Funny Little Things...catching up and out of order....

Kate made a list of everyone she loves. It says a lot about Kate that the #1 person on that list is----Herself!!! Coming in a close second is our babysitter turned Sister Missionary on Temple Square, Alyssa Fluckiger. I think I should feel proud to actually be #3 and beat out any grandparents (evil laugh). Kate loves to draw and make lists of things, and write letters. Right this very second there are at least 6 envelopes addressed to various people on her bed. I found them while doing the ultimate clean out of the girl's room. Let's just say that when they get home from school today, they are not going to be happy. Although, the $1.18 I found makes me happy because I will get an ice cream cone before picking them up from school!

When watching General Conference this last weekend, the kids had a great time drawing pictured of the speakers. Nathan did a particularly good job with President Packer. I really love conference every year, and am so glad we are at the point where we don't have to worry as much about wrangling kids so we can watch it.

This was the Saturday session. Bailey had a cross country meet and Ben took him. The rest of us had a camp out in our room because the internet wasn't working so great at this point. My posts for the blog at this point are going to be so incredibly out of order but I need to get it all recorded. The kids had the greatest time in between sessions reading blog books and I realized I last printed them in 2012!!

This is one of my favorite talks from the weekend. I recently was called to be the Gospel Doctrine teacher in our ward. I remember a few weeks before I got the calling, Ben told me he thinks I should be the next Gospel Doctrine teacher. I told him that was the dumbest idea ever and I would be terrified. When the Bishop and his counselor came over to extend the call, I threw a pillow at him before saying yes! (Ben, not the Bishop...just to clarify) I was sure he had something to do with it, but he didn't and I should know better of course:) It's been hard getting used to teaching every week, especially out of the Old Testament. I've been super nervous quite often and have had the occasional odd comment from a class member. But, it isn't terrible and I enjoy the preparing part. The Sunday before conference we had a lesson on sustaining the prophet. I figured with conference falling in between, we should take this Sunday and just talk about what we learned in conference. The general theme throughout was definitely following the commandments even when they are hard, and listening to the counsel of the prophets and apostles.

I have been to the pumpkin patch for so many years now on field trips. The twins finally got to go this year for their first time at MMCA. Of course I had to come...even if I am getting field tripped out. The poor twins have to do everything last in the family and I'm trying to keep up my momentum for them!
They are loving school and doing really well (Thank you TK and Mrs. Gallo!!)

This was them at the end of the day. I would say they had a good time to be this passed out. I always find it funny when they end up matching at school. It happens more days than not, and they pick out their clothes independently of one another. The teachers noticed that at school they do not seem as dependent on each other as other sets of twins that have come through. I'm glad that their twin bond isn't a problem at school, because I really don't want to have to split them into different classes.

Nathan wrote me this sweet note on my birthday this year. The big 3-5. I was super sick on that day and the boys had father and son's camp out for Church so it wasn't my favorite way to spend the day.
But, I managed to take enough cold medicine to make it to our annual girl's night out (what EKA and I do when the boys have their camp out every year). We invited my mom along and Emma was able to get her ears pierced.

Emma attempted getting her ears pierced when she turned 8 but it was short lived. She had a horrible time taking care of them. This time, she was so brave! It's harder when you know how bad it was the first time and you are still willing to try again. We had a much better experience this time around. 

This is me trying not to be dead after taking Emma to Women's Broadcast the day after my birthday. This is the second time she has been able to go since they changed the age to 8 and up. She still doesn't quite enjoy all the talks the same way I do, but she did enjoy watching me have to go up and sing in a choir of people who went to girl's camp:)

Only four left in the Primary Program for Church. Although this year they made the young men and young women sing at the end so technically Bailey had to do it this year. He wasn't thrilled :) Everyone sang and said their parts perfectly. Emma even sang in a trio and it was amazing!

This is now one of my favorite pictures of B and I. We went to a wedding for one of his coworkers. I wore a pair of clip on earrings that he found in a parking lot by his work.  For some reason he is always bringing home random things he finds on the ground. BUT, they are almost always really cool finds. So I wore these earrings and immediately got so many compliments on them. I told everyone Ben "picked them out," failing to mention that he actually just "picked them up"...off the street. One woman even asked where he got them and made him promise to tell her because she loved them. It was SO hard to contain our laughter, but I think we laughed for five minutes straight when we were alone later. I am a little afraid at who they actually belonged to before they wound up in our house. Maybe I should have sterilized them first.

We started reading the Book of Mormon together as a family almost two years ago. We told the kids that when we got through it, we would go out to dinner. They helped us stay on task for two years straight to get it read. For months, Ben teased them about which restaurant we would pick to celebrate finishing. He promised them it would be a "factory" of some kind-Cheesecake, Spaghetti or Pizza. The kids were all split on where they thought we should go.

One of my favorite Emma conversations:
Emma, after our conversation about our family history research I have been doing, was so excited to find out we have roots in the Netherlands because she has always wanted to be a "Dutch-ess." I can't make up the stuff that comes out of that girl's mouth!!

Emma modeling an outfit she put together. Ignore the paint splotches on the wall...we are repainting soon:)

 So I am not a dog person, never have been. The story of dogs in our house is quite interesting and way too long. But this dog doesn't bug me so much...and I might even like him a little. He is my serious protector as he is obsessed with me. I never have to worry about any noises when I am at home alone. He checks them out--and I mean completely surveys the inside and outside of the house. The twins saw this shirt at Target and begged me to get it.

 Enjoying his comfy spot on Emma.

Nathan decided to be a werewolf for Halloween and Gid thought he was another dog. They had a great time wrestling. 

Gid loves to eat flies. If only I could get him to eat frogs. This is what I came home to one night and had to go through the garage. I could not make myself go through the door with this thing on it!! I am TERRIFIED of frogs. 

Our wonderful dad/husband has been working super long hours lately. Sometimes we text him pictures of us at the dinner table. He was missing out on puffy(German) pancakes with cookie butter. Hey! At least we had the grapes to balance it out...

 Emma earned enough reading points to have me bring her lunch at school. Panda orange chicken was of course her choice. She was the envy of all the other kids, which I think for her might be half the fun.

 Emma is obsessed with lip gloss. At activity days a while ago they made their own, and it was probably the best day of her life.

 Kate and Addison, and their friend Katie. This year in Kindergarten, these two have been SO social. Not only that, but most of their friends are 1st graders. We have not been without a fair amount of girl

drama issues, which is SO fun....

This part of the catch up has only taken me a few months-yikes! I'm determined to get everything caught up today so I can get a new book printed soon.

Raging Parties in Advisory

On the way home from a Standards Night fireside for Church, Bailey and I discussed some of the things he will see or be exposed to as he gets older that will go against what we believe. He told me that there isn't a need to worry about it because of the school he attends. I quickly told him that means something, but doesn't exclude him from everything. His school is smaller and has a different crowds than the average public school, but it is still a school filled with teenagers who make their own choices. We then proceeded to have this conversation:

B: Well, there was that one time people were drinking alcohol in class.
Me: (jolted just a bit) People were drinking alcohol in class?!
B: It was a drink that only had 1% alcohol in it, but yes.
Me: Was this at lunch or after school?
B: Nope, in advisory.
Me: Just out in the open? Didn't the teachers say something?
B: No, the kids just did it.
Me: What exactly were they drinking that had 1% alcohol in it?
B: Vanilla extract.

Oh.My.Goodness. I kept from laughing harder than I wanted to. If halfway into 8th grade and this is the worst he has seen so far, I'll take it! We then went on to have a conversation about how kids do things to look cool but they are just being stupid. Because...vanilla extract?....They could have at least drank Nyquil or something....

This month's post

Our summer has gone by way too quickly, and here I am again trying to catch up and document everything as well as I used to.

4th of July Hike

We spent the 4th checking out a new area on the Yuba River. There was a nice, easy hike down to a swimming hole we thought we would check out. Well, the hike wasn't so bad until we go to where you had to break off to get to the swimming area. The kids took a few tumbles down the hill to get there, but the spot was amazing.

I think Nathan jumped and skipped the entire way. This kid is crazy!

My mom looks way excited to hike, right?! :)

For Bailey, of course, this was nothing compared to Yosemite. So a nice leisurely stroll for him as the rest of us are grunting.

I cannot tell you how amazing the water was up there. It was super clear and there were all sorts of places to explore.

We had to convince Gid the water was OK to swim in. He was not so sure about it. Emma was the first one to get him in the water with a stick.

Bailey and Ben jumping from the rock.

 The water was beautiful and the kids loved exploring. Ben ended up hiking back up and then we started walking up the road (which we didn't know existed before...oh well) until we met up with him. 

Later that night, we walked to the school down the street to watch the fireworks show from McBean park. We all were exhausted from the hiking and swimming and probably could have just stayed home and been happy:)

 He kept asking when we could go home and sleep.

In July every year, Chick Fil-a gives out free meals if you dress like a cow. This is our second year, and I wish we had jumped on the bandwagon sooner! The kids actually enjoy it (even Bailey if it means getting to order anything off the menu you want)

 We met up with two other families and also took advantage of the fact that is was July 11...Free Slurpee Day on 7/11!!!

 July brings the celebration of the birth of Bailey

 He turned 13 this year...13!!! It's still crazy to think about. We went to Leatherby's to celebrate with family. He heads into 8th grade this year. Now we officially have a teenager in the home (the three girls don't count, even though they like to act like them!)

In Nathan news, he lost more teeth and is now helping with the dishes one week a month. He LOVES doing dishes and keeps asking to let him be the only one who does it. He actually isn't bad at it, so it's tempting. But then Bailey and Emma wouldn't get the chance, and they would be oh so sad, of course:)

Emma has a new piano teacher now and is still progressing really well. She can play simplified versions of primary songs and hymns. It's nice to see her do so well and music in the house is wonderful!

Our family friend, Alyssa, left to serve a mission at Temple Square. The girls miss her a lot and write letters all the time. I try to gather them and send them to her as much as I can.

Kate and Addison are also now official swimmers! A friend of mine in our ward volunteered to teach them. It was so fast and they were jumping, swimming and having the best time. This makes it easier when we go places to swim so I don't have to worry (as much) about them in the pool.

They spent the summer doing so many fun things, we liked to have rest time too:)

I felt like a lot of the summer was taken up by girl's camp prep, but we tried to have fun as much as we could with swimming, lake trips, going to the library, etc...

Of course, I have to include some of the pictures of my time at camp.

The whole gang (minus the 4th level hikers)

 I always love being able to spend time with friends who live in the Stake. It's a great bonding time for leaders who don't see each other as much outside of camp each year.

 The girls and I always have fun together.

 I like to dress up as much as they do. Nothing says girl's camp like a fake beard and an E.T. shirt. It says "It's all Good In The Hood"

 I don't participate in the Challenge course because it's all heights and that freaks me out. But I will don the safety hat and take pictures.

At tomahawks.

 Our three ward leaders: Me, Tiphanie and Lena

I didn't get a front pic of my NKOTB shirt, but it was a hit with all of us (older) ladies

 So, this hike. Let me tell you... Oh my. It was beautiful, yes. Dangerous, yes. Well, for me it was terrifying. At one point the so called "trail" was only able to be crossed if you held on to the bushes on the side of the mountain. If you didn't, you might slip and fall sown the steep side, crashing into rocks and then eventually the lake. We eventually found out the lake wasn't accessible that way and had to turn right back around. It took a lot for me to get to that side, and then I had to go right back! But I am alive to tell the story....

More yurt pictures

The girls practiced and practiced the Haka for one of our morning jingles. It was amazing! We got so many compliments and even won the jingle award for that day.

At our family history station, I spent some time with William and Kate...no biggie

We get really delirious at camp which usually leads to weird conversations and faces

Prior to going up, I had the girls all make rock frogs to take up for decorations. They turned out so cute.

 Every year at camp, I have had some sort of encounter with this girl. It was her last year at camp, so we had to take a real picture. Usually I would just find random pictures of her on my phone when left unattended. Before I knew her, I spent a good chunk of the =day walking around holding the picture up to girls trying to figure out who kept messing with me:)

Our theme this year was Tiana from Princess and the Frog, and our woman from the scriptures was Eve. So, our Bayou Garden of Eden needed an Adam... get it?

 When I got back from camp, we headed up to Tahoe with my family for the weekend. Bailey loved learning to play pool.

 The twins were pretty worn out from the activities. This was the only picture I got at the lake. It's too bad because it was all of our favorite day up there.

 Emma played darts in the cabin, and was able to be the officiant for the enchilada contest.

Which, of course I won!!!! My brother needs to learn to not challenge me on this kind of stuff:)

And so our summer rapidly came to a close. School has already started and I really need to upload those pictures before they are all in college.