Allison's Award

The day before school started Allison finished reading the Book of Mormon for her Virtue project.  That was the last step in earning her Young Womanhood Recognition Award.  For her other projects she indexed family history names, typed recipes, embroidered one of Dad's favorite quotes, made a quote book (from the quotes on her wall), and organized closets and pictures.  Way to go Allison!  That is no small task and we are very proud of her hard work.

This summer Allison also passed driver's ed--she completed nine hours on a driving range, and passed the written test (with one hundred percent) and the road driving test with almost that. :)  She also finished 30 hours of daytime driving; fifteen of them were to Oregon and back. She now has to complete 9 hours of driving in the dark and wait to turn 16.

Erica's Room

Erica's room was formerly known as "the chocolate room" for its deep brown color.  She had been wanting it painted for awhile so the Saturday after school started we tackled that project.  Her original choice of color was pink.  Due to her hot pink dresser and quilt, I suggested another color would be best.  Charles brought home color swatches and she chose this pale bright green.

Even with help from Adam, Allison, Ethan and Eli this was an all-day project.  The chocolate brown had to be covered with a primer.  When this room was originally painted we extended the brown color under the stairs and around the storage room door.  That, and the built-in shelves, all had to be covered in primer and then painted.  It took two cans so we had to run to the store for the second cans.  We painted the walls outside her room the same color as the rest of the basement.  (We had to finish up the next week when we got more paint in that color.)  After the paint dried we put her room back together, just in time for bed.

The boys have also been wanting their rooms painted, but after this project we took a break, from painting.  Since then we did take down the swingset, slide and shed and get a puppy.  So we have been busy.

Back to School 2013

This is a big year for us with many firsts.

Cherilyn is a senior this year!

Allison is in 10th grade, which is her first year at the high school.

Erica is in 7th grade, her first year at junior high.

For the last eight months Erica has been telling people she didn't want to go to junior high.  (Yes, I have been a little nervous about it.)  Allison came with us to Orientation and helped Erica find her way to all her classes.  After her first day Erica said she liked all her classes but the halls were so crowded and she didn't know where she was going.  After a few more days she had it down.  She really likes that her teachers don't give much homework.

Now the girls ride the bus together.  Aren't they beautiful?  Look at those smiles.

The boys had to pose together even though Joshua didn't start this day.  What fun boys!

Ethan started 4th grade this year.  His teacher, Ms. Klein, was hired three days before school started.  It was great to get another 4th grade teacher so they had smaller class sizes.

Eli is in second grade.  His teacher is Mr. Anderson.  He is new to the school this year.

Joshua had to wait a week before he started school.  He was very excited.  Though he gave Mom a hug before getting on the bus he had no hesitation.  He had to bring this poster the first day.  It will be displayed when he is the Soaring Student for a week.

Joshua is in kindergarten, his first year of school.  His teacher is Mrs. Love (perfect name for a kindergarten teacher, we think).  Mrs. Love is also a new teacher.  The boys have noted that all three have new teachers.

For our last and unexpected first we got a golden retriever puppy.  As Joshua finished lunch after his first day of kindergarten, Charles came in with Jake.  Is that timing pure coincidence?  I don't think so.

Jake and Joshua on the first day.

A week later.

Jake has been fun for everyone.  He is obviously adorable and also soft and good-natured.  He sat on Cherilyn's lap and watched part of a movie.  He runs around with the boys and chases the toys they throw for him, some of the time.  Erica has been great with Jake.  It is her job to brush him each day.

Summer Parties

Last summer I told the boys that they could have summer parties with their friends, but it never happened.  This year we pulled it off.  In between family vacation and back to school each of the boys had a party with their friends.  We played games, had a treat and played water games outside.  (Cherilyn and Allison had many fun activities over the summer with their friends and often had them at our house.  Erica had a late night with her best friend and counted that as her summer party.)

 Eli's party was first.  Here is Eli getting through the laser challenge.

Getting ready to pop balloons with tootsie rolls in them.  Joshua, Britton, Eli, Tyler, Hunter P., Braedon, Ethan, Hunter H.

Ethan also did the laser challenge.

Ethan and his friends didn't just pop the balloons.  They tied the balloons to their ankles and then tried to stomp on another person's balloon.

Ethan and Eli and their friends also threw paper balls at a spider web made of painter's tape and played water games in the back.

Duck, Duck, Goose was the essential part of Joshua's party.  He had been wanting to play all summer.  He and his friends also popped balloons with tootsie rolls -- some sat on them and others needed help from a pin or scissors.  Then they went outside to play water games and slip n' slide.

Eli's 8th Birthday

Eli's birthday was the day after we returned home from Oregon.  

 After church he opened presents -- a scout shirt and book, a scripture case, a glow-in-the-dark puzzle 

and...

a new bike.  

That is what he had been asking for since his bike had become too small.  

On August 3rd Eli was baptized.  Both grandmas were there and gave the talks.  Grandma B talked about baptism being like a white shirt.  We spill and get spots on white shirts (just like we make mistakes in life), but when we try hard we can get the spots out and have a clean white shirt again.  We liked the connection to a white shirt.  It is an oft-seen reminder that we can be clean again through repentance. 

What a great boy. Sometimes with just his laugh he can get everyone laughing. He also likes to make noise.  If someone is screaming just for fun it is Eli.  He likes to ride bikes and scooters, play video games and trade and play with Pokemon cards.  

Oregon

For our family vacation we left Bear Lake and headed for the Oregon Coast.  We drove in two days (in two cars (because the trasmission in the van was clunking and we didn't want to risk driving it)).  We stayed in a small house 20 steps up from the beach.  It was a great beach house with big windows facing the ocean.  Eli and Cherilyn said they wanted to live there.

We arrived on Charles' birthday. Cherilyn and I ran to the store to get groceries for the week and some cake, ice cream and cookies.  The boys got right in the ocean.

This is the Oregon coast, hence Joshua's jacket.  It was not warm, but it was still the beach.  This explains Ethan's excitement.

I am not sure if this just Eli posing or if he is showing his toughness by braving the cold water.

We worked together to build this sandcastle complete with army men and a car.  We went back out at high tide and watched it wash away.  It was a lengthy process.  

After building the castle we buried Joshua, Erica and Allison in the sand, at least their legs.

Joshua, Charles and Erica.

We also flew kites.  We brought three kites and brought only one home.  The other two, including our stunt kite, broke in the wind and with bad flying.

In place of a sandcastle Charles built this fort on the third day there.  The wall to the left provided protection from the wind.  There were seats along the wall and steps to enter.  The tide carried this away during the night so the next day we built it again.  That night we even built a fire inside and prepared for smores.  It didn't turn out as we hoped.  The smoke blown by the wind was too much to bear.

We hiked along Seal Rock beach and were able to see tidepools with anemones and starfish.  Allison did not like the barnacles and mussels that you walk over.

The forest along the coast is beautiful.  So green.

Throwing rocks in the creek is always a family favorite.

We hiked to this old tree. The tree began growing in a fallen tree and grew around it.  The fallen tree eventually rotted leaving the space to crawl underneath and through.

Joshua was a little nervous to crawl under, but with Erica in the lead he tried it.

We went on a few hikes, especially when it was cloudy at our beach.  We watched several movies.  They had several VHS that the kids hadn't seen.  The boys realized they like The Lion King.  It is now one of Joshua's favorites especially the hula part where they sing about bacon.  We also did puzzles, walked along the beach, collected shells and played in the ocean.  We went to several art galleries and shops in the area.  The woodworking and glass were impressive and had price tags that were fitting their beauty.

This outlook was a short hike from the parking lot.  From here we could see Devil's Churn and Spouting Horn, two places we had hiked to previously.

We went to Neptune Beach, this cool one, the last day we were there.

The last night we were there was clear and we were able to see the sun set over the ocean.

Bear Lake II

In mid-July we went to Bear Lake for an Elder family reunion.  It is always good to get together and visit with everyone.  The kids enjoy getting to know their cousins better, especially the ones they don't see much.

The first day we met at a park.  Charles helped a bunch of kids fish, but they didn't catch anything.  Curtis brought his homemade canoe and most of the kids enjoyed riding in that.  

Ethan, Charles, Eli and Allison.

Here is Joshua on his short stay in the canoe.  He didn't like the water in the bottom.  He sat down and that was enough for him.  He got out and didn't want to get back in.

The second day we went to the lake to swim and play.  The cool water felt good after being hot.  Charles and I had a turn in the canoe.  We swam, played frisbee and built sandcastles.  We had a picnic lunch there too.

Mark brought this raft.  The smaller boys (ours and Sam's) enjoyed it for quite awhile.  

Joshua enjoyed jumping over the waves.  The girls hung out in the water with their cousins.

We played a fun game in the evening.  The grandkids guessed which adult did which interesting thing.  Some examples were jumping off a roof pretending to be Mary Poppins (Mark) or having a cat jump on your head from the roof(Charles).

After that there was a ping-pong tournament.  Ethan played in the younger bracket.  Charles played in the older one.  Cherilyn stayed up until midnight watching Jared and Brett play the championship game.  Jared won.

Before we left Ethan wanted a picture taken of him in this tree.  He likes to climb trees but isn't allowed to at school where the trees are great for climbing.