Family Fun... from Arizona

Confession: I still haven't met most of Chip's cousins. (super sad, huh?)

Living in the middle of nowhere- (family wise)- has it's downsides when it comes to getting to know your relations that live farther away than a tank of gas can get you. Lucky for us we have family who come visit us!

After being married to Chip for 10+ years, I finally got to meet another one of Chip's cousins and his family at the beginning of July- Robbie and Megan and their 4 kiddos- I was so excited to finally meet them!

 The kids hit it off with each other right away.  (Alli and Sydney)

We decided to have an outdoor day filled with fun-  Inniswood Park, Easton splashpad, and Friendship park.- seriously- we were out until almost 10pm. All 4 of my kids slept really really well that night. :D

 Isn't Claire the cutest?!

 Poor Aidan got tickle tortured by Alli.... but considering that he kept coming back for more, I think he liked it.

 Chip and Robbie- the cousins. They kept telling some funny stories of their childhood. Such naughty boys! At least they survived and had some fun along the way....

 They made this swing just Robbie's size. How nice :)

 When we got to Friendship park Miles was so tuckered out that he didn't budge. Chip laid him on this picnic table and he slept that way for at least an hour.....

Megan is a fantastic photographer (see her website- if you are in southern Arizona, you should hit her up for sure!) - and we decided that we should get a picture of Chip and Robbie with their kiddos. Maggie was NOT having it....  you should see the rest of the pictures that didn't make the cut- sour faces!

The day they came to visit it was Megan's birthday- so we took her out to an Ohio must-eat.... Skyline Chili.  Technically it's from Cincinnati, but we'll claim it too. 

We sure wish that we could visit family more often. It's been almost a month since Megan and Robbie came to visit, but the kids still ask when we'll see Sydney, Lily, Aidan, and Claire again. They loved them!


Hopefully it won't be another 10 years before we get to meet up again.  :)

I know, I know

Yeah, Don't tell me.

I know.

I totally do!

I have been completely neglecting this blog this summer.

Between trips back to PA, down to DC, family coming in, the death of Mr. Finn (or sweet kitty), church assignments, play dates, non-napping two year olds,  and this week my awesome friend who moved away 3 years ago is coming into town to visit...... It's just been so darn full!

I promise I will catch up.



We'll talk soon.

Pardon me but I mustache you a question,

...... never mind, I'll shave it for later.


It's no secret that Chip is a huge fan of his facial hair- He has dreams of having the manliest mustache around. If we walk by an awesome old biker dude with a thick white handlebar mustache hanging down to the middle of his chest, Chip stops and stares..... and then he'll talk about the awesome sighting for weeks to come.  He is utterly envious of a good stache'.  He's even considered making little loop-de-loops on the end of his stache like the following:

Thankfully he hasn't done it..... yet.




Chip has been very blessed (I'm wondering if "blessed" is the word I'm looking for....) to have ample facial hair and needs only a few days to grow a rockin' beard. Which means that he can and does grow it out a lot. Whenever he has a good mustache on his face he's pretty darn pleased with himself..... especially because most of the women in our church/friends groups refuse to let their spouses grow a mustache and so the men are like "You are so lucky to have such an awesome wife the lets you sport facial hair like that!" ........  and the women in Chip's family fawn over his mustache- his grandma (Mama at the farm) even told him that he needed to be on a magazine cover!  I don't know if I'd go that far.

As long as I don't have to kiss him, I'm okay with Chip having facial hair. My dad always had facial hair (still does) so mustaches remind me of kissing my dad....... and I don't have daddy issues, so that means Chip gets only a peck when his visiting stache' is around.

In June, Chip decided it was time to sport his facial hair once again.... this time he wanted some Mustache Glamor shots taken before it got shaved off.....

What is a Mustache Glamor shot you might ask?

You won't be disappointed.

 Here's the "Feeling lucky, punk" pose.....

 And the "Man on a Mission" pose... 

 The ever charming "Arrrgggg I'm a pirate!" pose....

 We'll call this the "Gazing yonder in the distance".....

And I'll dub this either his "I can be tough and silly" pose or his "Ricko Suave" pose.

These are just a small sampling of the gorgeous shots I got. 

Jealous, aren't you. 

So what does one do with all of these pictures? He passed them onto his fellow co-workers- who have oogled them (even made them his signature picture on all of his work e-mails),  Made it his profile picture on Facebook (insert the oooooohhhh's and Aaaahhhh's given by the masses of jealous men folk on his friends list), and he also has it plastered on his personal website. Nice.

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If you have met Chip for more than a few minutes, you'd know that clutter- any clutter what-so-ever, gives him hives. My scrapbooking/quilting area- He shudders every time he looks at it. I'm pretty sure he won't mind as much once it gets behind closed doors..... anyway, Chip is constantly decluttering. He once whittled his closet down to 2 dress shirts, 5 t-shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, and a pair of jogging shorts to sleep in. That was it..... then I got pregnant with the twins and he realized he rapidly ran out of clothing because I couldn't stay on top of the laundry- so he added a few shirts back in.  One of his greatest thrills in life is throwing stuff away. Aside from the nastiness of bedbugs, I'm thinking he secretly loved that trial because we threw away of 1/2 the stuff we owned. 

Chip has thrown away most of the stuff he had from his childhood. When I first married him he had 3- 18 gallon tupperware totes (or whatever size the large tubs come in) stored at his parents house. They were filled with sketch books, photographs, scouting memorabilia, etc...  Over time he has whittled that down smaller, and smaller, and smaller still- where he only has 2 small totes that equal the size of 1 large tote.  When we went to Chip's parent's new house in June, we were reorganizing where things were being stored and I told Chip we should probably (finally) bring his memory buckets home with us. I think it's only fair that a 34 year old man should finally move everything out of his parents house.  So I wanted to take a gander at what was so precious to Chip for all of those years- What items made the final cut so to speak.

- Scouting stuff- check. Lots of it. 

- Sketch pads- check. He was/is a pretty darn talented artist.

- Photographs he took all up through his mission- check. 

and finally......

all 4 Disney Pocahontas collector cups- check. 

Plus a Lion King one too. 

What the crap?!?! I razzed him so badly about his (previously unknown to me) crush on Pocahontas. I didn't realize he liked the immodest girls who ran away with strangers... 

I've been singing 'Just around the River Bend' to him randomly for weeks now. He's not amused anymore.

I asked him what in the world made these plastic Burger King collector cups so special- I mean, how did THEY make the cut when so many other things that actually had sentimental value got tossed by the wayside without a second thought-  he said "I thought they would be worth a lot of money one day".....  so I looked on Amazon/Ebay- .......... The most expensive ones being sold were a whopping $20. 

Good call honey. 

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Basically the moral of this story is: If a dude is sporting a rocking mustache- he probably his hiding a secret collection behind it. He'll want you to think he collects tough guy stuff like classic Harley's or guns, or even a shot glass collection- but he's really collecting Victorian Porcelain dolls, Barbies, or even Disney items. 

PA Delights....

I've written about the family reunion, I've written about going to the DC temple, and I've written about the awake-wake..... but this post is going to be pretty darn good.....

We're going to talk about some of my favorite Pennsylvania delights- that's right- food. Yummy, scrumptious, fattening food that is part of the delightful trip to the Keystone State.

1)

Just ask anyone who knows me. I am not a fudge person. I never have liked it. I'm not sure why- I mean, what's not to like about it? It's chocolate, creamy, and chalked full of greasy goodness- but there it is... I'm not a fan.  One of our FAVORITE pit-stops on the way to Pennsylvania is at Cabela's- which is actually in West Virginia, about 20 miles or so from the Pennsylvania border, but I'm counting it anyway under a 'PA' treat. There are two things that we always get (food wise) at Cabela's..... Cinnamon Bears (one of my favorite candies), and Cabela's freshly made fudge. They have so many yummy flavors to sample and pick from, and I actually really really love their fudge! It's a little pricey (like $23 for 6 pieces), but it's worth it. Just ask my hips.

2)

TastyKake cream filled Koffee Kake cupcakes are another thing I completely look forward to when I hit Pennsylvania. When I was a nanny back in 2000, I discovered these delightful little morsels. They are so yummy! I found them in Walmart by my house ONCE. I bought 3 boxes and made them stretch for quite a few months..... other than that, I have only seen them in Pennsylvania.

3)

'The Weekender' is what they call this big bag.  I have never seen these potato chips outside of Richfield, the little town that Mama lives at..... although I was told on this last trip that they now sell these in Reading as well... (but I didn't see them). While these BBQ chips aren't overly seasoned, and they aren't going to knock your socks off like a good solid kettle chip, they quite literally melt in your mouth and you cannot stop eating them! Addicting!! I have yet to see anyone be able to resist their magical power.
(I just looked at a website- apparently they are by the same people that make TastyKakes.... go figure.


4)

In East Earl, Pennsylvania you will find Shady Maple Smorgasbord. It's the absolute best buffet you'll ever find in the entire world, I'm pretty sure I'd put money on it. It's not a flavor-less, bland, gross buffet like those big chains- that you can never find anything outside of the salad bar that you really like. This is FANTASTIC in every way imaginable. It's authentic Pennsylvania Dutch cooking.

 ..... did I mention that it's HUGE and fancy?  This is just a picture of where you pay to get in....

This is just one of the dozen or so 'closed off' dining rooms, reserved for larger groups. The main dining room is absolutely huge.

The buffet table is well over 200 feet, and there are like 8 separate 'stations' that have different menus daily- aside from the buffet line. Their homemade bread is to die for. I could have just eaten nothing but that and been perfectly happy.  The desserts actually have rich flavor- and are plentiful. 

Ohh... did I also mention that this buffet has standards?

The buffet serves a lot of Amish and Mennonite customers and it's really fun to hear the Amish German-ish language all around you. The girls were really interested in all the beards and suspenders. ;D
I love that the owners keep it so everyone, no matter what religion you are, will feel comfortable dining there.

It's pretty reasonable pricing too- I think just about $11 per adult.

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So there's a guide to some of the delightful eats that I look forward to anytime I go to Pennsylvania.
(I've already written about the cheese steaks in Philly... so I didn't include them in my list this go-around.... I love me a good cheese steak.)

What are some of your favorite food/treats in states you go to?

At The Farm

If you've followed this blog for a while- you'll know that I love going to 'The Farm'. Chip's grandma has a really wonderful old Amish farm in Pennsylvania. It's so serene and peaceful.  You just feel like you are smack in the middle of  'God's country' every time you're there. The water is cool and crisp, the air is fresh, the stars are huge, the crickets sing.....  it's just magical.


On Father's day we had the Kohrman Family Reunion at the farm....

It even said so on the cake. I guess Aunt Colleen told the lady at the bakery it needed to have a pond, some trees, and the name/date.... Check, check, and check. 

See... the real farm has a pond, and trees (the most of the trees are behind me)- so it was true to form. (Although only frogs and fish were in the pond, no ducks came to visit.)

Although we were missing a lot of cousins- people still came from far and wide-

... and also include those who flew in from California, Arizona, and Utah.  But we sure did miss those who were unable to attend.... (Which was about 1/2 of the cousins) ......

Let me introduce you to the ones who started it all......  Mama and her children.  (PopPop passed away when Alli was 9 months old)

Photo courtesy of Melanie T Photography

Front Row: Mama, Patsy

Back Row: Sandy, Shawn, Colleen, and Jeff

And here's all who attended:
 

Courtesy of Melanie T Photography

 Front row: Maggie, Ruthie, Jadyn, Alli

2nd row: Megan, Molly, Mama, Patsy, dog, Haven, Ty and baby Lyle. 

3rd row: Chip, Miles, Sarah, Zaikea, Gene, Sandy, Colleen, Nomi, Melanie, Ian

4th row: Breezi, Dexter, Brian, Jeff, Christopher, Mathew, Shawn, Tom, Sheri, Uncle Jeff. 

(for some reason, Josh wasn't in the picture, but he was there too. Maybe he was in the restroom?  Uncle Dick, Aunt Pat, and Aunt Virginia had already left before we took the picture) 

We all had so much fun being together! And I finally... FINALLY... got to meet Melanie- I have felt like I've known her for YEARS- through blogs and facebook, I have come to love her and her sweet family, and it was so nice to finally meet her in person! 

So here are some of the things that went down:

 

Ian playing with Miles and Dexter. Seriously- this guy is a mega- kid magnet!

Alli and Maggie digging for fossils by the pond. They found a gallon ziplock baggie full of fossils. They LOVED it.

Miles, Jadyn, and Lyle.  Jadyn was so good with the little guys who were there- and they all fell in love with her too!
 

The newly sealed Jeff and Zaikea. Aren't they adorable?

Miles and Dexter exploring the fields.

We had wheelbarrow races together...  (teams: Ian/Melanie, Chip/Shawn, Molly/Brian) While some won.......

.......others hysterically lost....

Haven won a Jelly Bean guessing contest... (can you believe there were over 700 jelly beans in that jar?)

 We had fun getting wet by playing with a bucket of water and sponges....  Miles got SO into it!

Courtesy of Melanie T photography

And no reunion can be complete without potato sack races. 

We all ate too much food, laughed till it hurt, played games, and caught up. The 'elders' of the group talked about the good old days and told us fun stories while we listened. I learned of a silly little rule that Mama had- keep in mind, I've been going to this sweet lady's home for 10+ years now, and for the FIRST time I learned that Mama does NOT like it when you wash your hands in the kitchen sink- you go to the bathroom to wash your hands. I thought that was pretty funny. 

I'm so glad we were able to attend the reunion while we were in Pennsylvania. It was just wonderful spending time being with people that you love. 

....until next reunion...

I swear- it was 103 degrees.

Note: Talking about my religion is a little difficult for me. Not because I don't believe in the teaching of it 110%, which I do, - but it is because my faith and religion are so sacred and dear to my heart, that it makes me feel so sad when others, who don't have an open mind and heart, judge it (my beliefs) harshly or make fun of it. Please don't take offense to the things I believe in- I don't judge others on their beliefs, instead  I try to get more details about other people's religions so that I can understand them a little more. I love learning of differences and similarities in other doctrines.

I read a lot of past General Conference addresses today to try and find the perfect one to share on my blog that will help people not of my faith (and I know most of my readers are not members of my church) understand a little bit more what goes on inside the temple. The things we do within its walls are not secret, they are just so sacred and not to be talked about lightly.

The talk that I am sharing was given by Russell M. Nelson- a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (My church believes that Prophets and Apostles are here on the earth today, not just anciently). He gave it in his April 2001 General Conference address.

It's called Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings. (link)  I encourage you to read it to help you understand why the temple is important and it tells of what goes on inside the walls.

While I am not a scriptorian or a master of my religion by any means- (we all learn line upon line, precept upon precept....)  if you ever have questions regarding my faith, I will answer them to the best of my ability (or get you to people who know the answer. :D).

And now for my post.......
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There were three reasons for going to DC.
1) Attend the endowment session at the temple for Chip's siblings, Jeff, Zaikea, and Ruthie.
2) Attend the sealing of Jeff and Zalkea.
3) Meet my grandparents and pick up Alli.

To make sure there was enough time to greet Alli and my grandparents- and so Molly (Chip's sister) could have enough time to run home and change, and so my grandparents could get all settled in and ready to watch our 4 children so we (Chip and I) could attend the temple- we made sure to arrive in DC about 2 hours before the endowment session was to begin.

It was so fun getting to see Alli again! I missed her a lot while she was gone- and I hadn't seen my grandparents since October- so that was a blast to see them too!  We all chatted and laughed, while the kids were showing off to each other and running around... finally we looked at the clock and realized that we only had about 70 minutes before we needed to be in our seats in the temple- so we all went off to Molly's apartment, which is only 4 minutes away from the temple.

My grandparents were going to watch the kids at Molly's place- it was nice and cool, they could entertain them in a closed off space, and it was pretty convenient. Molly lives on the 9th floor of her building- so we {there was 11 of us- Chip, Me, Alli, Maggie, Miles, Dexter, Molly, Grandma Bonnie, Grandpa Rudi, Brian (Chip's brother), and Sarah (Brian's wife)}all loaded up into the elevator and pushed '9'. Up, up it went.... and then it stopped... and we were stuck. At first we thought it was just taking a minute for the doors to open, and then we realized after 5 minutes that they weren't going to open without some outside help.  We got to use that pretty red help button on the elevator panel- and got patched through to some weekend service- who shakily assured us she could find.... um... someone.... to help us.  She must have gotten a hold of the building's maintenance guy- as 15 minutes later "Larry" (I'm calling him Larry, Chip says he thinks his name was Frank, but my blog, my logic- his name is Larry... haha) came huffing to the door (he had to take the stairs) and asked if we were alright- and then said he would try and reset the elevator- don't be scared as the power would go off.  At this point is was so hot in the elevator, both boys were screaming and scared, my grandma is extremely claustrophobic and was panicking, there wasn't but one single inch of wiggle room in the elevator (we were pretty much sardines in there), and everyone was quite literally looking so drenched with sweat that it looked like we had all taken a group shower in our clothes. Sweat was pouring off of noses, hair, and everywhere else. We were a charming group. At least we all loved each other. ;D  Brian tried to monkey climb to the top of the elevator to see if we could get out via the top... but the walls were slippery (thanks sweat box...)  and there was no room to wiggle around without fear of squashing kids if he fell.... so we just waited. And waited. And sweated.

To try and distract Miles and Dexter... and my grandma too... we all started singing songs that the boys loved. Old McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels on the Bus, etc....  were all being sung exuberantly-

Chip realized that Molly, who is a very talented baker, had brought a cake pan with her in the elevator (she was bringing it home from the awake-wake) and grabbed it up and started fanning everyone. Poor guy was waving that pan back and forth creating a breeze for the rest of us for a good 30-40 minutes.... we were so grateful for his stamina!  

About 30 minutes after Larry came the first time, we heard his voice a second time..... this time telling us he brought the firefighters- or at least that's what we thought we heard through Miles and Dexter's shreeking screams.  By this time we had all realized that we weren't going to be released from the elevator in time to make the temple session. Molly sent a text message to Nomi, who was already inside the temple with Ruthie, Jeff, Zaikea, and Patsy, letting her know we weren't in a car accident- we were safe, just stuck inside the elevator- (note: cell phones are not allowed on inside the temple. We knew that she probably wouldn't get the message in time, but just in case she happened to go back to her phone and turn it on to see if we left a message, we wanted one to be there for her). It took another 10 or so minutes before the firefighters got the doors open.

That first gush of cool crisp air that hit us as the elevator doors were pried open were so glorious! Pure heaven! We had to step up about 6 inches to get out of the elevator... at least the elevator didn't stop in the middle of two floors... that probably would have been a bit trickier for us to get out.

The team of firefighters who rescued us complimented us on our singing.  It was nice. :) We all thanked them (and Larry) for their service and their brilliant rescue.

There was a group consensus that from that point on- we were all in agreement that it was 103 degrees inside the elevator. And that's how the story will be told forever. ;D

We all dripped into Molly's apartment and sat like slugs guzzling water for the next hour before we (Chip, me, Molly, Brian, and Sarah) left to go back to the temple for Jeff and Zaikea's sealing.

We were all sad that we couldn't be together for the endowment session- that would have been the first time that all of the siblings and Chip's parents would be in the temple, all together. But we were really excited to be there for Jeff and Zaikea.  Jeff and Zaikea were married last year. They each worked really hard and prepared the whole year and were able to get sealed on their one year wedding anniversary. (A little on the importance of why we get sealed: please read this (link)  a lesson called Eternal Marriage). It was so neat being all together- witnessing the two of them, so obviously deeply in love, taking that step to obtain an eternal marriage. The Spirit was so strong. The amount of joy and happiness was almost tangible that day. We are so happy for them.

After a day filled with high adventure- we stuffed our faces with pizza, said good bye to my grandparents who had to drive back to Virginia, and we loaded up the van and drove to Chip's grandma's farm.... for the fantastic Kohrman Family Reunion that would be happening the next day.

......... but that will be another blog post. With lots of pictures. Lots.

I know you're excited.


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p.s. I'm super glad my first 'stuck in the elevator' experience happened with :
1)people that I loved
2) people who had all taken showers that day
and
3) people that were all kind enough to sing 'wheels on the bus' and other children's songs with us.