Family Pictures

Yesterday we went to Red Butte Gardens

 to take some family pictures.

We take all the family shots with a tripod and a timer.

Steve gets us all framed in, sets the timer and runs to get in place.

That is the easy part.

The hard part is getting the two little ones

(I've got to stop calling them the babies sometime)

to look at the camera and smile at the right time.

Steve gets a little frustrated with them.

I keep reminding him(and myself)  it will get easier every year.

Here are the best 3 family shots.

We had a lot of fun taking individuals with the girls.

I love these beautiful little faces.

Steve is always a good sport about getting family pictures.

He actually enjoys the finished product.

Although he was bummed that his shirt was so plain.

I always make Steve take pictures of my from above.

Look Mom no double chin.

Emily is starting to help take pictures of Steve and I.

She does a pretty good job.

I just use Picnik to do my editing.

This is the last year the girls will be able to match so well.

Sigh.

Pumkin Patch Fun

I made some spider and ghost bows this year

 and needed some cute shirts to go with them.

The girls loved the googly eyes.

Lindley had to have an" IPSY IPSY "SPIDER shirt.

I love listening to her sing that song.

I had to throw some pink in the mix to make it more colorful.

Emily came home and asked if her teacher could

 borrow the idea for her and her granddaughter.

And Abby told me not many people said

 anything to her about her shirt and bow.

After school we headed to Pack Farms Pumpkin Patch with Auntie Leen.

The girls loved running through the maze.

And riding in the pumpkin cart.

Lindley found the perfect pumpkin.

Hayley needed some help from Dad to hold up her pumpkin.

Lindley made sure Auntie Leen picked a pumpkin for Jack the dog.

We love spending time with Auntie Leen.

This was the first time Steve made it to the Pumpkin Patch with us.

Next year he wants to just pick 1 pumpkin that weighs 140 lbs.

This is why I usually leave him home. Ha ha.

He's the most expensive kid I have.



Conference Weekend

Abby threw a fit before Conference started.

Why do we have to watch Conference?

It's soooo boring!

You never have anything fun for us to do anymore...

Whine, whine, whine....

My answer was not nice.

I quit making packets and such because it was too distracting.

Abby would panic because she wasn't

 sure where she should be in her packet.

Before the first session started I printed out packets.

We had a big talk about why we listen to General Conference .

If they could not quietly work on their packets without asking me

 a million questions the packets would disappear.

I gave the babies some blocks to build a temple.

They had a lot of fun with this activity.

They would go back and forth between coloring and building.

This was my favorite of the temples built.

Love it when my girls all work together.

I was not able to hear everything said.

But my kids didn't complain too much.

They got excited when President Monson and Uchtdorf spoke.

A little distraction goes a long way in keeping you awake.

Gage's Baptism

Today my nephew was baptized.

It was such a blessing to see him take this big step towards his Heavenly Father.

Gage had his older brother baptize him.

It was wonderful to see a worthy young man honor the

 power of the priesthood by preparing to perform this ordinance.

This family is one amazing bunch.

I love each one of them.

They are such good examples to me and my family.

When I asked my girls if they felt the Holy Ghost they told me yes.

Especially when Uncle Blair was talking.



Lindy Lou's New Do

I was trimming my bangs when Lindy Lou

came to tell the the movie wasn't working.

So I set down the scissors and went to fix the movie.

Not a very smart move.

I made it look so easy Lindy Lou decided to try her hand at it.

The results were not so satisfying,

 if you couldn't tell by the look on her face.

Oh I was tempted to just put on the NO 4

 and buzz her but it would be punishing myself.

The least the kid could do is try and hide the evidence right.

I told her to hold still or I would make her look like a boy.

She almost held still for 10 seconds.

I must actually be nicer than I appear.

I'm not sure this will be the last time I have to do this with Lindy Lou.

She doesn't seem so sad about her hair now does she.



Labor Day Weekend

My girls are always so sad that we don't stay longer

when we go up to Sourdough so I promised

we would stay Friday - Monday come Labor Day.

Packing and setting up is the hard part.

After that I am a happy camper.

The kids have so much fun using their imagination,

going on walks, building forts,

playing cards and going to the lake.

I love this little table that we have had forever.

It is a great place for the kids to play and especially eat.

There was generally 3 or four kids squished together eating.

Uncle Blair took Lindy Lou for a wheeler ride.

Big Trouble and Stinkerella

The Christensens brought their bikes and shared with my girls.

Thank You!

Emily now wants a mountain bike and says her bike is so small.

Here is the entrance to the fort.

They worked very hard to clear paths and make separate rooms.

It was awesome.

I really have some amazing kids and nieces and nephews.

They all got along really well.

Hayley, Ella Bean and Maylen were busy reading books to each other.

Uncle Blair loaded the kids up to go look for wild life.

They love riding in the back of the truck.

You can hear them about a mile away so I'm not sure

 how they don't scare all the wildlife off the mountain

but they always see something.

Grandma Rochelle was busy making hats for the girls and

now has a long list of request if you can imagine.

Steve went with his Dad and Craig to put a roof

on the cabin in Schofield so we brought the van.

I am getting pretty good at packing it.

Game Day!

This cute lil cheerleader had to come to the first game of the season with us.

She was a hungry lil monster and finished this giant corn dog plus some of Tayler's hot dog.

Daddy purchased some pom poms for her and showed her how to use them.

I'm glad we brought her to the game so I remember why we stopped bringing our girls.

I miss too much of the game keeping an eye on them and trying to keep them from irritated other people.

Let's go fly a kite...

Flying a kite was on our summer to do list.

So when I saw this kite on clearance at Shopko I had to have it for my girls.

After school we ran to the park to fly the kite.

We were only there for a 1/2 hour but the girls really had fun.