NH Vacation

At the beginning of July we went to NH to visit Lori's family.  We stayed with Lori's brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Sarah.  Lori's Dad also came up from Florida.  We had such a busy time there and lots of fun.  The above picture was taken at the home Lori grew up in.  Her parents are trying to sell their home, since they now reside in Florida.  That may have been our last visit to this house.

Here is Abby, Jed, and Rachel on the slip and slide with their cousins Lyndsey and Ethan.

James and some of the boys went backpacking in the White Mountains for one night.  While they did that, we went to the beach for one of the days.

While in NH, we got to go to a family reunion on  Lori's mom's side.  Here is a picture of Bob, Lori, and Abby.

Hahn State Park

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went on a backpacking trip to Hahn State Park in Missouri.  The first night we hiked up to camp (about a mile) and set up.  Then we went for a 3 mile hike and ended up making it back to camp just before dark for a late dinner.  The next day we meet some friends, who would join us for the rest of the weekend.  We went to Pickle Creek together and had lunch.  Then the thunder started to rumble and it started to rain.  As soon as it really started pouring, the kids took off down the trail that led to the parking lot.  The couple we were with helped with Abby, carrying her all the way back to the van (over a mile through rough trail and lots of water in the trail).  I (Lori) was carrying 6 week old Hannah.  The thunder and lightening was scary.  The wind was strong.  It started to hail when the pavilion was in sight.  There were people there, having a barbecue.  They received out kids as they came out of the woods with no parents.  They even fed them.  When we got there they took Hannah and wrapped her up in a big blanket to get her warm.  We were soaked to the bone.  It turned out these people were Christians.  They were JOYFM listeners too.

We were thinking we would have to pack everything up and go home early, especially since we left the tents open.  Fortunately, we were able to dry everything off and stay, since the sun came out.  We were so glad, since our friends had just driven down two hours to experience backpacking for the first time and two hours after they got there is when the rain started.  We ended up having a great time.  We didn't do much hiking after that, but enjoyed it anyways.

The kid's clothes were soaked.  We had some towels, so here's Abby, walking back to camp, from the parking lot, with nothing but a towel on.

Hannah Lin

 Eight weeks ago Hannah Lin Bockhorst entered the world.  She is a wonderful blessing and we are enjoying her so much.  Of course all the kids love her.  She is doing very well and she is an easy baby so far.

Hannah, when she was first born.


Right, Hannah and Abby.  I took this picture yesterday.  She is a cutey!
It has been forever since I have blogged.  I guess I haven't made it a priority.  My life is busier than ever.  We are enjoying the summer so far.  The kids are enjoying swimming most days.  There has been so much going on in our lives, including baseball, gardening and James selling his medical practice to go into employment with a hospital.  That is still in negotiations.  He hopes to sign a contract this week that will take effect in the middle of July.  We are very excited about this transition and think it will be best for all involved. I will try and give more details soon.  I do hope to post again about our weekend backpacking trip we took two weeks ago.

Our Vacation to the Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks

The federal government shut down on Tuesday, October 1st and that evening we headed out west on our vacation to visit two national parks.  We hoped the shut down would only last a couple days.  As it turned out, the parks in Utah reopened the day after we returned home.  Here is a detailed summary of our travels.

     We left straight from Jonathan's ball game.  We drove until Wednesday evening.  We found a great, free camping place at Rabbit Valley in Colorado.  It was right off the highway.  Thursday morning we continued to head west, driving all day until Jacob Lake, Arizona.  We camped at a national forest campground for two nights (Thurs. and Fri.).  On Thursday night we got to the campground late and it was cold and dark.  We decided to make breakfast for dinner (eggs, sausage, and hash-browns).  Then we had our dinner meal for breakfast; fish, rice and peas.  It was so cold.  One morning we recorded 24 degrees.  We had the heater in the tent, which made it tolerable.
     On Friday we drove all day but got to see some parts of the Grand Canyon and even got to hike in the park.  It was pretty.  We drove on these county roads, some of which were steep and narrow and not in good shape.  It was definitely an adventure!  We also saw lots of deer.
     Before returning back to our campsite, we went to the entrance of the park and got our picture.  the next day we headed southeast and saw the Vermillion Cliffs from the road.  Some of the roads were closed that we wanted to go on.  We also drove through the Grand Staircase Escalante.  We spent most of the day driving and looking for a place to camp.  Finally, after it was getting cold and dark, we decided to head back to St. George and get a hotel room.  We stayed at a Marriot that accommodated our whole family.  The kids absolutely loved this new experience.  We decided to stay for two nights so that Sunday could be a day of rest, which we so needed after spending most of our trip driving so far.
     Sunday we found a nice park that had lots for us to do.  We roller bladed, played tennis, played in the sand and on the playground and also played washers.  For lunch we had mac n cheese with hot-dogs and also had a time of worship and reading God's word.  Then back to the hotel room to watch the Cardinals lose a baseball game in the playoffs.  The kids enjoyed swimming and working out in the workout room at the hotel.Also, the TV and WiFi were something they enjoyed.  James was able to spend some time doing work for his office.
     Monday morning James and Josh went out in search of a place for us to camp.  All the state parks were pretty full and we couldn't find a campsite suitable.  James came back to the hotel to pick us up.  We decided to head towards Zion National Park and look for a campground.  One RV place was $92 a night for poor accommodations.  We decided to keep driving and ended up finding an RV park on the other side of the park.  There was hardly anyone there and we found a great spot.  It was warm there during the day and cold at night.  This place was nice, with free showers and a game room, with coin laundry.  It also had a nice gift shop across the road.
     Tuesday we had a great adventure.  We planned a nice hike that never happened.  That is because a 78 year old man saw us walking and decided to do his "good deed" for the day.  I thought he was just giving Abby and I a ride across the creek.  Then he said he'd take us all to the trail head.  We figured it would be a short trip.  We kept going up, up, up a big hill, through rough terrain.  We had no idea where he was taking us and we were all cramped in the back of his small pickup truck.  It turned out he took us right up to the cave.  Red Cave.  It was so cool to walk through, we had such a great time.  There were other people there who were part of a large, Mormon family.  We enjoyed getting to know them.  We then traveled to a second cave that we even better.  It was one we didn't even know about and was on private property (the brother of the 78 year old).  Some of our boys got to do some serious climbing up into the cave, along with some of the others we had met.  This day was definitely the highlight of our whole trip, and quite unexpected.
   The next day we spent the day driving to other parts of Zion that we were able to see, up to a large reservoir.  During the whole trip we were only able to hike two miles, which was hardly any for us.  Unfortunately, most of our sightseeing was done from the van.
     It rained all night on Wednesday night and in the morning it even snowed some.  We decided to head home early.  There was no hope that the park would open any time soon.  The van got stuck in the mud at the campground.  After some pushing, we got the van free and were able to hook up the trailer and make it out.  On the way home it snowed quite a bit through the Rocky mountains, during the night.  It was slow going, but we made it through without any trouble.  Our traditional Cracker-barrel stop was Friday morning, about 3 hours from home in Missouri.
     Overall it was not the best vacation, but it was nice to get away and spend some time together.  Maybe someday we'll go back to those parks, but we will be sure to steer clear of October.  It was too cold and we never want to take a chance of the government spoiling our vacation again.

Blessed Again...

     We are happy to announce that we are expecting our 9th child next April.  Yesterday we heard the heartbeat and everything seems to be going fine.  I will be 12 weeks tomorrow and it has been a tiring few months for me.  I am looking forward to getting my energy back soon.  Overall the pregnancy has been good so far, no complications.  Four weeks before getting pregnant, I had a five week miscarriage.  We were so surprised to be pregnant the very next cycle.  We certainly were not trying, but God saw fit to bless us again.  We appreciate any prayers for this new life and for our family.

      I have been so bad about posting on my blog this year.  Things have been busier than ever.  Our focus right now is school and we are still trying to get into the groove.  That's because I have been taking naps almost daily and that affects everything. I hope the need for naps will decrease soon.

   

Mr. Snowman Comes for a Visit

We got nine inches and it is quickly melting away. 

Hello 2013

I guess it is about time I post something on my blog, since I haven't since last December.  So here's my first post of 2013.

In January, we celebrated Jesse's 5th birthday.  I'd post a picture, but I haven't put any pictures on my computer yet this year.  We've been busy, as usual.  The basement is now painted and ready for the vinyl flooring and then the bookshelves we are having made.  It will be nice to get all the books out of the boxes. 

Last week Rachel turned 7!  She enjoyed her birthday, but still wants a sleepover with her cousins.  We'll be doing that in a couple weeks. 

Our biggest news is that we are starting a new adventure in ministry.  God has called us to help start a church in the area.  It is very cool to see God's hand in all the circumstances that has led us to this point.  He was preparing us last year to be ready for this.  It is scary and exciting at the same time.  We are looking forward to seeing how God is going to work to bring people to Himself.  The planning has already begun and we will have a service on Easter.  We will have a few more test services after that, but in September the plan is to start having a weekly worship service.  It is at that time that we will make the switch.  Our kids will still be involved in ministries at our current church home, because that is where they're friends are.  I'm sure we will be doing that for at least a year.

We have six more weeks of school.  I am ready for a break.  I'm sure the kids are too.  I'm starting to think about gardening.  I have plants started already.  I sure would like to get out and till, but that won't work with snow on the ground!