Another year older...

Another year...another family picture. Sometimes when we are all together, I just stop and look around and I marvel at our children. I can't believe how blessed we have been to get to have them in our family. There was a time I didn't know if we would be able to have any children in our home - and now look at us. Sometimes there is so much chaos, I have to remind myself that I cried countless tears and prayed countless hours that this blessing "of chaos" could be ours. And not a day goes by that I don't thank Heavenly Father for our "babies" - even those chaos days!

Brayden, 15 whopping years old! (it's hard to believe we have one this old).

Emilie, 11 years (I love the first picture of her, it just shows her personality).

Jarin, 6 years old

Kamden - 3 years old. This first picture just cracked me up.

Hunting with Grandpa

Brayden and his cousin Nathan, got to go hunting with Grandpa for the first time. Brayden doesn't own or have a permit to carry a rifle, so they just walked through the mountains for an entire day, on the lookout for wildlife - then when it got dark, they came home. They had such a great time following their Grandpa around in the back country. If Brayden will always follow in his Grandpas footsteps, he will never be lead astray. My dad is one of the greatest men I know.

UEA

UEA??? Really?...wasn't that back in October? Well, ya it was. But I look at it like I'm ONLY 2 1/2 months behind instead of 12 months behind on my blogging. I for one, think that's great improvement on my part. And you who have never lived in Utah - let me explain. UEA is an excuse to have kids out of school for a couple days - not even sure what the purpose is...but I aint complainin' - I like having the break from homework as much as the kids do. And you know us...when there is a break, we take full advantage of it.

We had purchased some tickets last year, and again this year that is called "The Pass of All Passes". We have loved it. It gives us one year free admittance to various places as many times as we can get ourselves to the SLC Valley. It includes Trafalga, both Seven Peaks Swimming Parks, various professional sports games, Wolf Mountain Skiing, and more. One visit to one of the above pays itself off.

So ANYWAYS (I can see I made a short story very long by explaining that - but I thought if any of my peeps have wondered about those passes - they are awesome).

So...back to UEA. We decided we hadn't been to St. Gorge in quite awhile to see some of Ira's family that live there. So that's where we headed. But on the way, we stopped in SLC at Trafalga and had a grand time. We also had passes to Clark Planetarium, so we went to that too. It was a super fun day with adventures we had never done before.

The pictures below are at Clark Planentarium...very cool.

Jarin & Kam

Kamden is on Mars

Jarin on the moon

I got the whole world in my hands (remember that song from your elementary days?) I know...it's not the world - but the song and the picture just went together. ;)

One of the activities at Trafalga

While in St. George, we went on a few hikes. I love hiking the red rocks - they are so beautiful and way fun.

This is "Papa Ron" with the kids. He is Ira's dad.

Ira's mom and dad. They are divorced, but we feel fortunate that they are still good friends, so we can enjoy their company together.

On our way home from St. George, we had to get one more hike in. We stopped at Zions National Park and loved the fall colors with the red rock. It was spectacular!

So there you have it...UEA in a nutshell. Hopefully before the next week is over, I'll be updated. So until the next post...

Seasons of Life

Once again I'm posting about another favorite of mine. (I think my last few posts have been my favorites). This favorite is camping/4-wheeling in the fall. The campgrounds are mostly empty. The air is crisp, which makes the evening fire and morning hot chocolate feel even warmer and more comforting than normal summer camping. There is a smell of wet dirt and decaying leaves that leaves me.......well, I can't really put into words how I feel when I smell that. I know, it sounds odd - but I just love it! The crisp air, the smells, the quietness...all of it - it brings back memories of the many falls of my youth, and it brings an excitement for the falls of the future, and it brings a peace and comfort for the present. I think I know the word I was looking for...content.

Usually this fall camping/4-wheeling has involved my parents. The last two years it didn't because they were on the other side of heaven. I remember the last two years feeling a kind of emptiness as I knew how much they would have loved to be there with us, and see the fall leaves. So last year, we collected leaves to bring to them. This year, they were with us, and I felt complete again. But as I look to next year, doing this again, I realize that they probably won't be with us again - as they are preparing for another mission. But the seasons of life will go on, and with each season, there are the sweet memories of the past, and the anticipation of the future, but mostly - the contentment for the present.

I enjoyed every minute with having my parents with us this year.

And...I enjoyed every minute of having our children with us. Brayden was at scout camp, and I missed having him with us. :( He's in another season of life I suppose.

Jarin

Kamden & Ira

Jarin and Nicky

We even rode through some of this white stuff. I'm not sure if "content" would be the right word for that! It was less than 3 months ago that we were riding through snow because it was such a long spring. And it's here again...so soon!

Emilie

Emilie & Grandpa

Kamden cleaning up the camp. What a good helper *wink*.

We rode through the mountain trails over to Bear Lake where we got hamburgers and milk shakes - then headed back through the mountains. Fun Times!! I'm praying that the good weather holds out for two more weeks so we can get one more camping/riding in this season. (Is is wrong to pray for such silly things?...possibly. But I can't help it!)

September

September is my very favorite month of the year.

I love that the leaves start to change color. I love the crispness in the air.

It is one of my favorite months to 4-wheel (because the leaves changing gives the back country a certain magic).

Our family at Logan Peak - Jarin is in there, if you look close enough you can see him hiding behind me. He wasn't thrilled about having his picture taken.

September also means our wedding anniversary. This year marked 18 grand and adventurous years. 18 years??? I married Ira when I was 20. So another 2 years, and I've been with him as long as I was with my parents. Wowsers...we're getting old! Anyways, to celebrate, Ira and I got away for a couple days in SLC. We went to the BYU game that was way fun to watch. And Saturday we did a whole lot of nothing. Just walked around different shopping places, didn't buy much, but held hands and talked. My kind of date.

Our good friends, Chuck and Irene watched our kids for us. Irene was a patient of Ira's when we lived in Sandy, and we became instant friends, and have stayed that way since we met them 10 years ago. We hadn't seen them in too long - but our kids came to love them (again) in the short time they spent with them. Pretty neat people.

Ira looks about 12 years old in our engagement picture. Good thing he became a dad and a bishop to give him lots of gray hair so he looks somewhat his age now! ha ha. Unfortunantly it's had the same affect on me :(

September also means lots and lots of canning produce. It is really a pain in the keester to can, and every year I wonder why I do it. But every year, when it's all done, and my shelves are full of yummy fruits and vegies, some of which came from our garden or the gardens of family and friends - I have a sense of satisfaction that I can't get when I just go buy the stuff. And the store bought just doesn't compare to the yumminess of homemade.

I do love September the best. BUT, I really, really like October too. So another great month coming right up - can't wait to see what adventures it holds for us. So far so good...

Here's a new one

I am totally confused by our youngest rag muffin. Kamden has always spoken very well and very precisely. The last month, he's decided to take on stammering. However, it's only when he wants to. If I listen in on his imagination play, he doesn't do it. Then a couple weeks ago, he stopped doing it. I thought "whew...we're through that stage". Then, a couple of days ago, he picked it up again with FULL FORCE, and he's not only stammering - he's YELLING while he's stammering. I'm thinking that this last child in our family is searching for attention...really there's got to be a better way to get our attention. And him, of all our kids, shouldn't be starving for attention.

Everything I've read is to just ignore the stammering, and to not finish his sentences for him. He will grow out of it. (Even if it takes - no exaggeration- 5 minutes to spit out one word?)

In the meantime...I have a serious headache!!! ey-yi-yi.....

Happy, Happy Birthday Emi Dear...

I can hardly believe that in one more year, Emilie will be in Young Womens. Really??? That seems impossible.

It seems like yesterday that we received a letter from her birth mom telling us that we were to be new parents to a little girl. I will never forget the day we received word that she had been born, and the 3 tortorous weeks that followed, while we waited until she could home with us. I will always treasure the moment I laid eyes on her for the first time, and when I was finally able to hold her in my arms.

Emilie is a sweet little girl (next year I can't say little girl anymore - I'll have to say young woman). She is full of spunk, determination, and independence. She claims to be a tom boy, but she loves to look pretty. So while she's all pretty, she's playing in the dirt (that's my girl!). With all that determined independence, we don't always see eye to eye - but I also know that with all that determined independence - she will go a long way in her life. She will succeed at whatever she sets her mind to.

For her birthday we surprised her with tickets to the Broadway show of Mary Poppins in Salt Lake City. Before the show, we went to dinner at Emilie's favorite restaurant - Golden Corral.

Loves the gifts

I told them to put their arms around each other. I had to chuckle at the "half" hug from Brayden. It's just not "legit" (teenage word for cool, or rad, or groovy) to hug one's sister.

Happy Birthday Emi Girl!

Tri-School Trot

I forgot that I skipped right over this grand event. I think the tri-school trot is the greatest fund raiser for a school. The kids aren't selling me anything that I can't use. Instead, they are gaining self confidence as they commit to run however many laps they chose. And get sponsors (mom/dad) to pay them (their schools) whatever amount of money we choose per lap that they run. All three local elementary schools run together with their different colored shirt. The kids love having all the people on the side cheering for them, and knowing they are earning money for their schools. It's a great accomplishment for them and for their schools.

Good job Jarin and Emilie!

My nephew, Truman was running as well.

Run, Jarin, Run!

Run, Emi, Run!

Emilie ran her 10 laps she committed to, plus a couple more. Then she climbed on board with Riley Carpenter and rode a couple more laps.

So proud of my kiddos, they ran with all their might. And I love this picture with all the flags which represent the country I love.