More of the fam

Parker's turn

Fall 2008

FAll 2010




This one is my favorite

More photos

A fun fall evening, the colors were fabulous and the family was perfect. It was sweet Abigail's birthday to boot. Not an ideal way to spend your birthday but at least a few photos to remember the day. Just a side note we get to spend Thanksgiving with these cute little ones each year.

New after Two

Finally after 2 years I am updating the kiddos pictures. I can't call them kiddos anymore since they are offically teens now. They have all changed quite a bit. Go figure. They look just a little different than they did at 11. Sidney was in the mood for a photo shoot, so we headed over to our friends farm. I just want to freeze time, they are growing up to fast. At least I can cherish these memories for today. More to come next week...that is if I can pin the rest of them down. One down...3 more to go.

FALL 2008

FALL 2010

Truly a Blessing

Today I went to lunch with some dear friends. We try and get together every couple of months. They are the friends that I met when I first moved to Montana. We were all in such a different stage of life 10 years ago. Ten years ago we all had little ones running around our ankles. We were trying to figure out when we would get in our daily shower, wondering what we were making for dinner that night, wondering how we were going to make it through the day and so excited that we had two play groups planned for that week; not for the kids to play but to have some adult conversation with another adult.

Today we met at a restaurant and our topic of conversation was on how do we should live in the moment and our thoughts were on how we don't have much time left with our kids at home. To contrast the then and now; We weren't trying keep track of any of our kids...due to the fact that they are all in school. We had all showered for the day and about the only thing that hadn't changed was I still am wondering what I am making for dinner tonight.
How did the past 10 years fly by so fast. How did my kids get so big right before our eyes.

We enjoyed an afternoon of catching up, laughing, discussing many of the conference talks and trying to find a happy medium. Elder Christoffersons Being in the moment, Pres. Ucthdorf counsel about slowing down, Sis. Wixom about teaching now, what our kids will need to know in 5 years. Elder Holland's on gratitude, Elder Lawrence on how to raise our teenagers. I loved all the fabulous counsel and can't wait to try and implement it into life.

Life is good:)

Back to School...already?

This summer has just flown by. It seems like we just began our summer holiday and it is time to say good-bye. I believe,for the first time, I am sad to see my kids go back to school. I truly enjoyed the time we spent together this summer. I am looking forward to the uninterrupted computer time, the many project I have planned but not the empty house...I will miss them. Funny how it just seems like just yesterday I had four little ones the oldest being two, kids always under my feet, total amount of sleep per night was 3-4 hours, wondering when I was going to get my next shower and never a minute to myself. How my life has changed. This morning everyone got themselves ready for school, no one needed my help (it was kind of sad) I did make them a yummy delicious breakfast of hot pancakes with homemade syrup; I might as well be useful in some way. After breakfast Parker consented to letting me photograph him and we were able to capture their first day of school in their scrapbook. They didn't even need me to drive them to school Parker offered. It's a little sadright after breakfast this morning
Parker going into 10th grade . already tired and he hasn't even started school

Bailey 8th grade
Sidney
Hannah

This summer our group dynamics was quite different than years past. Instead of all four of the kids being home, I was lucky if I even had two of them at one time. Parker worked full time for a landscaper doing everything from digging trenches to pouring concrete. Sometimes he would leave as early as 7:30am and sometimes not get home until dinner time. He worked hard.

The girls, when not babysitting or with friends, enjoyed time at home. I'm starting to get glimpses of when we are empty nesters and not looking forward to it. It's been fun to have someone to bake with, watch movies with and go shopping with.

Highlights:

for the girls
Anne of Green Gables Marathon (while Parker was @ work)
their garden, not sure they enjoyed the work but we are now enjoying the produce
cousins coming to visit
girls camp
trip to Island Park and the Play mill

for Parker
High adventure @ k-m a week of backpacking, bike riding,
Overnight with scouts @ Devil's canyon
EFY @ BYU-Idaho (loved the freedom)
Parker selling his Pig @ fair
working (he loved to be busy)

for me
marathon movies with the girls
making treats with the girls
minute chats with Parker
date nights with Bruce
my sister and her kids coming to visit
grandma and grandpa coming to visit during fair
the sunsets
the nightly rain showers

The Joys of Summer

One of the joys of this summer is getting out and enjoying nature. Braylie, the girls cousins, came to visit for a week and we enjoyed the great outdoors. The girls are enjoying their new found freedom of staying up late and sleeping in. This is hard for Bruce to understand coming from a farming family with the motto of early to bed, early to rise. He has learned that he can go to bed and still get up at the crack of dawn while his sweet girls slumber in their beds. Their new found pleasure continued while we were camping. Bruce and I enjoyed sitting by the fire while the girlies played games in the camper. We went to bed while they continued to talk to all hours. Bruce and I arose early, went for a morning walk in the woods and returned back to camp without even a stir from the girls. We started breakfast, or so called brunch and they started to move.Welcome to the wonderful world of teenagers. I believe this is preparing us for the next phase of life...empty-nesters.

A bit of Heaven

The last couple of nights our sunsets have been absolutely breath taking. So vibrant! It has been nice to be able to enjoy them. Our summer has been busy but enjoyable. We have had trips with cousins, girls camp, Parker's high adventure biking and backpacking, youth conference, working, gardening (we harvested some beets the other day), baby blessing, luncheons, camping, weddings and family reunions.