Hiking in the Sipsey Wilderness

The kids and I took a little hike in the Sipsey Wilderness, just south of our home. We went on a 1 mile hike that lead to a swimming hole and water fall. We spent several hours playing in the swimming hole and then hiked back to the car. It was a super day and we will definitely go there again.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Jacob is officially a teenager! How did this happen??? We went camping for his birthday, rode bicycles, had a delicious dutch oven cake (no picture provided) and opened presents at breakfast. Some of his favorite gifts included a cool Star Wars toy, a rain jacket, and especially an automatic dart gun from all of his sisters. We had a great time camping, and spent the rest of the weekend playing around and went to Red Robin for dinner - YUMMMM! After dinner, we were all so stuffed that Jacob opted to save his cake and ice cream for Sunday with the Missionaries over for dinner. He had a super day, which made me very happy. Jacob is a fine young man and we are so blessed to have him in our family.

Emily loses her first tooth!

Emily was so excited she lost her first tooth - it hung on there for quite a while. Oh, to be six and toothless again...

Super fun date!

We went white water rafting with some good friends a couple of weeks ago. It was the same river James and Jacob went down at scout camp, it was just too much fun as he took me down it too. We had a super time! James and I are in the back of the boat in most of the pictures, although we did sit in other parts of the boat through out the day. Our guide was fun, we surfed on the white water and he even abandoned ship a few times, just to catch a little air when we hit some 'bumps'. Needless to say we are hooked, looking forward to more water adventures in the near future.

Happy 4th Birthday Samantha

I had intended to write a few notes with these pictures when I posted them 4 days ago, somehow I got distracted and 4 days later I am finally getting around to it... now I notice that the pictures are not in the proper order. Oh well, so it goes sometimes. We started Samantha's big day with a delicious breakfast, then off to the market for the morning - not to worry, we decorated our tent with balloons and all the other vendors wished her a happy birthday. After the market we came home for presents, swimming and cake and ice cream. That evening we set off fireworks which has become a tradition for Samantha's birthday since it is so close to the 4th of July. Emily was exhausted from the busy day so she missed out on the fireworks, but she did not seem to mind, sleeping soundly on the couch.







On Monday we invited some of Samantha's favorite friends (that live near us, not to be confused with all her favorite friends that are spread all over the country) over for some swimming and cupcake decorating. She had a super birthday and we are so grateful to have her in our family. She is a happy soul and while I am delighted that she is growing and I get to see her personality develop, I am a little saddened that my baby is now 4 - where did the time go? Did I take enough pictures that I have documentation to reflect on when she has babies of her own? Boy it goes by way to fast - stay tuned to my next post or two when I will repeat this sentiment when I post Jacob's 13th birthday!

Happy 4th of July!

For the 4th of July we had a few friends over on Saturday evening. We set off bottle rockets during the day, had a BBQ and went swimming. This is all the kids watching the parachute guy come back to the ground.
The swimming was so fun that I didn't get too many pictures.

Once the sun went down, James helped everyone with the fireworks show. We had sparklers, big and little fountains and ice cream cones for a treat.



What a fun way to end the day.
On Monday we went canoeing and kayaking with our good friends the Sandstroms. We had a great time with our friends and just as it was getting a little hot, we stopped and played in the river, had some lunch and gave the kids a chance to try out the kayaks. This is Sarah and Emily paddling around the swimming area.
Samantha ready for some lunch.Emily trying out some paddling.
Kathryn and Jacob took turns on a kayak we rented, they both had a great time with it.
James spent most of the day manning the other canoe, but when we stopped at a swimming area for lunch he took a turn with the kayak.
My friend Minna and I took our two youngest with us - Emma and Samantha.
After earning his canoeing merit badge at camp, Jacob was quite good at the canoe and the kayak. We had a great time and will definitely go again!

Jacob's First Scout Camp (written by Jacob)

This is my troop. My Dad got to come the whole week. They are a nice bunch of boys.

My Dad and I got to go river rafting on one of the days. We took two of my friends and had a blast. We went on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. Our guide taught my Dad how to steer the raft. I will definitely do it again.

I got to do a lot of canoeing and kayaking. I like the sea kayaks the best. I earned my canoeing merit badge. It was one of my favorites.
They have a sideways climbing wall that was pretty hard. They had a competition called the Iron Man Competition to see how fast you could get across the wall. I did it in 1 minute, 15 seconds.
This is my Environmental Science class. The teacher was pretty funny. I earned this badge too.
I earned 7 merit badges at camp: Canoeing, Mammal Study, Swimming, Indian Lore, Reading, Tracking, and Environmental Science. Camp was awesome!