Fall pictures

Ethan's birthday cookie cake.

Charles took the boys fishing and Ethan caught this fish. Eli almost had one, but it was "the little fish that got away." Ethan even ate some of it for dinner and liked it.

Fall Break
For the kid's fall break we went to Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon National Parks. On Thursday we went to Capitol Reef with Sam and his family. We had a picnic, saw deer, went on a hike, climbed a rock wall. All the adults had a good scare at the end when Eli walked around the fencing to throw rocks off a very high cliff. That night we stayed at a hotel. Curtis, Marianne, Megan, Kyle and Adam met us at the hotel. The next day we went on to Bryce Canyon. We got some cool pictures. Here is the only one with the whole family. We went on one long hike. It was cool, but we wondered if we would make it back out of the canyon for awhile. We enjoyed seeing more of Utah and spending time together.

A great fall picture at Capitol Reef.

We hiked to Hickman bridge, shown below.

Here are all the cousins after climbing up a rock wall.

Allison and Erica enjoyed posing by this cool tree.

Hay Ride!
Actually there was no hay, but we said "Hey!", so that counts right? We went on the hay ride at The Red Barn this year. Everyone enjoyed riding out to their pumpkin patch, picking out pumpkins and taking some fun pictures. Eli keeps asking when we go get pumpkins again.

I made yogurt!
I have been meaning to try it since the Elder family reunion when I heard the idea from Nicole and Roxanne. The first time I had to leave in the middle for kindergarten pick-up and I forgot to get it out and put it in the fridge after violin lessons. It didn't set right and looked inedible. The second time I was very careful. I prepared it after the kindergarten pick-up while Ethan and Eli were playing at a friends' house. I put it in the oven and even set a timer. (The first time I used an ice chest as the incubator.) Then as I was preparing dinner I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and forgot about the yogurt. I was sure it was ruined again. It cooled down and set very nicely. Today we tried it and it is good! I feel good having accomplished this small feat. Thank you Nicole, Roxanne and Anslin for the idea and the tips.

Happy School Days!

Ethan's first day of school! He is in Miss Halter's AM kindergarten class. He liked playing basketball today. He even gets to ride the bus home.

This was not Erica's first day, but it was within the first week of school. :) She is in Mr DeGraffenried's third grade class.

Allison is in Mrs. Greer's sixth grade class. It is her last year of elementary school.

Cherilyn is in eighth grade at Payson Jr High.

We had the Elder family reunion the first week of August. We went to a rodeo, hiked to Stewart Falls, played games and had a water fight at the park, played corn toss (corn hole) and generally had a great time with the family (except the stomach flu that went around). Here are some of our favorite pictures. This is most everyone who was there, taken at Mark and Diana's houseThis is Joshua playing at the park in Highland.

The kids that went on the hike. Erica isn't there. She helped Grandma babysit instead of hiking.

Here is Eli opening birthday presents. His birthday was the week before the reunion. He is four now.

Joshua is walking! He took his first steps alone today.