Happy New Year!

This year I'm going to try to keep this blog up to date. This is the photo we took on Isaac's blessing day. It shows how much everyone has grown since I've posted!

Summer's End

We have only one day of summer left. The kids have mixed feelings about going back to school. They have definitely kicked up the activities a bit to try to get the most out of the last days of summer. They are building a rock house up at rock hill and have even made mortar to stick the rocks together. They are definitely creative!



The summer has flown by. We had 2 weddings, a family reunion, YW camp, scout camp, cub scout day camp to name a few. Renetta recently got engaged so I have been trying to help her with wedding plans too.



We have had some temporary pets. The most exciting for my kids were the barn kittens they found in Bo's barn. They were determined to keep them, but it really wouldn't work so instead the found them homes. But while they were here, my kids loved them and spent all day with the 3 little kittens. They even used scrap wood and built the kittens a house out in the tree rows. I didn't think the kittens would actually want to live there, but it was a fun project anyway!

The kids have also worked hard on their "home" on Rock Hill. They even spent a whole day up there just eating out of our garden and pretending to be pueblo indians. Rayann and Lauren wove shoes out of yucca needles. They turned out really cool.

The Year-end Update SUMMER

Wow! I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted to this blog. I don't know if I can catch up in one post or not, but I'm going to do the best I can at giving a recap of the past 6 months...

So let's start with the summer:

Rebecca & Steve were married on June 20th in the Logan Temple. One neat thing about this is it was my parents' 35 wedding anniversary. My mom's parents and grandparents were also married on this day in the Logan Temple.

Spencer turned 1 on July 10th.

He is a fun baby. He didn't walk until September. He had so many people to carry him where he wanted to go.

As tradition, he got a cake all to himself. Most of it just got mushed. He had a lot of fun with it though.

Maggie & her family came through on their way to UT so we got to meet Ada for the first time.

Emma and Evie just loved each other.


Here is the whole crew we had together.

We had my brothers while my parents went to Yellowstone with the Allens.

Then my oldest 4 children went with Grandma & Grandpa Rawlings to Wynot, NE. I don't have photos of them there, but they had some serious adventures in Bow Creek and the Missouri River. The day I came to get them, Rayann, Jarom, Randin, Ryan, & Reed thought they would try to swim to South Dakota across the Missouri River. They didn't realize how wide the river actually was, and by the time they gave up they were quite far down stream. We started getting worried when it got dark and they weren't home. Grandpa went out looking for them and found them walking back upstream to where they had left their bikes. I felt very blessed they were home safely after realizing just what they were doing! They also collected a bunch of crystals near the river and fished in the pond. They even milked a cow on a real dairy farm! What an adventure!

The big trip for the summer was the Wind River Trip we took the first week of August. We took all the Rawlings who could come and our 3 oldest children. That deserves its' own post, so I'll get to that one next time!

School's Out-Is Summer Here?

School got out on June 5th at 11:00. My kids had cousins over all the rest of the day and I think we fit the whole summer fun into one afternoon! Actually the fun really started the night before when we go the worst hail storm we've had for a long time. Too bad I had just planted all my tomatoes, and other plants in the garden. Not much left of them now. We had hail as big as golf balls!




Well the storm washed out a couple of gophers that my dog found and brought up to the house. They were pretty drowned and weren't moving much. Hyrum found them and was so excited. He came and got me to show me his "pet". I told him it was a wild animal and not to touch it. I figured Thad could "take care" of them when he got home for lunch. We all went inside and I was changing Spencer when I hear Hyrum screaming. He was back outside and his finger was bleeding pretty good. "My pet bit me!" Well...what a surprise. I don't think he will be picking any gophers up any time soon. Even if they are mostly dead. I went to check on the gopher and biting Hyrum must have been its final act.

When the kids got home from school we BBQed some hotdogs and hamburgers and had watermelon. Savannah, McKay and Lauren had made welcome home signs for the kids. It was really sweet. After lunch everyone wanted to go to frog pond. (See previous post from last year to see where that is.) They spent a couple hours there and caught 2 frogs.

When they got back we had a fire in our fire pit and roasted marshmallows and starbursts. Spencer had to sit in a box to keep him from climbing into the fire.





After the fire was out the kids all played pirates and princesses outside. The most exciting part happened when Jarom was capturing Savannah and putting her in the window well (I think that was the plan anyway) and looked down and found a tiger salamander. It was pretty big too. After catching that and playing with it for a bit, we let it go in my flower garden (well, what was left of my flower garden after the hail storm).

Now, doesn't that sound like a full summer in one afternoon!



Since then, we have washed the suburban, gone to cub scout day camp, gone bowling, and just enjoyed being outside. I don't think it's been over 70 degreees here yet though. So much for outdoor water fun. Actually, we've had rain pretty much every day.




Spencer at Day Camp- June 12th


Someone let him finish their ice cream cone--he does look pretty cute with a goatie and mustache!

What's new

Today is Levi's 7th birthday. He made cupcakes for his class last night...but we had a SNOW DAY! So instead we get to play at home all day. We made crepes for breakfast with yogurt, strawberries, bananas and cream and have just taken it easy so far today. We will do a friend party next Saturday. The weather should be nicer then. Savannah and McKay came over to give Levi a birthday gift and they played a bit of Guitar Hero and then attempted to go sledding. It was a bit too cold though--they just froze.

We are taking Levi out to dinner for his special day tonight. He wants a happy meal, but I vetoed that one.

Last week was spring break and we all went to Utah. We took Elder Luke Gervais to the MTC on Wednesday and then Thad came back to Cheyenne to work. I stayed out with the kids and helped my sister, Rebecca, find a wedding dress and took engagement photos of her and Steve.

Rebecca & Steve are planning to be married on June 20th in the Logan Temple.

The Richeys were such amazing hosts. They put up with us for the whole week and entertained the kids while I was helping my sister. They sure know how to have fun...swimming at the Lehi pool, Boondocks, movies, and Guitar Hero! Heather, THANKS SO MUCH!

We got back Saturday night about 9:30. I drove the last hour through a blizzard with a very sad baby. That wasn't much fun, but we all got home safely. Raymond came over for Easter and we dyed eggs. It's his favorite holiday! He's pretty good at dying and hiding eggs. Nana fixed an amazing Easter Dinner for us all (Thank you Nana!)

Easter Sunday

Spencer at 9 months:

Spencer turned 9 months old Friday. This is at the BYU terrace gardens that day. He is just barely able to get around. He does a caterpillar crawl that is pretty slow. He goes backwards most of the time. He loves to give raspberries and loves to be held, preferably by me or Thad, then Rayann or Jarom. He loves easter candy--especially peeps. He still has no teeth. I'm OK with that though.

Here are a couple photos of Emma from her birthday in February. Missed blogging that one, but I took lots of photos.

Saturday January 24

Saturday I snapped some photos of my cute little Spencer. He was having so much fun playing with the football. He is sitting up really well and reaching for things. We have officially kicked him off the table and into the highchair because he kept knocking over everyone's cups. He is generally a happy baby, but doesn't like it when I run on the treadmill anymore. I have been getting up and running at 6 a.m. so I can actually run longer than 5 minutes without interruptions.

He was really happy and smiling until Hyrum tried to get in the picture. I haven't yet gotten a good one of the two of them together. Spencer always starts to cry.

We got about an inch of snow Friday night and so my kids bundled up and went out to play in it. They worked so hard to make a snowman. Rayann was out there 4 1/2 hours. They pretty much used every bit of snow they could gather to make this snowman. I guess the grass won't get any.

I was really impressed with how big they got it with how little snow we had. Rayann and Jarom were the finishers. Thad even had to go out and lift the body on. Thanks to Heather and the Richeys for the snowman kit!

Actually, our snowman grew last night because we got 4-6 inches of snow last night and this morning. It is too cold to play in it yet though. I'm sure the kids will be out in it again soon, though!

Butterfly Pavillion

Last Saturday we went to the Denver Temple for a sealing of a family in our ward. We took all the children down with us and Raymond came along too. Thad and Raymond went to the session, then Raymond stayed with the kids in the visitors center so I could go to the sealing. The family is Cary and Roxanne Uhrich. Roxanne was baptized last November. They had their 2 children sealed to them. So neat!

My kids were very ready to leave the visistor's center by the time we were done. Four hours was about all the quiet playing they could handle (especially after a 2-hour car ride). We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. On the way back we took the kids to the Butterfly Pavilion in West Minster. It is actually an hour from the Temple. Our kids were so excited. They are really into butterflies and bugs and everything creepy-crawly.

Well, we got there and discovered my wallet had been left at the Chick-Fil-A. Whoops! So...Thad drove all the back (after we called to be sure it was there) and got it for me. What a knight in shining armor. By the time he got back, the Butterfly Pavillion was about closed...so he missed all the fun! I hope the kids enjoyed this experience anyway. I was really glad to have Raymond with me to help corral the 6 kiddos!

There were butterflies flying all over the place.

Jarom had this butterfly climbing all over his face:

We all held the Taranchula named "Rosie". The lady wouldn't let Hyrum hold her even though he really wanted to.

After we saw all the exhibits, we played in the play area. It had huge bugs and fun things to climb on.

I have Raymond to thank for all the photos. My camera got left in the Suburban going back for the wallet. I should have gotten some photos of him though. Here is Thad after he finally got there.