Silver Lake with Andrew!

It had been way to long since we had seen Andrew....10 months ago he moved to Phoenix and we have all missed him so much! The kids could not wait to see him while he was here for just a couple of days before heading out to Germany for a vacation. We had a family gathering up at Silver Lake for something new and exciting,,, and seeing moose up close is certainly exciting! Two bull moose were fighting over a female right off of the boardwalk trial!  One of the rangers was cautioning people to stay back, but of course, some people think they are invincible and the prospects of a good picture clouds their judgement! We were back with the ranger, but I was able to zoom in and crop my picture. 

We had a lovely picnic which included all the Cheetos the kids could eat. And they ate lots! Peter and Blaze used a couple of blankets to build a fort under this tree. They formed a Cheetos club, and you could only enter if you had some Cheetos to give up to the boys!

We had dirt cups for dessert, perfect for the outdoors occasion I thought!

Jackson and Andrew had fun with my camera phone for a bit

When Alanna willingly poses for pictures like this it reminds me of trying to take her dance pictures when she was three. It took her teacher and photographer 30 minutes to get her to even stand there...and she wouldn't even smile! She's come a long way!

Cute, Cute Cousins!

I LOVE this shot of Caleb helping Gran Perkins walk to a look out point at the lake.

We came prepared with fishing gear, but no one caught anything. Jackson wasn't ready and willing to leave until he caught something. He was really upset when we had to leave!

What a lovely day of hanging out with my favorite people in such a beautiful setting!

statue of Kimberly

Jackson chose to leave his ALPS class and join Paul and Alanna at the Montessori school. I was a little nervous about whether he would like it because it's a huge change and he left friends he's had since first grade. But they put him in the same class with Paul, and they have an amazing teacher, Miss Kimberly. She has a Montessori background and has specialized in teaching kids with autism, dyslexia etc. So she explained that she has had to get creative in her teaching styles, and my boys LOVE her!

The second week of school the class built a city and drew maps etc. One of Jackson's additions was a "Statue of Kimberly", to honor their teacher. We had a hard time figuring out how to make her in a night's notice, and Jackson decided he wanted to use play dough. She was a little top heavy and the body got squished, but I still love his creativity. I especially love that she's holding a notebook and pencil! Jackson also make a 3D life flight helicopter to add to their classroom city. I wish we had been invited in to see it all, but since it took up the entire classroom, they couldn't keep it up for long!

Budding Artist...

Jackson is a budding artist and inherited some of his uncle's (Luke and Andrew) talents! He stayed entertained making side walk drawings at the request of his siblings.

dinosaurs with oscar

We took a trip to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum with Oscar and Cassie one afternoon. We needed to play before Oscar started kindergarten! This balloon structure was pretty amazing!

And seeing the boys playing on these dinosaurs reminded me of our field trip to the aquarium where they were mostly interested on playing on the plastic killer whales! I love how they pose for pictures! These are definitely children of the digital age!

First Day of 2015 School Year!

4th Grade

6th Grade

2nd Grade

Finally all at the same school! We are looking forward to a great new experience for the 2015/16 school year!

Forts...

Blaze has been making some pretty creative forts all over our house, inside and out! He likes to pretend to nap in them and puts his "pet" monkeys inside too. It's so cute to see how much fun he has just playing all by himself! His siblings are back to school now, but Blaze has to wait a couple more weeks before he starts his third year of preschool! He is really wishing to go to Kindergarten like his neighborhood friends, but he missed the Sept 1st cut off. His school is amazing though and will keep him very stimulated this year!

Wheeler Farm...

I remember going to Wheeler Farm as a kid and loving the tour of the "mansion" there. I wanted to take the kids to do the same thing, but when we got there they had sent all of the tour guides home, despite the fact that we came in the middle of their work window! We didn't find much else to do there but look at a few animals and have our picnic, and it was about 98 degrees which is way too hot to hang out outside. The kids loved this old truck, and Paul immediately ran over to hop inside. I asked him not to get inside, but of course, he seldom listens. He grabbed hold of the steering wheel and must have disturbed a bee because it stung him on his ring finger! Paul wasn't too upset, just surprised, but he didn't like seeing his finger swell up 1.5 times it's natural size. And now Blaze is absolutely terrified of bees! It's a bad thing because we have these pretty purple flowered bushes all over our neighborhood where the bees hang out, and he clutches on to me anytime we pass them now!

Fixated!

Our kids get really fixated on a certain activity and don't want to move on to anything else. We went to Thanksgiving Point one afternoon and all they wanted to do is play in the sandboxes. I guarantee that if we had the same thing in our backyard, they wouldn't care about it! And they have so much more than sandboxes there, but for some reason on this day we spent all of our time here!

We went to the Wild West Jordan Park before Jackson's nearby soccer tournament one evening. Alanna always stays on the monkey bars when we are at a park. She's so proud of all of the ways she can go across and how many bars she can skip. Paul tries to keep up with her, but Alanna has such strong arms from tumbling that she beats the boys!

Blaze is fixated on being "mommy's baby". It's my fault. I tell him he's my baby all of the time. And I still love pushing him in swings and catching him at the end of the slides. I know he won't always think I'm his best friend, so I'm going to milk it while it lasts!

Hot Tub...

All they need to be happy is a hot tub, it seems. They have been begging to go to the "town house" pool all summer. I thought they wanted to be outside instead of inside at the rec center. Turns out, the big attraction there is just the hot tub in 90 degree weather. Silly kids!

Donut Falls Hike!

 

August has been a little unusual here this year. It's been unseasonably cool on some days, like this day we hiked to the falls and I was uncomfortably cool! It was an adventure, as always, with James. He took us off the path so we ended up scrambling down a hill over muddy rocks to get to our destination. Then on the way back, all of the sudden he told us we needed to cross the little stream. We all fell in except Jackson! And then we got to the other side, and he admitted that he was wrong, so we had to go back across the stream and get wet again! 

That evening we met up with Darren and Mary Lou and their kids at Thanksgiving Point for dinner.  I love seeing old friends and getting to catch up! Maybe we will explore the Oregon Coast next summer and get to see them on their turf!

Blaze-a-Roo!

 

Jackson, Paul, and Alanna, spent a few days with Grandma Ce-Ce- and Poppy after we returned from Yellowstone. Blaze got to come home and have some quality time with his mommy and daddy. He milked it! He talked me into taking him to lunch at Wendy's one day...all because he wanted a toy. I think he was a little disappointed about this head band he got. But, he did get chocolate milk and a little Frosty with his meal! Lately he will snuggle up to me, smile, and say "Sunshine". It means he wants me to sing "You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine" to him. And then he hugs and kisses me while I tell him how much I love my special baby! I love him so much!!!

Presley's Baby Blessing...

It's so special to go to a family baby blessing, especially when it was for my first niece! I felt the

 spirit so much during that meeting, so I felt that I need to record some of what I felt. As I watched my dad, brothers, husband, and several other worthy Priesthood holders arise to encircle this precious infant, the Spirit hit me like a wave in the ocean. I just couldn't contain my emotions as I thought about how blessed I am to have the Priesthood in my life. It is the thing that sets us apart from all other faiths, it is the power Jesus Christ has given men to act in His name. It fits so perfectly in the Plan of Happiness that has been outlined by our Father in Heaven. I again felt the Spirit testify of the distinct and divine rolls each of us has as men and women. We need the talents and gifts each of us has to offer in order to make a complete family unit and return to our Father in Heaven. I thought about how I feel so revered, honored, and respected as a woman in Heavenly Father's eyes and as part of His church. I know that the most fulfilling and meaningful work I do in this life is using the attributes I posses as a women. Whether I am a wife, mother, aunt, Primary teacher, YW leader. grandmother, friend, social worker, etc., I do things that only I can do as a woman. And I have a partner who does things only he can do as a man. Both are of equal importance, and both are vital in helping our eternal family make it to where we want to be. 

I sat there thinking about my beautiful little niece and felt so grateful that she has parents who will teach her that her Heavenly Father loves her, and teach her about the importance of being a righteous woman in the gospel. She will have challenges that at this time we can't even dream of. The world is becoming so gray and blurry, and Satan is really taking hold in these last days. But I know Heavenly Father is also calling His elect to be here on earth at this time, and they will have the power to withstand Satan if they live the gospel to the best of their ability and hold to the Iron Rod. 

I know Paul was there. I could imagine him taking his place in the circle and laying his hands on baby Presley! I wish I could see him with my eyes and know how often he really is there watching out for our family members. Presley has the same initials as Paul: PRP. She also shares his middle name of Rae. She's already has HUGE shoes to fill! Haha!

Yellowstone Trip!

 

We are so glad Kristi organized a trip to Yellowstone for us! The kids all had so much fun playing with each other, and Kristi, Cassie, and I all had fun using our dutch ovens and seeing the beautiful sights. I look at these pictures and just think they are unreal! I can't believe that I was really standing next to these geysers, pools, waterfalls, and animals!

 

This is not Old Faithful, but I think I enjoyed this geyser more because we were much closer to it with fewer people surrounding it. It was on the loop up to Old Faithful.

 

I love the different colors the algae makes

 

Oscar and Blaze were best buddies! I'm so sad that they won't be in school together this year since Blaze misses the cut off date!

 

I think the Prismatic Pools were my absolute favorite! Evidenced by the 50+pictures I took of them!

 

When we were at the Old Faithful waiting for it to go off, Koy volunteered to watch the kids while Cassie, James, and I went for a walk around the boardwalk to see some other sights. I am ultra paranoid about leaving my kids usually, but I do completely trust Koy. But, I was giving him a hard time and asked if I could really trust him to handle them etc. When we got back, he had carved all the little kids shivs/knives and they had their imaginary games going on with them. Blaze was SO possessive of his! At the campfire the next night, Koy said that as soon as we left to take our walk at Old Faithful, Blaze fell and got scraped up and was upset. But he couldn't let me know that happened because I'm so paranoid, so he that's when he started carving knives to keep the kids all happy! So funny! 

 

The bison were so close to the car. I loved seeing them fight and ram into each other, and to run like the wind! It was also entertaining to see all of the idiots get out of their cars and try to get close to them! There have been a record number of gorging from bison at Yellowstone this year!

 

I can see melting faces in this rock mountain, and they remind me of the Ring Wraths in Lord of the Rings. Every time Frodo puts on the Ring of Power, he sees those ghostly remains of men trying to capture him. Pretty creepy!

 

 

Swimming in the boiling pools was a highlight for James. Luckily, none of our kids got any of the diseases that were listed on the signs there...even though they put their face in the water! There was one section where really hot water entered the river, on section that was really cold. I think they found the sweet spot where it was just the right temperature.

 

Austin and Paul were quite a pair with their walkie talkies and spy games!

 

We took a two mile "hike" overlooking Yellowstone lake. Even though it was the middle of the day, we made sure to stay in our large group hoping to scare off any lurking bears!

!

The Canyon Falls were just spectacular. And the rainbow running through them was too perfect to be real...felt like a special effect! I wonder if it's always there, or if we just got lucky! It was just one of the 100's of signs we saw that let me know Heavenly Father loves us. It was a perfect way to wrap up our tour of the park. After this Yellowstone trip, I'm pretty motivated to start exploring other nearby National Parks soon!