Happy Birthday Cameron!

Cameron turned 4! He is such a great little guy, so full of fire, and not afraid to grab life by the horns and run with it. But when he is not attacking life (or his brother) he is so sweet and tender. I love this kid!


He wanted a Spiderman cake and this was my pathetic attempt at one. Wondering about the expression? I accidently put two trick candles on his cake. He was a little perplexed mixed in with a little irritated! He had, after all, blown out all four candles in one breath and had started to reach for his candles to pull them out when it started to light up. He wasn't sure what to make of it!

Halloween

So the final costumes were Strawberry Shortcake, a witch, a pirate, Buzz Lightyear, Andy went on vacation and I went a little batty (it's a headband I made)


Halloween was fun this year. We had several activities and chances to dress up. This did, however, impact the actual Halloween night's costumes.
The girls had a carnival at school the Saturday before and it started at 1 pm. With our unpredictable and never-ending summer, it was a mere 96 degrees. When I was seven, my mom had made me a Strawberry Shortcake costume and when we were at her house this summer, she dug it out for Briley. We must be the same size at the same age because it fit her perfectly! She enjoyed this hand-me-down far more than I anticipated she would! Thanks Mom! Emma wanted to be a raccoon this year but it was just too warm, so she chose to be Little Bo Peep (last year's costume) because she wouldn't be so hot. For our Halloween carnival at church a couple of days before she wanted to dress up as the raccoon. Since it was night time and in an air conditioned building, we thought she would be ok. She boiled all night long. Poor kid! So on Halloween she straight up refused to wear the racoon, but she did not want to be Little Bo Peep again. So we dug out the witch costume I made for Briley 3 years ago. She loved it and she was just right, not too hot or too cold! Cameron was all set to be Spiderman. I think we cooked him at the girls' school carnival. We stuffed him into Spiderman very unwillingly for the church carnival (don't you just love that grumpy face?!). Come Halloween, he absolutely refused to wear Spiderman (he was even willing to give up trick or treating to skip wearing his costume). I was not in the mood to stuff him in again so I said he could just stay home and not trick or treat if he wasn't going to wear a costume. It really didn't help when Andy came out of our room wearing a Hawaiian shirt saying that he was on vacation for his costume. So Cam disappears into his room a little distraught but not willing to dress up. He comes out a few minutes later with his pirate shirt and says he wanted to be a pirate. I agreed as long as he found a patch and a bandana. Seconds later he was dressed and happy! Logan was Buzz Lightyear from the beginning. He didn't care how hot he was, he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear. He still runs around with his arms out flying saying as he goes, "I am Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!"

Fall Fun

We decided to spend our day up in the local mountains in this historic 1870s gold mining town. We found a little mining company just outside of town that also had a little pumpkin patch. Once we got there, the kids were off tromping through the patch to find their perfect pumpkin.

Emma was out there for all of 2 minutes and came stumbling back with this 16 pound pumpkin!


Not to be outdone, Briley was in search of a larger and more perfect pumpkin than what her sister found. It took her a while, but she found it. Her perfect pumpkin was 20 pounds and without blemish.


Cam just wanted "a little baby punkin" and found just the right one.

Logan was not about to let his sisters show him up and had to find the largest one he could carry. So He couldn't quite lift it and Grandmere had to carry it back to the wheel barrow, but he did get it off the ground an inch or two!

I love this picture as they head triumphantly back to the car with their spoils!

After pumpkin picking, we explored the grounds a little bit and found a gold sluicing trough. It is a replica of one used back when the town was an active gold mining town. So we bought a bag of dirt loaded with treasures and dumped it into the trough. The kids had so much fun searching for their treasure as gold miners did so many years ago.

They found some really great treasures including turquoise, rose quartz, amythyst, fools gold, hematite, and some other -ite stones I can't actually remember the names of.


And the final activity of the day found us picnicking under massive, ancient oak trees and picking apples in a nearby orchard.









Logan had fallen asleep in the car and is a BEAR when he wakes up from a nap, and so he was not interested at all in picking apples (although he was quite interested in eating them!). Briley did well for a little bit but was unimpressed with all the rotten apples on the ground. She was having more fun spearing rotten apples with a stick than tromping through them to find ripe ones. Cams had fun for a while too but eventually lost interest and was off with Briley spearing apples. Emma, though, never quit. When the pickings were slim at her level, Andy picked her up to where the big apples were. They made quite the team!

Friday night picnic

With the warm weather, we decided to have a picnic for dinner Friday night. We went to our favorite airplane watching corner of the park downtown. Some friends came with us and we had a great time. The weather was just amazing and we learned some interesting things about airplanes. We discovered what the underside of a commercial airliner looks like. We discovered that, even though the airplane is a couple hundred feet above our heads, there is this incredible wind that follows behind it. We also discovered that following the wind behind the airplane is more wind, but this one whistles! This evening was so perfect and must be what President Hinckley (President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until his death earlier this year) was speaking of when he said that "successful families are established and maintained by principles of faith, prayer, forgiveness,...and wholesome recreational activities." This night was the stuff that binds our family together.

(This is my new favorite picture of the kids- it is so rare to get one where they are all looking at the camera and smiling!)




Logan was running around playing on the grass and there was this huge plane that was pretty low and it was loud. He couldn't stop running and playing but had to cover his ears while he was!

Is this what happens to a boy who has a princess for a sister? The princess points and laughs while Cam wears the pink crown! We have lots of blackmail pictures that all involve something pink-a batting helmet, kitty rain boots, Cinderella slippers and now a crown!

What's a little fun at the park without some wrestling!


Knowing that we were going to be outside, before we left the house, I asked the kids to grab their hats in case the sun was still hot. This is the hat that Em brought. She is our resident princess!

swimming in October?

October offers some crazy weather here. Saturday brought cold low 60 something degrees with lots of clouds. By Wednesday it was 97 degrees and blistering hot. And the following Saturday found us in 70 degree weather. Crazy! On that blistering Wednesday we decided we needed water but the beach wasn't an option. So we went swimming at a friend's house. Here are a few pictures from our afternoon adventure.

12 step program for little addicts

So we taught Cameron a new phrase the other day: "Hi, my name is Cameron. I am 3 years old and I am addicted to adrenaline." It seemed appropriate that he learn this because we are looking into finding a 12 step program for adrenaline junkies. Does such a thing exist?



I was sitting at my desk the other day and Cam climbs into my lap, gives me a kiss on my cheek and keeps going. He climbs up to the arm of the chair, stands, and jumps. There was nothing soft, no gentle landing. He jumped from about 3 feet and lands on the hard wood floor! I got up (because this was a moment that needed a camera) but that did not stop him. It didn't matter that my chair is on wheels on the hard wood floor. He climbed and jumped while the chair sailed the other direction! Can you make him out in the picture? I turned off the flash so you could see his motion.


The little adrenaline junkie got his high for the day jumping off the side of the pool!

more airplanes

What do you do when it's Friday before Fall Break and the air show is going on? Well, take the girls out of school early and head for the air show! Traffic is insane over the weekend (we did that once once and it was only worth it because we got a military police escort courtesy of our friend's boyfriend). We decided to try Friday and see if the traffic was any better. It was great! We were only at the military base for about 20 minutes when it was time for the F/A 18 performance. The kids lasted about 15 seconds (one pass of the jet) and were begging to leave. So we went in search of earplugs in the hospital building and suddenly they wanted to stay. A good friend of ours came to hang out with us. He made it in time for the Blue Angels performance. It is so amazing to watch the Blue Angels perform. They are supposed to be the the best the Navy has to offer when it comes to pilots, and I believe it! We also got to see some planes and helicopters on the ground. We even got to climb through the NATO plane and talk with its crew from Belgium. The boys just can't get enough of airplanes. As we walked by one jet on the ground, Cameron gently caressed it on the way by. He could not keep his hands off the planes and every one of them he could reach he tenderly touched, like you would a pet. I don't think fire engines are out, but airplanes are definitely moving in. Especially when he found out he could still be a fire fighter and fly an airplane! A new career path perhaps...

We never get enough

The wind has been really great and Andy has gone kite boarding a couple times a week. Cameron and Logan just could not stand being left home any longer. They threw out this incredibly persuasive argument that a mom just couldn't ignore any longer. So I promised that after we picked up the girls at school we would head down to the beach. Andy was already there and cleaning up his gear by the time we got down to the beach. It was about 65 degrees outside and the water temperature was about the same. But they were in the water all the same and having a great time. We were only there for about 45 minutes but it was enough for the boys to have their fix and we should be good for a little while!

Do you ever think about...

...why families are central to the Creator's plan? Do you ever think about why families are forever? Or why, as President David O. McKay once said,“No other success can compensate for failure in the home.” Or why the family, as the most fundamental unit of society, needs to be protected? I have really pondered these questions lately and have collected 8 answers (and a scrapbook layout!). Some seem silly and light-hearted, but they are the building blocks of our happy little family. Here they are in no particular order:


1. You always have someone to make silly faces with. If you can't be yourself with your family, who can you be?


2. You always have someone to hold your hand on your big day. Life is full of scary adventures and you never have to face one by yourself.



3. You always have someone to play with; you never have to be alone.



4. You always have someone to hug. It is amazing how a hug, from even the littlest one in the family, makes your day so much brighter.



5. You always have someone to read to you. Sometimes in life we are too weary and just need someone to tell us a good story.



6. You always have someone to kiss you. A kiss; such a simple gesture and yet it is full of so much love, so much kindness, so much compassion.



7. You always have someone to sleep with when you don't want to be alone. Some nights are just too frightening to be alone and you need someone there with you.



8. You always have someone to lead you when your path seems uncertain. Sometimes we falter along our path in life and we need someone to lead us to that next part where we find our way again.