New Mowers

This month both Isaac and Anna learned how to mow the lawn.

Yay!

Mini Baking Camp at Cravings

We love Cravings Alisha's Cupcakes!
We saw them on Cupcake Wars :)
The first time they were on they didn't win, but then they came back in Season 7 and won!
(We also LOVE Cravings Bistro and their delicious grilled cheese sandwiches
...but this post is about cupcakes)

I signed Grace and Anna up for a 2 day mini baking camp there and they loved it!

 End of the first day.

 End of the 2nd day (and last day.)

Grace and Anna with Alisha and Alisha's daughter, who wanted so badly to be in the picture too.

And also Alisha's assistant who helped with the classes.
The girls had a great time and came home with some tasty treats :)

Clark Planetarium

Another thing on our summer fun list.

I went with my kids, except for Dallin who had plans to see a movie with some friends.

Melanie brought her kids. Blythe and Asher came and my mom and dad came too.

We paired all the kids up as buddies.

Isaac and Henry

 Anna and Julianne

Grace and Maren

 Noah and Eve were the cutest buddies.

He was so good with her and they just looked so cute together :)

 Everyone loved the big infrared camera exhibit where you could play around with hot and cold plates and see the thermal imaging results.

 Kids on the moon :)

 and on Mars!

Riding Lessons for Grace

You may or may not remember that for her birthday last year Grace got horseback riding lessons.

Well...we were finally able to get them scheduled. 

(the company recommended waiting for warmer weather)

She LOVED it!
(In conjunction with this gift, she also got to get some new boots of course)

First lesson was on May 4th

She met her horse Mojo and learned how to take care of him and did some assisted riding.

Her last lesson was yesterday.

She was able to ride all on her own and she really enjoyed that.

I know she wishes that we could have continued the lessons...

but maybe she'll just have to learn how to ride camels in Saudi Arabia :)

Isaac's Solar System

Sometimes I hate school projects.

Ok, I'll admit that I almost always hate school projects.

They usually cause stress at my house...and unfortunately, I seem to have passed my unfavorable character trait of procrastination to my children.

That being said, I also like school projects. 

They get my kids creating and working and often I get to work with them and help them.

Isaac and I had a lot of fun working on his solar system project. 

The only guidelines they had were, it had to be in color, be labeled and have dimension...not just be a drawing on a paper or poster board.

We wanted to do something different...staying clear from the styrofoam balls, not that there is anything wrong with styrofoam balls :)

Anyway, after brainstorming and trying a couple of ideas, this is the final product.

We took a piece of wood and then used hot glue to create dimension. Then Isaac painted the planets (I helped a little too) He wanted to paint them as close to realistic as possible.

I zoomed in on his Earth because I thought it was so cute!

He was very proud of it and his teacher loved it!

General Conference Weekend

General Conference weekend was nice.

I made homemade cinnamon rolls.

I used a recipe from my friend Jacque Munns.

They turned out quite yummy!

 Between sessions the kids and I, along with some of my family, drove what they call the Alpine Loop.

It was so beautiful!

Sorry for the overload of scenic pictures, but I just liked them all :)

(Let me know if you have a favorite, I'm considering getting one printed to hang on the wall)

 The kids enjoyed the ride.

Loved these pictures of Isaac and Anna...

complete with photobomb by Dallin :)

We had to stop and let them get out once because Isaac

and Anna needed to touch the snow :) 

 Conference was wonderful, and as is always the case, I heard many things that truly touched my heart.

I'm thankful that they put the talks in the Ensign so that we can have them to read and re-read and

continue to learn from.

I was impressed with my kids too. They (especially the older ones) really paid attention and took notes of their own without me even asking them to.

Some things that stuck out to me from conference:

Look ahead and believe.

Work together more.

Don't work for your own glory and recognition.

It's not what we have done or where we have been, but where we are willing to go.

A grateful person is rich in contentment.

Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. 

Accepting and magnifying callings can bring joy to our families.

Mans law doesn't change God's law.

Being truly converted means we live it.

The Lord sees weakness differently than rebellion.

Choose activities you can attend together as a couple.

Some addictions may not necessarily be evil, but if they take too much time away from family then...

Avoid bondage of any kind.

Everyone can have their home blessed by Priesthood power.

Sometimes using all our strength means asking for help.

(Loved the story of the little boy trying to move the rock.)

Each time you look in the mirror see your body as your temple for your spirit.

How you use your body affects your spirit.

Can You Dig It?

On August 4th we went to Dinosaur Park in Laurel 

with Bob and Dresden and their kids.

We had fun digging at an actual dig site.
They gave us a little lesson in what to look for and
showed some examples of what kinds of things we might find.
It was pretty cool.

Anna found what they said was part of a crab
and I found a snail fossil.
Here's Anna with her find

and Dallin holding the snail...it's the round thing inside the rock.

We got to put our names in their book next to what we found.

Thanks for inviting us Bob and Dresden!

We loved it.

We might just have to go back when they have another free open house :)

What Isaac learned yesterday

Do not take your brother's pocket knife to school

Do not take said pocket knife out during recess to show it to your friends

Because if you do

you will go to the principal's office

he will call your mom

and you will be suspended

What he learned today...

that being suspended from school is not fun

I don't think I ever thought one of my kids would be suspended from school...on the positive side, I have to be thankful that he didn't get suspended for being mean or bad, or hurting anyone or anything like that. The principal said that is why he is only getting 2 days because he knows that Isaac wasn't trying to use it or hurt anyone, but still it's a weapon and he has to take some action.


I have to say though that Isaac was so cute in the principal's office and his apology was very sweet. 


Today he had a hard time not being able to do anything fun...At one point he even asked why he was my slave! I'm sure that tomorrow will be just as un-fun for him!
...it's not so fun for me either :(

We did Nutten for Christmas

...nutten much, just ski, snowboard, play in a waterpark, play games, watch movies, eat food, hang out, have fun at Le Club, etc.


This year for our Christmas trip we went to Massanutten.

Our good friends the Chwaliks own a time share there and invited us to join them for the week.

We had a great time!

On the slopes

This was the first time skiing/snowboarding for Mike and the kids....and it was the first time for me in over 24 years. Everyone enjoyed it and I think we will definitely be doing it again.

 The Waterpark

The day we chose to go to the waterpark was a rainy day, so it was a good choice. We had a lot of fun! 

  The flowrider was a new and fun experience for all of us

Other Fun

Some of the best times we have are when we play games and just hang out together.

A big thanks again to our friends the Chwaliks for their kindness and friendship :)