Lots O' Pictures and FOOD!!

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Island Park and stayed in a cabin for 3 nights. I think there were 28 Finlaysons down there over the weekend. We had so much fun and ate and ate and ate!

Here's a little run down of what we did:

1. Leave Idaho Falls with van packed with enough treats, candy, snacks, and food to feed a small army. There is barely room for the kids with all the food packed in the van. Stop off at Jack in the Box for burgers to eat on the way.

2. Get to the cabin, unpack the food, and immediately start eating.

3. Stay up really late eating nachos and candy and laughing.

4. Wake up the next morning and make a yummy huge breakfast... I'm not even going to say how many eggs and how many pounds of bacon we went through...

5. Pack up vehicles with lots of food and snacks so that we might not starve when we go into Yellowstone for the day. Start snacking the second we get into the cars and take off to the park.

6. Drive, eat, oooh and ahhh through a small portion of the park.

7. Stop for lunch at Old Faithful.

8. Drive and eat some more.

9. Go back to cabin (eating all the way back) for dinner. You had your choice of turkey, ham, and pulled pork... nope, I'm not kidding. The kids roasted hot dogs and marshmallows too.

10. Snack the rest of the night on Hello Dollys, rice crispy squares, sticky Chex mix and brownies.

11. Get up the next morning and have breakfast... just cereal though.

12. Hang out at the cabin doing puzzles and talking and playing games and sleeping and eating some more.

13. Fry up 100 scones for Navajo tacos with all the fixings for lunch. Make a note that next time make an additional 25 scones, and we would be just about right.

14. Hang out and snack the rest of the afternoon.

15. Rik and a group go back into the park to hike some more, and then call on their way home wondering if they need to stop in West Yellowstone and pick up something for dinner, cause he doesn't know if there is enough food at the cabin. Try to laugh hysterically, but can't because I'm just SO full from having Italian chicken, tons of fruit and vegetables, and salad for dinner. Ask Rik if he is new to the Finlayson family, and tell him to just come back to the cabin and eat... sheesh.

16. Taisha starts not feeling so good... stomach just isn't handling this much food.... she opts for no dinner that night.

17. Wake up to Kayden's favorite meal of the whole weekend: all the left over food fried up together, with toast and juice. Clean up the cabin and head back home. We decide to skip Big Judds mondo hamburgers on the way home.

18. About 1/2 hour into the drive home Taisha says she thinks she's going to be sick... 15 minutes later Malia complains of a stomach ache... we get home, and Kayden says his stomach hurts... and it took me two days to feel like myself! But holy cow it was worth it!!! It was so fun and so yummy and we loved every minute of the weekend!


Here's Malia and Kayden's school pictures from this year... they are both looking so old to me this year! Volleyball and cross country are in full swing at this point.

Hmm.... Maybe this is the year for a calendar...

School started last week, and I was a really good mom with the three youngest kids, and remembered to take their pictures, but totally forgot to get pictures of Kayden and Malia on their first days. Oops. (Maybe a bad mom moment, but really, I only forgot when I was home, I totally remembered when we got to the schools, but I didn't go running after them in my pajamas to get a picture... so you might think bad mom, but Malia and Kayden both think WAY good mom!)

So here's a picture of Kayden on the 6th day of school.


And here's a picture of Malia on here 7th day of school, and first volleyball game day (which is why she has yellow ribbon weaved into her hair that doesn't match anything she's wearing except her bright yellow nail polish, but WILL match her jersey perfectly!)


Kayden participated in the mud run last Saturday. It's Hillcrest's tradition to come in dead last, and completely covered in mud. He loved every second of it. His first real meet is next Saturday in Soda Springs.

So I just might need a calendar this year, but I'm really fighting it! Here's why I'm thinking I just might need one:

First, I took Anaya to the dentist a whole month to the day early last week. (Why in the world did the dentist office send me a reminder post card TWO months before the appointment! I mean really, how is THAT going to help me remember!)

Second, I signed Anaya up for dance, and she has been really looking forward to going, so I got her up, dressed in her leotard, and sent her over to the neighbors house (we're carpooling), and Anaya came back a few minutes later totally devastated because it actually starts NEXT week. Bummer. My sweet neighbor came right over and invited Anaya to come "play" dance with Addison for that hour. Whew. So here's a picture of Anaya all ready for dancing next door.

Third, the kids seem pretty involved again this year. McKay and Taisha start gymnastics this week (at least I think it's this week, maybe I should check). Taisha started piano lessons, Malia is taking piano/organ lessons, and is singing in choir. She also made the volleyball team again. Kayden is running cross country again this year, and we still have lawn jobs to do as long as the weather is good.

Fourth, good grief I almost forgot Anaya's birthday. I don't know if the calendar would have helped that though, because on August 19th my cell phone reminder went off and reminded me that Anaya's birthday was the next day. Only her birthday is the 10th, not the 20th. Duh. So a calendar only helps if you know the right date to begin with.

So everyone keeps asking me how I'm doing with Anaya in school now. Even my kids ask me what I do when they are all gone. Apparently they don't notice all the clean cupboards, blinds, back corners of closets, shower curtains, etc... maybe that's just for me. But I love it! The house stays clean and quiet and it does wonders for my mood. I do lots of cleaning, very efficient errand running, and sometimes even splurge and do nothing!! I did finish the first Percy Jackson and the Olympians book (loved it!), and started the second, but it is on hold for right now because the second Hunger Games (Catching Fire) came out today, and it's sitting here tempting me to not do anything else.

The first week of school went pretty good. I was a little worried about McKay (am I ever not worried about how he's going to do?), but he has done way better than I thought he would, and his only complaint was that it was kind of boring. Whew. Every Sunday night after the kids go to bed Rik and I watch America's Best Dance Crew, and I decided maybe Rik has been watching too much of this show, because I send the kids off to school by saying "Love you! Have a good day!" and Rik says "Represent!" in his best "from the hood" voice. And they have no idea what he's talking about.

Kayden's Adventures!

Kayden has been on some pretty awesome hikes this summer. I think he hiked and camped in every weather imaginable, and came home completely soaked each time. So maybe if you are having a drought problem where ever you are, I could send Kayden over for a little while, and it could rain, hail, snow, and blow... cause I'm pretty sure the weather is following him! Good thing he's tough!

I thought it was bad last year!

Do you remember this from last year? Maybe it's just me... but he sure looks a lot older this year... when did that happen??

Oh, and while I was scanning cards in, look what we picked up at the scout office yesterday:

Now if I can just get his court of honor all planned....

Ack!! Where did my summer go?!?!

Well, I don't know how this happened, but it's already August 12th! This summer has gone by so quickly. We have all our school shopping done (which was somewhat overwhelming with 5 kids in school this year... and definitely not cheap!!), all the kids are registered, and we have started transitioning to earlier bed times. I'm kind of bummed. But only kind of, because we've had a fun summer, still have a few fun things planned, and the kids are starting to get bored enough to be looking forward to school starting. Here's a quick little look at what we've done the past few weeks.

Lani got baptized! I thought I was getting old with my baby going to school this year, but Deborah's baby was baptized!! That weekend was a lot of fun for us. Rik and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary that weekend, and had a nice little one night get away. I sure do like him! When we got home we packed the kids up and went to Soda for the baptism and the yummy food after (still wishing I got another helping of pavlova... Deborah makes the best!)

The following week Kayden went back packing for high adventure camp. They went up near Stanley to the River of No Return. But he did return... very dirty, wet and tired! He had a lot of fun though. It rained and snowed so everything he had came home wet. I'm so very glad I'm a girl.

Kayden came home Saturday and we left early Sunday morning to go to Tremonton for Kingi and Laura's baby blessings? baby's blessing? babies blessings? Hmmm... must be time for school to start back up... I have no idea how to word that for twins! Cute babies, really yummy Mexican food, and lots of family made for a fun Sunday! As a bonus, even with going to the wrong church, and not really knowing where we were going, we made it to the right church with plenty of time to spare... like 30 whole seconds!

Atreides Prince and Atrinity of Peace

Some of the cousins

Ya, they're cool...

Anaya turned 5 this week. I had a bad mom moment and almost forgot she had a birthday (it seems I was a little TOO preoccupied with school shopping... thanks mom for reminding me!) It all worked out though and Anaya told me she had the bestest birthday ever! I gave her a few ideas of things we could do... go out to eat at Leo's, go ride the bumper cars, sleep over, picnic at the park, finger and toe nails done, etc; and she didn't even have to think about it... she wanted her nails done. She's such a girl.

So we took Taisha and the two little girls from next door and headed over to the beauty college to get their fingers and toes all beautified.


Then we grabbed some hamburgers and ice cream for lunch. For dinner, Anaya wanted pasta (that's what she calls chicken alfredo), salad, and strawberry shortcake with no strawberries and no cake... so she had a couple bowls of whipping cream, and the rest of us had whipping cream WITH strawberries and cake. I think last year she wanted peach pie with whipping cream, minus the peach pie. Silly girl.

T-Ball Picture

McKay had his t-ball party the other day and he got his pictures and, more importantly, his medal (which he wore for 3 days straight!)

All My Little Fishes!

I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but my kids love swimming! This weekend we hit Ross Park in Pocatello (pictures above), the splash park in Rexburg, and Rigby Lake again (pictures below)! We took the two little girls that live next door with us to Rexburg and Rigby (we couldn't ask for better neighbors... and I don't think we will ever be able to move unless we take them with us!) It was so hot this weekend! I didn't even mind the 25 loads of laundry... all towels and swim suits! Kayden came with us to Ross Park but missed all the water on Saturday because he was in Island Park riding four wheelers (this was a good thing... because he probably would have died at the splash park... lots and lots of little kids!)