The rest of the summer pics

Luke really loved the fire. He is mostly safe with it, but still makes me nervous!

Cute Kelly!

This is the tree that the woodpeckers were pecking in while we ate our food.

The kids really loved the fire everyone would stand around and just watch the fire together it was so much fun!

This one goes down in the books. This is when Isaac and Rachel were teaching us how to sing the bazooka song and the Hermie wormy song. They were so hilarious I will never forget Isaac's dance moves.

I love the laid-back family time that you get when you're camping.

Noah sat there and slept all through all the songs and everything it was so funny.

Love me some cute Erika. 

She caught a Caterpillar and kept it in this bottle the whole time.

This is the campout that Jack kept himself busy the whole time. He played in the dirt so much. He was just covered in dust and dirt. It was fun to watch him play with the cup and dumping the rocks and sand out. But what a mess.

He sure wore himself out

Nate top of the kids how to start a fire with Flint and Steele it was so fun.  Charity really got into that. They were all professional firestarters by the time we were done camping.

It was so fun to see how much Erika had taken to Hannah by the end of the camp out. They were best buds. I hope I got enough pictures of them spending time together. 

Everybody really got into the stick whittling.

Luke climbed pretty high in the tree.

Heather was so cute with Jack wanting to hold him and play with him even though he wasn't being very social. I think he finally warmed up to her near the end. Guess we'll have to see how it goes next time.

Our "hike" was a great success. The kids had a lot of fun climbing on the logs and playing in the water.

Everybody about Jack. 

Strike a pose

He's getting so grown up.

Nate and Rob talked all the kids into dunking themselves in the freezing cold water. It was a lot of fun to watch them torture themselves. We all enjoyed it.

Luke and Rachel spent a lot of time together. They seem to have a lot of fun and enjoyed being seven-year-olds together.

I still can't believe they were able to break the sticks like this it looks so painful.

And more staring at the fire :-).

Sleepyhead.

We were testing the theory about boiling water in a paper cup in a fire and sure enough the cup did not start melting until the water had completely burned out.

I love this man!

And this one too :-)

These pictures are all out of order now I'm not sure what happened when I was uploading them but either way sure they are.

Here they are with Nate's fish that he caught. 

Kelly was really anxious to get the fish herself.

She had been looking forward to this part at the mountain man rendezvous but they didn't have her do it!! She decided she would do it at our campout.

Eeew! Gross!

Look at her go.

Okay then you take over

I love how everyone's just standing around watching

Now it's Charity's turn.

Ulgh!!

JACK'S BIG DAY

Kelly was so nice to make Jack's sign for his birthday.

Apparently these guys can't get enough of the birthdays.

Here is our big one-year-old!

Loving the attention!

And the balloons

He was so cute and happy all day

He really loved all the attention.

Everything goes in the mouth still

He was a little apprehensive about the whoopie cushion. But Brad converted him.

I loved watching him open his present! He was so excited about it and couldn't wait to get on it.

I think his big brothers and sisters were as excited as he was to play with his new toy

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Luke started second grade this year. He has Mrs. Featherstone.

Kelly is in fifth grade this year and has Mr. Paver and Mrs. Masterson.

Here's our big sixth-grader Charity has Mrs. Johnson this year.

And our big third-grader, Bradley, has Ms. Wood.

Look at my big kids I can't believe how much they've grown up! I don't know I had to wait a whole week for his first day but it eventually came.

JACK'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Here's his little monster cake. I had been wanting to make this cake for a long time and thought it fitting for his birthday. I didn't put any teeth on it until Kelly mentioned that it would be cute with teeth that look like Jack's with the space in the middle. I think she's right.

And we had to have a small cake for Jack to eat and smash in his face. So I made this cute little car cake.

He had a pretty good turnout for his birthday we were all very happy with the guess that came.

He wasn't quite sure what to do with it

But he figured it out

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

What a cute little guy. Noah has Mrs. Piper this year.

He was so brave and when in all by himself even though we all knew he was a little bit nervous he was so brave.

BALLOONS DOWN THE STREET

One morning we woke up to the sounds of hot air balloons filling up. So we ran outside and got a closer look at the balloons launching from our park down the street. It was so cool.

STATE FAIR 2013

Kelly put her art in the state fair again this year so we made sure to get tickets and go. This has become a family tradition that we all love and look forward to. We had a really good time this year the kids all got to go on rides and we watched a couple of shows it was pretty fun.u

They got to touch a Moonrock.

Here's Kelly's work of art

Journaling week of 10-6-13

MISSION REUNION 13 YEARS AGO

Today is the anniversary of the day Nate and I met. I don't know why but I've been really excited for this day. Just to be able to sit and reminisce about how it all went down 13 years ago. It was fun to bring it up the day before, with the kids, over our creamed eggs on toast breakfast. Nate mentioned that he hadn't really planned on going to the mission reunion and that if it hasn't been for Dan Campbell talking him into it, we may have never met. And let's don't forget how close I came to canceling with Brent because a mission reunion with people I didn't know sounded extremely boring. Boy are we glad we went. Bradley insightfully realized that he and his sins would never have been born if we hadn't gone to that reunion! By small and simple means...  Course i always say that Heavenly Father would have found another way to hook us up :) He wanted us to be together :). It's fun to think about and remember exactly where we were standing when Brent introduced us. The "I could marry him" thoughts that ran through my head. The funny conversation with Elder Campbell.  It's a precious memory that I hold dear. I'm so grateful that The Lord lead me to Nate. That I was able to somehow convince him that I could be the one for him. He is my other half. And without a doubt my life would never be the same without him. He is my everything.  

RS NIGHT

I've missed the last few RS Nights for some reason, so it was a nice change to be able to go. It was an activity where they had put together a bunch of DIY recipes for cleaners and household products and it was so good it was so beneficial. I've already started using the homemade laundry detergent I can't wait to make my own and then I've been using vinegar for my fabric softener that's been so awesome and cheap. I really loved chatting with all the ladies too that was another fun aspect of it felt nice to get out. 

GRAVITY

On Thursday we went out with Steve and Jauslin in the morning, to go see the movie Gravity. We really liked the movie and we had a good time with Steve and Jauslin lunch, it was a nice break. 

DANCE NEWSLETTER

Cheerleading Kelly came home from dance on Thursday with a cute little slip of paper that was titled "dance newsletter". It was so cute how their teacher had described everything they've been doing and I really loved that she did that.  My favorite part was that she told how she doesn't let the girls say "can't" and whenever they say "can't" they have to do 10 push-ups. I thought that was cute. 

10-10-13

KINDERGARTEN

On Friday I got to go to to help out in Noah's kindergarten class with centers. Noah was really cute when I walked in the room, he waved at me with this big smile. I got to help the kids with a couple of their little math assignments and recognizing numbers and counting it was a lot of fun for me to watch Noah in his element. He seemed so happy to have me there and had such a good time. I enjoy being in my kids' classrooms I wish I could go more often.  10-11-13

HUNTER'S BAPTISM

On Saturday we had the privilege of going out to Eagle Mountain for Hunter's baptism. It was a really good time I enjoyed being with Nate's family. It was really relaxing afterward, at their house. Made me kind of miss living in Eagle Mountain.

Journaling week of 9-29-13

FASTING

I haven't really been able to fast a whole lot during the last 12 years. I've either been pregnant, nursing, or forgetful because I hadn't done it for a while. So it's always really special for me when I do. I felt so good on Sunday. It was so nice to be able to feel the spirit so strongly. 9-29-13

DINNER

My mom had us over for dinner Sunday night. It was a lot of fun and good food. Doesn't happen a lot so I wanted to record it. Between Erika, jack, and sweet little savannah, there was a lot of crying :). Not a problem for me though, I wasn't filling out PA applications. 9-29-13

THE COOLEST PARK EVER

Thankfully I got pictures at grandma ruthie's birthday party, but I'm sure it will be a while before I can sit down and post them. We had such a good time, eating pizza and playing at the new daybreak park at the corner of fishhook and vermillion. Our kids loved the slide on the rocks and the zip line. It was a lot of fun. Happy birthday to grandma!! 9-30-13

BASKETBALL

We had a little impromptu FHE on Tuesday night since we'd missed ours on Monday. Bradley chose to go play basketball at the park. It was so much fun!!! We did so good at not fighting, and everyone was having a great time. It was girls against boys. Jack was a cheerleader on the sidelines, and Erika played with her big ball. The girls almost won, but after our shoot off we concluded that it was a tie. Lots of fun though!! Good times. 10-1-13

SHUT DOWN

So the government is officially shutdown. Nate is considered an essential employee, so he is required to work with only the hope that he will eventually be back paid for the time he works. I'm a little ticked off to say the least. I hate that government leaders are still getting paid while they disagree and put us in this position. I also wish that if they're going to "shut down" they should actually shut things down. Like planes. That would be a lot more motivating for congress to come to a decision. Anyway. We're trying to tighten things up in case it goes on past the next pay check, but hopefully we don't have to take more drastic measures. I'm hopeful. 10-1-13

MRS. PIPER'S CLASS

I had the privilege of working in Noah's class for the first time this week. That's always so much fun for me. I love to see my kids in their element. Noah seemed happy to see me and proud to have his mom there. Didn't motivate him to want to pass off his stuff any better though. He's such a sweet boy. I love his sweetness. His teacher said he's very quiet, not real social, but he has a good time and does nice work. She called him an observer. Sounds familiar :). I'm glad he's doing so well, so far. He is actually right along with some of the other kids in his class. I would say he was at least average among all the kids I worked with. So that is a relief. I'm not going to worry. 

GENERAL CONFERENCE

I loved general conference this weekend!! First of all, my kids were so amazing through it all!! We lucked out and were able to put Jack down for his morning nap during the first session. All the kids sat there either taking notes, or working on conference bingo cards. It was so quiet and nice. Sure Erika had to have help on hers, but never in a million years would I have thought I'd be able to hear so much of conference with six kids in the room! I have to give a lot of credit to my big kids. They set the example. It was awesome! The second session was just as reverent. Jack played and wandered around for most of it. I loved that for some reason he stayed in the same room with us the whole time. Usually he would have made his way through the house, but not then. I couldn't help but think he could feel the spirit of it all. I couldn't get enough of how diligently my big girls were taking notes! They are simply amazing! I hope they are blessed for that. 

Nate left during the second session and after we hurried and frosted Bradley's brain cupcakes and had dinner, then made our way to Becky's. the Maynes girls always gets together for the priesthood session, so even though grandma ruthie and grandpa Russ ditched us all for Bear Lake, we went down there. It was a really good time. I loved that it was just Becky, Nancy, Meg and I and our kids. Kinda cozy. I really am grateful for them and their examples. 

Sunday morning was pretty nice, Jack slept again. There was a little drama with the bingo stuff, and it really made me think we'd be better off without that stuff, but still, way better than one could possibly expect. Nate had to leave in between sessions for work, and that last session, well the last half if it, was a doozie. Erika had reached her limit and Jack as well. The older kid were definitely restless. But honestly, still not that bad. I was so grateful for my good kid and the fact that I got to hear so much!

I loved the quote from Pres. Uchtdorf, "Doubt your doubt your faith". 

I liked the talks about women and the role of mother. 

I really learned so much this time. I'm hoping I can put it all to practice now. 

TWO LITTLE BOYS

As we were hurriedly getting ready ( course when I say "we" I mean ME) to go to Becky's, the big kid were all outside playing four square and Erika was asleep, there were just two cute little boys chilling in the living room. I really couldn't believe how long they entertained themselves with each other's noises and crazy moves, but they just say there, taking turns giggling and making each other laugh. Made me smile. Can't get enough of my kids playing together- you know that :).