Catching up...Homecoming week

McKenzie had a fun week for homecoming. She did window painting, the parade, and played in the powderpuff football game and did pretty well! We didn't know she could play football! She also played in the pep band and went to the dance with a really nice guy!

4-H lambs

Bradley, Sydney and Nathan wanted to show lambs for 4-H this year. They had to walk and take care of their lamb every day and learn how to show it. The actual showing took all day, but we were excited for the big day. They did well and each earned a couple hundred dollars. That was a bonus. It was a hard-working summer!

First day of school 2011

Nathan- 4th grade:
Addy- preschool, but still had to do like the big kids...


Sydney- 7th grade:McKenzie- Senior year. Can't believe it.
Bradley? He wouldn't let me take a photo...but here's Syd when she got her braces on.

Fun with cousins

Erika and Greg's kiddos got to spend a night over with us. Our kids loved having their cousins over. They have so much fun!
Grandma and Grandpa with all the cousins.

Catching up... Seattle trip

At the end of the summer we went to Seattle...stopped at our friends, the Larsens first...
Stopped at a mexican restaurant suggested by Mike's cousin, and ate massive amounts of mexican chow!

Had our first try at sushi (not Mike's first try- he loves it...but first time for the kiddos)

Seattle Mariners game...


The Ferry to Whidby Island:

Useless Bay...one of our favorite places..
Clam digging...the kids did this for hours...

And the highlight- Carter and Maggie's wedding (Mike's nephew):
Seeing cousins:
McKenzie even caught the bouquet, much to her surprise.

The lockes- where the ships come in.
Funny way to sleep for little Addy. LOVES her big sister. Long drive for all of us!
Seattle Pike's Market.
Aunt Val picked raspberries and they were the biggest ones we have ever seen!
Having "tea" with Addy's little cousin:
Love this one. Having so much fun!
Grandma with the girls:
The second to last day the older kids went with Mike and his brother and some other cousins to hike this:
Such a fun trip. We hadn't been there for a long time and so figured a wedding was a good excuse to head up to Seattle. So FUN!

Update- what we've been doing...

I haven't blogged for a LONG time. Here are a few pictures: Addy getting a ride to bed...
Preschoolers checking out the new chicks. They had so much fun watching them.New chicks... now they are in a chicken coop outside...I couldn't wait to get them out of my garage!
Mike got us tickets to see General Conference on a Sunday. We had a great experience!
Teen parties....seems like they come around a lot here (at least when we have a weekend night free of all the crazy things we've been doing)
Bottling... we've done peaches, applesauce, pears, jams, zucchini relish... feels good to do it again. We took a 10 year hiatus from canning. Glad to be back in the canning zone again. Will even be better when we have a garden!
State Fair. My dad is on the state fairboard, so we get free tickets and a few ride tickets. We go every year now. It's fun for the kids. This year we even had a few entries go to the state fair and Sydney's skirt she sewed even got the prized rosette ribbon at state!
Cotton Candy...yum!