Grand Canyon - better really late then never!

Okay so this post is about 5 months late but I didn't forget. I think I might try and catch up on some of the bigger highlights I have forgotten. Probably the BIGGEST is the much anticipated Grand Canyon Trip - and by much anticipated I mean Kyle has been on a waiting list for about 16 years for the family to get to do this again. And before I show how wonderful the trip was you all need to know the story behind me NOT being there.

About 11 years ago while we were engaged Kyle took me to dinner and told me he needed me to promise him something. He wouldn't tell me what, he just said there is something very important he wants to do with me and he needs me to promise I will do it before he tells me what it is. After much persuasion I gave in and promised. He then told me his family is on a waiting list to go on the Grand Canyon again (Kyle did this with his family when he was young) and he so badly wants to have that experience with me. After 10 years of marriage and 4 more kids when the time came for the trip he never mentioned me going. One day I said "Maybe I should go too just to see Adia have this experience"... I was quickly told "No. You wouldn't like it and not only would you ruin it for me you would probably ruin it for everyone." So I was uninvited and Adia took my place - WHATEVER!

But I was still SO HAPPY for them to have this opportunity and here are some pictures of the fun they had.

Getting read to go... hair station. Notice there are 2 people working on Adia. :)

Adia and Kyle ready to go!

Finally after years and years of waiting they are ON THE WATER! and they don't get to get off of it for 14 days!!!

The group was Kyle, Adia, his parents, 3 of his sisters (2 brought spouses), 2 brothers and their wives, 1 cousin, 1 nephew and 1 really old guy that is a long time rafting buddy of the family... he has done this trip I think like 30ish times.

Here are the guides - each responsible for one of the boats.

Group shot - when Adia got home she mentioned several times how lucky she is to have such a fun family...

but mostly she mentioned her love of UNCLE TY &

UNCLE BEN who kept her more entertained than the river.

And here she is with her wonderful Grandpa who pulled the whole thing together for everyone for a second time. Our family has so many amazing memories due to this man and his love of travel and water and nature and family!

The fun group again.

Here is what it looks like to set up a kitchen in a canyon.

Even chopping tomatoes is fun in there.

And what would they have done without all the card games???

Shaving is a mandate in our family... I was so proud of her for this picture. Kyle don't me that she probably wouldn't shave the whole time but I knew my girl would and I love that she did!

There is so much I could tell you about the trip and all the cool hikes they went on, the beautiful things they saw, the crazy rapids, the entertaining fights (yep, they are a real family) and more but I will just end with a bunch of adorable father daughter shots. If you can look past my two cuties than you will notice that yes indeed God is a marvelous Creator and his artwork in that canyon is truly awe inspiring. I'm so grateful Kyle and Adia had this opportunity!

The End!

A2 Piano

I realize that i am forever behind on this blog but my life is more full than ever. I recorded this as a thank you to the man responsible for us having this piano, and that is how it moved up the priority list. Enjoy!

Typical Middleton Moment

Just know, before you watch the video below, that Kaden looked like this about 30 seconds after the video and has watched it about 20 times. As soon as Adia told him she got it on camera he jumped up and started watching the video and cracking up. I have tough kids. :)

TURN THE VOLUME ON!

And now he has 2 nice little purple bumps on his face. One above and one below the eye. Am I a bad mom that this makes me laugh so hard.

Back 2 School

Well, we are back to school around here. I am slightly mourning my lack of a summer break but I am so excited for all the things we will be learning this year. I have fallen more in love with learning than ever. I'm enjoying each and every subject now and that makes for such a better experience. I sound like such a dork sometimes when I get excited about the new things I am learning but I don't care. I'm a homeschooling mom and I like it! I am so grateful that God chose to put our family on this path. It might not be for everyone but it is, for sure, for me!

Adia was asked to fill out a short interview for the first day of her CC class and I thought her answers were really cute. So I am copying her answers in here and I am asking the little ones the same questions. I want to document this.

Adia Paige - 12 years old

7th Grade - Challenge A

Interview from Adia's first day... I stole this from her planner.

When do you feel happiest? When I'm riding my horse, playing volleyball or with my papa.

What makes you sad? Injustice towards children and women.

Have you ever been really scared? Yes, when I found out my cousin had cancer, it went away and then we found out it came back way worse... he's now in heaven with Jesus!

What is your favorite subject? History!!!!

Do you have a food that you absolutely love? Sushi and Brazilian food.

What did you do on your last birthday? I went shopping, went to a steak house and spent the night at a hotel with my Papa.

Have you done anything fun this summer? I rafted the Grand Canyon

If you could travel any where in the world, where would you go? The Galapagos Islands.

What Bible verse means the most to you? Matthew 28:19 & Colossians 3

Avery Taylor - 8 years old

3rd Grade

What is your favorite subject? Art and History because History helps you learn about back then and I just like to draw and am just really good at it so I like it. Oh and I like learning John in Latin.

What do you like least? Math and Latin Grammar.

How do you think you will do this year? Really good.

When do you feel happiest? When I am doing art with anyone I know.

What makes you sad? Knowing that there are people dying in the world and that there are kids in Africa whos parents died of AIDS.

Have you ever been really scared? When I was in the cavern in Shasta. I thought something was going to be collapsing on me.

Do you have a food that you absolutely love? I like Icing on the Cupcakes coconut cupcake and my moms lava cakes.

Have you done anything fun this summer? Arts Camp at church and summer camp with the high schoolers.

If you could travel any where in the world, where would you go? To France cause I like being fancy and France is fancy.

What Bible story means the most to you? Noah's Ark because God saved Noah's family.

Kenyon Kyle - 6 years

1st grade

What is your favorite subject? History Sentences.

What do you like least? Latin Conjugations

How do you think you will do this year? Good.

When do you feel happiest? Free time at CC.

What makes you sad? When Adia fights me or gets mad at me.

Have you ever been really scared? Yes. Nope. I've never been scared.

Do you have a food that you absolutely love? Fish, and apples, yummy!

Have you done anything fun this summer? Starting soccer.

If you could travel any where in the world, where would you go? China cause I have friends there.

What Bible story means the most to you? Adam and Ever because they were the first people on Earth and they were the first ones to do sin.

Adison Faith - 4 years

Kindergarten

What is your favorite subject? History Sentences and the songs.

What do you like least? Writing, spelling and math.

How do you think you will do this year? Good because I like doing school.

When do you feel happiest? When I play with my friends and my toys.

What makes you sad? When people like punch me and push me on the cement. That's what Avery did today.

Have you ever been really scared? Yes. When I had a bad dreams. One dream there was a big swimming pool and there were sharks and Avery and Kenyon were in there and they were tossing a ball around and then someone shot the ball far away.

Do you have a food that you absolutely love? Sugar stuff.

Have you done anything fun this summer? Going to Shasta and Arts Camp and that's all.

If you could travel any where in the world, where would you go? Mexico. I really want to go there.

What Bible story means the most to you? Kenyon's Bible and your Bible and Avery's.

Kaden John - 3 years

Just taggin along

When do you feel happiest?

Dinosaurs

Do you have a food that you absolutely love?

Cereal and pasta and cheese and chicken and am I still sick mom? am I?

What do you NOT like? Giraffes

What makes you sad? Elephant

Have you ever been really scared? Yes. I had a rattle snake who killed me. It did. My rattle snake is in the bush. I do have one. It's in the garage. I do.

Have you done anything fun this summer? Play at the park.

If you could travel any where in the world, where would you go? To that forest (pointing at his picture and I tell him it's the bush in our front yard and he says "yes, I want to see it")

What Bible story means the most to you? Kenyon's

Do you want to tell me anything else about you while you are 3? Go to CC. Giraffe.

How big are you now? As big as my thumbs. All my fingers are big.

How strong are you? This strong (flexing).

What is your best trick? Ummm.. a front flip. I did it when I was taking a nap. I was asleep and now I'm awake.

More shots from day 1!

I have a feeling this is going to be our best year ever!

Kenyon Posted!

Click HERE to leave him a comment and make his day!

Carter Fun

We got lucky to have Uncle Ty and Aunt Christie join us for a week (a month or so ago). The kids LOVED having them. While Aunt Christie worked hard for the money, Uncle Ty worked hard keeping my kids happy and even helping me school them. It was awesome! Plus Kyle and I even got a double date with them, and I got a few documentaries in with them. I usually have to watch them alone and it was fun having real adult people in my house to learn with. I think they are hooked and are going to want to come watch more soon (just kidding, I actually think they might think my movie choices are a bit odd).

Here is just 1 days worth of fun.... I didn't pull the camera out too much.

Notice who is on top! I love it!

We got Uncle Ty to join us at the aquatic center, that i never go to because it stresses me out but with Ty's help we all had a great time!

While the little ones played with me and had fun in the little kid area, Kenyon and Avery enjoyed time with Uncle Ty doing big kid stuff.

Avery went first on the big inflatable...

Followed by Kenyon

and Uncle Ty.

Then they headed to the other one where Avery didn't know Uncle Ty was waiting to scare her. He really is so fun for the kids and seems like he actually enjoys it, like he's not jut trying to be nice. Look at his sneaky position. :)

We came to watch the big 3 for a bit.

Kenyon was in HEAVEN!!!!

Last year Kenyon was too short for the slide but this year he got to go first!

He LOVED it!

Uncle Ty has great water slide form.

And my little Avery was all smiles as well.

This picture is SO CUTE!!! I had to share it!

THANK YOU Uncle Ty and Aunt Christie for being so much fun! We LOVED having you stay with us and can't wait until you get kicked out again.

He's AMAZING!

Father's Day was super simple this year but I still wanted it documented on here.

Kyle had asked me to put the camera away for Father's Day but this was one of the few shots I got and I thought it captured some of the joy we all felt celebrating the fact that we have such an amazing dad in this house! The kids all put so much effort into their cards for him and it's getting to the point that no matter how good my ideas are, they seem to have the "perfect" plans already in store for him.

Every Sunday at our church, between services, they put out a table of food and everyone stands around, eating, snacking and chatting. For Father's Day I decided to make a "Donuts for Dad" table and it was a hit! I thought it would be a fun tradition to start and I think the kids agreed. I was busy keeping it stocked so Avery took this picture for me.

Well, that was it. But the simplicity of this post and these pictures do NOT reflect in anyway the feeling we all feel toward Kyle. He truly is an amazing father and I feel beyond blessed to be his partner in raising up our children to know, love and make known our Father in heaven. It's a big and overwhelming job at times but it takes a huge weight off my shoulders to know Kyle and I are in this together. :)

Carter Fun

We got lucky to have Uncle Ty and Aunt Christie join us for a week. The kids LOVED having them. While Aunt Christie worked hard for the money, Uncle Ty worked hard keeping my kids happy and even helping me school them. It was awesome! Plus Kyle and I even got a double date with them and I got a few documentaries in with them. I usually have to watch them alone and it was fun having real adult people in my house to learn with. I think they are hooked and are going to want to come watch more soon (just kidding, I actually think they might think my movie choices are a bit odd).

Here is just 1 days worth of fun.... I didn't pull the camera out too much.

Notice who is on top! I love it!

While the little ones played with me and had fun on the kid area, Kenyon and Avery enjoyed time with Uncle Ty doing big kid stuff.

Avery went first on the big inflatable...

Followed by Kenyon

and Uncle Ty.

Then they headed to the other one where Avery didn't know Uncle Ty was waiting to scare her. He really is so fun for the kids and seems like he actually enjoys it, like he's not jut trying to be nice. Look at his sneaky position. :)

We came to watch the big 3 for a bit.

Kenyon was in HEAVEN!!!!

and so was I.