Happy Birthday Kathryn!

Kathryn is in the double digits now - 10 years old! We went camping for her birthday and had a fun little party with some of her friends a few days later. Her friend party included making hair bows, beading bracelets and dancing in fancy dresses. It was a lot of fun. Kathryn is a blessing to our family. She is smart, cheerful, funny and a great helper. She has a great sense of adventure which keeps her busy with lots of fun things. Happy birthday Kathryn, we love you!

A visit from Aunt Kahli

My older sister Kahli came to visit from California. We had a SUPER time while she was here. We went to the Farmer's Market, rode motorcycles in the front field (she supervised), went swimming, watched movies, and had lots of hang out and talk time. It was great. She has reported that she had a good time too, so hopefully she will come back and visit again soon.

Smoky Mountains Trip

We have been saving and planning all summer for our Smoky Mountains Trip. We left on Monday, set up camp and had a super dutch oven dinner - my first to make by the way - of chicken and rice, rolls, and chocolate cherry cake. It all turned out really yummy which was a big relief to me! On Tuesday we went river rafting on the Pigeon River. James, Jacob, Kathryn and Sarah did the Upper Pigeon which has more white water and then we all went on the Lower Pigeon. We had a super time and liked our guide so much that we invite he and his wife back to camp that evening for dinner with us. They brought along their dog Bear which was a huge hit with the girls. Wednesday found us back in the water with floating down the creek near our camp ground and then we took James and Jacob back to the Lower Pigeon River the try out the white water canoe on it. The girls and I played in the river at the take out point and waited for them to float on down. No one was ready to come home on Thursday which is the sign of a truly good vacation in my book. We are already planning our next opportunity to go to the Smoky Mountains again.

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.