The Zaugg Family 2010 Christmas Newsletter

Hello dear family and friends wherever you may be. This December has been crazy busy and I want to make sure we at least send a Christmas greeting of some kind! We recently had family pictures done and these are the product of said photo shoot.

Russell is still the bishop of our ward (church congregation). He also finished his last class for his master's degree and will be working on his practicum for the next couple months. He will officially be done in February! Not that he's counting or anything. I am always amazed that despite his busy schedule - Russell always has time to hang with the boys, attend their concerts and be an awesome husband as well!

Candace is working with the Young Women at church. Specifically the girls ages 14-18. I've also changed directions in my employment opportunities. For the past year I was working for Northwest Seniors with Disabilities and doing home health care. I had to stop doing that due to arthritis in my left thumb joint. After 4 rounds of cortisone shots - it has been discovered that I really shouldn't have any more because of possible allergic reactions to the preservatives. Oh darn. For now - I do the hot lunch program at the local Adventist School with a friend of mine. We do Mondays and Tuesdays. We also do catering on the side. That is my favorite by far. I love food. I love cooking for others. And what could be better than food, cooking AND getting paid! I am truly blessed with a wonderful family, memories, friends, a happy home and having the guidance of Heavenly Father in my life.

We have 4 very busy boys. This past year each has grown a year older, taller, smarter hopefully, and learned new things.

Donovan will be 15 in January and will be able to start driving. When did that happen? I'm not old enough for a driving teenager! He is a freshman this year and is enjoying early morning seminary. He has also decided to be involved in Pep Band. He enjoyed the football games and will be playing at the Basketball games as well. The next few months will be busy for him in that regard.

Christopher recently turned 13. He is a teenager in every sense of the word. Chris is in the 7th grade this year and is finding out that teachers actually hold HIM responsible for missing assignments. He's not liking that so much. Chris is also starting to enjoy Boy Scouts and is actually looking forward to the Scout Snow camp out in a couple weeks. They will be going to Mt. Hood and should be loads of fun. He also started a digital photography class this trimester and has taken a liking to it. Maybe we have a future photographer in our midst!

Michael is 9 1/2. He's in the 4th grade. His teacher is discovering Michael doesn't like to read much but boy can that kid draw! Michael has earned his Bear Award in Cub Scouts and is looking forward to becoming a Webelo in April. Michael is the boy who is all about fairness and making sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to. He is a busy bee when it's time to do chores. He's the only one I don't have to remind to get chores done.

Nephi just turned 8 in September. He was so excited for his baptism in October and so happy so many family and friends could support him in this really big step in his life. He is in the 2nd grade and loves math. He is starting his multiplication facts while the rest of the class is still working on adding/subtracting. His teacher says he has the ability to tune out his classmates while he is working on his class stuff. That is really cool!
The boys and me.
Russell and the boys.
Thank you for taking a quick trip down the 2010 memory lane with us. We hope each of you has a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May you learn from past mistakes and face the future with determination to live each day better than the day before! We love each of you and are so thankful for your friendships!

Happy 13th birthday Christopher!

13 years ago Christopher joined our family! Except 13 years ago it was a Friday and there was a BYU football game going. Russell was in the marching band and almost didn't make it to Chris' delivery. Then the doctor had the lightbulb moment of...."If this lady doesn't have her baby soon I'll be stuck in football traffic trying to get home." So...he got out the vacuum and that was that!
We are so happy to have you in our family. I still can't believe there are now 2 teenagers!

My newest and last (sniff, sniff) cub scout!

Nephi turned 8 on 9-17. He is our newest and last cub scout. Sniff, sniff. Please pass the kleenex. Hold on while I wipe my eyes and blow my nose. sniff sniff.

He has been patiently waiting for almost 4 years now to be old enough to be a scout! When I was a den leader for 3 1/2 years he went just about every time. (Except his first grade year as he rode the bus home with his older brothers.)

His shirt actually goes down to his knees but this just ensures I won't have to buy another blue one during the next 3 years. lol

The apple of my eye!

I bought 4 boxes of gala apples and 3 boxes of ginger golds. This is what I gleaned from my efforts! Lots of applesauce, juice and jelly. We will be set with apple products for the year. Mmmmmmm..... Now....bring on the toast (for the jelly of course. lol)

Boys, boys, boys!

Last Saturday on the 25th of September, our ward youth had a temple trip to the Portland Oregon Temple. Our Young Women's president has small boys and we have 2 smallish boys. So...I offered to watch her kids so she could attend the temple with her husband. Then another friend called wanting to know if I could watch her two small boys. Their 2 older boys had just turned 12 and she and her hubby wanted to attend the temple with them on their first time. I said sure....why not. Most people probably thought I was crazy, insane, whatever. We had so much fun! My boys play really well with either set of visiting brothers - who also play well together so I didn't a problem.
We collected grasshoppers, lady bugs and beetles. I just had to remind a certain 4 year old not to shake the jar or else his grasshoppers might throw up on him. He wanted to take them home and let them loose in his bedroom.
All 6 boys just about polished off a huge plate of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies as well. I didn't have a problem with this because I knew what went in those cookies. Lots of yummy stuff!
We had a really fun picnic style lunch on the family room floor and watched a movie. I don't own any highchairs for 2 of the boys - so this worked really well.

Down by the river!

I woke up today and it was a freezing 40 degrees at my house. By 8 a.m. guess what popped up in the sky? If you live in the Pacific Northwest - particularly on the Oregon Coast - you might not have a clue. lol The SUN! The SUN came out today! I hurried and did a couple chores - one I disliked A LOT - contacted a couple friends and headed up to Footbridge on the Wilson River! It was a beautiful spot. As much as I like the ocean - I really liked it here. There was something for everyone.

The boys and I got there at 11:30 and waited for a bit for our friends to show up. While we waited we got some fun pictures in.

Nephi.

Michael.

Blue sky! Do you see it? That truly is a novelty in our neck of the woods. Especially this summer. It's been cool, gloomy, cloudy weather.

Michael and Nephi.

Michael making his way across the river.

Nephi sees if he can make it too.

Yay! They both made it!

All these kids are BOYS!

AND....they had THE best time together doing what boys do best.

Inventing, climbing....

Experimenting...

filling...

scooping and filling some more....

We had so much fun! We are hoping that next Friday will be as nice so we can go back for one last summer fling!

Rappelling

For our youth activity this week we took the Priests/Laurels/Mia Maids rappelling. The younger boys are all at scout camp and the Beehive girls had another activity to do. This is what it is supposed to look like. All the youth had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed it. Since Russell has been gone all week to scout camp with Donovan and Christopher....that left the younger boys with me to go......
Rappelling! They climbed to the top with the other leaders and youth and had a grand time watching. Michael really wanted to try it and would talk himself in and out of it on a regular basis. Nephi wanted to try but the harness was too big for him.

This is how it is supposed to be done.

Michael is at least attempting it. He is the white "dot." Where he stopped was actually the hardest part of the whole thing. He ended up climbing back up and didn't do it.

So he ended up having to walk back down the "trail." By this time it's dark out - but the kids are still having a great time!

Here comes Nephi!

Enjoying cinnamon rolls while waiting for everyone to get ready to head back to the church.

Michael with his treat.

Junior Young Men

The beginning of the month the Priests and Mia Maids and Laurels from our youth groups went hiking to the "G" in Garibaldi. Donovan was doing golf with the Teachers and Christopher got a ride to the church with a friend for the Deacons activity. Therefore....Michael and Nephi got to come with us. Russell is the Bishop so he wanted to spend time with the older youth on this outing. I am over the Mia Maids - so I got to go.

Heading to the trail leading upwards!

This particular section was the bane of the hike. At least for me and Michael. It's almost straight up with nothing to grab onto. We couldn't get past it so we were the only ones left to go back and wait by ourselves.

Which wasn't a bad thing....because we wouldn't have been able to take this picture otherwise. I am surprised my camera did this good of a job! The Garibaldi "G" is up on the side of a mountain/hill and can be seen for miles coming from Tillamook going north. Russell is at the very top wearing a red shirt and blue jeans. He has a tan hat hanging down his back.

While we waited for everyone to descend....Michael had fun playing at the playground.

After a while....

We saw Russell and Nephi!

Here they come! Hooray!

One very happy/proud boy! He was so excited to be able to make the climb!

Before we left Garibaldi - the youth all headed to Dairy Queen for a treat.

Here we have 2 satisfied customers!

Summertime Activities BEFORE our great camping post happened

Russell was going to wash the cars. I told him I would love to help so the job wouldn't take so long. Then ALL the boys wanted to help. So....I didn't have to help after all! They had a good time....I think.... :)

Notice who has the hose now? It's Nephi. This got him into some trouble. At this point I left to walk down to the mailbox. When I came back Russell was doing this.....

hosing down Nephi because he had hosed down all 4 of the guys washing the cars! lol Hello my little wet rat.

Two days later we were talking about when to visit Ron and Carrie before they moved to Houston, TX. We thought they were leaving on the 26th when in fact it was 24 July 2010. We called Carrie to see when the best day would be and she said to come right then. So we did. Russ was able to have a nice visit and the kids had a good time playing with their cousins.

Ron and Carrie's family on the left. Ours on the right. Their family is missing a couple kids. They went to friends' houses.

On the way home Nephi totally crashed. Chris is totally faking it.

Moving on to this. On the 31st of July - hasn't happened yet....I have to make dutch oven cinnamon rolls for the Primary Activity Day. Some charcoal was brought so I could experiment. These were some very bland rolls as I didn't want to waste perfectly good ingredients if I ruined the batch of rolls. These are looking pretty darn good!

They rose very nicely.

Except the bottoms burned. I was so happy that was all that burned. I think what happened was I did the charcoal in the sand so when I put the dutch oven over them it sank - therefore putting the coals a lot closer than they should have been.

Look at the post below and you will find some perfectly perfect dutch oven cinnamon rolls!

The Great 2010 Zaugg Family campout!

I say great because we've been married for 16 years now and this is the first camping trip we've ever taken! Let me tell you how it took place. Originally, Russell and I were going to leave the boys by themselves overnight. They would have been alive upon our return but some of them may have done serious bodily harm to each other. I wasn't too excited about that prospect so we stealthily gathered clothes for the boys a few days beforehand. We gathered all the stuff we needed to go camping at Cook Creek. The boys - even until it was time to go had no idea they were coming along.
Russell and I got up really early Monday morning and loaded the car. THEN we woke up the boys and told them we wanted them up and dressed and have eaten breakfast before "we" left. They were okay with that. Some of them even got in and did their household chores! While the boys were eating breakfast I took their pillows and wool blankets to the car. Michael and Nephi noticed their pillows were missing so I told them dad and I might need them if we needed extra pillows. They believed us. (We really did need extra pillows....for the boys!) The boys really did get upset and kind of mad when Russell told them they needed to make sure to have socks and shoes on before "we" left. The boys couldn't understand why they would need to do this since they weren't the ones leaving. Michael was planning on using the computer so he felt put-out. Finally we told them to go hop in the car as they were coming with us. A couple of the boys were really mad and not happy with the fact that we were camping. This is our story. And we're sticking to it.
Warning: There are lots of pictures. If you don't want to see them....you best not continue! :)


Our car is packed. There is no more room for anything else.
Our tent. It was just enough room for Russ and me.

The boys' tent. It is nice and big and is divided into 4 equal sections. Each boy had his own space.

Our toilet. We went to a really primitive area. No toilet facilities, no showers, hot water or electric hook ups. Each person was responsible for cleaning out the bucket after each use. Guess who got to clean it the most? Me! Ever see a girl try to pee on a tree? Me neither and I wasn't about to learn.

Russell getting our fire started. The people before us left a huge garbage pile in the fire pit.

Our kitchen area. We brought just the right amount of food. At night we made sure to put the cooler, blue food box and 2 black crates in the car so we wouldn't have any "visitors."

This is Cook Creek. Just down the path from our campsite. It was a beautiful area and I am so glad we went there as a family. It was calm, quiet, peaceful and all around a beautiful place to be.

The guys eating lunch. We had ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, grapes and kool-aid.

Michael is on his way down to the creek.

Russell relaxing. He is on vacation after all!

The boys down at the creek. They had so much fun! The water was kind of cold though so they would get out and wrap up in their towels. Once dry - they headed right back to the creek.

Michael

Donovan and Nephi

Donovan and Nephi

Donovan, Michael and Nephi

Christopher

Russell going.

Nephi, Michael and Donovan

Russell coming.

Russell and Donovan.

Nephi, Christopher and Michael

Christopher checking out the bottom of the creek. There were several little tiny fish. They were so cute!

Me

The boys

We had an awesome dinner. Russell cooked steaks on his little BBQ and I made these potatoes over the fire pit.

We had these yummy marinated shrimp grilled on Russell's BBQ as well.

Getting a game of Phase 10 in before it gets too late.

What do you suppose could be in here?

The boys are eating chips for an after dinner snack. Waiting for the yummyness in the dutch oven can make one hungry I guess!

Our camping spot

Our camp. What you see is what you get! We have the boys so far away for a reason. Late at night when we want to sleep they can stay up and visit without getting in trouble for being too loud. It worked out perfectly!

The guys are eating. But what are they eating? They are eating.....

Homemade dutch oven baked cinnamon rolls! These turned out so awesome! No burning on the bottom and cooked all the way through! These were ooey gooey warm and yummy! I should have brought some milk!

The boys getting a late night game of war in before bedtime.

Russell relaxing

I am pretty sure I was up around 6. My bladder is my alarm clock. I got the fire started and began cooking breakfast. I really super duper love my cast iron camping equipment! I just can't say it enough!

I did the bacon first so I could use the bacon fat to grease the griddle for my pancakes! I had the perfect temperature going and my pancakes were doing awesome until Russell decided the fire wasn't hot enough. So....he added more wood and charcoal and my perfectly perfect pancakes went from this to.....

this. These are more done than I would like mine to be. I ate them anyway because I was hungry.

Everyone getting in one more Phase 10 game in before it was time to pack up and head home.

Once we got home I did a million loads of laundry which spanned 2 days. I am so glad we went though. It was nice to get away and enjoy time together as a family. Next year I want to go camping for my birthday. I want to go to Ft. Stevens. I think I would like the fact that there would be more people around - I might sleep a little bit better.