Nate wants a picture on the blog.

Nate saw the blog and wanted everyone to know that he is still a part of our family; even though he is handicapped and home schooled, and therefore has no memorable pictures.

Sarah's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Sarah! Sarah had an exciting surprise this morning for her birthday. She got a kitten. His name is Pumpkin because he's orange and it's pumpkin season. He is very loved already. Lauren slept on the tile floor of the mudroom last night to keep him company. After Sarah and Pumkin's big day they fell asleep together on Sarah's bedroom floor. TOO CUTE. P.S. Daddy is letting us keep it in the house. Miracles never cease.

Nick is playing football this year. This is him running through the end zone scoring a touchdown. Yes I'm about to brag....of the four touchdowns scored in the first two games this year guess how many Nick has made? Yep all four. After putting in two years of being the youngest and smallest on the team Nick has reached the top. He is now not the youngest, (not the oldest with a May birthday), and not the smallest (not the biggest cuz...well duh we don't grow 'em big in this family) but definitely the fastest. He also can be seen directing the younger offensive lineman where to be. We are really excited for him this year to have fun while doing some great things. Yea Nick!!! Oh yeah, and this is a picture of Josh trying to look tough. He's doing great too. We'll post more about him next week. I like the gatorade mustache.

Lauren

Lauren made the 7th grade softball team this year. Although she wasn't the star of the team you can tell from these pictures she enjoyed it and looked good out there. Way to go Lauren!

Our Trip to Maine

We were able to escape our lives for a long weekend and travel to the mid coast of Maine.  We had beautiful weather and wonderful friends for our trip.  We stayed at quaint Bed and Breakfasts, ate fabulous food, and enjoyed scenes of nature that overwhelmed us.  I think we especially enjoyed the city of Camden, and the sights of Acadia National Park.  But it was all good...We were overwhelmed with the amount of Granite there.  It literally lined the streets in some places.  They used it as curbing.  We walked on a pier that was 7/8 miles long made entirely of granite block.  We were always talking about this throughout the trip and Sharla said  that the residents here "shouldn't take it for granite."  It was funny at the time.  We loved Maine and would love to see more of it someday. Thanks Gardners!

Labor Day Camping

Sarah is the last of our family to learn how to ride a quad by herself.   We just have to get her snowboarding and we will be set.  Josh tears it up now on the bigger quads.  The picture of Nick and Lauren is of them playing stretch.  Sometimes they use a butter knife...or sometimes they risk toes and play with a real hunting knife.  So far no children have been harmed while playing this game.

Lake Powell

Wow!  We have never been to Lake Powell and now we know what we've been missing!  It was so beautiful there.  I think the little boys had the most fun.  Nate got a swimming cast on two days before we left so even he was able to have some fun.