Back to the daily grind

Once we got home from our Oregon Coast vacation we started back into the regular fall schedule that seems to be the most crazy time of our year. Carter started first grade about three days after we returned home and all the kids jumped into their sports seasons. Carter played soccer, Kennedy decided to play both soccer and volleyball, and Ryan was on the Mountain View freshman football team, which is way more intense than I had anticipated. So, we were running everywhere and I was helping with pre-game meals for the football team, with Young Women’s on top of that. It makes for a crazy three month period, but, everyone had a great time and I enjoy watching the kids play their sports, so I don’t mind the craziness too much.

Getting ready to head into the building.

At his first desk. Woohoo, I now have no kids at home, all day long. That’s probably bad of me to admit it, but I kind of enjoy the alone time.

Carter getting his trophy after the last soccer game this fall. He had a pretty good season, scored a few goals.

Kennedy decked out in her cold-weather gear. We played in some nasty conditions during the season-ending tournament. It snowed and rained and was down right cold.

She had a lot of fun with this team though. They played pretty good and the although she hates playing forward, the one time coach put her there this season, she did score. Way to go sis.

Ryan had a great time playing football this fall. The team ended up tied for first at the end of the year. He met lots of new guys and got in really good shape. Now I’m just trying to get him to keep lifting weights throughout the winter.

Getting his D-line sweatshirt at the football banquet at the end of the year. I love that they have to dress up for the banquet.

We also got to get in a 4 day camping trip at Ponderosa State Park in McCall over Labor Day weekend. There is a huge group that always goes that weekend, probably about 10-15 families or so. Normally we stay at my in-laws condo and go to the campground and hang out and then we can sleep in beds when we leave, but the kids really wanted to tent-it for the weekend, so we did. It was actually a lot of fun and I remembered that I love dutch-oven food and just being outdoors. There was also a 1-2 year old bear running around the campground all weekend. Made for some interesting adventures for Ryan and his YM leader Chris Freeman. They followed it around on their bikes for awhile.

Our camping set-up. It was nice to have the screen tent set up for shade and for keeping the bees away from the cooking area.

Carter at Payette Lake. It’s just a few minutes walk from where we were camping. It had a roped off swimming area.

Kennedy at the lake with the two younger girls she hung out with Shelby and Samantha. She had a good time with them.

Carter trying to get on the raft with the girls.

Not any pics of Ryan in these. He was off with his buddies or just wandering between camps the whole weekend.

Catch up – Oregon Coast

We rented a house on Nye Beach in Newport, Oregon for four nights and then headed up to Portland to visit Chris’ brother Greg and his family for a couple of days before heading back to Boise and getting into the fall grind of sports and school. We had a great time. Kennedy and I were up early every morning and out on the beach. The really low tide was at about 7 am every morning we were there, and we were out there. The kids and Chris were out on the beach pretty much til after dark almost every night. We only had one day of rain and we spent that day at the aquarium. In Portland we hit the Oregon Zoo and a place OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Kind of like an oversized Discovery Center if you are familiar with Boise.

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Pretty much the look on her face the entire time we were there. Totally in her element.

The water was soooo cold and Carter spent most of the time running in and out of the surf.

The sand was great at Nye Beach. Ryan got buried after this.

Ken and I caught a bunch of these little guys around the rocks that were on the beach. Couldn’t get Carter to touch anything though.

Ryan was up on a rock here. We were at the beach by Otter Crest and the Devil’s Punchbowl.

Ryan and Carter being very careful crossing these rocks. I about biffed it walking across them before these guys did. They were so darn slick. Back behind the is the actual Devil’s Punchbowl. When it’s high tide, you definitely don’t want to be in there.

Kennedy holding a starfish. We didn’t see a lot of them on this trip. Normally at this beach there are a ton.

So these two, along with there dad, and sometimes Ryan, would build moats and other sand creations and then we would sit on the beach and wait for the water to come in and destroy them. Definitely getting hit by some cold water here.

Had to sneak in one of the hubby. I don’t get pictures of him very often. Normally he’s the one behind the lens.

After the first couple of days, Ryan discovered that he should probably just wear his swim trunks everywhere so he wasn’t soaking all his regular clothes.

Ry at the Oregon Zoo.

Carter at the zoo.

My niece Piper. Chris’ brother Greg and his family met us at the zoo. Lots of fun, she’s a sweetie.

My other niece, Sydney. She’s a character.

The rest of the fam that we met up with. Kathy, my sister-in-law is in the front in the black shirt. Chris’ cousin Andreas’ is behind her with the blue jacket and Chris’ brother Greg is next to him in the brown and green shirt.

Ken at the zoo. Sorry, no animal pics. I do have some, but nothing too exciting.

Carter at OMSI. We don’t have a lot of pics from here, definitely a hands on place. He built the boat by himself and got it to go. They had wind blowing from behind Carter to make the boats sail.

Catch-up

Crazy, the last time I managed to post something was just after Kennedy’s birthday and a camping trip to a spider infested campground. I keep thinking I will be better, but it hasn’t been happening.

Summer was kind of crazy for us. I spent nearly ever day driving to and from Mountain View High School taking Ryan to summer workouts for football. It made for some interesting days. He enjoyed it and worked hard, so it was worth it. Now if I can just get him through driver’s ed before next season, it will make my life so much easier.

We only had a two week break between summer football workouts and Carter going back to school. Still can’t believe my baby is in first grade. Wow. I spent a week at my parents with my kids in Teton Valley and then we packed up again and headed for the Oregon Coast for another week. That was our summer in a nutshell. Go, go, go.

I guess that’s enough for now, here’s some pictures from those exciting adventures …

We hiked up to the Wind Cave with Ann-Marie and her kids when we were at my parents. It was probably a total of three miles, but you end up pretty far in the mountains. Very beautiful except for the fact that it rained, hailed and thundered and lightening on us on the way down. Here are Avery, Kennedy, Connor and Carter. Ryan was probably headed up the hill already.

Connor, Carter and Addie after our lunch break.

Avery and Kennedy under the ledge. Pretty cool place.

Ryan helping Carter come out of the mouth of the cave. Yep, that’s running water. Very windy, cold and pitch black inside. We went pretty far back, had to climb on our hands and knees a bit.

On to the Oregon Coast. We stayed in Newport. This is a Yaquina Head light house, you can climb clear up to the top.

Just a cute picture of the munchkin as we were headed through the lighthouse.

Ryan and Kennedy at the touch pool when we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Lots of fun, spent most of the day there.

Ryan and I with sharks swimming around us in the glass shark tunnels.

Couldn’t leave without the token picture in the shark mouth.

Here’s the house we rented for the week. About a two minute walk from the beach. Kennedy and I got up about 6:30 every morning to catch low tide. She caught tons of crabs and all the kids spent a lot of time in the water, which was freezing. I’ll have to post pics later, I’m wiped and it’s after midnight here.

Random stuff to update you all

It seems we are all really busy and then I sit down to update the blog and can’t hardly think of a single thing to post about.

We finished soccer in the middle of May and have been out riding quite a bit. I’ve been busy with Young Women’s stuff and trying to get ready for girls camp, which was this last week. Carter has been taking swimming lessons and finally finished Kindergarten on June 29th. We got our garden planted and are finally seeing the results (yeah)!!! I’ve discovered that I actually do like yellow squash and zucchini, as long as it’s sautéed in butter and has some good seasoning on it. None of that mashed up stuff for me (sorry Polly, my m-i-l).

Kennedy turned 12 last Wednesday on July 1, so she was able to go to girls camp with me. That was quite fun. We’ve come to discover that we love our new stake and feel more at home there than we ever did in our old stake. The move was a good one, although hard at first. The Stake President and the YW Stake Presidency really seem to love having us in the stake and it’s been really good for all the girls in the ward to feel loved and wanted by the rest of the youth.

Anyhow, here’s some pictures of our adventures in the last few months.

Carter and two other boys in his class received awards for being the most “enthusiastic” students on the last day. I’m not sure whether to be proud or a bit mortified, because he is quite the loud child. I’ll settle for proud.

This was Tuesday night at girls camp (the day before her birthday) and we made Kennedy get up on a picnic table to sing happy birthday to her for Bishop’s night. I’m sure she was mortified.

Kennedy and her friend Megan hanging out with us in the cafeteria Wednesday. We were all so dang tired by this point.

 

These were my girls. Five 4th year girls and four youth leaders. We had a great time, they were such cool girls.

Kennedy and all her youth leader friends. Older girls just seem to love her. In the pic she’s with Chelsea, Kelsey, Kayla, Natalie and Stephanie.

Megan with her gladiator sword.

Megan’s sister Chelsea (different from the one above). She is one of my Mia Maids, so was with me up at camp. She spent quite a bit of time braiding hair, which makes her a hit with everyone, especially the 1st year girls.

Chelsea and Kennedy

Sweet sisters Chelsea and Megan.

So, we got home Thursday and Kennedy had talked me into letting her have a party Friday night. So, Chris took five girls to Wahooz to have a ball.

And then we have the 4th of July, which was yesterday. We had a BBQ at the Brown’s and then lit off fireworks. Quite the buys night. Didn’t get any pics from the BBQ, but got a few from fireworks.

And finally a picture from my garden. I’ve got to share this cause I’m way to proud to finally have a garden that is growing well (hopefully that doesn’t jinx it).

And on a sad note. My friend Shirley that was diagnosed with cancer passed away Monday morning before I left for girls camp. I’ve decided that it was a good thing to be in that atmosphere this last week as I was dealing with my emotions. The spirit was there and the girls kept me going and kept my spirits up, even if they didn’t realize it. Her funeral was Friday, it was nice to see such a great family come together and be so upbeat because they understand the Plan of Happiness and know that they will be reunited with Shirley someday.