What awesome, smart, talented kids we have!

I will start out with Ella. We are so excited she is now potty trained. She finally decided she wanted to be a big girl so she gave up the diapers and only wears panties now, even over night. She went from diapers one day to panties the next, no turning back. We did reward her with a new baby doll, a baby doll stroller and baby food. She got to go to the store and pick everything out herself.



We had parent teacher conferences today so we were pretty anxious to talk to Ethan's kindergarten teacher. We are excited to say that he is right where he needs to be for his age. His teacher said he is very good at Math and is a very respectful child. We are so happy that Ethan is doing so well, we really owe a big part of it to Miss Jana his preschool teacher from last year. She did an awesome job preparing Ethan for Kindergarten.

We let the kids pick out a toy at the store for the super work they did at school this quarter. His toy he picked out is a new Nerf Ball Gun. Super fun toy.


And Emma, what can we say about her that we haven't said before. Emma is very bright and does very well in school. She is in 4th grade this year. She has straight A's and we will be looking into getting her into Challenge classes at school. Emma goes above and beyond what she is asked to do in school. She is a very humble girl and loves to help the other kids in her class when they are behind. She also volunteers to help younger children with their reading. After testing at the beginning of the year we found that she is at a 7th grade Math and Reading Level. She just received the 1st quarter academic award for her class. We are so proud of Emma and her accomplishments.

Emma picked out a Tag Team Nerf game for her award. She said she plans on sharing it with Ethan.

Halloween 2009

Halloween morning we had some of our good friends over to decorate sugar cookies. It was pretty fun to watch all the kids decorate. We had all sorts of candy and sprinkles. Some of the cookies you couldn't even see the frosting on them when they were done. We also made caramel corn and had hot apple cider.

These pictures are right before Trick or Treating.

Ella the turtle

Ethan was Darth Vader

Emma was . . . . ????

Pumpkin Patch 2009

This picture is funny because I got them all blinking.

Each year we have the rule that you have to pick a pumpkin that you can carry by yourself. For some reason we never seem to stick to that rule. Emma's pumpkin ~35lbs, Nathan wasn't very happy about carrying it.

When Ella is quiet, she is up to no good!

Emma left her door open and Ella found the bunny stamps . . .

I love to see the temple . . . .

Since the kids had this last Thursday and Friday off of school I thought it would be a great time to take our last trip down to Utah for the year and visit the great grandparents plus I really wanted to take the kids and go to Temple Square. I invited my mom to come along, it was nice being able to get to hang out with her and get some alone time. Ever since we went through the temple in July, Ella is always talking about going back so I thought she would enjoy seeing a BIG temple. It was perfect weather, not too hot and not too cold. We got really lucky. Considering it was the Friday before Conference it was not very busy, The only thing that could have made it perfect is if Nathan would have been able to go with us.

Happy Birthday Emma! The big 10!

Emma's birthday was September 13th. I can't believe she is 10! She tells me she is a "preteen", yikes, how scary. I only have a few years until she doesn't want anything to do with me so I guess I better love every minute she gives me hugs and kisses and tells me she loves me.

Emma picked out pancakes, bacon, hash browns and orange Julius for breakfast.

Emma loves to read! She is very ahead on her reading skills.

I got this cute jean skirt for her from Old Navy, it goes with anything so she will always have something to wear.


Saturday we took a few of her best friends and went bowling. It was pretty fun to watch them bowl. Unfortunately, the bowling alley woundn't let them have the bumpers so in the end the scores were pretty low but they seemed to have a lot of fun. We came home and had cake. My attempt of making a bowling ball. Her favorite color is blue so I made a swirled blue bowling ball.


Also at the end of the day Sunday, Nathan and I (with Keely's help) canned peaches for the first time. It was actually really fun and not too hard. My kids were excited to see canned peaches on the counter. I guess this means we will be eating more fruit. Yummy!

Becah got me a sweet helicopter for my birthday. Coolest present evar.

Here it is taking off of Ella's head -


and Ethan -



Good times.

Final camping trip of the season . . Boiling Springs

The view right next to our camp spot.

Ella was pretty excited to get into the river!

Dad cooling off after setting up the tent.

Ella got her dress wet so we let her walk around in just her diaper. It was really nice during the day but got super cold at night.

I have some pretty cute kids . . .

Mike and Emma went up to the top of the mountain between Boiling Springs and Silver Creek Plunge.

Ethan chillin on the 4 wheeler

Dad cooking up some hamburgers. Almost all of the other meals we used Dutch Ovens.

The river provided most the entertainment. Pretty fun to have right next to the campsite. (I liked it because it kept the kids pretty clean)

Dutch Oven Cinnamon Rolls and Pineapple Upside Down Cake.
We also made Chicken & Rice Casserole and a Egg/Bacon/Hash brown Breakfast. (which I forgot to take pictures of)

BBBRRRRRRR!!!!!

Tiny little frog.

Ella loved the 4 wheeler! Thanks Mike for taking the kids for a ride.

Ethan loves walking around taking pictures. . .

We had a lot of fun. Hopefully the kids make great memories camping as a family. Can't wait until next year!

When did they get so big?

First day of school! 8/31/09. Emma starts 4th grade! wow! Ethan started kindergarten! They grew up way too fast! Both were very excited to get back to school. I am thankful my kids LOVE school. Ella tells me she wants to go too. She had to have her picture by the front door also.

Here is Ethan lined up by his classroom. He looks mad but the sun was right in his face so he couldn't look at me very well.

I did fine until his teacher told them to wave to their parents and went inside. I started to cry after that.

Cabbage anyone?

Emma started this cabbage many months ago from a seed. We picked it tonight and it weighs around 6 lbs. I think we might be eating some Corned Beef and Cabbage very soon. Good job Emma. It is fun and satisfying to eat what you grow.