Not Done Yet

 I am not done putting the things in I want to remember about summer yet, even though we are two months into fall.  I feel like we had a few more fun things we did before we switched gears.  These are more of our Idaho road trip.....

We went to church in Boise before we headed to Rexburg.  The Boise temple was recently given a face lift and is closed until late fall.  This is a peek at the new look--very beautiful!

 The kids sure were hoping to get a glimpse of the "smurf turf" at BSU but the facilities were closed because it was Sunday.  We still had fun walking around and got a little bit of a glimpse of the field.  Jared had football camp there in June so he has actually been there quite a bit. 

 We also went to Craters of the Moon on our way to Rexburg.  It was very hot but the kids thought it was pretty cool. 

 Temple grounds #2 and #3 we visited were Rexburg and Idaho Falls.  Three temples in one day!  Not bad!

 The next day Amanda and Jared (actually all of us) took a prospective student tour of BYU-I.  I am amazed at how much the campus has changed since I've been there.  I hardly remember it since I was only there a year but it was quite impressive. 

 The apartments I used to live in, Heritage Manor.  Good times!

Because I switched jobs in June, I didn't have much time off and the kids' summer sports, work and church schedules were a little crazy.  In spite of that I am so very glad we took a few days to spend together making memories.  I love our family and the stage we are at right now.  Of course big changes are coming and that is exciting and sad at the same time.  I sure hope we find as many opportunities as we can in the years ahead!

Idaho and Yellowstone

 We had a great time at Yellowstone National Park!  We fell in love with the scenery and all of the things to do and see there!

Bradley became obsessed with becoming a Junior Ranger.  He did nothing but the activity booklet for the whole time we were there so that he could get his badge as soon as he was done and found the nearest Park Ranger.  He took his charge very seriously and memorized the Junior Ranger Pledge.  If you ask him what it is he will raise up his hand and stay, "As a Junior Ranger, I promise...."  He also made sure we knew that he has a job now and that he can help out the national park rangers whenever they need him. 

We got to watch the bison cross right in front of our car.  It was a little too close for comfort.

Then Bradley yelled out the window and said, "Hey Bison! You wanna piece of me?" 

It is amazing how there are so many different colors and types of geyser formations!

Old Faithful didn't dissapoint.  Below is Amanda's favorite shirt ever that she bought from a gift shop.

 

We took a hike up Mt. Washburn which apparently goes up about 2,000 feet in elevation.  It was a good three-hour hike and the kids did so great!  I was very impressed that we made it! 

 

On the way home, we went off the highway for a bit through Anaconda where I lived for a brief time as a baby (and had my first birthday there) to stop at a place advertised as the world's greatest candy store.  It was definitely worth the stop!  Adorable little shop with all kinds of hand-made chocolates, fudge, saltwater taffy and even candy types from the penny-candy era. 

 

 

We had a great time as a family and enjoyed our trip together!

 

What Just Happened?

How does time fly so quickly???  I think I'll try and cover a little ground here and we'll see where that takes me.  I realized shortly after Amanda's injury, which was my last entry on the blog, that I started working outside the home and that, my friends, has gotten me to the point where some things get dropped of my list of things I need/want to do.  Like blogging.  I would like to share some highlights of what's been going on....



  This boy turned 14 and went to his first (and second and third) church dance!


These kids kept busy with soccer, baseball and track and working and going to school!




This girl learned how to play the violin and participated in a district-wide orchestra concert!



This girl turned 17!







This girl went to prom with her friend, Dennis, who is kind of a big deal because he won the 4A state championship for shot put and will be headed to BYU on a track scholarship soon.  They had a great time with their group!




I got to spend some time with some lovely fifth graders on their Seattle field trip to the Pacific Science Center and on the Puget Sound!



I love these ladies and look forward to more adventures with our daughters together!



This boy opted for participating in track for the first time instead of baseball.  He broke the school record for the 100M hurdles and his relay team broke the school records for the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200!  Also, his sister graciously cheered him on from the stands with us while she was sidelined with her ankle injury.  She was a great sport!

 


 There!  Now we are updated just a little bit.  Hopefully more to come....

Maybe We Should Look Into Playing Chess?

This sums up the SECOND day of track for Amanda. She worked really hard in the off season this year--her goal being to make it to regionals after two years of going to districts. A fracture was ruled out but she was in a boot for several weeks and physical therapy has gone on much longer than anticipated. Today she finds out if they need to do further studies as her ankle continues to display various colors and sizes after a month. She has been SUCH a trooper! She had her sad times and she is dying to get out and run but mostly she has kept a good attitude about it and believes there must be some reason. I appreciate her good attitude and that she has been supportive to her brother during his track meets. Her new goal is to be able to wear "normal" shoes to prom on May 5th. Hang in there, Amanda!

My Sherrie Got Married!

This is something many people have been waiting for for a long time.... Sherrie and Jeremy have been together about seven years and when they announced their engagement I knew I had to be there!!! Thanks to my wonderful in-laws, I flew to Utah with my father-in-law for a nice little break and to be one of Sherrie's "besties" to help with all the wedding festivities!Pictures are in a little bit of reverse order but here are some of the beautiful things Sherrie did for the reception hall.
You can't see it very well in this picture, but on her bouquet is a charm with a wedding picture of her parents. Even though they have passed away, they definitely were a part of that sacred day; I think we all knew it.

The awesome Burt family!
Shawna, Sherrie, Me and Kristin.


It was a BEAUTIFUL day at the Bountiful, Utah temple. The ceremony was amazing and I will never forget it. It was a huge blessing to be a part of this amazing day. I will also never forget that I got the stomach flu (because I had left a few kids throwing up here in Washington) while I was there but rallied just in time for the wedding, Nate called one night in the middle of the night because he didn't know where Amanda was and I forgot my temple recommend! That part was exhausting but memorable as well and definitely didn't matter in the long run because Sherrie and Jeremy's day was the greatest (and I was able not to give the flu to anyone else which was a huge relief--to the bride and to me--hee hee)!
I also got to spend some time with Marci and her family which I absolutely loved, as well. I just wish I would have taken pictures of that too!
I just love my "old" friends and miss them already! So excited for Sherrie and Jeremy and their new life together!

Winter Wrap Up!

I hope I do a little better posting in the coming months but for now we get a seasonal wrap up of what we've been up to lately....We rang in 2012 with the Ritchies and Gills...


Happy New Year!

Of course our New Year's boy wanted to celebrate turning FIVE, too! So, at his request we had a football party! We had family over on New Year's day and then had some friends celebrate at the church with football games, team camp training and football cake and ice cream!
Megan got to get out of school to be my helper at the party that afternoon--she was a fantastic helper and I think the kids had a great time, too!
Hooray for snow days!




The fifth graders at Badger Mountain organize an annual sock hop school event to raise money for their Seattle trip. Bradley and I got to help run the games and we got to take these fun friends with us for the evening. They were pretty excited!
Bradley got plenty of attention as well, even though I couldn't get him to dress up.

After growing and growing out her hair, Megan bravely went in for a cut to donate her hair to Locks of Love. She was sad to part with it but the shorter hairstyle is adorable, I think!

Amanda went to Tolo...and "Molo" which is what they were calling the non-school dance put on by mostly LDS kids who wanted a more comfortable environment than the school dances currently are to enjoy. Amanda and her date, David, had two groups of great kids to go with and instead of having to try and choose they decided to give the school dance a chance as well and go both nights, hoping the attempts to make it a more appropriate environment were successful. Nate and I chaperoned the school dance and overall, the kids had fun both nights but were much more comfortable at "Molo" (which I have no pictures of because of the sock hop obligation). In addition to no pictures the first night my camera battery went dead the next night so again my picture inadequacies continue but you get a little bit of an idea....



Amanda and Brandie. Every day I am grateful for the great group of friends my daughter has. Though they have their differences and drama, they are good kids that try and help each other to stay that way. I love these kids. As a family we've had so many interesting discussions on how to stay clean, have clean fun and be an example without being exclusive, or reclusive for that matter. It sure is tough to try and figure out where that balance is. Again, sooooo very thankful we have families right there in the trenches with us to work on all the challenges of teenagerhood together. It's never dull!

So, there's a little bit of our winter to bring us up to date a little bit!