(The boys are very good piano players, but I had to remind them a few times that practicing means playing through the songs more than just once and finishing in less than five minutes.)
(one night, McKena had to price different things in the house and then purchase them. She was so smart! She lined each item up from most expensive to the least expensive. Umm...Kade didn't want to miss out on the homework. He wanted to be priced too, so he was the most expensive at ten cents.)
Did you know that Lisa cannot sleep with ANY bit of light what so ever?? Well, we happen to have a five foot lamp post outside lighting the side walk. Our room is on the second floor, but somehow, according to Lisa, the light passes through the tightly closed blinds and illuminates our room, causing her to awake. After about our first night, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Every night, Lisa climbs up on top of my bed and our dresser to close out the excess light with her blanket. She squishes her fingers into the crevice where the blinds meet the top of the window sill. In the beginning, she put our two bathroom towels up to block out the light. Now, we get to see her lovely bobcat blanket every night. Isn't it lovely??
We also went to the pumpkin walk the other night and got some lovely pictures from that. So, I just wanted to show you who the real princesses really are.
Well, I did it. On Monday, I went to my cousin, Traci, and had her chop my hair all off. I was a bit worried about getting my hair so short and even more concerned about having bangs (considering the last time I had bangs, they were like flowers protruding from my forehead). When Courtney first saw it, he said I looked like someone who could vote for Obama. I'm not too sure about that, but it's a bit fun for a change.
Hannah enjoyed her birthday at High Creek.
While we were there, we went exploring and found some great walking sticks. They were a good idea until Trevor started to hit people with his small walking stick. They were promptly put into the camp fire after that.
Dad has a really good looking straw hat that makes him look like Kenny Chesney. What do you think?
Emma and Aspen came and stayed with us for a while. Those girls are so cute and were fun to have around.
Mom always seems to have fresh supply of ice cream bars to eat on Sunday. The kids would play in the backyard and after we had ice cream. What a wonderful way to spend a summer Sunday evening.
Courtney likes to go out with the kids and play with them in the backyard. This is of Courtney stealing kisses from Emma in the swing. I wish I had a video of it, because it was so cute.
The new swing set has been a hit. It accommodates a lot more children and I can even swing on it now. This summer was filled with loads of fun out in the backyard.
Then on Monday night, our family celebrated with at family home evening at Evan and Diane's house. The program was lovely with an allotted time for picture taking with Grandma,
a ceremonial releasing of her posterity represented by balloons (87 just so you know),
a wonderful slide show presented by Vanessa, and receiving a picture and life history of Grandma. They are awesome and took a lot of work. Thank you! Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this so special.
(Before the show began "the children" were told to sit on the floor. We took a few pictures and told them to look like they love each other...notice the arms around everyone in the bottom picture)
(and I just couldn't leave this out. Trevor is just so cute. We took pictures took keep him occupied.)
Lisa said, "Grandma pull a funny face." Grandma replied, "I already have a funny face."
***After about 2 minutes into the hike, we had a hard time keeping Trevor from stopping every few steps to find a good skipping rock (thanks Brandon). We had Trevor ride on Garricks shoulders for the remainder of the hike
*** Kaitlyn and Hannah thought the hike was way too far for her legs. I gave Hannah a piggy back ride for a good part of the way. Courtney kept pushing Kaitlyn, even though she didn't like his gentle motivation. The most frightening part for everyone was crossing the oh-so-scary bridge. Kaitlyn had to close her eyes to get accross and Hannah tried not to look down at the raging water.
When we arrived back to the campsite, Grandma Hall and Grandma Richards told stories of our ancestors.
A cook out wouldn't be complete without Smores! Mom even made apple cobbler, but the kids sure loved roasting the marshmellos.
(notice Mom's perfect marshmellos. She always makes really good ones)
