First Day of School

The first day of school went well for all the kids. It was a little hectic, but what would the first morning be without chaos? This year, all three kids are in different schools and catch different buses at different times.

My 8th grader. He looks so much like his Dad, and recently got braces.

My 6th grader. She is growing up.

My 1st grader. She loves having lunch at school and having two recesses.

So now, it is just me and -K- at home. She seemed to miss her siblings the first day, but has since enjoyed the time alone with me. We're hoping for a great year!

Summer's last week

This past week was the last full week of summer vacation. I am sad to see it go. It has been a busy and fun summer. This week's happenings: Happy Birthday to my awesome hubby.  I won't tell you how old he is. :)  Anyway, I always try to fix what the birthday boy wants for dinner. Usually it is something with fish. Since I am allergic to fish, I don't cook it. Why cook something you can't eat, right? His request was fish vindaille. It is a mauritian dish. He said it turned out really good, and he and -N- (our other fish lover) ate it up. For his birthday cake, I thought I would try to make Trifle. Spalding served his mission in England and that was his favorite thing to eat there. It was yummy!

We canned more green beans and more pickled beets. We pulled the peas out of the garden, and are giving away a lot of zucchini!

We spent an afternoon swimming at the lake. I could have used a few more of those days this summer-soaking up the sun, playing in the water with the kids. It was great.

School registration was this week.  This year, we have 3 kids in 3 schools. We paid fees and bought school supplies. I think the kids are finally getting excited about going back to school.

 We also went to the Playmill theater and saw Footloose. I loved it! It was really fun. They did a great job of transitioning between scenes on their small stage.

Oh, one more thing. I got a new calling at church. I am now a Personal, Home, and Family Enrichment Leader. I guess I didn't go to Enrichment meetings often enough so now I get to help plan them. Any good ideas out there?

Visitors from Outer Space-oops-Out of State

-K- thought I said "outer space", when I said "out of state".

Over the last month we have had lots of friends and family visit. We love having everyone come visit us. Our first visitors were our friends, The Spotts, come from Colorado. The kids got along great, and it was like we had never moved away. We went swimming at the lake, and we went to the Drive In Theatre. I haven't stayed out that late for a long time. Only -K- fell asleep. We had a great time with them.

Our next visitors were the Schafers, from Canada. We haven't seen them for about 10 years. Spalding and Norm were good friends at BYUH. Again, a great visit. Their family has been travelling across Canada and the US for the past two months in their RV. Norm is in the travel business and was doing this trip to promote travel on a budget in Canada. They stopped for an evening, and talked us into camping a night with them. So we loaded up our tent trailer, and headed to Island Park the next day. We floated the North Fork together. It was a blast. All our kids got along really well. They swam together, and played lots of games around the campfire while we parents got to catch up.

Our last set of visitors was for a family reunion. My Mom's siblings all came. Aunts and Uncles, stayed in hotels, while my parents and sisters all stayed at our house. We had lots of fun visiting. Everyone came on Friday for BBQ dinner and Root Beer Floats. Saturday was a busy day filled with a climbing wall and a birthday party for my cousin, John. That night a few of us went to the Dance Festival. Sunday was breakfast and time to go home. My aunt Fay, and cousin Jolene stayed one more night. We cooked some Indian food for them, which they really liked. -L- was excited because her cousin got to stay the night at our house and sleep in the tent trailer with her in the yard.

Here are a few picts from the family reunion. We had a blast on the climbing wall.

Here I am on my way to the top. Yep, I made it and rang the buzzer! My younger sisters wouldn't let me show them up, so up they all climbed, too. Even my Mom, Aunts and Uncles took a try! -K- enjoyed playing at the playground with her cousins. These cousins are all within 4months of age. -E- smiles on her way up. My nieces show how strong they are! -N- climbed all four areas of the wall. -L- climbed up the wall at least 12 times. She was like a monkey! She also climbed up all the areas. High Fives all around for making it to the top! All the family who came to the reunion.

Our Trip to Oregon

The last 10 days, we have spent many hours in the car. But, it was all worth it. Get ready for lots of picts. Here is quick run-down of what we did:

Family Picts: I took my sisters' families picts and one of them took ours. They turned out pretty well.

Went to OMSI (science museum) and Chuck E. Cheese's the night before my sister's wedding. The kids loved it.

Attended Kelly and Casey's wedding. Welcome to the family, Casey.

Took a leisurely drive back to my parents house. We stopped at Multnoma falls. We hiked to the top of the falls. Then we stopped at the fish hatchery to feed the fish and see Herman the sturgeon.
Spalding went back home on Sunday, he had to be back to work. The kids and I went to Washington and attended my Aunt's funeral. She passed away after a battle with cancer. We then spent the night at my cousin's house. Its always fun when I get together with Angie, even when its for a short while.

We celebrated -N-'s 13th birthday! AHHH! I have a teenager. He was very excited about his presents,a ripstick and backpacking lantern. Hopefully he stays as mellow as he is now.

-N- and my dad went fishing. They loved it. They caught some big trout. The biggest was caught by my dad, a 17 inch, 3 lb. brook trout.

We went horse riding. Yep, that's me in a pair of boots and spurs. Sometimes Bud needs a little extra prodding.

Last were the wedding receptions. Lots of decorating. Lots of people and food. Everything turned out great.

We had a great visit and love spending time with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandma and grandpa.

Catch of the day

Today was free fishing day and like the outdoorsy family that we try to be, we headed out to fish. -E- and -L- complained about getting up early (truly, they are my daughters). The said they didn't want to go and complained almost the whole way there. We went to a pond near a fish hatchery that is only open on this day. It is open for kids ages 5-14 only. When we got there, we asked if -K- could fish. They said "sorry, she has to be 5 years old". You should have seen her face! She stuck out her bottom lip, and started to cry! She was so sad that she couldn't fish. We let the other three fish. -E- caught the first fish, a trout about 12 inches long.That got everyone excited! -L- caught the next fish, a trout about 16 inches! She had lots of fun reeling it in! I think this is the first fish she has ever caught. Then she would not touch it! She made me hold it for a picture.She finally decided to hold it when it was totally dead and not moving. -N- caught the next fish. It was about 9 inches. He was disappointed to catch the smallest trout. He is definately the fisherman in our family. He loves fishing. Anyway, we left the pond and headed to another that -K- could fish in. She was so happy to be fishing. She even wanted to bait the hook! We didn't catch anymore fish, but had a great time anyway. Spalding came home and cleaned and cooked up the fish for dinner. He made a Mauritian dish with it: fish vindaille. -N- loved it, the girls wouldn't touch eat. They like to catch, but not eat fish. We told them if they don't eat the fish, they will have to adopt my sister's (Kelly) motto: "World Peace, Catch and Release."

The BEST Garage Sale Find Ever

Our subdivision had a garage sale this weekend. Overall, a success. We were one of the families who participated. We made a few bucks, but mostly wanted to get rid of stuff. In order to avoid bringing home more stuff. I did not go out looking at the other garage sales. Instead, my husband and kids did. Spalding found something he had been looking for: a gas weed trimmer. We had an electric one (which we sold at our garage sale) but we had decided that it is a pain to drag extension cords all over the yard to get to the trees in the back and things like that. I thought about getting him one for Father's day. Well, check that off my list of things to buy. -N- found two things he was looking for, a bigger bike, and a set of golf clubs. Very good. -E- didn't find anything she wanted or needed. She is my saver. She saves up her money. Someday she will be rich, since she know how to save not spend. Now for the little two. I gave them each $1.oo. That was their limit. So they set out looking for treasures. -K- got a little stuffed animal, and a fuzzy purple purse. She had 2 quarters left over. She had two. "Look mom, I have two now" Yes, the value of money for a 3-year old: two is better than one. And besides, quarters make noise in your pocket. Dollars just get all crumply, right? -L- was so happy to come home and show me what she got. Even more so that she got it for FREE! Yes, I said free! She came home with her dollar. Imagine something this spectacular for free. She couldn't believe someone would give away these babies for nothing. She wore them all afternoon. After all, it was a very sunny day.

soccer season

-N- has had a fun soccer season. He has been playing goalie and midfield. I don't know much about soccer, but enjoy watching him play. The girls enjoy the playground during the games.