June's Random Things

Elise is getting cuter and cuter (if that can happen). Her hair is getting longer and I am able to put it up and try to maker her all cute-sy. (I love photos of the back of kids... I know it doesn't show her face, but what a cute little body!)

She loves playing outside with the boys, and now that it is FINALLY summer, they are playing in the water quite a bit. (oh my darling child!!!)
Other fun summer activities are playing with chalk, playing socccer and catching bugs. We found this damaged butterfly in our yard and cared for it for an afternoon (This happened two years ago, too!).We have also gone on a few bike rides, now that Weston got a new bike for his birthday, and Aidan got his first bike!!!
We took a trip to the dentist (not necessarily a fun summer activity...) and Weston and Aidan are cavity free, but Brennan has two or three! He had to get them filled, but he did a marvelous job and was very brave (he just did the gas, we didn't have to give him any meds or anything!). He's got some lovely teeth! Weston keeps losing his (I think he has lost 8 now!) and Aidan keeps wiggling his hoping they will be loose.I had my birthday this month--I got a wonderful present: I went shopping with my girlfriends! It was so nice and so needed (thanks girls!). And thanks husband for letting me! For Father's day, Scott got Paragliding Lessons!!!! What do you think of that present? I am excited for him. I got them for his dad, too, so they can go together. The kids are going throught his phase of making thousands of paper airplanes, and they love to do it at Grandma and Grandpa's and fly them off the second floor into the living room. So I bought a paper airplane kit and gave it to all the boys for Father's Day. When Scott and his dad opened the present, I don't think they understood--I had attached a piece of paper with the paragliding info on it... It was a fun idea that didn't "take off" very well. Oh well.

Aidan's Birthday!

What a boy! This crazy wonderful child turned SIX! What a kid! He chose Sonic X as his theme, so I made a chaos emerald pinata (not perfectly made, but still pretty cool!).Aidan planned his entire birthday party: looking for hidden chaos emeralds (ring pops) around the yard, throwing balls through Sonic Rings, walking with an egg on a spoon and dropping it into Dr. Eggman's mouth (why didn't I get a photo?), and racing around the house. I was proud of him for his little games he made up. He loves to plan his parties and write lists of birthday wishes. He even made himself a poster (months before his birthday--it is a good thing I found it and remembered to put it up!).
Grandma and Grandpa came over on his birthday and he got some wonderful presents--mostly Cars toys. He also got a tie that matches his daddy (like Weston) and a Kit Kat from Weston. I think he was pretty happy with what he got! Happy Birthday very funny boy!

Weston's Baptism

My sweet, wonderful, lovely, handsome, sensitive, loving, special, smart, oldest boy has turned eight. He has been waiting and waiting for this day. Instead of asking how many days til his birthday he would ask how many days til his baptism. We did some fun things to prepare for his baptism--for the past 5 months our family night lessons have been from the missionary manual "Preach My Gospel", we took some advice and wrote letters to each other, and he has a little book about his baptism with notes from people.

Many family members were present--luckily Uncle Kyle and Aunt Linzi with their kids were in town, and so they were able to come. Kyle was able to be a witness (along with Scott's dad). Weston's teacher, Mrs. Craven, even came!

We had family come over after for a luncheon and it was so nice to have fun family time together. Weston was very spoiled and loved (who wouldn't love him!).

Isnt' this the sweetest photo of a daddy and his son?

Weston's Birthday

My baby is Eight! We have been planning this day for a long time. Weston chose a soccer birthday party and invited a trillion friends. For invitations, we bought dollar store little soccer balls and wrote their name on them and put the info on a sticker on it. It was crazy with all those boys (and neighbor girl Maddie). They had a good time playing little soccer games, then for the pinata, I made a soccer ball, filled it with candy and Weston kicked it to the kids! It broke open and the kids dove for the candy. We had fat boys for a treat and sent them home with a soccer ball toy. I hope he had a good time, and I think they all had fun.
For the family party, we had a butterfinger pie--delicious. We aren't really cake eaters, so the pie was just perfect. Grandma and Grandpa came, and Uncle Kyle and Aunt Linzi were in town, so they got to come, too. He got lots of fun presents, and big boy things--a shirt and tie, plus a tie that matches his daddys, of course his scout stuff (he is loving scouts, and has already finished everything for his Bobcat!), the first Harry Potter (which he has already finished) and some fun toys--mostly legos. Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Food storage

This post is really for Kim and Val. We've been talking about food storage, so I thought I'd post photos of my (messy) storage room. I have a rolling storage thing for my cans (from shelfreliance)--I LOVE IT! It is so nice. The bottom row is full of No. 10 cans from the cannery--full of beans, dry drinks, etc. The rest of it is filled with the cans of food that we eat normally (soups, olives, corn, fruit, etc)

This corner has my freezer, stocked full of meat, juice, pizza, spaghetti/tomato sauce, peas, spinach, blueberries, butter and cheese. Also, my Chistmas decor is stored in the red bins, but under all that (really, that is way too much Christmas stuff!) are 12 boxes of No. 10 cans (6 cans in each box) which has all my long term wheat storage! Plus, there are more boxes of No. 10 cans full of stuff... not sure what. I had better go through it.

These are my buckets of stuff I use: Sugar, Flour, Wheat (x2), and brown rice.
These are my 3 month supply food--stuff I use already, hopefully it would last me three months. As I run low, or really as things are on sale, I stock up (notice the brown boxes? that is spaghetti. I have about 20 boxes... should last me awhile. I got them for 50cents each.) The little white shelf to the right has all our cereal. We are running low.
I didn't post photos of our water, but some of it is hidden back there (8 five gallon containers, plus normal bottled water), then I have some in the garage (any old pastic container--old juice bottles, etc) filled with water, and two big 55 gallon things in the garage. I know it isn't EVERYTHING, but I feel good about my start to things.

Learning to Pray

Every once in awhile, Elise will do this funny thing with her arms... Then we realized she did it when we were praying--she was trying to fold her arms! It is a cute little way for a sweet girl to fold her arms, right?

Omi and Opa leave on a Mission!

My mom and dad have been talking about serving a mission ALL our lives. Finally they are able to go! They go their call to San Diego, California (perfect weather!) and they went into the MTC on the 16th. They loved it (as I knew they would--who wouldn't love sitting in classes being taught about the gospel and how to share it!? and eating all the food they wanted!!). They were able to come back over the weekend, and then once again when their MTC experience was over. It was fun to be able to spend some time with them before they had to leave for two years. My basement will be lonely without them!

We did have a fun party for them before they left and invited lots of family and friends from the years. It was great! So fun to be able to see everyone and visit.

We'll miss you Omi and Opa!

King Arthur and the Daw table

Weston did a "Wax Musuem" report for school. Each child chose a person to research, then dress up as and give a little blurb about them for everyone to listen to. I was proud of Weston for choosing his own person, and doing pretty much the entire thing all by himself. I just guided him. He drew the picture, he wrote up everything, he read an entire (big) book about King Arthur, and he made up and memorized (quickly) all he had to say about it. I admit, I did make the crown and shield (awesome, right????) and bought the breastplate at the dollar store (awesome deal!). He did great!

Aidan's tumbling

After two years of tumbling classes from the greatest tumbling teacher ever, Aidan has "graduated"! The class was so perfect for him. He was able to go twice a week, and hour each time and strengthen his body. He didn't absolutely love it, but it was good for him to work his little body and become strong. He is so graceful when he lands from an ugly fall. And it has given him so much confidence in his wrestling with his brothers.

Here he is with his teacher, Kara H. If anyone wants her info, let me know. She is GREAT!

I was hoping that he would go on to some other sport--maybe even karate, cause I think that would be a good choice for his body type, but he doesn't want to do any kind of "fighting" sport. He is just too soft and gentle! :)