Camping and Wood Cutting

We love camping, however, we have only been able to go a couple of times this year with our busy schedule and other trips planned. Tyler loves to cut wood with his friend Scott, and we couple wood cutting and camping together if we have to. Here is Tyler sharpening his chain saw. I am not so sure if Tyler has fun camping, because he is working so hard at making sure we have wood for heating our house during the cold nights and days. But, he says "it's part of me and my dad!" I bet he'll cut wood for as long as he can.


Loading our trailer.

Karson loves to help. It is great to have boys to help and learn great work ethic. We don't tolerate laziness around our house.

Braden is a big helper also.

We usually go camping/wood cutting with our friends the Sorenson's. Here is Amanda with Brynn. She adores her and Melissa like they are her older sisters.

Mom, Spencer, Brynn having fun watching

The Sorenson's have a nice toy hauler which allows them to haul trailer/wheelers/wood all at the same time. So, we enjoy using their 4-wheelers to ride. Here is Amanda, Melissa, and Brynn.

Mom taking the kids for a ride.

This is the hut/fort the kids built in the trees.

Here's the creative builders/workers in their hide out.

Brynn and Braden hiding from mom in their hut.

Karson's Birthday Party

Karson just turned 5 years old. I can't believe how time flies. I have been feeling guilty because he has not had a friend birthday party yet, and Braden has had two. However, there is more kids Braden's age around, so I needed Karson to get to know some more friends by going to school. I searched for schools with boys, and in the school boundaries so that they would probably get to be friends now and later. It worked. He has lots more friends, and he was able to have a party! It was a success, but the weather could have cooperated a little bit more. We made party favor bags at the beginning to wait for everyone to get there. Then played games, decorated cupcakes, opened presents, played more, and the kids went home. It was fun and short! Karson has been grins and grins since the party!

Here is the crew that is just Karson's age. Tristan, Nicholas, Colin, Sam, Karson Btm: Aby, Lena, Bella It was fun to have them all come.

Karson loves all his gifts, but he is especially into Star Wars. He loves that show. Here is a lego space ship that mom and dad got for him.

I am not much of a cake person. My sister spent 3 hours on Dominicks b-day cake, but me, plain and simple. Karson doesn't mind, it all tastes the same.

Here is Lena shooting a nerf dart for one of the games. She is a darling little girl in our ward.

The kids got to throw a ball at these pop cans. This was a favorite, but it took a while to build the cans. Hunter and Tyler kept building it bigger and bigger. The kids liked it better to be bigger.

Here is Colin waiting for the tower of cans so he can throw his ball.

Karson is opening presents. You will see he managed to get a Knight in shining armor set. He loves to play with his new friends Sam's, so maybe that is why they gave that present. I don't know, but he surely integrated every toy into play. He has Jedi (good guys), and all the rest of the action figures are the dark side. Fun to see imaginations at work.

Of course, McKenzie and Brynn had to have a grab bag also.

Tristan showing off his party favor bag.

Spencer's Growing Up

Here Spencer has figured out how to push the button on the four wheeler. Brynn sits with him to make sure he doesn't fall off sideways, and she loves to ride "her" four wheeler a ton. We like to start our kids early on the riding. We love four wheeling as a family activity. This is fun to see Spencer learning already.

Nine months and walking!! Just like the rest of our children--early walkers.

I just love this picture and didn't get it posted in my NYC trip pictures. This is in August and Spencer (8 months) was crawling, and pulling himself up to about everything he could. Here is Dominick interacting with Spencer. It is precious moments that mean everything.

First Day of School

Karson was so excited to start school this year. Although it is only pre-school, he is learning so much, and has already made good friends. His teacher is Mrs. Starr--she is awesome. I was very impressed when I volunteered in her classroom.

Braden is entering the first grade. He has Miss Cravens, and is even more excited that his best friend Mason is in his class. He loves learning and is a great kid. Mom has found out in the early weeks that school is a long day and I really miss him here at home.

Lifetime Lagoon Day!

This would be really cute in one of those "slide" things, but oh well. Here are the pictures of our only day at Lagoon this summer. The only reason we went was because entrance and dinner at the park were FREE. Tyler's company rented Lagoon on a Friday evening from 5-11pm. The count was approx 7000 people. They were all affiliated with Lifetime. There was no waiting in lines for the kiddie rides (which is why we went), and a wait of a couple of rides in lines for adult rides and such. Tyler and I did get a chance to ride the new Wicked. Awesome ride!! Anyway, the kids enjoyed their night of fun and we enjoyed seeing their smiles. What would I do without my children who bring me such joy and happiness. I love to see them happy!!


Brynn riding the bumper cars. This was ridden a hand full of times by my children.

Braden loves to ride.

Dad, Karson, Brynn ride high in the sky.

Brynn's all time favorite ride. She loves to fly!!

The swings. We tried to get Brynn on this ride several times, but she is just one inch too short. The ride operator was stingy (we understand they have to obey the rules), but she was able to ride other rides including the Tidal Wave. Oh well, she will grow and have her chance.

Spencer was even able to ride the helicopters. He smiled and enjoyed the ride.

This is a new ride for the kids this year. Karson was a little upset for us putting him on it, but after the ride was started and going, he enjoyed it, and smiles were on his face instead of frowns. We even managed to get Braden on this ride later in the night. He found out it was rather fun also.


Dracula's castle. Dad said that they were scared.


Overall, we enjoyed our time. The Tidal Wave found all three of my children screaming at me and telling me that I made a bad choice. They will have to grow up for that ride! I was crying because I was laughing so hard at their screams. That was one of my highlights of my night, but the kids were mad!

Huge Slide of Fun!!

Our new friends, have invited us 3 times to enjoy this "home-made-better-than-the-store slip-n-slide." We finally went for some fun on a last summer swimming bash just before school started. This hill makes the plastic of 50 ft really enjoyable. The kids get going really fast, and have a long way to go. We will have to make sure we don't miss this fun next summer.

Brynn and Karson. Brynn was a little timid at first, but caught on to the fun and went crazy until she was cold.

Braden, Brynn, Mason(red shorts), Ryan P. (up top) sliding and smiling.

Mom enjoys the swing bench while feeding a red popsicle to Spencer.

What a fun mess!!

I Want Ice Cream!!

This is so darn cute. I pulled out some ice cream at my parents home and Spencer knows exactly what it is. Giving him ice cream on a spoon was not enough. He wanted more and faster. The pictures explain the story!!