Into the Woods

Last summer Jared designed and built a fort in the woods behind our house. It is quite impressive and deserves to be featured on our blog. Pictures cannot do it justice, but Jared has spent many hours digging holes, dragging logs, and stacking brush. Plus he is constantly making improvements on it. "Mom," he tells me, "I don't think the fort will ever be done." Jared, I feel the same way about laundry! No doubt he will have great stories to tell his kids one day.

Activity Days

Silverdale 3rd Ward Activity Days girls wearing their polar fleece creations.


I was recently called to serve in Activity Days. I happen to think this is the best gig in church. I meet twice a month with 18 fun and energetic girls ages 8 to 12 years old. Plus I get to spend time with my 8-year old daughter Audrey. I work with Bishop Vidinhar's wife, JoAnn; she is a fabulous leader and wonderful person in general. She and I were counselors in the young women's organization before our husbands were called to serve in Silverdale 3rd ward bishopric (Mike is the 2nd counselor). Now we get to work together again in Activity Days! Last month we had an especially fun activity. We made polar fleece hats with the girls. My friend, Monica, came to teach the girls how to use the sewing machine. Thanks, Monica! We also held a pie eating contest. Both activities were a hit! You should have seen the room after the activity. The combination of polar fleece fluff and chocolate cream pie creates quite a mess!

Monica helps Emily on the sewing machine.

Heather and Rachel sew buttons on their hats.

Trishanna cuts the fringe.

The girls show off their completed projects.

Dig in for pie!

The girls start timidly at first...

...but soon delight in the mess!

Madison is our pie-eating champ!

Yum! Jensen is sporting a beard of cream.

This is fun! Taylor wants to eat all of her meals face first!

Sassy Little Mamma

I caught some pictures of our sassy little mamma on a Sunday morning before church. I had her all gussied up for church and she decided to go out for a stroll. Audrey supplied the sequin purse and doll baby for the photo shoot. Of course anything Audrey says goes since Audrey is Grace's favorite person in the whole world. I managed to capture a few of the always abundant sassy looks that Grace gives as she strolls her baby. She tends to hold her baby by the top of the hair and kisses her incessantly. Grace is both a terror and a delight at age 18 months. It is a delight to watch her discovering the world with so much enthusiasm. However, if you interrupt her by trying to change her diaper or comb her hair she lets you know loud and clear that this is not part of her plans for the day. She is now old enough to go to nursery at church! Yipeee!

The Hallween Posse

I have been meaning to send out a picture of my kids dressed up in their Halloween costume. Now is my chance to show off the kiddies on Halloween. This year Jared dressed as a banana; he has a strange obsession for bananas. Some time ago he posted a sign on his door saying "Donate a dollar, save the bananas in a carefully scripted banana-peel font. Audrey was Super Girl this year. She is certainly not a girly girl princess or fairy. In fact, I think she is the perfect blend of tough girl (her rough and tumble brothers make sure of that) and sweet styling diva. Daddy is Sam's biggest hero and since Mike wears camoflague for Navy reserve, he wanted to do the same. He also loves to play "army guys." You know, the kind that are about 2 inches high and army green in color and armed with weapons and tanks. As for little Grace, well she was a butterfly for the 2nd year in a row. I affectionately call her little twinkie since she is so small. She still fits her costume from last year, but she managed to be even cuter this year as a walking and jabbering butterfly!

A blogger I'll be

I admit I found a new obsession--blogging. Now I have a spot to post all of my favorite family photos and brag about my darling brown-eyed children (and handsome husband too). I officially announce the start of my blog spot. Come one come all. A blogger I will be!

An 18-month old is a hazard to herself!

Grace is beginning to discover the hazards of climbing tables and barstools. She is trying her hardest to reject the high chair since she very much wants to be a big like her brothers and sister. The first problem with ditching the high chair is that she can easily climb out of her chair and onto the table. She has already tumbled off the bar stool in attempt to leap from the bar stool to the table! The other problem is that I have only 3 barstools and 4 children. I knew this would become a problem eventually, but I didn't realize it would happen so soon. Today Grace's soulution to the bar stool shortage was to push an even taller bar stool from the nearby pub table over to the island. This was a smart idea, but not a good idea. Before I knew what was happening, the big clunky bar stool tipped over and fell right on top of her head. The back of the chair actually landed on her neck. Both she and I were scared silly. Let's hope she learned a lesson: bar stools are our friends. High chairs are wonderful!