Holland turns 7!

Our Holland-girl is now 7!  I feel so blessed to be her mom.  She is growing in compassion, kind to others, a super-speller, a little writer, a born teacher, artistic, make everyone laugh till milk comes out their noses type of girl, a nurturing big sister, a sometimes defiant younger sister :O), and an all-out tear-producing perfectionist.

Oh, and she gives the best ever hugs!

She also likes a good workout.

And she tells the craziest, imaginative stories ever.

And, almost daily, I find little notes addressed to me all over the house.

One said, "If you weren't my mom and someone else was my mom, I'd run away to find you."

I had to tell her that if I weren't her mom, she wouldn't know me, and she wouldn't run away to find me.  And shouldn't she be obeying her parents?  And how would her parents sleep at night, knowing she was traipsing all over kingdom come?  And shouldn't she not run away, young lady, because that might endanger her life and she would have to sleep on corn husks under a bridge and eat leftover hamburgers with old pickles from a dumpster?   And her mom wouldn't have the best ever towel folder, and their house would not have the most beautiful flower arrangements gracing their tables.

Soon after, she retracted her note.

But I kept it.  Because it's sweet.

The morning Holland turned 7, she raced downstairs to sit at the privileged place at the table for the traditional birthday crepe breakfast.  Stacks of crepes teetering high, softened butter, warm blueberry sauce, homemade syrup, crispy bacon, and mounds of grapes from our garden.  Sigh.  Doesn't get much better.  When's the next Wieber birthday!  Please!  Hurry!

Then, a very fun walking/skipping excursion with her sisterly buddy, Mary, to the donut shop up the way with the token game of hide-n-seek along the way.

Back home after tromping in the woods, we got ready for her outing with Nanette and Uncle Tim.  Holland's choice?  Joe's Crab Shack!

Later that night, Uncle Chris and Aunt Amy came to have some cake with us.  Butter Pecan cake with maple buttercream frosting.  It was as good as it sounds!  Maybe not the prettiest of cakes....but the boulders you see on top?  Chocolate boulders from the City Peanut Shop.  Oh yeah.

 Here's a recent picture of the girls with Aunt Amy.  They love her!

A few days later, we had a little party for her.  Rock climbing, rock painting, and apple bobbing were all on the agenda, and boy did she have fun!

(proof that Mae DID lick the apples.  hehe)

After all the fun was had, the kids all came in and played games before an impromptu costume party ensued. I must say that all the male party-goers were exceptional sports and super creative, each with a great sense of humor to have to pick from a Wieber Dress up Barrel.  Seriously....What do 3 girls have to offer?  Surprisingly, it's not all princess paraphernalia.  But it's not Storm Trooper attire either.

It doesn't get crazier than this, folks.  She was heard saying afterwards--this was my most favorite birthday ever!  What a blessing she is--and we are so grateful to be her parents!

The coolest thing:  Holland has always had a love for rainbows.  She used to even form rainbows with rows of shoes when she was younger!  After a bunch of rain directly before her party, the skies cleared and she was met with, not one, but two rainbows.

A double rainbow to cap her party off!  It was a perfect day.

Sage Hen 2012

Our family was blessed to again attend a group campout with wonderful friends at a campsite in Sage Hen.  This year, we were especially excited to use vault toilets and sleep on the ground because it was our 15th anniversary.

(insert snort [here]).

A few years back we had talked of going someplace exotic or exciting for our 15th.  Not camping.

But see, we are very flexible and we had a big surgery for Brian this Summer, and so when your plans change, you just make your mind change, too.  See how simple that is?  Yes.  That is the correct answer.

Plus, you just have to go camping with The Hughes family ONCE to find out how much fun it is to be out in the wilderness with no toilets or running water.  It's relaxing and just good old fashioned outdoor fun.  And really, we wouldn't miss the campout for anything.  It's just really fun to be all dramatic about the whole vault toilet issue.

So we loaded up the troops and the mini boxes of Kellog's and the steak (because we like to eat like Kings even if we aren't sleeping like Kings) and the sloppy joes for 30.  We were the self-appointed bearer of the main dish our first night in.

Wiebers take forever to pack.  So we start packing 3 weeks early.  This year, we started packing 3 weeks and 1 day early, so we were actually ready to go in record time...the first time ever we were able to get out the door a whole hour early.  (picture us high-fiving and acting all proud of ourselves [here]).

Settling into our drive, we were only 12 miles in when suddenly a fan belt broke and we found ourselves in the most unfriendly neighborhood outside of Boise.  Virtually no shade and neighborhood patrons driving by, waving.  The only place our cell phones worked was on a patch of gravel in the middle of the hot noon sun.

We laughed and groaned because what else are you going to do?  Happy 15th anniversary!  This isn't the first anniversary spent on the side of the road with a sad car.  Boy.  We had helpful friends (Hi, Katie and Adam!!) drop off belts and tools and assistance, to no avail.  The tow truck took us all home and Brian set to work to fix our vehicle, with the suspicion we would have to stay home.

Our girls had such great attitudes, but sobbed softly when I took the sloppy joes out of the cooler and served it for dinner.  That was a big mistake.

"Hey girls!  You know that camping trip we were supposed to be enjoying right now?  Yeh...that's the one.  Well, I know you can't be with your friends right now, so I'm just going to make you eat the food you were supposed to be eating around the fire with all your friends!" 

Nice work, mom.  Still, though, I wasn't about to cook.  The girls finished dinner, Brian helped them make ice-cream while working on the car (is he the man, or what?!?!?), and then, after a few more minutes, much to both our surprise, the car was ready and fixed and ready to go!  So we finally headed out at 10pm to arrive after midnight.

There is nothing to look forward more than setting up a tent in the dark.

To make Brian feel better, I talked about the different outdoors shows that have mountain men wrestling bears, eating locusts, and dodging rattlers. Then, I brought up the fact that setting up a tent at midnight is a piece of cake.  (even though I couldn't do it in broad daylight.)  I'm such a sensitive wife.

But see, I told you were were camping with wonderful friends, and so upon arriving, we were met with  extra hands.  Stumbling out of their tents with their camping jammers on, the guys got the tent set-up, the ladies helped settle in the girls, and food was passed around.  What a welcome.

So what if we spent our 15th anniversary covered in car grease and hot sun?  We are so blessed--beyond measure--to have each other, to have such family-like friends, to have such grateful girls.

Below you will find a few snapshots of the weekend.  It doesn't show it all, but it does confirm that fun was had.  :o)  Thanks, again, Hughes fam!!

How many fish did Brian and Matt catch?

Who knew Seaweed could be so fun? Eli makes a haul. 

And flinging mud when there aren't any showers to be found, may not be the best of ideas.  

Comparing camp fashion is a total must.  Like totally.

Milk shakes in the woods...yes, please! 

Thanks, Adam, for the awesome bow and arrows! 

Georgia Reese couldn't wait to go camping.  She talked about it for days beforehand.

If you're going to get dirty while camping, 

you'd better take a few lessons from Claire and look really cute. 

Reesie and her friend Mae had such a fun time together.  On a side note:  our girl is such a poser!

 Love this girl and her boy!!!

What a catch, catch, catch!

Loved the expressions these friends had.

It was so fun getting to know this little man better.