First Day of Kindergarten!

Well here it is Brock's first day of Kindergarten. He was so excited to go! He had been asking for about 2 weeks if tomorrow was his school day. He really didn't like it that Ethan had a week of school before he did. So it was an exciting day! I don't think Brock has ever gotten ready for anything that quickly before ever!!! (That is not since he was a tiny baby and Mommy was doing it all for him anyway, but then he still took forever because he was a slow eater then too!!!) But the morning went smoothly and he was proud to be a big kid! He got to ride the bus home too. Sorry I didn't post a picture of that too. Sometimes I think I may be going overboard with the pictures. But I had to include the cute picture of Hayden. I know you are thinking what does that have to do with Brock's first day of school!? Well I will tell you. I love to make fresh homemade cookies for my kids on their first day of school. I don't know if it has to do with a comfort food or if it has to do with the fact that even when I was a little girl I knew that I loved it when I came home to fresh baked cookies. I don't know if it was the first day of school or not but I know I loved it. And I knew even then that I wanted my kids to come home to that smell on their first day of school. So that they would know that they were special to me I loved them, thought of them while they were gone and that I made something special just for them. Yeah yeah crazy but I can't help it other then scrap booking food is my other hobby. And it so happens that in this case I always combine them.(I take pictures of them eating their cookies and then scrapbook it! Ok I am double crazy!)

So this year Hayden got to have a cookie too. She is a little spoiled and I am much more relaxed with my 4th baby, because there is NO WAY Ethan would have had a chocolate chip cookie when he was 10 months old! What a lucky lucky girl. She loved it if you can't tell. It is a fun tradition for us all. Oh and just so you know the first thing Brock told me when he got off of the bus and I asked him how his day was, was "We had Popsicles for snacks!" I am glad he loved it by Wednesday he is singing to me "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee." It is really cute! Gotta love that kid!

Sunflower Summer!

We have a tradition of taking the kids some place that has a bunch of sunflowers just to take some cute pictures of them. This is something I started just for scrapbooking reasons but have learned to like it for a few other reasons. I love watching them play with the sunflowers, see how they have grown from one year to the next, and sunflowers are one of my favorites. They make such a great back drop. Even when you are just getting the stalks they are pretty. I took a ton of the baby because she was being the most cooperative, and happy. It was her first year getting to be a part of this tradition of ours so it was fun for me. Last year she was only weeks from joining us on the outside! She is the joy in our home and brings sunshine to all she meets! She truly is a happy baby and an Angel! We couldn't have been more blessed I don't think!

Brock was so busy eatting his Apple I had a tough time with him but at least he would hold still so count your blessings I guess! He is such a cutie even with a half brown apple core. They all had to have a sunflower to hold after I gave one to Hayden to hold. I don't like picking other people's flowers usually but I couldn't resist. It would make the pictures cuter after all!

Ethan had fun inspecting the flowers, as he does every year. He has to look really close at how they grow and then when I am not looking pull one apart. What a stinker! I can't complain to much though because at least he would stand still. It helps to bribe them with ice cream once and a while I have found!

Prineville Res. With the Workman's

This is my Nephew Hyrum. He is so stinking cute! He loved driving the boat and wasn't affraid to tell us that he was going to drive the boat. Hyrum also went for a ride on the tube with his mom. We sure loved taking them all out and having a fun day just making memories with the family! For those of you who don't know that is the real reason we have a boat. It gives us something fun to do as a family and with friends that we can all enjoy and helps us have some great memories, and build good relationships with each other.

We were really glad we took the boat to Prineville and hang out with my Brother's and their families for the day!

Johnnie was so brave and just a dare devil on the tube! I was kind of supprised! Brigham wasn't interested in riding on the tube but had fun on the boat. Lia liked riding on the boat too. They all enjoyed going for a ride even when it was really bummpy!

The kids all had a good time playing in the sand, and swimming while they were waiting for their turn on the boat. Brock almost didn't get another turn on the boat because he was busy playing in the sand.

Foster Lake with The Jone's Family!

We had a great time with the Jone's Family at Foster Lake. My boys seem to be a little more brave when riding on the tube with Emmalee, Jacob, or Caleb. This was our first time having it be a camping trip too. It was a lot of fun.
Watching John Jones on the Tube made me think it looked like fun and I would give it a try again. So the next weekend when we were in Prineville on the lake I took a turn... needless to say I was sorry!!! I don't know how John does it and not have every inch hurt the next day! We had a few good water ski trips in too and all the kids got a turn on the tube.

We had a camp fire going most of the time we were in camp (it was one of those chilli weekends we had in early August!) My kids thought it was great because most of the time when we are on vacation we don't get to have camp fires. After watching my kids have a campfire I think that maybe that is for the best! Ethan is a bit of a pyro! I had the hardest time keeping him out of the fire. He always wanted to be sticking something in there!!! We all came home dirty, and tired but happy!

The Holliday Weekend!

While at the State Fair we got to meet a few "celebrities" Smokey The Bear was one of my favorites! I learned so much from him as a child because my dad really liked quoting him for some reason! But I still know that "Only YOU can prevent forest fires" We also met the Tree man and some Peacock lady.

Of course when you're at the Fair you must eat Fair food! We did our usual and went to the All you can eat BBQ place. We love it and the kids ate for free. (Except for Amelia who insisted she wanted a corn dog and then ended up eating half of my food anyway!)

Ethan has become quiet the rock climber. They have a climbing wall at school but it is like 6 feet high and they don't get to go very high. But at the Fair he just climbed right up to the top like it was nothing! I was really supprised! He is quiet the monkey. He showed his skills off some more when we went to Silver Creek Falls later that weekend! (Sorry the picture is sideways I haven't figured out how to turn it yet! Any tips!) We thought we would try to cram as much fun into our last weekend of summer as we could. Saturday we went to the State Fair and then Monday we took the kids hiking at Silver Creek Falls. We just did the small loop so we ended up hiking close to 3 miles once all was said and done. As you can see Larry packed Amelia part of the time. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of him packing Brock. When Brock got tired Amelia would let him have a turn on Daddy's back. I packed Hayden the whole way. (She napped most of the time) We all had fun seeing the beauty that our Father in Heaven has created for us and spending some great quality time together as a family.

It was a beautiful day! He was a big help because Larry and I were both packing kids on our backs someone had to pack water. So Ethan was our water boy! He did a great job! It is fun having kids big enough to do fun things like this.
Ethan got to show off some more of his rock climbing while at Silver Creek Falls! He wanted to check out every cave, every rock and anything else inbetween. I think he will make a great scout! Only one year left till Cubs start!

We had to include Hayden and I in the blog. You can't see Hayden very good but she was a great hiker!!!
After the hike was over the kids and Dad all got to cool off in the swimming area of Silver Creek Falls. I think this may have been their favorite part! Made the whole hike worth it.

Ethan started school this week. Half days this week because of Parent teacher conferences but he loves his new teacher. Brock is so excited to get started too. Because of the half day schedule the Kindergartners don't start till next week. Someday when I figure out how to add pictures I will show you how cute they both were for their first day of school! Amelia gets to do the Mommy and Me preschool again this year. She is so cute because she always says "I go to go with out Brock! Because he goes to Kindergarten!" Last year she got to do the Mommy and Me school with Brock so this will be an all new adventure for all of them. Hayden and I will enjoy the 2 hours 2 days a week all to ourselves. On the other days the three of us girls will find plenty to do with out our boys.

You can see there is a little bit of anxiety in Ethan's face in these pictures. He was excited too but he had some butterflies that morning. Once he saw that he already knew a lot of the kids in his class and was getting to sit by one of his friends from last year he was all set and ready to go!

I'm so sorry my blog is still picture free! I feel so inadequate now that I have looked at everyone Else's! I'm just not the best with computers. I Prefer cutting and pasting with paper and scrapbook supplies. Not that I have got to do a lot of that lately either! So blame Allison. She got me into this mess then left me hanging!!!!