Senior Pictures

Here are a few of my favorites from Kayden's senior picture shoot.

Phew! A Few Days Off... kind of

We had a 4 day weekend the first part of October, so we headed to Island Park to get away. This has been one of the busiest starts to the school year we have ever had. My two oldest kids, were just bombarded with school and church responsibilities, and had piles of homework on top of everything else. For the first time, I watched them get further and further behind on school assignments. So this trip to the cabin had a different feel, because everyone had work to catch up on, even Anaya had a one page final draft that had to be written.

We drove to the cabin in the snow, and it had snowed the day before as well, so when we got there, the kids pulled out the cross country skis and spent quite a bit of time outside skiing. I think I took a nap. Later on that night, Malia and Kayden were working on homework, Rik was working on work, and Taisha and I made aprons (the girls are making these for Christmas present for their friends.)


We thought about going into Yellowstone again this year, but between the cold and the amount of work everyone had to do, we just decided to go get some ice cream in West Yellowstone, and then head back to the cabin.


Kristen's uncle and cousins were also in Island Park, and they took Kayden home with them so he could watch the final night of Kristen's Jr. Miss performance. The next day though, Kayden and Kristen drove up to the cabin. Part way through the day, I decided to take everyone for a drive up to the top of Sawtel Peak (Rik still had work to do, so he stayed back at the cabin.) This is the coolest drive! Looking from bottom of the peak, it's almost unbelievable that you can drive right to the top! The views were stunning! It was an entirely different weather system up there though. Lots of snow, and wind.... and it was COLD!!

Kayden and Kristen drove up to Island Park after they went to sacrament meeting, so they were still in church clothes, and I don't think any of us were anticipating the amount of snow up there (and we weren't even all the way to the top yet!)

(See my van behind Kayden? That's where it got stuck in the snow, and where in my attempt to get it out of the snow.... got it even more stuck! Then everyone had to get out and try to push... even Kristen volunteered, and got out to push in her high heals, but that didn't work. Kayden finally told me I was doing it all wrong, I let him take over and he somehow got the van unstuck (without driving off the mountain), while I was busy slipping and tipping over in the snow.... one second I was standing next to Kristen, and the next I'm right in the snow. Kristen tried to catch me.... again in her high heals! Ya, I'm that cool...no pun intended.)




It was so nice to get away as a family, even for a few days. When we all piled into the van, just about to leave for the cabin, Rik asked me to say family prayer, and I didn't get too far through the prayer before tearing up, and getting emotional because we were all together, in the van, going to the same location. I was so glad everyone was there. Too bad I was at the peak of a "bad cooking phase." Just about everything I made just was a little off for the whole trip. On the plus side, I didn't eat myself into a new jean size this trip!

Just keep running, runing, running... or playing volleyball!

I think this high school has one of the best cross country coaches around. They have so much fun. Malia was really apprehensive about running cross country this year, but she will tell you it was the best decision she has made, and is already looking forward to next year. Cross country is over for Malia, but Kayden still has a little bit more training to get ready for State. He's also had a great year! He's been 3rd on the team the whole season, and has done really well! Malia and I were watching him run, and she asked my how come I don't yell. I had to explain to her that I get so emotional and proud watching them run, that I literally can't yell. I'll have to work on that I guess.







The middle school volleyball season is only a month long, but it was an exhausting month for her! It was a great learning year for her, and she kept up well!

Odds and Ends from September and October

We have been lucky enough to have an absolutely beautiful autumn this year. It's been jam packed full of sports, school and church activities, harvesting, and all sorts of fun things!

Here's some pictures of all the fun stuff:

Kayden and Kristen at the State Fair

(Is it just me, or does the drawing of Kayden remind you of Rik? Maybe it's the eye brows?)

Malia and friends at the back to school dance that she helped plan
Homecoming parade float (and yes, that's Kayden's bed in the middle....)

Homecoming dance with Kaylee

Kayden would have really liked to go to Homecoming with Kristen, but she was busy preparing for the Jr. Miss competition (I guess it is called the Distinguished Young Woman scholarship program now), and wasn't able to go. She won the academic and talent portion, and overall won 1st runner up. As far as I'm concerned, "Distinguished" doesn't even begin to describe how outstanding this girl is. So proud of her!

First choir concert of the year, and it was in the Stephens Performing Art building in Pocatello. Top notch singing, and holy smokes, the acoustics were incredible!

We have be harvesting all sorts of vegetables and fruits this year! In fact, I think I might be have "harvest overload," if that's possible. Over 50 bags of corn, 30 bags of carrots (and that's not including all the carrot sticks I've put in the kids lunches), I can't even count the bags of zucchini and squash, spaghetti sauce, salsa, peach and pear jam, zucchini brownies and breads, peach muffins, cucumber and tomato salads, and we're still not all the way done yet! We're going to harvest the last little bit and get it all taken care of tomorrow. I think my hands have aged 20 years doing all this work!

Oh, and this is new....

We're looking at 20-22 months to a stunning new smile! I actually think she looks really good in braces!

School Pictures 2011

Here are everyone's school pictures. They aren't my favorites this year.... but that alright.





They do faculty pictures at the school I work at. I was THRILLED to get new pictures this year.


The picture above is this years picture. The picture below has been hanging in the school lobby for the past year (much to my dismay!):

Oh good grief.... This just makes me laugh (along with my coworkers!) I seem to be in some kind of really nice, happy place, and while I appreciate that Bell tried to edit my wrinkles, and any other recognizable facial lines...it just looks bizarre to me! I like this years picture a lot more, wrinkles and all. (Every time I look at this, I keep telling myself to just blink already!!)

Rik didn't get a back to school picture. But see if you can find him in the picture below:

(This was the front page of the sports section in the newspaper yesterday.)