The Bartschi Family

Summer So Far

2011-06-10T22:07:00.009-06:00

Kendal likes to boss the other team's players. She tells them to stand on their base and to RUN!

2010-10-17T20:48:00.038-06:00

Here are a BUNCH of pictures from the last few months. Our camping season started Easter Weekend. And it we won't be done until the trailer is officially winterized.

Manti, Utah

Camping and baseball was all that we did this summer.

We had 1/4 of a season pass to the Ogden Raptors. So we went to about 10 games. We loved going to those games! Bryce learned how to do the YMCA. We love baseball!!

Bear Lake

This is the best picture that I took all year. Yes it really is a fish jumping out of the water.

Black Hills, South Dakota

The kids mastered the self portrait at Mt. Rushmore.

Bryce learned to do a back flip at the Crook Reunion.

Ririe Reservoir.

Uintas

Bryce doing a "no hander" so Kendal had to do a "no footer."

Bear Lake - Crook Party

Vernal Temple

Flaming Gorge Dam

Uintahs

Grand Staircase - Escalante

Cear Breaks (yes that is snow)

Bryce had to take a picture of his Star Wars action figure at every stop on our trip. He got quite the comments from everyone. And yes it fell over the fence at Bryce Canyon so he had to climb over and get it. I freaked out!

Bryce Canyon

2010-06-06T20:54:00.022-06:00

Here are some pictures of our Summer Vacation:

We spent our first night in windy Rawlins. But the fun started out at Martin's Cove. No, we didn't walk back into the cove. It was chilly and Kendal wasn't feeling well. I think every missionary talked to us. They were very friendly.We climbed to the top of Independence Rock.

The second night we camped at the bottom of Devil's Tower and hiked around it the next morning.

This was our camping spot in South Dakota. It had a huge meadow where the kids flew kites and played baseball.

Of course, our first stop was Mt. Rushmore. We ended up going there 3 times. One of those times was for the evening patriotic program when they lit up the monunment.

We were able to see a blast at Crazy Horse. Way cool!

Here ia a picture of the lake that was in the movie "National Treasure 2." It was at this lake that our biggest adventure of our trip began.

We decided to hike Harney's Peak. The trailhead started at this lake. Harney's Peak is the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains and at the top of this mountain is a fire lookout. The trail is a total of 7 miles (3 1/2 up and 3 1/2 down). We were only about 1/2 mile into the hike when we got this view of it:

It was SO far away that we didn't know if we really were going to make it. But we did!

It took us 2 1/2 hours to get up it and 1 1/2 to get down. It was pretty tough and we were sore for a couple of days.

We drove out to Badlands National Park.

We visited the Minutemen Missile Site out in the middle of no where. But Brian's dad used to go out to South Dakota to service these when they were active. So it was a must stop for us.

We drove through Custer State Park and on the Needles Highway. The tunnels were very small.

This is the smallest tunnel with a width of 8'-4". We had to put the mirrors in on the truck and Bryce could reach out and touch the walls.

This is way they call it the Needles Highway:

The highlight was to see the burros. The kids thought they were fun.

We went to a reptile place and all Kendal wanted to do was go for a ride on the 100 year old giant turtles. (They wouldn't let her).

We came home through Nebraska. So we saw Chimney Rock.

And we camped under Scotts Bluff. We drove to the top of it and we walked along the Oregon Trail.

We talked a lot about pioneers and presidents on this trip. The Black Hills and prairies of South Dakota and the flat farmlands of Nebraske were beautiful. We had a lot of fun and we are excited to see where we will go next year. Any ideas? We refuse to drive through windy Wyoming ever again.

Baseball

2010-04-26T19:45:00.004-06:00

Derby Champ

2010-03-31T20:12:00.002-06:00

We had our Pinewood Derby and Brian, I mean Bryce was the winner!

Hybernating

2010-01-31T16:00:00.009-07:00

Someone asked me the other day what we have been up to. And I told them, "Nothing!", and I really meant it. Life at our house is pretty boring. We truly have been hybernating all winter saving up vacation hours and planning our summer camping trips. To let you know how boring it is at our house...here are some of the highlights of our winter:

Kendal got her hair cut short:

This is Kendal not getting her way:

This is a pretty normal look for her. I have NO IDEA who she got that from. Her latest thing to tell me is: Is that any way to treat your children?

I let the kids sleep in their hideout one night:

This is a picutre of the little monsters: (they are very inseperable)

Both our neighbors cut their trees down and now we have a view of the mountains: (This was actually the most exciting thing that has happened)

We have A LOT of different birds around our house so we have been bird watching from our kitchen. Here are some birds that we have seen. We have no idea what kind they are.

Dinner

2009-11-07T20:26:00.004-07:00

I went out to my garden the other day for the first time in awhile and look what I found. A very very large zucchini (I can't spell it). So I thought I would fry some and have scrambled eggs with it for dinner. Since this is your favorite food, Dad, I will save some for you! :-) Bryce thought it was cool that he cleared 3 baskets of laundry.

Kendal Birthday

2009-10-25T20:25:00.004-06:00

See what Kendal got for her birthday.

She got a ride on a horse, not the actual horse. Her brother gave her a remote control car so she can play with him.

Our Summer

2009-10-04T19:24:00.027-06:00

So I am not a very good blogger. If we weren't out camping this summer, we were home working like crazy to save up money and vacation time to go camping. We counted that we spent 24 nights in our new trailer, The Bullet, this summer. We have had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories. We have been to some amazing places this year. So here is a "recap" of our Spring/Summer/Fall.

9 nights on our Oregon Trip:

4 nights at the Crook Reunion:

3 nights at the Bartschi Family Reunion at Washington Lake in the Uintahs:

2 nights along the Provo River (with Becky and Sundance!)

3 nights at Bridger Lake in the Uintahs:

3 nights in Bryce Canyon/Zion Parks (this is our most spontaneous trip)

Here are some "out take" pictures:

And now we hibernate until Spring!

Bryce's Birthday

2009-08-19T15:56:00.009-06:00

Here are some pictures of Bryce's birthday. He loved everything about his birthday - even the squash that Grandpa sent to him.

Shiner Day 2

2009-07-30T12:20:00.001-06:00

Terena wanted to see a picture of Day 2. He is kind of proud of it today.

Shiner

2009-07-29T20:48:00.001-06:00

The hazards of playing baseball. I can only imagine what it will look like tomorrow! :(

Field of Dreams

2009-07-10T23:03:00.003-06:00

Tonight was Scout Night at our local Minor League baseball team. Bryce was in HEAVEN!!! He thought it was so awesome. He sat on the edge of his seat for the whole game. He got to meet the players and get their autographs before the game. It was also Tommy Lasorda night. So Bryce got to meet and get the autograph of THEE Tommy Lasorda. He didn't know who he was, but I promised him he would thank me in a few years for standing in the long line to meet him. I was more excited to see him then Bryce was.

Thee Tommy Lasorda!! WOW!! (I have to admit it would have been cooler if it was Dale Murphy!)

Oregon Coast

2009-06-24T17:45:00.031-06:00

We just got back from our family vacation to the Oregon Coast. This is the farthest we have ever been on a vacation. We took Brian's mom with us and we had a lot of fun! Our first night we stayed in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Mountain Home. We call this white trash camping. We got there about 11 o'clock at night and were gone by 9am. But what can we say, it was free.

The second night we camped at a lake called Suttle Lake just passed the town of The Sisters.

This picture is for Caleb.
This first morning that we were on the Coast we went to Devil's Punch Bowl and hiked inside it and around the tide pools. (Thanks for the advice Jay R. - we loved it)

We saw our first whale on the first morning we were there too. Bryce thought that was AWESOME!

This was Byrce's favorite part - playing in the ocean. I love this picture of Brian and Bryce in their jackets holding their swimsuits up.

Here are pictures of the sand dunes we saw.

This is Cape Perpetua.

We went to the Aquarium. We had never been to one before so we had a lot of fun there too.

The kids were excited to finally be able to fly a kite. We have no luck with kites at home.

We made it up to the cheese factory for cheese sandwhiches and ice cream.

We missed our turn in Portland on our way home and ended up in Washington!

Brian's mom only went with us to see the lighthouses. She turned into a kid in a candy shop at each lighthouse we went to. We had to drag her out of them. We ended up seeing 4 of them.

This last one we climbed over 100 stairs to the top of it. Ask Bryce how many. He counted them.

We had a lot of fun and it only rained on us on our drive out there and on the way back. We are now excited for the Crook Reunion!!

See you all there!

The Boss

2009-06-05T21:37:00.003-06:00

The other day I was downstairs working and talking to my boss on the phone when I heard some thumping upstairs. When I went upstairs I realized that our kids have discover the one and only "Boss". Bryce informs me that he is AWESOME!!

This is for you Uncle Nolin!! (I hope you have high speed internet to even see it).

A Proud Mom

2009-05-28T22:09:00.002-06:00

Look what my kids can finally do!! I am so proud of them! :) This is one of the MANY things that Bryce has taught his little sister. Isn't that what big brothers are for?

This photo brings back memories of my childhood for 2 reasons. If you knew me as a child you will know exactly what I am talking about.

Memorial Day

2009-05-28T22:02:00.007-06:00

We have a tradition on Memorial Day. We always visit the grave of Brian's dad and I always take a picture of Brian and the kids. I am posting the last few year (since I got my digital camera).

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

We miss Grandpa Bartschi!

Bryce

2009-05-16T21:17:00.007-06:00

I thought I would post of few pictures of Bryce and the things that he has been up to lately. Baseball has finally started. He loves baseball! His favorite position is catcher. He is actully pretty good at it if I must say. We have a good time watching him. He is on the Indians. And they have won 3 of their 4 games.

We did some bird watching in our back yard on Mother's Day. We have all kinds of birds in our neighborhood. We have some type of blue birds, some doves, and....

... a woodpecker. This is a picture of it. We can hear it all over the neighborhood tapping on trees and power poles.

He has been doing very well in school and not goofing off so he earned a new scooter. He has been using the scooter that the BC Crook's gave as a white elephant gift a few years ago at the reunion. We figured it was time he deserved a cool new one.

He loves being a Cub Scout. We had the Space Derby last month and this is him with his rocket. He has the best scout leaders in the whole world!!! :)

April

2009-04-13T13:43:00.007-06:00

Believe it or not, I am finally updating our blog. Here are a few pictures of Easter.

It is baseball season! Bryce is so excited to play this year. His first practice is this week. So he dragged Kendal outside today to help him practice. She can't wait until she is old enough to play softball.

For the Little Girls

2009-02-26T19:26:00.003-07:00

Kendal dedicates this song to all her little girl cousins. They are the only ones who will remotely recognize this song.

Fun Dip

2009-02-26T19:24:00.004-07:00

You gotta love Fun Dip candy. (Bryce's was red).

Nothing New

2009-01-16T19:31:00.007-07:00

Well..."You-Know-Who" has been nagging me about updating our blog. The truth is that nothing new is happening at our house. I haven't taken very many pictures.

Brian kept busy doing all our Christmas shopping this year while I worked. He now officially knows more about Barbies than I do - which wasn't very hard. Kendal got her first Barbies for Christmas. She was pretty bummed about getting a "boy" doll. (She got a Ken doll too). Bryce was excited about the Lego Star Wars that he got. He put this together all by himself.

We had an early dinner on New Year's Eve. Becky brought cream puffs for dessert - which we pigged down.

Brian usually stays up late with me to keep me company while I work. But he has gotten into watching the Food Network (in HD). So he has become a very good cook. (He has cooked more than me lately). So he cooked some yummy shrimp (so he says) for our New Year's Eve dinner. We put the kids to bed early and I worked for half the night while Brian tried to save the world on Xbox. So that was our exciting New Year's Eve party.

The kids loved being out of school and hanging out together.

So...like I said, nothing new around here. Oh, we did get a new exercise machine. It's name is "HealthRider" we have nicknamed it the "HellRider".

Work

2008-12-03T21:22:00.003-07:00

I have been working a lot lately. Actually, I have been working a lot since Spring. I usually have a few days off between projects to gain my sanity again before I start on the next project. But I have been going from one big project to the next big project pretty much all year. Which is a good thing, but I rarely get out of the basement away from my desk. One project in particular gave me A LOT of grief and caused me a few melt downs. I celebrated when the last piece of steel was erected on that job. I am starting another big project tomorrow that will occupy the next few months of my life. So I thought I would post a couple of pictures of what I have to deal with while I work.

These are the faces of a child who needs attention:

She likes to sit on my desk and "help" me work. She gets her red and yellow pencil like me and marks up my old drawings. She tags along with me when I go into the office. The guys at work like to give her treats and entertain her during meetings. I actually really do like being a checker and I am very thankful for my job these days.

My advice for the day: Update your blog often or Merodene will bug you until you do. :-) I love you Merodene! (sorry for the nasty email response I sent to you)

The Shirt

2008-11-01T20:39:00.001-06:00

Thanks Shereen!

Halloween

2008-11-01T20:34:00.004-06:00

Bryce was a clone trooper and Kendal was Super Girl for Halloween. We went to our ward Trunk or Treat.

This is the product of Bryce being a different Star Wars character for the last few years:

Fall has Returned

2008-11-01T20:28:00.006-06:00

Happy Birthday Kendal

2008-11-01T20:18:00.005-06:00

Kendal finally turned 4 years old!! She was so very excited for her birthday! We took her to the zoo for her birthday. She had never been to the zoo before. So we chose the busiest day of the whole entire year to go to the zoo. It was trick or treating at the zoo and there a million and 4 people there.

I didn't any good pictures of my kids. They don't like there pictures taken. I have no idea where they get that from.

Kendal is a true girl. She had to have a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and double chocolate brownie ice cream.

So It Begins Again

2008-10-12T20:13:00.006-06:00

Here are some pictures of our Sunday afternoon today.

Bryce's Baptism

2008-09-19T19:44:00.005-06:00

Here are some pictures of Bryce's baptism. We are very thankful for very wonderful and supportive family and friends. We do love and appreciate you all. Thank you all for making it a special day for our family - especially Bryce.

Swimming

2008-09-19T19:40:00.002-06:00

We went to Brian's work party the other night. It was a pool party. I got this shot when Brian was jumping off the diving board trying to catch Bryce coming down the slide.

Last Camping Trip of the Year?

2008-09-07T21:55:00.007-06:00

We braved the cold temperatures this weekend and went camping. It was 55 degrees at 1:00 in the afternoon and got down to the 30's at night. That doesn't include the windchill. We went to Washington Lake in the Uintahs again. This time we went with our friends, Bill and Christofer. This will probably be our last camping trip of the year (unless we head South) since they closed the campgrounds for the season as we were leaving.

Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Bryce and I caught our first fish on this trip. Bryce cast and reeled it in himself. And I caught a little fish on Kendal's pink fishing pole. Her pink fishing pole still has caught the most fish.

Here is a picture of Kendal that shows how cold it got. (She also had two shirts on).

The kids built a chipmunk trap and sat back and watched it with their binoculars. No, they didn't catch the one chipmunk in the campground.

It did get warm when the wind wasn't blowing. So we went on a couple of hikes to look for some geocaches. Once again, we had a wonderful time camping. We were sad to leave - again.

First Day of School Pictures

2008-09-04T20:49:00.002-06:00

Bryce started 3rd grade last week. The start of school does not bring me joy. I have more anxiety than my kids do. Brian keeps telling me to "cut those strings". Kendal started Pre-school this week. Of course, she loves it! Who wouldn't?

Tiger Scout

2008-09-04T20:47:00.003-06:00

Bryce got his Tiger Scout Award last week. He is excited that he is officially a Cub Scout.

Love in a Bottle

2008-08-24T20:36:00.005-06:00

Brian loves very spicy homemade canned salsa - the hotter the better. He has been out of salsa for a couple of months now. So I decided to show him how much I love him and make him salsa this weekend. It takes so much work to make that I decided that I would quadruple my recipe so I only had to make it once. He showed me how much he loves me by helping me chop pounds of peppers on Friday night. He stirred it all afternoon on Saturday and even helped me process it. (I even had 2 canners going). It is amazing how a Camp Chef makes canning manly. Brian was the Quality Control Manager. He stirred and tasted it all day while he watched the Olympics.

We ended up with 33 3/4 quarts of salsa. We would have had more, but SOMEONE tasted too much of it during the day.

Happy Birthday Bryce!

2008-08-22T22:57:00.002-06:00

Bryce had the BEST Birthday EVER!!! All he wanted to do was go camping at Grandpa and Grandma Crook's house. He loved hanging out with "Big" Jacob (that is what we call him at our house) and Terena. It seemed like we celebrated his birthday for about 5 days! He will be getting baptized (if he is good) on September 13th. He is pretty excited about that.

The Bartschi Family Campout

2008-08-06T23:03:00.035-06:00

Here are a BUNCH of pictures from our Bartschi Family Campout with Brian's mom and most of his sister's family. We went to Washington Lake in the Uintah Mountains for three nights. Kendal informed me that I was too old to do this:

I had to prove her wrong.

Here is a picture of Uncle Mike bugging Bryce:

Here is a picture of Kendal bugging Uncle Mike:

Here is a picture of Kendal bugging Gavin: (do you see the pattern?)

Bryce put A LOT of miles on his bike.

Brian bought Bryce a new pocketknife, so if Bryce wasn't riding his bike, he was carving on some sticks.

Here are Smart Bart and Kiershta. Where's the muffins?

Here is Briana. She was Bryce's audience. He loved to make her laugh.

Chris was a good burger flipper and a self proclaimed "perfect marshmallow" roaster!

Gavin fishing. What a life!!

Grandma and her "hardly used" paper plate:

Here is Jolene before she got giggly tired.

A rare smile from Kendal:

And you didn't think that I got any pictures of you Mike.

Awake Rochelle...

Asleep Rochelle:

Tempes, the Yahtzee Queen! Bryce still talks about all the 5's that you got.

We did do some fishing.

Here is the only fish that we caught:

Of course, it was caught by Kendal on her pink fishing pole.

Here are some photos of everyone eating s'mores and making a sticky mess of themselves.

It rained a little bit. Here are the chicken adults under the canopy.

Bryce was not so chicken.

Here are some photos of the "Freaky Tongue Club":

Bryce is working on joining your club next year.

These next pictures are for Brian. He made fun of me for taking so many pictures of the "foilage". (I did take a lot)

We had a lot of fun and were sad to leave. We hope that everyone will be able to come next year so we can have a bigger and happier "Happy Circle"!

Summertime

2008-08-06T17:12:00.008-06:00

Here a couple of pictures of our summer.

Here are a couple of pictures from our ward camp out.

The water was ICE cold.

Firsts

2008-07-18T00:58:00.010-06:00

Bryce and Kendal have had some "Firsts" this last week. First "official" golf lesson.
Official because we paid money for them. The Bartschi's just want that Crook Family golf trophy next year.

First Cub Scout Day Camp.

First ride on the Front Runner Train to Salt Lake City.

First TRAXX light rail ride.

First trip to Temple Square.

It was a primary activity. The Bartschi's are not that adventurous.

Camping Trip #3: Hokanson Reunion

2008-06-29T22:53:00.009-06:00

Our latest camping trip was this last weekend when we went to the Hokanson Reunion in Star Valley. We spent Friday night camping up by Tin Cup. Once again, we had a lot of fun. No "Beer Campers" this trip. Just a lot of mosquitos!
Our entertainment was a friendly chipmunk the kids named, Alvin. How original. They fed him chips off their shoes.

He enjoyed our leftover dinner in the trash.

Here is a little video of Brian and the kids peeking in on Alvin in our trash.

The kids loved Uncle Dee's train. It was fun seeing some of our family this weekend.

We kept our bags packed for the Crook Reunion this weekend.

Camping Trip #2: Beer Camping

2008-06-29T22:06:00.004-06:00

So a couple of weeks ago we were dying to go camping. But there is too much snow in the mountains. So decided we would have to go camping with the "Beer Campers". This is a term that we came up with sitting around the fire that night.

"Beer Campers" are a group of people shopping in Wal-Mart on a Friday early evening and out of the blue they decide that they want to go camping that night. So they head straight for the beer aisle and stock up on a lot of beer. They get so excited about going camping that they decide to buy all of their camping stuff (gear and food) and go straight up to the camp ground from Wal-Mart. So...as we were sitting around the campfire about 10pm after our kids were in bed listening to our neighbors car stereo our Wal-Mart campers pulled in. They unloaded their brand new tent and sleeping bag out of the box and set it up in the dark using the headlights of their car. (Budget didn't allow for flashlights at Wal-Mart). They sat around their fire and drank beer and laughed half the night. Thank heavens for iPods! :) We laughed the next morning when we saw that their picnic table was covered in Wal-Mart grocery bags! Revenge was ours when one of our neighbors asked for jumper cables the next morning because their car battery was dead from listening to their music all night. The kids used their binoculars to spy on our neighbors.

We sat and laughed about our camping neighbors. No matter what, we always have fun camping.

LEGO Indy

2008-06-10T23:38:00.003-06:00

You gotta love Wal-Mart. This is a life size Indiana Jones made out of LEGO's at our local Wal-Mart. Bryce loves Indiana Jones.

"Boxes"

2008-05-30T21:33:00.003-06:00

For the first week of Summer Vacation, Bryce and Kendal have been entertained by two different "boxes". That would be empty cardboard boxes and Box Elder Bugs.

Rock Star!!!

2008-05-30T20:53:00.003-06:00

Life of a Boy

2008-05-22T22:37:00.008-06:00

Bryce had to make a tough decision tonight. Should he go to his baseball game or should he go to the Stake Pinwood Derby. It was a very hard choice he had to make. But he chose to go to baseball because he already went to a Pinewood Derby. But...it rained today so his baseball game was cancelled. So he ended up going to the Pinewood Derby.

He is loving baseball. He is one of the older boys on his team. So he isn't one of the ones that sit and draw pictures in the dirt while he is out in the field.

I had to add this picture. Because I have never seen him jump this high before. It cracked me up. And no he wasn't trying to catch a ball.

Bryce's Pinewood Derby came in second place tonight. He won every heat he was in. The kid that took first place just happened to get a better time than he did in a different heat. His fastest time was 3 thousandth of a second faster than Bryce's fastest time. It was pretty high tech. Bryce got a medal. He informed us that he only raced for fun and not for any prizes. I guess he was listening to all the lectures that we gave him before we left.

Tomorrow is his last day of second grade. He thinks that he is going to play with his friends and with video games all summer. I won't ruin his dreams yet!!

First Camping Trip of '08

2008-05-04T16:56:00.008-06:00

We have popped up our trailer a couple of times in the driveway and just sat in it for a few hours dreaming of going camping. But we finally made it on our first camping trip of the year Friday night. We spent Friday night on "Bug" I mean Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake.

These faces sum up how excited we were to be camping!

Here is a photo of one of our visitors to our camp.

The kids had a good time burying beetles.

Another trip to the Great Salt Lake and another lesson on brine shrimp. This time there were actual close up - hands on exhibits of the egss.

When we pulled up to the ranger station there was a big sign that said, "Bugs are bad." Brian is a walking example of how bad they were. They loved him. He must be allergic to them because he go A LOT of them and everyone of them became swolen. His melon felt like he had little melons on it. Poor Guy!

We had A LOT of fun though and we can't wait to go camping again. We just have to get some Home Show plans done so we can go again!!

Happenings

2008-03-24T19:18:00.009-06:00

I haven't posted anything for awhile so here are a few things that have been going on at our house.

Bryce built a robot for school.

Kendal finally got her first haircut. On a side note. Chelsea came and cut and colored my hair a few weeks ago and I tried to talk Kendal into having Chelsea cut her hair. Kendal said, "But I didn't want her to paint my hair!"

The Weiss Girls finally came for a visit. We had so much fun having them at our house. We are excited for them to come to the reunion this summer.

Sundance came and pouted at our house for a few days. As long as she got attention she was some what happy. We had fun having her here. Bryce about lost his lunch while he was "cleaning up" after her. He lived.

We drove out to Antelope Island on Saturday looking for a camping spot. We heard some good Brine Shrimping stories from Brian.

It was so cold, we spent most of the time in the truck. Except for...

Bryce tasting the Great Salt Lake to see if it really was salty. Gross!

We colored and decorated Star Wars Easter Eggs.

Here is the kids' Easter photo. Taking a serious photo of these two is almost impossible.

Here is a little better one.

That is about it from here. We are just excited to go camping!!!!

Poor Sundance

2008-03-14T18:43:00.001-06:00

Threat

2008-02-26T22:04:00.005-07:00

So I got a threating email from Merodene tonight that told me to update my blog! I think that there are some others of you out there that have gotten this same kind of email from her. But I don't have any new pictures to put on the blog. We have been leading a boring life lately and it has been wonderful! So I decided to put some before and after pictures of our kitchen. I wanted to wait until we had it completely done, but it has been too cold to get the saw out to finish the trim work. We also need to pick out some hardware. (But I am afraid that Kendal will just use the drawer handles as a ladder. So we have been dragging our feet on that.) So here you go. In the words of Bryce -"Are you happy now?!" Merodene? ;)

MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!

2008-02-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

We are sooo tired of shoveling!!! We are running out of room to put all the snow!!

This is an icicle that we found on our house.

It is not a matter of shoveling the snow to the TOP of the pile any more...it is now trying to get it UP and OVER the top of the pile!!

Down and Derby

2008-01-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

So tonight was our first Pinewood Derby!!! Bryce and Brian have been working on it for the last few weeks.
They polished the axels and wheels. Brian even let Bryce run the drill. Bryce even got to use the saw--for a couple of minutes.

Bryce did A LOT of sanding on it. It was his least favorite thing to do.

Brian took one of his old Pinewood Derby cars tonight and raced against Bryce's car. Bryce's car beat Brian's car by a few feet. In fact, Bryce's car beat every one he raced. Both son and dad were very excited that his car didn't lose every race. Bryce had a lot of fun tonight and is very excited about being a Tiger Scout.

Here is a quick video of his car racing. His is the green one. (The one on the right)

Think Spring

2008-01-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

So the other day I saw Alan's blog about Global Warming and I thought, "Man, I am so glad that I don't have to shovel all the snow that they get at their house!" I am paying for that thought now! We got around 18" of snow today. We shoveled 4 times today! We are kicking ourselves for not getting a snow blower for Christmas.
I also saw the pictures of Lori's backyard tonight. It looks so nice and warm and I wish I were there. So I had to post pictures of our backyard that I took today. This picture was taken this afternoon. It snowed a few more inches after I took this.

The kids found a fort under the branches that were loaded down with snow.

The fun ended when Kendal got stuck in the snow and couldn't get up.

Everytime we talk about how much we miss camping, we think we need to head to Arizona to visit Jimmy and Lori. We are wishing we were there today!

Identity Crisis

2008-01-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

Kendal likes to pretend a lot. When she pretends to be a dog, she says, "Just call me, Dog." When she pretends she is a princess, she says, "Just call me, Princess." Well, as you can tell she has been Princess Bartschi the last couple of days. But tonight she couldn't decide if she wanted to be Princess or Super Girl. So she decided to be both. (Jessie would be proud to know she had her Dora Levi's on under her dress.) After awhile she came up to me without any costumes on and said, "Just call me, Kendal."

Sunbeam

2008-01-06T21:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the newest Sunbeam in our ward. Today was her first day in Sunbeams and I am the lucky teacher of about 10 Sunbeams. I only had to take her to her dad once. Oh and no she didn't wear this to church today! This is what Meagon and her boys gave her for Christmas. She is so unlike me!

P.S. Can any of you tell what the latest thing we worked on in the kitchen?

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our Christmas morning. This is Kendal boxing on theWii. This video is just for you, Aunt Merodene. You know Jake is going to want one of these!

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

All Fun and Games...

2007-12-06T20:41:00.001-07:00

As you can tell, it doesn't take much to entertain our kids. They loved that box that Becky gave them. Now it is bubble wrap that came in a package. They had a good time popping it!

It's all fun and games until.....

Someboy gets hurt! And it is usually Kendal!!

Mess

2007-12-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

Can any of you relate to this picture?
We started to paint our kitchen today. We have it all primed and ready to put the real paint on. I asked Merodene if she would come help us paint and she just gave me a sick tired laugh. I take it that was a "NO!"

Entertainment

2007-11-15T21:17:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the hours of entertainment, Becky! Thanks for the box!

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-02T18:53:00.000-06:00

Bryce decided to be Darth Vadar this year and Kendal wanted to be a chicken. Darth Vadar scared me as a little girl and he still haunts my nightmares - so, of course, my son would have to idolize him. He even writes some interesting stories about Darth Vadar in school.
They are still riding the sugar high from all the Halloween candy.

Kendal is 3!!!

2007-11-02T18:47:00.000-06:00

Kendal had her birthday. We can't believe she is 3 years old. We don't know what we ever did before she was born. She is funny and happy and most of all -- moody! She didn't want to go to bed tonight so she shoved a small screw up her nose. That was the first time and hopefully the last time that I have to dig any foreign objects out. We love her no matter what her mood is and no matter what she does.

Something Different

2007-10-18T13:23:00.001-06:00

Do you notice anything different/new about Kendal?

Tiger Cub

2007-10-12T19:29:00.000-06:00

Bryce is a Tiger Cub Scout! We went to our very first pack meeting a couple of weeks ago. The Den Leader is wonderful. Bryce had a ball and can't wait until he gets to go again.

That is about all that I can say about that - if you know what I mean!

Dance Fever

2007-10-05T15:59:00.000-06:00

I am trying to learn how to do a video in my blog. I hope it works for all of you. Just click on the play button.

All I can say is, "She didn't get this from her parents!"

Whose Kids are These?

2007-09-25T21:58:00.000-06:00

Bryce lost another tooth on Saturday. He was pretty ticked Sunday morning when he realized the Tooth Fairy didn't show up! OOPS!! We told him that she must be really busy and running late. That satisfied him. I don't know what we would have told him if she didn't show up on Sunday night. Good thing she finally showed up! I wonder where Bryce gets this from? His uncle Jay R. would be proud.

Kendal loves to wear hats. She will use anything as a hat. Yes, this really is a bag on her head. We all know that she gets the hat loving thing from her Dad.

Did you all hear the shouts for joy tonight from our house? Kendal pooped in the potty for the first time!!!!!!

Last Camping Trip of the Year?

2007-09-17T14:18:00.000-06:00

I think that we just went on our last camping trip of the year. Whenever I say that to Brian, he just says, "We'll see." He and I have both worked a lot the last little while, so we were glad to get out and go camping. This time we just went for Friday night up Monte Cristo canyon with some friends that he works with.

It seems like everyone we camp with has a dog. We decided that to be a "real camper" you need to have a dog. I guess we will never be real campers. Bryce and Kendal, just love all their dogs.

One of our friends brought his 4-wheelers. They had fun going for a little ride. Bryce prefers to ride Uncle Bill's 4-wheelers. (I wonder why?)

Once again, we had another fun time camping!!! We are going to miss camping all winter.

Southern Utah Trip

2007-09-04T10:49:00.000-06:00

We spent Labor Day weekend in Southern Utah. This is where we camped, Dead Horse State Park.

These pictures gave me heart failure. They are standing right at the edge!!!

The first day we went into Arches National Park. We hiked all the way UP to Delicate Arch! We are quite proud of ourselves. It was very very hot! Bryce made it with no complaining. Kendal was designated as the "Family Freeloaded". She got a free ride thanks to her dad!

For two days we did A LOT of hiking around to see A LOT of Arhces. Everyone of them was amazing! Bryce's main goal was to push over "Balanced Rock".

Brian and Bryce hiked this canyon (a mile long) at the wrong time of day (2:00 in the afternoon). There was no shade. Kendal waved them in. The canyon echoed so all could here her holler for Bryce. You can almost see them in the bottom left picture at the very bottom of the picture.

After all the hiking and heat, the kids started to revolt on us. So we turned on the DVD player and drove through Canyonlands National Park. The pictures don't do justice to how big these canyons are. They just went on and on!

We had a lot of fun but are glad for our central air in our house!!

Dinosaur Museum and Park

2007-08-29T00:29:00.000-06:00

We went to our local dinosaur museum and park the other day. We had a good time!

Bryce's Birthday

2007-08-25T12:09:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of Bryce's birthday last week while we were camping. He thought it was so cool to go camping on his birthday.

Camping photos

2007-08-21T15:52:00.001-06:00

Becky, check out these photos. How did I do? I didn't think that I was taking very many pictures, but when I got home, I downloaded 161 pictures! Do you want to see them all? just kidding!

Our Trailer

2007-08-20T16:23:00.000-06:00

These pictures are "just for you," Andrea!!! ;-)

Bridger Lake

2007-08-20T12:52:00.000-06:00

To sum up our latest camping trip in one word...RAIN!

Superwoman!

2007-08-15T22:06:00.000-06:00

See what we live with!!!!!

Treats from Aunt Becky

2007-08-07T14:21:00.000-06:00

The kids have been begging for a treat all morning. So after lunch I brought out a "special" treat that Aunt Becky sent them from her trip to DC. They were sooo excited to get a sucker from Becky until... they opened it! It was a scorpion in a sucker!

I told them that it is probably a toy scorpion and to "just eat it!" They wanted to eat those suckers sooo bad. I talked Bryce into licking it a couple of times. You can read Kendal's lips, "Ewhhh! I don't want that bug to bite me!" We decided to smash the suckers to get the toy scorpion out so they could eat the suckers. Well, I am not expert but when we smashed the suckers we discovered that...

They were REAL scorpions!!!! The scorpions crumbled when we smashed the suckers. They sure were not plastic toys!

So we ate some Oreos instead!! Thanks for the entertainment, Becky!!!

Ward Campout

2007-08-07T14:07:00.000-06:00

Here is proof that the Bartschi's went to the ward campout. We actually had fun. Brian was so helpful to the old ladies on the activities committee, that they begged the Bishop to put him on the committee with them. Everyone brought their dogs. Kendal fell in love with Sasha, the RS pres.'s dog. NO! We will not be getting a dog.

Camping at Trial Lake

2007-07-30T22:25:00.000-06:00

We went camping to the Uintahs this weekend to Trial Lake. We went with our friends, Rob and Lisa and their teenage kids, Jaci and Brock, that Bryce and Kendal bugged for three days. This was the first time that I have ever been to the Uintahs. We actually camped in pine trees and not sage brush. The only fan that we turned on was the fan on our heater. We wore long pants and jackets!! It was wonderful. Our friends took us on a hike to a little lake where we tried to do some fishing in the rain. The only fish that we (the Bartschi's) caught on our entire trip were Swedish fish. Here are some pictures of our trip. (Hopefully I did it so you can click on the pictures to make them bigger).

Bryce climbed on every rock and fallen down log and then he insisted on trying to move them. He found his first real live pet -- a little frog. He loved that frog for a whole hour until he set it free on a lily pad. He was sad to say good-bye. Apparently he didn't get enough to eat. He wanted to eat the leftover bait. Yummy!!!!

Kendal was happiest chasing chipmunks and fishing with her pink fishing pole and eating treats. If she wasn't doing one of those three things, it seems like she was screaming about something.

Here is a picture of the die hard fishermen out in the pouring rain and hail. Kendal and I were hovered under a tree eating treats.

I could never get them to smile for me. They would only smile for our friends. (Brock was standing over my shoulder pulling faces to get them to smile.)

We had fun and we were so sad to leave. When we pulled into town the temperature at the bank said it was 100 degrees. We are already planning our next trip.

Baseball and Harry Potter Fever

2007-07-23T19:41:00.000-06:00

We took the kids to the Raptors baseball game on Saturday night. Bryce thought it was way cool. He took his mitt to protect me from any foul balls. He got the hang of saying "Hey batter batter!" and cracking peanuts open with his forehead. Frank Layden sang "Take me out to the Ballgame". Bryce didn't know who that was. He has learned who Rollie Fingers is and he wants Babe Ruth's autograph. Kendal was only interested in looking for the Raptor mascot. We actually made it through the whole game. We drained the wallet on hot dogs and slushies. We had a good time!

Brian went out with the Harry Potter geeks on Friday night and got the latest book. He has ignored us ever since. He is mad at me because I read the last few pages to see what happens to Harry Potter!! =)

That is it from our house. We are getting ready for another camping trip!

Bryce's Perfect Gift

2007-07-18T20:28:00.000-06:00

When Bryce turned 2 years old he received the "Perfect Gift". He received a large yellow Tonka Dump Truck. From the moment he saw it, they were inseperable. He packed that truck whith him wherever he went. He has raced it through every room in the house. He took it to Bear Lake and palyed in the water with it. He even used it to haul his second favorite gift - all his Hot Wheels cars. He has even sat on it and tried to ride it. He has never been a very good sharer with it either. He is quite possesive of it. He would have slept with it if we would have let him. It finally became an "outside toy" where he could use it for what it was meant for -- hauling dirt.

But the other day he dug it out of the toy box outside (still all in one piece) and scrubbed it down. He has been chasing around the house with it for the last few days. After almost 5 years now, he still loves that perfect gift -- his Tonka dump truck!!

Camping with the Palmer's

2007-07-15T17:55:00.000-06:00

(I think I fixed it so anyone can post a comment on my blog if you would like.)

On Friday afternoon we packed up and went camping with our friends - Meagon and Jason and their boys. We just went up to Willard Bay for the night. The kids were so excited to finally get to do something fun all together.

By the time that we got our camp all set up we (the parents) were so hot that we took the kids down to the lake for a little swim. We had a little rubber raft that the kids liked to ride in. Bryce learned how to row the boat quickly. Caleb got the hang of it also. We couldn't decide who was smarter Bryce or Caleb. Bryce was smart to learn how to row pretty good. And Caleb was pretty smart to enjoy the ride while Bryce did all the work. They were quite the team!

The next morning, Brian went to the treat box to snitch some Swedish Fish and discovered that some little critter (the non-human kind) climbed in our treat box and tried to eat our Swedish Fish. The little critter only managed to get into one bag of treats. Luckily it wasn't our precious Fish!!

Bryce and Caleb had a ball playing Star Wars with their light sabers and chasing a huge rabit with their flashlights after dark. Trever always had a funny face to pull whenever I got my camera out. Joseph was the water bottle theif. Meagon didn't get much sleep and so she was grouchy the next morning. I have the picture to prove her happiness. (Sorry Meagon)

No one was ready to go home, but we all wanted our central air! Kendal's hat hair is proof of how hot it was. When we got home, it was 105 in our car port.

We had a way fun time! We have almost forgotten how hot is was and we only remember how much fun we had!!

Thanks Palmer's for a fun camping trip!!!

Riding A Two-Wheeler

2007-07-08T17:06:00.000-06:00

Becky has taught me how to create a blog. So this is our first "official" post. I am still learning how to do this.

Brian has been teaching Bryce how to ride his bike without the training wheels. So Brian would run along the side (or behind) Bryce. They made a few trips up and down our street. What a good Dad!

Bryce learned quickly, but not without some major headers. He was a tough kid and always got right back on.

Now he is a season pro.