Mid Summer - Mid Fall 2011

Our Summer camping trip to Ponderosa State Park in McCall, Idaho.  The kids loved riding their scooters on the paved trails.

Ava playing at the beach on our camping trip.

Simon at Payette Lake.

We learned that Brahm is allergic to mosquito bites (notice the swelling of his eye).

Larger-than-life hay bales not far from our home.

Our homegrown blackberries.

Ava and her best friend, Nathan, cooling off in the summer heat.

Nicholas LOVES to play in the flour when we aren't looking.

My only picture of Brahm in his "cast."  He fell off the trampoline, displaced his humerus, and had his bone surgically pinned back into place.  After 3 weeks, his splint and pins were removed and he began 3 weeks of physical therapy.

The kids posing with our homegrown pumpkins and gourds.

Nicholas at the pool.  This child has absolutely no fear of water. :(

Ava eating some of our blackberries.

Simon's first day of the 3rd grade.

Ava missed the first day of school due to an upset stomach and a fever.  She attended the very next day.  She is posing with her best friend, Nathan.

Ava, Linden, and Abby- the kindergarten carpool girls.

Simon's soccer season.

Coach Warren giving the boys a pep talk.

Simon

Ava

Pajama Party!

Ava turned 6 on the 20th of September!  To celebrate her birthday, we invited her neighborhood, school, and church friends over for a pajama party.  The guests brought their own pillows and wore their favorite pair of jammies.  We served dinner, played games, munched on cookies, opened presents, and watched the movie, Ramona and Beezus.  I made each birthday guest their own sleeping mask fashioned out of felt, satin, and elastic.  The party was wonderfully simple and fun for all! 

Cookies and milk for dessert; Ava gearing up to blow out her candles.



Samantha sporting her sleeping mask.



Madison enjoing her dinner of pizza bites, pigs in a blanket, fruit and veggies, and cream soda.

The "G" rated version of spin the bottle.



More spin the bottle fun.



A masked Marco Polo game.

Pillow fights on the trampoline.

The girls prettily posing.

All of the party guests.

Not your Mother's Girl's Camp

Back in my day, Girl's Camp was a 5 day ordeal- roughing it somewhere in Southern Utah during the peak days of summer.  No showers, no flushing toilets, no nothing!  Times have changed, and the girls of the Locust Grove Ward have got it made!  An industrial kitchen, a bathroom with toilets and showers, a nearby lake to take a mid-afternoon dip in, and a covered eating area/pavillion are just a few of the amenities of Camp EE-DA-HOW, a Church owned property.  With a great group of leaders and a fantastic bunch of Young Women, everyone was bound to have a blast!

The "savage" YCLs.

The outdoor savage salon.

Nothing says "roughing it" like a cold Shirley Temple!

Evening devotional.

Lillywhites

Russell and Ben

Sean and Russell entertained by Nico's antics

Uncle Jason and Russell brought a rocket to shoot off.

They lit the rocket in the field behind our house.  It rose 1000 ft. in the air, and then parachuted down for the boys to find.

Mere Mere and Sean

Liz and her cousin, Nicholas.  The two look like siblings.

Girl's only jump-fest!

We don't get a lot of visitors up in these parts, so it was nice to have the Lillywhites come and stay with us 3 times this past summer.  The kids were absolutely thrilled to have cousins to play with, and Brahm fell in love with Liz's guinea pig, Roxy.  The adults had their own fun as well.  In honor of their big move to the land of Vampires and Werewolves, we watched one of the Twilight movies.  Needless to say, there were a lot of laughs and I now refer to Jason as Sparkles.  We are excited now to have an excuse to take a trip to Seattle.

Candid Camera



I was surprised to find Ava sitting among the leaves and vines in our pumpkin patch one day.



I don't know what prompted her to hang out in our garden, but she was perfectly content sitting among our fledgling pumpkins.

I actually found my little Nicholas dangling off the armchair, sleeping in this position.

Indepedence Day 2011

 Daddy and Brahm munching on chips in the backyard; Simon throwing snappers.

Daddy playing catch with the kids.

Ava and Simon.

Gramee Rosenthal and Nicholas.

Brahm and Simon playing with sparklers.

The Meridian firework show!