Rise and Shout

We attended the first BYU football game of the season this past weekend in Utah.

It was so enjoyable being there as a family!

True blue fans

Courtney and Mallory made these hair bows at my friend Jennifer's home.

She had found the cute paw print ribbon earlier, and she showed us how to make them.

She always makes the cutest things! She owns the website http://www.allthingsribbon.com/

It was really hot at the beginning of the game
Thank goodness for water!

However, they don't let you bring any food or drink into the stadium now

(even your own water bottles). So this means you have to purchase water.

Pretty good money maker since they charge $2.50 per bottle! Sheesh!

Down on the field after the game. Notice the dreamy look in Jace's eyes?

Jace practicing. (He said only 7 more years until he'll be playing on this field)

I sure do love this cute bunch of Cougar fans!

Starting Seminary

Well, Aliysa insists on continuing to grow older. She recently celebrated her 13th birthday.

She is attending seminary at a private school where the students just meet once a week for school, then do the rest of their school at home during the week. They have seminary first thing in the morning there, and they usually start their students at age 13 because they graduate from High School a year early. We figured that it wouldn't hurt for her to start there too, and it is nice that it is only once a week. The teacher does a good job, and he is really talented in teaching teenagers. Aliysa's first day was today, and she really enjoyed it.

Fun times

Here's some fun, miscellaneous recent pictures.

Andrew insisting on buttering his own waffle

Zach & Andrew are really inseparable.
They have enjoyed floating the river numerous times this summer. We bought an inflatable kayak and they are both my kayak buddies. They sit so happily while we float down the river, usually singing "row, row, row, your boat". They like it because on the "merrily, merrily..." we rock back and forth in the kayak while they laugh delightedly.

This helmet is missing the top pads inside. When he runs back and forth in the family room, it slides down in front of his face completely.

Joe and Sara came to visit. It was so fun to see Bob, Joe, and Gumby all together again (Gumby & Kristi just moved back from Scotland, yeay!)

When it was time for our nightly "scripture, song, & prayer" time before the kids went to bed, we had to be serenaded by the Lamoreaux brothers instead. If only Lawrence Welk were still around, they could definitely be in the running for a spot on his show.
(I know Mom is rolling her eyes since whenever she visits us, she must endure these same kind of antics while trying to help get our kids to bed). Gotta love these entertaining boys!

Harvest Time

We really had a pathetic garden this year. I could use the excuse of having a baby this spring, but I know plenty of people who have new babies and still make time for the garden. Aliysa did do a wonderful small garden for herself, but I had really been wishing that we had planted more than just tomato plants for our family garden. So, I prayed that if anyone had any excess produce, they might think of us. Well, that prayer was certainly answered, I just didn't know it would all come within two days!

The picture above is produce from our friends, the Partridges. They brought it to our doorstep exclaiming "Partridge Produce!" They gave us a ton of produce, which we are enjoying so much. They also brought an entire box of apples which we are in the process of preserving.

Zucchini from our friends, the Calls. Bob also brought home an entire box of bananas that was on sale for $7 at the grocery store. Yesterday I made 11 loaves of zucchini-banana bread. Yum!

The kids and I picked raspberries at my friend, Jamie Bradley's home. We enjoyed them with fresh cream and a bit of sucanat. While many hands made light work of the picking (we picked these all so fast), it is also true that many mouths make the berries disappear even faster.

Aliysa and Jace are wet in the picture because they jumped in the river on the way home from berry picking.

A couple of days later Jamie called again to say that her freezer had stopped working the night before and all the raspberries she had picked had thawed. She didn't have time to make them into jam, so she was wondering if we could please come get them so they didn't go to waste. Wow! We all ate bowlfuls of vanilla yogurt mixed with berries, and still had bags of berries left.

Aliysa and I stayed up late and made honey-sweetened raspberry freezer syrup. I decided I didn't want the seeds in it, so we strained all the seeds out. That was a lot of work! But it is worth it, it is so yummy! We took some, along with zucchini-banana bread, to Jamie to thank her.

Our apples aren't ready yet, but our trees are loaded. I've told the little boys that they may not pick any off the tree yet, but if they find any on the ground, and bring them inside to ask me, they may eat them. They love running outside to check for apples on the ground.

The cornfield just around the corner is harvesting their corn, and selling it right as they pick it. Yum! Here are the boys shucking it for us. (Yes, I think they have lived in their swimsuits this summer!)

What a fun time of year!

Little Abby is 5 months old today!

Here's a clip from today, Spencer was making Abby laugh

Here's some pictures from yesterday. Bob is gone at WoodBadge, and we are having summer cleaning camp here at home. We call this yearly camp "Camp Shipshape", and we alternate big cleaning projects with fun activities, like playing in the river, having watermelon eating contests, playing games, having relay races, etc. Yesterday we went out to the big swing on the island, and then played in the river.

Andrew discovered a type of prickly seed.

Abby enjoyed sitting by the bank. She loves to be outside!

The little red owie on her nose is where she fell over while sitting, and face planted right in the dirt when I had turned away for a second. I felt so bad!

Jace just started football, and as you can see, he's already getting way stronger!

Monarch Butterflies

We raised two monarch butterflies this summer, from tiny caterpillars to beautiful butterflies. Here's some pictures. Sorry they aren't too close up, I'm using our old camera since our newer, nicer one broke. Here's the Chrysallis, when it was turning black. It starts out a light emerald green color, then slowly turns black. When it looks like this, you know it is about ready to emerge.

At first the wings are small, wet & shrivelled, then they fill with blood as the butterfly slowly opens and closes them.

After this, we put the butterfly in a tree where it stayed for quite a while before flying away. The next week, our second butterfly emerged from its chrysallis. It was neat. We were excited to find these caterpillars & observe this little miracle in nature.

The caterpillars were named Fredley and Charlie. It's funny how when they are caterpillars, they are always referred to as males, but when they are butterflies, you just naturally think of them as females.

Happy Pioneer Day

Well, our camera is unfortunately out of commission right now. We're hoping to get it fixed. We've had an eventful week, and I really wish we would have had a camera.

Last week Bob's parents came to visit. It was fun to see them. While they were here, Bob talked his Dad into helping him kill our old chickens. They weren't laying much anymore, and our new chickens are starting to, so it was time. Aliysa spent the morning crying in her room, and Jace went out to help, but unfortunately cut the top of his foot open with the axe when he went to hand the axe to Grandpa Lamoreaux. He went to Community Care for stitches and a tetanus shot. They were going to put in about 5 stitches, but Jace told them he wanted a good scar, so they told him they would space the stitches far apart and they only put in three. He went to church on crutches the next day, but then had a quick recovery so that he could enter the "greased pig contest" at our stake Pioneer Day celebration.

Tonight was the long-awaited stake activity. Nan and her kids are visiting, and got to go with us.

The "greased pig" turned out to be a 250 lb. pig that was in no mood to be chased by a bunch of kids. So they let the kids rope him instead, and get a box of candy for a prize.

There was a dinner, but unfortunately they ran out of food because there were so many people there. Spencer was too busy to eat at first anyway, one of his first stops was to get in line at the dunking pool, and get dunked right away. Then it was off to the fish pond where he, Jace, Brandon & Matthew all caught trout with their bare hands, then caught more for some little guys who couldn't do it themselves.

The girls and the little boys all enjoyed horse rides. Mallory even got brave enough to get on a horse.

Jace and Spencer decided to do the "mutton bustin". I had never seen this before, and it was quite an event. I always have thought of sheep as quiet, peaceful creatures, but, as I stood in line with my boys, I realized they have quite a wild side. I began to be worried that my boys were going to be thrown and trampled to death.

Most kids were thrown within a second. Spencer donned his helmet, got on a sheep, and wow! he held on for quite a while. The sheep tried to buck him off, and he ended up hanging off sideways while the sheep leaped and ran for its life. Quite exciting. He got a good cheer from everyone. This is a fitting activity for our little farming community. I found it interesting to watch everyone, our stake president and other prominent members included, enjoy sitting around watching these terrified kids hold on for their life. There's just something about it that makes you smile.

Jace got on a real large sheep, and it took off. He was holding on to it so tight, that he started choking it, and it stopped in its tracks. He had to turn and whap it on the backside to get it going again. He held on to it as it charged through the crowd of spectators, and finally threw him off.

Well, everyone his happy and tired. I think it was a successful evening.

Independence Day Celebrations

We had a great time with our many celebrations. Bob was again in charge of the "Celebration of Liberty" (celebrationofliberty.org) This kept him busy.

Here are some pictures of our children on the day of the children's parade.

Other festivities included:

"The Tribute" (a patriotic fireside with speakers, songs, and a re-enactment of Patrick Henry's speech. We got the the script from St. John's church in Virginia. Bob was George Washington in the re-enactment, and he did a wonderful job.)

The firework show on the fourth of July - It was a hit, with the only glitch being that the huge firework that was supposed to go off at the very end actually went off a couple of minutes after the show ended. Other than that, it was great. We spent the day at the lake where the firework show is held. The kids and I had a great time. One of Aliysa's best friends who lives in Utah was here, so Aliysa and her friends had a blast together. We all kept from getting sunburned, yeay!

Our niece, Megan. She was here visiting from North Carolina.

Zach & Andrew enduring the heat, waiting for the parade to begin. Luckily there were popsicles waiting at the end of the parade!

Jace and his friend, Eric Call

Mallory had just learned to ride a two-wheeler without training wheels, so she was still a little shaky when she had to go slow.

My oldest and youngest daughters. Aren't they cute? This picture makes me feel old. Aliysa looks so grown up!

Our cutie pie

Father's Day

So, our internet connection was down last week when I wanted to post for Father's Day. Here are some pictures.

We tried to spoil Bob. We gave him breakfast in bed (poached eggs over sauteed asparagus, mushrooms, & onions, with toast, grapes, and apple cider), fixed him a yummy salad for lunch, and then had a delicous Mexican meal for dinner. We had taken our 26 rolls of film (!) to get developed that week, so we gave the pictures to him in photo books, and spent time looking at them on Father's Day. There were years' worth of pictures, they were so fun to see! The kids gave Bob the biography of Henry Eyring (Henry B Eyring's father). Hopefully it was a great day for the best Dad & Husband in the whole world!

Zachary made a card for Bob at church. But....it didn't quite make it to Dad without a "tax" (notice the chocolate on Zach's face, and the remainders of a "kiss" for Dad.) Zach explained happily that he did save half for Bob.

Perhaps not quite half? Unless you count what is melted on the card.

Abby was full of smiles for Father's day

Recenly Aliysa and I both read a "Jeeves and Wooster" book (Right Ho! Jeeves). We were both laughing so hard about one part of the book where Bertie gets in the bath at his aunt's house, and notices a rubber duck. He starts playing with it. It is hilarious. We read it to Bob, and he didn't think it was that funny. He informed us that he would play with a rubber ducky in the bath if there was one. Of course this sent us into fits of laughter. So, for Father's Day, Aliysa gave Bob a rubber ducky of his own. We haven't been able to get him out of the bath since.

Lastly, here are some pictures of Bob's adorable children

We love you Dad!

A few catch up pictures

I'm way behind on blogging, because our internet was down for quite a while (that's my excuse, but I was behind before that happened. It just didn't help any.) So here are a few miscellaneous pictures.

Jace dressed Andrew up in his clothes.

Abby is getting cuter every day. Jace takes such cute pictures of her. We have new kittens at our home. Actually this is an older picture of one of them. They are bigger and cuter now. Anyone want one? Free to a good home. Teri, should we tell Bonnie?

Our kids and some of their friends did some sand sculptures.

Mallory, your tummy is getting a little big!
Aliysa's friend Nicole. (Notice the arms folded behind her head)

Summer is so much fun!

Swim lessons

We went to Green Canyon for swim lessons from May 27 - 31. The children have two lessons per day (1 hr. each), then can swim during free time. They get a lot of swimming in! Jace, Courtney, Spencer, and Mallory took lessons. Aliysa was going to, but her rib hurt too much during the first lesson. (We think she cracked a rib or two during a bike crash a couple of weeks earlier.)

We go up with a bunch of homeschool families, and we all camp there for the week. It is great fun. The kids all play capture the flag outside non-stop when they are done swimming. I don't know how they keep going and going all day. Just the swimming alone would wear me out. They definitely sleep well, until we pull them out of bed for their 8am lesson.

The weather was pretty cold this year, which made it not as fun (not as much socializing, we would all just run to our tents or campers.) Luckily the last couple of days were warmer. The pool is inside, so the weather doesn't affect us there.

Spencer and his teacher. He was a fish! Quite fearless and ready to try anything.

Mallory and her teacher. She cried during most of her lessons, but she finally decided to cheer up and pass her skills test the last day.

Spencer showing off his treats that he earned

Jace doing some sort of backstroke.

Courtney

Jace thinking through his strategy for the next "capture the flag" game.

Mallory, and another red-head, Cosette

All tuckered out at the end of the day, too tired to wait for a bed in the motorhome.