Owen's Baptism

Owen's baptism was on September 6th. I hope it was a special day for him.  We had family in town to support him and make his day special.  John's parents made the trip up even though his mother had recently had foot surgery and no use of her foot.  I'm sure the trip wasn't easy but we really appreciated them being here.  We spent the day getting ready for  the big event and spent the evening with family at our house. 

The commitments made at baptism are a lot for an 8 year old to fully comprehend but I'm hopeful that Owen gets parts of it.  Although I thought it was funny that he told John that he didn't feel any different after he was baptized.  I appreciate his honesty :) Maybe he was expecting an angelic cloud parting moment?  It's hard to say! Perhaps he was a little disappointed, but in the end I know he will grasp the significance of the ordinance he was just a part of.  He has so much spunk and spirit and I just pray that he will keep those traits and learn to use them in a positive way. 

Goose Lake

We were invited to go camping over Labor Day with some friends last March.  That's right 6 months ago.  So this trip has been a long time coming!  I was a little  nervous about it due to our last camping experience. But we gave in and paid someone to fix the heater in the trailer before we left because it was going to be cold while we were there.  We left Friday after the kids got out of school (actually technically I took them out of school about 45 min early.  Bad Mom!  But it ended up saving us from waiting in traffic for an hour on the way up because of a wreck...so maybe good mom?)

We went up to Goose Lake which is about 30 min North of McCall. It was gorgeous.  And cold at night!  Our last morning there we woke up with frost on the windows. Our heater ran so much that it wore our battery completely out and we had to be rescued from the cold by our friends generator.  Thank heavens for friends with real camping gear!!!  The days were gorgeous and we were able to stay toasty warm in our little tent trailer at night.  The set up was so great this time that John and I decided we like camping again!

We had quite the group.  Six families and about 35 people.  A small army if you will. 

 

 The views and the campground were gorgeous.

 

One afternoon we spent a couple of hours in McCall, but it was ridiculous because it was chilly so we went back to our campground to play games more appropriate for 70 degree weather.

 

We hiked to a waterfall another afternoon.  The hike was 2 miles downhill to the falls.  It was a gorgeous hike.  The kids climbed all the way down the rocky cliff to get to the bottom of the falls. Being the overprotective mother that I am I about had  a heart attack.  But I contained my fear and let them explore and no one died.  Thankfully.

 

Owen and Ains both caught fish.  There was lots of fish catching and eating while we were there. 

Owen caught this adorable little frog.  Apparently last year at Goose lake at this time there were thousands of these little guys around the lake.  

 

 

The kids had so much fun with friends that I rarely saw them.  They played hard everyday.  I loved it. 

 

My favorite was probably the awesome game of capture the flag we played.  Parents vs. Kids. I wish I had a picture of Owen and his buddy diligently guarding their flag, or of Ainsley crawling through the forest in a stealth-like manner.  It was great fun.  I loved that all of Emmie's little friends had self imposed themselves in prison and would scream for someone to tag them so they could get out.  Even though no one had ever told them that they were in jail and they could get out any time they wanted.  It was too funny.

I definitely want to head up that way to camp again.  It was great.

First Day of School 2014

The children did indeed start school this year.  On August 25th to be exact.  Ainsley started 5th grade and her homeroom teacher is Mrs. Price, but the fifth graders rotate to 2 other teachers so she gets all of the amazing 5th grade teachers!  Bonus for her!  She loved it and couldn't stop talking about it when she got home.  Literally couldn't stop talking about school.

Owen is our 3rd grader this year.  He got the teacher that I begged for, Mrs. Fisher.  She taught Ainsley as well and we lover her! While Owen claimed to have good first day of school he maybe said 3 words about it.  I believe he said his day was fine, good, and he liked the button they could push to make a fart noise when they did something good. 

 

Emmie had to wait a week for her first day of school. Every morning for a week she would hop our of bed and ask, "Is it school today!?"'  She LOVES school!  This year her teacher is Miss Megan.  Whom she already loves, mostly because they both love the color pink and Miss Megan has a dog named Hero.  I'm sure preschool will be a hit this year.

Cascade

 My mom's neighbor has a cabin in Cascade and she insisted that my mom take us all up there this simmer.  And so being the kind people that we are, we took her up on her offer.  Cascade is about 20 minutes south of McCall.  We usually visit McCall 1-2 times a year but we haven't spent nearly as much time in Cascade.  So it was fun to do a little exploring. 

We spent a good amount of time relaxing at the cabins....there were 2 babies with us.  Enough said.  But we still had a good time. There was lots of eating, shooting, bike riding, hiking, and some more eating.  We know how to party.

 

 We even found this great little beach.  It was perfect, until we found 3 little snakes.  Then it was not so perfect.

 We drove into McCall one day and spent time at the beach.  My children have never been so full of sand in their entire lives.  They loved it.

Owen's 8th

Owen chose to spend the majority of his 8th birthday in the water. My kids only get friends parties every other year. So this year Owen invited one of his good friends, Spencer, to spend the day with him. Spencer came over to play and have lunch (fancy mac n cheese) and then we headed over to Ivy Wild to swim all afternoon. Kortney and her girls joined us in an attempt to keep my girls busy while we played at the pool.   The boys had a  blast riding the slides and wrestling all afternoon.

 

That evening, after getting some Sonic drinks and Little Caesars to rehydrate and refuel, we headed over to my parents for more swimming and cake and ice cream. 

Owen got all set for church and scouts and was fully prepped for his baptism.  Plus he got some cool guns. Because apparently boys like guns and shooting things.

(Don't you love how Emmie finds a way to weasel her way into most picutres :)

I love how excited he is for scouts and all that being 8 allows him to do.  He is one of the last boys in his grade to turn 8 and has been anxious to join them in scouts and all of their fun all year!