Gracie Update

Gracie's personality is really starting to develop (just ask the people sitting around us in church today...ugh!). For the most part she is a happy little girl, but she does get frustrated when she can't communicate what she wants. Okay, she also gets frustrated when we do understand what she wants and she can't have it...don't we all. Anyway, while my family was here visiting the second week in August Gracie decided to start really walking. Before she would push around her doll stroller, but one afternoon while everyone was congregating for an outing in the family room she just stood up, took a few steps and then plopped to the floor. Immediately everyone cheered and boy did she like that. She got right back up and did it over and over. At one point she took a few steps and when nobody clapped she stopped and clapped. Then everyone took her cue and cheered. She smiled and kept going. It was priceless. Now she is really cruising and at times even runs away from me....gotta love that!

Another thing to note about Grace right now is that she LOVES LOVES LOVES animals. She absolutely freaks out when she sees a car drive by with a dog or a stuffed animal on the shelf at the store. It is unlike anything I have seen with any of our other babies....Why do I get the feeling that there will be a dog or cat in our future. It seems as if dogs are her favorite, but we'll see if that holds once she learns that not every animal with four legs barks.

Movin' to the Country, Gonna Eat A LOT of Peaches...

A couple weeks ago now Ezra and Lisa came to visit and to can peaches...and boy did we can peaches. We did 42 (is that right Lisa?) jars of peaches and 4 jars of nectar! Yum! I went a few days before they came and bought 100 lbs of peaches at Harry and David. Then we learned that they were selling seconds of these local peaches that Saturday morning for .10 per pound. Of course Jed and Ezra couldn't resist buying another 120 lbs! Lucky for us many of the peaches they purchased that day weren't ripe yet, so we got a little bit of a break. Do you think we are gonna eat a lot of peaches?13 years ago when I met Jed and Ezra I wonder what they would have said if I could have shown them this picture of our lives now. Look at all those kids!!!! Makes me laugh thinking about it. :)

Reunion Planning 101

Now that we have "successfully" planned and carried out a family reunion on our home turf, I feel that it is only appropriate that I write a little something entitled "Family Reunion Planning 101", just in case you ever find yourself in this situation.First and Foremost it is important to note who will be attending. In our case we had my mom and dad, sister, brother, sister-in-law, grandma, cousin and 6 kids (I guess they could fall in the 2nd generation cousin category--or something like that).Because most humans do like to sleep, accommodations are the next thing that need to be addressed. In our case we have a fairly small house, but a huge yard. So, we had all of our kids in our room and then used the other bedrooms, a tent, travel trailer and Fifth Wheel for the other folks. Actually I was amazed that I never felt like things were to chaotic, messy or claustrophobic (this was a small miracle for me really).Activities are key. I think that we enjoyed exploring our area as much as our family did. We did a jet boat excursion, played a family trivia game and made smores for Family Night, looked at the bears painted by local artists in the down-town, threw a surprise baby shower for Matt and Ashley, the guys went shooting, the girls did pedicures, the kids played at the Kids Zone, We explored Ashland, played at the Science Works Museum, Watched two movies out on the lawn under the stars, picked blackberries, shot paint balls in our field, had a water fight with the kids, visited with our Aunt Kathleen, celebrated cousin Noah's 10th birthday and ended the week with a babysitter and an "adults only" dinner out. Whew. I don't know if anyone had as much fun as me. My favorite thing was visiting with my family. I was so glad that my grandma and my cousin Melody, who I hadn't really seen in over 20 years, came. I loved watching all of the kids interact and just wished that Chris' family and our Auntie J and Uncle D could have been here too.Now for the dreaded Things to avoid at a reunion....No matter how tough your Grandma is, try to avoid accidents where she hits her face on the ground. Seriously, I was so impressed with my Grandma. Even with two HUGE black eyes, she never complained and was such a good sport. I only hope that she will dare come and visit us again. Thank you for having a sense of humor Grandma! You have taught me A LOT!

Recipe for a successful Utah reuion

1 week in July
26 hours of driving
1 Cabin in the Mill Creek Canyon
23 People who all share Jed's genes in one way or another
1 small creek for kids to play in and to keep watermelon cold
3 days of P90X
13 birthdays celebrated with 3 special and unique cakes
10 powerful water guns
1 daring squirrel
1 awesome squirrel trap
Several campfires for roasting marshmallows, chatting and singing
4 baby birds
Bunches of pig tails
1 hot fun-filled day at the zoo1 wii with 4 controllers
5 brothers, 3 days, and one AWESOME new deck built at Grandma Nila's house
895 new hair bows made
3 or 4 very funny skits put on by the "Angry Mob" comedy troop (aka all of the cousins)
11 painted Frisbees
1,473,987 bits of glitter on the ground after the girl's art projects
A bucket full of Legos
653 of Uncle Paul's cookies
A couple of friends visited
2 meals (for me at least) from Cafe Rio
15 loads of laundry to recover from all the dirt
1 fun (for me at least) treasure hunt

Directions: Mix all ingredients together over the course of 8 days...along the way add lots of laughter, scraped knees, wrestling and a few trips to town. No need to bake as it was over 100 degrees away from the cabin and probably in the 80s at cabin.Things that I am opting to leave out of the recipe for next time:
2 little girls with temperatures around 103
1 shower to be shared by all....that breaks
1 dis-functional fridge/freezer

Thank you to the BYU Idaho Dancers

Tonight we took the kids to a BYU-Idaho dance performance. It was really fun! We haven't done anything like this in so long and I think that I enjoyed it as much as anyone. Owen liked it all and whispered to Jed half-way through, "This is so much fun!" Davis said he liked all of the dances with guys in them, but could have done without the ones with only girls. Gracie liked the colors and smiled and pointed, but let's be honest, it started at bedtime, so she was a mess by the end of it all. Then there was Kate...she was clapping, dancing and twirling in her seat. She wanted to meet all of the dancers afterward (well, so did Owen) and they all were asking when we could go see the dancers again as we tucked them into bed. It felt good to do something different from the norm.....I needed that today. So, thank you BYU-Idaho dancers! You helped make a fun memory for our family.

The Great Summer Collage Catch-Up

Here is a little proof that we have actually done a few things this Summer...

Baby Foot Lake, where is that you may ask. Well, if you ever decide to venture off to find it PLEASE be sure to ask us for advice first. We had quite the adventure on Memorial Day seeking out this little lake. We drove for miles up a big mountain, on gravel roads, with the Johnsons, but it was well worth the trek. It was a fun adventure and a beautiful area. With the cold spring that we had and the high altitude that we were at it was a chilly adventure to kick off our Summer (yes, I realize Summer doesn't actually begin until the end of June) fun, but it was still loads of fun.
Owen has been asking for months now to take an Art Class, so I enlisted the help of my talented artistic friend, Tammy, to help teach my kids (and any others in the area who wanted to join us) a few new skills this summer. They love it and definitely look forward to Tuesdays! Thank you Tammy!
The Fourth of July! Need I say more? We loved being with our friends the Chambers and the Butlers, eating Cafe Rio recipes, and doing fire works. God bless America!
Our friends, the Schultz, invited us to the Train Park as part as a service project for a service group that they belong too. The kids (especially the boys) loved the miniature train rides. They are still talking about this...let's hear it for the Schultz!
We visited the temple with the Primary (the children's organization) from our church. We enjoyed the peaceful spirit of the temple and loved being with our friends.
And Finally....more of little Gracie's birthday! Once Jed was back in town we celebrated the big day with our family and also with Sarah Robinson and her family. Just like Kate and Caroline, Gracie and Sarah were born 3 days apart. Could we have planned that better? We sure love our little Gracie!

Legoville

So, I was just looking through pictures trying to decide what to post next. I kept finding all of these random LEGO photos in with other photos. Obviously the boys have taken the camera a time or two to photograph their work. I actually love their creativity and had to post a few of these images. These are not even their best creations, but I think that is part of the charm of these photos for me...
Also, in May Jed made the boys this "Lego Board" to contain all of their LEGOs. This way they can be on the floor, easy to dig through and access, but we are not stepping on them all of the time. If you have ever stepped on a LEGO in the middle of the night, you know why this was necessary and brilliant on Jed's part.