Still alive-I think!

So I did it again-got way behind on posting. I guess I should just post even if I don't know where the photo's are that go with it and then add pictures when I find them.

So here is what has happened, not in order!

Hope turned 3 in September.  She loved opening every present and eating cupcakes. She had a small party with friends.

Hope started Preschool with me and really loves gymnastics even though she isn't as limber as the other girls.  She is pretty daring and tries everything. Except swinging on the rings that are up high.  Her favorite thing to do is jump into the foam pit. She has a hard time crawling out.

She has learned a lot in preschool. She can identify the whole alphabet and we are working on phonics.  She can count to 22. Knows all of the colors and can write most of her name.

Hope loves to play with her friend Ellie that lives next door and her little sister Lynlee. One day they decided to take a nap in their parents bed together. Their mom-Heather- got a picture.

I sprained my ankle the second week teaching gymnastics. I landed on the side of my foot when landing from off the bars. So I got to wear a brace for a few weeks.

All of the kids started back to school the end of August. Paige is a Junior this year and in choir. Zach is a Sophomore and on the High school swim team.

Ethan is in 6th grade and proud to be the oldest grade in the school. Parker is in 3rd grade and has made all kinds of new friends.

Braden started working at Winger's during the summer and started his first semester at U.V.U. He seems to enjoy it.  He is saving money for his mission and isn't jumping up and down about being able to leave earlier at age 18.  But he is working on the paper work at a slow pace.

Paige of course is getting great grades.  She pulled a 4.0 this term- great going!

She has started dating and hangs out with a group of friends a lot.  She is going to Washington D.C. the end of November for a school history tour.  AND she just started working at Winger's with Braden.

When they interviewed her, they told her that if she was anything like Braden, they wanted her. She was hired on the spot. Great job Braden for your example.

Paige went to Sadie's with a group of friends.

Zach did a swim a thon to earn money for his swim team gear and tours.  He swam 200 laps in 1 hours and 50 minutes at 10:00 at night.  He earned a lot of the money he needed.  Zach is also in choir. He tried out for honors choir besides and made it. The only problem is that the big concert and a swim meet are scheduled the same day. Hopefully he can make it to both- we will see.

Ethan got braces on his top teeth.  He has been very self conscious about his crazy teeth.  He has had to have 3 brackets glued back on already. Really, they must not have done a great job the first time because they come of when he is eating normal food- like hamburgers.  He wasn't so excited about halloween because he couldn't eat most of the candy he received.  For halloween, he couldn't decide what to be , so he was a little bit of everything for the school parade and was Harry potter for Loren's work party.

Parker loves playing with all of his friends and also plays with Hope.  He entered the reflections contest and got a certificate , a prize and hot chocolate.  He was a black assassin for halloween.  He went out with some friends and their parents and scored lots of candy. He also had a Birthday in September and turned 9.  He had a Mine craft themed birthday party. This was the cake I made.  All of the games he played had something to do with the game.

As you can see-Hope was a sweet little Lady Bug!  After an exciting day of Preschool and gymnastics and playing with friends she feel asleep right after dinner.  She woke up about 8 p.m. and wanted to go trick or treating. Paige took her to two houses and she wanted to come home. Silly girl.

Last month I became very ill. Went to the doctors and found out that I had mono. Not fun at all.  A few days ago I went to the doctors again to find out that I had strep and a sinus infection. They gave me a big ol' shot in the butt.  Wish I could just stay healthy. It is hard being a mom and working part time when you are sick.

Loren went to Florida for 5 days to do some training. Of course, it snowed here and our furnace went out.

The repair man had to condemn it because it had a huge crack in it from the humidifier leaking on to it-for who knows how long. It took almost a whole day to install the new one.  They used php piping instead of the metal vents and put in a new air vent so it would heat better.  It works!!!

Our little singer

Hope in Concert!

 So, Hope has taken to music.  When the primary leaders come in to nursery to do a little mini singing time with the younger kids, they always comment about how well Hope sings, and say "we should have guessed she'd be a singer."  Now she seems to be taking an interest in instrumental music as well.  We caught her on video singing a few of her favorite songs while she accompanied herself on the piano.  Enjoy!

2nd day of Girl's Camp

I woke up feeling a whole lot better. However, I was still a little light headed and my stomach was still upset.  So I took some stomach med's.
We cooked breakfast and ate. While some people cleaned up, we cleaned out tents and took them down and refilled the trailer.  Then we had a devotional and alone time to read the scriptures and write in journals.
We then drove a short way to a trail to start our race again.  The girls hiked for awhile and then came upon a first aid station that they had to treat the injured in order to go on.  I was in charge of this. But since I wasn't feeling the greatest, sent the first aid items and instructions ahead with another leader.  They had to treat leaders for Shock, snake bite, broken arm, severe bleeding, and heat exhaustion.  I was told that the girls did a great job and that the leaders acted out their parts very well and hilarious!  The girls then got their next clue and hiked to the Minatonka cave.  We had reserved a tour and they showed up early, so we ate lunch while we waited.  The tour throughout the cave was amazing.  While inside the Bishop talked about sharing our light and each girl received their own candle and got it lit. They had to hold the cold iron rod in the dark to find their way out (okay not all of the way out but long enough their hands were pretty cold. They then hiked back down to the cars where we then took them took get yummy raspberry shakes.
We then headed to the cabin in Grace Idaho.  It was only 45 miles away but it took us over 2 hours to get there.  Yes, we got lost and had to turn around a few times and back track. After Sister Ship stopped and asked the second local directions, the  sweet lady climbed in her car and took us there.  Everyone was happy to be there.  We then unloaded the trailer yet again and settle ourselves in.Yes, we ate dinner late again, missed doing the skits that night but had fun playing games past 1 a.m. in the morning.
The cabin had 3 bathrooms and so we all drew numbers for when we got to shower off. After the day at the lake it felt nice.

Girls Camp

Yes, Paige and I survived girls camp this year(me,just barely).
Girls camp was a blast.  We had ward girls camp this year which meant we could go when and where we wanted too.  The theme for this years camp was"Choose to shine in your amazing race".  The leaders put together activities for the girls to do that were around the theme and the T.v. show-The amazing race.

We meet at 5:45 A.M. that is

why it is dark outside. The great Relief Society and put a yummy send off Breakfast together for us.

We then talk about 100 years of girls camp-a cake with service opportunities-candles!

Each girl received their own backpack filled with goodies and a bandana for the team they would be on.

 And we were off....

 We spent one day and night at Bear lake.  For the race activities, the girls had to read a compass and find posts that spelled a word ( each team was different) and come and get their next clue for the next activity.  They then had to come to me and learn how to tie two kind of knots and learn how to  lash. When they passed them off they got another clue..telling them to lash swim noodles together to make a raft. One person had to ride it and the rest of the team had to have a hold of it.  They had to find their way out to a tall post that had the last clue of the day on it- Find the mat.

The girls where then free to have fun.  We rented a speed boat, paddle boat and a water trike. We also had a few rafts and a canoe.  The canoe is a whole story in it's self.
We then cleaned up and went to a camp ground and unpacked, set up tents and made dinner. We were behind schedule and din't eat until about 8 p.m..
However, I wasn't feeling wetland went and lied down. About 1/2 later I was feeling horrible and asked for a blessing. The great Bishop and his councilor gave me one. I was nauseous and very dizzy. Also had the chills. Everyone thought I had heat stroke- I don't! I drank a lot of water while at the beach and stayed in the shade most of the time.  A lot of the girls got burned, I didn't.
Because I was ill, I missed the Faith walk that some of the leaders had put together for the girls.  I heard it was very spiritual.  The girls didn't make it back to camp until around midnight. The leaders, even later than that. *clean up duty for everything they had set up earlier.*

Day 2