabbath

There isn't much that can beat staying home on a Sunday afternoon.
Today after going to church in town, and then running errands afterwards, we came home to chill out a bit before we go to SBR for the new student dinner tonight.
It was drizzly and wet outside which made it the perfect day to curl up with a good book.

 

(This son belongs to me completely, if any of my boys take after me in any way, this guy does.  He and I could spend the whole afternoon sitting together in companionable silence reading our books. And we would enjoy it and we would love the time we spent together)

It was also a good day to take a nap.

It warms my heart to see my family sprawled out on the couch in Sabbath rest.  Wyat is completely passed out on his Daddy's lap and Seth is 'resting' while they watch some kind of boating event on t.v.
Any sport is a default when there is no football being broadcast on our sad selection of channels.
I am so thankful that God programmed a Sabbath rest into our week.
Sometimes we don't take advantage of it.
It leaves us feeling more tired and stressed for the wee k that follows.
It is a blessing to slow down and simply be, to take a nap, or read a book for a couple of hours in the afternoon.
It's healing.
How do you spend your sabbath?
What's your favorite way to rest and recharge?

Oops, I just heard Wyat waking up, I guess the rest time is over.  I suppose I'll have to go back to organizing the bathroom closet!
Thanks for stopping by!
                      Jana

Milestones

                                 My baby lost a tooth today!
                                            Isn't he cute?!  

 

Another milestone under our belt.

I love these moments and dread them all at the same time.  It's so exciting to see my boys grow up and change.

However I know that our days with them being small are coming to an end and that's a little sad. 

 

However, this tough guy has decided that he likes my chai tea. 

Yep, that's right.

So apparently, he and I will be sharing a love for chai.

 

 

So here's to many more chai dates with my little man.

It will give us an opportunity to talk about all the milestones he has yet to cross. 

 

Dynamic Duo

Summer is coming to an end. 
It's sad but true.    
One of the things we wanted to do before school starts up again, was to have a friend over for a sleep-over. 
You know, school and late nights just don't mix well.  Even when you home school.
This past weekend, Seth finally got to have that sleep-over with his best friend Caden that he has been waiting for.
We don't do sleep-overs very often anyway, so
I was really happy for them when it worked out.
They had a great time. They watched a movie, ate popcorn, played with Chipper, giggled and talked after being put to bed, shared clothes, you know, all the great sleep-over stuff.

It's been awhile since they had their picture taken together, so I had to snap a quick one the next morning before we headed out. 

These two have been best bud's since Caden was born, no joking. Seth was born in August and Caden was born the following January.

They used to cause some shenanigans whenever they got together, but that is fast becoming a thing of the past.

They are going to be a dynamic duo as they grow up together.

Here's to more sleep-overs in the future!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

Hiking up to Sanford's Site

One of the other places we hiked to when we were at Canadian Adventure was Sanford's Site.
We climbed uphill pretty much the entire way there, and then sat on the edge of the cliff to look out over the Canadian wilderness.

Yep, all that is preventing anyone from plummeting hundreds of feet down a cliff are those wooden poles and some flimsy rope. 

I'm fairly certain that my boys could have found a way to destroy them both if left unattended for 2.2 seconds.

Which was NOT happening there.

I watched them like a hawk.

Plus Troy was there.

Still, we felt that Wyat would be safer safely ensconced behind these trees.  Seeing as how he was jumping about like a little Mexican jumping bean.  What is it that kids just don't understand about sheer drop off?

Still, if you can relax enough to enjoy it, the view is breathtaking.

I guess if you want to enjoy it, you shouldn't bring 5 year olds.

But it's a site worth seeing and a hike worth hiking.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jana

Ready, Set, Go!

It was a beautiful evening tonight so we went for a little bike ride down our road.
When you have 3 boys (well, 4 really when you count their dad) you can be guaranteed there will be a race involved.

Dad usually wins.  But as you could see, everyone enjoys the race.

Even Annie!

This is her happy face when she knows we are going for a bike ride or walk.

Wyat is an intense bike rider.  I love action shots! Even if they aren't in focus, they capture true emotion.

Since I was taking pictures while I was riding my bike I think they didn't turn out too badly. 

We enjoyed our evening, enjoyed the activity, enjoyed the outdoors (we even scared up a nice buck! at least a 6 maybe an 8 pointer), and we enjoyed each others company.

However, we won't be able to enjoy the evenings like this for much longer.  Fall is on it's way in.

I'd love to hear how your family likes to spend the summer evenings. Leave me a comment and let me know.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

The Pioneer Woman's Berry Butter

My dear sister gave me the Pioneer Woman's new cookbook for my birthday this summer.
Since summer is crazy busy around here and we eat most of our meals at SBR I finally got around to making something from it.

I chose berry butter.
Why?
Well, it looked easy, and yummy, and I already eat berries and butter so they sound super good put together.
Plus, I've been trying to eat a little healthier this summer, and lets face it, Pioneer woman knows all about good food. Which usually doesn't mean healthy.
Her recipes have delicious butter and cream and cheeses and sugar, all swirled together!
Goodness.

We are a big breakfast eating family, it's Hunky Hubby's favorite meal of the day.
He's also the breakfast chef, since I am still half comatose on the couch by the time he wants to eat breakfast. Hey, what can I say, as a non coffee drinker, I've got nothing to give me a jolt of energy in the mornings, I have to do it naturally. Which translates into slowly.

Since we like our breakfasts homemade and delicious around here,
I try and help H.H. out by making some of the garnishes.

So, 1/2 a pound of softened butter, 3/4 C blackberries from our back yard and 2TBS of powdered sugar later - we have berry butter!

Then Pioneer Woman tells you to roll it onto cling wrap surrounded by tin foil to make a butter log.

I made this a day ahead of time so it would have time to firm up in the fridge.  You wouldn't have to do this, you could just spread it straight from your mixing bowl if you wanted to.

And here you have it, a berry butter log.

Cut a slice, spread it on your waffle, french toast, or pancake, and drizzle with a little maple syrup.

Mmmmm, a delicious addition to breakfast.

Thanks Pioneer Woman!

What's your favorite topping for waffles and pancakes?

I'd love to hear your comments.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jana

Hidden Falls

If we were in a gondola I would have my own personal gondolier.

Since we are in a canoe is he called a conoelier?
I'll just call him Hunky.

Who knew you could have such a romantic time in the middle of the remote Canadian wilderness.

Wait, what you can't see in the previous picture is this:

We were not alone.  No romantic atmosphere permeating this ride.
Actually, we were on our way to my favorite hike at C.A., Hidden Falls.
Which is exactly what it sounds like.
A hike up a mountain, next to a stream, until you reach a hidden water fall.
Beautiful.

What a wonderful way to end a trek through the wilderness.

Of course, boys can't resist a swim in the pool at the bottom of the falls. Although they said it was a bit chilly.

Boys also can't resist trying to scale cliffs.

And then they fall down and get wet in the water that is waiting below. (if you look closely at the blurry picture you will see that only his shoulders are dry.)

Here I am in all my rustic glory. Be nice, remember, I didn't bring makeup or hairspray. I was trying to live simply and leave behind the things that aid my vanity. (Which is why I'm telling you I left it all at home, because I'm vain. We all have our struggles)

Here, Ben is trying to scale the cliff again, because he couldn't let the mountain defeat him.

He made it this time.

There was much exploring and investigating of the river on our way back.  We decided it would be more fun to travel off the path and instead followed the stream down to our canoes.

It's a beautiful hike.  Well worth the sore arms you will have from doing all that paddling in the canoe.

Right Hunky Hubby? ;)

Oh come on, I did help! I wouldn't let him do all the work!

Just most of it.

He's stronger than I am!

I hope this inspires you to check out Canadian Adventure for yourself sometime.  They can accommodate families, individuals or groups.  There are more mountains to climb out there.

Go. Climb. Listen.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jana

A Little About What We Did at C.A.

Many of you have never been to Canadian Adventure and probably wonder what we do up there.  
I want to preface this blog by letting you know that we always go up to work, but that's not what the campers go for. 
C.A. is there to help teenagers, men, women and groups get away from the hustle and distractions of life.  The point is to leave behind all the technological devices and demanding schedules that take your attention and instead focus all of your attention on Christ.  
Going remote forces a removal of all distractions. The temptation to chat on the phone, text, have your ear buds in 24/7, watch t.v., surf the net or anything else is all you'll have because doing any of those things at C.A. is an impossibility. 
You can't even jump in the car and drive away because like I stated in my last post, you have to take a boat to get to the camp. 
If you are really desperate and an excellent swimmer and feel like hiking a gravel road for a few miles and then hitchhiking, you can probably get back into cell phone range. 
If I were you, I'd just stick it out and see what God has to say to you during your time in the wilderness. 
Because instead of all your everyday distractions, you will be surrounded by some pretty amazing examples of God's creation. 
You'll be so busy hiking up to the tops of water falls and connecting with God and the people who came with you in your group, you will find yourself not even missing your cell phone or i-pod. 
And, you will realize that at the end of the week, you survived without face book, gasp! Although the first chance you get you will update your status telling everyone all about your trip.  
Of course I don't know this from personal experience, stop asking!

But, our group being a work group functions a little bit differently. We're there to get some things done. 
What things you ask? 
Well, dishes of course.
And of course I didn't take any pictures of me doing dishes because it is not recommended to take pictures with your arms elbow deep in sudsy water. It may be a bit damaging to your photo equipment. And of course I am the only person who takes pictures of myself, so henceforth there will be no pictures of me washing dishes forthcoming. But I did wash dishes. I did! 
About 5,000 of them.
I'm not even kidding. 
I had a lot of help though. My two boys are dish champs and a friend of ours whom I will call Wild-man Nate also helped.
Even the hard working men pitched in and of course there was the C.A. staff because let's face it, when you have 5,000 dishes to wash after every meal then you need some help. Or you'll be washing dishes until the next meal is ready and straight on till twilight. 
Understand? 
Good.
But the guys, they worked hard at lots of things.

There was the roofing job which took a couple days. If you look closely you can see Nathans hat peeking over the roof. And that's my man standing there looking hunky. And Ben was too hard at work to turn around so that's the view you get of him. Sorry.

Here Seth is overseeing the preparation of the next meal.

I know it looks like they are just standing around talking about the trailer, but it was really a discussion of the work that needed to be done on the trailer.

There is always a lot of discussion before the projects begin. 

And close examinations. 

And more close examinations. 

Here is Megan, she worked at camp all summer. She would prepare the campers meals and supplies for going up river.  That's right. They take you from your remote location and ship you to an even more remote location.  No hiking back to civilization possible from there. 

Dylan served for the summer as the camp cook.  There was no going hungry for anyone while Dylan was manning the ovens. So at least you don't have to worry about being deprived of food when they deprive you of your precious distractions.

Of course H.H. served as the official coffee taste tester. 

It's a very necessary job.

There are 3 other people who served on staff at C.A.

Wesley, he went with the groups on all of their adventures and played volleyball with them when they needed another player. 

Steve and Kris Tice are the camp managers. They will clean and shuttle and lead and cook and do just about anything to help you have a great time in the Canadian wilderness.

There was more work done by the guys but it would be boring to list it all. Just rest assured that they earned their keep every day.

But no worries! It wasn't all work! We got to have fun too!

More on that next time.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jana