Random Summer Moments

Cooking S'mores at Grandma and Papa's!

We LOVE Gavin!!!!

Swimming in San Jose... all time favorite!!!

We spend lots of time coloring or crafting at this table!

River Baptism! We love celebrating this day with our church family.

The boys did a service project for the girls. They made the cookies and practiced serving others. It was really cute and the girls were thrilled to get a break from school to enjoy their treats. Now, whenever Kaden wants a cookie he asks "can I make cookie for sisters".

Daddy BBQing moms latest recipe... Orange Thai Chicken... 4 out of 7 liked it.

Too much work for those kind of results!

Adia finally gave in and let my dad give Sierra to an amazing program that uses horses, therapeutically, to work with disabled children. It was such a hard decision but she knew Sierra would be great at it. Her only condition was that she gets to have KC and here she is riding her new horse for the first time.

Adia has been having recurring ingrown toenails since the begining of volleyball season. Here she is the day she got half of it removed. She was super tough for the 50 million shots they but in her toe.

NASTY!!!!

River day with Tati and Wellington. The kids sure love these Brazilians!

Adia did this project with the little ones. They LOVED it!

I LOVE that my kids know how to really ware themselves out...

I swear Adia wants to steal this baby from me.

One of the kids new favorites. I freeze a bunch of little toys in a large bowl and they get to use spoons to hammer them out. It gives me, at least, a good 30 minute break. It's been a big hit whenever kids come over too. I usually make a girl block and boys one!

Well, those were random moments but I've been SO BUSY. I'll post Father's Day, Uncle Ty and Aunt Christi's visit, the Grand Canyon and a few other highlights soon... I hope!

Mom CAN Do It!

This all started a couple Mother's Days ago. I had wanted to go to Tahoe to enjoy the day since it was too hot in EDH. I said I'd love to go for a walk with the kids. I was envisioning a cement path (like sidewalk) that goes through the beautiful forested areas with views of the lake. I have since learned those don't exist. Anyway, on the way there we saw signs for Horsetail Falls and Kyle says we should do that hike with the kids. He had heard it was beautiful and leads to a waterfall and it was about a half hour closer than going all the way into Tahoe. I was convinced and we pulled over to start my beautiful Mother's Day walk with the kids. Not long after we started on the very natural trail (meaning dirt, bugs and sticks), just a way past the stinking bathrooms, we arrived at a beautiful rock area with a gorgeous water feature (not sure what nature people would call it). After a good photo opportunity and a near death experience with a small animal on my flip-flop covered foot (and a bit of screaming and a bit of Kyle embarrassed of me) I was done and ready to go home. The kids and Kyle were annoyed because I guess we hadn't really started the trail yet. I insisted it was Mother's Day and I should decide. So with tearful kids and a frustrated husband we drove home silently.

That brings us to the day I conquered the hike. I decided it was a beautiful day, the weather was gorgeous and slightly cool (which I love). I told Kyle I'd like to do that hike again. He kind of laughed and then when he realized I was serious said "let's do it". The kids invited Grandma Jenny, Uncle Ty and Sarah. I wore shoes to protect me from the scary animals found all over the ground and we were off.

Now that it is over, I kind of laugh. It was fun. It was beautiful. I really enjoyed being out in God's amazing creation, with people I love, and would do it again any day - well as long as it was cool outside. Here are some pictures of what I conquered. And before you judge me too hard, know that I have hiked half dome. Did I love it? No. Do I think I might actually enjoy it now? Yep. Well, that is if I could physically do it, but the point is, if I could, I would. Of course, I'm not in the pictures but just know I had to be there to take them.

This picture was taken purely to make Grandpa Paul jealous.

We were a bit surprised but so excited to see patches of snow all over the place.

My HANDSOME boys!

Feelin' Proud

Sarah, the big sister that all the kids adore!

Love it!

Yes, Kenyon jumped in the freezing water... and yes, that is snow all around.

Aww... brothers are cute!

Adison was amazing out there.

She had a blast and looked gorgeous the whole time.

See, I was there.

THE END!

Avery's Piano Recital

Avery had her piano recital just the other night. She did a great job and it was fun to see her start the program off wonderfully. We are very proud of her and love watching her develop this talent. I can't wait to see how she uses it as she grows. Her teacher Mrs. Wanda is a beautiful woman with a heart for God and is so good with Avery (and Adia who she taught for a semester as well). Thank you Mrs. Wanda for being such a great teacher and thank you Avery for all your hard work!

Sorry the video is so dark but the lighting was bad and my new camera is AWFUL!

Happy Ascension Day

After Jesus conquered death, I love that he spent some special time with his followers, before going back home with his Father, where He belongs, seated at the right hand of God. It makes me feel so loved that after all that pain and sorrow, He was still willing to be with us. He knew they/we still needed their/our hands held a bit and He is always so willing to do that. I feel so loved and had to honor Christ's overwhelming love for us with my gang Thursday night. We had a very special time and the sky couldn't have been more beautiful. We found the highest hill near our home and we read the story in Acts 1. We talked about the power to witness, that Jesus gives us, we talked about how differently we might live if we knew He would be back this week, and we talked about people getting ready because Jesus is coming! It was wonderful and a new tradition for sure!

Kyle, getting ready to have a blast!

The beautiful sky we sat under that so perfectly fit the occasion.

Adison and her beautiful face and craft.

Here is Avery's. She said it is her praying to Jesus while she waits for Him to come back and looks up for Him. She also told me that if we knew for sure He was coming back tomorrow she would call every phone number she could think of and beg people to please believe in him. It was cute!

Happy Ascension Day!

(some people choose to celebrate it on Sunday even though it is technically 40 days after the Resurrection)

Next is Pentecost... still dreaming up a beautiful way to celebrate that HUGE gift we were given.

Food Monsters

We eat a lot of food in this house! In fact, the majority of my kids, I would bet, eat more than the majority of my adult friends. People with older boys always say to me, "just wait until they are teenagers". It doesn't bug me, but in most of those cases, I am confident my 6 & 12 year old already eat a bit more than their teenager! In fact, my FIL keeps crazy records of everything and he recently looked up how much he bought, when he had all 10 kids living at home. Well, it was no surprise to me that we matched him, in many areas, with only 5 kids and our oldest was 11 at the time. And we do NOT let kids eat as much as they would like. They eat a good portion and that is it. If we let them keep going, we would surely lose our home due to the grocery bill! We buy our eggs by the 5 dozen, we buy 4 gallons of milk at a time and considering no one in this house is allowed to drink milk, I think that is crazy, we buy flour in 25 lb bags and the list goes on! Any way, I thought it might be worth documenting how we buy our ground beef. It's a process that Kyle has down to a science. We bag it, to freeze, in 3 different sizes and every time I laugh. I can't believe, we really are THAT family! Maybe someday I'll show you the chicken routine. :)

Avery's Art Party

She's ready to party!

Due to the fact that we spent a week out of town and arrived the night before the party.

This is what the house looked like before we left for Tahoe.

A close up of the favors.

When the guests starting arriving, I started painting faces.

It was actually really fun for me.

One of my models.

Then an art teacher came and did an art class with the kids.

Avery and her designed the picture ahead of time and they all turned out SO GOOD!

Danielle and Adia even got in on the action.

After that we had dinner and birthday cake!

The girls got "artsy" and decorated cupcakes

We made this fun garland for above the cupcake table.

I really liked how it turned out.

And, of course, there were presents!

Then we puff painted the shirts we wore for the art class.

And lastly we took a fun group shot, said good-bye and then I took a long, much needed nap!

But let's not forget the real birthday.... for both birthday babies!

5 days after Avery's party... We woke up to a Toy Story table full of donuts!

Kaden got most of the attention on the 21st. He thought it was his party day.

Then we had a pretty normal school day and picked up the celebrating again when dad came home from work, I mean, when dad got off the river.

Big Sister worked hard decorating a "Buzz Cake"

- I bought plain chocolate cake and had her fancy it up.

The twins had a great time opening gifts! Avery's favorite was her new Razor 360. Kaden got mostly Toy Story gifts and his favorites seem to be the 2 stuffed Buzz and Woody dolls sent from Aunt Stacey.

Avery thought it was important they sliced the cake together for a photo opp. I LOVE it!

Of course they loved having family join in on the fun. Thanks for stopping by guys and adding to the joy!

Happy 8th Birthday Avery!

and

Happy 3rd Birthday Kaden!

YOU ARE SO LOVED!!!!

He is Risen

Not much time to blog lately. We have had 2-4 live-in guests over the past few months and that, on top of my normal life, leaves me a bit strapped for time.

But I couldn't forget to say that we had a wonderful celebration of our RISEN LORD over here. It has been a truly beautiful season of Lent and our family really tried to embrace the whole season and especially holy week. As usual, when we strive to meet God, He finds us and meets us. I can't describe some of the joy we all felt worshiping God together. But we did and I am so grateful for those moments. And I must add that having our friends from Brazil with us, has helped me be so aware of the Kingdom of God, here and now, and just so grateful for God, for having been so gracious to my family in drawing us to him.

Of course, I am only sharing the highlights I want to remember. We are a normal family and had normal and often outbreaks of totally NOT God honoring moments as well. No need to go into details on those though.

Here we are enjoying Easter Cinnamon Rolls and Treats.

My HANDSOME boys before church.

Group Shot! I LOVE it!

Hope you all had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday as well!

I hope to keep the Easter spirit strong around here and have our first family Pentecost celebration in a few weeks.

If you have ever done that and have ideas - pass them on.

Oh and we didn't forget our kids birthdays...

I'm just waiting on some pictures before I share how fun it was.