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.

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

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.

Nov 24 2012

Temple Square

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Karin

Corey and I have been wanting to take the kids to Temple Square in Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights for a long time. The last time Corey and I saw the lights was December 1998. That’s before we were married. There is a lot that has changed on Temple Square since the last time we were there. We knew the kids would enjoy the beautiful lights. The day after Thanksgiving was the best time that worked for our schedules. Although I don’t know if we would go at that time again. Apparently as soon as it gets dark people come out of no where. We spent most of the day exploring the buildings and all around temple square with very little congestion. As soon as the lights came on we were shoulder to shoulder with all the people. It got a little crazy trying to navigate through the crowds. By the end of the evening we were tired and sore from walking. On the way home we stopped at In-N-Out Burger and had dinner. It wasn’t long after we got back on the road that the kids all fell asleep. We really wore them out.

Inside model of the Salt Lake Temple.
Found in the South Gate visitor center.

Preston viewing a video of the different rooms in the temple

The kids on the temple steps

The family in front of the temple

The old tabernacle

Levi in the Church history museum.

Kids in front of a life size model of the angel Moroni that is found on top of most LDS temples.

The nativity just outside the Tabernacle

Temple square before dark. Taken from the conference center.

Temple with the lights on

Temple with Christmas lights on.

A blue tree that Preston really liked

Nov 24 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Karin

We don’t have any family that lives close so sometimes Thanksgiving can be a hassle or a little depressing. Not this year. We have a couple of friends who also don’t have any family near. We combined forces and had a big Thanksgiving feast. We did this last year and thought that it turned out so well that we would do it again. It turned out well with only one hitch. I had a band-aid on before I started pulling the meat off the turkey but not after (eeewww). I was freaking out that someone would find it in their food. Reminded me of that friends episode when Monica looses a finger nail. Anyway, we did find it later while cleaning up and it wasn’t in the food (yay). We did have a good laugh over it. What a great night. Always so much better to spend the holiday with a large group of people. There was 21 in all. Thanks Jennifer and Andrea for saving our Thanksgiving.

Carving the Turkey with Jennifer

Sitting around the table

Kid table

Little kid table.

We had quite the spread

Dessert. We had 6 yummy pies.

Nov 1 2012

Halloween 2012

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Karin

The pumpkin bunch

Hey! Look at this I’m actually up to date on my post. Anyway I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. This year we, as a family, decided to do a family costume theme. So here is the story.

There are these two criminals at large. Very dangerous. They are wanted for grand theft, larceny, leaving the toilet seat up, and crimes against a pizza. Their recent heist was stealing a giant bag full of money. Anyone who had information about these two are asked to contact the FBI.

FBI finally got the bad guys.

We had so much fun with this. The boys were chased by numerous people trying to receive the reward. We also had a lot of kids pretending that they were thrown in jail. Harry Potter was a frequent guest in our jail along with “the Hulk”, a gangster, and the money bag herself. Halloween is such a fun holiday. It’s a time to step out of your shell and be who ever you want to be. After the trunk or treat Preston went with his friends to trick or treat and came home with over 5 lbs of candy. Sophia and Levi went with their dad around the block and got just about as much. I hope this year will be a year they all remember. We really had a great time.

Sophia and her daddy trick or treating (at our house.)

The super awesome FBI agents

A better view of the jail and Sophia being Sophia.

Oct 26 2012

Meadow Lake 2012

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Karin

Our campsite

After posting about the snow the other day it occurred to me that I haven’t posted for a long time. So I decided that it was time for me to share our camping trip we had at Meadow Lake this year. We went the first weekend of October. It has become a tradition for us. This is our third year. This year was extremely cold. As soon as the sun went behind the mountain until it rose up at 9:45 we huddled inside our sleeping bags in the trailer. Once the sun was up we were able to move around and play. Preston liked to go to the Lake and fish. We spent a day in the ghost town of Gilmore. Gilmore is an old mining town and we even found an old mine that was safe to explore. On another expedition we hiked up the mountain and found a pond that was frozen over. The boys tried to break the ice with rocks. Yes, and when I say boys that means Corey too. Even though we were freezing at night we had a lot of fun and created a bunch of memories.

Preston fishing by the lake

A fort Corey and I built for the kids

exploring the mining cave. It was so dark in there.

An old stove in one of the many run down mining houses.

part of the ghost town of Gilmore

The “boys” trying to break the ice

The Edwards Meadow Lake 2012

Jul 18 2012

4th of July 2012

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Karin

We have a tradition of going to the parade every year. This year was no different. The kids love the parade. At one point in the parade a live band with drums and guitar went by and Levi just started rocking out. Corey started to record unfortunately he missed the best part but still got a little snippet for you to enjoy.

After the parade we played and ate lunch with some friends at Gem Lake. We did this last year and I think it should become another of our traditions. Later in the evening we like to watch the fireworks. We usually go to a place off Skyline near our house but one of our friends invited us over to see them in their backyard. This was really fun too. Corey and I forgot the camera so no pictures of the fireworks this year. I love that even though we are far away from family we still feel like we have family close. The friends we have made in this neighbourhood are great. What a great way to celebrate our country’s birthday. Hope you all had a great 4th too.

Waiting for the parade

Our big group trying to squish in the shade

In A Nutshell

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

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