Utah Trip

We had an end of summer vacation last week and visited some of my family who live in Salt Lake City. We spent four days with my brother and sister-in-law and my sister and we had a really wonderful visit. It's a seven hour drive from La Grande to Salt Lake and while the girls were very well behaved along the way, they did get tuckered out pretty quickly. If only they could have slept like this the entire way.....

Aunt Tracie made a yummy chocolate cake for our visit and so the next morning for breakfast Aunt Sue let all the kiddos have cake. Who doesn't eat chocolate cake for breakfast when you're on vacation???? My niece, Katie, had most of the cake on her face but she didn't mind one bit having her picture taken.

You can't visit Salt Lake City without visiting Temple Square. Even amidst all of the ongoing construction of downtown, you can still have a really nice experience seeing all of the landmarks there. The visitors' centers are always beautiful as well as all of the gorgeous flowers and fountains.

We really only lasted a couple of hours because it was 100 degrees in Salt Lake that weekend. Too hot! If the weather had been more bearable we would have spent much more time there looking around.

One night Uncle Todd barbequed for us for dinner. And everyone knows that you can't have a BBQ without having s'mores! Here is Aunt Tracie with Emma and her cousin, Luke. Aunt Tracie is so silly when she is around all of the nieces and nephews. That's why they all love her soooo much!

Luke had chocolate on his hands, his face, his ears, his neck....everywhere!

Of course, Katie, found it more enjoyable to actually play with the marshmallow instead of eating it. No matter how messy the little ones get, they are still so adorable.

Unfortunately, the batteries in the camera stopped working after two days on our trip so I didn't get near as many pictures as I wanted to. For some reason the camera started working again for a little while on our way home. We stopped in Perry and Brigham City to pay our respects to our deceased family members. This is a family tradition for us and it's a good way to teach the girls about their ancestors and the importance of family history work.

Our plan was to be able to visit with all of our friends who live in the area while we were there. But Emma unexpectantly came down with a flu bug so two of our days were spent nursing her and making sure that she was feeling better. We thought it best that we not spread germs to our friends so we stayed home. We do miss all of you and will be in touch the next time we are there.

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.

Anyone Up For A......Triathlon?

This morning my friends and I participated in our first ever triathlon! It was a really wonderful (and exhaustive) experience and I'm SO glad that I did it! Never in my life would I have imagined that one day I would complete a triathlon so I feel a great sense of accomplishment. If any of you are wondering just what is involved, it requires a 1/2 mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and then a 5k run. We have been training together all summer.

I finished in 1 hour 49 minutes. My good husband was there to take pictures throughout the morning. Unfortunately for me, it's near impossible to come up with a flattering photo after nearly two hours of intense physical exercise....LOL (Pictured: Alisa Rasheed, Jeannette Smith, Elise McIlmoil, myself, and Erin Jones.) I sure love these girls! We've done a half marathon and now a triathlon - I wonder what's next for us?

4th of July

While I know that the 4th of July has long passed us, I couldn't resist putting up a few pictures of how we spent our day. Somehow time just gets away from me so I'm really late in making this post. Our day started out with playing in the sprinkler outside. The girls had a good time and eventually turned the water guns on their dad who was a great sport. Emma really did have a good time, although her facial expression may not look like it.

Later on we went to visit an Oregon Trail Interpretive Park which was really interesting. The girls had a great time running along the wagon rivets and the trails. Plus, it was in a really beautiful area in the mountains.

The day wouldn't have been complete without a family BBQ and fireworks to top it off.

Mother and Daughter Outing

One of the things I love about our stake is that each year it holds a Mother & Daughter outing. Emma and Samantha and I were able to go up last weekend for a few hours and enjoy the company of the other mothers and daughters from Church. I love spending time with my daughters. They are very special little girls.
There is a rickety old bridge that crosses over Catherine Creek. It swings when you walk over it so, of course, all the kids have to run as fast as they can because it messes up your balance. They think it's great fun!

There was a craft pavilion where the girls were able to paint rocks and make popcorn trees and flowers out of yarn.

The Circus Comes to Town

Last week the circus came to La Grande and we decided to go as a family. We have never been to a circus before and figured that a quality circus would never come to rural Oregon. However, we were pleasantly surprised. There were some really exciting acts and some fun animals like the tigers, lions, and elephants. Despite the rain and wind and cold, we had a wonderful time together. Here is a picture of the girls standing by a bear. The video is of the girls riding the elephant!! Are our girls cool or what? For the rest of their lives they'll be able to tell people that they once rode on an elephant!

Living Room Campout

The girls decided that they wanted to have a campout outside. This would have been just fine except that the nights are still too cold here to be sleeping outside. So we camp up with a compromise and they camped out in the living room instead. We thought that they would give up during the night and just crawl into their beds but they made it through the whole night of sleeping on the hardwood floor and lots of blankets. It was pretty cute!

Joy School Graduation

Samantha completed her first year of preschool and we are quite proud of our little girl. We had a family dinner with the other families involved in the joy school program and a little graduation ceremony where Samantha and her classmates sang songs and received a "diploma" from Miss Karen. She learned so much this year and is looking forward to one more year of preschool.

Last Day of School

Emma completed her kindergarten school year on June 4th. Samantha and I were able to go to her classroom and sing songs and play games with the rest of the kindergarten class and then there was a school wide BBQ afterwards. The year went by so quickly and Emma loved every minute of it! She is going to miss Mrs. Huntington as her teacher and miss all of her classmates. We're so proud of Emma and all of her accomplishments!!!

My sister Shellie and her husband Joshua were in town visiting this weekend from Wyoming. It was also my other brother-in-law's birthday (Bryce) so as a family we decided to get together at another park in the mountains by our home and have a BBQ. It was the perfect day for a picnic and we all had a great time together. Here is Sam and Emma with their cousin Karlie.
Grampa, Emma, and Karlie taking a little break.....
Here is Samantha sitting and having a little rest
For some reason the guys thought they needed to eat lunch together - away from the wives and away from the children. Gee.... wish us girls would have thought of that.
All the cousins together. Ashlynne and Myah are alot older than the other cousins so they are really good sports about playing with the younger kiddos.
Some of the kids and grownups went on a little hike together. When they came back Gramma had sliced up a watermelon so everyone could have a refreshing and cool treat.
We had a water balloon throwing contest so here are a couple of shots of Emma and Sam hitting the target!

It sure was a great way to spend the day!