Ward Campout

Friday was our ward campout. We debated whether to stay in the cabin or just camp. It is so much work to camp. But I was glad we did. The kids had a wonderful time. It rained pretty much all night on us. But Jamie had put tarps over us and we stayed dry. It rained until about breakfast and then cleared up and was a beautiful morning. It was a nice break from the day to day routine of life. We need to do it more often.

Constitution Fair

A week ago Saturday, Gilbert had their constitution fair. The kids remembered going last year and were super excited to go. They enjoyed getting their faces painted, playing the little carnival games, listening to Lee Greenwood sing, and enjoying the fireworks. TJ had a birthday party to go to so Wacey came and went with me and the girls and then Jamie and the boys came over later. It was a fun night celebrating an inspired document.

There was a booth set up there to promote a new book called "The War Chapters." They let the kids dress up like Captain Moroni which they thought was fun.

I love the small town feel of this night. It is a great event. I love this country and the men who were inspired to bring it forth.

Terrific, Terrific, Terrific

I was able to help chaperone Emmy's field trip. They went and saw Charlotte's Web. The play was so well done and I had a great time getting to hang out with her. Jamie worked long hours during the week so he was able to stay home with the little kids.

After the play was over they let the kids ask the cast members some questions. At the end of that they told the kids that Charlotte had used 4 different words to describe Wilbur and challenged them to think about what word would describe them. So on the way home, I asked Emmy what word she would use to describe herself. After quite a bit of thought, she said "smart." She is a very smart girl and I loved getting to hang out with her for the day.

43

Jamie turned 43 on the 14th. We started the celebrating on Labor Day by celebrating Olivia, Jake, Zane and Jamie's birthday.

But unfortunately when your birthday falls on a Sunday and you are in the bishopric, it isn't too exciting of a day. So I think his actual birthday was kind of a bummer. I had taken over cinnamon rolls and milk to the church the day before without him knowing, so they got to have those during their meetings. But other than that it was a pretty low key day around our house. We opened up presents and ate German chocolate cake and enjoyed being together. I could easily come up with 43 things that I love about Jamie, but one of my favorites is his determination to serve the Lord. I have seen so much growth in him this year as he has served in the bishopric. He always tries to understand the Lord's will for him and do it, and I love that about him. He is such a good man and the greatest gift I have ever been given. I love you hun.

Emmy and Addy decorated our bedroom door while he was at his meetings. TJ also made a really cute banner and hung it up but I didn't get a picture of it. Each of our children love him dearly and I think it is another testament to what a great dad he is.

Record Rain

So what do you do when the valley gets more rain than it has ever had in a single day? You go swimming. This is the park by our house. And this is after the water had receded all day while the kids were at school. It was crazy.

Day at the Creek

We went to the cabin over Labor Day. While we were there we took the kids down to the creek. There were so many crawdads in the water and it kind of freaked the kids out a little bit, especially TJ. He climbed up on this rock and didn't want to get down.

The kids also made a fort at the cabin.

 We didn't see a lot of dad because he was busy helping Poppy. But we had fun.