Father Son Camp Day 3

Sunday is a good day at camp.

We started out with the Breakfast of Champions - Krispy Kreme Donuts! That will do well for the training....although they balanced it with a yogurt so we are good!

After breakfast we boarded the buses for Temple Square for the Music and the Spoken Word Program followed by a Sacrament meeting in the Assembly Hall.

We got to see Debby, she was right in the middle of the 4th row from the bottom. The program was very cool - a Memorial Day Tribute. Senator Orrin Hatch was there....in fact he attended Sacrament Meeting as well and sat in the row next to us.

Sacrament Meeting had Coach Rose speaking followed by the former YM General President Charles Dahlquist. He gave a great talk on Heroes, being prepared, etc.

After Sacrament meeting we boarded the buses again to eat lunch at This is the Place Heritage Park, then made the trek back to the Dorms at BYU.

Zach and I then took a walk around the track, the football stadium and the baseball stadiums. After the rain in the morning, it turned out to be a great sunny day.

For some of you, you will also recognize someone in the picture here....for people in the singles branch in Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Stake, we ran into Jason Hammond and his son Brayden who were also attending the camp. It has been fun catching up with them.

More Father Son Day 3

Pictures around campus

Father Son Camp Day 2

Some more good shots of Zach at BYU.....today was a long but very fun day.

Today started with camp meeting, soccer was next, then baseball, followed by golf and then ball handling before lunch.

After lunch we had a basketball video session. I actually learned something interesting there....BYU basketball doesn't get carte blanche access to the Marriott Center. They have to rent it out like everybody else. Because BYU has always had a big Christmas Around the World production in December (in the Marriott Center), BYU is forced to play most of their games in December away from the Marriott Center. A little bit of trivia for you.

After video we went to a contest session...contests consisted of lighting (the knockout game). Zach finished 4th out of 17 boys...I finished 6th out of the 15 Dads. We then had a free throw shooting contest...Zach hit 5 of 10 and I was actually in the running at 9 out of 10, then one of the last two Dads hit a perfect 10 of 10.

After contests we went to 5 on 5 basketball...considered a victory to not get hurt. One guy took an elbow, cut his chin open which required stitches!! This follows the day yesterday where a Dad broke his leg playing flag football!! All in good fun!

We finished the day with volleyball, then after dinner had a comedy improv. group for entertainment, followed by a camp movie - "Forever Strong". Very cool day.

Zach and day 2 photos / video

Three man weave at camp

Zach in action at BYU

Zach doing the three man weave drill and taking a breather!

BYU Father Son 2009

Zach and I are off on our 2nd trip to the BYU Father Son 2009 camp. We are staying in May Hall in Helaman Halls and once again are in heaven with the all you can eat meals at the cafeteria!

Potty-training: It's such hard work!

I started potty-training Elise yesterday and she's doing great. After a rough start, it seems that she has decided that she'd rather camp out on the potty than have another accident. She couldn't be sweeter. I guess she's just plain worn out from all of the excitement! Honestly, this is the best potty-training experience I've had, (4th time) because she's just so sweet and eager to please. Hopefully, she'll get a little more confident and spend less time on the potty waiting for things to happen...
Hopefully soon she'll be back in the swing of things with her favorite playmate, Natalie, who as most of you know, definitely keep things fun and interesting!

Carousel Acres

On Saturday, Natalie went to a really fun birthday party at a farm. Her favorite thing was to ride the pony, and she was disappointed to only get one turn.
As you can see here, she was a little afraid to pet the animals at first, but she warmed up. There were reindeer, wallabys, emus, pigs, horses, geese, sheep, goats, etc. When we left, she said, "Can I have my next birthday party there?"

On Spooky Halloween Night....

These pictures came up in reverse order, but you'll get the idea. Elise is our "Candy" girl. Her new favorite word is "candy". She LOVED trick-or-treating and told everyone "Thanks!" in a deep funny voice. It was really cute! She thought it was very funny on Halloween night when her tongue turned totally green. We had to look in the mirror a lot!
Here is our typical Halloween picture. It was great, because the kids came up with their costumes themselves this year, with the exception of Elise. Ashley was a gypsy, Zach was a patriot and Elise was a ballerina. Natalie was planning on being a princess until one day she came down the stairs wearing all these gold medals. Zach said that she looked like Michael Phelps. Ever since then, she decided that was what she was going to be for Halloween! Her costume was a hit, with her goggles and swim cap and eight gold medals (people were counting them to make sure we got it right!).
We went to the Elementary school to see Zach walk in his Halloween parade. I thought he did a great job with his costume.
We were so excited to have Nana and Pa come up for Halloween! It just made it more fun for them to be here celebrating with us!!
Natalie looked great in her kindergarten Halloween parade! It was a really good day. The kids were so excited by all the fun they had, that when I went to tuck them in, they just couldn't stop talking about it all!

Finally- Not the "Most Boring"!

Every year, the kids complain that we have the "most boring" home in the neighborhood because I don't decorate much for Halloween. This year, Elise and I went to a local greenhouse and bought straw bales, corn stalks and pumpkins to decorate the front porch. When the kids got home from school, they were surprised and excited. Zach thought for a minute that he was at the wrong house. I think that our front porch turned out really cute! Finally- the kids no longer think that we have the "most boring" house in the neighborhood!

Pumpkin Carving

Elise's pumpkin was too little to carve, so she had a great time "coloring" it.
The day after Elise's birthday, we decided to carve our pumpkins. The kids drew out their designs and then we carved them. See if you can decide which design belongs to who. I think it's pretty obvious!
Everyone was very proud of their pumpkin carving efforts. I think that they turned out fantastic and had the most fun I've ever had doing it!
The kids loved pulling out the "guts", all except Elise, who wouldn't touch the inside of the pumpkin. We saved the seeds and roasted them. Yum!

Pre-carving, the kids proudly display the pumpkins they picked from the patch.

Yay for Number 2!

My sweet little blessing, Elise, turned two years old on October 11th. She spent the day going from soccer game to soccer game. Here she is with her best little friend, Lizzie.
We decided that we needed to do something other than drag her along to everyone's soccer games, so inbetween, we went to Three Cedars Farm. I was so sad that I forgot the camara!!! She had fallen asleep when we got there and so totally missed the hayride out to the pumpkin patch, but did wake up in time to choose the cutest tiny pumpkin. I think that she was totally jostled on the hayride back, but did manage a few smiles in between looks of concern. She loved drinking cider and eating donuts, though, when we were done with our hayride.
After the last soccer game, we went out to Red Robin (kind of a family birthday tradition). She LOVED getting a great big ice cream sundae and put up with the waiters and waitresses singing to her.
Elise loved opening presents, and the kids were so happy with her reaction to the presents they picked out.

That night we went to a friends house to watch the BYU game, and I made her this crayon box cake, since one of her favorite things is to color. It was gone very quickly!

It's hard to believe, two years later, how hard it was to get her here to earth. It was not easy, but so worth the pain and suffering!! She is definitely a light in our life!

Mommy's little helper

Elise loves to be with Mommy all of the time, but especially when I am cooking. She loves to stir everything, but has had to be taught how to take turns. I love having little helpers (Natalie loves to help me, too.) Elise and Natalie both love their new aprons made by Aunt Larraine!!

One Fine Day

Our Primary sponsored a ward Talent Show. As a primary presidency we performed a lip sync of "One Fine Day". I was the designated hair and make-up person, and we all had coordinating outfits. These pictures were taken after we got home that night, so I look a little worse for wear, but you get the idea. We were a big hit (we had choreographed the whole thing) and lots of people almost didn't recognize the president and the other counselor because they looked so different with the whole sixties hair and make-up thing. My favorite part was wearing false eyelashes!

Two little buddies

Natalie and Elise have really started to play together. They are little buddies and have so much fun together. Elise loves to wait for Natalie to come off the bus every day. She's so glad that there is still someone in the house who still likes to play babies.
Ashley took this picture of Elise and Natalie showing off their "bracelets".

First day of school!! 9/2/08

Today was a big day for Ashley. The first day of middle school!!! She was so excited and cute and had a great day. She is just thriving in her new environment.
Natalie and Zach are my elementary school kids. Today was Zach's first day of 4th grade. He told us that his new teacher, Mr. McMaster is pretty strict, but that he thinks he'll be good.
Natalie LOVED kindergarten! She has been so ready for school to start! She came home telling us that her teacher is Mrs. S'more (can you tell we just went camping?). Her real name is Mrs. Moore.
Natalie didn't want to let go of Zach getting on the bus! He was a good protective older brother and showed her the ropes.
Natalie was so happy coming off of the bus. Kindergarten has been so much fun. Natalie is so sad when it is a weekend. She doesn't want to miss a single minute of it. When was the last time you were sad to see the weekend come? (When you were in Kindergarten, maybe?)

Labor Day Vacation 2008!

What a crew! We had a great Labor Day camping trip with Mom and Dad, Michelle and Sarah and Jeremy's family! We especially loved swimming in Rousch Lake. We made a chain of people on floaties. The kids loved it!
Zach and Brayden spent a lot of time on Aunt Michelle's air mattress (who would have thought?) and never wanted to get off.
I had to show proof that I was actually there!!
Natalie and Rachel loved hanging on to Grandpa's toes and dragging him around.
The kids really loved camping! We hadn't gone for many years and after this I'm sure we will be going more than once next summer. They loved our monstrous tent, hanging out with cousins, attempting to light a fire with real flint and steel and carving anything they could get their hands on with pocket knives. One of my favorite memories was going mountain biking with Will and Jeremy, Ashley and Zach, and Brayden and David. I had Elise in the child seat on my bike. It was hard work, but there were really fantastic views!!
Elise loved playing with her big sister, Ashley!
Natalie always has a good time as long as she has someone to play with!
These two boys couldn't be closer if they were blood brothers. They have such a good time hanging out together!
The three cute little girls have a sandy lunch by the beach.
What fun to have Aunt Michelle come play with all of the nieces and nephews and teach us all the most fun camp songs! I think that will be one of my kids favorite memories!
I have such a great family!! Hopefully next time, we'll be able to have more of the family join us!