Aaron Turns 6

Aaron's Monster Truck

No laughing, I never claimed to be a culinary artist. He requested a Monster Truck, I know it looks more like an old fashioned farm truck but he loved it anyway.

Opening presents with all his friends
When we asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday he said that he wanted to go
"real golfing, not the fake kind".
even though they only got through 6 holes before they decided they had had enough, they all came home feeling very old and proud of themselves
Aaron will often go out in the yard with

Papa and Grammy and hit golf balls.

Not to brag but he is actually quite good, OK so I am bragging.

Biggest Mistake

My Sister Debbie wanted to see my biggest mistake on film so here it is!

The kids named him Sammy. I would have said no, but Matt knew exactly what to do. He brought the little ball of fur home as a surprise! How can you say no to that. He really is cute. I would be more upset about it but I do know that because Matt loves dogs he will be well trained and I wont have to do anything for him. So, you tell me, could you say no to that?

Besides I did get a kitten not even 3 weeks ago. I really had no leverage.

I Have Been Blessed

We finally got our family pictures taken. The last time we did this it was with just Aaron and Ele, I cant believe how quick the time flies, maybe we can keep this one current for a while!

I must admit that in the past it was really hard to find incentive to get our pictures taken knowing that it would be outdated in 9 months. But just look at those faces and see why we continue to bring them into the world. I have been blessed!

Just us Girls

Cute guys

Remodeling

Our house is in constant remodel - we are trying to pay cash as we go along so it is a slow process. We have already redone several portions of our house that were a necessity like our kitchen and bathroom, but this was one of my biggest pet peeves. The back door that you are looking at was a finger chopper and the kids had to push with their feet against the frame to even be able to open it, and no matter what we did we could not keep the handle on. The window was so low we could not see out of it with out bending over. Well 2 years later it finally happened.

This is our new slider. I can see the whole back yard and I love it.

This is our carpenter. Kind of goofy but cute none the less.
Many of you have never seen our Humble Abode. Well, this is it and believe it or not it looks 100 times better than it did when we got it. I think it gets cuter every day, I am usually decorated for Halloween by now but my flowers are doing so good I don't have the heart to pull them out yet.

New Kitten

I am not a huge animal lover in fact the only animals that I have ever gotten on my own were because they were either sick, dying neglected or very ugly, and Matt certainly is not a cat guy . However this kitten was both neglected and ugly, and Matt cant ever tell me no, so... it was meant to be ours. For the 1st time I do not regret my decision. She is so gentle. Most of the time Isaac is carring her upside down and she just hangs there. The Kids adore her. Now I just have to deal with a litter box, craziness at night, and in the future, kittens. (I have the philosophy that every female deserves the chance to be a mother at some point in her life. even a cat. ) then we have to get her fixed and declawed so our Free kitten was not so Free.
Side note: She loves Matt, and will not leave him alone.

Grandparents Day!

In Honor of Grandparents day last week, Let me just say, my kids have the greatest grandparents! This was not just a pose, he really mowed the whole lawn like this with one more most of the time. Livi got bored half way through. Thanks Mom and Dad we love you the most.

Mother and Father Prayer

What a wonderful day it was for our Aaron, I know without a doubt that I was more scared than he was. He has been such a strength around the house and the thought of him leaving the safety of our home to go into the world was a bitter sweet thought. I know what an example he can and will be to everyone that he comes in contact with but it breaks my heart to know that he will now see and experience things that a mother never wants their child to know. However, I am blessed with the knowledge that he is not alone, and that the Lord will watch, protect and comfort him during those few hours that my arms cant always be there for him. I love you Aaron.
The night before school started my sweet, wonderful Matt, went into our bedroom and spent some time in prayer and came out dressed and ready to bless our sweet son with the strength that he would need to start the next chapter in his life. How blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives.
I cant imagine their being a cuter kindergartner out there, although I know there are mothers out there that might disagree, Gabe and Mark made a very close second
This is the group from my side of the family that attend Dalton Elementary. I am so grateful that Aaron has such good examples and friends so close to him.

Floating the River

We did our annual float the Coeur d'Alene river trip. For those of you who don't know about this, it is quite the ordeal. The water is freezing, at some points you have to get out of your raft and walk because it is so shallow, the water is freezing, you have to paddle at least 75% of the way because there is no current, did I mention it is freezing, and it is a blast. Matt thinks it is a lot of work but tries not to complain too much. we always have so much fun.

Still Young

When we got done with floating the river all the kids decided that we should jump off the bridge. It is about 4 stories high into FREEZING water. I had done it several times when I was younger so I could understand their desire, however that desire was completely gone for me now. But my husband being the sympathetic man that he is reminded me that my son was starting kindergarten and I was turning 30 all in the same week and that I should jump one more time before I was OLD. So of course I had to do it. To prove that I did, I opted to put the picture of me in the water right after I landed rather than the one of me flying through the air. Trust me it was for your benefit.
Matt on the other hand was pretty proud of his moment, he dove, almost Olympic quality too!! Way to go Matt!!!

Labor Day Camping

It seems that everyone from my family has officially gotten too old or too BIG that the thought of camping the day before school starts was a little much for them. This year it was just my parents and our family, ( they joined us on Saturday for the day though) it was really the 1st time that we have ever had to cook at a camp out and frankly Matt and I decided that we would almost rather not eat. No seriously, my family has always made major meals at camping and with a lot of hands it never seemed so bad but with just us we have decided hot dogs sound really good. Fortunately dad never fails with the dutch oven and popcorn so we survived.

Best Friends

For anyone who knows my Ele, she can sleep anywhere as long as she has her blanket and her thumb, but this takes it to the extreme. It was still a picture I could not resist.

Summer Fun

We have had such a wonderful summer filled with lots of great times, however on one of our adventures we lost our camera. Thank goodness for Papa, I borrowed some of his pictures so I could put up a new post. We started out our summer going camping where Aaron caught his 1st fish, Matt had to work so uncle Andy was a trooper and helped him. (I am not really good with the whole worm thing) he also learned how to ride a 2 wheeler this trip. Uncle David must have ran that loop a dozen times to accomplish it. I even did a 1st and pulled the trailer. Which didn't seem so bad. Of course Dad backed it in to the spot, and David, Andy and Randy stabilized and leveled it for me. Family is the greatest! It sure made me appreciate and miss Matt, I always knew I was not a real big help while camping but this time I learned just how worthless I usually am. Maybe I'll be better next time, doubt it though, it wasn't much fun (the work part I mean) the camping was great!

Coulee Camping

We have quite the group at church, we almost double their ward. We have learned to bring our own bread and no one is ever prepared for our family in Primary

Camping at Coulee

One of our favorite and most relaxing places to go is Grand Coulee, I started going with Deanna's family when I was single and have continued going with them ever since with my own family. However for some reason it seemed to be more relaxing then. go figure- Matt had to work again but he drove back and forth when he could to help me with the children, again, I had to pull the trailer, not much fun I'm tellin ya, but it was worth it, again we had a great time.

Father and Sons

Again Matt was working so Papa took Aaron to the Father/Sons outing this year. (I guess dad thought Isaac would miss me, he didn't even volunteer to take him)