Autumn Colors....So beautiful

We went to Palisades last weekend to take advantage of the leaves changing colors. There is something about the beauty of this that speaks to me. We had a little picnic at Calamity by Palisades and most of the pictures are from Sheep Creek, one of my favorite places to see the amazing contrasts of color. Enjoy!

Casey's Latest Hike....Austin Canyon, Big Elk Creek

First day of school Photos

Fall is in the air....

Well the kids are now all in school and life is getting back to a routine. I went through another phase of I hate my hair and went and chopped it off again. This time it is really short. I see a lot of my mom in me now, it was a little shocking to realize how much I really do look like her. We just recently went and got newer family pictures taken, only 3+ years since our last ones. Thanks Kim. CJ just received his ISAT score from last year and he placed advanced in all subjects, can you tell me why he is so advanced in everything but it is quite the job to get him to read anything. I finally told him he has to read a whole AR book before he can play the Wii again. That is motivation. Joseph is doing well in 2nd grade, he loves school. Sarah has completely skipped 6th grade math and was put into the 7-8 level book for math. She wants my help with algebra. Silly girl. Mom doesn't do math. If you can't add, multiply, divide or subtract it, mom isn't interested. Matthew is being his wonderful 3 year old self, (sarcasum intended). Potty training is making me go crazy. I have started to Zumba once a week and absolutely fell in love with the class. It is so much fun. Casey is hiking one more time this next week up by Palisades and then we are expecting to let Autumn/Winter come in with a vengence. Things are well and we are still hopeful of a better year in regards to Casey working and Mary's recovery from her illness. Faith and prayer are still an everyday thing and life seems to still be happening regardless if I am ready for it or not.

Yellowstone pictures....

Cave Falls, Red Rock Trail, Dad with Matthew, Yellowstone Canyon Falls, Old Faithful.

Summer garden and some changes....

I was fed up with my hair recently so I went and had it cut. I am pretty happy with the result. We have also planted a garden this year. Our typical luck is that we plant a lot and most of it dies, so in that frame of mind we overplanted tomatoes, bell peppers, none of them died. We have bell peppers and tomatoes to spare. We also attempted some new things this year. We planted pumpkins, baby spinach, lettuce, and corn. All are thriving and are really yummy. We are excited to see that our work has paid off with the garden this year.

Yellowstone adventures and camping....

With school starting in a couple of weeks we decided that it was time for our family to have a little bit of vacation. Just a little FYI, camping is not and never will be my idea of "vacation". Keeping a three year old out of trouble and entertained is harder then ever. That being said we had a great time. We stayed at Box Canyon in Island Park, Idaho. It was only a 1/2 hour drive to Yellowstone. We enjoyed Thursday together as a family and had the opportunity to see a lot of amazing scenery. We stayed overnight for 2 nights and decided that being cold, having whining kids, and kids that refused to use the awful bathrooms because of the daddy long legs wasn't great for the parents peace of mind. Thus we came home on Friday instead of Saturday after having a relaxing picnic at Cave Falls and walking up to the Beckler Falls. It was a truly beautiful place.

Our new car.....

Due to a major malfunction of our old Pontiac Transport van we just recently had to buy a newer vehicle for us to get around in. I wasn't to excited about having a car payment but at least this one will be ours in a couple of years if not sooner. It is a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan (forest green), the truly funny thing is that this is the color of van I really wanted years ago when we got the bright red one instead.

Christian's belated birthday...

Since I was at Girls Camp on August 5th we celebrated his 9th birthday on the 6th with ice cream and cake and we went bowling on Saturday.

More Summer Fun...

Pictures of the Blue Angels, and some of Casey's hiking adventures.

Christian gets his Wolf.....

Christian has just finished his first year of Scouts and just received his Wolf this past week.

Family Togetherness...Hollander's visiting

Allison, Shane and family came to visit on July 4th and we ate and played and relaxed for 2 weeks. We also went hiking at Cress Creek. It was a great time!