Gift Card Heaven

The girls had some gift cards and money from their birthdays. Yesterday, we finally made it to the mall without the boys so we could spend hours in Claires. We went to Barnes and Noble first and Maddy picked out two books. We hit Claire's next and 19 pairs of earrings and a fabulous purse and only about 40 minutes later we were done. It was fun to shop with them and I was very happy that they were more decisive than I thought they would be. I was totally prepared to be in Claire's for at least an hour so 40 minutes was very satisfactory. The girls were very appreciative of their birthday gifts and thanks to the Grandmas (and Grandpas :) for the gifts for Maddy and thanks to the Leatherman's for Tenley's own birthday money.

Projects...

We had a couple of small projects going on in our house this last week. Cole had an assignment in his science class. He has to do a bug collection of 15 bugs in 5 different orders. Like all pojects, it was bigger than we anticipated. So, the night before it was due we were finishing it. We tried to let Cole have a learning experience from this by not making in "our" project. I could see he was procrastinating and I would gently remind him but he didn't seem to catch on. So after some discussion on reading the directions before we start, not waiting until the last night just because it's not due yet he did finish it. My only hope is that he actually learned something from it. Only time will tell when the next project becomes due.

I also did some of my first canning with Norm's Mom this summer. We did some raspberries and some apple pie filling. We peeled about 20 pounds of apples and ended up with 7 bottles of apple pie filling each. I only had one flat of raspberries so I made a batch of jam, froze some and canned two jars for one of our favorite desserts.... trifle. I did enjoy doing it and hopefully next year we will have a garden and I will be able to can things from our own garden. So I know that those of you who can do so much more but this was just a very small beginning to a hopefully much larger canning career.

What would we do without kids?!?!?!?

So, last night Norm and I were getting our political fix watching Fox News ( I am addicted to it). Well, and here come the kids up from the basement. The kids had brought home the balloons from Norm's parents house from Maddy's birthday and how should I say it ... they got creative! I don't know that I need to say anything else but I am definately seeing some "Lauren" tendencies in Maddy.

Congrats Cole!

So, I got a phone call yesterday from the middle school... now for those of you who know my kids I was not nervous really, but one always wonders why the school is calling...Did your kid puke all over, are they hurt, did they hurt someone, there must be something wrong. In fact, last week on Monday, I got a phone call from Tenley's school and she was hurt. She got whacked in the face with a swing. Luckily she didn't need stitches, the doctor just super glued her up. Anyway, usually a call from the school is some sort of bad/upsetting news. Well, not this time. Cole won the school's essay contest. They were celebrating Constitution Day (which is today by the way). It is the 221st anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. He had to write an essay about the freedoms in the preamble. He did a fabulous job and we are very proud of him. It was a cool assembly. They had the National Guard do the flag ceremony, they had the Fire Departments Pipes and Drum band (gotta love bagpipes), the High School choir sang some songs. It was very patriotic. I hate to admit that I didn't know it was the anniversary of the Constitution. So I was glad to be able to participate and reflect on this great country we live in and be grateful for the freedoms we have. Thanks to Cole I was able to be a part of this day with him.

Yellowstone

We went to Yellowstone just this last weekend. The fun started Friday night at a local park here in Idaho Falls. Many members from the Paul D. Clark (my mom's dad) family met for dinner. We had about 30 people there. We thought that was a pretty good turn out for not really planning a family reunion. Grandpa and Grandma Clark, my Mom, Adrienne, and Lauren and Tanner all stayed at our house. It was great to have them all here. We got up early and were out the door by 8:30...which was no easy feat for 11 people and two bathrooms. Just a side note, we need to finish our bathroom in the basement. We drove to Yellowstone and met everyone at a picnic spot. Sally's family came and Jeff and Noal came from Montana. Lindsay and Riley had been camping and we got to stay with them in their camper. We saw buffalo, elk, mountain goats, a coyote, and some cranes. We even had a huge buffalo walk right through our campground about 10 feet away from the trailer. It was quite exciting to watch (from safely inside the trailer of course.) Lindsay and Riley lucked out and saw a bear and buffalo head butting. We had a great time visiting and seeing such amazing things in nature. We have a real reunion planned for next summer in Bear Lake and hopefully we will get everyone there.

Me and Cole

Grandpa Clark
The Deatons

SPLASH PARK, REXBURG

We went to the Splash Park in Rexburg with our neighbors, the Millers. We had been having kind of a cold spell and it was supposed to be warm so we though we'd take advantage. We had not been before. Tara had invited me to go a couple of times but our crazy summer schedule never allowed us to go. How sad I was, after getting there that hadn't been able to enjoy this super fun, FREE, little water park when it was really HOT! The kids had a great time even though it was a little chily. They ran around, went down the slides and basically were just kids. It always brings me so much joy to see them be joyful. I often say, when I see a child so easily entertained by a piece of paper how nice it would be to be so easily entertained. I just realized as I was typing this that I am so easily entertained by watching the joy and love in my kids. I guess you can learn something new every day...

The First Day of School...WOOHOO!

I think we all were ready for this day to come. We had a jam packed, fun filled, super summer. Deep down we were all ready for routine, structure, etc.. All the things school will do for you. Tenley started first grade. Maddy is in 4th and Cole is in 7th. So, if you haven't guessed already, I have all my kids in school all day. It was a mixed emotion day for me...happiness, sadness, confusion, elation. I

My Spectacular Birthday

For my birthday we went for a picnic up to Palisades. I had never "been" there, just driven by. It is a beautiful area. Once again, Norm found us a super secluded spot, even though we were all getting impatient. One of these days we will learn to relax and just wait until he finds us the best spot in the whole world as he always does. We were right by a crick (or creek for those of you who are not from Idaho :) The kids, well all of us, played in the water, chased runaway flip flops, rode bikes, caught butterflies, ate lunch, read, just chilled out. It was actually quite a perfect way to spend a birthday!

Bear Lake August 2008

Tenley chillin on the boat.
Maddy and Brandy having some lunch.
Maddy
Tenley
Cole

Tenley loving the beach.
Cole and Grandpa sharing some deep thoughts.
Grandpa and kids chowing on a cookie.
Norm couldn't come with us and we really missed him.
Silly girls.

We went to the Gray Family Cabin at Bear Lake. We love going there summer, fall, winter or spring. We loved going boating. Lindsay and Riley brought their boat and some of us, myself included, loved the molecule. The kids really prefer to ride in the boat. I couldn't understand it at first but then I realized not everyone likes to do everything. Like, I would NEVER skydive or bungee jump or repel. Some people love it and can't understand those who don't. So I don't push them anymore, if they are happy to ride in the boat let them be happy...Right? I do have to mention a moment that really wasn't funny but we all laughed, and still laugh. Just ask Riley. Mom, Kerry, was attempting to exit the boat and mount the molecule. She did some crazy slip, bump, bump, bump dismount. We all thought, for a moment that it was kind of on purpose, until she came up sputtering. She twisted her knee and long story short it put her out of commission. Which for those of you who know my Mom, it about drove her bonkers. Due to her, shall we say, injury, she couldn't accompany us on our four wheeler ride the next ride. We loaded up the Ranger and four wheelers and drove up Bloomington canyon. We rode for a long time, no idea what the mileage was but for over an hour. We hauled lunch up and stopped in a beautiful valley to munch away. Dad, or in this instance, Grandpa, found a stick shaped like a "Y" and had Maddy witching for water. We had a great time as always at the cabin.

THE FOURTH OF JULY

For some weird reason, this is the only picture I have from our Fourth of July Celebration. I hope my Mom has her pictures from her camera she can send to me. My Mom and Dad, Lauren and Tanner, and Adrienne came up. We went to our ward's pancake breakfast at 7 am (which by the way is early for a group of 10). We drove right to the parade and got great curbside seats. It was sooooo HOT though. We ended up leaving early since we were all dripping with sweat! Gross, I know, but it was hot. We went shooting, you know, we had to exercise our right to bear arms. If someone had told me 20 years ago I would shoot guns, I would have bust a gut laughing. But it is something I actually enjoy and would like to get good at. We had a BBQ over at Norm's parents. They invited all of us over, my family and all. What good people they are! We then, of course, went to the huge fireworks show. As always, it was spectacular. We were especially happy at the end when we didn't get stuck in traffic for hours on the way home.

Picnic at Palisades

Tenley and Maddy taking a nice little stroll down a country lane.
Norm aka Dad and Cole, I am not sure what they are doing?

Papa, Maddy and Tenley discussing the finer things in life.
Norm and the kids looking for bugs.


We took Norm's Mom and Dad with us for picnic one Saturday in May. We found a secluded spot, since that is the only acceptable way Norm will picnic or camp. Even though we all might get impatient with the seemingly never ending searching, we are always very appreciative of the super sweet spots Norm finds for us. We hiked up the small hill, the kids looked for bugs, and we ate sandwhiches and watermelon. We love being close to family and being able to spend time with them.