Camping with my Kiddies ~ Part 2

Hello everybody! I just wanted to tell you about the fun time I had with my boys this time! It was great! Instead of going back up to Plymouth we ended up going to Coalville. Much better choice!! We started the evening monday night with the boys going to school with me. They enjoyed meeting my teacher and trying to understand what he was saying. They were lost most of the time, but did enjoy going. We left straight from school to Coalville. This campground is so much prettier than the last one. Again I took pictures, but will have to figure out how to upload them. My computer is being very stupid right now. Anyways! We probably had the prettiest campsite there. We were surrounded by trees and got to see several squirrels, chipmunks, chickadees (I think I spelled that wrong, but it's my favorite bird), robins, and some bigger birds. I am not sure, but I think that they were some kind of hawk. Monday night Aryus taught me how to hook up my sewer and how to dump that as well as the grey water. He also helped me hook up the water and I already knew how to plug in the electric. Tuesday we went for a walk with Noel around the campground and met some really nice people and dogs. We went swimming after lunch and then played games. The boys made a fire and we tried cooking hobo dinners. They turned out to be more ash than dinner though. Next time we will do them in the oven!! We made it home without any problems and they also are looking forward to doing this again with me next year. Now I am preparing to take Arianna and Sabrina for their turn. So far my fridge is warm not cold and it's raining with thunder and lightening. This is gonna be fun! Well until saturday.....So long and farewell!! I love you all!
Ps.. I did spell check and fixed the spelling of chickadee! Yeah!

Camping with my Kiddies ~ Part 1

I thought this year that I would start a new tradition. Alan is wonderful about taking the kids out on dates once a month. I figured that it's my turn. Monday night I left with Laura, Karalynn, Darcy and Noel for a 2 night camping trip. I drove our little motorhome up to Plymoth, Utah (just north of Tremonton an hour north of where we live) to stay at the Plymoth Hot Springs Campground with camperworld. I let the girls pick the meals and they got to go with me for the shopping! They were excited!! There really isn't a whole lot to see there, but the pool was wonderful!! We even got lucky and accidently picked camping spot #13! The girls were pretty excited when I told them that 13 is Grandma Case's lucky number! They loved playing at the little playground and taking Noel for walks. I did take a few really great pictures that I will share with you! Hope you are all doing well and stay tuned for Camping with my Kiddies ~ Part 2 starring ~ Aryus and AJ!

School Pictures!

Ok! I did it! I caved and bought the girls' school pictures. I hope that you like them. I will actually be sending them out to everyone so don't worry. I just thought you would like a preview! Love you all!!

Me So Bad!

Catchy title isn't it! I haven't been very faithful in updating my blog. I need to think of it as more of a journal or diary and maybe I will do better. Oh wait!! That won't work either because I don't write in my journal very well either. Oh well. I promise that I will try.
Alot has happened since my last post. Lets see if I can do an update and not be boring. So much has happened!! We have had a few birthdays (karalynn - 8, Brianna - 20, AJ - 16, Jason - 25, and myself - 37) and all were fun! As you can see we had some major milestone birthdays in the group. Karalynn turning 8 was the first. She was actually baptized on AJ's birthday and that was special. She loves being 8 and loves attending activity days with her two older sisters, Sabrina and Laura. Brianna and Jason are both doing really well and have had some major changes happen in their lives as well. With the birth of Brinlee they have had the privilege of learning about the joys of parenthood. Towards the end of January they were able to find an apartment that they could afford and were excited to move. Now we are excited for them as they are starting new jobs and really enjoying being a family. With AJ turning 16 that brings a bunch of new experiences for him as well as for us. He is now able to start dating. He has had the honor of going on 3 dates now. The first two were double dates with Alan and I. I know that that may sound weird, but it really was fun and even the kids had a good time. Then came the Preference dance. He was really excited and yet nervous at the same time. He had never been to a school dance with a date before and it wasn't even at his own school. I will post a few pictures from that night as soon as I get them downloaded on my computer. I have to admit though that it was great to see his jaw hit the floor when she walked in the front door to pick him up! I had to remind him to tell her how pretty she looked. His date's name is Tawny Smith. They went to Junior High together, but because of High School boundries they attend different schools. Well that is all I have time for today. I will try and get pix on here either later today or tomorrow when the kids are at piano lessons.

Baby Brinlee

The morning of Friday, October 30 couldn't come fast enough for a certain young married couple. They awoke that morning with much anticipation and even a little apprehension after all neither one of them had ever had this experience before. All they knew was all the stories that they had been told by those around them, and some were rather frightening! They arrived at the hospital at 6:30 that morning........(this is me skipping over a few minor details of this story)... At 1:00 the young woman was checked and informed that it was time! That's when things really got exciting!! At 1:23 a little cry could be heard from inside the room. Finally Brinlee Nicole Manning was born. She weighed 5lbs. 12oz and was 18 & 1/2 inches long. What a beautiful baby she is! The happy little family returned home Sunday while the rest of the family was at church. And so far things are looking pretty good for this little family.

The Good News Corner

Hello to all my favorite people that enjoy reading my blog!! You will all be pleased to notice that I do remember how to do this, not just play games on facebook! However I do want you to know that I am an excellent farmer (thanks Caty) and a fantastic chef (thanks AJ)!! So on to the good stuff!! After much casting and bootlegging, Laura's leg is finally free of all artificial support! She is done with crutches as well! She only needs the boot occasionally if after school her leg is really hurting her or she has been very naughty and mommy needs to borrow it. She is still going to physical therapy and enjoys it. It helps that she thinks that her therapists are cute! (Oh great!! Now she is blushing and trying to hit me!! OW!!)
AJ's first band concert of the year was last night. It was a very joyous event! It was full of music. Hehe. They invited the West Point Junior High Advanced Band to join them and they got to go first. Then we were honored to hear the Syracuse High Jazz Band! Man are they good!!!! AJ played in the last two numbers. The very last one was combined with the junior high. I am including a video of the song that AJ played in that was just the high school. It was really good.
Today was the day of much fun and frivolity at Lakeside Elementary! The girls are getting to enjoy (along with all their classmates) Halloween parties and parades! Sabrina even gets to have a carnival and perform a dance to Thriller! I am going to try to record that as well and then I will post it as well. I will post Halloween pix when I get a chance and actually take some good ones. We are going to be parting Saturday night so that may be a good time to get some. Ya think?? My love to you all and may you enjoy this spooky weekend!!