Sep 4 2013

Last summer Hurrah

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Karin

Family Photo at Harriman State Park

For the Labor day we went for a hike at Harriman State Park. This is the last fun thing we got to do before school started the next day. It was beautiful. My friend told me that I was pretty much guaranteed a moose sighting. Well she was wrong we didn’t see any moose. We did however see a lot of moose scat but no moose. We did enjoy the water fowl that we saw. There were a lot of geese, a few swans, a pelican and a couple of cranes. We did the golden lake loop which was a very easy hike. We hiked in total 4.5 miles. The only person who seemed tired of walking was the littlest. It’s the longest she has hiked without having to ride on daddy’s shoulders. It drizzled on us off and on throughout the day. It was never enough to soak us through but enough to keep us cool. This area is also one of our favorite spots to cross country ski. They groom the trails in the winter and it is so beautiful covered in snow.

The trail through the meadow

Stopping to look into a pond.

One of the winter warming huts.

Taking a break.

A Couple of swans.

Our destination Golden Lake

Sep 3 2013

School Days!

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Karin

We survived the first day of school! This morning when I woke up at 6:30 am to get the kids ready for school we found that they were already awake and dressed. This is a monumental year. My youngest started kindergarten! I thought I might get teary eyed as I dropped her off at the school but actually I didn’t leave the school. Yep, I stayed to help the PTO pass out teacher gifts. I went home and only had about an hour before Sophia came home. I now have a kindergartner, a 3rd grader, and a 6th grader all going to the same elementary school. I have a feeling that this is going to be a busy school year.

Preston 6th grade 2013

Levi 3rd Grade 2013

Sophia Kindergarten 2013

So excited to go to school!

Sophia and her good friend waiting in line.

First bus ride. She loves the bus.

Jul 9 2013

4th of July 2013

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Karin

Wow we have had quite some weekend! We start with the 4th. It was jammed packed with fun stuff. We woke up at 5:30 am and went with Corey to help road block for the 5K firecracker run here in Idaho Falls. The kids had fun watching the runners go by and seeing some fun costumes people had on. Then straight from the race we went to the parade. We didn’t get a nice shady spot this year so it got pretty hot. Luckily we were well covered in sunblock. Then it was off to Gem Lake to hang out with our friends and play in the sand. We stayed there for a good 4 hours. Unfortunately some of us did get sunburned after 4 hours. Mainly it’s because they forgot to reapply on their shoulders. Later we were lucky to have Nami and Nampa Edwards join us for the fireworks. The show was an hour late because a 27 year old kid decided he wanted to swim to the island in the middle of the Snake river and drowned. They had to search the river and postpone the fireworks for an hour. So sad, it kind of put a damper on the festivities. By the time we got home we were beat. Sophia fell asleep in the bike trailer before the fireworks even started so she missed the whole thing. I guess it will be a year we never forget.

waiting for the parade

Corey and Sophia walking on the sandbar

Preston and his little buddy Seth playing in the water.

She may look sweet and cute here but…

she covered herself in sand. It was everywhere.

waiting for the fireworks

Sophia and her good friend Candice. Her mom made cute outfits for them.

Jul 9 2013

Camping

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Karin

Our family loves to camp but unfortunately we haven’t had too many opportunities this year. Corey got a new job in May and he has been travelling a lot. He’ll leave Monday morning and not get back until Friday evening. This makes planning a camping trip difficult. We decided to let the kids have some fun and camp in the yard. The boys thought that camping in the backyard was awesome. Sophia tried to follow them out there with her pillow and blanket but, to her disappointment, we didn’t think she was old enough to stay out there. So we set up a tent in the living room for her. She lasted about 10 minutes before she ended up in her own bedroom on the floor. The living room was too scary for her. I’m sure that if the living room was too scary than the backyard would’ve been too much for her.

Boy’s in the backyard

Sleeping in the living room.

Jun 23 2013

A hiking we will go

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Karin

We have gone on a couple of hikes this season. We did Hell’s half acre again but this time we hiked a little further along the red line. Sophia walked about 2 miles but Corey had to carry her for a mile in between. It was a fun first hike.

What a cute group of people

Eating lunch

Family Photo

Corey Hiking with Sophia

Preston Shooting his new BB gun

Another hike that we went on was Palisades creek trail. It is actually a pretty easy hike just really long. In total we hiked about 5 miles (Sophia 4 miles). If you went about 1.5 miles more then we would have made it to the lake. The kids kept complaining all the way hiking in but on the way out they were just fine. On the way back we sang songs to take their minds off of hiking. I wish I had thought of that on the way in. Corey and I are hoping that we can make it to the lake next time. It was a very pretty hike.

The creek that goes along the trail.

Pretty wild flowers

Hiking the trail

More traill

More wild flowers

Corey’s sneeky bouquet. He put flowers in my backpack while I was hiking.

Mid point over look.

Jun 22 2013

Recitals

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Karin

I’m playing catch up again. So much has happened in the last month. Right before school ended we had to recitals to go to. We actually would have had three but Preston’s violin recital was the same night as his piano recital so he had to pick which one to participate in. Since he just had a performance in Orchestra a couple of months before he decided to participate in his piano recital. He did a very good job and loves playing the piano. This is his first year and he has picked it up pretty quickly. I have a recording of one of the songs he did with his dad for his recital but I can’t figure out how to download it. So maybe if I can figure it out I’ll share.

Preston’s Solo

Duet with dad.

All the students and there teacher Mrs. Smith.

Another recital we had was for Sophia. She has participated in the Let’s play music program. This program teaches the basics of music theory through songs and play. This is a program that gets the little kids a head start on playing the piano. It’s a three year program and Sophia just completed her first year. She had a lot of fun with this and she can’t wait to start again in the fall.

Teacher with all the students

Cute kids

Getting her certificate

May 16 2013

Birthday Girl

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Karin

Sophia eating her birthday breakfast.

Five years ago our family welcomed the sweetest little girl into this world. Sophia has been such a blessing in my life. She loves to follow her big brothers around especially Levi. Corey and I often fight over who’s little girl she is. Her response is always “you have to share me” then we both ask why and she says “that’s the rules of me”. Her favorite color is purple and she loves cats. This morning I asked what she wanted for breakfast she said crepes. So she got her special breakfast. She also wanted to get her hair cut. She has very thin fine hair and so a lot of styles are hard for her. She actually wanted her hair to look like the boys cuts. We compromised and cut it just above her shoulders. Tonight for her birthday dinner she wants to go to Arctic Circle ( I know every mother’s dream, right?).

I can’t believe she is 5! She will start kindergarten in the fall. She is the baby and it’s tough as a mom to see that last one start to grow older. She is the sweetest thing in my life right now and I wouldn’t trade her for all the money in the world.

Corey put up streamers

Streamers for her bedroom door.

getting haircut.

New hair cut!

Birthday dinner at Arctic Circle

Birthday cake

make a wish

Opening presents

Present from Nami and Nampa

Apr 4 2013

Easter

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Karin

Right before church. Looking pretty all dressed up.

We had a great Easter Sunday last week. We did our traditional Easter egg dyeing on Saturday evening. After church on Sunday we had the kids look for eggs in the backyard. This has become a tradition of ours this is the 7th or 8th year that we have been doing this. We prefer doing the egg hunt in our back yard rather than fight the crowds of people at the public hunts. This year felt a little different than most. I think next year we aren’t going to focus so much on the Easter bunny but rather what Easter is all about our Saviour. I think we might have been missing that a little this year. Corey and I did enjoy singing with the choir at church and when I asked the kids at dinner what they thought Easter was they did tell me all they learned about Jesus Christ. So it wasn’t totally missed. Maybe it was just me but next time we are going to remember a little better.

Dyeing Easter eggs

Preston really getting into the hunt

Levi looking for his eggs

Eggs in a nest. (Corey made the nest for Sophia)

Aren’t they just so cute?

Feb 14 2013

Happy Valentines Day

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Karin

This morning I surprised my kids with a Valentine breakfast. I decorated the room with streamers and hearts. They were so surprised. Levi my second grader asked if I did this all in one night. It really wasn’t hard but he thought I spent a lot of time.

The hearts were left over from last year. I had to cut out a bunch of hearts for Levi’s school valentine party. I saved them knowing that I didn’t want to have to cut hearts again and also knowing that I could use them over and over. There were a few big hearts that I chose to write a little note to each of my kids on. This was very simple but made a huge impact on my kids this morning. In the note I just told them how much I loved them and some special things that they do that bring happiness to our lives. The streamers were left over from Sophia’s birthday party last year. Corey helped hang the hearts on the ceiling fan and wal- lah we have a Valentine room ready for a special breakfast.

little notes for the kids

enjoying their valentine breakfast.

heart shaped cinnamon rolls

I like to do a special breakfast in the morning to start the day off right. Last year I made heart shaped french toast. This year heart shaped cinnamon rolls. I got the idea from pintrest. I have a really yummy cinnamon roll recipe so I made the dough yesterday and let it rise in the fridge all day and when the kids went to bed I rolled it out and put it back in the fridge. I woke up at 6:00 to put them in the oven. I put it on delay start for a half an hour that way it had a chance to warm up and rise. By the time 7:00 rolled around we had fresh warm cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

I also like to make a cute lunch so the kids can keep feeling the love during the day. I cut their sandwich into a heart and this year I put some vanilla yogurt in a dish and cut some strawberries for the top. There is a note that goes on top of the yogurt container that says “I love you berry much”. So simple but every year the kids tell me how much they appreciate it.

lunch packed with love

flowers from my sweetheart.

My cute little valentines.

My sweet husband got me flowers and chocolates for Valentines. This is a huge step for him. I hardly ever get flowers because he thinks what’s the point they are going to die in a week anyway. So I really do love these flowers. He surprised me with them last Saturday and look they made it to Valentines day! Valentines day is a good day to tell anyone special how you feel about them . My family hears that I love them everyday but today I got to show them in a special way. I hope you take the time everyday to show your loved ones how you feel and if you don’t at least take a little time out today to do so. Hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day.

Jan 28 2013

Snow Day!

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Karin

Preston, Levi, & Sophie enjoying the snow.

This morning around 7:24 am my boys are all ready to head out the door for school. Teeth are brushed, hair is combed, and lunches are made. We hear from their dad school is cancelled it’s a snow day! Immediately you hear a mighty cheer come from the boys at the same time you hear a mighty groan come from their mom. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy having the boys around but I also enjoy the peace and quiet when they are off to school. So we have made this day a productive day. After the kids did their chores which include cleaning their rooms, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, and picking up all the toys around the house we made this day a true snow day.

It snowed around 6 inches last night and around 3 inches the day before. We also have about 12 inches that was already accumulated from before.When we shovel the driveway we always shovel to one side. We do this because we live in the great state of Idaho where the wind never stops blowing. If we shovel to the other side of the driveway we are back out there shovelling the drifts. That means we have quite the mound on the one side of our drive. So much so I have to chuck the shovel of snow over my head.

I decided the kids would have a lot of fun with a few caves and tunnels. It was a lot of hard work but the kids really did have fun making the tunnels. This is a great memory to go down in the books. They spent so much energy on making the tunnels that they haven’t even had a chance to play in them yet. We came in for hot cocoa and we are letting their snow stuff dry. Hopefully later in the day I can send them back out to play.

Preston in his cave/tunnel.

Sophia in her cave/tunnel. It connects to Preston’s.

Levi working hard on his cave. He put the most effort in.

Preston’s and Sophia’s cave.

Levi’s cave

Another entrance to Levi’s cave

In A Nutshell

Take time to listen, to laugh, and to play together– Elder M. Russell Ballard

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