It's Great to be 8

Oh this sweet little girl. How can she already be 8? She's so full of love and creativity, spunk and energy. We sure love her so much and are so proud of her.

 

 

 

The rest of summer, start of fall and Elle's Birthday!

This photo was actually taken on our trip to St George during Spring break... so a little chronologically out of order, but not to be missed. Viva Mexico!

We've made more time for rock climbing this year, the kids actually like it quite a bit, so here we are in Provo canyon and St George

Forgot to add these to the Coeurd'Alene Post but they were on my phone and pretty cute.

For our cousin Ben's birthday we celebrated with a giant slip n slide at Laura's house!

 We also were here for our towns end of summer festivities - Stansbury days- I snapped this of a pretty sailboat

It doesn't take long until it's back to school. Here they are with their new kicks.

 

 Audrey's a Freshman in Highschool now!! No awkward phase here... ;)

  

 

 Elle's playing soccer this year and Audrey's having fun in HS. Reese is enjoying generally just being himself, climbing things, building things and pretending to be Finn at Comicon in SLC.

      

Being 8 is great! This birthday snuck up fast! Instead of having a big party this year, somehow I talked her into picking one friend and going to a movie and build-a-bear. So much more enjoyable for me and it was fun to do something extra special for her on her 8th birthday.

 

 

Opened her presents first thing in the morning, and we had a yummy homemade cake. We're so proud of you Elle! You're such a joy!

 

 

 

Well, summer was a while ago....

 

But I'm going to do my best to not let our cute little blog die... playing catch up will be the name of my game. The dog days of summer, the fun days of summer. They never last long. Here's Elle and some of her friends playing dress up, being outside and a night out of rock climbing.

 

 This summer was also the summer of the cousins. Audrey recently said if given the choice between spending time with friends or cousins, she'd choose her cousins. We're so lucky to be able to let these awesome kids know and enjoy each other. It's a privilege not everyone gets and I'm so grateful they have each other.

 

Audrey had her 14th birthday! I can't even stand how fast time is going by but I'm so glad she's so sweet and fun. It makes the transition a little easier I guess. We sure love you Audrey!

I was in charge of a fundraiser for Audrey's ballet school. It was princess day once again and all the planning paid off for one fun day.

No summer is complete without plenty of time in the backyard and the kids took their tricks and stunts to new levels this year. I never could do a back flip so that was fun to see Audrey and Reese get the hang of it. Elle mastered her front flip and even managed to get Grandma Mary out on the trampoline with them.

We had a fun weekend in Logan with Sam's good friend Todd and his family. They were so much fun and so accommodating  - and of course Reese was in heaven learning new ways to crack a whip!

 

 

Elle is our fishergirl  - she always asked Sam to take her fishing. Unfortunately they never had too much luck in the fish department but they did have fun trying. I love that out of all my kids, she's the one who loves fishing the most. Good daddy daughter activity

The fourth was fun as always, one of my favorite holidays. Our friends the Johnsons hosted a bbq and the kids loved it. Sam being one of the kids seen below shooting off his homemade potato gun and impressing all the youngsters..

 

 

Audrey's dance school had the opportunity to perform at a local pageant while the judges deliberated. the pageant was just two days before the fourth of July and it was so fun to see their rockette style performance all done on point. Tough toes!!

 

Summer can never be complete without our visits home. This year Audrey got up on two skis and Reese learned to wakeboard! We also finished the purchase of the "lakehouse" and are so happy that we won't have to be saying goodbye to the Kienow house legacy. So blessed to be able to enjoy it for years to come. Even Grandpa Ladd got in on the tubing fun - we love having our family with us and could easily spend the entire summer on the lake. Best memories being made.

 

Here's some snapshots of hanging out in the garage and the basement of "Hotel Livingston" A haven for cousins is what it seems like to me. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for putting up with the hoards of "locusts" as I like to call us. After dinner time everyday, seeing how everything edible is consumed... and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Tubing on the Coeurd'Alene River

Jumping off the Rocks of Tubbs Hill downtown

 

 

Boating and more boating!

 That's a wrap on our summer. Now on to the next post!

Spring time sure came fast!

Easter came quick with it's end of March arrival this year - we had a fun time with our annul egg hunt at my sister Laura's house with all the cousins. This year, our family invited the missionaries over to give an object lesson and keep the kids entertained while we hid the eggs in the yard! It was a big hit.

Each year we hide one or two "Golden Eggs" in the yard - they have 2 dollars inside so everyone always is excited. Our family took a clean sweep with Audrey and Reese both finding the golden egg - conspiracy theories abound - but I didn't give out any hints at all!

Always fun to get dressed up in the Sunday best for Easter. This year I

was excited because I've always wanted a plain, nice fitting white dress for Easter and could never find one - so I finally told someone what I was looking for and had it made. I was really happy with it! It was a great day to be thankful and we sure love our kids - we are so blessed to have each one. Easter has always been one of my favorite times of the year.

Once upon a February

Oh my goodness, several months fly by and here we are... I plan to have this blog printed, which is my only reason to continue documentation - that and I think my family will be glad to have it someday. Sam and I both have birthdays in February and normally I'd post about his but I don't seem to have the pictures from my phone uploaded yet so - this will have to do. We celebrated my birthday and then left the next day to have fun up in Island park with our good family friends the Taylors and the Johnsons. Our kids were in paradise because they got to have their best friends from two fun families with us instead of only one set. There was plenty of snow and we had a great time - even got to go for some snowmobile rides and jump off the roof! It was a fun time together for sure.

 

The girls made me my cake this year, and Reese happily ate it with me :) Sam and I were going to go out for dinner but decided we'd rather keep packing for our trip the next day .

 

 Audrey shoveling snow

 Tye Taylor, Elle and Emmie Johnson - 3 musketeers

 

 

Reese jumping like a pro

 

 Elle taking the big leap!