School Shopping

I used to love going school clothes shopping. Then, I became a parent of 4 kids who all need new clothes for school. Combine the cost of jeans, shirts, underwear, socks, and shoes with the registration fees and supply lists for school and that becomes a big chunk of change. So, being the frugal shopper that I am, I am always on the lookout for a good deal. While in Oregon, I stopped at the JC Penney with -E-. She found some shorts and a dress, all on clearance. I checked out the kids section looking for some clothes for -L-, who was not with us at the time. I found this shirt.

 "Oh, the smurfs! I loved the smurfs. Hey, its only $2.97.  What a deal!" So I bought the shirt. We got home, and I didn't know, but -E- gave the shirt to -L-. A couple hours later, I went into the bedroom to find this note:

Just in case you can't read it, (as it is in 1st grade graduate writing) it says:

Dear Mom,

 I do not to hert your feelings but I hate this t shrit. Love, -L-

p.s. it's the turth Mom, Love, -L-.

I had to laugh! Even if she didn't like the shirt, the note was worth the 3 bucks! I asked her later what she didn't like about the shirt. She said "It has a funny blue guy". Ok, so I guess its time for Boomerang to start airing the Smurfs as part of its retro schedule, then my kids will come to appreciate those funny little blue guys, (and one girl). Ok everybody, sing it: La, la, lala, la, la, la lala la la...........

Happy Birthday

For his birthday, my husband wanted to go camping. We loaded up the trailer, and off we went. We did some fishing and swimming in the lake. I made a cherry chocolate birthday cake in the dutch oven, which was a smash hit. The family loved it. Happy Birthday!

Hanging out at the Lake.

-N- fishing, (but not catching)

-K- and -E- enjoyed swimming

-L- thought the lake was cold!

Like father, like son!

We had to hang out for a while in the trailer that night. It rained most of the night. We had fun together. Happy Birthday to my wonderful hubby!

First Day of School

Here I am, two weeks behind, finally posting about the first day of school. Well, the kids are somewhat back into the school routine. Only one child has missed the bus so far. Having three kids in three different schools, with three different bus schedules and bell times, makes for a busy morning.

So  here are the kiddos on the first day of school.

-N- is a 9th grader, A FRESHMAN! Cant believe he (or I) am that old. Luckily, he is still in Jr. High as the High school here is 10-12.

Then there is -E-, she's a 7th grader at the Middle School. Also growing up fast.

Next comes -L- who loves 2nd grade and her teacher. She is also excited to start the Discovery Program this year, for talented and gifted students. I always knew she was a smarty pants. :)

Last is -K-, in pre-school. She loves it. I am glad she missed the kindergarten birthday deadline. I don't think I am ready for my baby to be gone every day.

So here's to a great year!

4H sewing

-E- enjoys being a member of the 4H club. She is learning sewing skills. It has been a hectic summer and she in a crunch to finish her project this year. She chose a plaid fabric and shorts pattern. The challenge was matching the plaid together. She modelled her shorts in the fashion review and won a top model award.

 She was very excited about it. She also got a blue ribbon on her project for her sewing skills. Way to go!

Summer fun in OR

We headed off to Oregon at the beginnig of August. Spalding stayed home this trip. He is saving up his vacation days for our trip to Mauritius in December. Anyway, we started at the Isaacson family reunion. I really enjoy seeing my cousins and Aunts and Uncles. Its fun for my kids to get to know their extended family as well. We spent lots of time swimming in the pool.

The weather was great. We had fun visiting and -L- became toothless. No more corn on the cob for her for a while.

After the family reunion, we headed to my parents house and spent some time there. We went backpacking.  Jared's girls came along too. 

The kids all were great hikers. It was the first trip for Jared's girls and for -L-. Unfortunately it rained on us, so we didn't get to go to any of the lakes. We stayed in the meadow for a night and came out the next morning, a day early.

At my parents, all the grandkids were there except Audra's new little baby. It was busy at the house. Lots of kids and lots of fun for the cousins.

We enjoyed riding on the horses in the pasture.

Then we enjoyed 4 wheeling in the neighbor's pasture.

It was a nice vacation. It's always good to come back home, but we had lots of fun while we were away.

Girls Camp and High Adventure

Time Flies when your having fun! I got to go to Girls Camp with -E- this year. I am the Ward Assistant Camp Director. Our theme this year was Yagattawanna FOWYA (Find Out Who You Are). We had an indian theme. The week was filled with fun: canoeing, skits, crazy camp songs, crafts, and hiking. We had 31 girls go. All the girls made it through the hike. It was a beautiful hike. We hiked to the Windcaves.  Sometime I would like to go explore the cave, but we didn't this time.  The cave is above the waterfall. Pictures really don't do it justice.

Here is the trail. It was not a long hike, 5 miles round trip, but going in had some steep parts.

Here's -E-. She's a trooper!

The same time we were at Girls Camp, -N- had his High Adventure Camp with the 14-17 year old boys.  They canoed into Shoshone Lake in Yellowstone National Park.

Over the 4 day period, they canoed somewhere between 40 and 50 miles.

They were in Bear Country and were very strict about food, campfires, and keeping their cooking clothes separate from their sleeping clothes and tents.

-N- was very excited about this fish that he caught. It was the first thing he told us about and the reason he wanted his pictures developed so quickly. He caught several fish, but this one was as big and as long as his fingertips to his elbow. Quite the proud fisherman.

Camps are over, summer is going by quickly, but we are sure having lots of fun!

Blah, Blah, Blog -Friends- and Dam Relay

So I have been away from blogland for some time again. Did you miss me? Well, I had 3 kids playing in various sports-volleyball, basketball, softball x2 (I coached a team), soccer, oh and ballet.

(This is -L- in her ballet recital, Snow White.)  Yep, I am one busy Momma! Not to mention, the end of the school year adds concerts, school programs, field days, recitals, etc.

 You know what I am talking about. Summer vacation has arrived, but we have yet to experience any summer weather.  The garden is planted and sprouting up, but with no heat and lots of rain, I am not sure how the plants will do. I am crossing my fingers hoping that we will get some of our own veggies come August and September. We are down to one kid in one sport now. -E- is playing on a tournament softball team and I am coaching. It is lots of fun. I coached her during the regular season, too. The team did great. Here is -L- hitting the ball.

It was her first year playing. She enjoyed it too, but coach pitch games sure seem alot longer than other games.

We met up with our good friends for a few hours at a park in UT. They were visiting from IL. It was so good to see them. The kids didn't miss a beat, even though its been a few years since they have seen each other. We miss them terribly and were happy to have even just a couple of hours to spend with them. We will take anytime we can get!

Ponygirl

Sweetums

Little Man

Aren't they just the cutest kids!

Luckily, these two cuties have moved from IL, to join us here in ID. They only live about an hour away.

While we were in UT, we popped in to see my sister, who gives the best haircuts ever! So -L- wanted a short bob. It looks really cute on her.

This next event really deserves an entry of it own, but hey, I'm on a roll. It might be another few months before I finally blog again.

Back in February, my sisters and I decided to run the Teton Dam Marathon Relay together as a team. We called ourselves the Bedard Sis Pack. It was a way to motivate us to get in shape and lose some weight by exercising. In February, June seemed a long way off. It came up pretty quickly! Audra announced her pregnancy  a little bit later and wasn't sure she wanted to run in the race, so my mom was going to take her place. The week before the race, Audra decided she would do her leg.

The day of the race came. The kids made signs for us and my parents "painted the bus and drove the team" (name that movie). We weren't sure if we were prepared, but we set a mile time goal that we would each try to reach, and we did! I got on the bus at 5:30 am to ride to the starting line. The morning was cool and breezy.  I had the first leg, 4 miles.

Megan had the second leg, 5 miles.

Audra, 7 months pregnant, had the 3rd leg, 4 miles.  She said she was going to walk, but the competitive drive in her kicked in and she jogged half of the time.

Michelle was leg #4, also a 4 miler.

She missed the third mile marker along the way, and couldn't believe she was all finished.

(These supportive family members were probably blocking the mile marker.)

Crystal had the hardest 4 miles on the 5th leg of the relay. It was mostly uphill, but she was a happy runner. 

Kelly got the final leg. It had some uphill and down. She ran while she was rocking out to some tunes.

We all met Kelly at the 26 mile marker so we could run the last .2 miles together and cross the finish line together. It was a fun way to finish the race.

We ended up taking 6th place out of 9 female relay teams. Not bad for our first effort. Our finishing time was 4hours 32minutes and 56 seconds. I love my sisters and really enjoy spending time together with them. We have a great time whenever we get together.

The cousins also have fun getting together.

 

Our family has also set a goal to attend the temple together once a year. We missed Chris (Audra's husband) and Casey (Kelly's husband) this year, but hopefully they will be able to attend with us next year.