From Soccer to Football

A couple of weeks ago Kamryn had his last soccer tournament. They played so much better than their first tournament. They won one of their games like 12 to 2, then the next two games they lost but they were both close. Right after we came home from the soccer tournament Kamryn started football practice. He is playing tackle football this year and is so excited. He really loves the pads and helmet. He thinks he looks pretty cool and strong in them. The other day I went downstairs and found him practicing his piano in his football pads and helmet. He didn't even have football practice that day, he just wanted to wear them. I thought it was pretty funny, but I'm glad that he's so excited for football. 

First Day of School

I am a little behind on my blogging, but school started today and I want to write about it, so I will play catch up later. We have had a great summer, but I am really excited that school has started. Not that I want to get rid of my kids, but I am really looking forward to things slowing down and having a schedule and a routine. I am a little sad that the summer is over, but it was a good summer and I have no regrets or complaints. 

I love taking pictures of the first day of school. I always take them in the same place and love to compare pictures from year to year. The kids grow so much in a year. Kamryn was the only one who actually started school today, but I made all of my kids dress in their new clothes and get their pictures taken. Kamryn is in the fourth grade and he has the same teachers that he had last year. He is excited about that and had a great day. The only complaint he had was that he got too hot in his long sleeve shirt. He had a different shirt on and spilled, so I suggested this one. It is cute, but I didn't really think about how hot it would be. He was so excited this morning that he woke up at 6:30 to get ready. When I woke up at 7:00, he was already dressed and had his backpack all ready to go.

Derek will be in Kindergarten this year. He was able to meet his teacher today and do some testing, but he won't actually start until Wednesday of next week. He is so excited to go to Kindergarten. He did very well at his testing today. His teacher said he was almost ready to go to first grade. She sent home a homework packet to work on, and he wanted to do everything as soon as we got home. I talked him into doing a few of the worksheets and saving the others for another day. I am so glad that he is excited. I am also glad that he will be going in the afternoon. He is really not a morning person.

 

Brynli will be going to Pre-school this year. She is so excited. She keeps asking me when she gets to go. Her school starts next Tuesday. She will go every Tuesday and Thursday for a couple of hours. She thinks that she is as big as the boys. She got a new backpack and she is just thrilled about it. I'm excited for her to learn and grow, but a little sad to see her growing up. It seems like once they go to school, even preschool, they grow up so fast.

Sadie will be the only one home, at least a couple of hours a week. I think it will be nice to have that one on one time with her. I don't know how well she will like it. She really loves her brothers and sister. Today she kept asking "Where's Kamryn". I don't know that she is ready for them to go back to school. I think next week, when we are all back to school we might try potty training. I'm not sure if she's ready, but I think we'll try. 

I think this will be a good year for all the kids. For family home evening Wyatt gave each of the kids a father's blessing. There was such a neat peaceful feeling in our home and the spirit was so strong. I'm so grateful that my husband has the priesthood and is worthy to bless our children. The priesthood is such a blessing in our lives.

While Britnee was here...

My niece Britnee came to stay with us for 11 days. While she was here we did alot of fun things.

We went boating 3 times. She's getting pretty good at wakeboarding and she can wakeskate too.Britnee came with Kamryn and me on a hike with the other cub scouts in our ward to see the dinosaur tracks at red fleet.

We had a sleepover on the tramp, and one in our tent set up in the back yard.
One day we planned to go to the lake to play on the beach, but it rained. The kids still wanted to play in the water, so they thought grandma's hot tub would do. They had a great time playing in the hottub. And I thought hottubs were for relaxing.

The kids all had a great time just playing together. They all got along pretty good, except when my kids would fight over Britnee. They all built this big tent in the living room and played in it for two days.
We finally made it to the lake to play at the beach. It wasn't raining, but it was pretty windy. The kids didn't notice the wind. They just played in the sand and water and had a great time.
Britnee was also able to come with us on our ward campout to Massey Meadow. While there we hiked up to the cave. Everyone had a great time and got plenty dirty. While in the cave all of the kids except Sadie did the part of the cave called the "birth canal". Obviously it is a tight squeeze. They all did so well. Sadie did great too. She was a trooper hiking and exploring the cave.

You can't stay in Venal for a week and a half without visiting the dinosaur museum. We had my niece Chloe with us when we went to the museum. The kids loved seeing the dinosaur exhibits. I was a little worried about taking 6 kids by myself to the museum, but they did great.

It wasn't all fun and games while Britnee was here. Wyatt made her and Kamryn go to work. I know child labor. They had to help collate a book so that Wyatt could come with us to Kamryn's soccer tournament and to take Britnee home. Derek didn't want to miss out on anything, so he went to work also. They must have done pretty good, because we made it just on time to the first soccer game.

We all loved having Britnee stay at out house. I hope her family will let her come and stay again. I know they really missed her while she was away.

Scripture Reading?

Today in church the Stake had an anonymous survey for us to fill out. There were only three questions so it shouldn't be that hard, right?

Question #1. How often do you hold family home evening? once a week, once a month, occasionally or rarely. 

That was easy! We do really well with family home evening and do something every week. Lately it has been a trip to the lake every Monday night, but we try to have some kind of lesson on Sunday night occasionally so we still get a lesson in.

Question #2. How often do you read scriptures as a family? daily, once a week or more, occasionally or rarely.

O.K. we're not quite as good at this one. We don't read daily, but we do read at least once a week. We could use a little improvement, but still not to bad.

Question #3. How often do you personally read the scriptures? daily, 3 times a week or more, occasionally or rarely.

This one I didn't do so good at. My first thought was "How come they don't have once a week, I probably read once a week." I think I was feeling guilty that I had to mark occasionally or rarely. There are times in my life when I do pretty good at this and read daily or at least 3 times a week, but this summer I  have been terrible. Why is it that it takes weeks of trying hard to develop a routine or habit, but if you miss a couple of days the habit is gone, and you have to really work at it again? If they would have asked, How many times do you go to the lake in a week? I could have said  2-3 times. Or how often do you read blogs?  3 times a week or more could have been my answer. That's probably why I feel so guilty. I make sure to do things that are fun, but things that will help my eternal salvation get put on the back burner. So now I have recommitted myself to personally read the scriptures every day. I thought if I wrote down my new goal I would be more likely to achieve it. Besides I will look at it at least a few times a week by posting it on my blog. Maybe that will help me. I would like to issue the same challenge to anyone reading this who may have answered the question like I did. If you would like to do better, decide today and let's read everyday.

Reunion Crashers

Last weekend we went up to Flaming Gorge and crashed the Hansen Family Reunion. It was a lot of fun to see my sister Melanie and her family, and the Hansen's are always so nice to feed us (we've crashed their reunion before). We decided to test out how many people the boat would really hold. We had quite a crew. It did pretty good, but we did take on a little water over the bow each time we hit a big wave.

We brought the wakeskate. Shalece got up and did great. It's kind of tricky to get up and Melanie and Ryan couldn't figure it out, so they decided to ride it on their belly. It was pretty funny and made for a good laugh. They said it was a lot of fun. Maybe I'll have to try it next time we go out. 

We had typical Flaming Gorge water, really choppy. The kids thought that the tube was pretty fun in that choppy water. It wasn't to hard to throw them off the tube, but it was a little hard to get a decent picture. We were bumping pretty good inside the boat too.

All in all in was a fun trip. Thanks Hansen Family for letting us crash your reunion once again.

The Office

After we put our kids to bed Wyatt and I like to watch episodes of The Office. (I think I'm a little addicted). Sadie usually watches with us, as we put her to sleep. The other day after we said family prayers and were giving all the kids hugs and kisses before bed, Sadie came to me and said "Office, I want Office". It was so funny. My 2 year old likes to watch The Office. I think she might be the youngest fan, or maybe she just knows the routine and was ready for bed.

This story reminded me of a story when Karmyn was little. Back then Wyatt and I would watch Jay Leno as we put Kamryn to bed. One night we were at my mom's house and she had taken him upstairs were my dad was watching Jay Leno. He got excited and said "Jay", like it was an old friend or something. My mom brought Kamryn back downstairs and said, "we know what you guys do at night". It was pretty funny. Sometimes we underestimate what little kids take in.