Precious Children

I'm sure there are MANY of you out there who would agree that parenting is the toughest job there is. Most of the time we go through our days dealing with temper tantrums, fighting siblings, time outs, and feeling a lack of patience. But then there are those stolen moments when you peek in on your children while they are sleeping and you realize how much you love them and how special they are. You feel so grateful to be a parent and to have been entrusted with this most precious gift. I just couldn't resist taking these pictures of Samantha.

Isn't she beautiful?

Camping Trip

This past weekend we took a family camping trip with my parents. We went to Red Bridge State Park and had a wonderful time together! Although it was cold, the girls did well and enjoyed spending time with their grandparents and exploring outside.
Typical Sam....hamming it up for the camera.

My parents came back to our home and stayed the weekend with us and accompanied us to church.

It was a great end-of-summer activity for us to do. Now we can concentrate on back-to-school preparations. Where did the summer go?

Soccer Season 2009

We sure had a fun time with soccer season this summer. Emma has improved a lot since last year and she worked really hard each game. She also made some good friends which is an added bonus for her.

Thanks to both of her coaches, Jeannette and Elizabeth, for working with all the team members to make sure they had an enjoyable experience!

Her last game Emma was given a soccer medal which she was very proud of. And, as always, Samantha was excited to cheer on her big sister!

Huckleberry Picking

This past Saturday was a scorcher here in La Grande.....102 degrees! It's pretty rare that temperatures reach that high. We decided to get out of town as a family and head higher up the mountain where it was cooler to do some huckleberry picking. We also were very excited about Mark completing his Masters Program this weekend so we were in need of a fun family outing to celebrate! The huckleberries are everywhere right now so we got alot of picking done....at least Mark, Emma, and I did. My favorite quote of the day was when Sam said, "Emma, I can't help you pick right now. I'm too busy exploring!" She had a hard time focusing on filling up her bucket because all the berries were going straight to her mouth! They were just too temping! She also found a handy dandy walking stick which made the "exploring" much more fun. We haven't decided on what we'll do with our huckleberries - maybe some yummy syrup. At least we know that we have alot more berry picking trips to make before the summer is over.